[center][h2]Neverterra:
A [s]Hopefully Somewhat[/s] Comprehensive Guide[/h2][/center]

	Neverterra is a world filled with awe and wonder, magic and technology—as long as you aren’t a human.
	Here, creatures known to us as only myths and legends rule. A world where humans are little more than pack animals, doomed to pay a “tax” of their own kind to the Noble and Ruling Houses consisting of monsters that need to feed on humans to survive.
	Or simply for their entertainment, or cruel experiments and magics.
	Here, humans are little more than weak, pathetic mice—pets, food, slaves, and laborers. 

[h3]The Hierarchy[/h3]
	The leaders and governors of this world are known as Houses—the Ruling Houses, and the Noble Houses. Each of them consists of powerful supernaturals who use their strength and prowess to maintain some form of civility in their territories (for the Ruling Houses) and regions (for the Noble Houses).
	While a majority of the Ruling Houses are ancient and have been the ruling families/bloodlines as far back as the original Uprising against humanity, there are a select few that have, in fact, changed hands from being challenged by those who proved to be stronger than them. 
	Each time a House changes hands, the name of the territory/region it had presided over also changes.
	When it comes to the Houses, each one has a Head of House—the true ruler or noble. The family or bloodline of that Head of House (if any) are also considered and celebrated as royals or nobles, regardless of their overall strength or if they’re the next in line to take the throne.
	Should a Noble or Ruling House’s Head of House die without a direct heir strong enough to take their place, or if someone stronger dethrones the Head of House, all those of the dethroned family lose their status entirely. This loss hits some harder than others—while some integrate back into typical society just fine, others degrade into absolute disgrace.
	It also isn’t entirely unheard of for there to be internal wars among the individual Houses themselves, offspring/thralls fighting each other to prove their dominance over each other and even claim the title of Head of House for themselves—or claim the title of True Heir if they don’t dare take on the Head of House directly.
	
[b]Ruling Houses – [/b]
	With ten of them in total on the main/dominant continent, the Ruling Houses are exactly what they sound like; royals. None of the Ruling Houses share a race, each one representing the strongest of the strong in Neverterra.
	These Houses oversee the countries themselves. Their word is law. While they rule each of their territories based on individual needs, they often come together to decide on overarching laws, and to be sure that peace between the different races and territories remains—and to make sure that humans forever remain in check.
	Many of those of these houses are old enough to still remember the eras long past when supernatural beings were the ones kept in cages, when [i]they[/i] were hunted. 
	While most of these Houses have been ruled by the same family/line for centuries, there are a select few whose standing have been a bit more tenuous than others, depending on how their strength and powers manifest.

[hider=List of Ruling Houses]

In Alphabetical Order.

Key:
[b]> House Name - Race - Static (been here since the beginning, no challengers strong enough to dethrone them) or Dynamic (often changes due to the way their powers work, or due to being dethroned)[/b]
	Other Information regarding both the House and their Territory

[b]> Ba’alinor House - Djinn - Static[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] Irahara
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] As slaves, pets, and to feed from.

[b]> Carmine House - Elemental Mage - Dynamic[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] (WIP)
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] For sacrifices for their magic, and as slaves.
	[b]Other:[/b] Full elemental mages are rare, and their powers don't get passed down from generation to generation, causing this House to change families from time to time.

[b]> Elfhame House - Fae - Static, but Complicated[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] Oderion / Mabira
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] As pets and entertainment.
	[b]Other:[/b] Technically Static, this Ruling House echoes its races common lore. During the Spring and Summer, the King of the Seelie Court rules this House, while during the fall and winter, the throne is passed on to the Queen of the Unseelie Court. Since this shifts between them, instead of changing the name of the territory every season, they've decided to dub it the Elfhame House/Territory.
	While the entire world is a mix of cities and woodlands, the Elfhame Territory is home to the most woodlands out of all ten of the territories.

[b]> Salvolette House - Werebeasts/Shifters - Dynamic[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] (WIP)
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] Reasoning varies. Some Heads have even declined taking them into its House.
	[b]Other:[/b] Exactly what kind of werebeast or shifter is in control tends to change. While there have been many instances of this House remaining to the same bloodline for a few generations, this House is usually in the most turmoil.

[b]> (WIP) - Vampires - Static[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] (WIP)
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] To feed, as pets, as slaves.
	[b]Other:[/b] This Ruling House consists of the oldest--and thus strongest--of the vampires. There aren't many still alive who remember the last time the Head of House changed hands, but it was to someone in the same blood line. There's even the rumor that it never actually changed, and that the Head is actually the (or at least one of) the first vampires. While there has been attempts to overthrow them, no challenger has lived.

[b]> (WIP) - Giants - Dynamic[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b]
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] Typically as slaves
	[b]Other:[/b] Like with the werebeasts, this House has changed hands a few times, going between a few different types of giants, from orcs, trolls, and cyclopses, all depending on who is the strongest, and if anyone is daring enough to challenge the current Head of House.

[b]> (WIP) - Warlock - Dynamic[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b]
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] Yes. Sacrifices, feeding less-sentient creatures they keep, experiments, slaves.
	[b]Other:[/b] Another that has changed hands a couple times, though is prone to long periods of staying in the same family. A term used to encompass both male and female practitioners, this house usually consists of the absolutely most powerful magic-users. While some types of magic are banned for civilians, one benefit to being this Ruling House is that they don't have the same restrictions. A lot of the magical conveniences that are distributed throughout the world were discovered and created by this House.

[b]> (WIP) - Dragons - Dynamic[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] (WIP)
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] Mostly as slaves, sometimes as a 'rare delicacy.'

[b]> (WIP) - Reapers (or something that feeds off of pain and death) - Static[/b]
	[b]Head of House:[/b] (WIP)
	[b]Human Offerings Taken:[/b] They feed off of pain--I'll leave what they use and do to them up to your imagination.
	[b]Other:[/b] Not many dare challenge this House, and any who have, have all died--and it's rumored that they became undead servants to this House after. This house is also among the most feared by its human population--those chosen to be offerings in their territory can only hope that they'll go to a Noble House rather than to this Ruling House.

[b]> (WIP) - (WIP) - (WIP)[/b][/hider]
	
[b]Noble Houses – [/b]
	The Noble Houses are powerful supernatural lines who are initially chosen by the Ruling Houses to govern the smaller cities and towns, and help the Ruling Houses maintain control. Each Noble House is subject to the laws laid by the Ruling Houses, and are required to report to their presiding Ruling House. While the laws for each of their regions must abide by the overall laws laid for the Ruling House’s territory, they do have the ability to lay their own laws as they deem necessary for the denizens of their regions, both human and supernatural alike.
	It’s vastly their job to make sure that the human population is kept under control, and that the life ‘tax’ they require of the human inhabitants fits the necessary ratio to how many humans to supernaturals exist in the region.
	How many Noble Houses each territory has varies based on the size of the territory, and the strength of the denizens of the region. A select few regions even have two presiding Noble Houses, resulting in regions with names that combine the surnames of both Houses.
	While the Head of House in a Noble House can be dethroned, it isn’t as simple as just challenging them. As the Noble Houses are also voted and agreed upon by the various Ruling Houses, if someone wanted to challenge a Noble House, then the Ruling House of territory would have to be willing to allow the change. 
	After all, the Ruling Houses must be absolutely certain they can trust those of the Noble Houses to oversee their wishes and laws take proper effect.

[hider=List of Noble Houses from IC and Character Sheets]
> Lanquin – Salvolette Territory – A House consisting of kobolds.[/hider]

[b]Supernatural Denizens – [/b]
	This consists of everything from magic-users to trolls, and everything between and beyond. 
	The supernatural peoples of each territory and region have their own varying hierarchy in the same sense as our modern society—the stronger the supernatural, the higher on the food chain they can climb. Who stands where, however, is constantly changing, and it’s rare to find a supernatural creature and their family (if they have any) living in poverty. They take care of their own…. Usually.
	While skirmishes frequently arise, authorities are usually quick to put a stop to anything too rowdy or that disturbs other supernatural beings. 

[b]Humans – [/b]
	Excluding rare half/mixed-breeds, humans are considered the lowest of the low. While you will occasionally find some living in the more supernatural-populated towns and working for supernatural beings, they’re more often found living in the slums of the cities. There are a select few human-only cities/towns in existence, but they’re still just as subject to the laws of the Ruling and Noble Houses as those living in more mixed-race cities.
	Over the centuries, after so many deaths from attempted uprisings to take back what was once theirs, most humans have been complacent, too frozen in fear to do more than talk about fighting back.
	Now, their numbers are kept in check. In order to help keep them in line, the Houses have created a deal where every region must offer up a ‘tax’ (often referred to as ‘offerings’) of a certain number of their humans to the Houses, be that for them to feed from them, use them as slaves, or anything else their imagination desires. When their local Noble and/or Royal House either don't need any new ones or otherwise don't consist of races that need to feed on humans ), it’s common for them to instead be passed on and bound to a different, well-respected supernatural being who does feed on or wishes to otherwise use/have a human fully bound to them.
	These offerings/tax is enforced after each census.
	As it is, with so many creatures who do feed on humans, the more desperate humans are known to take actual jobs where they’re paid for blood, marrow, emotions, or whatever else the hiring being needs. While dangerous (there's a good chance the human could die if their 'employer' loses control), it pays better than the hard-labor jobs that most humans take on.

[b]Half-Breeds – [/b]
	While it was long ago forbidden for supernatural creatures to wed and mate with humans, it does still happen from time to time. There typically isn’t much of a punishment laid out for breaking this law, as it’s quite rare for cross-breeds to survive beyond infancy. When they do, it’s quite common for them to be shunned or even hunted.
	With the rare exception, they’re typically much too human for the supernatural communities to look at them as anything more than human or allow them to rise in the ranks, while many humans feel like they’re an abomination, a symbol of betrayal rather than of unity.

[h3]Regions and Territories [/h3]
	Neverterra is separated into two major divisions: Regions and territories. These work similarly to the medieval-style kingdoms (territories) and providences (regions).
	While region typically has a vast spattering of different types of supernatural beings, it’s not uncommon for the majority of the population to match the race of the presiding Noble Houses.
	
	[b]Territories:[/b]
		These are the larger sections of land that the Ruling Houses preside over. As there are ten Ruling Houses, so, too, are there ten territories. Each territory is named after the surname of their Ruling House.

	[b]Regions:[/b]
		Regions typically consist of a single large city where the presiding Noble House dwell, and all smaller surrounding cities and towns. There are multiple regions in each territory. 

[h3]Living Conditions and Technology[/h3]
	Both these aspects depend on where you are in the hierarchy, and how close you live to the royal cities.
	The cities where the Ruling Houses live are filled with the finest of everything, their lives filled with an ingenious pairing of both magic and technology. The streets are well-kept, the houses things from storybooks, each city a hodgepodge of sights to cater to the various different races living there. The living conditions of all but those on the absolute outskirts of these cities would fall under “upper class.”
	The other cities populated mostly by supernatural beings also have many fineries, though they tend to be more “middle class.”
	Then, on the completely opposite of the spectrum, in the communities—rather, the [i]slums[/i] where only humans live, they’re barely capable of scraping by. While their presiding Houses make sure they have just enough to live, wanting to be sure that they don’t lose a necessary source of food and labor, it’s usually the bare minimum. Humans are banned from having weapons. Even their kitchen knives are regulated. There can never be more than three children to a household. A census is taken every six months, ensuring that the human-to-supernatural population is within the ratio set by the Ruling Houses.
	Regardless of where one lives, there’s one commonality; the exact technologies and magics used depends on what race is in the majority. The cities are careful to cater to the weaknesses and strengths of the various supernatural beings, such as limiting the use of iron or silver.
	For what you can see residents dressed in, that varies as widely as the races who live in this world. Someone in medieval-like rags or finery is as commonly seen as someone in a modern-day tank-top or fancy suit.
	
[h3]A Brief History[/h3]
	Supernaturals have ruled this world for many generations, but such an arrangement wasn’t always so. Once, long ago, Neverterra wasn’t too far a cry from the little safe world we have come to know.
	Humans thrived. Their technology was more advanced than even ours at the time. But there was one major difference; supernatural beings weren’t shoved into little boxes labeling them as myths and legends. No. Even then, they [i]knew.[/i] And they were terrified and cruel.
	Ignorant to the true numbers of supernatural beings living among them at the time, they kept the beings they found caged, treating them much the same way that supernatural beings now treat them. They were pets. Creatures to be milked for their magic, then tossed aside and killed.
	In many ways, the cruelty of humans toward the supernatural surpassed the cruelties the supernatural has returned upon them.
	Then came the Uprising.
	Sick of seeing their own tortured and degraded, the supernatural community banded together—enemy races fighting alongside each other for the same cause—rose up against humanity, showing their true powers.
	It didn’t take long for humanity to fall.
	Now, generations later, only the most ancient of the supernatural races remember a time when humans ruled. 
	While some select—and forbidden—books still exist, books with stories where humans were weren’t subject to the tyrannies of the supernatural, most humans have long since forgotten what ‘freedom’ truly is.
	Over the years, there have been many groups who have tried to overthrow the supernaturals, to reclaim the land and bring equality to humans and supernaturals alike. But none have ever succeeded. Alas, each time they have risen, their efforts have been met with agonizing death. 
	Now, hope is rare among humans. A majority have begun to slumber, to accept their fate for what it is.
	Most.
	But not all.