Artedon: A Fantasy World (Some help with finalising the races a bit)

Decided to put a directory here, to link to all the actual articles about races and their related information.

• Races
  • The Dwarves (This Very Post)
  • The Elves
  • The Humans
  • The Goblins
  • The Ogres
  • International Relations Between Races
• Magic
  • Blessed Stones
• The Moon of Artedon
  • Map of Artedon
• The Previous Legends of Artedon
  • The Legacy of Death
  • The Accursed Sword Writen by NickTheSwing
  • Speracchius Writen by Taco
  • The Aegis and The Talon Writen by AkenJizo

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Over the summer, I'm going to be starting up an RP in the fantasy setting of Artedon. I've been working on the map, and I've managed to come up with a few races to fill it with.

However, I'm afraid I'm probably going to end up with cliches, leading to Our Dwarves Are All the Same. To circumvent this problem, I'm going to be posting up a brief (which will probably turn out to be Blatant Lies when we get to the more intricate races) summaries of each race here, for you to criticise and help me improve on.

So, considering I name checked them here already, lets start with the Dwarves.

• Species Name: The Dwarf (Dwarves)
• Appearance: They're all completely bald, and come in at about four foot tall. They're androgynous, with no indication of gender, because they don't have one.
• Lifespan: Quite a long time. They're made of stone, so they could technically function forever, but most of them eventually are worn down by denudation.
• Habitat: Caves, tunnels, or very thickly forested areas, where they won't be worn down by rain drops every few days.
• Culture: Dwarves don't worship gods like the other races, instead paying tribute to an Elf known as "The Creator", who created the first Dwarves about two thousand years ago. Dwarf society is measured by something called a Carveline, with Dwarves created by the Creator (of which none exist anymore) as the first Carved, heading down into more modern Dwarves. The oldest Dwarf around today is of the Fifth Carved, while the youngest can't be said, as some don't keep track of their Carveline. The Dwarves are often excluded from everyday life by the other races, as they prefer to stay in their caves, and most others find them inhospitable, and prefer to stay out. Dwarf commerce is a bit different from what we expect. Instead of a system of trading or buying, Dwarves leave things like tools just lying around, taking them if they need them. If you break something, you replace it, and when you're done with whatever you borrowed, you put it back. No one really owns the stuff, and it's more communally shared. Obviously, this works because they don't use perishables like food, or personal things, like clothes. However, in other societies, the Dwarf way of doing this is frowned upon, and a lot of Dwarves in other races cities are found in prison cells.
• Reproduction: Dwarves are produced when a new Dwarf is carved out stone, and a piece of Blessed stone is used for the eyes, which is found at the heart of a mountain. All Dwarves are carved at the age that would equate to about 25 to humans, although they take a while to reach that level of maturity.
• Livestock: Obviously, the Dwarves have quite a different livestock to humans. They have no need to eat, being made of stone, so don't rely on meat or crops. However, they do use animals for transport, and for war.
  • Alpacas: Naturally adapted for mountain life, Alpaca's can serve as transport as well as beasts of burden. Also, because they eat only a small amount, they can be fed with a simple store of grass or hay. Although Alpacas are usually too small to carry humans, with Dwarfs, there's no problem.
  • Bears: Used as beasts of war, bears are ideal, being adapted for cave life. The Dwarves also face no threat of death from them, with their claws finding it hard to penetrate the stone, and the Dwarves having no meat for the bears to want. It's probably best to keep them away from the Alpacas though. The Bears are feed and trained from birth, allowing the Dwarves to excerise a degree of control over them.
• Strengths: Very long lived, No need for food or water, Resistance to bladed weapons.
• Weaknesses: Will eventually die out, no questions asked, Especially vulnerable to blunt weapons, Overly trusting due to a mostly sheltered exsistance, especially to Elves. They are incapable of magic, as they have no life force of their own, just borrowing it from the Blessed Stones.

If anyone could help me out with giving them more definitive lifespans, or tell me anything I missed, it would be much appreciated.

edited 5th Jun '13 11:39:52 PM by MusikMaestro

Added a bit more to the culture and reproduction headings, as I think I needed to clarify some things a bit more.

Come on, someone give me a bit of advice!

Camels would seem to be to be unusual beasts of burden in tunnels, they're rather tall and gangly, I'd have though some sort of cattle would be better. Also, are blessed stones required for the dwarves to be brought alive, or just for them to see, because if it's the latter, you could almost certainly carve some animal-analogues out of rock to use as beasts of burden.

Also, the idea of them dying out doesn't quite sit right with me, maybe you could make it so that certain gems can be turned into blessed stones by complex rituals that only a few know about, and can't be performed by the dwarves themselves. It could even maybe require a human sacrifice to turn a gen into a blessed stone.

Yeah, the Blessed Stones are required for the Dwarves to come to life. Otherwise you've just got an intricate statue.

I picked Camels because once you've fed and watered them, they're good to go for a few months, unlike cattle, where you'd also need to bring a food and water source for them.

About the extinction: So you're suggesting that human sacrifice would turn regular gem stones into Blessed Stones?

Camels aren't exactly evolved to live in caves and mountains, though. They're designed specifically for desert climes. And if they have bears as military mounts, they'd have to live near water and food sources anyway. Why not use things like alpaca or mountain goats, which are adapted for life in the mountains? Using camels makes sense only if these dwarves live in the desert where camels would be found.

Seriously, if they want the bears to be tame enough for war, they're going to have to feed them themselves, rather than just letting them be free range. This is because training an animal to do a specific thing takes a lot of time, and a lot of reinforcement. You can't just have bears in the cave and expect them to do what the dwarves want. Raising and training an animal takes a lot of time and investment.

True.

I'll edit the Camels into Alpaca's, and add a few extra bits about the Bears.

I don't suppose it would necessarily be 'human' sacrifice that was required, and it wouldn't be sacrifice either in the normal 'cut out the heart' sense, but yes, a human (or a member of an intelligent race anyway) would have to die. Also, the ritual to transfer the spirit would be highly intricate, even arcane, and thus possible only to the greatest magic-workers (and not to the dwarves themselves, since the practitioner would have to be a flesh-and-blood being himself).

edited 6th May '13 5:24:35 AM by MattII

Blessed Stones

• Function: Blessed Stones are rare gem stones found in the head of a mountain. The stones are unique as they, when infused in a statue, most usually in the statues eyes, the statue will become animated. This is mostly used to create Dwarves. The life created by the stone is sentient, and capable of speech and communication.
• Life Span: Creatures created by Blessed Stines can live almost indefinitely. The Stones are found in the hearts of mountains as they contain their life source. Thus, creatures brought to life with the stones have a very long life span, as they are being fueled by the source of lower of something many times their size.
• Creation of a New Blessed Stone: New Blessed stones are created by transfusing the life source of a living creature into a precious gem stone. To to this, the gem and the transfusee must be left in a room coated with sigils designed for the extraction of life forces. The gem itself must be coated in sigils to capture the life force released. This is people whose life force is taken are often criminals who have committed crimes against the Dwarves. Indeed, instead of execution, the Dwarves form of condemnation is life force extraction. The can only be carried out by master wizards, and is kept secret by the general population. However, this technique has been lost to the ages, meaning it is now mostly impossible.

edited 8th May '13 1:42:14 PM by MusikMaestro

Won't that make the Dwarves unliked by everyone else if part of their reproduction involves ritually killing someone else?

Not exactly. They can get Blessed Stones naturally, and it doesn't need to be a volunteered heart. They could just get them from dead bandits if they needed to.

A number. For example, removing the heart is really not what I had in mind, I was thinking of a bloodless process with lots of sigils and incantations, and IMO it should require a living being (though not necessarily a willing one, a convicted criminal would do, since only the life-force - not the personality - gets transferred).

So a transferal of life source then?

Something like that, yes.

I edited it so its now more a basic description of Blessed Stones.

Any new criticisms?

Actually, I was thinking more along these lines:

Creation of a new blessed stone: Though veins of natural Blessed Stone exist, they are rare, and so most Blessed Stones are created. The precise rituals used to create Blessed Stones are a secret known only to the highest ranks of master-carvers and the stone-mages (dwarves themselves can't be stone-mages, only those of flesh-and-blood can hold the position). What is known is that the creation requires the sacrifice of another life, and though there are a few who give themselves willingly - often due to impending demise - most are unwilling participants, drawn from the ranks of 'criminals' kept by the dwarves.

As for criticism, nothing much on the dwarves, when are the rest of the races coming?

edited 7th May '13 4:50:26 AM by MattII

That actually fits quite well with my system of magic in this world.

I'll just edit in that only master wizards can do it, and that the procedure is kept secret.

I'll probably put up the Elves tonight or tomorrow. Then I can also explain the magic system.

I honestly think it cheapens it that you can simply make more.

The thought of a limit was very.. poignant.

Like you're living in an age of legend that will eventually pass.

How about I make it so that they can be remade, but the secret has been lost?

Also, I give you the Elves!

• Species Name: The Elf (Elves)
• Appearance: Mostly white/blond hair, with pure white skin, and red eyes, due to an absense of melanin in their bodies. Most males average about 6 ft 7in, with females about 6ft 2 and a half.
• Lifespan: Slightly longer than humans, coming in at about 100 years on average.
• Habitat: Most Elves never leave their home nation, the Crystal Isle, although they can adapt to most places in Artedon.
• Culture: Elves worship a pantheon of 3 gods, known as The Mage, The Alchemist and The Sigilist. They believe that these three gods were sealed long ago by the Humans god, and were contained in a crystal, which was thrown away. It landed in the sea, and they believe the Crystal Isle formed around it. When born, all Elves are blessed by the crystal, and given the ability to use magic, which they believe was given to them by the 3 gods. Most Elves chose a magic to specialise in, and pray to the god that represents their magic. Elves govern themselves by magical ability, with the most talented of each of the three magic types being elected as leaders, known as the Elder Triumvirate. Triangles are very important to the Elves, not only representing the number of gods and rulers, but also commonly appearing in their sigils and runes. The Elves eat a lot, as it is required to keep them fueled to perform magic, and great feasts and banquets are considered very important in their society. The Elves have a base mistrust of humans, due to their belief that the human god sealed theirs away. Elves and Humans have a long history of war and battle, and even after the Elves allowed the other races in, the Humans are still not permitted entry to the Crystal Isle. Elves often use Dwarves as melee troops in battle, as the Dwarves feel they owe an allegiance to them, due to the Elves being responsible for their creation.
• Reproduction: Elves reproduce sexually.
• Livestock: The Elves grow many crops and tend to many animals as they constantly need food to sustain their magic. Like humans, they often use horses for transportation, and as beasts of burden. Elves have also domesticated and breed Deer for hundreds of years, and use them as beasts of war, alongside horses.
• Strengths: Allegiance with the Dwarves, All are born with magic.
• Weaknesses: At odds with Humans, Not very good at using weapons, prefering to use magic.

What do you think? An explanation of magic will be coming soon.

Not bad, although the three-gods thing seems a bit far-fetched, although that's no real issue, just my personal feeling (Look at Scientology for example).

Also, just a though, you could maybe mention traditional skills, like say mining and metal-working for dwarves, and animal-husbandry and agriculture for elves if you get what I mean.

edited 8th May '13 5:20:38 AM by MattII

Far fetched how?

Well, a specific number like that just seems odd to me, compared to traditional beliefs of either a single god, or a whole pantheon. But like I said, personal feeling rather than any actual error.

edited 8th May '13 5:26:07 AM by MattII

Well, 3 is a very important Elven number.

Fair enough. What relation do they believe their gods have with the human ones? Parents, cousins? Or totally unrelated?

edited 8th May '13 5:44:49 AM by MattII

Nope. The Gods aren't even inter-related themselves.

So, I had a few spare moments, so I figure is type this up.

• Species Name: Human (Humans)
• Appearance: I think we all know what we look like.
• Life Span: Moving on...
• Habitat: All over Atedon, but most focused on the coast.
• Culture: It's Monarchical. They hate the Elves, and worship a single god, known as The First One, who they believe created Artedon and everything else. You really should already know the other stuff about their culture, it's the same as Medieval Europes, which I assume you guys are familiar with.
• Reproduction: Sexual, duh.
• Livestock: Corn, potatoes, wheat, barley, carrots, cows, horses, sheep... You should know this stuff too.
• Strengths: Great tacticians, Very well organised military, Spread all across Artedon.
• Weaknesses: No access to magic whatsoever, Most vulnerable race to illness, Hated by Elves and, by extension, Dwarves.

edited 8th May '13 11:02:58 AM by MusikMaestro