Cultures on Duria

Duria’s history is one of settlement, war and constant invasion, which has resulted in a rich tapestry of varied cultures, some unknown over a century ago, some whose origins are lost in the dawn of time.

Current Durian cultures are:

Calmergh: It is believed that the Calmergh Gaels once dominated the entire continent, if not the world, though in modern times they are found in their purest form only in the remote Calmerian Marches in the southeast of the continent. Their language bears a strong resemblance not only to the language of the Hobbits but also to the other Gael languages across the continents. The Calmergh Gaels tend to be a clannish culture, likely not dissimilar to the cultures on the rest of the continent prior to conquest by Aurean or Gallorean cultures after the Second Age of Man.

Cambrecian: Cambrecians first came to Duria as part of the wave of Zetian conquerors in the Third Age of Man. When the Great Empire withdrew from Duria, the Cambrecians were one of the few cultures to remain loyal to the Emperor. Cambrecians have a long history of subjugation to the Church of Zelos, god of the state, though rebellion and strife in the last century has shattered the authority of the Potentate and his Bishops. The Cambrecians in the Fourth Age of Man are a mere shadow of the dominating force they once were and it is likely that their culture will not see another century dawn.

Derlisch: The dwarves of Derlos live beneath the Cambrecian Mountains in southern Duria, with their only periodic contact with humanity generally ending in violence (with the marked exception of the Freecity of Neptaris, which they provided military aid to more than once over the years). Of the various dwarven cultures, the Derlisch have historically been the least isolationist and eagerly began constructing trade settlements in the Cambrecian Mountains to establish contact with the surface world after the restoration of the Goblet of Gundagor at the conclusion of the Third Age of Man. For dwarves, the Derlisch are known to be practically friendly and somewhat adventurous.

Elven: For centuries, the Webwood forest in the north of the continent was the only known enclave of elves on Duria. Early in the Third Age of Man, there were a group of elves known as the Arisian Elves who participated in the rise of the Freecity of Neptaris, but they were eventually massacred by people of the city they helped established. The Webwood elves were extremely reclusive and xenophobic and, for the most part, humans left them to their wood. At the conclusion of the Third Age of Man, the Mage War brought them out of their seclusion as they entered into an alliance with humans, dwarves and even their ancestral enemies, the orcs. Once the Mage King Lucasa was defeated, however, the orcish Horde turned on their elven allies, burning down much of their sacred wood.

The razing of the Webwood lead to the Great Elven Diaspora, as formerly xenophobic elves became refugees spreading across the continent. Though the Webwood has mostly regrown in the last century, most of the elves of the Diaspora have chosen to continue their exile for their own mysterious reasons.

As a result, small elven communities have risen within the human lands of Duria, both in remote wooded areas and at the edges of human cities. The most notable of these is in eastern Enesia, at the edge of the Mistwood. Rumor suggests that the elves have claimed the hinterlands there as something of a penal colony for elves who break some obscure tradition. If this is true, the growing population of elves along the Mistwood are the exiles of the exiled.

Gundage: The Gundage are the dwarves beneath the Divian Mountains. Substantially more isolationist than their southern cousins, the Derlisch, most humans weren’t even aware of a thriving dwarven nation beneath the Divian Mountains until late in the Third Age of Man, when the stolen Goblet of Gundagor was returned and relations between dwarves and man rekindled. Though the Gundage dwarves have since built a trading settlement in the central Divian Mountains north of Koramia, they still tend to prefer to remain within their underground kingdom, working their mines deep beneath the surface.

Hobbit: Despite being a peaceful, almost lazy, agrarian people, hobbits thrive in any human lands where they may farm and drink unmolested. Though each community has its own distinct traditions, most hobbit traditions are focused on comfort, brewing, farming and their unique local superstitions. Hobbits are usually found near human settlements, just over the next hill or around the bend in the river, where they can remain as unobtrusive as possible. They pay their taxes and take what oaths are required of them to be left alone.

It is notable that Duria has one of two places in the known world where hobbits congregate in any numbers and involve themselves in national government. Danas, on the southern tip of Duria, has long been a stronghold of the hobbits and it has even been suggested as the ancestral homeland of hobbits.

Kamar: The Kamar are an ancient people that peopled southern Duria prior to the coming of the Empire. Once nomadic horsemen, centuries of Imperial rule all but wiped out the Kamar tribes and traditions. When their Cambrecian oppressors lost their divine might during the Dark Times, the people of Cambrecia rose up against the now toothless priests and re-established the Kamar culture, although in a very modern form. The Kamar of today tend to be a very chaotic people, resistant to any authority except those who are strong enough to hold it. The Kamar culture dominates Daredonia, Kamara, and Numentora today.

Koramian: The Koramian people were once a widely diverse range of Simer and Tracini tribes and clans in constant conflict with one another over the Divian Peninsula. When the Empire came during the Third Age of Man, the Zetian governors sought to unify them along the lines of an Imperial colony, but the people constantly resisted subjugation. With the rise of the Koramian Heresy, the worship of Vortumnus became pervasive among Koramians, who were eventually abandoned by the Empire as too expensive to rule. Eventually, under King William I Greysword in the last century of the Third Age of Man, the Koramian people were unified under one King.

The Koramian people are known for being honorable or stubborn, depending on the point of view of the foreigner describing them. Despite years of civil war during the Dark Times, the Koramian people rose in the Fourth Age of Man a strong cultural force on Duria, even if they do not control as much territory as they did during the reign of King William I.

It is notable that the Koramian language has some strong grammatical connections to the Dwarven tongues, suggesting some ancient interaction between dwarves and men on the Divian Peninsula.

The Koramian culture spans the breadth of the former Simer people, from the Divian Peninsula to Dakra, Illyria, Pelusia and Nagos.

Midal’garash: The Midal’garash are primarily the orcs of Vor Midal, though even relatively isolated bands of orcs across the continent of Duria can trace their cultural identity to the Great Horde that began in Vor Midal at the conclusion of the Mage War and raged across the continent, bringing the Third Age of Man on Duria to a violent conclusion. The Midal’garash are militaristic horsemen who do sometimes establish permanent settlements despite being otherwise nomadic. Like other orcish cultures, the Midal’garash have a well-earned reputation for genocide but are noteworthy in that they are the only orcish people to have allied with dwarves, elves and humans to fight against the Mage King Lucasa of Lun Dorak. Of course, upon the defeat of the Mage King, the Great Horde turned on its elvish and human allies, bringing about the destruction of much of the Webwood and the fall of the human nation of Koramia. Currently, the orcs of Vor Midal and the remnants of the conquering tribes in the Orcish Wastes on the Divian Peninsula have no Great Khan to lead them in battle against the other races, so they mostly busy themselves with fighting one another over perceived slights and nuances of honor.

Neptaran: Concentrated on the city state of Neptaris and the surrounding territories, the fiercely independent and democratic Neptarans are descendants of Aebasan explorers who settled in southern Duria over two thousand years ago, during the Long Night. The Neptaran language has become something of a trade language over the last century, particularly for the Interior Coasts, replacing Zetian as the common trade language. Modern Neptaran has little resemblance to the original Aebasan tongue, having been influenced heavily by Zetian, Tamerish and other local languages.

Unlike other cultures on Duria, Neptarans are rarely found in large numbers beyond the borders of their ancestral lands. Lone Neptaran merchants and small bands of explorers certainly travel far and wide, but excepting a few trade missions in large cities along the Inner Shore of Duria, they do not have a significant presence elsewhere.

Norl: The Norl are the hardy men and women of the extreme north of the Divian Peninsula. The Norl language itself is an amalgamation of Old Koramian and Iceni; the latter language is still spoken primarily by the nobility of Norlund. The Norl are fiercely loyal to one another and tend to be xenophobic in the extreme, resistant to any foreign intervention or traditions interfering in what they consider their affairs, in part due to decades of domination by the Koramian Crown during the waning years of the Third Age of Man.

Tamerish: The Tamerish people have a well-deserved reputation as scoundrels, pirates and ne’er-do-wells. Located primarily in the Pirate Isles, the Tamerish people are an amalgam of Durian and Aurean cultures modern and ancient. They have historically been extremely resistant to domination by other cultures and were viewed even by the Great Empire as simply too expensive and difficult to conquer. Despite the perception that strength of will, intellect or steel is the only thing that can keep a crew of Tamerish working together towards a single goal, there is a surprising amount of democracy, fairness and law aboard their raiding ships. This system of self-governance is often used on land as well in those few cities and towns they choose to settle together in any numbers.

Utherian: The Utherian people tend to be a peaceful lot, interested primarily in peaceful, agrarian pursuits. Despite this modern reputation, it is believed by some scholars that the Utherian people once dominated central Duria from the Interior Coast to the Sea of Blades. There is little evidence today of any pretense to expansion among the people of Enesia, the only remaining nation dominated by Utherians.

Zaran: The Zaran are the common people of Lun Dorak as well as the rebels of Stenoa along the southeastern shores of the Sea of Blades. Little is known by scholars and historians of the Zaran before the coming of the Dorakian mages and much of their culture today is the result of centuries of subjugation by their wizard overlords. The rise of Stenoa after the Mage War, however, has breathed new life into this ancient people as they establish new traditions based on equality of man and democracy. The Dorakian Mages, it should be noted, are mostly Zaran themselves in modern times, though they publicly resist any connection between their own culture and the Zaran they have traditionally subjugated.

Zetian: Though the Great Empire died a violent death at the end of the Third Age of Man, its attempts to reconquer Duria left Ciritasnia as the one remaining outpost of Zetian culture on the continent. In many ways, the highly organized people of Ciritasnia are even more Zetian than the former Imperial states on the continent of Aurea. Despite the fact that Ciritasnians are a reminder of Imperial domination in Duria, their alliance with Koramia in the War of Two Crowns against the orcs of Vor Scheral has resulted in an almost friendly relationship between the two nations.