Human
From Mizahar Lore
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| abilities = Can survive in most environments | | abilities = Can survive in most environments | ||
| - | | population = | + | | population = 150,000 |
| common = All regions, mainly [[Sylira]] and [[Cyphrus]] | | common = All regions, mainly [[Sylira]] and [[Cyphrus]] | ||
| reputation = Ambitious, bold, resourceful | | reputation = Ambitious, bold, resourceful | ||
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}} | }} | ||
| - | '''Humans''' are the most prolific race on the continent of [[Mizahar]], accounting for about | + | '''Humans''' are the most prolific race on the continent of [[Mizahar]], accounting for about 60% of the total population of 250,000. They are also considered the oldest race, since many of the current races have only existed since the [[Valterrian]] and others were modeled after them. Humans are believed not to be native to Mizahar, and to have come from another place, though they have changed much over the millennia as they received various gifts from the gods. In the post-Valterrian age, Humans are trying to form a new world order, or trying to keep that from happening. |
==History== | ==History== | ||
Revision as of 21:07, 31 July 2009
 | |
| Height | 5'-7' |
|---|---|
| Weight | Varies wildly |
| Lifespan | 40-100 years depending on environment and subrace |
| Abilities | Can survive in most environments |
| Population | 150,000 |
| Most common in | All regions, mainly Sylira and Cyphrus |
| Reputation | Ambitious, bold, resourceful |
| Racial gods | They worship all the gods |
| Subraces | TBD |
Humans are the most prolific race on the continent of Mizahar, accounting for about 60% of the total population of 250,000. They are also considered the oldest race, since many of the current races have only existed since the Valterrian and others were modeled after them. Humans are believed not to be native to Mizahar, and to have come from another place, though they have changed much over the millennia as they received various gifts from the gods. In the post-Valterrian age, Humans are trying to form a new world order, or trying to keep that from happening.
Contents |
History
Curiously, the past of the most widespread race is one of the more mysterious because it stretches into times when writing did not exist yet. Myths from all over Mizahar, shared by independent cultures, do indicate that Humans are not native to Mizahar, though their homeland differs depending on which version one is listening to - some place it elsewhere on the planet, others say they came from the stars, or another world entirely. If the legends are to be believed, they reached Mizahar at the whim of a powerful deity, possibly because their homeland had been utterly destroyed. Most versions of the myth hint that men were the cause of their own destruction, and the few survivors were seeking to start over elsewhere.
These early Humans are generally called Protohumans. They resembled today's man but were taller and more heavily built, mostly because their early days on Mizahar were one battle after another, and the weak were not allowed to live. While Humans had been granted their wish for a new land, it did not come to them in wrapping paper. The continent was a wild thing, dominated by monsters the likes of which are rarely witnessed today except in the most abyssal corners of the land. Each day was a day stolen from death. Hatchets and crude arrows fought against poisonous claws, strange magical powers and giant beasts.
Still, the Humans persisted. It is said that the gods were impressed with their determination in the face of desperate odds, and it was then that they started walking among mortals, dispensing gifts in exchange for worship. Lore, knowledge, magic, craft were imparted to the people, until they were capable of fending off their enemies. The major turning point was Qalaya, goddess of memory, gifting mankind with writing. It was then that the true history of Humans began.
Within a few millennia, they had conquered a majority of Mizahar, and the threat from vicious monsters had vastly decreased. With no overwhelming common enemy to band against, however, the unity of men slowly weakened as particular interests and personal ambitions emerged. The very help that the gods had provided, requiring worship in return, had fragmented them into factions, cults and brotherhoods. Before long, this stateless society collapsed and turned into a multitude of independent territories, tribes, fiefdoms and city-states. The war against the monsters was over, only to be replaced by a new war against each other.
Slowly, century after century, the lesser states were crushed or annexed by the greater. Two mighty nations emerged several millennia before the Valterrian - Suvan in the west and Alahea in the east. Suvan conquered with military might, violence and effective if brutal leadership. Alahea imposed itself with cultural dominance and propaganda, using espionage and magic to get other nations to surrender without fighting. As soon as the two Empires got rid of the competition, they turned to each other and started an endless war for final supremacy over the continent. This war would rage, with varying intensity, over thousands of years. It would finally escalate into the cataclysmic Valterrian which almost destroyed Mizahar. The colonization-destruction cycle that had claimed mankind's previous homeland - and maybe others before it - came very close to a repeat, and the world has not been safe ever since.