The world of Dilanael is steeped in fantasy. These are the races that I consider "playable" meaning they are reasonably functional. There are far more races that I consider to be "less playable" and then a group of races that I consider to be "cheese". You may not play this last group, but if you have a very good reason you can play the second group.


Playable Races

Humans: Humans are humans are humans. They are more or less the same throughout Dilanael, with the only real differences being culture and appearance. Nobody seems to know why there are broken casts of other races and not humans, but it's true. Humans are dominant in Samia, Vatica, Pedrinni, the Molvinis, Shore Wells (there are ONLY humans in Shore Wells) and in the Vaasa (though humans are technically outnumbered in the Vaasa they are dominant in the civilized areas).

Elves: The Elves of Dilanael are tall and willowy, most standing taller than a full grown human, sometimes by as much as a head. They are a fragmented people who never interbreed with one another (there is less of a taboo attached to cross-breeding with humans than other elves). Elves are not very fertile, with females only able to reproduce once a year in the fall. For this reason most half elves are born of a human mother, though this is not always the case. There are three primary types of elves in Dilanael.
♦ The Sanamede are children of the woods and the city and are comfortable in neither. They are white of skin and hair and are renowned as exceptional mediators. The Sanamede are close knit andlive in a communal home. they do not have much concept of personal property, prefering to think of things as being available to anyone who needs them.
♦ The Feirnoth (also known as the cold weather people) are gold of skin with golden eyes and cream colored hair. The Feirnoth are noble and dignified, considering themselves the most civilized of the elven races (or any other race). this impression is one Feirnoth try to maintain even when it is not true, for while there are elven nobles and powerful and rich families, there are also Feirnoth servants, stablehands, and waste collectors. They are a proud people, though, and prone to exageration. They have a strong naval presence in the northeast of Samia.
♦ The Rigothan elves are the children of the forest. They live among nature wherever they can. In Samia this means living tribally in the creeping woods. Rigothans are dark of skin and their creamy hair is often dyed fascinating colors (green, orange, floral violet, but those without the means of products often wear a murky brown made from whaetver is handy). Their eyes vary in hue from greens to browns to orange, often shifting to match the leaves.
Dwarves: The Dwarves of Dilanael are relegated to a few places. While individual dwarves can be anywhere, the societies are still limited to the Irkin Mountains and the Scorchlands. Dwarves are an insular people who have a strong sense of community and family (Dorvish dwarves will, most often, choose to marry within their family, a practice which humans often find upsetting). They practice a form of anscestor worship and often set aside a room in their homes for their honored dead. In Samia there are three types of dwarves all of whom tend to dislike one another. Each clan sees the others as distasteful, having made dishonorable choices.
♦ The Dorvish dwarves are short, stocky, hearty and in all other ways what one thinks of when they think of a dwarf. Thick beards, ale, and axes and hammers are their fare. They live in the mountains and mostly keep to themselves. When the Orc Incursion happened (just after the War of Fire) the dorvish were instrumental in ending their forray into the Northern lands (though clearly many were able to force their way in before this happened).
♦ The Fannish dwarves are as tall as their Dorvish cousins, but they are substantially less . . . substantial. They are thin, with wiry or greasy black hair. The Fannish live among humans, having no real cities of their own. They are merchants and crafters and have perfected the fine art of making a potent alcohol called niptik (it should be noted that niptik is the one thing that Fannish Dwarves and Uhlish Dwarves agree upon, and it is the primary reason that Dorvish dwarves have good trade relations with humans and elves - they usually refuse to drink the stuff).
♦ The Uhlish dwarves are among the heartiest creatures in existence. They live everywhere from the heat of the scorchlands to the cold of the frost line and they do it all in pursuit of orcs and their goblinoid brethren and allies. The Uhlish are usually the only thing that keeps the orcs from below the Frost Line away from the rst of civilzation, though some filter through every year anyway (and many pressed through during the Orc Incursions, which the Uhlish refer to as the Battle of Hollow Fold after the battle in which the orcs made a push north). For the Uhlish, this is a method of self preservation, since orcs view them as a source of both food and money (orcs use their teeth and the teeth of other sentient races as currency, but thick heavy dwarf teeth are the most precious).

Gnomes: Gnomes in Dilanael have long been an oppressed race. Gnomes were a slave race for ages and it was only after the Orc Incursion that they were liberated. The Whitefire kings had been under pressure for a long time to end the slavery of Gnomes (both from the Dorvish dwarves, who considered the practice intollerable and from the Gnomes who had managed to escape the nation and were now raiding Samian trade ships). Dorvish dwarves sent a letter to the Whitefire family that they wuold only provide help to stop the Orcs in this conflict if the Samians freed their Gnomish slaves. And that is what they did. The Dwarves were instrumental in ending the hostilities. Finding that they had suffered many casualties, several dwarves families left the city of Gromen Vek, which existed in elven lands, and returned to their anscestral home in Droven Stracht. The newly freed Gnomes were officially granted the lands of Gromen Vek by the Feirnoth as a gesture of good will (the Whitefires forced them to release their slaves as well. Some say this was a gesture of good will to proove their dedication, but most thnk it was done to get the now freed Gnomes out of their pure city). Since then most Gnomes have lived in or near the city of Gromen Vek. Those who did not wish to remain among their former captors (or those who had left in the years before that) took to the seas.
♦ The gnomes of the land are small, clever, dark skinned, blue eyed, and creative, much as all gnomnes are. They are a prople who favor impulse and shared community. they love food and though they are no longer slaves, many work in service positions in larger households (indeed, most servant's quarters and houses are sized and adjusted for Gnomes).
♦ The sea-gnomes are a different breed. They left the land is search of a better place, but all they found was ocean. Eventually their ships came together and formed vast floating cities on which the gnomes have lived for ages. Today they are among the most feared pirates on the seas, taking ships or food and material goods as they need them.

Halflings: The tale of the halflings is one of sorrow. Halfings have been underestimated and overlooked since civilization began, living as they used to in family groups. As the only race beyond humans who can master the magic of sorcery, halflings used to think that they would have a place at Merryweather or among the scholars of the temples of Jebedah. They were wrong. They had nothing but a world stacked against them. Long ago the halflings say they had their first break. the story says that Jebedah appeared to her followers in all her glory is scholars robes . . . as a halfling. She kept tripping on the robes that were clearly made for a human form. Almost immediately after this apparition halflings were welcomes into the church of Jebedah. A big step forward.