Human

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General Appearance

With their penchant for migration and conquest, humans are more physically diverse than other common⁠ races. There is no typical human. An individual can stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds. Human skin shades range from nearly black to very pale, and hair colours from black to blond (curly, kinky, or straight); males might sport facial hair that is sparse or thick.

With the recent dropping of the Cleansing Mist and the discovery of other races, some humans might have a dash of nonhuman blood, revealing hints of elf, orc, or other lineages. Humans reach adulthood⁠ in their late teens and rarely live even a single century.

Racial Attributes

Ability Score Increase. Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

Skills. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.

Feat. You gain one Feat of your choice.

Age. Humans reach adulthood⁠ in their late teens and live less than a century.

Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Trade Basic, a regional language and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech⁠ with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.

Lathlenn Ethnic Groups

As humans are more prone to mixing in between themselves, these ethnicities are less hard rules and more general guidelines as the appearances in the various regions of Lathlenn

Central

Human from the central nations of Camborn and Grasmere are the most diverse group on all of Lathlenn, with mixtures of every other nation in their bloodlines, with Mount Camborn being the origination point of the species, the area was a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. There are scarce few Cambornian people left in the world following The Cataclysm and the lack of more distinguishing characteristics has let them easily assimilate into other areas.

Northern

Dour and dark people generally, Northern Lathlenners from Ferghellin, Braedon and Anghor are typically of a tawny-skin and slight build with the most common hair types being blonde or redheaded, an eye colour of brown being the most common.

Western

The fairest skinned humans tended to be from the more Western nations of Lunaris and Nyrae, blue eyed and fair of hair (lighter browns to blondes), their appearance matched their generally more carefree and generous nature.

Eastern

Eastern regions of Lathlenn such as Esslemont and Lanercoast are mostly slender, tawny-skinned folk with brown hair that ranges from almost blonde to almost black. Most are taller than average and have green or grey eyes though, the occasional brown eyed baby is seen as a fortuitous event.

Southern

The humans of Auchen and Kinge are the largest of all humans, their amber skin and brown eyes, generally tall and muscular frames easily make them stand out in a group. A particular appearance of golden eyes has started to occur since The Cataclysm and this has caused quite a stir with Kinge praising these new inhabitants but Auchen treating them with suspicion.

South Eastern

In the South Eastern reaches of Lathlenn, live the medium build dusky humans of the first empires. Dark hair, dark eyes and dusky skin have long been the hallmark of these humans and in some societies, the more pronounced these features, the greater the expected future of them.

Fullerene Peoples

The Fullerene are a bronze skinned people living in the mountains and forests, between the Iron Mountains and the Mountains of Hirythian. Typically having darker hues of hair, the most common feature of these people is their pale eyes, usually a very pale blue or gray.

Perl

The people of Perl were mostly from Braedon and Lunaris but following The Cataclysm, survivors of the fall of Perl are a gaunt, pale people with bright blue eyes. Any children born of even a single Perlish parent inherit these features and as such they are treated distantly by their peers.

Shrouded Talgen Ethnic Groups

The humans of Shrouded Talgen are roughly split into two groups, the lands are harsh and full of dangers and so the humans here have adapted to that and the strange eccentricities of their Lords. These groups are not geographic but rather a sign of status as the two groups do not generally intermingle and ultimately the group to which a person belongs is truly down to with whom they socialise.

Upper Talgenian

Upper Talgenian people are quite pale compared to the humans of Lathlenn but this is a quality that is prized amongst them. The paler the skin, the closer to the Lords of Talgen that it is presumed a person is. Being of the upper echelons in Shrouded Talgen society, Upper Talgenians are still very healthy, and in addition to pale skin, hearty constitution and outward beauty is highly prized. Upper Talgenian are quite tall and carry themselves with that height at all times. Proximity to the Lords of Shrouded Talgen has imparted some changes on the Upper Talgenians and their eyes are often golden or green in colour and hair is almost exclusively soot black with outliers usually outcast to live with the Lower Talgenians

Lower Talgenian

The vast amount of Talgenian humans are considered "Lower" Talgenian, darker in skin than Upper Talgenians and of generally less hale condition than their compatriots, Lower Talgenian people are the backbone of Shrouded Talgen society but most at risk of the dangers of Shrouded Talgen. Being of average height, it is often easy to tell whom is Upper Talgenian or not. Lower Talgenians have much more variety in their hair and eye colour and the tallest of which have sometimes being mistaken for young Upper Talgenians if born with golden eyes and black hair.

Human Society in Lathlenn

Broad Overview

Lacking an inherited ideal has meant that humankind has fractured regularly with a great impetus put on being unique, or special, or different. This has led to the rise of many different cultures in the comparatively small area of Lathlenn compared to Sulawei or Kahlens which are much more homogenous in their culture. Some humans see this as a strength, others see this as a weakness that invites disaster for their nations. For more individual societal details, check the individual nations breakdowns.

Eternal Explorers

Despite a rocky start to the human cause, barely leaving the foot of Mount Camborn for thousands of years, once that initial hump of exploration was overcome, humankind spread throughout the continent quickly and in numbers. It didn't take long for every corner of Lathlenn to be covered in humankind and only a short while after that the first boats and then ships were sailing out into the open waters around the continent to find even more lands to explore.

Lowest Lows and the Highest Highs

Humankind, more than any other race, seems to have the ability to find the lowest lows a person could possibly reach and conversely the highest highs. Everything has happened on Lathlenn, from slavery and worse to the endless charity of true saviours. While the majority of humankind rests somewhere in the average, the evilest and the kindest are as far apart as one could possibly imagine.

Human Society in Shrouded Talgen

Broad Overview

Life on Shrouded Talgen is harsh, the swamps and bogs are full of dangers and as such humans have adapted as best they can over the last 12000 years. Almost every city or village is built on raised ground, attempting to rise above the persistent fog where possible though often Upper Talgenians will have secured the highest and thus safest grounds for themselves. There are no unwalled settlements on Talgen and strangers are treated with utmost caution. The fog hides any number of monsters, or worse, a hungry Lord.

Eternal Demense

The Lords of Shrouded Talgen are ascended vampires, having been raised into this status by Gieth 12000 years ago, a few hundred years after humans were deposited on Shrouded Talgen by Azak. These vampire Lords have carved out their own domains, there were originally 24 Lords but over the centuries a number of wars and forced family mergers have reduced the amount of true Lords to 6 and the domains have been absorbed and fought over until the 6 current areas are what is left. There is an uneasy truce between the current 6 Lords, each aware that their opponents are just as powerful having survived for these thousands of years. This has trickled down into the humans under their control, who are intensely distrustful of people from other domains and often great pains are taken to disguise their origins when travelling between domains. Merchants are seen a little more favourably, often with family names being trusted more than anything for having been trader families for centuries. Lower Talgenians however would never attempt to stop, or question an Upper Talgenian, it's not worth the hassle and the possibility of having to survive outside the gates by yourself.

A Land of Danger

To call Shrouded Talgen untamed would be an understatement, humans live sheltered in very well defended settlements and all Lower Talgenian citizens in all the domains are required to join the military from mid-teens until early adult. Humans have attempted to tame the wilds of Talgen many times over the millennia but this has been unending battle. All number of deadly and misshapen creatures inhabit the fogs and swamps, wolves that walk like men, shambling mounds of vegetation, even the ground itself can be an enemy. As such it's quite rare for people to travel between settlements unless absolutely required, some families having lived in their town for the entirety of their existence on Shrouded Talgen. There have, of course, been intrepid explorers but most of those have not returned, and of those who have, the majority have been driven mad by their discoveries out in the fogs.

The Effects of The Cataclysm on Lathlenn

The Cataclysm irrevocably changed the nature of life on Lathlenn. With Camborn sinking beneath the water, the one symbol of humankinds birth and ultimate unity was washed away, along with a number of it's most prominent diplomats, nobles, mages and advisors. The political unrest this has caused allowed all manner of nefarious actors and opportunistic merchants with less than normal scruples to seize power and money. Wars have sprung out, with the most prominent being Ferghellin's declaration on Braedon, Anghor and Esslemont simultaneously and while that hasn't seemed to go to plan, there is a permanent tension there with only a relative peace being experienced in Braedon once it surrendered and became a vassal state.

Others have sought to explore outwards after the Cleansing Mist disappeared. The destruction of Perl being no true deterrent for exploration, humankind have managed to form settlements in the Corind Archipelago and Kahlens which has brought it's own form of conflict with the native inhabitants. Other human concepts have found better purchase in other nations, the Adventurers Guild, previously the Trade Guild, is spreading along with it's Trade Basic language to facilitate better communication and, of course, trade.

The Cataclysm caused an enormous amount of death and loss for humankind, almost 2 million humans died when Camborn sunk and countless others when rifts and chasms opened across the land.

The Effects of The Cataclysm on Shrouded Talgen

The Cataclysm was keenly felt by the Lords of Talgen and more so by the members of the Cult of Death, as they have begun to hear the voices of Gieth, Gliere and Gallow again after 11762 years. The crystal prisons of the Talgen gods are closely guarded secrets of the Lords and Cult.

For the rest of the Talgenian people, the Cataclysm coincided with the massive increase in the number of attacks on settlements by creatures from the fogs and this has resulted in an uptick in expeditions from the military into the fogs to clear them. The Lords have been somewhat supportive of these actions and have occasionally lent their direct aid. Given that they have been preparing for something just like this for millennia has meant that the humans of Talgen have weathered this storm quite well.

In the 50 years since The Cataclysm, other races have found their way to Shrouded Talgen and with the mysterious nature of the entire continent, the Adventurers Guild has also managed to locate some of it's halls in the major settlements. Adventurers have begun to travel to Talgen with the allure of hidden treasures and lost cities in the fogs and swamps being too alluring to miss out on. The humans of Shrouded Talgen have largely been very wary of any new comers, but this has also given the most adventurous Talgenians the option to leave the continent and explore the wider world. Upper Talgenians have enjoyed the riches that have come to their shores but are loathe to leave the shelter and protection of their Lords and as such it is incredibly rare for any Talgenian to be met outside of the continent to be an Upper Talgenian.