Human

"Change is the law of life, and adaptability the path to survival." 

Lore

Humans are one of the strangest and most stubborn species in the world. Although quite numerous in population and recently having surpassed elves in number, they are short-lived and have a short-cultural memory, with successive generations doomed to re-living and re-creating the mistakes of their ancestors. Humanity, while far less prone to violence than Orcs, never-the-less are prone to argumentative disagreement even in the face of logically presented evidence. Humans spread themselves far and wide from each other founding small, petty kingdoms, fiefs, villages, and homesteads where each culture is free to pursue its values and create its unique civilizations without influence or interference from each other -- humans, above all value their cultural identity; whatever that often localized identity happens to be!

It is important to note that humans do not have a single cultural identity, and almost every group considers itself a distinct entity, and for better or for worse are independent from most others.

Humans frequently declare war on their neighbors for petty slights, although these wars are rarely as terrible and long-lasting as the intentional and methodical wars of extermination committed by the longer-lived races -- such as the war of The People and The Stout Folk upon Orcs; although each successive generation will often declare wars upon the historical enemies of their forefathers -- humanity's divisiveness usually keeps these wars from consuming and destroying more than a small region.

Individual Humans may be quite skilled in warfare and unlike elves who often train in many talents over the courses of their long lives: Humans typically specialize, and focus on a single craft throughout their careers. Those who specialize in war (often labeled by titles the elves see as superficial - such as 'Knight' or 'Sir', 'Praetor', 'Lord') can often be the match of elven warriors in single combat and should never be underestimated in duels - although forces organized by these career warriors are often swept aside by numerically superior and more organized alliances of The Elder races. It is only in small-scale battles that humanity truly shines.

In spite of their individual prowess, humanity is rarely taken seriously in wider world politics because of these failures on the field, the numerical inferiority of individual 'Kingdoms' and the short-sightedness of their normally feudal people. Were large numbers of humans ever to unify beneath a single powerful ruler - as they occasionally have in the past - they may be taken seriously for a time, and their short-lived offspring may enjoy some token respect from The Elder races.

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Quirks

• Humans may be from virtually any region of the world, and are a majority population in all of them save the Underdark or the Underground Kingdoms of the Dwarves.

• Humans may be a wide variety of skin-tones, eye colors, and hair-colors natural to humans in the real world.

• Human characters may not be younger than 21 years of age.