Humans The bulk of the world’s population consists of humans with the strongest nation being Alannis. Customs vary from region to region, but rarely stray too far from the Victorian/Renaissance feel. It is undocumented how many minor human nations exist as only a portion of the globe has been explored. There are simply too many islands and exploration does not rank very high on the major nation’s priorities. ‘mancy is considered the domain of the humans as they have the best knowledge about it. It appears seemingly at random in their population, although certain bloodlines may carry a predisposition for certain types of ‘mancy or produce more ‘mancers than the average. Human fashion is Victorian in feel with jackets and three-cornered hats for the males and corsets and wide skirts for the females. The cuts are sharper though, and there is very little lace used anywhere. They use bright colors – especially for seagoers – and gold cord is used to signify rank or power. Different placement designates different stations. While males tend to hold more positions of power than women, it is generally understood that females are fierce and if they want to be a captain of a skimmer, it would be wise to not get in their way. The favored weapon of a human is the rapier, saber or flintlock pistol and rifle. Skiridians The skiridians are the second-largest power of the world. They are a race of winged humanoids, smaller and more fragile in stature than normal humans. Their wings start at the shoulderblade and when folded reach from above their head to the ground. However, they have difficulty flying without some form of aid, like a strong wind or leaping off a high point. As such, the skiridian cities expand upwards instead of outwards and are often built around mountain ranges. The skiridians control a series of islands with the largest being the location of their capital, also a port city like Alannis. They are ruled by a monarchy as well, although power is shared between the nobles and the priesthood, often reducing the king into a puppet. The priesthood itself is more a political entity than religious, having forsaken their dogma in favor of controlling the people through the king. Long ago, they gained control of all the skiridian ‘mancers by declaring their power divine and inducting them into the priesthood. Unlike humans, skiridian ‘mancy tends to run along families, although the occasional ‘random’ ‘mancer is not a cause for concern. They are also physically marked by a second pair of much smaller wings extending from just behind the ears. By using the skiridian ‘mancers as priests, the church was able to put themselves on the same level with the nobility and even sometimes the king. However, recently more and more skiridian ‘mancers are receiving training from the Alannis Academy, where they learn that they aren’t divinely called, and the church is steadily declining in power. This is making them a bit frantic and has fostered an intense dislike for Alannis among their ranks. Skiridian fashion is very simple as the wings interfere with clothing from the waist up. Baggy pants are the norm with decoration coming in the form of jewelry or ornate belts. Even the females typically go bare-chested, covering themselves with a loose half-cloak or backless tops when in the presence of foreigners to account for other culture’s modesty. Skiridians have access to the skimmer technology as well, although they tend to shun gunpowder and instead use polearms, crossbows or longbows, and other weapons that can easily be used in flight. Female skiridians are considered weaker and rarely hold positions of power. Humans tend to regard the skiridians as inferior and uneducated. Elves Elves play a very minor role in the world politics as they don’t care with outsiders and outsiders don’t want to get mixed up with elves. The elven nations are tribal, scattered across many many islands with little to no communication between them. The tribes vie for power among themselves but the fighting is mostly ritualistic with little genuine bloodshed. They aren’t precisely hostile to non-elves, they just look down on them as inferior. High elves in particular are disliked as they are considered bastards or half-breeds with impure blood. Physically, elves are about the same height as humans and live for only slightly longer, say about ten years above the human average. Their ears are obviously pointed and are much longer than a human’s. They tend to be wiry or bony and it is often difficult to tell the females from the males as their appearance is close to androgynous. Elves do not have ‘mancy at all – instead, they have luck. Every elf has it. However, what is lucky for an elf is often unlucky for any non-elf standing nearby, making other races very loathe to have anything to do with them. For instance, if someone shoots a gun at an elf the gun might blow up in his/her hand, or the bullet will hit the poor human standing nearby instead. Or if a skimmer with an elf on board goes through a hurricane, the skimmer will not come out intact, but the elf will, riding on the only lifeboat left. It is possible to ‘overwhelm’ an elf’s luckiness, but for the most part, people simply don’t want to try and leave them alone. “Never gamble with an elf” is a common adage. As a whole, the elves tend to be high-strung, fierce, and seemingly oblivious to consequences. Since elves tend to control the more tropical region their dress is light and adornment consists of bright feathers, jewels, or beads. Hair is often worn in a topknot and all elves go barefoot. Elves rarely sail and if they do, use traditional sailboats for very short journeys. High Elves Like elves, high elves play a minor role in politics as they are few in numbers, the smallest of all the races. Their only territory is a number of temples scattered among the islands and their ocean fortress. It was built entirely by ‘mancy and is large enough to be considered a mountain-island. The high elves themselves did not build it. Their predecessors did, which were the fey kind, or the fairies. For whatever reason, the fairies left this realm of existence long ago and left their descendents behind – the half-elven children that became the high elf race. High elves keep to their own affairs and rarely interact with outsiders. They are extremely introspective and spend their time investigating their own origins and the ancient magic of the fey. High elves do not have luck but have ‘mancy like the humans and skiridians. Their percentage of born ‘mancers is the same, but their percentage of trained ‘mancers is much higher, as high elves look for ‘mancy in the children and immediately train them, regardless of talent or potential. High elves are arrogant, as evidenced by their chosen name, and look down upon the pureblood elves as savages. Physically, high elves are closer to humans in appearance with similar stature and build, more distinct gender differences, and smaller ears, albeit with the elven point to them. However, they live the longest of all the races and often have fairy attributes, typically fairy wings in varying sizes. Few can fly. High elves are a very solemn and serious people. They are small in numbers because they have few, if any, children in their lifetimes. They tend to dress in flowing robes of solid colors and have little ornamentation. Hair is worn long for both genders and there is little to no social distinction between men and women. Vampires No one is sure how the vampires came into existence. There are several theories, the strongest being that a group of humans ran across a batch of ‘mancy gone bad and somehow survived it, albeit with interesting results. Whatever happened, the vampires are a permanent part of Alannis. Only humans can become vampires. The vampiric trait is passed along by a strong enough vampire attacking a person almost to the point of death. How the person is then converted into a vampire is unknown but definitely involves some form of ‘mancy. Most people speculate that necromancy is involved and the vampires will not confirm that. Vampires survive off the blood of other humans but often eat normal food like they used to and usually retain much of their human mannerisms. They are sensitive to silver and sunlight, which grows weaker the older a vampire is, and are extremely resistant to normal weaponry. Vampires have a tenuous place in society, filling roles as strong landowners with a stable power base within the Alannian politics. So long as they police their own ranks the Cadre is content to let them be.

Copyright 2005-2007 Kelsey Shannahan