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 (including recently abolishing slavery, much to the chagrin of the blood elves). 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, 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.

Orcs: The Orcs are nomadic tribesmen of the great plains of the central continent. Once herders like the bouans of the plains, their aggressive honor system led them to become militant raiders who have come to challenge all other races for control of the central continent. The orcs resemble 16th century japan in their social and honor structure. They are essentially feudal, with warriors reporting to their lord and supplying him with a cut of their produce. They continue to be herders, following their flocks of bison, water buffalo, and horses across the plains. However, with the scarcity of goods and services, the Orc value system has grown around the idea of material wealth: the more stuff you have, the better you are. As such, the orcs have begun to aggressively raid the human coastal communities and the empire of the imadigo to the east. They also battle each other constantly, which helps keep their attention distracted, but also means that nearly every orc army is a veteran army.
Orcs are painted as savages, but in fact they have a complex society with important rules of etiquette and a very strong sense of honor. Unfortunately, slights of honor can only really be settled through bloodshed. Orcs do not value organized learning or government, although they have come to understand the meaning of these things for others (they see it as weakness). Orcs are not good at book learning, but they are often cunning, savvy, and creative.
the southern orc clans have in recent times tamed the trolls and dire wolves common in the southern mountains, and have begun using them to devastating effect. this has pushed many orc clans farther north and east, bringing them into ever greater conflict with the imadigo and their vassals the saurians.
The orcs worship a god of strength above all. They also honor the birth-giver, Amor, and the horse god.
Orcs fight primarily as cavalry. they utilize horse archers and medium to heavy cavalry and favor hit and run tactics. Their infantry is light to medium, again favoring speed. All their fighting emphasizes aggressiveness and bravery as opposed to defense.
Orcs have strong druidic and hag-magic, but no organized school of magic.

A quick note on the central isles: Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and others that have split off from their respective peoples and live in the central isles are typically well adapted: ie, they do NOT cling to the descriptions above to the point where they cannot function in a primarily human society: otherwise, they end up dead.

Bouans: two groups of bouans exist, one on the southern continent, to the west of karthay, and the other on the plains of the central continent. Bouans are peaceful herders and farmers: despite their great size and strength, bouans do not tend towards warfare and have fared poorly against Karthay and the Orcs in military engagements. OVerall, Karthay and the Bouans have a peaceful relationship, with Karthay making politically shrewd moves to acquire the bouans into their empire without too much bloodshed. The central bouans, however, are in a losing war with the orcs, who have already enslaved many of them. As such, these bouans have become more militant, although they still lose regularly to the orcs. With their pastures shrinking and much of their livestock taken, they are in decline.
Bouans are primarily vegetarian, but are acutely skilled at farming and animal husbandry: their flocks provide milk, wool, and till and fertilize the soil. The bouans make excellent laborers, and given their mellow disposition, they are coveted throughout Amora as laborers, farmers, and assistants. When a bouan becomes a warrior, he is also seldom without employ.
In their territories, bouans are tribal, but usually have a centralized council that makes larger scale decisions. Bouans worship Amor as mother Earth. They are closely connected to nature in general, and their other deities take nature forms.
Bouans do not have an organized military.
Bouans are masters of druidic magic, the only kind of magic they employ.

Saurians: The saurians, like the bouans, are very peaceful, living in a close symbiotic relationship with their insectoid herd charges on the eastern end of both the northern and central continent. They had an organized and very prosperous and peaceful kingdom in each place, but both kingdoms have now been conquered, by Eburon and the Imadigo, respectively. The imadigo keep them as a vassal and buffer state against the orcs, and make them produce most of their food: Saurians are master farmers, exceling even the bouans in ther agricultural skills. Eburon seems intent on enslaving the entire nation.
Saurians raise a variety of insectoid creatures that range in size from a rat to an elephant. No other race has succeeded in taming or raising these creatures, whereas the saurians seem to be able to command them almost inately. All of saurian society is based around these creatures: they are used for farming, building, medicine, and all manner of other things. <br. Saurians, similar to bouans, worship an earth mother, Amor. they also honor several other deities.
Saurians fight primarily by using herds of larger, more aggressive insects to attack their foes. this can be surprisingly effective, although the saurians are inept enough at war that they have nevertheless been easily overcome by their opponents.
Saurian magic revolves around growing things: it is like canonized druidic magic, although it is able to do much greater things. They also practice hag-magic and druidic magic.

Imadigo: the imadigo resemble ancient egypt in their societal structure, which is very rigid and stratified. Each imadigo falls into a caste, based on their type (lions are on top, tigers are the warriors and priests, panthers, leopards, cheetahs, and a jackal-like creature are on the bottom). Jaguars are only found in the jungle of the wood elves, and are therefore separate from this, something that has upset the imadigo for unknown reasons. The imadigo are an ancient civilization, almost as old as the dwarves. They subjugated the saurians long ago, and have since lived out a fairly easy existence, since the saurians produce large amounts of surplus food on which to raise the herds the imadigo eat. The lions consider themselves semi-divine, and are worshipped as emissaries of the divine sun god and his consort, Amor.
The tigers are the imadigo warriors: they are fearsome warriors, but not numerous, which has put the imadigo at a sore disadvantage against the orcs: saurian massed infantry tactics are not particularly good against fast horse, particularly on the fertile flood plains that supply much of the food of the imadigan empire. However, as the imadigo forces have gotten pushed back, the marshy landscape of the saurian homelands have put the orcs at a significant disadvantage.
The imadigo practice death magic. They use this to commune with the dead, but their school is hard at work using it to resurrect or preserve the dead and dying.

Faeries: The Fae were created by the gods as messengers, entertainers, and spies. As with all of the gods' creations, few of them were permitted entrance to Amora, although more than other beings, since they were seen as mostly harmless. Faeries have the ability they call truesight, the ability to see spirits, magical energies, and auras. This is held as a large part of the reason that faeries are, by the standards of humanity, largely insane. The motives of faeries are indecipherable to outsiders, although they clearly possess reason: they maintain a large and powerful kingdom north of Arthuria and a small kingdom in the forests of the central continent: smaller settlements abound. Of course, many faeries are solitary, and these are typically much more random and therefore dangerous.
it is clear that faeries are not as numerous as they once were: it appears that their largest kingdom, that in the jungles of the southern continent, has been nearly eradicated by the wood elves. Nevertheless, faeries are still a significant presence in Amora. They come in all shapes and sizes: tiny wisps and monstrous trolls are all of Faeries descent. Those faeries that have the best grasp of reality very often migrate away from their own kind and into the society of other races: their extraordinary skill at magic makes them very desireable allies in some places, while their reputation for trickery and malice gets them chased away or worse elsewhere.
It appears that the northern faerie kingdom has a sovreign, the Raven King, who is quite eminently reasonable, or at least able to play at it well enough to fool most anyone. He has been highly successful in organizing his sidhe host, both keeping it in check and strengthening it, so that his kingdom's borders have increased for the first time in memory. The Raven King is said to be allied with Baron DuValle, soon likely to be King DuValle of Arthuria.
The Fae honor the gods in their most minute facets, and see the presence of divinity everywhere. because of truesight, Fae are constantly distracted by forces that may or may not be messages from the gods, it appears.
Fae do battle almost exclusively with magic. Even when they wield swords or bows or spears, it is more for show and flash than anything. This is, of course, less true for "sane" faeries that live away from their more capricious cousins. The Raven King has not, to date, engaged in any major battle, at least not with anyone who has lived to tell about it, and thus it is unclear what a truly organized fae military force might look like. Few are eager to find out.
Faerie magic is the magic of treachery, manipulation and illusion. All their magic is innate, and they are well adapted to druidic and hag-magic as well.

Elementals: Elementals were also created by the gods, primarily as laborers. They, like faeries, come in many shapes and sizes. Two elemental city states exist: one on the westernmost tip of the southern continent, on an island they have entirely enclosed with a wall: this city is famed as a place where the law and justice is studied carefully. The second is on an island in the middle of a lake in the forests of the northern continent: this city, also a place of learning, is focused on the study of history and politics, and is the place where most noble youths from Csara are sent for their education. Other than that, small enclaves of elementals exist everywhere.
Unlike the fae, elementals have no spellcasting ability. Nevertheless, they must remain near places of magical power, which is the energy that feeds them, or wither and die. On the whole, elementals are much more reasonable than fae, although they are more fixed in their ways than other races: air elementals are quick but not careful, earth elementals are slow and purposeful, etc. The elementals are, on the whole, well aware of their weaknesses, and are therefore highly suspicious of other races, who often try to capture or manipulate elementals into service. Elementals prefer to keep to themselves, strongly aware of how different they are from the other races.
Nevertheless, particularly in the central isles, some elementals have attempted to integrate into society. It is even more difficult for them than the fae, owing to the fact that they usually look nothing like other races, but their skills and innate powers make them desireable additions to many an open minded employer.
Elementals typically worship one god of the pantheon, the one they feel they are most closely tied to/created by. Elementals are not born: small, weak elementals form at places of magical power from the surrounding "elements" (earth, air, fire, water, but also metal, wood, mud, cloth, straw, whatever): Some of the braver, more adventurous Elementals are charged with finding such "babies" and bringing them into the fold. Of course, such creatures go for a small fortune on the slave market... Regardless, all Elementals also pay homage to Amor, as a goddess of the guest-right.
The southern elemental city has two orders of knights: the knights of peace and the knights of justice. Both orders patrol the southern wastes, on the rocky shores at the southern edge of Amora. Other than that, Elementals have no organized military.
Elementals have no spellcasters whatsoever.

Angelions: The incredibly rare offspring of elementals and fae. Since Elementals do not produce, it is unclear how such a thing is possible, and only perhaps two dozen angelions are known. Nevertheless, they are tremendously powerful beings, masters of magic, with the innate abilites of elementals. Those that make it to maturity are nearly all movers and shakers in the world, notably the three involved in the governance of Eburon.