*coughs politely*
Humans know very little of their
deleted history.
The reasons might be that humans often fight with other humans (resulting in the destruction of a lot of knowledge), and that only the richer or more educated
deleted humans teach their children to read and write (or bother to learn themselves).
At first, human written language was just a simplified version of the elvish alphabet, and very few humans showed any interest in it; though kings and leaders
used to send messages written in it, via an illiterate messenger, for security purposes . Much later, a human king developed an alphabet
composed of simple symbols that was much easier to understand.
It allowed writing of words native in the human, dwarven, elven and even orcish tongues. It was taught to all of the children living in his country and because of its practical use, became a common trading language. Old human dialects mixed with dwarven, elven, and some orcish words, and created the currently known common language. Humans speak the common language natively, sometimes influenced by local dialects.
Human societies can take very different forms, depending on the
government system of the society and on the influence of neighboring cultures. Some prefer to live amongst their own kind. Most humans see other races as "strangers”. This results from their short living span, compared to most other races (especially elves). Amongst the more uneducated poor people, rumors about these "strangers" spread easily: Dwarves can turn anything (or anyone) into gold, lizardmen eat people, orcs steal and eat children, and Elves can curse all people they don't like with a
mere glance , for example. However, many human societies are more open-minded and well educated.
Humans seem to play an important role in trade. Many of their towns have been built along trade
routes and roads, so that they can offer rest and large trading areas to visitors. The most well known human societies are the following:
Primitive Cultures:
Seafolk (Norodaj) live in rough, cold climates. They wear
fur, leather or rough, colored cloth, and
deleted usually have long beards. They tend to prefer
long swords, spears, hand axes and throwing axes as weapons. For writing, they use a rune alphabet similar to the dwarven one. They know the common language, but natively speak their own tongue and some dwarven words. They inhabit rough, cold, often rocky areas between the sea and mountains. They often trade with dwarves, their neighbors in the mountains, and sometimes with lizardmen. Their main food source
depends on the sea; they live off
deleted fishing and sheep herding (and sometimes from raiding other human or orcish settlements located
deleted near the sea). They travel in long,
fast rudder boats with only a thick cloth as roof and a single sail. These boats have wolf heads at their tip, which can be used as a ram.
They pray to different gods, but mainly Tanora (
goddess of Sea), Irmorom (
god of Trade and Craftsmanship) and Malachín (
god of Battle and Hunting). They fear magic and some of them are afraid of elves, since elven ships passing nearby seem to appear and vanish with the mist, with "unnatural" speed, and without rudders. They are thought to be ghost ships.
Norodaj live in
large family clans. The clan leader is determined in a contest of intelligence and fighting prowess, which is held if a leader becomes too old. The winner of this contest, called the "champion", than fights the old leader.
The fight is only symbolic, and the old leader may retreat at will, however in some rare cases this can be a fight to the death. The leader (or ex-leader) may have up to three wives, while all other men can only have one. Marriages last their whole life, and "dishonored" men who have been betrayed (by their wives) will normally challenge the other man for a duel to the death. If a man treats his wife or children badly, he is soon exiled. Corpses of dead Norodaj are burned in a ritual of sorts, on a pile of wood. The ashes are thrown into the sea and a small piece of the skull is kept and mounted into the ram of a new boat. Every tribe has a "spirit man", a kind of shaman or priest.
Plainfolk (Serinjah) live on big plains. They raise horses and cows, and live in wooden houses located in
loosely designed villages. They are organized in clans and are known to be excellent riders, tamers, hunters and fighters. Serinjah prefer fighting with spears, bows, long swords, knives, throwing stars and throwing knives, and often wear hard leather or
wooden [!!!!!!!] armor. They seldom wear metal armor because of its large weight and lack of flexibility. The Serinjah have developed a type of unarmed combat, where elbows, knees, hands and feet are used as effective weapons. Some of the movements used are a little similar to the acrobatics of elven war dancers.
The Plainfolk can speak the common language, and a little elvish, but have their own ancestral language that they primarily speak. They often trade with Elves, orcs and other humans. Their main
god is Malachín, the
god of Battle and Hunting, but they
honour the younger gods
as well . Serinjah Clans are always lead by three people: A young man and woman (often an
amazon [should this be Ama-shoon?), and another, much older, woman. The Plainfolk believe in the power of the land, and some know druid magic quite well. Common magic is also well known to them, and some even prefer a life as a sorcerer, witch or shaman.
Plainfolk humans do not practice conventional marriage but can still promise to stay with one person. Dead people are buried in graves with small stones marking them, and a celebration is held when grass has overgrown the grave: Life defeats death, and nature wins,
completing the circle of life.
Plainfolk (Ama-shoon) live in forests and plains near the Serinjah. They are organized into tribes. These tribes are composed entirely of females and children under four years old. Once male children are over four years old, they are taken to Serinjah tribes to be raised by their fathers.
Amazons live
similar to and sometimes with Serinjah, but have devoted their life to fighting and protecting the land. They follow Findari, the goddess of air (and the four winds). They are often experts with a bow and spears, slings, swords and daggers, and throwing stars. They mostly prefer hard leather or
wooden [Wooden armor?] armor, though some of them may prefer iron armor instead. They ride their horses bareback (without saddles). It is said that an Amazon can also fight with her bare hands, if necessary. Amazons are lead by one female leader, who sometimes is a Findari Priest. Amazons tend to use aggressive as well as healing magic.
"Civilized" Cultures:
All of these cultures speak the common language natively. Another common
aspect among them is that marriages are
supposed to be life-long bonds , but can be released under certain circumstances.
Lightfolk (Salkamaerian) live in towns, villages and castles. The place of origin of the Salkamaerian way of life is the old city of Salkamar, which is also the
place of origin of the common language and writing system.
The Salkamaerian way of life implies respect, honor, and loyalty. It is a noble one. All Salkamaerian children learn reading and writing. Slavery is forbidden by law and a military education is offered to all members of poorer families for free. The Salkamaerian kings and nobles are understood to be representatives of the people and are often wise and good regents. Cities are ruled by male or female lords (males and females have equal rights among Salkamaerians). The Salkamaerian culture is open to strangers, without prejudice.
Salkamaerian poets, bards and philosophers are well known among the world, as are Salkamaerian paladins, who fight for their honorable virtues, and for humanity in general. Zhambra, Oldra, Sirani, Elara and Malachín are the most
honoured gods in Salkamaerian towns.
Straightfolk (Albarian) live in small towns, villages and castles. Their life is ruled by male nobles, which own all of the Albarian land as well as the people who reside on it. More than 90% of their people are bondsmen (the rest are nobles). A noble can call any bondsman he owns to arms or to personal service. Bondsmen who do not obey these commands are often punished
harshly .
Albarian females belong to their husband, or their father if they don’t have a husband, and to their lord, since the male nobles still have the right of the first night. Female goddesses are not prayed to in the Albarian culture.
The Albarian way of life has its origin in the city of Albar, and is a little older than the Salkamaerian way and developed into the opposite direction. Since bondsmen sometimes tend to start rebellions, areas with Albarian lordship have become rarer over time. The main gods vary in the different villages; nobles follow their own choice of deity.
Treefolk (Gynkeesh) live in independent towns, villages and castles. Slavery is forbidden by law, but sometimes very rich people tend to "forget" this. Gynkeesh people are ruled by the free market; their towns are ruled by merchant guilds and town majors. Their armies and guards consist of paid mercenaries. Poor people live in slums, and some become beggars or join one of the thief's guilds. Most Gynkeesh villages have a population of mixed races. Gynkeesh villages are sometimes called
"junkyard(s)" or "pool(s) of sin" (for obvious reasons).
=
To Falco: Sorry about that, but I got bored stiff today, so I grabbed your correction and erm.. recorrected

; found a few mistakes sorry to say
To anyone else that cares: I have holidays... that means I get bored

... I'll be grammer correcting some of the things around the site, for example the cronacles, I'll post everything here...