The Nexus

The People
Barbarians

There once was a tribe of People who lived in a lush, fertile land full of trees and farms. This tribe thrived in all times of the year, having mild winters and warm breezy summers. Their crops grew tall and healthy and their livestock plumped well. The People were happy. Until the Elves came.

Lumenenti attacked the People unexpectedly and drove them from their homes. Believing themselves more worthy of the land, the Elves cut down all who opposed and sent the People on their way. Forced into a life of Nomadism, the People learned to adjust. They became bitter and fearful of outsiders over the years. They despise elves of all kinds, since the wounds of losing their ancestral home never healed.

The Plainsfolk are many and varied. Not all one tribe, but not separate tribes if one were to ask. They are a friendly people within their ranks, but do no assume they will talk or trade with you if you're an outsider. The People have what is called the Wild Affinity which enables some of them to bond and tether an animal to their mind. They worship the "All Spirit", a god they believe to have created the world and lay out a "Way" for each of them. The All Spirit comes to Earth as many and all aspects, wearing any skin he or she chooses to watch over and guide the People. They are typically very tall and muscular and have skin that is tanned and almost reddish and most have light eyes and hair with tribal markings adorning their skin. They do not use modern technologies and barely have any metal at all.

Solenti
High Elves of the Sun

These elves are fair of skin and tend to lighter hair colors, including blonds, reds and brunettes. Their eye colors are usually blue, green, hazel and purples. Rarely, but not impossibly their eyes are other colors. The Solenti are a race of High Elves who have chosen to be part of the world. That is, they do not seclude themselves to their woods. The Solenti can bee seen mingling in the worlds of men and other races a like. They have a healthy interest in the world being peaceful despite one's genes. The average age of these elves in nearly 1000 years unless mortally wounded. They stop aging in their early years looking to be in their early twenties for most of their lives. They tend to the taller side of height and are usually fit and thin, not to mention graceful. They have adapted some of their cultures to human tendencies, such as living in houses that are not built in trees.

Lumenenti
High Elves of the Moon

The Lumenenti are polar opposites of the Solenti. Though they share common ancestors, these elves have become secluded and hostile. They do not like other peoples and stay out of world affairs. They are of the palest of peoples and tend to hair dark hair, brunette or black. They eye colors are usually dark as well; dark purples, blues and browns. Being a proud people, they have not adapted any of their culture to anything but themselves. They live in homes made from coaxing the trees to move and grow as they wish them to and not as nature intended. Life expectancy is similarly to be about 1000 years and they age much the same as the Solenti. A strange strain of psychic powers runs through these elves, but not many are graced with the gift.

Wood Elves

More tanned than their high elf cousins, the wood elves are more of an earthy race. They tend to have earthen colors for their hair and eyes and are not quite as tall. The Lignumenti build their homes in the woods, not quite in cities and worship the earth as it grows. They are a suspicious people, not enjoying what other races do to their forests, but not entirely unfriendly. The occasional wood elf can be found in a bustling free city, but not many. They tend not to use too much in the ways of metal or modern technologies. It's thought that a woods elf might have a longer life than it's cousins, but the fact is not confirmed.

Ferusenti
Wilder Elves

Little is known about these elves. They can come from any race of elf but live alone and are almost feral. They can be considered outcasts of their groups and some have known to become barbaric.

Dark Elves

These elves literally live in the dark. They make their homes in caverns and caves and sometimes underground. Due to their aversion to sunlight, their skin has gone pale and cannot handle direct sunlight well. They are a secluded people, but not unfriendly to trespassers. Their hair colors vary with age; that is to say a child is born with darker hair that lightens and fades with age. Evolution has shown it's face in these elves. Some children are born without eyes, for they are not necessary in the dark. These children are regarded as special, as they sometimes develop new powers.

Water Elves

Some elves do not relish the sway of trees nor the smell of dirt. The Aquamenti are a race of elves who prefer the sea. Some never leave the depths of the water, in fact. Evolved to breathe beneath the shores, water elves make under water cities and villages that little in known about. The sea elves are a secretive people who rarely surface. Their river cousins are less secretive but do not relish the thought of leaving their waters. These elves have developed gills in order to breath water but retain lungs for air as well. Usually, they have tinted green or blue skin and smoothed features with dark eyes.

Elder Elves

These elves largely died out as the world grew populated in the early years of creation. It is said that they are the predecessors to the modern elves. Some still live today, but they are very few and millennia old.

Half Human, Half Elf

While elves are not known the fraternize intimately with other races very often, there are always special cases. Rape is usually the most likely reason a half elf will be born, but there are other cases of actual love or consensual lust being the reason. In these cases, the majority of half elfs are half human, as they are the closest in looks than other races. Other mixes are possible, but the properties of such individuals are usually special cases.

Half elf, half human people usually grow at the same rate as a human, but age more slowly after that. They can live to half the age of their elven parent, but are built more like a human. Some inherit the grace of an elf, but never to the degree of a full blood. Other properties they inherit include night vision, lighter steps and greater immunity to environments. From their human parent they inherit the ability to grow facial hair if they're male and a better sense of time passing and the human mindset for love and greed.

The mountain-dwelling dwarves are a rather secretive peoples. They very rarely leave their mountains full of precious stone and do no treat with the outside world. Shorter and stocker than humans, dwarves tend to have broader and thicker skeletons which causes their features to be thus. The average dwarf is no taller than five feet and no shorter than four. They are a strong and hardy peoples and live to be nearly two hundred years old. Many dwarves grow out their facial hair and style it to their liking and have a love for shiny and collectable objects.

Under their mountains, the dwarves carve out the gems and precious stones of the world, hoarding them and coveting their glittering kingdoms. It's rare for them to treat with the outside world, but the mountain dwellers will trade with their hill living cousins, even if the Hill Dwarves are seen as lesser peoples.

These dwarves are carbon copies physically to their under the mountain brethren. The only difference being they live outside in the light and fraternize with other races. They share a love of metal working and precious things with their cousins, often itching to shape the shapeless things in the world. Most metal-smiths or architects are dwarven or dwarven taught. One can tell dwarven made items for their sturdiness and durability; they differ from the finely designed and lighter make of elven product.

Ice Elementals

These beings are literally made of ice and snow. They resemble frozen men with beards of ice and frost and come in varying degrees of opacity. The Walkas live on Zheniya in the more northern regions where they can sustain the cold necessary for them to live. They are a barbaric folk who do not appreciate their lands encroached upon. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting traveler, it is hard to find a border between free lands and Walkas lands as they assume all cold places should belong to them.

Walkas rarely leave their frozen lands without a Cryomancer in tow. Even though they can manipulate and forge ice at their will, the Walkas cannot contain their body in warmer climes and need the assistance of a Cryomancer of Cryis to maintain them.

Fire Elementals

Like their icy cousins, fire elementals are created and maintains of fire and brimstone. Their bodies can resemble molten magma or rich flame but always in the shape of man. Some have the power to harness their heat enough to resembles a human entirely, skin and all. When this happens the Ignesi will have dark or burned looking skin, black hair and black eyes. The ability to superheat things as well as control and manipluate fire makes them a fearsome foe. Unfortunately, many of the Ignesi have been enslaved from their home plane to work in the mines of Saldia. To this purpose the Saldians use the fire elementals to light their forges to craft metal the likes the world has never seen. Saldia is technologically advanced in Air ships, tanks, et cetera from their ability to use the Ignesi.

Earth Elementals

Unlike the Walkas or the Ignesi, the Dryads do not have a formed society. People with skin of bark and living foliage, the Dryads find a forest to call their home and usually stay within it. They have powers to cause the earth around them to grow and flourish with living things, most flora and are completely at home in most all environments, even snowy ones. They come in many shapes and sizes and strange combination of growing matter and some even go to sleep for many years, usually resulting in a very interesting tree.

Air Elementals

The Aersit are a more private race who keep to themselves on their floating continents of Zephrys. The continent hangs above the earth in seemingly it's own atmosphere and floats most over ocean to keep from causing discord. They are the masters of wind and air and maintain Zephrys' ability to float. Resembling a torrent of winds or smoke, the Aersit wearing floating garments, it any at all.

Cat People

The Ja'qari are a race of anthropomorphic felines. They are a shorter people never growing above the height of five and a half feet and resemble humans with only some differences. The Ja'qari face is more ovular with bigger, rounder eyes that have slit pupils. The nose is flatter and tends to the feline side as well as the ears; they're placed where a human's would be but are larger cat-like flaps. Their bodies are thin and lithe and covered in muscle that helps them have the reflexes and grace as a cat. The Ja'qari's hands are smaller and wider than a human's with nails that are harder and sharper. Their feet have developed pads on the balls and toes and the foot itself is slightly longer than a human's give the Ja'qari the ability to walk and balance on the front part of the foot alone when need be. In addition to a feline tail, he Ja'qari have a soft down of fur on their skin which is usually colored like domestic cat breeds. While the Ja'qari grow hair on their heads like humans, they do not grow facial or body hair anywhere else.

Hailing from the deserts in Solanum, the Ja'qari are a busy people. They enjoy lying and sleeping in the suns and lounging, but are also filled with energy for some hours in the day. They are an independent and curious race who tend to be stubborn and willful. Due to their natural grace and quiet gates, the Ja'qari are often bought and trained as assassins or servants in and around the city of Desarta. They can be found in other free cities and other continents, but in Solanum, they litter the streets like rats.

Additionally, the Ja'qari are evolved from the Qari, an ancient feline race. The Qari are taller and broader and all together meaner than their domesticated relatives. They tend to look like big wild cats, but most have died out.

The Hauflin are a small race of peoples no more than four feet tall with extremely child like features. They are an outgoing race who enjoy adventure, but are also okay with settling down at home once their adventuring years are over. They are a decently long lived people, the average lifespan ranging from 100-120 years unless some unfortunate accident befall them on their travels (which happens often). Haulfin have an intense curiosity for things as well as the innate ability to hide in plain sight. If a haulfin does not wish to be seen, they will not be. The average halfin has brown or black hair, often wavy and light, jovial eyes.

A man's torso sitting on the shoulders of a horse's body, Centaurs are a sentient race which inhabits the Veldt of Antallos in herds. The horse half of a Centaur can resemble any known breed of the animal and the human part usually resembles it. For instance, if the horse half is dappled, so is the human half. Centaurs tend to have larger eyes and flatter noses with horse ears atop their heads and a mane of hair that grows down their spine. Their finger nails are harder and do not grow as rapidly as a human's might; they resemble more of a hoof texture. Centaurs live in herds with elders and leaders and roam the Veldt much like the People of the plains. They are not combative, per say but they do not trust other races to be kind to them off the bad. Proficient in hunting and gathering, Centaurs have a strange omnivorous diet that weighs heavily to the vegetation side. Eating mean is not a sin, but it is rare.

A proud race of warriors, the Minotaur are taller than humans and much bulkier. They have bovine heads and thick, coiled, muscular bodies. A minotaur has man's feet, but a cow's tail as well as only three, thick fingers ending in hoof like nails. The Minotaur live primarily in the Tarlain Isles but have been known to be a harsh sea faring race who will often become mercenaries in foreign wars. They are extremely strong and have a higher intelligence, but are quick to anger and deaf to reason.

The Verndari have been present on Ianua for longer than anyone can remember. However, they were not an indigenous race to the world. They came from a sister dimension and traveled through rifts forming in the cosmos which sucked unsuspecting travelers through to Ianua. After investigating, the peoples decided to stay and guard the rifts on this side as well. Though the Nexal Tower usually handles any rogue rifts, the schism of the Verndari people was not unnoticed. If the Tower's Wizard closed the rifts, those living on Ianua's end would be cut off entirely from home. Thus, they are still hidden among the world guarding to this day.

The Verndari, or Vörn to the human race or the Praesul to the elven kingdoms are almost akin to walking unicorns. They are a tall, willowy race with long limbs and flat faces. The Verndari of Ianua have evolved to be more feral looking than the Paradium ilk and a soft fur covers their entire body, but grows longer on their elbows, calves, ankles, and on the chin of the males. Their ears of horse like but set on the sides of their heads like a humans and they walk on delicate cloven hooves. Their tails are long and leonine with tufts of silky hair at the end and in some cases all along the growth. Every Verndari has a single spiral horn growing from the center of their foreheads that can grow up to a foot long. They shed these horns as they get older and the fallen horns are usually used for magic and potions. The Verndari wear their hair long and usually loose and have a penchant for not wearing clothing, though it is not unheard of for them to wear light silks or other thin fabrics.

Their coloring ranges all patterns, though the descendants of the royal line are nearly stark white. Their eyes are usually a light, vibrant color and their hair matched the pattern of their fur.

The Vörn

The Vörn is a secondary class of the Verndari. They do not possess a horn, but wings large enough to hold them in flight for a short period of time. The Vörn are shorter and more broad than their willowy counterparts and slightly more prone to violence due to their roles as soldiers. While they will not seek out a conflict, they are swift in snuffing out threats to the gateways. There are few other physical differences between the two, however there is rarely a Vörn born to the royal line. Therefore, most of the winged type are not entirely white or silver.

Deep in the Great Forest where the wilder elves dwell lives a secluded race of spider like people. A human torso fused to the second segment of an arachnid body which still retains all eight spider legs, the Telaracnae are a frightening sight. The arms of their human section are long and segmented like a spiders and they have eight eyes on their wide, triangular faces. The creatures are vicious and though they are sentient enough to understand Common, they are xenophobic and prefer to dine on other races, except for the wilder elves they share their home with.

Much like the ja'qari of Solanum, the Indago are a canine humanoid race who hail from Meerveld, nearly the inland seas. The Indago do not resemble a dog's face as traditionally as the Ja'qari resemble a cat. Their faces are humanoid with a wide nose that smells better than it should and their eyes are almond shaped. Their ears are a less thick cartilage than a humans, but longer and placed slightly higher. Some Indago have floppier ears than others, but most will stand when pricked to attention. Hair covers more of their body than not and even female Indago might have a beard. Their bodies are thickly muscled and they are taller than the average human with short tails often covered in fur.

The Indago are descendants of the wild Dago and often resemble domesticated dogs in colors and patterns. They are a loyal and hardworking people and are often seen at the docks of the inland seas.

Hailing from the forests of Northern Maaneri, the Harpij are bird people. They live in tribes in the forest and are extremely distrustful of outsiders. Their bodies are a combination of avian and humanoid and some have flight abled wings, others just feathers lining their arms. They live deep in the jungle in tribes and do not often wonder out.

Gnomes are in short, tinkerers. They are three foot tall menaces of technology and their homes are often noticeable for the random scorch marks and piles of mechanical nonsense. A gnomish experiment ranges from putting a new type of leaf in their tea to see how well uncle Joff flies when catapulted with only a blanket tied to his wrists and ankles. Some of their more sane experiments gave Ianua the aqueduct system than give most major cities and kingdoms water. They're very close to self moving vehicles as well, but the success rate of those things explains the random scorch marks.

Orcs are not the most intelligent of the lower creatures, but they are organized and vast. Orcs have off-colored skin the most prominent being green and small eyes. Their noses are somewhat flat and piglike and they have tusk like protrusions from their mouths. Orcs have bigger pointed ears and coarse dark hair. Their societies are usually built like a more crude version of a human kindgom. Orc rulers are chosen for brawn and not brains and their hierarchy is much the same. Orc towns are pieced together by crudely made hovels and maintained by all those not out fighting and pillaging. The orc women and children are both considered warriors and therefore trained from infancy to hold weapons. However, the average orc warrior has no formal training other than knowing how to stick things with the pointy end. Most all things that orcs have they have stolen or taken by killing. They don't make much themselves. While they speak common, it is more likely an orc will speak undercommon: the more guttural, primal version lower races use to communicate.

Goblins are small, only averaging three or four feet and their skin is usually sickly greens or yellows. They smell bad and can sometimes be slimy. The average goblin is hairless and rarely wears more than ragged clothes unless given armor. Not very intelligent, the goblins are usually used as Army fodder for the promise of anything shiny. Goblins originate from Girsh but have been found to have encampments all over Ianua, like vermin.

There are many types of trolls found in many different kinds of lands. Hill trolls, mountain trolls, forest trolls and sand trolls they all resemble each other with slight differences. Trolls come in many colors which usually have to do with their surroundings and often have exaggerated features such as big noses, long ears and protruding teeth. While some, like the Mountain and Hill Trolls are larger, their Forest and Sand cousins average the same height as men. Considered a lower race, the Trolls are not all dumb. Those that live among people or near them can be rather intelligent and have built towns for themselves on Solanum and other large continents. Their bigger cousins are less prone to intelligence and often barely know enough to cover themselves.

An ugly bluish creature, an Ogre is taller than man and much less intelligent. They are usually large, round creatures with flabby greyish blue skin and big soft facial features. Because they are not so bright, they are easy to anger and often lash out with their homemade weaponry consisting of tree trunks and rocks. Ogres are often harnessed and used in wars as battle monsters.