Human

Humans of Ovaicaea are a widespread, populous race renowned for its diversity, aggression, and ambition. They can be found on nearly corner of the continent, and have been the driving force of many major historical events, conflicts, and the formation of numerous kingdoms and empires over the course of thousands of years.

Humans originated from a faraway continent, making landfall at various places in southern Ovaicaea several thousand years ago. These groups quickly diversified into distinct ethnic groups, adapting to their environments. They broadly adopted aspects of elven and dwarven civilization, such as agriculture, metallurgy, irrigation, and monumental architecture, and subsequently expanded on these cultural elements to forge unique, dynamic civilizations of their own. Humans have come to affect a predominant influence on culture, language, law, warfare, and all aspects of civilization across Ovaicaea.

History
The origins of humans on Ovaicaea are shrouded in mystery, but it is clear that they are not entirely native to the continent. Limited archaeology, combined with oral and recorded history, folk legend, and mythology provides some insight. All indications are that humans arrived in Ovaicaea from other continents, in two roughly contemporaneous waves and from distinct parts of the outside world. This multiple-origin hypothesis lends to the view that humanity is inherently diverse and fractious, but also bold and enterprising.

Eastern humans
The first migration wave appears to have been in the far east, in what is now the Empire of the Morning Star, around 10,000 years before the imperial age. They arrived on raft-like boats as the descendants of island-hopping nomads from a now-lost archipelago further to the east. Once established in the coasts, they diversified into several ethnic groups, founding permanent settlements and developed agriculture and copper metallurgy over the next several thousand years. They came into contact with elven and dwarven civilizations in the Golden River valley by 3000 BE, and frequently engaged in trade, conflict, and cultural exchange. These humans formed mainly into the Zao, Toho, Harana, and Minh cultures, spread among several dozen kingdoms and city-states. Another civilization entered the picture as Aendriladi people from the west invaded the Harana heartland and overtook them, spreading into northern Sihua.

These human cultures largely out-competed the Xia high elven civilization, and struggled against the Shan dwarves, to establish near-total human cultural supremacy in the far east, though many royal courts adopted elven norms, language, and religion. Unprecedented access to magic led to great developments in art, science, architecture, and warfare. Iron tool use was adopted in the far east much earlier than it was in the west, and these dozens of human kingdoms engaged in constant war. Civilizational collapse was prevented by the high turnover of individual kingdoms, which nevertheless maintained a cultural continuity with their predecessors.

This warring states period took an unprecedented turn when some human mages unlocked the secret to raising the dead back to life, sparking an escalation in magical warfare that saw necromancers become powerful warlords. This era lasted around a thousand years, finally ending in the third century BE when the last necromantic warlord was slain and a new empire was forged that connected the whole of the far eastern civilization up to the Sihua river. One unforeseen effect of this long, devastating series of wars, however, was the mass migration of the indigenous orcs out of their homelands in the Great Steppe, and into the frozen tundra of the Frostfells, or west into the Great Desert. This made the region more secure for human colonization by the dominant Zao nation, but would have tumultuous effects in the west for centuries.

Another crisis was to strike the Empire of the Morning Star in the 9th century, but the details of this are unknown to western scholars.

Western humans
The second major wave, occurring around the same time, came from the south. These appear to have been refugees of some sort, fleeing some catastrophe in their homeland in rough boats. Myth tells of a continent that sank into the sea, consumed by the waves as punishment for arrogance before the gods. Its people, humbled, fled to new lands. Archaeology does not quite bear this out, as this legend would suggest that such people would have had knowledge of agriculture, metalwork, and masonry before arrival. However, the earliest settlements by this group of humans, at the mouth of the Kaiser River, were villages of portable hide tents, indicative of nomadic lifestyles. It was not until contact with elven civilization that southern humans adopted agriculture, and it would be another thousand years before they would both develop bronze metallurgy. When they did, however, there was an explosion in technological advancement and cultural diversity. Even before this point, these humans had spread far into the west and east. The evidence points to two distinct ethnolinguistic groups arriving and spreading. One group settled the Kaiser Valley, and spread westward into Tethar, the Mocryae Peninsula, and the Salt Marshes. Another group roamed nomadically northeast of Lake Kaiser, in the Dorath plateau, becoming steppe herders that made contact with dwarves. Pre-proto-Dwarven and this proto-Ucralic language significantly influenced one another at a critical stage. One hypothesis conjectures the northern languages were part of a dialect continuum of an even older proto-language, including Proto-Eladrin and Proto-Sylvan, both of which emerged around the same time as Proto-Dwarven in 6000 BE. After contact, one branch of the eastern human nomads migrated south to the Isle of Gestrin and further east to northern Aendrilad. A second branch settled along the Athua valley and in the Ucral Plateau, adopting agriculture from their neighbors though retaining much of the steppe herder ways.

Despite an initial dependence on the wisdom of dwarves and elves, the boldness and aggression of humans allowed a dynamic, expansive array of civilizations to emerge. Human settlements were founded across the southern coast, up rivers, and into mountains and plains, as far west as the Bight of Eldun, and as far north as the Athua valley, and as far east as the Aendrilad valley. In the Kaiser valley and western Aendrilad, human warring states came into contact with leonin and goblinoid cultures, with some evidence of military conflict. This is reflected also in culture myths depicting ancient humans fighting monsters, which are now interpreted to have been these bestial races.

Around two thousand years before the imperial age, the southern civilizations suffered a catastrophe that is still poorly understood. Along the coastal areas, cities fell to siege by waves of attackers who are still largely unknown, though ancient carvings and tablets indicate that these may have been merrow raiders. Combined with apparent famine, drought, pestilence, and economic disruption, the bronze-using civilizations collapsed over the course of a century. It would be another three centuries before they rebuilt. The dunera elves, who had suffered collapse and witnessed the death of a generation alongside the humans, were crucial in the re-emergence from this Dark Age. In the Ucral highlands, human tribes mingled with dwarven tribes to form new ethnic groups; these inland cultures were relatively inured against the worst of the collapse, and mainly suffered economically from the breakdown in trade. They turned to iron as a replacement, developing new techniques of metallurgy and the use of magic to create hot enough forges to smelt iron to make tools, weapons, and armor. This new Iron Age technology base spread widely in all directions, being adopted even by far-flung elven, dwarven, and gnomish civilizations far to the west and north. Unfortunately for the human tribes that had settled the Ucral Plateau, the region came to be dominated by a tyrannical Dwarven Empire.

Elven ingenuity and dwarven industriousness reaped the rewards of this new wave of technology, forging powerful kingdoms that dominated much of the northern and western plains and riverlands. Human civilizations struggled to form lasting, unified empires. Instead, the southern humans were deft at developing strong networks of commerce between city-states, with iron technology and new magical techniques keeping them competitive and long prevented any one state to become strong enough to become a wide-ranging empire. This changed throughout the 1st millennium BE, when the Bay Empire, Kaiser Republic, Sovereignty of Tethar, Kingdom of Aendrilad, and the Empire of Gestrin all emerged out of regional conflicts for dominance, and created new and dynamic empires. These states frequently fought each other over resources and power, pitting buffer states and client kingdoms against one another as well as engaging in direct warfare. These states also traded widely with the elven and dwarven countries to the north, as well as with the Dwarven Empire that dominated the Ucral Plateau. Their period of constant warfare only came to a pause with the emergence of the Old Empire, also called the Dragon Empire, so-called because it was composed of settlements under the law of the dragonriders. While the southern human states were not formally part of this emergent empire, they were subjected to its power projection such that they became client states or tributaries.

At this point, the histories of the eastern and western human civilizations clash. The orcs of the east had been driven into the Morning Desert and made their way to the Great Oasis, an inland lake that fed a whole swath of fertile farmland despite the surrounding region being bounded by high mountains that prevented rainfall. These came into conflict with the Dwarven Empire, whose easternmost frontiers relied on the Great Oasis. Existing issues of water pollution from dwarven silver mining and inadequate farming techniques that drained the soil of its nutrients were met with orcish inexperience with farming, and the region became desertified around the 2nd century IA, creating the modern Transucral Desert. The orcs continued to migrate west, which had a runaway effect; the collapse of the rich eastern farmlands led to mass famine across the Dwarven Empire, which led to massive uprisings, preventing the Dwarven army from successfully fending off Orcish raids and conquests. Human tribes, long under the hegemony of the dwarves, rebelled and engaged in a mass exodus across the Ucral Mountains. After some period of conflict with Kaiser, Aendrilad, Tethar, and western dwarven frontier states, these human tribes formed a series of kingdoms in the frontiers of the Old Empire by the early 4th century. But rather than being treated as refugees, they were treated as hostile barbarians and were frequently subjected to the tyrannical abuses of the dragonriders. Nevertheless, some peaceful overtures were made with frontier lordships; they were too little, too late.

In the year 400, the Orcish hordes emerged from the desert intent on conquest. The human tribes could only watch as the Old Empire, their last hope for protection, collapsed under the weight of the Orcish invasion and the sudden disappearance of the dragons. The Orc Khans rampaged across western Ovaicaea north of the Tethar mountains, and plundered elven city-states and dwarven strongholds, bringing with them plague and carnage. The human tribal kingdoms endured, and were made subject to a new Orcish Khaganate, as were the emerging dwarven kingdoms of the Dorei river valley. Most human states adopted dwarven feodal models of social, legal, and military organization, combined with existing tribal monarchies. At this point these western humans' histories become intimately tied into the broader history of Western Ovaicaea, and the history of the other civilized races, leading to the formation of the New Empire in 843.

At the same time, the southern human states were freed from being clients of the northern Empire, and the Orcs did not cross through the mountains or Eldunari River valley to harass them. Gestrin in particular emerged as a powerful empire, with dynamic trade networks and a large population that expanded through conquest and slavery. In the late 300s, during the reign of the Tercine dynasty, Gestrin launched a seaborne invasion of the mouth of the Kaiser River, gaining a foothold in western Aendrilad. This conflict accelerated when the Old Empire fell apart, and Gestrin made treaties with the leonin and goblin clans to support them. During the next two centuries, Gestrin would engage in a shifting series of alliances between Tethar, Kaiser, Crab Bay, and Mocryae as it switched from warring with Aendrilad to warring with Tethar and Kaiser. The rival republics of Mocryae and Crab Bay would unite into a powerful maritime empire. In 684, the Gastrinian army was defeated and the king was slain during an attempted siege of Kaiser City, setting off a series of events that saw the hobgoblin legion seize control of Gestrin in a coup d'etat. Gestrin secured victory over the Kaiser Republic in the late 800s, and in the 900s became engaged in a final war to conquer Tethar, which brought it into conflict with the New Empire.

Society
There are no natural human sub-races. They have diversified into numerous ethnic groups and tribes, but these seem to have only superficial physical differences. Their distinction is primarily one of language and culture, and many human societies have been significantly influenced by their contact with elven and dwarven cultures. These ethno-linguistic divisions broadly separate based on the two migration waves, but there are controversies among scholars and linguists that suggest that the southern and western humans arrived bearing two distinct languages, which then separated during the Age of Bronze.

The following are the most prevalent and largest ethnic groups to be found in Western Ovaicaea. These can be broadly sorted into a few stem families of peoples: Aendril-Ucralic, comprising those that migrated into Aendrilad, the Ucral Plateau, and Gestrin; and Tethro-Mocric, comprising ethnic groups that migrated to the Tethar and Tolossus river valleys and the Lake Kaiser region, and those who settled the Mocryae Peninsula and its outlying islands.

Aendrilic subfamily
The Aendrilic peoples tend towards dusky skin tones and tall, strong bodies. Their cultures prize horsemanship, martial prowess, and artistic expression, resulting in cultures that are highly dynamic and innovative. These ethnic groups have forged their own strong empires, and stood against incursion on all sides from ostensibly more powerful nations.


 * Aendriladi: a people with dusky skin and hair ranging from dark to almost blond, with a rich and vibrant culture with a strong emphasis on art, literature, poetry, and commerce.
 * Raji: a dark-skinned people with typically dark brown or black hair, sharing with the Aendriladi an emphasis on poetry. Considered to be more warlike by the historical record, which shows the proto-Raji as conquerors.

Gastrinian subfamily
The Gastrinian ethnicities are almost all tawny-skinned with brown hair that ranges from almost blond to almost black,with bright eyes. They are known as a proud people with a reliance on tradition, an emphasis on moderation and adaptability, and dominance through a combination of military might and economic dynamism.


 * Acropolitans: one-time rivals for mastery over Gestrin Isle, with a strong tradition of maritime exploration and trade.
 * Lascarids: one of the smallest human ethnic groups, they are predominantly pastoral.
 * Zonarans: the dominant human ethnicity on Gestrin Isle, having united the island.

Ucralic subfamily
The Ucralic peoples have several shared traits, notably being typically fair-skinned and fair-haired with stocky bodies, perhaps as traces of intermarriage with dwarves. The Ucralic tribes tend to be proud but innovative people, strongly valuing personal freedom over tradition. However, many are also notable warrior cultures, prizing martial education and service, and a 'frontiersman' mindset. The Ucralic languages are so strongly intertwined with Dwarven languages that they are often considered as a single linguistic subfamily, with proto-Dwarven a creole borne out of contact with the proto-Ucralic humans.


 * Alamians: a small tribe of western pastoralists, mostly influenced by neighboring elven culture.
 * Alovari: a ferocious and bellicose offshoot of the Tolossians, who migrated to Skyshroud.
 * Baiar: a tribe of pygmies, short in stature and greatly relaxed in their manner and way of life, dominated by pastoral pursuits and agriculture.
 * Clovians: a highly populous ethnicity, split into eastern and western tribes along the Eldunari River and at the southwest frontier of Ovaicaea.
 * Gethai: mostly agricultural and sedentary people, who have developed strong trade networks and a knack for commerce.
 * Ripani: a very industrious and commerce-oriented people, settled in the Athua Valley, with much influence from mountain dwarves.
 * Suathans: one of the easternmost tribes, renowned for their horsemanship and pastoral lifestyle, possibly influenced by contact with Orcs.
 * Tolossians: one of the most populous and widespread human peoples, with a well-developed legal tradition strongly influenced by hill dwarves.
 * Tudescans: a warrior people, renowned for their ferocity, which has inspired some of the finest works of human heroic poetry.
 * Walhians: a highly pastoral people of the southwestern plains and hills, who have adopted elven cultural customs and social norms.

Tethro-Mocric
The Tethro-Mocric peoples are generally tawny, dusky, or dark-skinned with dark hair, and their cultures seem to have an emphasis on trade, commerce, and the sea, having mostly settled along coastlands and rivers. However, many also dwell in harsh desert conditions, and some ethnic groups have hardened in the face of greater environmental dangers. Their cultures are overall bold, innovative, and resilient.


 * Kaiserites: a people with a strong history of independence, the Qasir or Kaiserites resisted conquest for thousands of years and were once the center of a large empire in southern Ovaicaea before being overran by Gestrin in the 800s.
 * Khalites: a people of the central coast of the Mocryae Peninsula.
 * Mocrish: the dominant people of the northern Mocryae Peninsula,
 * Salati: a commerce-oriented people dominating the Crab Bay and Crab Islands region.
 * Serrinites: a small ethnic group of pastoralists of the Eldunari River valley.
 * Suroyites: a more sedentary ethnic group related to the Tethari, mostly in the river delta of the Mocryae River.
 * Tethari: a confederation of warrior tribes, predominant throughout the Tethar Desert and mountains.