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Description

After many thousands of years, the mortal races of Volantis have had enough time to diversify into many thousands upon thousands of cultures and subcultures and dozens of nations, some large and some small. This shall be a short summary of the major players of each continent:
-The Silenian Empire. Centered on the ancient city of Silenus, on the southern shore of the great Shallahas Sea, this is the third in a long line of empires that have conquered central Kyrat, beginning with the first great human nation of Saigos (1st Era 1345-1853), followed by a thousand or so years Interregnum and proceeded by the Empire of Crona (2nd Era 1005-1773) and finally the present empire beginning from 4th Era 188. The disciplined, professional armies of Silenus marched across the land in the wake of the Great War against the Dakkar- being one of the few major powers north of the Toskar mountains not obliterated and occupied by the daemon worshiping horde- and conquered all the lands between the Toskar to the south, the Bahron to the north, the Sea of Bones to the east and the Solin and Azure seas to the west, being undoubtedly the largest empire in history during its apex. Building roads to connect the far-flung corners of the empire and subduing the barbarian human tribes of the Khasgar, the empire brought some semblance of order following the utter devastation of the Dakkar.
-Solon. The sovereign nation of the High Elves, or rather the continuous nation of the original elves from which all other elven races originate, Solon, with it's capital of So'on, the great City of a Thousand Silver Towers, is the longest continuous nation in the history of the world, nestled in the fertile valleys between the Toskar and Iesu mountains that divide the continent in two. The high elves, or Allin, are very magically inclined and devout worshipers of the Great Ones, the Creators of the world, following their tenets in utmost detail, which include hospitality, diligence and self-reliance. The kingdom is ruled by a council of three mages, the Magisters, who also act as high priests of the elven pantheon. Though they never had numbers on their side, the high elves of Solon have never been conquered in their ten thousand years of existence, though many have tried, even their former allies, the humans.
-Kondaran Empire. The kondarans are somewhat unique among humans of Kyrat in that they evolved almost completely isolated in the deep desert of Kondar, under the protection of their god, Sageras, and their great empire that once controlled all of southern Kyrat except for the Dark Elves of Ciris has been exiting in some form for four thousand years, ruled by long dynasties of God-Emperors. During the Dakkar War, the Kondar Empire managed to hold on thanks in part to the natural border of the Toskar as well as its armies of fierce warriors, including some of the best cavalry, and was instrumental in the daemon worshipers' ultimate defeat; this defeat, however, had cost the Kondarans greatly, and their nation has been in a state of decline for centuries since.
-Vodarat. The nation of the strange Vodaren, the Bone-Men of the Cebine, Vodarat occupies most of the great desert and the Coast of Bones, with their political and cultural capital at the great city of Gordias. Name for their gaunt, bony appearance, the natives are, despite appearances, fairly peaceful and friendly creatures, more inclined towards the artistic crafts than picking conflicts with others. Even so, their nation has rarely been under foreign occupation, in no small part due to it rough, arid terrain, with most 'conquests' of it being limited to taking over Gordias and installing a puppet king, who rarely did what they were told. The vodaren being masters of asymmetrical warfare, none of these occupation lasted very long, the invaders scrambling to limit their losses.
-Roamar: Roamar occupies the northern half of the Maia peninsula, a nation of great, snow capped mountains and great jungles home to the Amari, or the Blood Elves, probably the best warriors of Kyrat. For thousands of years, the devout worshipers of the war god Calciben have honed their skills in battle, diverging quite drastically from the high elves, culturally at least. Roamar is a kingdom presided over by the High King, under which lie the Military Governors of the nation's provinces; every blood elf is conscripted into the great army of the kingdom, the Legion, for five years, after which they either go for civilian life or one of the infamous knightly orders that originate from the blood soaked nation.
-Khaje: The island empire of the reptilian Rhajuar, who at one point had conquered quite a sizable chunk of mainland Kyrat. Today, most of it's mainland holdings have long since been lost, but Khaje remains a regional superpower, especially on the sea. Divided between four very different subspecies, with up to four more extinct ones, the rhajur empire main holding of Khaja is a land shrouded in mystery and rumor, as few non-rhajuar have ever stepped foot on it's shores.
-Skain Empire: Located to the north-eastern corner of Kyrat, the Skain Empire is the sovereign nation of the Skain, the Bird-Folk of Skollvar, in the Sea of Sorrow. Isolationist for many thousands of years, the skain emerged during the middle second era to cut out many small nations for themselves from the wild lands of the north and the few human nations that were present. Eventually they were unified in a bloody war into the present incarnation of the Empire. The skain are very much masters of war, having been created, the skain claim, by a dark god for the sole purpose of war, only for the skain to turn against him and make their own path. Created by blood magic, the skain themselves are adept at the dark art, though they limit themselves at their own or willing subjects; even as their nation is one of the few in which blood magic is legal, the use of unwilling participants is even more looked down upon, with harsher punishments than in any other land.
-Phaethon: Nestled between the Iesu and Pitros mountains and bordering the Tenos Sea, Phaethon is the strongest nation of the Eastern kyrati humans, being the first to have successfully split from the Silenian Empire in 4E 677, and continued to fight against the Empire's incursions successfully thanks to their regimented, martial society. The natives have a very feudal society divided between the king and several high lords, each employing strong armies of knights and, thanks to Phaethon's fertile lands, a large standing army of conscripted soldiers. As the leader of the anti-silenian Tenos League, Phaethon has officially been in a state of war with the empire for two centuries, and has been in no small part responsible for the larger nation's decline.
-Athema: A majority of dwarves live in dozens of independent city states deep in the Toskar mountains, for the most part isolated from the outside world. The Steel-Host clans of Taneb, however, are different in that they have managed to conquer and subdue several smaller dwarven cities and even human cities around the King's March mountains, forming the only large dwarven nation, Athema. Named Steel-Host for their large armies and their mastery of steel, which is said to have been invented by the dwarves of Taneb and spread among the other races. They have historically been at odds with the dark elven nation of Ciris for millennia.
-Ciris. Home of the ashed skinned elves that migrated in the Terestine mountains rather than stand with the other elves and humans against the Great Darkness some five thousand years ago, Ciris is a theocracy ruled over by strict religious laws that claim Xaus as the only true god. Magic is strictly controlled and non-faithfulness strictly forbidden, though with the loss of their hegemony and power in the wake of the Dakkar War the Theocracy has began to considerably loosen its grip. Slavery, especially of non-believers, is still legal in many parts of the mountainous nation, as is the enforcement of discrimination in any possible forms against free non-believers so that they stay out of the dark elves lands.
-Bravia. To the far north-west of Kyrat, Bravia was once a small nation centered on the city of Ebondenn, which was the prime source of the hardwood for most of Kyrat. About a thousand years ago, however, the Dakkar emerged from the Megro mountains in the south of Bravia and swarmed across most of the continent, burning Bravia to the ground until they were pushed back. Descendants of the scarce survivors returned to the ruins of Ebondenn with the backing of an entire continent, and began to rebuild the nation into a reverse fortress in the even the Dakkar would resurface. At one point, the nation was possibly the most fortified location in the world, with armies from all across the continent stationed in the many forts dotting the outskirts of the mountains; today, only a tenth of those forces remain, the allied nations having forgotten in large part about the old treaties and leaving Bravia to fend for itself any possible insurrection from the ancient enemy.
-Akai Orcs. Haling from the great plains of Azai, the akai orcs are one of three orchis groups, the other two being the savage mountain orcs and the 'city orcs' who opted to live among more 'civilized' lands. The akai take their name after their word for 'rider', and they are sometimes called the Horse Lords as their culture is heavily focused around the beast, along with a strong martial tradition, emphasis on self reliance and ancestral worship. The hundreds of small scattered tribes have gone through history generally unconquered, but highly divided. Three times through history, however, they have been unified under a great Khai, who carved great empires from the surrounding lands; these lands, however, never lasted very long beyond said khai's death, and the orcs would go right back to fighting among themselves.
-Thuun. A large human empire that dominates most of southern Solanis, Thuun is characterized by it's extreme isolationism, against the rest of the continent but especially against foreigners from other lands. Their entire coast is regularly patrolled by it's formidable navy, which while not the largest is certainly the deadliest due to it's widespread usage of Blackpowder, an explosive substance the alchemists of Thuun invented. For millennia, the Thuun Empire has been defending against the bulk of the Whitestreaks, the inhabitants of The Chill, using their considerable engineering knowledge along with magic to build one of the largest structure in the known world, the great fortified Wall of Sau.
-H'akha. Home to the short, copper skinned humanoid race of the Voronal desert, the H'akha Empire occupies most of the eastern side of the great waste, having tamed the death land many millennia ago, using both the large elephant like creatures and even the death-worms that roam beneath the sands as war-mounts to fight against foreign incursions, especially the whitestreaks. With the Oran Sak mountains forming a nearly impenetrable border to the north, the whitestreak attacks mostly come from the north-west, along the border with Thuun; for this reason, H'akha is a close ally to the humans, though rather reluctantly as the two have a long history of conflict, especially as the thuun were long ago enslaved by the h'akha.
-Rumre. A large nation occupying the tropical forests of Severl, the Empire of Rumre is home to the Rumari, a race of apish men that have only recently began to expand their control, doing so at a very rapid pace and becoming an equal to the other powers of the continent. Due to their distance from the Chill, the rumari do not consider them much of a threat, and continue to wage war and expand aggressively against its neighbors and refusing to accept any kind of peace treaty, believing that anything not taken by force is not worth taking at all.
-Ibran. An ancient people believed to be descendants of the same tribes of humans that gave birth to the whitestreaks who settled the Daia peninsula, the ibran were the target of some of the most ferocious atrocities commuted by their distant cousins. Because of their distant relation, many of the other nations of Solanis have a history of distrusting and fearing the ibran, having left them to suffer even as they would united against atrocities committed on their own people. Eventually, the many small nations of Daia were unified against their oppressors and the present Empire was born, standing mostly on it's own against the invaders.
-Whitestreaks. Inhabitants of the great taiga forest known as The Chill, these humans are known for three things: their white streaked hair which gives their name, said to be a sign of the great magical power they wield, their control over the largest piece of land in the known world- although they are not technically united under one nation- and lastly their religious tenet of vengeance against any perceived offense, which can, if the offense is considered egregious enough, lead to the infamous Final Rite, when the whole of whitestreak society is dedicated to the complete and utmost destruction of the offender, their immediate relatives and any who dares to stand with them. Such is the case with the current whitestreak invasion of the south; whatever offense has resulted in this escalation has long since been lost in the subsequent millennia since, but the current whitestreak are no less dedicated to completing their ancestors work and eradicate all who stand against them.
-Pellerin. The largest nation of Rhysa, the Pellerin Empire is the theocratic, sovereign state of the silver skinned race that originate in it's deep forests, who worship their claimed creators, whom they call The Archons, whom the pellerin are adamant are the only gods worth worshiping and ferveusly try to convert their conquered lands towards. From their great city of Alleusia they have spread their influence across most of Alleris and beyond, once even daring to cross the great Amaran ocean to conquer and colonize Kyrat. Though their attempt was repelled, the war has had long lasting consequences on both continents. On the pellerin side, this had forced the emperors to try and spread south and subdue the valkoris, only to fail and ignite the long lasting struggle that still wages today.
-Valkoris. Tall, imposing, blond haired humans hailing from the mist shrouded islands of the Boiling Sea, the valkoris are a large gathering of human tribes that are masters of the southern seas. They have no nation or even a single culture, but instead are divided into thousands of tribes than have come to dominate most of the southern islands of Rhysa. For millennia they had fought among themselves for control of the high seas,but came together as a people against the pellerin.

Description

After many thousands of years, the mortal races of Volantis have had enough time to diversify into many thousands upon thousands of cultures and subcultures and dozens of nations, some large and some small. This shall be a short summary of the major players of each continent:
-The Silenian Empire. Centered on the ancient city of Silenus, on the southern shore of the great Shallahas Sea, this is the third in a long line of empires that have conquered central Kyrat, beginning with the first great human nation of Saigos (1st Era 1345-1853), followed by a thousand or so years Interregnum and proceeded by the Empire of Crona (2nd Era 1005-1773) and finally the present empire beginning from 4th Era 188. The disciplined, professional armies of Silenus marched across the land in the wake of the Great War against the Dakkar- being one of the few major powers north of the Toskar mountains not obliterated and occupied by the daemon worshiping horde- and conquered all the lands between the Toskar to the south, the Bahron to the north, the Sea of Bones to the east and the Solin and Azure seas to the west, being undoubtedly the largest empire in history during its apex. Building roads to connect the far-flung corners of the empire and subduing the barbarian human tribes of the Khasgar, the empire brought some semblance of order following the utter devastation of the Dakkar.
-Solon. The sovereign nation of the High Elves, or rather the continuous nation of the original elves from which all other elven races originate, Solon, with it's capital of So'on, the great City of a Thousand Silver Towers, is the longest continuous nation in the history of the world, nestled in the fertile valleys between the Toskar and Iesu mountains that divide the continent in two. The high elves, or Allin, are very magically inclined and devout worshipers of the Great Ones, the Creators of the world, following their tenets in utmost detail, which include hospitality, diligence and self-reliance. The kingdom is ruled by a council of three mages, the Magisters, who also act as high priests of the elven pantheon. Though they never had numbers on their side, the high elves of Solon have never been conquered in their ten thousand years of existence, though many have tried, even their former allies, the humans.
-Kondaran Empire. The kondarans are somewhat unique among humans of Kyrat in that they evolved almost completely isolated in the deep desert of Kondar, under the protection of their god, Sageras, and their great empire that once controlled all of southern Kyrat except for the Dark Elves of Ciris has been exiting in some form for four thousand years, ruled by long dynasties of God-Emperors. During the Dakkar War, the Kondar Empire managed to hold on thanks in part to the natural border of the Toskar as well as its armies of fierce warriors, including some of the best cavalry, and was instrumental in the daemon worshipers' ultimate defeat; this defeat, however, had cost the Kondarans greatly, and their nation has been in a state of decline for centuries since.
-Vodarat. The nation of the strange Vodaren, the Bone-Men of the Cebine, Vodarat occupies most of the great desert and the Coast of Bones, with their political and cultural capital at the great city of Gordias. Name for their gaunt, bony appearance, the natives are, despite appearances, fairly peaceful and friendly creatures, more inclined towards the artistic crafts than picking conflicts with others. Even so, their nation has rarely been under foreign occupation, in no small part due to it rough, arid terrain, with most 'conquests' of it being limited to taking over Gordias and installing a puppet king, who rarely did what they were told. The vodaren being masters of asymmetrical warfare, none of these occupation lasted very long, the invaders scrambling to limit their losses.
-Roamar: Roamar occupies the northern half of the Maia peninsula, a nation of great, snow capped mountains and great jungles home to the Amari, or the Blood Elves, probably the best warriors of Kyrat. For thousands of years, the devout worshipers of the war god Calciben have honed their skills in battle, diverging quite drastically from the high elves, culturally at least. Roamar is a kingdom presided over by the High King, under which lie the Military Governors of the nation's provinces; every blood elf is conscripted into the great army of the kingdom, the Legion, for five years, after which they either go for civilian life or one of the infamous knightly orders that originate from the blood soaked nation.
-Khaje: The island empire of the reptilian Rhajuar, who at one point had conquered quite a sizable chunk of mainland Kyrat. Today, most of it's mainland holdings have long since been lost, but Khaje remains a regional superpower, especially on the sea. Divided between four very different subspecies, with up to four more extinct ones, the rhajur empire main holding of Khaja is a land shrouded in mystery and rumor, as few non-rhajuar have ever stepped foot on it's shores.
-Skain Empire: Located to the north-eastern corner of Kyrat, the Skain Empire is the sovereign nation of the Skain, the Bird-Folk of Skollvar, in the Sea of Sorrow. Isolationist for many thousands of years, the skain emerged during the middle second era to cut out many small nations for themselves from the wild lands of the north and the few human nations that were present. Eventually they were unified in a bloody war into the present incarnation of the Empire. The skain are very much masters of war, having been created, the skain claim, by a dark god for the sole purpose of war, only for the skain to turn against him and make their own path. Created by blood magic, the skain themselves are adept at the dark art, though they limit themselves at their own or willing subjects; even as their nation is one of the few in which blood magic is legal, the use of unwilling participants is even more looked down upon, with harsher punishments than in any other land.
-Phaethon: Nestled between the Iesu and Pitros mountains and bordering the Tenos Sea, Phaethon is the strongest nation of the Eastern kyrati humans, being the first to have successfully split from the Silenian Empire in 4E 677, and continued to fight against the Empire's incursions successfully thanks to their regimented, martial society. The natives have a very feudal society divided between the king and several high lords, each employing strong armies of knights and, thanks to Phaethon's fertile lands, a large standing army of conscripted soldiers. As the leader of the anti-silenian Tenos League, Phaethon has officially been in a state of war with the empire for two centuries, and has been in no small part responsible for the larger nation's decline.
-Athema: A majority of dwarves live in dozens of independent city states deep in the Toskar mountains, for the most part isolated from the outside world. The Steel-Host clans of Taneb, however, are different in that they have managed to conquer and subdue several smaller dwarven cities and even human cities around the King's March mountains, forming the only large dwarven nation, Athema. Named Steel-Host for their large armies and their mastery of steel, which is said to have been invented by the dwarves of Taneb and spread among the other races. They have historically been at odds with the dark elven nation of Ciris for millennia.
-Ciris. Home of the ashed skinned elves that migrated in the Terestine mountains rather than stand with the other elves and humans against the Great Darkness some five thousand years ago, Ciris is a theocracy ruled over by strict religious laws that claim Xaus as the only true god. Magic is strictly controlled and non-faithfulness strictly forbidden, though with the loss of their hegemony and power in the wake of the Dakkar War the Theocracy has began to considerably loosen its grip. Slavery, especially of non-believers, is still legal in many parts of the mountainous nation, as is the enforcement of discrimination in any possible forms against free non-believers so that they stay out of the dark elves lands.
-Bravia. To the far north-west of Kyrat, Bravia was once a small nation centered on the city of Ebondenn, which was the prime source of the hardwood for most of Kyrat. About a thousand years ago, however, the Dakkar emerged from the Megro mountains in the south of Bravia and swarmed across most of the continent, burning Bravia to the ground until they were pushed back. Descendants of the scarce survivors returned to the ruins of Ebondenn with the backing of an entire continent, and began to rebuild the nation into a reverse fortress in the even the Dakkar would resurface. At one point, the nation was possibly the most fortified location in the world, with armies from all across the continent stationed in the many forts dotting the outskirts of the mountains; today, only a tenth of those forces remain, the allied nations having forgotten in large part about the old treaties and leaving Bravia to fend for itself any possible insurrection from the ancient enemy.
-Akai Orcs. Haling from the great plains of Azai, the akai orcs are one of three orchis groups, the other two being the savage mountain orcs and the 'city orcs' who opted to live among more 'civilized' lands. The akai take their name after their word for 'rider', and they are sometimes called the Horse Lords as their culture is heavily focused around the beast, along with a strong martial tradition, emphasis on self reliance and ancestral worship. The hundreds of small scattered tribes have gone through history generally unconquered, but highly divided. Three times through history, however, they have been unified under a great Khai, who carved great empires from the surrounding lands; these lands, however, never lasted very long beyond said khai's death, and the orcs would go right back to fighting among themselves.
-Thuun. A large human empire that dominates most of southern Solanis, Thuun is characterized by it's extreme isolationism, against the rest of the continent but especially against foreigners from other lands. Their entire coast is regularly patrolled by it's formidable navy, which while not the largest is certainly the deadliest due to it's widespread usage of Blackpowder, an explosive substance the alchemists of Thuun invented. For millennia, the Thuun Empire has been defending against the bulk of the Whitestreaks, the inhabitants of The Chill, using their considerable engineering knowledge along with magic to build one of the largest structure in the known world, the great fortified Wall of Sau.
-H'akha. Home to the short, copper skinned humanoid race of the Voronal desert, the H'akha Empire occupies most of the eastern side of the great waste, having tamed the death land many millennia ago, using both the large elephant like creatures and even the death-worms that roam beneath the sands as war-mounts to fight against foreign incursions, especially the whitestreaks. With the Oran Sak mountains forming a nearly impenetrable border to the north, the whitestreak attacks mostly come from the north-west, along the border with Thuun; for this reason, H'akha is a close ally to the humans, though rather reluctantly as the two have a long history of conflict, especially as the thuun were long ago enslaved by the h'akha.
-Rumre. A large nation occupying the tropical forests of Severl, the Empire of Rumre is home to the Rumari, a race of apish men that have only recently began to expand their control, doing so at a very rapid pace and becoming an equal to the other powers of the continent. Due to their distance from the Chill, the rumari do not consider them much of a threat, and continue to wage war and expand aggressively against its neighbors and refusing to accept any kind of peace treaty, believing that anything not taken by force is not worth taking at all.
-Ibran. An ancient people believed to be descendants of the same tribes of humans that gave birth to the whitestreaks who settled the Daia peninsula, the ibran were the target of some of the most ferocious atrocities commuted by their distant cousins. Because of their distant relation, many of the other nations of Solanis have a history of distrusting and fearing the ibran, having left them to suffer even as they would united against atrocities committed on their own people. Eventually, the many small nations of Daia were unified against their oppressors and the present Empire was born, standing mostly on it's own against the invaders.
-Whitestreaks. Inhabitants of the great taiga forest known as The Chill, these humans are known for three things: their white streaked hair which gives their name, said to be a sign of the great magical power they wield, their control over the largest piece of land in the known world- although they are not technically united under one nation- and lastly their religious tenet of vengeance against any perceived offense, which can, if the offense is considered egregious enough, lead to the infamous Final Rite, when the whole of whitestreak society is dedicated to the complete and utmost destruction of the offender, their immediate relatives and any who dares to stand with them. Such is the case with the current whitestreak invasion of the south; whatever offense has resulted in this escalation has long since been lost in the subsequent millennia since, but the current whitestreak are no less dedicated to completing their ancestors work and eradicate all who stand against them.
-Pellerin. The largest nation of Rhysa, the Pellerin Empire is the theocratic, sovereign state of the silver skinned race that originate in it's deep forests, who worship their claimed creators, whom they call The Archons, whom the pellerin are adamant are the only gods worth worshiping and ferveusly try to convert their conquered lands towards. From their great city of Alleusia they have spread their influence across most of Alleris and beyond, once even daring to cross the great Amaran ocean to conquer and colonize Kyrat. Though their attempt was repelled, the war has had long lasting consequences on both continents. On the pellerin side, this had forced the emperors to try and spread south and subdue the valkoris, only to fail and ignite the long lasting struggle that still wages today.
-Valkoris. Tall, imposing, blond haired humans hailing from the mist shrouded islands of the Boiling Sea, the valkoris are a large gathering of human tribes that are masters of the southern seas. They have no nation or even a single culture, but instead are divided into thousands of tribes than have come to dominate most of the southern islands of Rhysa. For millennia they had fought among themselves for control of the high seas,but came together as a people against the pellerin.