mankind

"The Age of the Elders is at an end, and its demise has been wrought with human hands."

—Lord Kladmir of Voskgardia

Humans, sometimes referred to as Men or Mankind, are a species of sapient bipedal mammals spread across the world of Tyrrell. Originally primitive tribes, Humans began developing countries on the edge of Elderkin nations. Humans are universally feeble in the art of magic, unable to utilize it in most practical ways. They were at the mercy of the Elderkin for millennia.

However in spite of this history of dismissal by the Elderkin races, humans have risen to become the most numerous and technologically advanced species on the planet. With a strong drive for innovation and penchant for efficient and rational warfare, their social and military development was what marked the beginning of the Third Age.

Biology and Genetics

Human biology is similar to many other sapient species of Tyrrell, having descended from a common ancestor thousands of years prior.

However, unlike the Elderkin and some of the Lesserkin, humans did not evolve into a genetic symbiosis with the Field, the source of magic on Tyrrell, leading to an inherent lack of magical talent and far shorter lifespans.

Humans have one of the shortest lifespans of Tyrrell's major races. The average human life expectancy is around 60 years, though exceptionally healthy individuals have been known to live as long as 120. It should be noted that this number is beginning to slightly rise with the invention of modern medicine.

Despite the disadvantages of an independence from the subterranean leylines, this has also allowed them greater migratory range than contemporary races. Humans do not require land near the Field's Leylines to remain healthy, and thus have the ability to maintain stable population centers across several unique climates.

A human Voskgardian soldier during the opening months of the War of the Dawn.

Society and Culture

Humans are a predominantly social species, typically banding together into large social communities, forming many independent states distributed across the world.

However, it is only recently that they have been able to push back against the grip of the Elderkin, resulting in a societal expansion of new innovations, technologies and general industry.

Philosophy

Broadly speaking, humans are tenacious and adaptable creatures, though their intelligence was looked down upon until very recently. They are often seen as crude or reckless by the Elderkin, due to their haste towards glory, heedless of their limited life spans.

History

EARLY HISTORY

Humans developed alongside the other sentient races of Tyrell in a relatively unremarkable way. Often overlooked by the Elderkin, they were thought to be similar to the Orcs in intelligence and civility.

Various human nations sprung up across the continents, often warring with themselves and other Lesserkin races, and commonly acted as vassal or subordinate states to larger Elderkin polities.

RISE OF VOSKGARDIA

It was only near the end of the Second Great Age that humanity began its rapid social and technological development. This was heavily driven by the rise of the Republic of Voskgardia; a vassal state of the Tassendrel Empire, building on technologies such as the steam engine to achieve high levels of industrialisation, in contrast to the agrarian societies of the elderkin nations.

WAR OF THE DAWN

In the year 2946, the Tassendrel Empire declared war on the Republic of Voskgardia, in a conflict built around the tenuous position of the newly crowned Emperor Thelianar of Tassendrel.

The War of Dawn, as it was later referred to, though it ended in a defeat for the Tassendreli-led elderkin coalition, lasted for nearly twenty years, breaking the conception of elderkin geopolitical supremacy, and encouraging the spread of Voskgardian technologies throughout Tyrrell.

References

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