Races & Creatures of Ouranos

General Appearance: Stout folk generally standing between 4-5 feet (122-152 cm). Their men were muscular and stocky, while their women tended to be curvaceous but no less sturdy.

Culture & Traditions: The Dwarves were a very serious and studious people. They excelled in engineering and architecture, but were masters of all the creative arts. Reclusive but not withdrawn, they were a common sight in markets, and particularly the artisan and merchant districts of Kheiron, but a very rare sight at festivals or social gatherings. Which is not to say they did not have strong bonds with members of the other races. Indeed, anyoine who managed to befriend a dwarf would agree that they were the most loyal, steadfast companions, often treating you more like family than friends.

History: After the First Days, the Dwarves took a step back from the rest of the races. While they kept their seat on the Council, they generally only attended for votes of great importance, leaving the day-to-day ruling of Thrasos to the other Governing Races. Because of this, their ruling family was not in Kheiron for the events of the Last Day. Due to the tunnels in the Undercroft of their Palace, much of their staff was able to escape Kheiron safely, taking as many with them as they could before retreating to their own cities. However, no Dwarves have been seen since the Last Day and no one knows where they went.

General Appearance: Graceful and lithe, averaging around 6-6.5 feet (182-198 cm) in height. They tend to have light hair ranging between deep gold and platinum silver. Skin tones anywhere from pale or tawny to deep umber or brown. Blue and amber eye color is common, but green eyes are considered to be good-luck and a sign of a truly gifted cultivator. Their ears are pointed, but unlike their cousins, very rarely adorned.

Culture & Traditions: The Dawn Elves are a generally quiet and reserved group; except when discussing the practices of botany and apothecary. While they prefer the company of plants, they will happily show off their garden, greenhouse or hydroponic conservatory. They excel in making fine wine and spirits from their crops, thus further endearing themselves to the other races. They consider their bodies to be highly sacred and almost never alter their appearance with piercings, tattoos or other modifications.

History: After the Last Day they spread themselves out around Thrasos to help recultivate the abandoned farmland that was needed for the continued survival of everyone. They still live in small groups, usually three or four related families, among larger communities of the other races. This allows them to travel in rotations, visiting other family and friends while knowing their own gardens and crops are being cared for by those they trust.

General Appearance: Highly athletic and agile, generally between 5.5-6.5 feet (168-198) tall. Pale, cool-toned skin with pointed ears and dark hair, tending towards deep blacks and dark reds, though occasionally shades of brown. Blue and brown eyes are most common, and there's never been a report of a full-blooded Dusk Elf being born with green eyes.

Culture & Traditions: The Dusk Elves set themselves apart from their cousins in many ways. They're adventurous and outgoing where the Dawn Elves are soft-spoken and demure. They adorn themselves with piercings occasionally, but nearly all have at least one tattoo by the time they reach adulthood. Many have several and they're often geometric patterns like those found in nature, themed around the night sky or related to whichever animal the individual favors. Notorious night owls, it's considered bad manners to wake a Dusk Elf before noon.

History: Having a natural way with animals, the Dusk Elves were the first to domesticate animals for food, transportation and companionship. They are fiercely protective of living creatures and won't hesitate to point out when an animal is being overworked or mishandled. Though they have a very strong moral code, they are known to resort to physical force if they witness the outright abuse of an animal, or even violence if that abuse is egregious enough. They retreated into the wilderness after the Last Day, to the strongholds of their forebearers, but eventually reintegrated with society at large.

General Appearance: After generations of unions with the other races, there are very few humans that don’t have mixed blood. As a result, their appearances can range greatly. Generally, they’re over 5 feet (152 cm) tall and solidly built with a range of skin, hair and eye colors.

Culture & Traditions: While unions among the different races aren’t forbidden, or even frowned upon, most generally stay within their own groups. Except for the Humans. Their natural love of travel, lore and new experiences has led to many unions with all of the other peoples of Ouranos. (With the exception of the Gremlins, of course.) They create families and communities that bridge any racial divide. They’re often the peacemakers and mediators as well as the foundation of knowledge involving the law and history of whatever region they call home.

History: After the Last Day, this became even more true with the loss of the Library of Thrasos which had become a core part of their identity as a people. Preserving history and knowledge is still their calling.

General Appearance: Intimidatingly large at no less than 6.5 feet (198cm), Orcs are tremendously robust and powerfully muscled. They usually have dark brown or black eyes and either white or black hair. Their skin is blue with hues anywhere from a muted stony blue to deep sapphire, though they generally tend to remain on the lighter side.

Culture & Traditions: Despite the fact that Orcs are deeply bonded and consider family to be more important than anything else, it has very little to do with blood relation. Being a part of a clan is not an inherent right and being a blood relation isn’t a factor when it comes to an individual's status in the family or when tolerating abhorrent behavior. While it may seem harsh and at odds with the apparent strength of their emotional ties, it’s extremely rare that cutting someone off from their family unit or even banishing them from the clan actually occurs. Their nomadic lifestyle is largely successful due to their strong social foundation. They travel Ouranos with the seasons, trading goods and services, following the migration of the game they hunt and subsisting off the land. Orcs are known for planting orchards of various fruits that they can then harvest each year when they return to that area.

History: Largely credited with the survival of the Elves and Humans, the Orcs stepped in after the Last Day to take on refugees and hunt down any Devourers that had escaped Kheiron. Already well known for being skilled hunters of both food animals and other monsters, they were far more successful at killing the Devourers than the other races and suffered fewer losses in the endeavour. They shared their homes, food and clothes as well as taught them how to live off the land. Their large stature made them invaluable when it came to rebuilding homes, stables, barns and entire towns, which they readily did without complaint or request for payment. They’re still known for taking in travelers and highly sought after for removing monsters or other dangerous predators that wander too close to a community.

General Appearance: Between 3-4 feet (91-122 cm), Gremlins are gangly creatures with wiry black or brown hair, small beady eyes and deep green or brown skin. They have long, pointed ears and spindly limbs. They’re extremely agile and quick.

Culture & Traditions: They’re fully capable of proper speech, however they have very little interest in learning, even their own odd tongue. As a result they often communicate using single word answers or broken sentences, raising their tone and repeating the same barely intelligible thing if they aren’t immediately understood. They have very short tempers and are especially indignant when being accused of theft, which is almost always what they were doing. They collect anything that captures their fancy, whether it has value or not, and will often wear their findings if at all possible once they’re far enough away from the original owner to prevent being caught. No one knows where they came from, how they reproduce or what their social structure is like. They travel alone or in groups of up to 10, but they don’t seem to be family units as members will come and go at random and fights happen frequently.

History: The Gremlins, even more than the Orcs, seemed to have been completely unaffected by the Last Day. Their population was never very large and didn’t seem to diminish. It’s unclear if they were capable of turning into Devourers or if, like wildlife, Devourers were completely uninterested in them. They’re generally harmless so the other races try not to treat them too harshly, even if they won’t welcome them into their homes or leave them unsupervised near the silverware drawer.

General Appearance: Devourers are large quadruped predators standing between 4-5 feet (122-152 cm) tall and 6-7 feet (182-212 cm) long. Alive, their bodies appear large and intimidating, filled out with dark smoky shadows that roil and swirl to make up the bulk of their form, completely covering their actual physical structure. Luminous silver eyes seem to be the only corporeal part of their body. They’re massive and take the general shape of a wolf or large cat. When dead, the shadows melt away to reveal their physical bodies which appear frail and completely incapable of the speed and strength they command. Black, dessicated skin is stretched over spindly bones and they have almost no muscle structure to speak of. Able can move in complete silence and seem to defy light, like the smoke covering them absorbs it.. They never howl, yelp or whimper, only making the single, chittering growl that’s hard to describe but sounds like this.

Behavior: They do not appear to have any sort of social structure let alone culture and tradition. They are largely indifferent to other Devourers, neither working against or with them. They do not sleep or eat, even their prey. Their only goal appears to be death and once their target has expired, they become indifferent to it again. They only seem to hunt 'sentient' creatures, leaving wildlife in peace. Devourers are completely impervious to the elements and while they tend to prefer darkness sunlight doesn't seem to affect them at all.

Mortality: Devourers can be killed much the same as any other creature, however due to their strength, speed and agility, it's very difficult to do so. The true danger of their species is what happens when they kill a creature. Once a Devourer draws blood, that person will become a Devourer themselves upon their death. On the rare occasion that someone is injured by a Devourer but survives the encounter, they can go on to lead a normal life without extra risk of disease or injury, and the ‘curse’ doesn’t seem to pass on to their children.. Once their end does eventually come, the only way to prevent the violent transformation is to destroy the body or kill the Devourer that originally injured that person.

History: Though they were let into the world by Soren, a necromancer attempting to say goodbye to his late wife, not even he knows where they came from or how to send them back. There are many theories, of course, but none have been proven.