Races of men, orcs, elves, &tc

There are claimed to be seven humanid races that make up the world of Vens. These are the Humans, the Orcs, the Goblins, the Kobolds, the Dwarves, the Hobytha, and the Elves. The Kobolds are technically Goblins, but there are just so many Kobolds out there that they are traditionally referred to as a different race.

Human

Humans are, well, human; They average about 5'6" tall here, otherwise they look just like anyone you’d meet on the street in the real world.

Kaison

Generic human; brown-skinned, stocky, usually black hair. Imports from the Eye of God, settled originally in the islands and around Marrephilahd.

(also known as Venial, Bywater, Marrephiligian, Cinnabarian)

Kerchic
First nation in northern Cinnabar. Fair skin.
Zyn
Islanders from near the Eye of God.
Nirole/Nyrole
First nation directly west of the Sea of Marius. Fair skinned nomads.
Bakham/Bakka/Ka
Arctic dwellers. black-skinned, stocky, usually black hair. Nomads, with small cities in the more temperate part of the arctic continent.
Cnailla/Noola
First nation from the Wild Lands. Green skin, dark hair. Thought to be partially-goblin, but perpetually at war with the goblin tribes there.
Maison
Thinly settled along the east coast of Vens and Cinnabar. Gray brown skin, dark hair.
Sairboern

Traders/pirates from the island of Sairboern. Sairboern used to be a vassal state of Marrephilahd, but became independent during the Alliance war of 2200. black-skinned, stocky, hair color varies.

(also known as Guerrillas)

Orcs

Orcs are similar to humans; a bit shorter (5' avg), stockier, and fanged. Naiph orcs have fangs that are small enough to fit inside the mouth, the rest of the orc races have visible fangs.

Naiph

Plains dwellers in Vens and the southern edge of Cinnabar. Became the main orcish race when the Empire of Vens was expansionist. Pale white skin, no fangs, reddish hair; Naiph look somewhat like tall Khazar dwarves, which is not often mentioned in armed company.

(also known as Marrephiligian, Venial, Olog-Hai)

Ackza

Orcs from the city of Nerol. Ackza can be found along the mountains running from Nerol all the way north to the Demos of the Horde. Grey skin, fangs.

(also known as Uruk-Hai, Barrowi, River Orcs, Cave Orcs)

Harund
The most influential tribe in The Demos of the Horde is the Harund tribe. These orcs are very territorial and maintain elaborate bloodline records, which reveal that they are basically Ackza orcs. Light grey skin, fangs.
Snaibour
A very odd and distinctive orcish tribe. Snaibour are furred (with colorations like cats), have very tough skin (AC -2), and have fangs and claws. They are extremely territorial; not budging out of the mountains in the Wild Lands except for occasional trading expeditions to the coast (or raids on caravans along the South Road from Marrephilahd to Nerol.)

Goblins

Goblins are quite short (3' avg) and have fairly long arms (when standing a Goblin’s arms will extend down to their knees) compared to the other races.

Harun

The classic D&D kobold. Harun are hobytha-sized, have green skins (pale to bright green), are hairless, and live in small underground caverns (or sewers, or dungeons.) Harun tribes can be found from Marrephilahd along the coast north far as The Demos of the Horde and south past Nerol into the Mage’s Wilderness. There are a lot of Harun, or at least it seems that way when some barbarian is attempting to loot one of their villages.

(also known as kobold, bughear)

Nassau

The classic D&D goblin. Nassau are dwarf-sized, have green skins, and are hairless except for black hair (and beards as appropriate). Nassau live primarily along the Riveria in the Goblin Kingdoms from Marrephilahd to (?).

(also known as Goblin, Marrephiligian, Venial)

Aknassau

These are a larger goblin. They are man-sized, and hairless, with pale green skin. They live in the Mana highlands in the Wild Lands, but raid as far north as The Demos of the Horde. Genetically, they are Nassau, and Aknassau who move elsewhere breed regular old Nassau.

(also known as Hobgoblins)

Dwarves

As seen on TV, dwarves are short (4' avg) and extremely stocky; it is possible to find fit dwarves who are almost as wide as they are tall. They are not particularly hairy, though what hair they have tends to grow quite long (there are human religious sects that don’t believe in haircutting; these sects don’t tend to have much following in dwarven communities because of the inconvenience of having 15 feet of hair hanging off your face and scalp. Rapunzel was a dwarf.)

Khazar

The Khazar Dwarves live between the Black Mountains and the Elf Wood, in and around the agricultural city of Trechut. The Red Dwarves formerly mined in the Black Mountains, but were driven east into Vens a millenia ago by the Barrowi orcs. Large Dwarf ghettos exist in Marrephilahd, Trechut, and Nerol. Khazar are red-haired and pale-skinned, and look somewhat like short Naiph orcs.

(also known as Red Dwarves, Dwarves, Trechutmen)

Nassim

There are two Nassim tribes. The town of Nassim in the Hobytha A.R. is the largest one, and a smaller group of Gnomes lives in a suburb of Cinnabar. Nassim are hobytha-sized, but are paler and very long-lived (1000+ years.)

(also known as Hobytha, Gnomes)

Noisisti

Just like the Nassim, except that they have webbed feet. Somewhere Chance capers with glee.

(also known as Sea Gnomes)

Dwarrel

The Dwarrel are imports from the Eye of God who live mixed in with large Khazar communities. They are red-haired and brown skinned.

(also known as Black Dwarves)

Akar

The Akar are tall thin beardless dwarves. Millenia ago, during a fit of ethnic purity, they were driven from Khazar communities, and have been nursing a really nasty grudge about it since then. But what’s 2000 years of bloodfeud between enemies? Akar communities can be found in the far west of Nerol, as well as on Sairboern (the dwarves living there are known as the Akist)

(also known as Akist, Gnoll, The Accursed Ones)

Hobytha

Hobytha are about 2'-3' tall, furry (though as a reaction to this they are almost universally clean-shaven), and stocky. They are a fairly cheerful race, and compulsively hard workers, but not very good at taking direction from others.

Hobytha/Hobith

The western edge of the Empire of Vens is the homeland of the Hobytha – the Hobytha Autonomous Region has been slowly peeling itself away from the Empire under the fairly lame slogan of “Well, we live here, so why shouldn’t we collect our own taxes?

The Hobytha live primarily in caves and burrows (as do the Nassim in the Hobytha A.R), but do occasionally live in neat little suburbs. They are good farmers, and produce much more than you’d expect from a humanid the size of a large squirrel. Oddly enough, they are also habitual tinkerers, and the peaceful countryside is punctuated by the occasional dark satanic mill or large crater where one used to be before someone Made A Big Mistake.

Halfling
Hobytha who live outside the Hobytha A.R are often referred to dismissively as Halflings, because they’re said to lose half their soul by leaving. Halflings are similar in appearance to Hobytha, except they are not usually quite as burned and scarred as their country cousins.

Elves

Elves are about 5' tall, very slender, and tend to have only 4 fingers instead of five.

Silmae
The most common elf. Silmae come from the Elf Wood and can be found exploring all over the world. They are what you’d expect an elf to look like; human-sized, blonde, pointy ears, fond of 60s-style flower-children clothing and hairstyles, really really dumb names, stoned most of the time, and a lifespan of approximately 100,000 years.
Lacrimae/River Elves
The elven city of Lacrae is the main elf port on the Sea of Marius. The Silmae elves who live here call themselves the Lacrimae.
Saequa
The elf city on Sairboern is named Saequa. Much herb was burned before the elves who lived there started calling themselves by the name of their city.
Maisal
The shipyards of Maisal, on Gaffer Island, are renowned for the quality of their ships. The imagination of the Silmae who live there is not quite so renowned, though the occasional “hey, didn’t I genetically engineer your ancesters?” tends to deflate the persistant heckler.
Selor

The old elves. There are about 20 of them, and their main claim to fame is that they weren’t born, but were created by the gods at the beginning of time. They are several millions of year old, and are so elvish that they make the Silmae look like Dwarves.

Five of the Selor (Butterfly, Blossom, Sealily, Biff, and *trill**click!**click!*) consider the humanid races to be a wonderful biology experiment and have been known to mingle with humans. Legend has it that a sixth Selor is currently (as in “for the last 100,000 years or so”) engaged in trying to make a cubist sculpure from an island far to the west.