The Races

Humans: humans are the most prolific race of Amora. They are found on all 3 continents and in the central isles. There are four powerful human kingdoms/empires:
1.) Karthay: Karthay began as a small group of cities at the mouth of the Dido river famed for trade and notorious for piracy and brigandage. However, in the last two generations, the Karthayan nobles have overhauled the city's government, stamped out corruption, and crushed the brigands and pirates that used to lord over the land and sea. This is not to say that such behaviors are absolutely forbidden, but the karthayans have worked very hard to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the world. Nevertheless, Karthay is seen as a country where a honeyed tongue, style, and money will get you anything.
The Karthayan noble houses, having formed a council (closer to a senate, with 100 members) have gone from being interested in only trade to having imperial ambitions. Karthay, using powerful citizen militias and mercenaries, have conquered most of the territory surrounding the tributaries of the Dido river. Since this is the largest river on the southern continent (in fact, the largest river in Amora), it represents a hugely profitable trade route, and Karthay has grown ever richer through this move. Their territory is very large, second only to Czarra in raw surface area).
The Karthayans employ an infantry heavy force, centered on their heavy infantry citizen militia. These troops are supported by light and medium infantry auxiliaries from subjugated peoples, as well as a mixed citizen/mercenary/auxiliary cavalry (medium to heavy, with very little super-heavy knights).
The Karthayan school of magic is an earth/metal focused school. It is quite young, and as such, hag magic and druidic magic are still very prevalent in the land.
The Karthayan religion places Father Mountain as the head of their pantheon, With Dido, the lifegiving River Goddess as his consort. In recent times, the War God Diomed has also gained prominence, along with, of course, Amor, goddess of loyalty and family.

2.) Arthuria: Arthuria is still technically a collection of Fiefdoms, although its identity as a kingdom is essentially assured: a young but wise knight of the duValle line has united the majority of the barons, put an end to brigandage in the land, and subdued many unchivalrous lords. It is known that the Baron Germanicus DuValle has close ties to the Northern Fae Kingdom, ruled by the fabled magician the Raven King. It is believed that his ability to succeed in the unification of Arthuria where others have failed is through the aid of these mystical allies.
Arthuria subscribes to the principles of serfdom, with powerful lords ruling over a vast peasant class: few middle class merchants and artisans exist in between, largely dependent on the patronage of their lords. Although such systems are easily subject to corruption, Arthuria is the most devout of all the kingdoms, and a very strict code of chivalry governs the actions of the nobility. What has, until now, kept arthuria from being a true world power is that amongst the chief tenents of this code is that of "questing": that is, constantly seeking out other noble chivalric foes to test ones skills in battle against. As such, the kingdom has been, almost constantly, in a state similar to guerilla warfare, not to mention the beaurocratic nightmare of having many lords absent from their lands many days, weeks, or months at a time. DuValle has begun to quell this, however, and currently Arthuria enjoys the beginnings of a rennaisance of wealth and prosperity.
The Arthurians do not use spellcasters. They have powerful priests, however, and their ties to the Fae seems to have also given them a tremendous talent for taming and training magical beasts.
The Arthurians worship the Lady of the Lake, Amor, above all. Their other dieties are led by Justice, who is also their god of war.
the arthurian army consists first and foremost of its super-heavy cavalry (including many beasts other than horses). These are supported by peasant archers and pikemen, as well as a few outriders chosen from men-at-arms.

3.) Csara: Csara was the first kingdom of man to form. Many generations ago, The first God-King of Csara unified the northern tribes, blessed by the Old God. Since that time, Csara has been one nation, or at least this is what the Csarans like to say. The truth is that Csara has had more civil wars than there have been wars between nations: in a nation rife with intrigue and power struggles, it inevitably comes to blows. Csara is a mountainous and forested country, spanning a large portion of the Northern continent. It is separated by great tracts of forest from Arthuria and Eburon. The land is naturally split into many valleys, and very little of the land is flat enough for large scale farming. Those territories that are flat are the most coveted.
Csara has an immensely complex court, with many different ranks and titles. Their nobility are tremendously rich and notoriously decadent: the king of Csara is considered semi-divine, a son of the Old God, and this divinity trickles down through the nobility. The country has grown fat on its mining operations: since the dwarves do not really share, Csara is the major source of precious metal and a significant source of base metals and stone for much of Amora. Most of these profits go straight to the nobles.
The Csaran religion worships a single deity, the Old God. They claim that all the "lesser divinities" of other races are mere facets of the great creator. Unlike other nations, Csara has a strong centralized church that represents arguably the most powerful political entity in the country. Other cults are not tolerated in the country, although there are numerous "patron saints" (notably the patron saint of the royal family, St. Amor, the saint of devotion and unquestioning loyalty, who's monks and nuns are the healers of the land) that sometimes bear a more than coincidental similarity to the deities of other lands.
The Csaran military centers around the personal forces of the nobles, which are a wild mixture of whatever kind of fighting that noble happens to like. With their close contact with the dwarves, the Csarans sport some cannons and firearms, although the manufacture of gunpowder (which requires alchemical magic) has not yet been mastered by them. They draw inspiration from all the areas of Amora, and these forces are quite mixed and often totally ineffectual. However, the Csarans do have two powerful military arms: the Knights Templar, monks who train for battle in the service of god, and the Crag-Clans: the ancestral organizations of Csara based mostly on blood-ties. The crag-clans, primarily light to heavy infantry, are incredibly fierce fighters (and are usually busy fighting) that are complete masters of the environment of Csara. Although flashy victories in Csara's civil strife are often won on the few plains by knights and persona guards, decisive victories almost always come in narrow mountain passes at the hands of the clans.
Csaran Magic is a school of shadow and death. Hag magic and Druidic magic have largely been stamped out by the church.

4.) Eburon: Eburon is in the far East of the Northern continent. The rise of Eburon to the status of statehood are shrouded in mystery, for the area it is in is covered in marsh, thick forest, and mountainous terrain, inhospitable grounds that make state building difficult. The tribes that had inhabited it until recently were subdued in a lightning campaign by the city-state of Eburon, situated near the Eastern Coast. This occurred shortly after a powerful sorcerer and 3 angelions formed an alliance and seized power in Eburon. These individuals rapidly marshalled the forces of Eburon and expanded outwards, gaining control of a very large amount of territory, more than it was thought they could hold. But Eburon's stability has increased, and now it is recognized as probably the most stable and organized nation. Eburon, even more than Csara or Karthay, makes heavy use of slaves, and the Blood Elves are welcome in their ports. Eburon is ruled by the group mentioned above with an iron fist. Currently, the state remains highly militarized, having just conquered the very peaceful saurians to the south. This act, in fact, has made some ripples throughout amora, since it is a clear unprovoked act of war. Given that Eburon has been unapologetic and has not since demilitarized, this has many people worried. Eburon has only one close Ally, the Imadigo across the strait to the south.
Eburon makes extensive use of magic, and they have a well established school based around summoning magic.
Eburon has an extensive pantheon centered around a creator/destroyer figure, an entity of change. Interestingly, for the few that know this, Eburon does not include Amor in their pantheon.

The Central Isles: Though not a human kingdom, humans are the dominant presence in the central isles, which technically also includes the inner coasts of all 3 island continents. Here, civilization flourishes, with many small city/island states, trade, and by and large an absence of mythical monsters.

Elves
1.) Sea Elves: The Faeries claim that they created the Elves as a race of servants. Whatever their origins, the elves are now amongst the most powerful races. They naturally excel at magic, and although they are the youngest race, they are at the forefront of this most storied and difficult discipline. Of all the elf subspecies, Sea Elves are the most common. Lithe and Beautiful, Sea Elves have no settlements on Amora: their ships mysteriously appear, and go just as quickly.
When the sea elves first appeared, many generations ago, they stated to all that the high seas, the seas outside of amora, were their territory, and none might trespass. At the time, only the dwarves were in any position to complain, and it being in their nature, they attempted to dispute this claim. The dwarven navy was entirely obliterated. Since that time, the dwarves claim a mighty vengeance against the elves, although they have never again tried to dispute control of the seas.
Sea Elves do not take their large vessels into the inner sea, nor do they interfere with vessels that stay close to the coast outside of this area. They act as Amora's greatest shipping traders: although their rates are exorbitantly high, none can hold a candle to the brilliance of their speed or security (days compared to weeks or months, and a 99% successful completion of voyage). Their transport operations within the inner sea are small, but important particularly for valuable or luxury items.
It is said that in order to prevent the elves from threatening them, the faeries cursed their creations with an inability to ever settle on land. The chief goddess of the sea elves is Poeidona, the sea. Poeidona's consort, Amor, is their second highest deity.
The sea elves make use primarily of light to heavy infantry. They have a few cavalry, riders of magical beasts. They are experts with ranged weapons and with very close-in fighting, as these are most appropriate for ship to ship combat. Their ships are equipped with heavy ram prows that they use to devastating effectiveness.
The sea elves are masters of the magic of water and air: this is why they are undisputed masters of the open ocean. They control the winds to fill the sails of their ships, giving themselves nearly unlimited maneuverability.

2.) Blood Elves Much less numerous than the sea elves, blood elves are the most feared slavers and pirates in the islands (followed closely by the dwarves). The blood elves are haughty and aloof, and are clearly eager to enjoy the fruits of their labor: they are extravagant spenders and carousers. blood elves, like their blue brethren, have no land settlements known , although there are rumours that they may have settlements on the rocky southernmost coasts. typically, they arrive suddenly, burn and pillage and take prisoners, and then disappear as quickly as they came. blood elves are known to engage in sacrifice, particularly for their brand of Hag-magic.
blood elves and sea elves despise one another, although they will be civil towards one another, and it is rare for them to actually fight. It is known that blood elves fall under the sea elf prohibitoin of the open ocean, and it appears that for the most part, the blood elves obey. the sea elves worship above all else Aris, a deity of power and destruction. They honor Amor, but primarily as the goddess of Fire, lust, and passion.
blood elves use similar weapons and armor as the sea elves, with a tendency to lean towards heavier armor and weapons. Since they often raid, they do make use of cavalry, although they are notoriously fleet of foot and rarely have need of such things. They often use poisoned weapons dipped in soporifics, to make it less necessary to kill precious potential slaves.
Blood elves are masters of fire magic, terrifying on the water, and powerful in any setting. They are aggressive and powerful magic users.

3.) Wood Elves not known until perhaps 20 generations ago, the wood elves live in the dense and steamy jungles on the eastern part of the southern continent. they trade occassionally with the Karthayans, but they are savage, feral, and wild, often raiding the territories around them. They are allied with a strange form of elemental found only in their forest, called treefolk, massive living trees of tremendous strength and toughness. Also, there appears to be a breed of imadigo found in this forest distantly related to the imadigo of the middle continent, a jaguar variety not found elsewhere. It appears that their kingdom is actually quite organized and powerful, and that they wage a highly successful and genocidal war on the faeries of the same forest. The wood elves are isolationist and difficult to understand, and only the karthayans have so far even attempted to set up communication with them, with limited (although not absent) success. It does appear that unlike their brethren, wood elves are able to settle on land without a problem.
The wood elves worship an earth mother, Amor. The rest of their pantheon appears to be peopled with a very large number of lesser deities.
THe wood elves utilize almost exclusively light and medium infantry: there is no function for cavalry in their dense forests. They are the most dangerous bow shots in all of Amora, and master skirmishers, so that any military attempts against their forests have ended only in disaster.
The wood elves, savage and feral, appear to use only the basic druidic and hag magics, as well as the powers of their priests: they have no formal school of magic.

Stone Elves: quite rare, the stone elves do not have any large settlements, living as herders, guides, and trackers in the mountainous terrain bordering the dwarven kingdoms, Csara, and Eburon. They are shy, but often serve as valuable guides to those able to find or befriend them. Surprisingly, they are well allied with the dwarves, who through some bizarre "exception" (something dwarves usually do not permit) have held them separate from their sea elf kinsmen.
stone elves appear to honor Amor in a fairly pure form: as a goddess of love. it does not appear that they have an extensive pantheon beyond this.
stone elves, when pushed to fight, are typically found in attire similar to wood elves, as they are usually out and about as scouts. However, the few times their enemies have seen them in anything resembling battle array, they fight in heavy or super-heavy (read, plate mail) armor, moving nearly as fast through the rocky paths as without it.
Stone elves use mostly druidic and hag magic, and their priests of Amor are considered the best healers in all of amora. Nevertheless, they do appear to have some form of advanced magic based around deception/perception.

Dwarves: The dwarves have had organized kingdoms longer than any other race. Their great cities and fortresses span the vast mountain range at the northernmost edge of Amora, where they have their great mines and forges. The dwarves love nothing better than fighting, drinking, and making things, something of a strange combination. To them, being storied is all important, and the best way to do that is to create something lasting and powerful, that will be able to get its own story. Jealous and xenophobic, the dwarves trade surprisingly little, which means that dwarven, goods, the best in Amora, are even more expensive than they would otherwise be. The dwarven value system, along with being remembered, puts high value on material goods.
the dwarven world is split into many city states and small kingdoms, that often war with each other over perceived or real slights. Currently, the dwarven states are far from united, although most of the mountains have been under the sway of a single king twice in dwarven history. Dwarves are also famous for raiding, sending their longships out along the coasts to battle with "lesser" folk. From these expeditions they take large amounts of booty, although many dwarves refuse to take slaves (some do, of course). Dwarves are a very proud race, and they consider themselves to be the greatest of all the peoples of Amora, largely because they make the best and most beautiful goods. Occassionally, when a member of another race excels at something, they will honor such an individual: stories exist of cities saved from destruction by a dwarf raiding party because of some simple craftsman who exceled at his or her trade.
All of Amora covets items of dwarven manufacture: the dwarves, however, covet them more than anyone, and trading with them is very difficult, particularly given that dwarven etiquette is both extremely exacting and nearly impenetrable to outsiders. As such, business with dwarves is difficult and dangerous: but the rewards are high enough for some to try. The situation is complicated by the fact that dwarves live on the edge of the known world, but refuse to use sea elf shipping, meaning that their goods must be exported over land or in their own longships (or other small trade vessels, through very dangerous waters). As such, nearly all trading for dwarf goods (since dwarves are by nature sedentary and don't usually venture away unless raiding) happens within dwarven territory by men either sent by their lords to buy something specific, or daring businessmen trying to make a buck.
Dwarves, since they believe themselves superior to all other creatures, refuse in general to use slaves or even draft animals. They have no cavalry, and do all their labor with their own hands. Given dwarven constitution and ingenuity, this has in no way impeded their progress.
Dwarven religion is primarily ancestor worship, although they do honor a deity of the Mountain, and a deity Below the Mountain, as well as Amor as the goddess of the hearth and family.
Dwarven warriors on raids are typically medium to heavy infantry, for speed of movement. Those who defend the dwarven fortresses and keeps are nearly always heavy to super-heavy infantry.
Dwarves do not use druidic or hag magic. They utilize only rune magic, the only true way (according to them) of making a magic item, at least true in regards to giving it specific abilities. Non dwarves have never learned this precious art, and the dwarves guard the secret jealously.