The History of the World

Ancient History
In ancient history, Alancria formed as a massive chain of interlocking islands of various sizes, stretched and mashed together by tectonic plates. The seas, lakes, and rivers intermingled freely with larger landmasses, forming natural boundaries as well as diverse geographic climates and ecosystems. The entirety of Alancria easily contained enough space for the inception of intelligent life, and it was during these first few millennia that the progenitors of Alancrian races arose in the Dreadlands, a vast desert which stretched across much of what is now southwestern Alancria. Those progenitors began to roam across thousands of miles, and eventually evolution saw them diverge into several different races.

Elves
The elves arose in the forests of Tymbrael, far to the north, making their ancestral home among the peculiarly gargantuan trees native to the region. The Elvish evolutionary path took into consideration the dangerous competition resulting from their chosen region of settlement - countless monolithic predators resided within the unexplored depths of Ordin Wood, constantly challenging the fledgling species for dominance. As such, elvish hearing and sight grew sharp over time, and their frames became agile and lighter to reduce sound and aid in rapid flight. As they expanded from the epicenter of the massive woodlands, they encountered Alancria's western coast, and spent centuries extending their mastery to the frigid northern seas. The elves continued to embrace the cold, venturing further to the north and taming the hardy breed of wild horse that roamed the northwestern tundra, eventually domesticating them into a powerful economic and military asset in the later millennia.

Orcs
The orcs migrated to the icy northern wastes, burrowing under the thick sheets of ice to survive. Their hardy furs, rigid tusks, brute strength, and powerful low-light vision evolved as a natural deterrent to the bleak climate that demanded apex hunters and savage ferocity. As millennia passed, they burrowed back up from the glacial mass unrecognizable from the progenitor race that first arrived. Eventually, the orcs established a nomadic culture, venturing across the wastes in search of food, using the native, rugged oxen as mounts. Orcish settlements sprung up, but were always swiftly abandoned as the nomads continued to wander across many miles of northern terrain, chasing prey and shelter. Among the other Alancrian races, orcs were unique in their willingness to hunt and eat just about anything they could find. Their civilization continued relatively unchanged for several hundred years, remaining a nomadic hunting culture until the technological advancement of Alancria in relatively recent centuries allowed for a sudden shift in orcish society.

Gnomes
The progenitors that became the gnomes realized a stroke of geographical good fortune, managing to stumble across a blessedly fertile river delta that became known in later millennia as the Basin. Miles upon miles of farmland were soon established by the progenitor race, and gradually evolution shortened them, reducing their stature to bring them closer to the ground they toiled over. In early millennia, gnomish civilization thrived, swiftly becoming a beacon of culture and society that slowly diminished as other races began to organize and exploit the natural geography around their own settled lands. Relatively untroubled by the rise of other peoples and nations, the gnomes continued an extended period of peace and prosperity for much of their collective lifespan. Gnomes experienced no harsh conditions or predators, and focused their efforts on extensively developing the land within their rough borders. In recent centuries, however, the gnomish people have become stagnant; though their initial success put them potentially hundreds of years ahead of other cultures and civilizations, their ease of life also reduced the driving need of progress and technological advancement, ultimately forcing the race into a subordinate position in historical events as a whole.

Dwarves
The dwarves traveled further to the east, settling along the rocky mountains and jagged coastline of southeastern Alancria, exploring - and eventually becoming lost in - a massive network of caves and caverns that extended deep into the earth's crust. From there, dwarves followed one of the most diverse evolutionary paths from the common ancestry of the world's other races. Their prolonged isolation underground - continuing even to present day - lead millennia of evolutionary modification to warp their physical forms to best maneuver in the cramped tunnels of their homes. Dwarves are stout and broad, with pale skin, tiny, heavy-set eyes, large teeth, claws, and strange, fleshy facial hair that is prehensile in nature. Dwarves share a common nonverbal language of seismic activity, using the clicks, taps, scraping of their teeth, feet, or claws to communicate via innate tremor-sense across fair distances. Dwarven facial expressions are mostly static, with the race instead showing depth of emotion via this language, as well as the waving of its prehensile hair. As they are incredibly sensitive to light, dwarves spend most of their time underground even today, with very little to no natural lighting. In the millennia that followed, the dwarves sent several of their species to the surface to make contact with other races, while deep below they continued to harvest the earth's bounties directly, in the form of valuable ore and massive quantities of stone and other precious metals.

Goblins
Goblins are a diverse species distantly descended from orcs. There are many forms of goblinoid, with Leiterkris being the most common breed, constituting almost half of all Alancrian goblins. Leiterkris goblins have short legs and long arms and torsos, using their powerful upper bodies to scale cliffs and canyons. Initially, Leiterkris cities were built as massive hives in the sides of mountains in the range to the southeast of the Basin, but over time many goblins have flowed outwards from these mega-cities into the flatlands. They are somewhat light sensitive, but have grown somewhat accustomed to sunlight over the millennia. Their large eyes, ears, and flared bat-like noses grant them hyper receptive senses. Leiterkris are shorter than gnomes, with the longest arm to body ratio in Alancria. Walking is a practice for them, and it is not uncommon for them to support themselves with their arms as they move across flat ground. The goblin population exploded a few centuries after the race settled its ancestral home, and their massive population remains their largest asset throughout history.

The tieflings, called the Cuernobites ...

The aasimar, called the Kulebarn ...

The raptoran, called the Daedalites ...

-- Add any additional races here - the intent is to cover every single race that PC could play as --

Humans
In contrast, the progenitors of humanity remained in the Dreadlands for many millennia, forming into various tribal sects. All human life began at one point within one of the several groups which roamed the gigantic wasteland, and many of the tribes who eventually sought life elsewhere became the Nan'xin League, the Dauntinians, the Aeternians, the swamp-dwellers known as the Enclave, and other smaller human settlements across Alancria.

Halzuni
Ten tribes remained within the Dreadlands, culturally bound by their shared geopolitical climate. These ten sects eventually became the Halzuni, the nomadic, barbaric peoples whose endless inter-tribal clashes painted the sands with generations of blood, and eventually forged many of Alancria's most peerless warriors. The tribes each began to worship a different totem creature, further diversifying them over the centuries: the Snake, the Bear, the Condor, the Lion, the Horse, the Rhino, the Tiger, the Wolf, the Bull, and the Wyrm. These ten tribes warred nigh-constantly, giving little thought to the world outside the Dreadlands and entering into various states of fragmenting alliances and ambitious treatises. Attempts to unify the tribes failed repeatedly over the years, while the rest of Alancria looked on in concern - for if anyone managed to unite all ten tribes, they would be nearly unstoppable.

Dauntinians
Dauntinians settled in epicenter of Alancria, nestled neatly between both coasts and surrounded by varying geographical features. At first, their settlements were widespread and not very interconnected, but their numbers quickly boomed due to a period of relative peace, and trade flourished, bringing new ideas alongside traditional goods and services. Feudal states soon began to form, and after several centuries finally united into a single sovereign nation under a powerful monarchy. Though initially much of the continent was wild and untamed, Dauntinians fought tooth and nail to explore, exploit, and establish borders over the world, and - through a strong central government - managed to retain their grip on what would eventually become Alancria's single largest nation, both in terms of physical land and total population.

Nan'xin
The sect of humanity that traveled the furthest from the Dreadlands did so before the land bridge connecting the largest eastern island broke off from the remainder of the continent. These hardy people marched across thousands of miles of rugged terrain - much further than Alancria's other racial groups - occasionally enduring coastal squalls, inhospitable northern temperatures, and the imposing heat of the eastern jungles. At nearly every turn, they were forced to fight past the natural land's predators and trek through untamed wilderness, until at last they chose to make their homes in the jungles, plains, and valleys of the eastern continent. Whether it was exhaustion, tenacity, or a cultural longing that drove the decision, the easterners who became known as the Nan'xin learned to coexist with some of Alancria's deadliest predators, isolated from the rest of the world by a vast sea.

Aeternians
Of the groups of humanity that departed their ancestral home, the Aeternians are arguably the oddest. The Aeternians left the Dreadlands last, and were thus considered a "lost" tribe of Halzuni - the Falcon tribe. They followed after the Dauntinians and Nan'xin only about two centuries later, and in doing so, they abandoned much of their Halzuni heritage. Aeternians formed a faith and culture totally unique to them - that of ancestor worship, revolving around the concept of eternal servitude to the people. This sect of humanity settled south of a gargantuan, nearly impassable mountain range from which a large river flowed, taking advantage of the borders imposed by the natural terrain. Aeternian society developed rapidly as its people began establishing permanent residences, and a strong focus on farming and metallurgy helped cement the sect's relative self-sufficiency. For many centuries thereafter, Aeternian society was closed off to the rest of the continent's races and cultural groups, and remained a relative mystery.

Summary
For centuries, the races of Alancria continued their slow expansion across the continent. In the year 1237, these titans are at last beginning to struggle for power across the continent and world at large.

Axian Influence - Deep Crystal
Underneath the Dreadlands, and for miles in every direction, there exist massive deposits of deep crystal, a substance prized after its eventual discovery by humanity for its resilience, strange, luminescent beauty, and interesting interactions with different types of magical and psionic energy. Deep crystal is said to be "sentient", of a sort - like jellyfish or coral, the substance has basic, limited awareness, and is, by all accounts, a living being. Deep crystal is also highly reactive; introducing foreign energy types to deep crystal causes varied effects, ranging from nigh-instant, powerful rejections to complete and total nullification or absorption.