Races and cultural groups

Races of Central & Northern Sedes (Partisania and Sinistra)

• Aurorian: Inhabiting the periphery of the Northwestern Partisan Empire, and also being distributed in parts of Cephcu and Sinistra, the Aurorians tend to be a very agreeable people without quite as many material attachments as Hastam’s other groups. As with the Lostrisch, they fall quite strongly into the Sliverian cultural orbit, since the ruling family of the Empire possesses the most influence in the Northwest and Centre of Partisania. Certain parts of their land, like the aptly named Aurorian Order, are controlled entirely by the Sliverians, but at least some areas are autonomous, like the Kingdom of Lawatash and the Free City of Duower. They primarily take influence from Baltic and Polish architecture, and tend to wear relatively bright clothing due to the availability of colourful flowers in the plains and forests where they make their homes. They are fair-haired, bright-eyed and tend to grow their hair out very long and coat it in the various dyes obtained from their rare native petals mixed with the volatile springwater from the Aurorian volcanic network that covers central and western Auroria.

• Basfeutine: The Basfeutines are a race believed to descend from one extended family predating the formation of the Partisan Empire. This family pledged personal allegiance to the Emperor and as a result it received a sort of preeminence amongst Imperial races, allowed to escape the otherwise rigid class-estate system. Accruing their fortunes from serving in military, governmental or other advisory positions, Basfeutines are unique in that they do not have a traditional ‘homeland’, instead being split into several ‘hosts’ that are given autonomy relative to the rest of the Empire but are also forced to move to wherever the administration demands. There are three hosts as of 335 ARK, and each has split into speaking its own dialect. They are tawny-skinned, with dark curly hair and dark eyes. They take some inspiration from gypsies, some from Cossacks, and some from Jews.

• Bleaksen: Unique amongst the peoples of this area, Bleaksen have quite a dark complexion, with tan skin and long black hair. They are closely related to the Fog-Walkers, often being called ‘Dark Elves’ because of their skin tone and cultural similarities. A few hundred years ago there was no significant difference between them, and they served in the infamous army of the Rift-King in his attempt to conquer and ‘purify’ Hastam. After the failure of this attempt, their native Sinistra was covered in a poisonous fog that causes mutation and eventual insanity in any sapient creatures. From there, Fog-Walkers developed an immunity to this fog (as well as a rather apparent vitamin D deficiency), with the Bleaksen instead pushed out to coastal towns and the North of the Partisan Empire, where due to historical reasons they often face discrimination. Their folklore and culture, marred by historical tragedy and harsh survivalism, best resembles that of the Iroquois and other Forest Indians.
• Dvarreg: The Dvarreg are one of Hastam’s three Dwarvish races, alongside the Altodvar native to Dom and the Gnomes of Abyss. They inhabit the hollowed-out insides of several of the Partisan Empire’s Central-Western mountain ranges, covering the entrances to their underground domains with well-kept foliage. Although on the surface they may seem similar to traditional fantasy dwarves, there are a few key differences that separate them. They feed off of heat, meaning most spend their time deep under the mountains, but if they consume too much heat they become overstimulated and die. This means their lives are a cycle of goofing off near the surface, going down into the mines, using the continuous source of energy to mine for hours and hours, then heading back up when they’re tired. They often set up outposts in the upper layers of their mines to trade with outsiders, but do not let anybody head down into the geothermal layers, allegedly due to their sanctity in Dvarreg culture.

• Flondrish: Some of Hastam’s most colourful human inhabitants, the Flondrish are as extroverted as their cloth is flamboyant. All have the same plain brown hair that just doesn’t ever seem to want to leave its default styling, so they make up for it with garish clothing, strange and often mismatched eye colours, and more unique phrases than any other group in Hastam. Their language is strange and leaves them with a distinct, slightly off-putting accent. They’re methodical, expert fishers and clothiers, decent at soldiering thanks to the strong martial tradition they’ve cultivated over the years, and are extremely vocal in their wish to unequivocally leave the Partisan Empire due to its neglect of their cities and lack of aid during the offshore island famines 15 years ago. Due to their strong mercantile and independent spirit, they've been quick to pick up industrial manufacturing from Deltan, a nation and people they consider to be natural allies.

• Fog-Walker: Unrepentant of their antagonistic role in Hastish history, the Fog-Walkers or ‘Light Elves’ served in the army of the Rift-King with pride. Punished for enabling the rise of a dictator and killing of hundreds of thousands, the fog around Sinistra has led the vast majority of its population to some ambient form of insanity, though luckily their bodies have remained unscathed. They are blonde with bright eyes, distinguishable from Aurorians or Svendish only due to their pronounced, knife-like ears. Known for their haughty temperaments, their designation of all who enter their territory as hunting quarry, and occasional assaults on coastal towns so as to inflict revenge on their ‘traitorous comrades’ the Bleaksen Dark Elves, it is safe to say their sense of humility has seen better days. It’s always a case of nature vs nurture with the Fog-Walkers though, since when raised outside of their natural habitat they tend to retain only their sense of polite formality from their homelands. They take influence from the Finnics and Ugrics, though with some Cree and Algonquin in there too, and of course in their prime they more strongly resembled the enchanted existence of Tolkien's elves.

• Lostrisch:

• Marchlander: Populating a great deal of the South of the Partisan Empire, Marchlanders are a peculiar mix of the poor hygiene of the Stench, the isolationist tendencies of the Inner Lostrisch, and the inbred-ness of the Fog-Walkers. Known for their near-indecipherable accents, bizarre pog-racing and wrestling fixations, and having precisely zero pleasant settlements to their name, you’ll likely hear them complaining about just about every recent Imperial policy, from the increased focus on defending the North from Fog-Walkers (as opposed to defending the South from the Madlands-roving Marauders) to the ‘lack of culture’ supposedly prevalent in the rest of the Empire. Perhaps they’re referring to bacterial cultures? Hamlet, Bender, Tannhauser and other towns in the Southeast stretching to about 3 ⁄ 4 of the way to the West Coast are dominated by Marchlanders. They don’t have a greatly unique style to their architecture because a lot of them are dirt poor, and aside from mostly possessing a light skin tone and dark hair, little is consistent about their physical appearance.
  • Marchlanders also have a major presence in some of the swamps that lie outside their traditional cultural homelands, including some of the marshes surrounding Deltan City. As a result, they are seen unanimously as backward, ignorant nuisances unable to get on with cultures they see as elitist. Like the Flondrish and Stench, they have left their legacy in both Lacklander and Montarmeur populations who descend from the three groups to different degrees.

• Sliverian:

• Stench:

Races of Southeastern Sedes (Tecpatl and the Deserted Peninsula)

• Acatl/Occí: There are very few races in Hastam that most definitely are not derived from the genus Homo Sapiens, but the Acatl are the most obvious example. Possessed of an alien appearance, with gills, fins and distinctive green scales, they are clearly better suited to life in water than on land. Nevertheless, they have managed to distribute themselves widely throughout Sedes, swimming across the waterways both above ground and under it to peddle their wares. Their home turf, known to them as ‘The Bay’, is a brackish estuary that has been built up over centuries into a set of beautiful courtyards and communal spaces, and they certainly hold this over others. They can survive in sea water for a few days at a time but will eventually succumb to salt poisoning, so lake and river water tends to be their ideal environment. As a result, there are Acatl communities throughout Southern Sedes, both in the lakelands of central Tecpatl and the colossal river system shared by Gorgovania and Deltan. Their urban distribution mirrors that of Jews in Europe or Chinese in Southeast Asia, never quite being the majority in human cities but at times verging on it, and their culture, architecture, and clothing (whenever they decide wearing any is necessary) is derived from Italian traditions, whether it be their Sicilian-inspired mafias or their Venetian explorer spirit.

• Cocchuan: Otherwise known as Highlanders, Cocchuans

• Kalrabo: In the Deserted Peninsula,
• Lackland: Although most of the Lackland are nomadic, the naval communities of Lowd and its surroundings live on land in upturned boats around the oasis systems present in the North of the Deserted Peninsula, and the picturesque coastline of Tecpatl beyond the Biandual Shield.
• Omitl:
• Tec:
• Thanatian: The non-mutated residents of the Deserted Peninsula,

Races of Southwestern Sedes & the Sharpened Straits (Gorgovania, Kampotchea, Deltan and the Straits Islands)

• Deltanese: The Greater Deltan Area has a lot of different ethnicities dispersed throughout it. As the point of convergence between Gorgov, Partisan, Islander and Kamil culture, it was always near-impossible to accurately place who lived where. However, since the Conducator took power around 40 years ago, he has gradually pushed these groups to abandon their old cultures in favour of embracing a new, unified identity: ‘Deltanese’. This process has accelerated over the last two decades after Deltan became functionally independent. Enforced at bayonet-point by a massive bureaucracy, the most ardent believers in the idea of Deltanese culture are the inhabitants of Deltan City. Generally dressing humbly, or taking an aspect or two from their familial culture, to be Deltanese is to believe in the government above all else, hence why little else is consistent about their culture (until of course the bureaucrats find the most efficient house design, which will then allegedly have been used for centuries in the area…).

• Golk: The Golk are a group of bulky, often dark-skinned humans whose most defining feature is the golem-like arms and legs they possess, coated in rock. A Golk’s skin colour will always correspond to the colour of these rocks, be they powdery chalk or black basalt. They have a great deal of knowledge regarding the ground and possess immense strength, but often have a pretty bad attitude in their homeland due to poor conditions. Outside of the Mountains, they’re a lot friendlier, mostly just thankful that their skills outside of melee combat can be put to use. Their tribal and martial culture, combined with their metalworking proficiency, is most easily compared to that of the Gauls, although

• Gorgov:

• Islander:

• Kamil:

• Lau:

• Montarmeur: The Montarmeur are remnants of an ancient Shemeshi crusade into the Mountains, primarily derived from Stench stock but also with Marchlander and Flondrish influence. They’re a martial and theocratic society, always ready to defend their fortified holds from Golk, Saugomissian or dinosaur hordes. Having adapted to their harsh, brutal environment of constant martial clashes, they are some of the stockiest, tallest and toughest humans in Hastam, sporting tan skin, dark hair and bright eyes, a memento of their origin. Their infrastructure is primarily European-inspired, but made of very tough materials, such as blacksteel and jagged igneous rocks. In the areas of the Mountains occupied by Islanders, they often serve as the noble caste within society, having brought the Partisan export of feudalism to the island.

• Saugomissian:

Races of Northern and Western Dom (Svendia, Frosia and the Ploskatt Steppes)

• Altodvar:

• Frosian:

• Ploskatti:

• Renkaldan:

• Svendish:

• Syigali:
• Wyvek:

Races of Southern Dom and Whemayda (The Mesa, Ouroboros and the Hundred Kingdoms)

• Exile:
• Koralier:
• Natao:
• Ouroboran:
• Scyllan:
• Valormian: Carnivorous plantfolk from the Hundred Kingdoms
• Zalaster:

Races of Abyss

• Gnome:
• Outer Tribesman:
• Shroomling:
• Tokagan:
• Topsider:
• Ya’thuli:

Foreign Races

• Beastling:
• Machine Elf:
• Nautikos: Seafaring elves originally from the South of Pinnora
• Remnant:
• Zem: