THE PRIME RACES OF MEDIEVAL
A Primer for New Players
Before you carve your story into the world, it is important to understand the three known races that shape the setting. While the world is vast and filled with rumor, legend, and shadow, most who walk its roads will belong to one of the following:
Humans
Humans are the dominant force across the world—builders of kingdoms, breakers of empires, and authors of nearly all recorded history. From the courts of Merelais to the banners of Ostrien and the hard lands of Nordurlond, humanity defines the political and cultural landscape.
They are clever, adaptable, and ambitious, capable of rising to greatness in a single generation. Yet that same ambition breeds division. Humans are factional, often greedy, and prone to conflict—kingdoms fracture as often as they unite.
If you are playing in MEDIEVAL, you will most often encounter—and interact with—humans. They are the baseline of the world: familiar, flawed, and dangerous in their own right.
Taoar
The Taoar are rare—half-blooded beings born of Human and Fae lineage. Most are found in Tanast, though a few exist scattered across the world, often in isolation.
They possess an unnatural refinement, sharper perception, heightened awareness, and a faint connection to the arcane. Their presence alone can unsettle others. They are not fully trusted by humans, nor fully accepted by the Fae.
Because of this, Taoar often exist on the fringes—used, feared, or quietly respected depending on where they walk. They are a bridge between worlds, though not always willingly. Seasoned or well traveled Taoar are often sought out as counsel by rulers of Western Eroba, for the lifespan of the Taoar far exceeds that of any ordinary human being and while the masses may fear what they don't understand, many rulers crave the knowledge such creatures may possess.
Playing a Taoar should reflect this tension: you are not quite of either world, and both may remind you of it.
Fae
The Fae are ancient, distant, and few. They are not a common sight in the world—and that is by design.
They dwell in places removed from civilization: deep forests, forgotten valleys, and lands where something feels off even to the untrained eye. They are tied to older forces, older rules, and older ways of being.
Fae are wise and powerful in subtle ways, but they are not omnipresent, nor are they easily understood. They do not think like humans. They do not act on mortal timelines. And when they do intervene, it is rarely without consequence.
Humans fear the Fae even to this day, for what they do not understand. Despite the ancient pogroms and purges, the Fae remain one of the 3 Prime Races and exist in covens, tribes, isolated cities, and along laylines permeating the arcane.
A LOW FANTASY WORLD
MEDIEVAL is a low fantasy setting.
That means:
- Magic is rarer than in most fantasy genres, subtle, and often misunderstood
- The supernatural exists—but is not commonplace
- Most Humans have never see a Fae, and fewer will understand one
- Power comes more often from steel, politics, and ambition than from spellcraft
The world should feel grounded, lived-in, and real—where the extraordinary is just that: extraordinary.
WHAT LIES BEYOND
There are whispers of other things.
Creatures. Beings. Forces.
Things seen in the corner of the eye. Reflections that move wrong. Shapes in the woods that do not belong to any known creature. Stories told in hushed tones—dismissed by most, believed by few.
They exist, perhaps—but not openly.
Think of them as "through a mirror, darkly."
You are not meant to fully understand them.
You are not meant to encounter them often.
And if you do… it should matter.
