 HUMAN
Most humans are the ancestors of pioneers, conquerors, traders, travelers, refugees, and other people on the move. As a result, human lands are a mix of people-physically, culturally, religiously, and politically. Hardy or fine, light skinned or dark, showy or austere, primitive or civilized, devout or impious, humans run the gamut. There are five bloodlines amongst humanity: Hondru, Fyrmahn, Ryahn, Lauraltar, and Naidian. Each of these has a particular set of traits associated with it. However, the largest majority of humanity has a mix of bloodlines. Personality: Humans are the most adaptable, flexible, and ambitious people among the common races. They are diverse in their tastes, morals, customs, and habits. Others accuse them of having little respect for history, but it's only natural that humans, with their relatively short life spans and constantly changing cultures, would have a shorter collective memory than dwarves, lacertilians, or elves. Physical Description: Humans typically stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with men noticeably taller and heavier than women. Thanks to their penchant for migration and conquest, and to their short generations, humans are more physically diverse than other common race, with skin shades that run fom nearly black to very pale, hair from black to blonde (curly, kinky, or straight), and facial hair (for men) from sparse to thick. Humans are often ostentatious or unorthodox in their grooming and dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, body piercings, and the like. Humans have short life spans, achieving majority at about 15 and rarely living even a hundred years. Hondru: The hondru have bronze-colored skin. Although some are more coppery, numbers of them are very dark bronze (deep brown). Eye color tends to brown or black, although some have a pale amber eye coloration. Hair tends to be dark brown or black. Fyrmahn: The fyrmahn people have golden-hued skin tones. Their eyes run from gray to green, although brown is most common. Their hair color runs from brown to black. Variance is by tribe and nation. Ryahn: The ryahn are tan- to olive-skinned. Some tribes are on the fairer side, while others are rather dark. Their eye color tends to vary to any shade. Hair color runs from dark blonde to black, but the most common hair color is brown or reddish brown. Lauraltar: The lauraltar people have golden-brown skin tones. These people have brilliant green or blue eyes, very blonde or platinum-colored hair. Naidian: The naidian are very fair-skinned people. Although some are less fair than others, many are nearly albino. These people have pale blue eyes, very blonde or platinum-colored hair. The less fair have normal white skin, blonde or light red hair, and gray or blue eyes. The inner mixture of ryahn with naidian tends toward a typical “European-mix” looking population. However, the original hondru stock shows up fairly commonly in just about any society, so that there will be light-bronze to deep-bronze folk intermingled in most populations. The mix of ryahn and fyrmahn brings a fairly light skin — a real yellowish cast, rather than the vague yellow of the oriental human. A cross of fyrmahn and hondru yields a golden-copper skin color. In general, the skin color of an individual makes no difference in many places, although the nobles of Golgotha are very jealous of being light-skinned, just as the rulers of the Skorr are conscious of the supposed superiority of their bronze color. Throughout most the rest of Kirrac, there is little heed paid to skin color, just as there is little heed paid to absolute racial type. Relations: Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mix with members of other races. Among the other races, humans are known as "everyone's second-best friends." They serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kinds. Alignment: Humans tend toward no particular alignment, not even neutrality. The best and worst are found among humans. Human Lands: The human lands in Golgotha and northern Drythlor, and all around the world, are usually in flux, with new ideas, social changes, innovations, and new leaders constantly coming to the fore. Members of longer-lived races find human culture exciting but eventually a little wearying or even bewildering. Since humans lead such short lives, their leaders are all young compared to the political, religious, and military leaders among the other races. Even where individual humans are conservative traditionalists, human institutions change with the generations, adapting and evolving faster than parallel institutions among the elves, dwarves, and lacertilians individually and as a group, humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay on top of changing political dynamics. Human lands generally include relatively large numbers of other races (compared, for instance, to the number of non-dwarves who live in dwarven lands). Regents: Eabilus is the Regent credited with the creation, birth, or arrival of humanity on Kirrac. He was at one time the most commonly worshiped Regent in human lands, but that is no longer the case. Humans are diverse in their baenrahls, and no one Urathear holds sway over all of humanity. Humans are aligned to each of the twelve Regents almost equally. Even Eabilus, has nothing like the central place in human worship that dwarves give Erda or the muirhauts give Brae. Some humans are the most ardent and zealous adherents of a given Urathear, while others are the most impious people around. Language: Humans speak Saric, the race language of humanity. They also speak Common, the universal trade language of Kirrac. They typically learn other languages, including obscure ones, and they are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Laios curses, Maundling exploritory terms, Aeldor musical expressions, Denwarfrey military phrases, and so on. Names: Human names vary greatly. Without a unifying focus to give them a touchstone for their culture, and with such a fast breeding cycle, humans mutate socially at a fast rate. Human culture is diverse and no human names are truly typical. Some human parents take the liberty of giving their children dwarven or elven names (pronounced more or less correctly). Male Names: Adrian, Arwold, Bregan, Cerdic, Demetrius, Donnan, Drake, Dray, Hieronymous, Jovan, Laretes, Oleg, Reynold, Sageault, Sethylian, Siahandling, Sigurd, Tad, Teran, Varten, Female Names: Arya, Amber, Andapon, Chivia, Elana, Elessedil, Fiona, Freya, Jannisson, Julian, Justina, Laura, Palora, Renee, Rose, Soneen, Tamara, Thea, Vadrayne, Winalow, Adventurers: Human adventurers are the most audacious, daring, and ambitious members of an audacious, daring, and ambitious race. A human can earn glory in the eyes of his or her fellows by amassing power, wealth, and fame. Humans, more than other people, champion causes rather than territories or groups.
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