Editing Magipunk:Setting (section)

=== Human Supremacy ===

Passion has its profound effects only on humans. Elves are, as ever, mildly affected by it, and the other races not at all. The other races saw humanity dramatically outpacing them in every magical area. 

The Orcs fared the worst. They had traditionally lived in badlands, the sort of area that no army could succesfully penetrate without being bled dry by guerilla tactics. But that was before plentiful mana allowed humans to see perfectly in the night, to destroy entire settlements with magefire, to kill Orcs from beyond bow-range. Nobles seeking glory launched a series of genocidal campaigns against the Orcs, reducing their population to less than 5% of its pre-Passion high. 

Similarly, Dragons were hunted basically to extinction. When one awoke from its slumber to raze the countryside now, it was greeted by magic powerful enough to knock it from the sky and burn it to mere bones. 

Elves, on the other hand, had an expertise that humanity desperately needed: The ability to make Passion. Elves were assimilated: their secluded forests first invaded by tradesmen, and then their people tempted with offers of ludicrous wealth to move ever closer to the centers of human industry in order to more efficiently serve the needs of the Church-Mills. Humanity held Elves with a powerful carrot and stick: those who cooperated were rewarded with the benefits of living as an upper-class individual in the magic-rich human society. Behind that was the unstated but ever-felt threat that what happened to Orcs could happen to Elves, too; humans can produce Passion themselves, if they need to. 

The Dwarves, seeing the fate of the Orcs and the Elves, withdrew from the world. They abandoned their trading posts and shallower mines, and withdrew to their cities deep beneath the mountain, hoping to escape the long arm of humanity. Thus far, they have been succesful.