Interlude: Sarcona and the tribes of men.

Twelve thousand years, after years of tribal warfare and petty rivalry, the gods worshiped by the tribes of Sammar on the world of Sarcona, had chosen eight champions, who were to fight each other. Instead of doing so, the champions agreed that they should lead their tribes and rule the countries in peace without divine interventions into matters so trivial as warfare.

After their respective deaths, they had become half-deities, patrons for their race, who were called upon in times of trouble to deliver fair and unchallenged judgement. Together, they are known today as The Sleeping Eight.While some theologians differ on their actual position universe, all the major religions treat them as early prophets of either a singular True Power or blessed by spirits of the natural world.

The planet of Sarcona is the only inhabitable planet in its space system, second planet form the sun, lying on average just over 1.07 AU from the star. Majority of the planet is covered in oceans and there are some polar caps on both poles, though there are no great polar landmasses. Axial tilt of Sarcona is much smaller than on Earth and the contrasts between seasons are less severe. Generally, the planet is milder than Earth with climate ranging between subtropical and subarctic in the inhabited areas. There are some equatorial jungles on the Dragonlords, but they are far less substantial than those of Amazon Basin, Borneo or Congo.

There are four continents on Sarcona: The Dragonlands – stretching from the high northern latitudes towards temperate southern ones, dominating the western hemisphere, The Dreadlands – the great southern continent, which is somewhat unexplored with polar regions covered under glaciers and some ice sheets, where there are quite a few demi-human population present and humans are mostly farmers and fishermen in the coastal areas, Auzkal - a hard and bloody lands dominated by the warrior castes and warring princes of the ruling family, a smallish, dry continent with steep mountains and a few cities. Most developed and civilized part of the planet, however, is Sammar, known now by most people as The Scarlet Land, although most of the inhabitants of The Dragonlands would contest this finding.

The humans on Sammar are descendants of at least eight major "sub-races" of humanity, of people lead by those aforementioned champions, though some scholars and diplomats dispute this finding, adding three more "sub-races" living in The Dragonlands and two in The Dreadlands. There are also many demi-humans and even some humanoids throughout the realms. Though orcs, ogres and giants appear as savages and barbarians to members of the most refined societies, they make organized tribes which would rather export mercenaries and herdsmen than actually pillage a land.

 The Sleeping Eight have agreed to not casting again a spell that would have summoned an evil entity onto Sammar. They, as half-deities had cast a degree of protection that means that any spell versus good (such as protection versus alignment (good)) or any that could have summoned an evil creature (summon monster for evil characters, gate). Also, the whole universe is under permanent non-detection spell. This means that there are very few outsiders in this world and even fewer evil ones. Sammar plays a home to some of the outsider, but most of them are members of tiefling and celestial lines that have been living on Sammar for thousands of years.

Humans are still, one of the original races of this world, as well as dwarves and gnomes, who have made their mountain kingdoms in the southern part of the continents. Elves were introduced in this world after The Eight had already left and their are only few of their kingdoms, though they inhabit some of the forests in the central part of the landmass. Orcs and other evil inclined humanoids are more civilized than their folk in other dimensions and have established some tribal border states between the far larger human polities. Halflings are relatively uncommon and they usually live in rural enclaves in the demi-human controlled areas or on arid plains.

 There are currently more than eight nations in the Scarlet Lands, though most inhabitants are the descendants of the original tribes, while there are at least a couple of areas with decisively mixed ethnicity, especially in southwestern part of the continent and the land currently occupied by Knight Palatines. 

In the northern corners of the land live the Norse, descendants of Tilbur Waraxe. They have pale complexion and they are generally taller than their Southern counterparts. Blonde and red hair is most common among them, although other colours are not unheard of. They inhabit archipelagos of Finn and Vaesterjytland and some live within the lands of Voort and Levland.
Frederic had been ancestor of the Teutones, who have on average light skin and blonde or brown hair, though black hair is more common the further south and east one travels. They rule the lands of Teutones and Franca, and made about half of the population of the Voort and Levland. Also, some of the most prominent members of Knight Palatines come from these families.
Khoraf the Wise has been the ancestor of the Medes, men of olive and brown skin and dark hair, riding their horses in the plains of Zabrak, Parthe and Oyyugh. The human inhabitants of the racially mixed kingdom of Orem claim to be also part of this ancient mage's original tribe.
Mustafa the Saint has hailed from the lands of Ar-Ibiya, believers in One True Faith, spreading throughout the civilized world. The humans who had infiltrated Rockholme and Ossen also often come from this desert land. Olive and brown skin and dark hair stands out as much as their belief in a single faith.
Shou the Patient has been the only person that has united the Lua, people of Nara, Choison and Celestial Empire. The Luanites had been more xenophobic of all humans on Sammar, treating other races with contempt and disdain. Their yellow skin and jet black hair makes them very distinct and the clothes they wear are heavily affected by region of origin. People of Mapacu and the Auzkal with their brown and olive skin also are descendants of the Shou, although Celestial Emperor would prosecute anyone who voiced such a heresy as an infidel.
Ellades Archipelago, Sea Kingdoms and Arkach are places where Margard the Brave ruled. Brave warriors and merchants with curly hair and fair or olive skin created the Empire of Vamon, only to see it destroyed under internal squabbles.
The people of Troye and Brittany are sometimes called Eneiades by the noble squires as they came from the same tribe that gave birth to Eneiada the Swift. They are people of great intelligence and are also great believers in tradition. The Eneiades are little higher than most of other humans and they often have fair or red hair.
The people of Zabrova descend from the great ranger Milo. They are fair-haired folk that is in tune with nature, also some of the other folk sees them as sick and of lower stature than other humans. Most of the Zabrova who leave their country, join the ranks of Knight Palatines.

While few men have had contact with inhabitants of Dreadlands, some stray sailors or a diplomatic mission once, perhaps, in every ten years do visit Dragonlands and there are almost certain that almost every stock of man found in the Scarlet Lands is represented there. They tell also a story that the continent that is dominated by the single polity known as The Empire. There are still tribes of the fearless and a bit primal warriors in the north and uneasy alliances of merchant city states in the eastern part of the landmass, together with some rebel feudal monarchies in the south, but the truth of it is, that no other state dominates its neighbours like The Empire

The Norse in the Dragonlands are found mainly in the icy wastes and forests of northern part of the continent, more warriors and hunters than the seaman of their eastern brothers.
The Eisen, the Vrouw and the Gran are the Teutones of the western continent, the first group are the powerful people that have populated mainly northwestern part of Dragonlands, famed as hardy miners and craftsmen, and ruthless soldiers. Vrouw are a minority found mostly in the city states of the Inner Sea, a rich and influential one, but a minority none would overlook. Both groups are pale in numbers compared to Gran, the second largest group of the Dragonland inhabitants, which dominate the lands the central southern region of the continent and are well-represented in other areas of the Inland Sea – this group is famed for its love of arts and food.
The descendants of the Ar-Ibiya and Lua people are few and far between, mainly inhabiting the most populous cities, often taking up merchant shops or researching science.
The minority group of southern Dragonlords, the Eszter seemingly comes from a mix of Vamon stock, resembling a bit culture of people of Arkach and Zabrovans with their folk traditions. The majority group in this part of the mainland are the Serrans, whose culture does incorporate a bit of Medes tradition with their love of horses, pride and hot headedness and Vamon with their hard bargain driven trades.
But by far, the largest group of human inhabitants of Dragonlands are descendants of Eneiades that have themselves in five distinct groups – the Northmen in the north central parts of Dragonlords, the Scotti in the northeastern parts of coastland, the Irrai, who inhabit the areas directly south of the Northmen and stretches of land between Flake Valley and Deepwood, the Islanders of the Inner Sea and the Narrowlanders in the western part of the Inner Sea.
Gran, Serrans and the Free Folk (as Northmen, Scotti, Irrai, Islanders and Narrowlanders are sometimes called) are sometimes considered by scholars to be of different origins than tribes adhering to The Sleeping Eight. In fact, there is a folk tale in the Dragonlands that tells a story of Thirteen Princes of Maudung, which were betrayed by their own suspicions during a battle with a powerful demons, that might throw a new light upon origins of the civilization.