Species & Races

The great family of peoples descended from Alonaral and their Callidoran kin — the Alka Alon, the dwarf clans of the Karshak and Dradrien, the Tal Alon, the Hulka Alon and Gora Alon, and the distant Gurvani cousins.

Ancient, long-lived magical beings who arrived on Callidore long before humanity. Known for their powerful Song magic, their complex society of Kindreds, and a defining cultural preference for subtlety over force.

The most numerous of the Alka Alon Kindreds. A peaceful people who love trees, nature, and simple living, and who enjoy a measure of harmless mischief. They know the Songs of life and growth.

An Alka Alon Kindred of Alonaral who did not emigrate to Callidore.

Masters of lore who strive to learn and understand everything about the universe. The smallest of the Kindreds. They know the Songs of lore and learning.

An Alka Alon Kindred of Alonaral who emigrated to Callidore.

An Alka Alon Kindred of Alonaral who emigrated to Callidore.

A small and mysterious Kindred who know the Songs of mystery and memory. They make their realm in a distant part of Callidore, apart from other Alka Alon.

The Kindred who know the Songs of the seas and follow the ways of the Sea Folk. They emigrated to Callidore from Alonaral.

An Alka Alon Kindred of Alonaral who did not emigrate to Callidore.

Not a separate species — an Alka Alon transgenic form, a songspell-cast human-shaped body worn by volunteers of the Alka Alon Kindreds to fight and live alongside humanity.

An Alka Alon Kindred of Alonaral who did not emigrate to Callidore.

Devoted to creation in all its forms — from epic poetry to the building of great cities. They know the Songs of craft and creation.

The Iron Folk — a proud, ancient people closely related to the Karshak Alon who traditionally served as a ruling class over the dwarf clans. Driven deep underground by the gurvani, only a handful of Dradrien remain in the wider world.

Desert Alon — Alon peoples of the arid regions

The Mountain Folk — Alon cousins often called goblins by humans

Trolls — massive Alon of the northern valleys, all were Alon once

Stocky, immensely strong underground craftsmen famed as stonesmiths and masons. One of two closely related dwarf species; the Karshak Alon traditionally served under the ruling Alon Dradrien, though they have often struck out independently.

The Wood Dwarves — the most prolific of the Karshak Alon clans, craftsmen in timber and carpentry rather than stone. Long undervalued by their Karshak cousins, they flourished when given equal standing in Vanador.

The River Folk — small, furry, and gentle, bred as a servant class

Humanity — also called Terrans — arrived on Callidore as colonists from a dying world. Short-lived compared to the other great races, but possessed of a ferocious drive to survive that the other peoples find alternately baffling and inspiring.

Humans of the Remeran Imperial tradition, whose culture and governance shaped much of the known world.

Humans of Narasi heritage, with their own distinct cultural and historical traditions.

A reclusive, near-immortal people whom scholars believe to be humans altered by the Alka Alon in antiquity and sealed away in a hidden mountain valley — explaining their prolific multiple births, striking physical perfection, and lifespans far greater than other humans.

The Sea Folk — ancient stewards of Callidore's oceans, descended from the Celestial Mothers

The sentient plant-people who came to Callidore eons ago — ancient, rooted, and philosophical, with kindreds ranging from the magic-dependent woodlands peoples to the Leshi of Anghysbel.

The Met Sakinsa variant planted in Anghysbel — the only kindred sensitive enough to live without magic — charged with warding the Kurja and keeping them from escaping the jevolar.

Impossibly ancient beings of dual consciousness — 4th generation of life in the universe

The Living Darkness — powerful vassals of the Formless

Giants from Alonaral — technically Alon, distant kin to Karshak and Dradrien, near-extinct

A vassal-race of the imprisoned Formless, confined to the caverns beneath Anghysbel and kept from escaping the jevolar by the Leshi who were planted there expressly to ward them.

The most powerful vassals of the imprisoned Formless — deathless sorcerers, architects of the Dragonfall calamity that forged the jevolars, and one of Korbal's secret patrons.

Arachnoid soldiers bred by the Orion Empire — bifurcated nervous system, dual nature

Ancient evil imprisoned in the Deeps — their release would end all magic

The Great Race of Yith — impossibly ancient memory collectors older than the universe's stability

Divine beings created from human collective subconscious via divine magic