The following excerpts are taken from On the Nature of Humanity, and Its Various Features & Foibles, considered the authoritative introductory text regarding the sentient lifeforms of Third Earth. While there are many and varied resources that are highly valued for their deep and comprehensive considerations, they can prove just as exhausting to read as they are exhaustive in their coverage. To date, no single volume rivals On the Nature of Humanity in terms of pragmatic concision.
Elves: Stewards of the Above
Elphilim, god of grace and vision, created the elves to bring the fight to the dragons in the sky. So effective were their anti-air weapons - many installations of which are maintained to this day - that no large-scale effort has ever been made to create merchant flying machines. The problem of powered flight has long been solved, and working prototypes have been built by many passionate inventors; but the expense of creating the equipment to make an airborne fleet is so prohibitive when weighed against the high risk of being shot down by an ambitious Elf pirate. Elves often find themselves drawn to ballistically-oriented professions, such as ranger or sniper.
Elves’ ears are perhaps their most remarked-upon feature, being both elongated and tapered. This is believed to give them a more finely-tuned range of hearing, in order that they may more easily differentiate between similar sounds when, say, troubleshooting the loading mechanism of an auto-ballista, or distinguishing the leafy rustle of a small animal from the leafy rustle of a stealthy enemy. This ability to distinguish sounds that others cannot, and draw conclusions therefrom, has given rise to the popular notion of “Elven Intuition.”
Giants: Stewards of the Open Spaces
Giants are humanity’s undisputed heavy lifters and distance runners, boasting strength and endurance beyond almost all other humans. They served most admirably in the Third Godswar as couriers and construction workers, and with impressive distinction as infantry. Created by Hermona, goddess of spoken words and open plains, the giants were nomadic hunter-gatherers before many of them assimilated into broader human society. In fact, many giants still follow this way of life, though they do so mostly in the dense and humid jungles of Selvacero, or the craggy vales of the Aguja-Piedra mountains. Those who live in more cosmopolitan areas find gainful employment as caravan guards and scouts, being tough, strong, and difficult to trap. However, giant engineers, sea captains, and innkeepers are also quite common, all being germane to themes of building and transportation.
Giants have rounded ears like dwarves, and range mostly from eight to fourteen feet in height when fully grown. A tremendously long stride gives them considerable and sustainable speed over open ground. In single combat, they are often ponderous and telegraphed; but in war, they are inexorable juggernauts. Three fully-armored giants on an open battlefield can neutralize 100 infantry soldiers of elves, dwarves, and orcs - while it might go either way, it would be a fair fight.
Orcs: Stewards of the In-Between
Orcs were created by Orocuen, goddess of the forgotten, neglected, and overlooked. Not as sturdy as the dwarves, nor as gracile as the elves, but stronger than both of them, the orcs were created to fill in the gaps left between the various other races. While valuable and necessary work, an occasionally fashionable form of snobbery holds that the orcs therefore do not have a “true purpose” of their own, and are therefore not a “real people” in their own right. Needless to say, this nonsense is noteworthy only for its absurdity: one may as well say that the mortar holding bricks together isn’t a “real” building material. While it is true that orcs do not have a single greatest skill in which they are unparalleled, neither do they have any glaring weaknesses, as they are supremely adaptable beings. Accordingly, orcs often find themselves happiest doing unglamorous jobs that must be done but which nobody really wants to do. If forced to choose, almost every orc would rather be needed but unappreciated, than appreciated but not needed.
Orcs are a bit of a mish-mash of the other species, and as a result, are able to easily achieve a B+ at pretty much anything they do. However, the downside to this is that making the improvement to A+ in anything is much more taxing for one of orcish blood. Orcs are generalists down to the marrow of their bones, and always reluctant to specialize. All-orc groups, when lacking a clear hierarchy, tend to rotate duties - this reduces fatigue while increasing camaraderie and cohesion, and also makes the group more resilient against loss in the bargain. Unfortunately, such a group will almost always fold in any straightforward contest against a group of non-orc specialists, barring any unforeseen circumstances for the orcs to improvise to their advantage.
Trolls: Stewards of the Mountains
Valborga created the trolls to be at home on difficult terrain, most notably while in the mountains that are her domain. Whereas giants have adapted to mountain environments, trolls were made for them. While large of stature and massive in weight, their enormous frames disguise their agility to those who do not know better: trolls do not merely walk through the mountains, they cross them in leaps and bounds. Today, trolls live in the most treacherous of mountain ranges: the Libélula Sierra Mountains in the North, and the Notosynoro Mountain Rim in the South. Many troll clans thrive by having some of their number serve as mountain guides and caravan guards, for both cash and barter, affording them the creature comforts more typically associated with technologically enthusiastic societies. They also find good work as mercenaries and soldiers, transporting heavy equipment with ease and being a fearsome addition to any fighting unit - whether for their skills as fighters or as battlemenders.
Trolls are the most physically distinct of all the human breeds, having digitigrade legs that end in cleft hooves, thick skin, pronounced muzzles, mighty horns, and thick keratinous plates on their knuckles. These last both protect the small bones of their hands while knucklewalking, and serve as fearsome claws. While giants are somewhat stronger on average and win long-distance races, trolls are better sprinters and more nimble by far. They are, sadly, feared for their appearance in some human lands where they are less common. While many trolls may certainly be dangerous when provoked, the same is true of all other humans, as well. The simple fact is that city-dwelling trolls are just as civilized as their other human neighbors, and the humans who regularly interact with them know this firsthand.
No comments:
Post a Comment