Origins of Player Character and Related Races

[Pinax]

The background material states that the main races now living on the continent were created by the Thargians many years ago to suit their purposes or were created by the cross-breeding of these races or in some cases evolved from them.

Haroads are the ancestors of Condorians; one could claim that they are a more primitive version thereof. I presume that the Condorian race was created by the Thargians mainly by selective breeding to improve the stock and thus make into better slaves.

Question: Does this mean that the Haroad species evolved on Thargos independently of Thargians? Perhaps they lived on a different continent and they were forceably taken and shipped to the Thargian Empire as slave labour.


The Condorian is a good all rounder but it seems apparent that the Thargians needed more specialised races: Dwarves for mining, Orcs for fighting and Elves for entertainment and as playthings. I can believe that Condorians came about due to selective breeding but it seems highly improbable that this is the case regarding these other races, especially as Elves and Dwarves cannot normally interbreed with each other.

The Thargos timeline notes that Thargian shamans discovered magic in the year -900 but no mention is made of the discovery sorcery! I assume from this that sorcery has been around for at least as long as there has been a Thargian civilisation.

Question: were elves and dwarves created using sorcery? How do goblins and kandar fit in? Were goblins and kandar already around and competing with Thargians and each other? Were orcs created from Kandar with a mixture of selective breeding and sorcery to create a more easily controlled expendable foot-soldier? Or do Orcs have Haroad/Condorian blood in them (thus allowing the possibility of half-orcs)?


The background mentions warfare between the Thargians and "inferior races". Dwarves and Elves left the continent and made homes elsewhere. It strikes me as entirely possible that stories of an original homeland could have been passed down from generation to generation eventually gaining a mythical status. During one of the early wars against the Thargians it seems to me that large numbers of Dwarves and Elves managed to escape the Thargian tyrany and set off in search of this mythical place. Of course they failed to find it and settled in suitable new homes and developed their own cultures.


I shall end this by mentioning that I have run a game in which a player character had sexual relations with not one but two kandar females. I can report that these to liaisons failed to produce any issue.

[bluedragon]

Originally Posted by Pinax

The background material states that the main races now living on the continent were created by the Thargians many years ago to suit their purposes or were created by the cross-breeding of these races or in some cases evolved from them.

Haroads are the ancestors of Condorians; one could claim that they are a more primitive version thereof. I presume that the Condorian race was created by the Thargians mainly by selective breeding to improve the stock and thus make into better slaves.

Question: Does this mean that the Haroad species evolved on Thargos independently of Thargians? Perhaps they lived on a different continent and they were forceably taken and shipped to the Thargian Empire as slave labour.

Haroads are our "Cro-Magnons" and evolved naturally on Thargos. There are theories that state that Thargians came from another region or even planet and that Haroads were the true indigenous race of Thargos. It is true however that some 2,000 or so years ago, both races clashed and Haroads came off far worse, retreating to more remote areas and dwindling in numbers.

Originally Posted by Pinax

The Condorian is a good all rounder but it seems apparent that the Thargians needed more specialised races: Dwarves for mining, Orcs for fighting and Elves for entertainment and as playthings. I can believe that Condorians came about due to selective breeding but it seems highly improbable that this is the case regarding these other races, especially as Elves and Dwarves cannot normally interbreed with each other.

The Thargos timeline notes that Thargian shamans discovered magic in the year -900 but no mention is made of the discovery sorcery! I assume from this that sorcery has been around for at least as long as there has been a Thargian civilisation.

Condorians are an accelerated evolution of the Haroads.

Originally Posted by Pinax

Question: were elves and dwarves created using sorcery? How do goblins and kandar fit in? Were goblins and kandar already around and competing with Thargians and each other? Were orcs created from Kandar with a mixture of selective breeding and sorcery to create a more easily controlled expendable foot-soldier? Or do Orcs have Haroad/Condorian blood in them (thus allowing the possibility of half-orcs)?

Elves and Dwarves are both races created by sorcery, goblins are a splinter strand of Dwarves, created through forced manipulations and repeated mutations by Thargian lords seeking to create overnight armies at their service. Kandar are thought to be cross of Thargian origin, possibly with Haroads. Orcs are a spin-off of Condorians and Haroads, which does indeed allow for half-orc breeds.

Originally Posted by Pinax

The background mentions warfare between the Thargians and "inferior races". Dwarves and Elves left the continent and made homes elsewhere. It strikes me as entirely possible that stories of an original homeland could have been passed down from generation to generation eventually gaining a mythical status. During one of the early wars against the Thargians it seems to me that large numbers of Dwarves and Elves managed to escape the Thargian tyrany and set off in search of this mythical place. Of course they failed to find it and settled in suitable new homes and developed their own cultures.


I shall end this by mentioning that I have run a game in which a player character had sexual relations with not one but two kandar females. I can report that these to liaisons failed to produce any issue.

The assumptions made above are correct. The outer continents are now where the Dwarf and Elf descendents of the old continent races have settled. These areas will be covered in future publications in more detail.

[Pinax]

Thanks for the clarifications Chris; these are most useful.