The following is an array of information on the rarer and more monstrous races that live on the continent of Eracia--creatures denied citizenship by the empire itself but often still living within or at the fringes of society.
Lizardfolk
Unlike many other races, who were caught up in the desperate war between Titans and Gods, the lizardfolk thrived, largely due to the influence of an unlikely patron. A titan, its name lost to time, was badly injured fighting in what is now southern Fianna, and the monstrous god limped toward the ocean. When it reached the marshes along the continent’s marshy southern coast, it was given shelter by a local group of lizardfolk. When it died, it passed a sliver of its power on to the tribe’s chieftain, who would become the God-Emperor of the lizardfolk and rule for thousands of years. Despite conflicts in the past, the lizardfolk had become the allies of the Emilian city of Pezane, and their god-emperor earned a massive and beautiful palace built for him. In 1108, however, the libris mortis conspired to kill the god-emperor. In their grief, many lizardfolk sought revenge against Pezane, thinking the city had killed their ruler. A group of priests, now trying to hold on to the power of the god-emperor, fell under the influence of a vengeful Pezanian politician named Emilio Torazzi and began carrying out assassinations in the city. A group of adventurers traveled to the god-emperor’s palace and stopped the grief-stricken priests, clearing up the misunderstanding between the lizardfolk and Pezane.
Since then, under a new agreement, the lizardfolk have begun functioning as an elite guard for Doge Francesca and the government of Pezane. Aside from their allegiance with Pezane and their history in the marshes, lizardfolk might decide to adventure for a number of reasons, and due to their connection with nature and their small, camouflaged forms, they make excellent rogues, rangers, and assassins. Via the power dispensed by the god-emperor, they also hold the distinction of being the last race (other than the fomori who still in some cases hold on to boons granted long ago) to use Titanic divine power.
Centaurs
Centaurs, for the most part, all hail from one place--their home plateau within Fianna, near the northern border of Emilia, within the borders of Ceridwen grove. Based on the Empire’s aggressive treaties with Fianna it was theoretically part of the Empire, but no legionnaire ever set foot in their land. While they acknowledge the archdruid of druidess as their ruler, they are not part of a Fiannan grove. They do, however, keep close ties with Fianna and travel across the nation freely and frequently. Centaurs, in addition to being powerful runners have a strong martial tradition and a culture that includes a number of different types of ceremonial combat. Centaurs tend to be interested in astronomy and poetry, and often llive either independently or in small family groups. Unlike a lot of other social creatures, including humans, centaurs are capable of long periods of solitude. Currently, a number of centaurs dwell near or in the city of Pezane, fulfilling a contract to Doge Francesca to rebuild parts of the city they destroyed while erroneously punishing Pezane for the actions of rogue lizardfolk.
Satyrs
Long before elvenkind began forming pacts with fairykind, they made allies of the forest-dwelling satyrs, a gregarious and artistic race of goat-horned humanoids. While satyrs have, as a race, rarely played a role in politics or history, they have quite often been advisors, historians, and spies. Most of their culture is conveyed via an oral tradition that includes a number of songs, and those satyrs who prove the most skilled at memorizing the ancient tales often become bards. Satyrs like to dwell in large clan groups, and they find it difficult to be away from the forest for too long. After the destruction of Taliesin Grove, an enormous number of satyrs relocated to the Wold and the Brittanwood, and some migrated as far as the wild wastes of Bayern. Due to their prominence in Fiannan society, Imperials have a tendency to think of even the ones living among them as spies for the druids.
Fairies
When one thinks of fairies, one likely thinks of a butterfly-winged pixie, but in reality the tiny sylvan creatures are a varied, multimorphic race who usually exhibit insectoid or amphibian qualities in addition to their humanoid qualities. Adapted to dwell in their sylvan environments, the most common types of fairies are the cricket-legged grigs, butterfly-winged pixies, and aquatic nixies. Fairies were once exclusively a hostile race with little unified culture, organized into small “courts” which were usually located in shallow hollows underground. Though the timing is uncertain, at some point the elves made it their mission to unite and acculturate the fairies, which has divided them superficially into two types of courts--Seelie, or those adopting the mores and culture of the elves of their region, and Unseelie, courts who seek to evade the civilizing force that the elves bring with them. Due to their size, a court can be located almost anywhere, their only requirement a queen to lead them and determine their course. Individual fairies leave their courts quite often, and for a race so organized around centralized society they fare quite well on their own. Their size limits their effectiveness in some types of activities, but all in all they have much the same diversity of talent and interest as humans.
Minotaurs
The traditions of the minotaurs, the firbolgs, and many giants seem to agree that the minotaurs were originally engineered to be troops in the wars against the humans and their gods. They were, however, devised later in the wars when the Fomori had abandoned all ideas of subtlety and domination and had instead begun slaughtering the non-giant races of the world. As a result, where there has been archaeological evidence of other “projects” advanced by the fomori, a massive number of minotaurs survived. They also seem to have been divided into at least two sub-races, with the mountain minotaurs of the Grey Moor and the dwarven mountain range being the most common, and most intelligent, type of minotaur. Where their larger cousins dwell either underground or in solitary canyons, the mountain minotaurs tend to wander as herds, keeping fields and gardens across the land and eating steppe grasses when necessary. Many minotaurs of both varieties are accomplished herbalists. This is likely due to the fact that, with their multiple stomachs and slower metabolisms, they are able to test potentially dangerous herbs with less chance of lethality than more strictly humanoid creatures would experience. Thanks to their interaction with elves and fairies, some minotaurs have taken up Gaia-worship, and as such it is not unheard of to find practicing druids among them where other clans might simply have sages and herbalists. Some minotaur tribes also function as mercenaries, either for giants or occasionally for humans.
Thorns
Though the Fiannans are tight-lipped about these deep sylvan creatures, they seem to have appeared more recently than almost any other race on the face of gaia. Part plant and part mammal, they retain the characteristics of both but rely on a world where they can be in contact with both. A thorn kept away from sylvan shadows for too long begins to wither and fade, but so too does a thorn left in solitude in the deep woods. While the fiannans and elves were aware of their presence based on some discovered records for at least a thousand years prior, Imperial citizens (with the exception of the occasional wide-ranging Emilian) knew nothing of their existence until they faced them in the battles of the Fiannan conquest. While often childlike in appearance, thorns tend to live longer than humans and are very skilled at woodlore and survival.
Orcs
No one, including the orcs, seems to be certain of their origin. Their earliest point of contact seems to have been the gnomes of Gora, who continue to contend with them, and though most orc tribes are now located in the steppe lands beyond the eastern mountains, their range was once much larger, spreading out across Talar, Baegnolia, Nordest, and the hills of eastern Emilia. By the time Araden settlers arrived in Talar, the war between the Cult of Neren and the Silver Brigade--as well as the changing climate caused by the eruption of the massive volcano at the desert’s northern end--had driven them back. Later, Imperial forces separated a number of clans from their eastern brethren and they were forced to flee to the moors and the northern mountains. They dwell there now, though in much smaller numbers.
Orcs are a warlike race, culturally concerned with raiding and the extraction of tribute as well as valor and often-suicidal risk-taking. Recently, they have encountered greater troubles, and orcish society has been upended. Scant reports and legends indicate that a few decades past a successful orcish warlord ransacked a nation far to the northeast that had in its employ a number of demons. The demons did their best to trade their old masters for the far more pliable orcs, and today the orcs themselves only seem to be in control of a legion of demons. Continuing to consolidate power, the warlord moved south and began attacking Gora, driving thousands of Goran gnomish refugees westward to Talar and across the continent over the last ten or so years. Now, they are poised along with their demonic “servants” to cross the borders of Gora into Talar, an event that could prove disastrous for everyone on the eastern half of the continent.
Though they are discriminated against, some orcs have attempted to live in small groups or near enough to humanoid societies that they can trade with them, and some have become guards or mercenaries. Ultimately, however, while many orcs might have a good reason to leave the problems in the east, they are bound to their clans. If one were to meet an orc out in the wild, it would be more likely that they hailed from the mountains and moors.
Orcs, while fundamentally somewhat chaotic, bind their society together with intricate rules about territory and combat. They also consider goblinoids to be lucrative clients, and will often form pacts with or attempt to dominate goblinoids, depending on the circumstances.
Firbolg
The firbolg were, in many ways, a failed experiment. Designed by the titans to be infiltrators of human society, they were far too large, and instead relegated to become laborers. According to their oral histories, they began to rebel against their giant masters almost immediately and have done their best to thwart the ordning since, living in small communities and often in family groups, finding homes in the deep wilderness and places where the shackles of their intended overlords would not find them. Firbolg have a tendency to be so individualistic that it makes them difficult allies even among their own race, but to be accepted by one is to have a friend who will not forget you. Due to their solitary nature, however, they tend to relish keeping pets, sometimes of monsters or exceptionally fierce beasts. Firbolg numbers have dwindled over time due to these tendencies, but they don’t see this as a deterrent--where humans might become uneasy at seeing abandoned villages and homes of their kind, firbolgs have no such conceit that there is a value in numbers. To be a firbolg is to strive to be free, and to be overly concerned with anything else would make for an odd one among their people.
Myconids
Not far under the earth, a vast network of caverns stretches across the central part of the continent--Tintagel, Martel, Bayern, Brecon, and parts of the grey moor and Emilia--which are home to the myconids, sentient fungal creatures who communicate using spores. These creatures, when they grow older, tend to be intelligent and logical creatures, but their priorities are often a mystery to the humanoids who dwell on the surface. Once more plentiful, the myconids forged treaties with the Hillfolk tribes and the Marteli, allowing those civilizations to use their tunnels for trade in exchange for providing aid to the myconids when called upon. They consider the treaties and agreements in effect today, and will occasionally ascend to the surface to trade with humanoids in the strange, quick sunlit world.
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