Races of Herious

While many of the typical races are prevalent in Herious, there is a bit of consideration for dispersion and location, and some atypical consideration for some other races in how they fit into civilization circa the third age.

Core Races

Humans: Humans are without a doubt the most populous race outside of the specific racial territories. This means that other than Martesia and Tamsiri, they are the defacto majority population. Within these two nation-state territories they are still fairly common, though only in Tamsiri do humans not have any claim to positions of relative importance, and Martesia excludes humans from their upper ring of management only.

Dwarves: Unsurprisingly, you'll find most dwarves in Martesia and the Kings Mountains, having reclaimed the mines, tunnels and cavecities as their own, as well as settling the lowlands and plateaus of the surrounding area. They're not an uncommon sight outside of Martesia, but due to their self-segregtory nature, any permanent dwarven residents in other nation boundaries tend to cluster together either in their own district or near workable ground resources. Majority population in Martesia, they're also common in Rathin lands and Gatran territory, with a solid population in the western clifflands of Klimmard. Slightly less common in Halshe, and very uncommon among the Altamir isles.

Elves: One of the most populous races next to humans, the Northshield Forest claimed by Tamsiri is almost exclusively populated by them. Similarly common outside of the woodlands, they account for significant population in Gatra and Klimmard, and while they're not quite as populous in Rathin or Halshe they still claim a major percentage. Even the Altamir islands have a significant population of elves among their numbers. While populous, there is generally considered to be 'two kinds' of elves: Tamsirin and Outerwood. Outerwood elves are 'cityborn' elves that are a generation or two removed from being born somewhere within Tamsiri or it's political influence and generally excluded from their politics and attitudes, and are generally more akin to human temperaments and beliefs. Tamsirin elves are 'woodborn' within the forestlands and have family lineages dating back to the resettlement of the Northshield. Tamsirin elves tend towards being lightly xenophobic and discriminatory of non-elves even among the lowest social strata due to the overwhelming influence of Tamsirin bloodline politicking and social stratification.

Half-elves: A byproduct of the prevalence of elves and humans in the same place, a significant majority of half-elves populate Tamsiri, Gatra and Klimmard, though they're not unusual in Rathin, Halshe and Altamir. While not usually distinct enough to be worth denoting in most places, Tamsiri has highly stratified social positioning for half-elves in it's cities. Any half-elf gets preferential consideration over other races for positions of important service or management, and within half-elf circles, halfbloods that can trace their pedigree to a noble lineage get particular preference over commonblood halfers. Due to the complexity of elven noble politics, what actually counts as a legitimate noble bloodline is highly subjective and adjudication is often required to legitimize claims. Rarely do they get to claim any major positions of importance in Tamsiri, but they are much more likely to hold positions of subserviance or support to an elven leader of their bloodline.

Gnomes: This is the first major divergence from the norm, as gnomes are an extremely limited presence race in Herious and almost completely unknown as a specificly distinct race even in the places they do live. Due to general populace ignorance they are lumped in with halflings. For whatever reason, nearly every gnome seems to not only go along with this mislabeling, but many even outright propagate the misinformation. To what end is truly unclear, but given the historical treatment the natives of Herious gave to extraplanar originating species, the gnomes ties to the faescape might relate to their racial vow of secrecy.

Half-orcs: The least populous race on Veldt, due in part to their racial lineage dating back to an Orcish raiding force from the east in the second age. Originating from Kamruk, they landed on the Rathin shores and the southern continent of Turric. The Veldt incursion spread from the Rathin coasts inland, though the migratory assault was rapidly defeated by Granvaldan forces using their gate network to deploy strike teams near constantly against the rapidly exhausted raiders. The first wave of half-orc births on Veldt were nearly exclusively limited to Rathin and among the Altamir islands, with a smattering scattered throughout the eastern edges of the continental interior, and their limited number and dispersal remains practically unchanged. They are an uncommon sight outside of Rathin and Altamir, there's usually only a handful of half-orc families in any given city. Despite this, they aren't commonly discriminated against outside of the societies that are already highly exclusionary. A fair quarter of Rathin is half-orcish, but also having the lowest national population of all, this means they're eclipsed in number by every race but gnomes. Another interesting note is that Halshe has established the first successful port on Turric, a venture completed by a half-orc merchant, and subsequently populated almost exclusively by Halshem half-orcs. Many believe this is intentional to avoid overly provoking the large Orc population on the southern continent that has taken over the land following the second age landings, and due to this Farport is the major location for any 'new' half-orc births that aren't traced to the second age invasion.

Halflings: A minorly uncommon race, they have a similar geographical dispersement as dwarves, often operating in the same kind of territories due to shared affinities for earth and working the land. Being a fairly gregarious race, they're less likely to cluster up in other racial settlements, but being prolific familycrafters, it can be hard to tell if a given block of halflings are one family or several. They don't often have major roles in cities, though not due to any particular prejudice against them, more so that they just generally don't care for all the managerial work that holding an office usually entails. Despite their low numbers in comparison to human and elf populations, a large amount of the farmlands operating in the continential interior are handled by halflings, the most extensive being located in the Martesian lowlands and the Klimmardi hills, where they operate burrow-farms using land above and below the surface to grow mixed crops extremely efficiently. Among alchemical and herbalist circles, halfling botanists are second only to dedicated Tamsirin elven practitioners, and given the general attitude of elves, it's the halflings that see the most work in the field.

Further Races

Planarkin (Aasimar, Oread, Sylph, Ifrit, Suli, Undine, Tiefling, Fetchling): By and large, planarkin are a mixed bag on Herious and are more or less non-specifically aligned into two types, obvious and human-like, and both face different kinds of issues.
Obvious planarkin, those who outwardly show some obvious sign of planar blood, are less common and face some differing opinions. In Martesia, Oread and Ifrit are openly accepted and treated no differently than others, though even if they are dwarven lineage they are still excluded from the highest office. Rathin is a popular destination for Sylphs, and they often see preferential treatment for inclusion on sailing ships, doubly so should they also be devout to Lakmanan, as many in the area are. Sylphs and Undine are also popular in Altamir, with the Undine getting the major preference there thanks to their abilities in the more shallow waters and cooperation with some of the aquatic creatures that live in the waters of the isles.

Unlike other nation-states, one of the current Island Lords of the Altamir isles is an Undine, making them the only obvious planarkin in a position of power on Veldt. Suli have no particular prevalence over other planarkin, and are particularly uncommon even among other planarkin. Aasimar are uncommon in all areas but are generally accepted by locals, and despite their rarity overall, you can easily find an Aasimar or two in service at a local church or temple in any town or city that houses one. Tieflings in comparison face a lot of suspicion due to their nature, and while not harshly judged outright, are generally scapegoated for malfeasance and wrongdoings because of their infernal heritage. In Klimmard, the ostracization of obvious planarkin is much more pronounced, with the capital city relegating the obvious planarkin to a segregated district due to long-standing and deeply rooted anti-planarkin sentiments dating back to the second age, regardless of type. Aasimar and tieflings included are treated with as much suspicion as geniekin in Klimmard. Tamsiri takes it even further, if a family births a planarkin child, the family is banished. Planarkin travelers in Tamsiri are not disallowed, but they are not allowed to establish any permanent ventures or residency within the woodlands.

Human-like planarkin meanwhile nearly invariably fit into the niche afforded by their apparent racial heritage, with Fetchlings falling within this classification only. The human-like descriptor doesn't necessarily mean actually human, but whatever half-race they are composed of beyond their planar heritage. While generally the human-like attribute is enough for someone to get by without needing to think much about it, due to the nature of Klimmard and Tamsiri, their efforts are a little more concerted. While there's a great deal of ostracization of obvious planarkin in Klimmard, the human-like ones operate a sort of secret society among the planarblooded families to help support themselves and their more 'pronounced' brethren in the Planar district.

The true irony being that despite the predominantly human-appearing population of Klimmard enacting a segregation of planarkin, nearly a third of the population otherwise is some form of planarblooded that have to enact persecution of their kind in order to maintain appearances and prevent the more fanatical true humans from inciting against them. The sitting ruler of Klimmard is a true human, but his wife and most of his advisors and assistants are planarkin. A similar planarkin assistance co-operative exists within Tamsiri, but they only exist within the common strata as the amount of investigation that goes into verifying bloodlines in the noble social stratum would out them as planarkin, but any support in a society that would otherwise banish them is better than nothing for those in need.

Beast and Monster

Beastmen Races: Catfolk, Gnolls, Grippli, Kitsune, Ratfolk, Tengu, Vanara, Kobolds, Wyvaran, Locathah, Lizardfolk are all present in some form, though they are generally clustered into their own tribal groups around the lands. Treated and considered as savages by the races of men for the most part, the reality is that many of them aren't too far removed from modern society, though their belief structures can vary greatly and the general attitude towards their mistreatment leads for mutual dislike, they aren't inherently uneducated and, in the rare cases a beastman or a family of becomes integrated into a city culture, they often find some relative measure of success equal to their mankin contemporaries. While they'll never hold an office or a major social position, there are a handful of successfully integrated beastmen groups around that make them a rare sight in cities around Veldt, though their limited presence also makes them easy to account for. Unknown beastmen wandering around are quick to draw attention and easily attract unwarranted hostility without the accompaniment of someone to vouch for them.

Many people won't deal with unknown beastmen directly, instead only dealing with an associate by proxy. Attitudes towards beastmen are much different in Tamsiri however, and while they're not openly accepted, they're also not treated with any more disdain than a non-elf would receive. Notable beastmen groups include the Blackfeathers in Klimmard, a Tengu-only flock-family that serve as a specialist reconnaissance unit; The Highwatchers, a Vanara exclusive guard regiment in Tamsiri, operating solely in the area of Kingtree as highly mobile point-defense guardsmen and excellent sharpshooters; Locathah are known to widely co-operate with Altamir in all affairs, to the point that the population figures of the islands include the beastmen. Unsubstantiated rumours suggest as well that there are some beastmen in service to the major merchant families of Halshe, but no reliable evidence has ever come forth.

In exception to all the above, Wyvaran are only included for completions sake, as the wyvaran analogue currently are isolated to the remote clutches of dragon holds, where they're the precursor development of the Drakhen, which are currently being purpose bred through what basically amounts to magical eugenics on behalf of the dragons themselves. The existence of wyvaran and the proto-Drakhen are nearly completely unknown, only a remote few individuals know about the existence of a dragon-man race and being that the species as a whole are thralled to their dragon masters, they are never seen anywhere their master doesn't want them to be.

Monstrous Humanoids: (Hob)Goblin, Orc, Centaur, Gillmen, Merfolk, Sahuagin, Cecaelia, Aquatic Elves fall within this category, though only goblins, hobs and orcs are primarily considered to be wholly incompatible with humanity, though in exceptional conditions a small few might prove otherwise. The centaurs, nearly as a whole, live in Klimmardi and Halshe steppelands where they enjoy relative status. Initially considered as a beastman in distant years past, they've effectively managed to separate themselves from the distinction and enjoy a better status, and due in part to their human-like component, enjoy some near-to-human levels of respect. Klimmard in particular is a major proponent of centaur inclusion, training and maintaining a regiment of centaur cavalry knights to supplement their other armed forces. Halshe is also fairly inclusive, though their acceptance of centaurs is largely to aid in their trade caravans as they can be fit with barding to draw carts and carriages that they are also able to defend without the need for a contingent of armed mercenaries. Despite this ostensible position of servitude as a beast of burden, the centaurs still see respect from Halshem people in their service and do not consider it degrading, though there is much less prestige than being a Klimmardi soldier.

All the aquatic races are present around the Altamir islands and the Rathin shorelines, with slight variance in acceptance. In Altamir, all the aquatic races co-operate to some degree with the surface races, and together they are the major causes of difficulty for non-Altamir watercraft trying to navigate the islands unmolested. With their own internal ecologies, supplemented by the landwalkers of the islands and goods supplied from piracy on the waters, very few of the aquatic races among the isles see reason to change, and their complicity in piracy and hostility towards foreign watercraft makes them unwelcome sights to mainlanders, though the fact they rarely stray from their oceans means little to those not living on the southern coasts. The temperament is different along the eastern coasts of Rathin however, where only Merfolk, Locathah, Sahuagun and Cecaelia live, and of them only the Sahuagin are reviled. The Locathah don't have the same social status they enjoy in Altamir, but the beastmen are considered allies by the Merfolk and Cecaelia, who in turn assist Rathin sailors and fishermen in both work and defense of the waters against Sahuagin and other aquatic threats. The aquatic folk are fairly common sights in the waters and some limited contact further inland, though none venture more than a few miles from the coast except in particularly extraordinary circumstances.


Outliers and Oddities: Skinwalkers, Changelings, Duskwalkers, various Deepkin (Duergar, Drow, Svirfneblin, Caligni), Lamurian consist of unusual races that exist in some capacity but are largely not understood by the people or practically unknown but may turn up from time to time among the societies of Veldt, and have unusual origins that can't be easily replicated or simply a society entirely removed from normal surface happenings.

Skinwalkers are created when Hahkten 'blesses' a mortal with his 'gift'. There is often no explanation why, but the transformative ability given to them leads the various civilizations to see them as some kind of advanced beastman able to take the form of a man rather than the implicit reverse, which leads to equivalent treatment should they be outed as a 'beastshifter' in common society. A skinwalker that becomes discovered often faces the indignity of being branded in most places in order to prevent them from being able to successfully hide their nature should they relocate. They are otherwise treated as beastmen if 'known'.

Changelings as a concept are a relative unknown to Herious, as Hags operate out of unusual society and their behaviour patterns are more secular when dealing with their progeny. A changeling otherwise operates as per normal, but there is a much stronger draw in their life towards a particular area in order to reconvene with their Hag mother at a point where their power is strongest so the changeling can be enticed to join the monstrous community. There is often very little chance to actually understand the true blood connection between a Hag and their changeling daughter, as those that accept the deal usually do so to the death of any companions and are never heard from again, and those that reject it simply destroy the Hag and any other monsters and continue on with their lives never knowing the truth.

Duskwalkers are included simply for the sake of possibility, though their actual existence is only known to a handful of the highest faithful of Kalmor. The Duskwalkers that do exist are a group of five Chosen of Kalmor, explicitly chosen by the god to be removed from the Cycle of Souls to serve as his hand on Herious in pursuit of the machinations of Jurseit and other dark gods that are experimenting with means of trapping, stealing or otherwise enslaving mortal souls either from their host or from the Cycle itself. The Five are generally unchanging and are resurrected by Kalmor should they be slain, but the god isn't above changing members if a more promising 'recruit' catches his eye.

Deepkin races exist, having been a major society in the early ages of the world, though the fracturing of the land caused a large amount of their subterranean caverns and tunnels to flood and destroy a significant amount of their original land, they've since expanded greatly. The subterrane of Veldt isn't nearly as expansive as Nayli, but it's still large enough to support a population of Deepkin large enough to legitimately threaten the surface if they decided to invade, to say nothing of the various secrets and powers they can command with the time they've had to themselves and their explorations. Rarely do any venture to the surface for long, and those that do often take measures to conceal their appearance.

As for the Lamurian, well, you know.

Otherwise

If a race isn't mentioned somewhere here, it's either a hard no (explicitly, Dhampir and Android), expressly perma-hostile (Strix, Trox) or exceptionally limited to the point where you could probably count their population on one hand. In the latter case that doesn't necessarily exclude them from PC use, but understand that the main caveat is that at base, you will be distrusted and will have a significant difficulty getting yourself any kind of proper certification or acknowledgement by any authoritative body and limit your options for legitimate work (e.g. being on a Library expeditionary team). Further complications could arise depending on the exact race in question, and they'd absolutely have to originate from somewhere near a manawell that has weakened the veil.