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<blockquote data-quote="Jackdaw McGraw" data-source="post: 8261867" data-attributes="member: 7021534"><p><em><span style="font-size: 18px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Four hundred years have passed since the human child, Prince Cyln, spoke his wish aloud to the dreadful Stone of Ire, "I wish everyone taller than me was dead". They were petulant words, born of a boy's anger, but the shadow that pulsed over the kingdoms was terrifying and absolute. From that day on The Known Lands were forever changed. The cries that rose from the human cities, elven glades, orcan mires and, yes, even the dwarven halls were those of children, orphaned in a blink. In less than a generation these children, too, were gone, and those proud races were no more.</span></span></em></p><p></p><p>"But..." you might say, "children are resourceful, and soon grow into adults. Surely they could have rebuilt and multiplied." They thought so too until the true curse of the stone was understood. When the first of the orphans began to grow taller than Prince Cyln - who himself was still growing in his abandoned palace - they died. You must remember that no one knew the origin of the curse for years, so they lived in fear of a seemingly arbitrary death: they did horrific things to keep themselves from growing taller.</p><p></p><p>When the source of the curse was finally discovered Prince Cyln was captured, imprisoned...and stretched. Stretched until he could be deemed the tallest man the orphans had ever seen. The were barbarous with grief and desperate for life, so you must forgive them. There was cleverness to their solution but they were young, and it didn't not last for long. The Prince's feet rotted off his body, killing thousands, then his legs to the knees, wiping away even more, then he died. And then those who were shorter than a tall man with no legs became The Sheerlings, servants of the Stone of Ire.</p><p></p><p>The Sheerlings, my child, are why we do not go into the rotting cities of men, or into the dark halls of the dwarves...or anywhere else the tall folk lived.</p><p></p><p>......</p><p></p><p>Imagine the Fall of Rome, The Black Plague and Vesuvius all hit a storybook world at the same time, wiping out the usually "starring" races. Now it's 400 years later and all the "guest stars" have rebuilt, with the scar of the event, and the ruins, as part of their lore.</p><p></p><p>Alright, exposition out of the way, my four main races are....</p><p></p><p><strong>Halflings</strong>: They refer to themselves as the Ilimi (ILIMI). They were a pastoral people living on the edges of human and elven civilizations. When those races died (some Ilimi villages tried to help the children, they have a lot of dark lore about those days), they considered it horrible but sort of a "man's problem" event. They didn't anticipate how dangerous the world would become with the tall folk gone. Beasts began to hunt the faded roads, ancient malignancies returned, etc. It took a few generations for the Ilimi to understand they had become the standard bearers for civilization. Modern Ilimi towns look like a cross between rolling shires and fortified settlements.</p><p></p><p><strong>Kenku</strong>: This is a weird one. Four hundred years ago Kenku were just crows. The curse left a smorgasbord of dead flesh all over The Known Lands and carrion creatures feasted for months. Many of them gained intelligence and mortal-ish form eating so much flesh. The Kenku are one of the only that managed to make a civilization, which they've patterned off of the fallen chivalric human ones. They believe they are the reincarnations of humanity.</p><p></p><p>There are other intelligent, talking omnivores and carnivores around, many of them totemic and strange.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dragonborn</strong>: Dragonborn are a magically manufactured race that were created about 300 years ago by a tradition of weird wizards who somehow (insert fun ideas here!) managed to survive the curse. By mixing human (or elven) heritage with a dragon's essence (whatever that means), they can grow to the size of the previous tall folk and survive the curse. The wizards have tried to design and guide the society towards one that values erudition and dispassion. Imagine Dragonborn but with Vulcan ideals.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gnomes</strong>: Gnomes made themselves visible the day the elves died. They had always been secret custodians of the forests and glades, treated as benevolent spirits. When the elven children (relatively rare in number compared to other races) were orphaned the gnomes became their surrogate parents. They sacrificed the magic that made them invisible to grown 'unseen glades' to protect the last of the elves from the curse. Now they serve as the eyes and ears of this secretive court, ambassadors to the outside world.</p><p></p><p>The Stone of Ire: What became of it? I dunno!</p><p></p><p>Thassit!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jackdaw McGraw, post: 8261867, member: 7021534"] [I][SIZE=5][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]Four hundred years have passed since the human child, Prince Cyln, spoke his wish aloud to the dreadful Stone of Ire, "I wish everyone taller than me was dead". They were petulant words, born of a boy's anger, but the shadow that pulsed over the kingdoms was terrifying and absolute. From that day on The Known Lands were forever changed. The cries that rose from the human cities, elven glades, orcan mires and, yes, even the dwarven halls were those of children, orphaned in a blink. In less than a generation these children, too, were gone, and those proud races were no more.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/I] "But..." you might say, "children are resourceful, and soon grow into adults. Surely they could have rebuilt and multiplied." They thought so too until the true curse of the stone was understood. When the first of the orphans began to grow taller than Prince Cyln - who himself was still growing in his abandoned palace - they died. You must remember that no one knew the origin of the curse for years, so they lived in fear of a seemingly arbitrary death: they did horrific things to keep themselves from growing taller. When the source of the curse was finally discovered Prince Cyln was captured, imprisoned...and stretched. Stretched until he could be deemed the tallest man the orphans had ever seen. The were barbarous with grief and desperate for life, so you must forgive them. There was cleverness to their solution but they were young, and it didn't not last for long. The Prince's feet rotted off his body, killing thousands, then his legs to the knees, wiping away even more, then he died. And then those who were shorter than a tall man with no legs became The Sheerlings, servants of the Stone of Ire. The Sheerlings, my child, are why we do not go into the rotting cities of men, or into the dark halls of the dwarves...or anywhere else the tall folk lived. ...... Imagine the Fall of Rome, The Black Plague and Vesuvius all hit a storybook world at the same time, wiping out the usually "starring" races. Now it's 400 years later and all the "guest stars" have rebuilt, with the scar of the event, and the ruins, as part of their lore. Alright, exposition out of the way, my four main races are.... [B]Halflings[/B]: They refer to themselves as the Ilimi (ILIMI). They were a pastoral people living on the edges of human and elven civilizations. When those races died (some Ilimi villages tried to help the children, they have a lot of dark lore about those days), they considered it horrible but sort of a "man's problem" event. They didn't anticipate how dangerous the world would become with the tall folk gone. Beasts began to hunt the faded roads, ancient malignancies returned, etc. It took a few generations for the Ilimi to understand they had become the standard bearers for civilization. Modern Ilimi towns look like a cross between rolling shires and fortified settlements. [B]Kenku[/B]: This is a weird one. Four hundred years ago Kenku were just crows. The curse left a smorgasbord of dead flesh all over The Known Lands and carrion creatures feasted for months. Many of them gained intelligence and mortal-ish form eating so much flesh. The Kenku are one of the only that managed to make a civilization, which they've patterned off of the fallen chivalric human ones. They believe they are the reincarnations of humanity. There are other intelligent, talking omnivores and carnivores around, many of them totemic and strange. [B]Dragonborn[/B]: Dragonborn are a magically manufactured race that were created about 300 years ago by a tradition of weird wizards who somehow (insert fun ideas here!) managed to survive the curse. By mixing human (or elven) heritage with a dragon's essence (whatever that means), they can grow to the size of the previous tall folk and survive the curse. The wizards have tried to design and guide the society towards one that values erudition and dispassion. Imagine Dragonborn but with Vulcan ideals. [B]Gnomes[/B]: Gnomes made themselves visible the day the elves died. They had always been secret custodians of the forests and glades, treated as benevolent spirits. When the elven children (relatively rare in number compared to other races) were orphaned the gnomes became their surrogate parents. They sacrificed the magic that made them invisible to grown 'unseen glades' to protect the last of the elves from the curse. Now they serve as the eyes and ears of this secretive court, ambassadors to the outside world. The Stone of Ire: What became of it? I dunno! Thassit! [/QUOTE]
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