This is absolutely not obligatory to read. It is just here for helping and other non-important stuff. [b][u]Races list:[/b][/u] This is the list of races currently around. [hider=Girfahl (Kinkaz)] Name: Girfahl Description: The Girfahl are merely gryphons (that is, animals with head and wings of an eagle and body of a lion) [img=http://lekia.webs.com/gryphon2.jpg] The Girfahl are based on their mythical counterparts but adapted for intelligence. They are very muscular and bulky and are especially so on their legs but their arms are more slendy. This allows them to stand in two feet, but not for prolonged amounts of time. Because of their musculature, they need a lot of food and they like living mostly alone. They also don’t like having many children because they eat the food. Since they have wings, they can fly, but their musculature doesn’t allow them to fly very far and they mostly fly up to 10 meters above the ground and 200 meters. Finally, although they find vegetables alright to eat, they must eat meat. Not doing so will cause serious health problems in the future. Evolution: (I suppose the dark green areas in the map are forests) The Girfahl came from the western forests. Their gryphon ancestors had similar musculature but the trees were much stronger than what they are now. The series of climate changes forced many Girfahl to migrate for places where their nests wouldn’t simply fall down. Those who migrated eventually found themselves into mountains and struggled to adapt to the arid mountains but they eventually found themselves a new home. A perfect homeland. A lake in the middle of the mountain, where they could have all the fish they wanted and put their nests over there. Eventually both those who staid in the forest and those who migrated found themselves with the problem that even with the adaptations, the nests could still be easily hunted down. They began to resort to their brains and began to make small “walls” to defend their nests. These “walls” eventually developed into houses. The Girfahl living in the forest were the first to do this because there were too many creatures trying to hunt down their eggs, but eventually the ones living in the lakes resorted to the same tactics. This marked the beginning of the first Girfahl tribes, even though most of them were about 6-8 members big. It wasn’t all perfect for the Girfahl tribes. Apart from the sociability process they had to go through, they also had to face the problem of the mothers giving too many sons. This eventually devolved into infanticide, and even today the tribes might only have three or four children at maximum. This problem of sociability and infanticide was further agraved by the glacier era. While those who lived on the forest simply began using fire, adapting their shelters and even forming small villages, it wasn’t so simple for those living in the lakes. During that time, much of their sacred lake was frozen. Many died during this period, others migrated and those who remained tended to be very aggressive. This marked the difference between the intelligent forest natives and the warrior-like mountaineers. After the glacier era came to a conclusion, it was easy to re-adapt to life as it once was for the foresters. The huge prey that died was replaced by smaller life but they still hunted them down. This allowed for slightly more prosperity, which allowed the small villages to grow into larger villages* and even began to form their own governments. And although the mountaineers restored themselves to their former numbers, they still hold with them their aggressiveness. Now, fast forward to 1500 B.C, the exchange between the foresters and the mountaineers was more frequent, and many on the mountains have realized how lovely their brothers are living and how, in comparison, their mountains are miserable. The mountaineers began to push into the forests and attack the foresters. The attacks by the mountaineers made the land look poor in animals and plants since they now fed more people. Those living in the northern side of the river soon realized the gravity of the situation and around 1000 B.C, they began taking care of the plants and also began cutting wood to help the plants to grow and try to adapt the soil by irrigating it. This marked the beginning of limited agriculture for the Girfahl, and the new farms soon allowed them to grow even stronger. Around 500 B.C, a legendary warrior from the mountains arrived named Erraj. He invaded much of the western forest and became the first king of Uskxea. His friends eventually became rivals after he died and they soon broke up the kingdom. A counter-attack by a forester tribe expelled the Uskxeans from the north of the river, but gave them complete dominance in the south. This allowed the south to become a series of short-lived large kingdoms, while the north had more stability but at the most a nation had a village or two. The history of the mountains is far more mundane since most of the people living there still don’t know much about the forests and the mountaineers still live like their former ancestors. Many of those who listen about the living conditions of the west try to migrate there, but due to the hard weather in between, most of the people die. Strengths: Since the Girfahls need to protect their nests from outer dangers, they began building houses and therefore are good miners (in the case of the mountaineers) and builders. In addition, their strength makes them excellent warriors (especially for the mountaineers) *A village can be considered as places where there are about 80 persons living and towns where there are 175. In addition, there are a couple of hamlets and settlements (hamlets are 30 around 30 people and settlements are about 15). The amount of hamlets triples the amount of villages and the amount of settlements is the double of hamlets. Just in case you are asking, there are about 20000 Girfahl on this world (including those living in the tribes) Weaknesses: The Girfahli nations tend to be very isolative and don’t care much about what’s going around the world. In addition, they don’t tend to take insults very well. Because only recently they have discovered farming, they also have little experience with farming and animal husbandry and the forests don’t give them much space to practice their agriculture. Location: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jn9DW3Z.jpg[/IMG] The areas in dark grey are nations ruled by eastern mountaineers. The areas in gray are the areas ruled by the foresters. The inner black line is the definitive extent of the whole Girfahli species. The outer black line is also the extent of the Girfahli species, but they will be removed if someone claims them. [/hider] [hider=Pegasi (Dinh AaronMk] Name: Pegasid Description: The pegasid are a derivative of land-based equines with an adaptation for flight, such that is had taken them from the ancestral steppe ecosystems and into more distant and diverse ranges, particularly focused in the mountains where they've resided behind cloud curtains. The trials and tribulations of landing however have not done well on normal hooves which rapidly favored a divergence towards heavy-hoofed and sturdy legs to prevent them from breaking from too hard a landing, and mountain ranging as in many favored a flexibility in the hoof like a goat, if to even the point of handling objects in them. [img=http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/171/a/a/zhayedan_of_pegasid_by_aaronmk-d7n9nvs.png] Evolution: Commentators of a more modern mindset might observe a likely biological link between the Girfahl and the Pegasus that lead to the genetic mutation that ultimately favored flight, and through a process of elimination and adaptation the hybrid species managed to take wing as a functioning, breeding population that quickly diverged from their terrestrially based counterparts. The ability of flight served to only extend their range beyond the cold steppe wilderness they once called home and successive generations later wound up across a large number of different habitats, often ranging alongside others. The core of structure of their society arose with the adaptation of agricultural practices by other species, likely taken in raid – although the details are well lost – against another. The general concept of sedimentary farming and cultivating native resources marked a transition some ten thousand years ago from a still migratory life-style that had evolved to simple raid to sedimentary practice centered on the farming of grass and grain crops. Simple milling processes allowed for the refining of the end product to part the nutrient rich elements from the waste product, which further caused a shift in the energies from survival to the focuses of civilization. Over the next several thousand years a cultural evolution would evolve through the Pegasi numbers marking a preference in life-style or ranging territories. In the spans of their original homeland would rise the Manegri civilization which clung to the old ideas of migration and living off the land. In the mountains arose the Buraq civilization who had found fertility at the cloud lines to carve and construct terraces in the rocky loams to construct a civilization in the cliffs and the valleys of green mountains. And along the shores arose the Pysidea civilization which had achieved a sort of cosmopolitan style of living in a symbiotic relationship with others. Definition within the civilizations would gradual further define and break down the cultural ties into more specific cultural units or political units as the roll of city-states arose and eventually wide-spread governance in feudal politics or tribal relationships. The Three Tongues came to be, and the Three Faiths. Behavior between the civilizations varies based on what's culturally accepted, though unifying praise for "deeds of awesome" ranges unanimously between the Pegasi. But cultural specifics reign through out, and even the more localized cultures have adapted significantly different mannerisms of their own. Some large differences in behavior between the larger civilization brackets: The Manegria keep to the nomadic life-style their ancestors have for eons. They hold the idea of family above all others and will fight and die among themselves for family honor or right. Clans are built on the tightly interwoven inter-familial relationships through marriages between them and many nets can be considerably large. When not seeking greener pastures they may partake in regular raids against each other or on the outside to bring in wealth and resources otherwise unavailable to them. The kingdoms of the Baruq nations hold to a high rung the art of being a warrior and poetry. Following the ideology of Soarastrianism, their creed is "Do awesome, think awesome, speak awesome". To outsiders this has often made the Baruqid kingdoms narcissistic at best. Though traditions of hard hunts against dangerous prey has forged a strong lineage of adept and physically tested warriors. And like the Pysidean they had grounded themselves with agriculture and have built from it a homeland and civilization carved from the high rock of their mountain abodes. The Pysidean are terrestrially based and in partnership with one or more different races are a part of a Pegasid-oriented civilization. The fruits of their labors born in the vineyards and raised in aristocratic estates. The Baruqid often accuse the Pysidean of abandoning the skies for living on the ground. And the Manegrian tribes likewise gentrify them for not partaking in great flights. Strengths: The root instincts of long-distance as found in the normal horse are still entwined in many which has lead to a consciousness for the distant. Like vultures, they can make long travel with little effort on their part, and are decent endurance fliers; as well physically durable. Weaknesses: A lack of formal fingers and thumbs hasn't done well. Though most tasks can be done simply with the mouth or trained balance, the lack of hands has made actual Pegasi craftsmen ship relatively poor. Often times crafts come big and broad with simplified details given a lack of motor dexterity. Awkwardness also restrains their finesse in fighting, and using hooves to strike down an opponent is very popular; otherwise what might be swept to the side with their legs or strapped to their side for a charge is their means to an end on the field. Location: [img=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/187/4/8/krazaz_rp_map1_by_aaronmk-d7pimbs.png] *Does not dictate the breakdown of kingdoms within. [/hider] [hider=Dubeeki/Zubeeki (AlienBastard)] Name: The Dubeeki/Zubeeki [alt name using in some major languages] Description: The Dubeeki are 9-12 feet tall bipedal creatures that have a head, but lack any neck instead having their vaguely shaped head fused into the shoulders. They are a mountain folk that have spread around much of the north western mountain frosts, and are highly resistant to the cold due to their pale, blurb proud hides and internal warmth. They have two tiny, circular eyes and a very heavy, lumbering build. However, the Dubeeki have a high requirement of food. They have a long, think lipless mouth normally obscured by fleshy folds beyond a horizontal slit across the lower part of the head. When they talk, they speak in set of muffled noises and hums, and only open their mouths when they eat. The nose of the Dubeeki consists of two large curved nostrils. Their legs can be described as trunk-like, but they aren't as stuff as they may seam. Their feet are surprisingly well suited for rugged terrain. Their arms are bulky, with large hands that could crush a skull that have four digits. They reproduce like mammals do, giving live birth after a long 25 month gestation period. And the kid can take decades before being being fully grown. But the Dubeeki can live a hundred years naturally- it's just that their constant infighting outside of places like Novgrad keeps populations low due to the higher amount of time it takes to replace. The strict monogamy practiced by the Dubeeki also arguably contributes to their stable population counts. Trying to draw a decent pic of them. May take a bit to get a good design out. Evolution: Evolutionarily as a species they come from the humanoid clade, but due to isolation in the micro habitats have independently developed blubber for a humanoid designs and grew to a thicker build as a result of storing so much fat. In time this fat also translated to strength and a yeti-like feorocity as multiple tribes of their species clashed for dominance of the mountains, some of which even migrating to other parts of the world [where there was mountains and coldness, or forests and coldness, places too warm will cause them to dehydrate fast and burn out from all the heat, some even suffer shock from the lack of cold due to the insulation the cold provides.]. They seem descended from races that historically migrated from the south and very likely have some relation to other humanoids in the area, although the distinct appearance of the Dubeeki makes this possibility unthinkable for anyone on the planet. In times before the rise of the Zubeeki empires, much of the mythology of the Zubeeki has the reoccurring theme of increased stability as each age came by, with the final age believed to be the age where the world will freeze once again, and order to the cosmos will be restored as will the balance of the sexes. In the early ages, intertribal warfare was endemic, and the balance was near impossible to maintain, causing mass despair. While the myths like to imagine there being once a age where the Zubeeki lived in absolute harmony- these are often seen as optimistic myths. There is a obsession in Dubeeki culture with keeping gender ratios as equal as possible in order to assure everyone has a mate, with some tribes even going to the extremes of killing a baby born of a gender that disrupts the balance- although normally the key solution is the typical marrying off the excess of which respective sex there is too many of with another tribe that has too many of the other gender when this is possible. Often a tribe's inequality is caused by death in hunting accidents or disease, and whenever this happens after mourning the dead the first thing a tribe will often do is try to absolve their gender balance before the imbalance gets far too out of hand. These traditions still can be seen in the empire of Nffgruud, which has a whole institution devoted towards keeping the balance and in the taiga city-states where killing disruptive spawn is institutionalized through the mate guard. There is known to be coastal cultures that have no regard for the balance, and live in a very fluid, but violence prone system of clans that follow family lines that make use of shields and hatchets and live off fish they fish on large rafts out in the arctic seas. Their societies are naturally, far more chaotic than the balanced societies because when one does not have a mate, they get violent. And once a mate is found, they do not part. If their mate dies, they do not look for a new one lest they break the balance for others. Dubeeki society is not that hierarchal, with the distribution of wealth even in the long lasting, cyclic and centralized kingdom of Novgrad being simply that the lord gets to retain twice the material items like ivory tusks or massive bones from the hunt that are etched in runes for good blessings and killing the hateful thoughts that plague much of Dubeeki consciousness where they do not belong. Despite the outward stability, Dubeeki internally are violent still, as their long history of inter-tribal warfare has shown. They are great at maintaining internal stability, but are very xenophobic except when it comes to issues that transcend mortal worries such as maintaining the balance. In spite of their maintenance of the balance and distribution of resources, from time to time there is epic explosions of war that can last decades usually caused by conflicts over the leader's choices being deemed counter to the interests of the whole by the families within a society- or at least that's the case in the forest city-states and the kingdom of Novgrad. The Dubeeki generally aren't agricultural beyond herding animals into pits in the taiga cultures. They store food using the ice, and use fire solely to defrost the food seeing no other application of it currently. After all, they can etch runes in a stone with a sharper rock. In terms of cultural philosophy, they believe that ice is the greatest material to ever exist. For them it's multi-functional, for it can stab beasts, make fortresses and houses, make statues and sculptures and as well preserve their past through runes in tombs of ice blocks stored within the caves where the temperature never will melt them. A well, making snow people is a common practice of adult and juvenile Zubeeki alike, with large armies of snow men silently guarding the palaces in Novgrad, armed with ice spears atop a stone fortress that is frozen over in you guessed it, ice. While they lack metallurgy, they make up for it by using ivory tools taken from the walruses that beach up on the frozen shores- of which is made regular use by the coastal and mountain cultures. This has resulted in the most advanced societies being concentrated in the far western mountains, with the nomadic primitives distributed throughout the vast peaks beyond. Novgrad is most notable in its tradition of hunting Walruses and mammoths, a tradition that had made Novgrad a natural enemy of the coastal clans, the Novgrad having to often engage in disputes with some clan. Such disputes have become ritualistic, and anticipated by both sides. The culture of Novgrad Dubeeki is very based in the concept of balance and cohesion, and the maintenance of both in order to keep the violent spew from breaking out. There is many long-winded fables that give antecedents on these concepts. Whereas the coastal clans believe the internal violence must be expressed, and that the violence and war is the truly natural state of life. In doing so they developed a culture of ritual warfare and ongoing mate-based conflict. The coastal clans are notable for their use of wood technologies, and even inventing copper tools which had given them a edge in fighting the other cultures. But due to the constant infighting never has the clans ever united against Novgrad or go on a conquering spree. Despite the lack of metallurgy, the cunning of the Zubeeki is not to be trifled with- they managed to make a civilization out of nothing but ice and stone, without agriculture, and barely with any fire. To assume the Dubeeki brutes is to throw one's self off the cliff. Strengths: Very strong and resistant to the cold, they can take a serious beating before being cut down and are for all it is worth, surprisingly high endurance for their bulky build being capable keeping up with those running away from them- making them very dangerous to quadrupeds of which are known to tire easy. They have big hands great for gripping and pounding as well, even if they're not that precise. Weaknesses: They don't make much use of fire, don't reproduce much and have serious pent up anger issues despite the outward purity that is typically kept by needing to make sure the gender ratio does not break 50/50 as much as possible. Oh, and they really despise temperature conditions that they see as too warm, preferring their snowy lands and peaks over the alien forests south any day. Location: [img=http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/oZode/ScreenShot2014-07-08at123856AM_zps20c0eca9.png] Hope is not too much territory- my guys like migrating a lot and will go anywhere there's snow and mountains they can reach. So I figured after long enough they'd have a large spread, though much less intra-species cultural contact than aaron's persians do. They also aren't that densely populated to begin with outside of places like the Ice Kingdom of Nffgruud. [/hider] [b][u]History:[/b][/u] Every 10 IC pages, I’m going to update this section. This section is meant to include all the important things that happened over the course of the years as well as interesting stories, wars, etc. And serves to help new players or just if this RP lasts so long, you feel like having a nostalgia ride. [hider=Pages 1-10]Nothing intresting has happened yet[/hider] [b][u][url=http://fantasynamegenerators.com/]Fantasy Names Generator[/url][/b][/u] I don’t blame you if you don’t want to throw spend a lot of time thinking about nation names. That’s why; therefore, you may use this useful tool. It has generators for about every story-telling element you may need. [b][u]A few additional things:[/b][/u] About khanates a la Mongol Empire: If the players that are possibily affected approve of this, or if said players are AWOL, yes, you may create a khanate a la Genghis Khan. These khanates will only affect those players which approve of these decisions though and in addition, due to their rapid expansion and other factors, these khanates will be very unstable and collapse very fast. Much like the IRL mongol khanates.