For my Witching Grounds setting the following races will be open for PCs:
Caliban, known colloquially as “Cauldron-born”, were created by the three Hag Queens (“the Foul Mistresses”) during the time of the Witch Sovereigns with the Whispering Cauldron artifact. The hags had made many abominations individually, but when the tide turned against them they joined together to create a servitor race imbued with souls harvested from the enemy’s fallen. Eventually the caliban rebelled, toppling the Hag Queens and setting up their own kingdom as a hotbed of resistance which the empire crushed. Many secrets of the resistance were learned from the captured caliban, who were rewarded for their treachery with land grants - ghostly citadels dot the land, home to the caliban nobility. They tend toward treachery, but are both adaptable and great keepers of secrets.
Celestials were caretakers of the holy city Abarra and guardians of the Beacons of Eshan, unquestioningly loyal to the empire. However, when their patriarch voiced opposition to the Emperor’s persecution, they were betrayed and those not killed in the coup were exiled from their holy city. Most faded into daily life, their families scattered across the eastern empire. However, some used their familiarity with the empire to aid the resistance and a minority even fomented dissent. While they can be righteous, they are also compassionate and wise.
Dwarves were once enslaved to the northern Witch Queen of the giants, winning their freedom only after a 30-year war which ended with the Dwarf King sacrificing himself. Retreating to mountain strongholds, the dwarves served as guardians of royalty-in-hiding leading the resistance, as well as the Serpent Gates which agents of the Emperor sought to open. A civil war was fought over whether to protect the human royalty, resulting in the banishment of House Morragrim, ancestral defenders of the Serpent Gates. Their homeland is the Serpentback Mountains. While greedy, dwarves are resolute and faithful.
The Sidhelein were split over whether to help the human resistance fighters despite their persecution at human hands...
Those nomadic Elves who helped hide the humans would join the resistance as scouts and spies, and many interbred with and suffered for their human allies. The elves’ have no homeland (rather, home is where the tent is); they are tribal, passionate, and fierce.
Those Eladrin who refused to get involved withdrew deep into the forests to create xenophobic tree cities where humans are attacked on sight – these isolationists only became involved when the Emperor tried necromancy on captive elves, promptly destroying his attempt and rescuing the hostages. The eladrin call Avel Wood and the Feywild home; they are urbane, aloof, and calculating.
Fauns live in loose kinship groups, though their young often rove the wilds chasing nymphs, seducing mortals, composing ballads, and guiding those who would brave the Feywild through the Briarmaze. Fauns came from the same fey race as the satyrs – allegedly the fauns gave up their immortality to intervene on behalf of peasants uprising against the empire, while the self-serving satyrs remained immortal in the Feywild. Their true homeland is the Feywild, but it is exceedingly dangerous for them to return (for they are often hunted by wicked satyrs and other shadow fey). Their adopted homeland is the Feshinthul Vale, though it would be easy to believe they are rovers, being ever present at faerie festivals and crossroads. Fauns are lustful and gluttunous, but also can be charming and self-sacrificing.
Humans are a diverse lot, defining the conflicts of Empire vs. Peasantry and Church vs. Paganism. Humans are easily corrupted and tempted from the path of truth, but they are also forgiving and innovative.The major cultures of humanity are...
Aurethian: Swarthy river-folk of Aghora’s Crescent
Feshinthan: Superstitious revolutionary peasants living in fey-touched Vale
Ghessan: Hearty ancestor-worshipping shepherds of Icespire Mountains
Ghost Tribes: Persecuted vengeful natives hiding in Wyvernlands
Hataresi: Amazonian corsairs living in an island matriarchy
Qulashkul Tribes: Horse-masher tribes of the Qulashin Steppes
Jheradi: Poetic seafarers of Simber Coast with ties to merfolk
Kheprian: Theocratic slave people south of Sajaje with tieds to Shadowfell
Khistani: Savvy gypsies driven from their homelands in the Hareech
Lahani Tribes: Coastal natives of the Minosian Peninsula
Palathari: Theocratic sophisticated craftspeople of Palathar
Rhugashi: Warrior culture of invaders cut off from their overseas homeland
Sicoran Tribes: Trackers and herbalists of the Sajaje Desert
Sindaran: Spice/dye traders and thunder lizard tamers of Sindara
Gnomes were the treasurers for the Karathian Empire, enjoying wealth beyond dreams for their complicity, but eventually their conscience led them to betray the Emperor and channel gold to the resistance. In an unlikely move to hide from the Emperor’s wrath, the gnomes hid among the shadow fey who trapped the gnomes in the Feywild as servants – only recently have they escaped centuries of servitude. Their homeland is unknown. Gnomes are universally deceitful and mischievous, yet show good cheer in the face of overwhelming odds and are exceedingly gracious.
Selkie, known colloquially as "Otter-Folk", were press-ganged by the empire to serve as amphibious scouts, deceived by the feasts and song in their honor. Once they realized that those who didn’t serve were killed or sent to work in the shipyards, many went renegade and joined the resistance, though just as many played the two sides off each other for their own benefit. During their servitude, many lost the ability to skinshit - trapped in humanoid otter form; the few that do retain the ability have their magical otter skin possessed by corrupted imperial royalty. Selkie homelands are the waterways of Aghora’s Crescent. While they tend toward vanity, they are protective of loved ones and insatiably curious.
Tieflings are the corrupted Daravian nobility who ruled the empire for centuries, eventually giving up their spirits to dark powers to oppose the power-mad Emperor. However, in so doing many became the tyrants they were fighting against, and only a few, mostly those who had fallen from favor, fought with the resistance (often for their own nefarious purposes). Their homeland is the Heartland cities, especially Larthlaweys. Prone to bitterness and an overdeveloped sense of vengeance, tieflings also are unyieldingly perseverant and shrewd judges of characters.
Trolls were once shadow fey, devious tacticians and masters-at-arms for the Lord of the Wild Hunt. However, they were touched by an act of human beauty (some tales say it was a human maid singing a song to a unicorn, others that it was a knight binding a faun's wounds), and aspired to become defenders of beauty and peace. A great civil war ended with many trolls betrayed by the Lord of the Hunt - forced to work in salt mines for the emperor. Those who returned to the Lord of Hunt were cursed with stupidity and ugliness as "ogres." In the wake of imperial collapse, a slave uprising granted the trolls independence (these handsome trolls have bluish skin, horns, white hair, and crystalline eyes). Today they call the Icespire Mountains home. While prone to rage and self-doubt, trolls are utterly honorable and seek peaceful resolution when possible.
