Editing Durgaz's Stuff he knows (section)

==HISTORY==
===Elves===
The elves are more like the elder fey than any of the
other fey races of Eredane, both physically and culturally.
They are a slight race, lithe, quick, and agile. They are all
children of nature, and even with their ancient culture and
powerful magic, they still live close to the wilds as part of the
Great Forest. They are a unified people, allied not only to
tribes or family groups but instead to a single royal line that
rules over all of Erethor. The racial devotion to their High
Queen Aradil is akin to worship, and though there is a large
and powerful Council of the Throne, it seldom opposes
Aradil’s will. Despite this greater shared history and culture,
there remain various subraces of elvenkind, each with its own
unique physical traits and ways of life.

====Caransil (Wood Elves)====
The elves of central Erethor, the Caransil or wood
elves, are the most widespread and familiar of the woodland
fey. They range from the southern Highhorns, eastward to the
Plains of Eris Aman and the Westlands, and south to the
Aruun Jungle. Their skin is the beautiful brown of ino tree
wood, and their hair tends to be long, shiny, and black. Their
eyes are large and dark, and they are the tallest of the elves.
They wear a variety of clothes, from the dark and mottled
camouflage leathers of a scout’s kit to the sunset brilliance of
a courtier’s elaborate silks.
These elves live in enormous maudrial, or homewood,
trees that have been coaxed to grow in elegant but useful
domestic shapes by age-old spells. The Caransil eat mostly
fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. They supplement their
diets with rabbits and grouse raised in family hutches and
with river fish from the Gamaril and Felthera.
The wood elves are traditionally the artists, philosophers,
and craftsmen of Erethor. They are also the lineage
from which have come the greatest sorcerers and battle
mages of recent times. Their warriors carry longbows and
longswords.

====Danisil (Jungle Elves)====
These elves of the southern reaches of Erethor, where
temperate forest gives way to tropical jungle, are small,
slight, and ebony skinned. Historians speculate that they may
be the elven line from which the halflings were born. The
uninitiated consider the Danisil “feral elves,” but their culture
is as sophisticated as that of their cousins. Many of Erethor’s
most powerful druids are of the Danisil lineage.
Their hair is dark and coarse and typically worn in short
dreadlocks. Their eyes are black and so narrow that the
whites barely show. They dress in loose shorts and brightly
painted vests, but when hunting, they wear only layers of
river mud to hide them from both sight and scent. Adults typically
adorn their faces and arms with strangely beautiful patterns
of ritualistic scarring. The scars are said to frighten
away evil spirits.
The Danisil live in boa-bil groves along the many small
rivers of the Aruun Jungle. Their druids enchant vines to form
large slings that suspend their tiny huts high in the jungle
canopy. They live off the fruits of the forest but are also cunning
hunters. They are good fishermen and use fleets of delicate
canoes to fish and hunt along their rivers.
The jungle elves have mastered the use of poison
arrows and have developed several toxic elixirs uniquely
effective against orcs. They also carry wide curved fighting
knives called sepi. Izrador’s invaders learned long ago to fear
these ugly little blades, but have little need to venture into the
dark Aruun; the fell demons of that place fight on Izrador’s
behalf without the dark god having to expend a single soldier.



====Gnomes====
The gnomes are a clever and resourceful race. Though
it is well known that they share ancient kin with the dwarves,
even the Kurgun do not like to claim responsibility for the lineage.
Gnomes are barely taller than halflings, with only a
slightly stouter build. They are bronze skinned but pale eyed,
with jet black hair that they keep short as they are constantly
in and out of the water.
Gnomish culture and history are characterized by their
adaptable nature. Their nimble outlook on life allowed them
to first move from mountain life to that of the coastal hills of
the Ebon Sea, and from there to become adroit seafarers and
river runners. Though forced to flee before the onslaught of
the Dornish invasions, their solicitous demeanors and mercenary
hearts allowed them to return to their conquerors bearing
little ill will and offering their services as merchants and
guides. The gnomes even welcomed the Sarcosans, knowing
that they could stand to make a profit as the newcomers’
liaisons to the fey.
Through all these years and new trading partners, the
gnomes always knew that their conquerors longed only for
land and goods. With the coming of Izrador, this is not the
case. They cannot fool themselves into believing that the orcs
and their dark god will be content to let the survivors of the
wars live their lives in peace; whatever the eventual goals of
the Shadow, the gnomes know that Eredane cannot survive
the heavy-plated burden of his orcs and the dark mantle of his
legates. But the river fey’s strength was not in war. So, as
always, they bowed before their new masters and offered to
serve.
Or so it seemed.
Though the race has been subjugated along with the
halflings, gnomes continue to enjoy a sort of freedom. Even
the forces of the Shadow need to transport cargo and soldiers,
and the river barges of the gnomes suit this purpose well. The
orcs and legates suffer the existence of the gnome barges so
long as they move only cargoes in Izrador’s name, while the
traitor princes and the false sussars give them free reign so
long as they receive the first pick of choice goods from afar.
Most other races see the cost of this semi-freedom as
the worst kind of enemy collaboration. What few realize is
that the gnomes fight the dark god in their own way: as consummate
spies and smugglers. It is their secret trade that
keeps weapons, magic, and information flowing among the
free races of Eredane.
Gnomes wear loose pants and garish vests marked with
the trader seal of their family. Rafters carry sharp daggers
hidden in their belts and use small crossbows to spear pike or to protect their crews from hungry river eels. When they get
the odd chance to turn their crossbows on the occasional orc,
the weapons prove both stealthy and lethal.

====Halflings====
Halflings are a race of tiny folk that some believe
descended from the Danisil lineage of southern elvenkind.
They call themselves the Dunni, or “the people” in their own
tongue. They are almost as dark skinned as the Danisil, with
the same coarse hair worn in small, intricate braids that mark
their tribal membership. Their eyes range from common
black to dark brown and green.
Where still free-living, the nomadic tribes dwell on the
open plains in large hide tents they share with their extended
families. The farming families have almost been wiped out by
the advance of the Shadow, but a few groups still remain
along the southeastern margins of Erethor. They dwell in
cozy sod villages kept alive through their exceptional horticultural
skills and the watchful presence of their wogren
companions.
Halflings wear durable clothes of leather and fine, intricately
woven wool. Sadly, most halflings now live in slavery,
captured and forced to work in the occupied cites or military
camps of Izrador’s armies. The free-living feed on their livestock
and crops, while the enthralled survive off what scraps
they can scrounge, beg, or steal. The halfling weapon of
choice is the spear, with which they protect their flocks, hunt
wild boar, and skewer the occasional orc.

====Orcs====
The '''odrendor''', or orcs as the men and fey of Aryth call
them, are an abominable race created by the black will of
Izrador. Though scholars only suspect it and every dwarf
would savagely deny it, orcs and the dwarves share a common
elder fey lineage. In the prehistory of the Kaladrun
Mountains, a large clan of the elthedar was exiled by their kin
and found succor in the embrace of the Shadow in the North.
In the eons that followed, they were corrupted to Izrador’s
cause and transformed into the foul beings they have become.
Orcs are huge creatures, sometimes twice the size of
their dwarf ancestors and bigger even than the Dorns. They
are heavily muscled, with broad builds and powerful limbs.
Their thick hides are tough and range from light stony gray to
coal black. Their hair is tawny and manelike, growing over
their heads, along their spines, and down their chests to their
groins. Their large black eyes are hooded and protected by
thick, bony brows. Their jaws are large and strong, with tusklike
lower canines. Orcs are impressive creatures and even
beautiful in a way that only fearsome predators can be.
In the lands of the far north, orcs still live in deep
mountain caves and rough-hewn, underground warrens.
There they are directed by and pay homage to orc priestesses,
the kurasatch udareen, “the mother-wives of Izrador.” They
consume anything edible, including their own dead, but get
most of their food from hunting the surface lands at night or
by raiding their enemies. Immune to all but the coldest
weather, orcs seldom wear more than weapon belts and
armor. In conquered Erenland, orcs have taken over human
cities, turning large buildings into meeting halls, communal
barracks, and storage depots. They feed and resupply from
the tribute they demand of their human subjects and relish the
occasional meal of human or halfling flesh.
Orc forces are garrisoned in cites throughout Erenland,
and orc armies war with the elves in the west and the dwarves
in the east. Large orc patrols range across the heartland, subjugating
their human thralls and hunting spies, smugglers,
and insurgents. In short, they are the enemies of all other people
of Eredane.
Occasionally, as rare an event as an eclipse or a comet,
an orc’s mind will expand enough to present a glimmer of an
idea: that there are other options. No one knows what allows
an orc to move past his base instincts to slaughter and serve.
Some may feel a particular hatred toward their oruk captains
or the legates they must serve. Others are shocked and confused
upon witnessing acts of kindness by other races. Some
are simply desperate criminals among their own people. In
any case, these orcs most often have little choice but to obey
their masters or suffer the same fate as those of the other races
who resist Izrador’s will. On some occasions, however, these
orcs find themselves in the position to escape the army and to
try to make a new life elsewhere. Such orcs are often turned
in by citizens bent on revenge for the mistreatment of their
people, but sometimes these refugees are welcomed not only
for the muscle they provide but also for their skills in dealing
with others of their kind.
Orc warriors, whether servants of the Shadow or hunted
by their own kind, take great pride in their fighting
prowess. They make cuts along their arms for each foe they
kill in battle, with different shapes for the race of each victim.
The arms of warchiefs are usually covered in such marks
from hand to shoulder, and at least half the marks are for
killing other orcs. Orcs favor large spears they can both throw
and use as thrusting weapons. They also carry heavy iron
swords with blunt but serrated edges called vardatches. These
weapons are slow but brutal and so heavy that the smaller fey
races can hardly lift them.