DEMI-HUMANS
HALF-ELVES
True Elves are from a distant continent to the far west known as Aelith. Eons ago, before recorded history, a migration of true elves traversed the vast oceans and landed on the continent central to this setting, Highdonia. After thousands of years and generations, the story of elves' homeland faded from fact to fiction, as did their cultural identity. Over centuries, Highdonian Elves intermingled and mixed with humans. Half-Elves, as they are known now, are just like any other human, born into a region or kingdom and adopting human culture. In some regions where being an elf means one is "lesser," it is common practice for babies to have their ears clipped after birth so that they grow up to look like any other human. Other cultures of half-elf proudly display their pointed ears of various lengths.
​
Half Elves vary more than humans. Their hair can vary from the colours associated with humans, like various shades of brown, blonde, orange, and black, but their hair can also be pure white, silver or grey at birth. Their eye colours can vary from the colours associated with humans, like various shades of black to brown, green and blue, but also purple, pink, red, grey or even pure white. Their skin colour can also vary from the colours associated with humans, from pale, fair, tan, dark tan, dark, and very dark, but their skin can also have a greyish, blueish or purplish hue, espeically at the fingertips, toes, nose and the tips of their ears. It is also very rare for a half-elf to become overweight, as the genes of their lanky ancestors make it very difficult for them to gain excess weight. There is a tendency for more half-elves to be born as women rather than men, and that the men are sometimes more feminine in appearance. There is a 60/40 percent split between women and men in the half-elf population, making marriage between half-elf women and human men pretty common in most regions.
A half-elf woman from North Valeria, the region which borders the Holy Imperial Gottesreich.
HIGHDONIAN DWARVES
Born from subterranean dwellings, the dwarves over centuries of living underground have developed a form of insular dwarfism specific to subterranean conditions. Their bodies became stout, short and hairy to combat the cold temperatures of the stone which they called home. At some point before Ancient Antiquity, some dwarves crawled out of their subterranean dwellings and took to a life above ground with humans and elves. Now they are known as Highdonian Dwarves are found all over the continent. This population of dwarves are similar to half-elves in the fact that they were born above ground and adopted human culture. They have never lived underground like their subterranean cousins, and only know of them as distant tales of folklore and bedtime stories told by their grandparents.
SUBTERRANEAN DWARVES
Born from subterranean dwellings, the dwarves over centuries of living underground have developed a form of insular dwarfism specific to subterranean conditions. Their bodies became stout, short and hairy to combat the cold temperatures of the stone which they called home. These dwarves never left their underground homes and only rarely interact with the world above. A vengeful and superstitious lot, these stout characters are both the most loyal of companions and the most bitter of enemies. There is no physical difference between Highdonian and Subterranean dwarves.​
A Subterranean Dwarf with clothing made of his own beard, a common practice among poorer individuals.
​
There is a 60/40 percent split between women and men in the dwarven population, and many male dwarves will live happy lives without ever settling down with a partner.
​
Dwarves have longer arms proportionally than their legs, allowing them to both reach higher objects and to move quickly by pressing their knuckles against the ground like gorillas.