Arkins

Inhabitants of the Ark and Carhain. An ancient, lineage-based society with rigid customs, a deeply felt need for virtue and justice, and a warrior spirit that manifests even in times of peace through strict regulations, physical tempering, and firm resolve. Their hardness, however, is at times excessive; the weak and the failed stand no chance in their society. Adultery and similar transgressions are punished severely—usually by death—and those of “unclean” lineage are barred from participating in public life, which is everything to these men and women who cherish organization and formal assembly.

Darins

They emerged long ago as the outcasts of the Arkins—children of adultery, exiled criminals, foreigners, crossbreeds, and the “unsuccessful.” Over time, however, the better among them became more civilized and, with great (sometimes laughable) effort, sought to imitate their stern ancestors in every way, perhaps to prove they were their equals. Nevertheless, there always remained within them more love for coin than for virtue. Yet even here, there exist lineages and families that produce their own secondary outcasts—those unacceptable even to the Darins—who depart for Younger Darika.

Druvs

They originated in ancient times from a stray host of Arkagantians and dryads. A legend is told among them of how, long ago, a troop of men set out from an Arkagantian settlement against enemies who were plundering the forests and fields. The Arkagantian men tracked the enemy but failed to notice that the host had split; when they returned to their city after the battle, they found it burned to its foundations and their women and children slaughtered. It is said that at that time, dryads were also fleeing the burning forests, and so these men joined them in a common vengeance. After the enemy’s defeat, neither could return to their homes, for they were reduced to ash. The men and the dryads bound themselves to one another in a mass marriage and set out to find a new homeland. The men desired a city, and the dryads a forest. In the end, they built a tree-city upon Diruvran.