![http://i61.tinypic.com/r8tu0x.jpg](http://i61.tinypic.com/r8tu0x.jpg "enter image title here") > *“I was sitting in a tavern when the messenger burst into the bar. We were foolish that evening, my guardsmen and I. Some of us had just taken out a small group of bandits and we had decided to celebrate the victory with a pint or to. We were well on our way to our drunken stupor when the young lad burst onto the scene. Mud had already caked the bottom of his legs, and a few cuts and bruises. A look of exhaustion pained his face and he braced himself against the door frame; how weak he looked. Somehow, through the crowds of people and loud noises his message was heard by all.* > > *“Our Great King Amar is dead, his army slaughtered. A horde of unknown creatures pours out of the canyon in the far west and marches unopposed here.”* > > *“Silence quickly fell upon the crowds, all stunned what this young boy had just said. We all took a quick look at each other before we rushed out, heading first to the armory then to the walls. We numbered only five hundred hundred men strong, five hundred hundred men left to defend a city of many. I, as this great cities Watch Capitan, quickly issued orders to my men, sending fifty of my youngest and most inexperienced guards to escort the civilians out of the town through the mountain path in the east.* > > *But for me and my men, we stayed behind. We needed this unknown enemies to focus his attention on us, and allow our civilians to escape. We thought our walls were strong enough to hold for a night and a day, two if lucky. We thought we could hold our own against this unknown enemy. But as the forms of the enemy came in view, and their features made known, we learned our situation to be hopeless. Spread out in front of us for as far as the eye could see was a sea of monsters. Many were small, broken at the back and ugly in the face. Their body seemed to be partially bent at their back, forcing them to run and walk with the assistance of their free arm. Their faces were shrivelled like a prune, and their hair more thin and coarse than any old or sick man I have ever seen. Some were larger, and carried a shield and long sword. Their form most resembled our soldiers, yet their faces made them distinct. Massive tusks jut from under their dark helmets, and their corpse like hair made me cringe with fear. Our walls held for an hour before they were breached, and the flood of those unholy creatures flowed into our city. We tried to fight them in the streets only to be washed away; like we were not there to start with.* > > *At day break, only me and four of my men had escaped the bloodshed. Upon the nearby hill we looked down at the monsters below. Burning every house they could get a torch on, and murdering those stragglers who had fallen behind or refused to leave.* > > *Our city, Talamor, was once the crown jewel of the west; a thing we were all proud of. Now all that remains is a bloodied and burnt out corpse of a once great center of wealth. We fought our way out of the area; through scared and scattered bandits and the vanguard of that dark army; only to learn our city was the first of many. Feer la Den fell later that month and her famous guardians, the Knights of the Light, massacred. Then the Elves of Galadhon were driven from their ancestral homeland. Indeed, only the Dwarves and their strongholds deep in the mountains have been spared, but reports indicate that they themselves face a great evil lurking in the depths.* > > *And here we sit, in this dimly lit tavern just down the road from the Great divide and the Sky bridge that crosses it. The enemy approaches this gateway to the east, and we are ready to stand tall against the darkness. We will hold this castle for as long as we can, and allow the great castle across the bridge time to ready it's defenses. But we will not just bide time for them to live, we shall hold and we shall be victorious!"* A speech by Knight – Commander Lord Bali, commander of the garrison at the Castle First Reach, gate way to the bridge and to the east. He and his men lasted one week before being overrun **What is history?** > The land of Dalan has a history shrouded as much so secrecy as blood. Books are filled with stories of great warriors leading massive armies to victory against the forces of darkness in battle. Demons and their kind have always tried to find ways to pry their way into the realm of mortals, be it through the use of a desperate mages desperation through power or through a weakness in the barrier that separates our realms. Often, these hero's arise when an Elder Demon arises; and together with the people of the land thrust a sword deep into their black hearts and end the conflict. > > But the land of Dalan has found itself faced with an even more sinister threat, and no hero nor army to face it. The God of the Dead, Alun, along with a horde of soldiers so massive it is considered numberless has invaded the realm in an apparent bid to grab power. With conventional means of stopping them useless, and the other gods silent, rumours have spread about his plans. All arrows point to one thing; the God of Death plans to create his own kingdom here in Dalan. > > Our story starts with us; soldiers of that ill fated defence at the gateway to the east running from the burning remains of a once great castle. We must not only trek our way across the half long Sky bridge to the relative safety across the way. The greatest castle in all the land beckons you to defend her, Castle Solvano calls for your sword. Will you be the hero we need? Will you help the hero even if it is not you? Or will your choices lead to the death of our land at the hands of the God who preaches it? **Human Races** *Firen* > The most numerous of the humans, the Firen pride themselves on their ability to talk their way out of any conflict while being able to back up any words with action. They are different in most physical traits, yet they all are equal under their devotion to the God's as well as their King. Before the God of the Dead began to walk this plane, they also had the largest army available to any race but have found their core depleted after numerous failed battles. The first lost came when King Amar, followed weeks later by the loss of The Guardians of the Light when Feer la Den fell. Combine this with the many more losses suffered in the coming months has left this faithful population shaken and broken. *Glamhoth* >The humans of the north are called Glamhoth, and they pride themselves on battle and raids. They are a barbaric race of men who fight, eat, drink and make love to pass the time. They value little of outsiders, and their strict religious code allows them to kill those who believe in the new gods. But this is not to say that they are without kindness, or without understanding. Far from it, among their kin they appear to be a friendly and generous race. With each sharing what they have to those in need, and each celebrating the life and death of their friends with drinks and boastful tales of their exploits in battle. Even though they view outsiders with a cautious, and often aggressive eye, they treat every last one of their kin with an air of respect and kindness. *Lescanzi* >The Lescanzi are a wandering race driven from their ancestral homeland centuries ago. In the intervening years they have spread across the nations, earning coin as itinerant peddlers, performers, storytellers and mercenaries. Lescanzi are a mongrel people, intentionally mixing their bloodline with as many other tribes and clans as they can. Their women are known to seduce the most attractive and intelligent foreign men, hoping to enrich the bloodline of their people. It is believed that Lescanzi blood flows in the veins of most commoners. > >The women have very discerning taste and as a result many Lescanzi possess a haunting beauty. They share no unifying physical traits and there is a great diversity among them. Generally speaking for women dark hair and fair skin are throught of as beautiful since the Lescanzi believe those women are a physical representation of their Dark Goddess. > >They maintain a very strong sense of tradition of culture among their own people. They borrow from other cultures and religions only for show, to keep up appearances sort to speak. That way they can avoid trouble with the locals. Many if not all Lescanzi worship a pair of deities called the Dark Sister and the Faithful Hound. These two entities have many proper names but the recurring image of a darkly beautiful woman and her devoted mastiff is common across all clans.Not much is known about them and there are no existing records of their worship except what is passed down through generations. > >The Lescanzi are skilled in both warfare and magic. Lescanzi men are often trained as warriors possessing deadly skill with a curved blade. They are revered for their unpredictable fighting style and resourcefullness and are a formidable opponent even unarmed. > >The women are by no means damsels in distress. They takes a thoroughly practical approach to conflict resolution: stay out of sword's reach, and settle your problems with throwing knives. Even the most resilient enemy can be brought down by their ensorcelled daggers and debilitating curses. *Lavas* >The Lavas folk are the most prosperous of all the human races. They are the master shipbuilders, sailors and traders that claim home to most of the south coast, and many islands that dot the sea off the coast. Their ships are fast, and their soldiers well trained in the art of naval warfare. They are a greedy people, often compared to the likes of Dwarves, valuing coin and the parties to any other need. For with coin they can buy food, and at these parties they can gain favor. Indeed, to an outsider they are one of the most judgmental people in all the lands. They like to play what is called the Grand Game, where people's life and fortune are put on the line in a test of wit and charisma. Grand Cleric Orion said it best when he said “I'd rather deal with an angry Glamhoth than a friendly Iavas noble, for at least the Glamhoth will see reason!” **Elven Races** *Lebethron* >The Elves of the eastern woods are know as the Lebethron, a race of Elves who claim on the woods have stretched back for as long as history has. Many times have both Humans and Dwarves attempted to lay claim to these woods, for the tree's are strong and the land plentiful, but each and any time an army invaded they were driven back by a fury of arrows from the tree top's, from their rear, and front the front. The Lebethron are a very long lived people, with most reaching around several hundred years old with some even reaching a thousand years. As such, they are the keepers of both history and tradition. *Mûl* >The Mûl are the Elves who left their ancestral homeland and tried to find a life elsewhere. By customs, any Lebethron who is exiled or leaves without permission becomes a Mûl. More often then not they become one or two things outside their homeland; either they become a sell sword and fight for others or they are captured and forced into servitude for many of the other races. They are more aggressive than their Lebethron brothers, but also more cunning. They are forced, often from an early age to steal and murder. They make perfect assassins and thief's thanks to their light feet and quick hands. > The Half-elf's often fall into this race. *Andrann* >The Andrann Elves of the forest and the fortress that bears the same name, Galadhon, are some of the most powerful mages in all of Dalan. The Lebethron hold great fear over magic and it's uses, and often mistreat those who present themselves as such. It was only natural, that three hundred years ago, the Great migration occurred. Angry at being abused by their brothers, five hundred mages and their families moved west and found the abandoned stronghold of Galadhon and claimed it as their own. They rebuilt it, and made the walls stronger with magic. The humans of the area have tried to reclaim this great fortress many times but are driven away at each turn. Their foot soldiers boast light armour fused with magic, their swords enchanted with fire and ice, and with more mages than any army, the fire-storms that they can. wipe any doubt of their power. > >Though they have been forced into a long retreat, their army and people still stand strong. They have the most numerous forms of battlemages around, with the most valuable being the Elemental Archer; who brings exploding fire arrows and ice shots that render you frozen. **Dwarven Races** *Anfangrim* >The Anfangrim are a rather large tribe of Dwarves who claim hold over the great Iron Bottom Mountains in the south and the south east and all the fortresses within them. They are a stout and proud people who value gold, and a good story. They spent their days fighting or mining, and spend their nights drinking to tales of Dragon Slayers and other great hero's. Their fortune is only surpassed by those of the Iavas people, and only because their ships carry the Anfagn trade to other parts. They have a close relation to the Iavas, both understand the power of money. Yet both will often mock each other in public, as the Anfagn people value combat while the Iavas loves the game. *Hadhodrim* >The Hadhodrim are the Dwarves of of the Middle Range, stretching from the south, all the way into the north. They are not as wealthy as those of the Anfagn, yet they are much better warriors. They pride themselves on their craftsmanship; often being the top of the line from swords to plate-mail. They often fight the Glamhoth in the north over the limited resources, yet they keep a close relationship with those barbarians. Often fighting in the morning, and if the fight was not resolved retreating to great halls to fight again; this time with alcohol. Indeed as time has gone on, less blood has been shed between these two and more ale drunk. *Surface Dwarves* >Surface Dwarves are the Dwarves who have, for one reason or another, been forced out of the mountains and banished from ever returning. The other clans of Dwarves never accept an outsider, so often they are forced into many different criminal enterprises. From gangs to murder, to thiveving to assassinations, these Dwarves are often forced to do it all. Yet this is not the only thing these Surface Dwarves find themselves apart of. Depending on which clan they hailed from, some will become great warriors, traders or even a bard. Indeed, they may not be as skilled as others in specific traits, yet they are often the most diverse of all the races. **What to know?** > > -Enemies are varied, yet dangerous. One is more than a match for a simple soldiers, and often time they swarm in massive numbers that thwart even the best of skills and strongest of armours. > > -Decisions are very important. Bad things happen when you do bad things, and good deeds are remembered. You can die many ways in this RP, but all of your own design. > > -That means that if you charge head first into a vanguard of 10 enemy soldiers, chances are you will be stabbed, hacked and mangled in very messy and detailed ways. > > -There will be multiple character personality's to play with, each will offer different benefits and disadvantages in terms of positive and negative traits. > > -A Temple Knight will have to come with a requirement to have one positive and two negative traits, while a bard will have 3 positive and one negative trait. Each will be apart of your CS, but what I lay out will not be final. You can create your own class of soldier with the traits mapped out however you like. > > -The CS will still be drawn up like normal, but this will help keep each character down to earth but also unique in your own way. > > **Glaciem** ~ Humanish > > **Culture:** > The Glaciem worship the Great Ice Dragon Nix, when ever they eat or drink they spill a portion on the ground 'for Nix', When they speak they will only speak the truth, to tell a lie and be discovered is death to the Glaciem, though this does not mean they will not omit details though some would call this lying by omission, nor does it mean they must speak though silence often carries as much meaning as speech, each Glaciem has tribal tattoos that mark where they are from and who they are, The colour of Nix is dark blue and the Glaciem hold that colour in reverence. Apart from these practices the worship of Nix is a matter of individuals, some spend their life looking into ice crystals hoping to know more of the nature of Nix, some meditate for hours each day, some even dream of spreading the worship of Nix through force if necessary though these are few in number. To the Glaciem their existence is a worship of Nix in and of itself, for they are the ancestors of those who did not betray him and their existence is a statement of this. > > The Glaciem are much like humans in their interactions with each-other, though to a human they would appear slightly fae, a result no doubt of their extended lives, not so long as the elves perhaps, but nothing to be sniffed at. They do not use currency in the icefields, they use a barter system simply because they do not have easy access to metals or good relations with anyone who does. The Glaciem are separated into tribes, a Glaciems first loyalty should be to his tribe, his second loyalty to the Glaciem and his third loyalty to him/herself. > > **Location:** > They live in the Western Icefields, a place of freezing cold and regular blizzards, at its center lies its origin, the broken ice fortress Tempest where Nix and his army made their final stand. The Glaciem live in small nomadic tribes around the icefields though they do have a grand meet every several years to exchange news, trade and discuss matters of import. > > > **History:** > The Glaciem were once human, they lived in and around the area that has now become the icefields, everything changed when Nix arrived. He came in peace, looking for a home having traveled from far far away, he found an area he liked where a small hill covered a snug little (relative to the dragon) cave and made his den there, much to the chagrin of the farmer who owned the land upon which Nix had settled, however the farmer, readying his cart to take his family away and call the guard, could not find his young son, after hours of searching he came to the only conclusion he could think of, dreadful as it was. He grabbed his pitchfork and made his way to the Dragons den fearing the worst. However when he arrived he was met with the sound of cheerful laughter, he found his son in the cave playing with the dragon, who by all means seemed to be humoring the boy, upon his arrival much to the farmers astonishment a deep melodic voice spoke inside his very head! greeting him and inviting him into his den. > > Word soon spread of the friendly dragon and soon people from all around were coming to visit him, they brought gifts and in exchange he told them stories of far away lands and places. When bandits threatened he was there clearing them out, when evil arose he was there to defend the peoples he knew. For 200 years he lived in peace with the people and those closest to him held him in the dearest reverence. > > rumours spread afar and changed and morphed in the telling, bullheaded warriors came to defeat the mighty beast dreams of glory flashing in their eyes, the people who knew the dragon tried to warn them off but the dragon did not want his friends to endanger themselves and so he fought them and he won and in winning his stature grew until whole bands of bullheaded warriors came! and still they died and still his stature grew until people from all across the lands were proclaiming that great evil had arisen and that it must be cleansed. > > A great army was formed and a 'hero' rose from the people to lead them. It is now that the forerunners of the Glaciem were created, word of the oncoming army spread and soon reached the lands of the dragon, some ran fearing the army, others simply ignored it staying safe in their homes, however many chose to defend the dragon, they formed an army perhaps 20,000 strong, a small army in comparison to the army coming against them but an army none the less, but when they met with the dragon the dragon did not wish to fight, he proposed another path, he would transform the lands around his den into a land no army could hope to cross and he would transform the people who had gathered to defend him as-well so that they may live in this land. The people seeing the sense of this idea agreed. > > The land around the dragons den was transformed in a matter of weeks, it snowed constantly and strong winds never before heard of in these parts swept the land. The people who had gathered to defend the dragon were changed too, they were resistant to the cold and needed less food to survive, it is also at this point that their lifespans were increased however they did not realize this until some time later. > > At first this tactic worked, the incoming army could not cross the icefields and had to disband when it lost motivation camped at the edge of the icefields. Years passed and the people of the ice dragon thought that the danger had passed, however it had not. A new host gathered at the call of a new hero, a mage hero. With a mage at the lead the new army had many more mages than the previous one, enough to keep the wind at bay and create enough warmth to survive the deadly icefields. > > They began their march across the icefields and once again the people of the dragon gathered, the dragon begged them to leave him to his fate but they would not, they would defend him to the last so they said. Knowing they would not leave him the Dragon made another change to them, granting them great ice magics so that they could fight the coming mage army. At his den in the center of the icefields with great magics he threw up his Tempest fortress and there they waited for the approaching army. The battle was fierce but the Ice mages were new to magic and the experience of the invaders showed. > > The Glaciem were defeated and the great ice dragon Nix was killed, though the hero who came against him was slain aswell. With the dragon dead the storms of the icefields calmed somewhat and though difficult it became possible for a normal human to survive the fields unaided by magic. When Nix fell many of the Glaciem escaped into the icefields, aided by the distraction of those who lost in anger made suicidal attacks upon the invaders. These survivors are the ancestors of the Glaciem of today. > > > **War history:** > The Glaciem as a people have not fought a war since this first war, there is nothing outside of their realm that they desire and there is nothing inside their realm that others desire. However individual Glaciem have been involved in many wars. > > > **International Relations:** > The Glaciem have a mostly bad relationship with the other races, the Glaciem still blame the other races for Nix's death and the other races still think of the Glaciem as one of the dark races, though none of them officially. > > > Appearance: > Glaciem are typically extremely pail of skin, almost all have bright blue eyes and dark hair. Every Glaciem has tribal tattoos though these differ between individuals and tribes, The tattoos are dark blue in colour and usually are sparse on the face. > A Glaciem will normally have a thick cloak and hood of some kind but underneath he/she will wear average human clothes, their magic allows them this freedom in the icefields where most other races would require many layers of clothes. > > **Other:** > Every Glaciem is a ice mage, though they differ in strength. Glaciem do not have any other form of magic however. > The oldest Glaciem on record died at the age of 303. > > **Sub-Races:** > > *Sanctem:* > > The Sanctem are in essence the priests of Nix and they are few. They lead solitary lives alone in the icefields, meditating and studying magic. The other Glaciem hold them in some awe and their word carries much weight at the great meet, conversely to an outsider they are akin to a dark priest, the very essence of evil. The Sanctem are the most refined ice mages in the world, their ability to shape and control ice is second to none, however this does not mean they are the most powerful *war* ice mages, for their lives do not tend to violence and they do not have the warrior spirit, though they can fight if they must. > > *Acies:* > > The Acies are the warriors of the Glaciem. They practice fighting as a group and offensive ice magic. Each tribe has its own group of Acies and truth to tell they have come to blows in the past, though no serious wars have been fought between the tribes. The Acies value order and hierarchy above much else, they are in essence a military force with all that entails. The grand commander of the Acies is the Grand Chieftain who is elected by the Tribal chieftains at the great meet every several years, below the grand chieftain the tribal chieftains each command their tribes regiment of Acies. If you were to pick a group that had the best war ice mages, then this would be it. > > *Amaritudo:* > > These are your ordinary Glaciem citizens. The Glaciem are a straightforward people, preferring to get straight to the point and not bandy about pointless words. They hold honour in high esteem and those with no honour are often not welcome at the hearths of the Glaciem. The Amaritudo value individualism but at the same time live in tribes where overall authority resides with the chieftain, however this authority has very real limits and a Amaritudo can leave the tribe whenever he/she wishes. As such they are somewhat of a melding between the Sanctem and the Acies. > -You can choose any trait you want; be it greed, bravery, lazy, honourable and so on.