The following are excerpts from the journals of Varana, lorekeeper and head librarian of Elmhar, regarding some of the known races living in the lands of Eldlor.

Dragons

Humans, being of such a short lifespan, may never encounter a dragon, but all know these tremendous beasts to be benevolent. They are hardly docile creatures, though, and at first glance can be terrifying even the bravest of creatures. It is little wonder that the dragons avoid contact with common folk.

As far as I'm aware, all dragons speak in the low elven tongue, even those who do not interact regularly with other races. They do have a language of their own - or at least, they did once. There are several accounts of them speaking another tongue when performing spells, but they do not use this language when speaking, even among themselves. I do wonder if they have adopted the common tongue out of politeness, or if their own language is mostly lost to them.

The basic build of all dragons is similar. They are massive quadrupedal creatures with great, webbed wings, long necks and tails, scales, horns, talons, and jaws filled with rows of fearsome teeth. There, however, the similarities cease. There are several sub-species of dragons, each different in both appearance and abilities.

Storm Dragons

These creatures remind me sometimes of swans, with their proud, serene bearing and slender, graceful bodies. Their smooth scales are gray-blue in colour, lighter toward the underside, and darker toward the back, ending in a row of leathery spines running the length of their backbone. They have two large, curved horns crowning their heads, and a series of smaller ones running down the back of their jaw, but otherwise, their faces are simple and unornamented. It is said that they have power over wind, water, and lightening, though I have never seen this for myself. Their bodies and tails are built as much for the water as the air, and often the folk who live along the shore-side fancy seeing a storm dragon diving and playing in the ocean currents.

Ah, Sukozu - for surely that's who they see. This is the only dragon I have met personally - on multiple occasions, I may add - and I'm not sure how much to judge his brethren based on his own eccentric personality. He is a singularly polite and intelligent creature, fascinated by humans and elves alike. He speaks little of the ways of dragons, however, always gently deflecting my questions with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He wants far more to know about us and our ways than anything, and in that, I am happy to oblige him.

Desert Dragons

Enjoying the dry and the heat of the desert, these dust-coloured dragons are well suited to their chosen home. Their backs are covered from snout to tail-tip in a row of thick, raised plates, and their bellies by a line of wide, overlapping scales. Two large horns sweep back behind their skulls, and more tip the front of their snout. A webbed fan of skin surrounds their ears, acting both as an aid to their hearing and an ornamentation for expression and mating ritual.

Those who interact with desert dragons say that they are very expressive with their hands and, unlike most dragons, will sit back on their haunches in order to punctuate conversations with sweeping gestures. That would certainly be something to see! There is some talk among the southerners, in lands where desert dragons are more common, of artisans among these creatures. They speak of the dragons using their heated breath and dexterous hands to work sand into glass figures of amazing intricacy. I hope someday to travel to these lands to meet some of these creatures and witness their talents for myself.

Fire Dragons

Heavy-bodied and covered in thick, armored scales, these creatures must truly be the most fearsome dragons to encounter - apart from the fabled riftwalkers, perhaps. Fire dragons make their homes in high mountains, sometimes in places of volcanic activity, where few other beasts would venture. Their scales range from dark brown to deep red, their wings heavy and leathery, gnarled horns and spikes covering their great bodies. A dwarf I once spoke to described the voice of a fire dragon as "the sound a boulder makes rolling down a mountainside".

Of course, these dragons are most noteworthy for their ability to breathe out a torrent of flames, hot enough to turn stone molten, if the tales be believed. How this is accomplished is something I would dearly love to study. One woman spoke of a fire dragon causing the very earth to shudder, though I wonder whether this was simply due to the footsteps of such a large animal walking. Even Sukozu, light-bodied as he is, often causes the ground to tremble when he touches down from flight.

Swamp Dragons

Covered in speckled, dark green scales, you could pass a swamp dragon in the wetlands and never know he or she was there. They are well-adapted to aquatic life, their hands and feet webbed, their tails flattened with fins to propel them through the water. Their eyes and nostrils are arranged high on their faces, allowing them to settle in just below the surface of the water and bask there easily.

Swamp dragons are relatively secretive creatures, even for dragons. Finding actual accounts of encounters with one is rare. I once spoke to an orc of the peaceable Mak'chira tribe, and she described a swamp dragon performing healing magic on the rikku of her tribe. The swamp dragon used no words, which suggests that healing may be innate to these creatures, rather than any sort of draconic spell.

Riftwalker Dragons

It seems cruel to refer to riftwalker dragons as "unnatural", but in every sense it seems to be true. Every account I've heard or read describes them as monstrous - jet black not only of scale, but of horn, tooth, and claw as well. Their faces were all but skeletal, expressionless, skin stretched tight over a skull covered in horns and spikes. Their eyes and mouths glowed in brilliant violet colours, making them seem more like a dark shell covering some otherworldly magic than a truly living beast.

In contrast, it has been said that their scales were so fine as to make their skin feel like velvet, and their vast wings, black as the rest of them, caught the light in brilliant iridescent hues, making them as beautiful as they were terrifying.

After the Battle of Echaeras, there have been no accounts of these dragons at all. Rare to begin with, it is said that one perished at Echaeras, two were sent into the demonic realms, never to return, and two left with the other dragons and subsequently vanished from record entirely. While some may be pleased to be rid of such strange creatures, I still find it sad that I may never have a chance to discover more about them. Surely the stories they could tell would be the most fascinating of all.

Elves

Ours is an ancient culture, little changed from our ancestors of many centuries past. Like all enlightened races, we strive for perfection, of course - but perhaps the reason we have changed so little is because of all we have already achieved. Our leaders are benevolent, our families treasured, our society at a state of peace others dream of achieving. As such, we spend our time in the pursuit of beautiful things, of knowledge, and in the service of others who wish to learn of our ways.

True peace is not always possible, as there are those who would see our ways and mark us as weak. However, when they come to test our strength, they meet our best warriors and paladins, whose mastery of battle is unparalleled among any other races. It is rare now for others to attempt to invade our forests. We are no helpless fawns before the blades of any other nation. We value our own above all else, and protect them with a ferocity no other races can match.

Humans and dwarves call us beautiful, and this may be so. We are generally a tall, slender people, fair of skin and hair - and indeed, some other races see our eyes and our ears as something strange and exotic, which they say adds to our beauty. Illness and the scars of battle do not touch us, and many human generations may pass in a single elven lifetime.

Family is of utmost importance, as children are rare to come to our kind. Unlike other races, which have only a few words for family members, we have a great many. It is strange to think of other races never meeting their full famela; their great-grandparents and even their grandparents, sometimes, have passed on even before they were born. It is a sad thing, though I suppose they know no different.

Dark Elves

Many would perhaps prefer I did not write of the teralven at all, saying that they are neither an ancient nor a proud people. They are said to be a corruption, a withered tree not yet accepting of its own demise. As a cataloguer of history, however, I must speak of them plainly, and without prejudice.

Among the elves, these people have many names, teralven, or "dark elves", being the kindest. They are the remnants of the people of Echaeras, elves who chose to live apart from our ways, ultimately turning their backs on our god to seek the powers of the demonic realm. This, it is said, is what destroyed them - or is destroying them even still. Precisely what happened to them at the Battle of Echaeras is unknown, but afterward they were... different. Pale of skin, dark of hair, with haunted golden eyes, it seemed at first an illness that we attempted to cure in those who returned with us to Samenlor. It soon became clear, however, that not all changes ran only skin-deep - that these people were truly changed inside, cold and distant, the faintest echo of what they once were.

At first, some of the so-called "fallen" lived among us, but it has been several centuries since the last one chose to depart, or simply perished. The majority of them fled across the sea, and since then, the dragons have come to us and asked that we leave them be. It seems a strange request, but if the dragons ask it, they must have good reason. The Children of Echaeras are at the heart of many dark stories, but in truth, we know little about them or what they have become these later years. Some say they still worship a demonic god, and keep lesser demons as slaves and beasts of burden. The teralven are seen sometimes on the seas, and the sailors who have encountered them tell stories that chill my blood.

Humans

The ways of the hamaven are of great interest to me. While their lifespans are so very limited, they seem to make up for it through sheer exuberance. They live their lives at a pace that is hard for us to imagine, marrying young and often bearing many children in their time. While some view them with distain, I admire them for their great passion. Sometimes I envy them for it.

The borders of the human lands tend to shift greatly as the years pass, though surprisingly little has changed in the last century. It is the humans of Eastfell with whom I am most familiar, seeing as their lands are nearest, but I've also visited the grand northern city-state of Ashdor two times since it was built. It amazes me to see the difference in architecture between various human cities, as well as the differences in the people themselves.

Those of Eastfell, or "Fellows" as they cheerfully dub themselves, are a very pious people - but hardly the solemn lot one would associate with the word. Of the primarily human cities of Nath Lagir, Windfell and Port Richmond are the largest and most prosperous. They are also surprisingly open places, accepting elves, dwarves, and occasionally even teralven living within their walls. Orcs are not allowed within the major cities, but the peaceable tribes are allowed to winter in Eastfellan lands, and trade among the smaller towns.

Northerners are a tougher lot, and generally speaking, only humans and dwarves find homes in Ashdor. That is not to say that visiting elves are unwelcome, but our ways are so very different from theirs as to be all but incompatible. I was once served ale - hideous stuff that it is - by a barmaid whose accent was so thick, I could not comprehend a word. Though I was assured she was, indeed, speaking the common tongue, I still have my doubts. Given the bawdy sense of humour common to the northern lands, it may be fortuitous that I could not always understand them.

Dwarves

Many dwarves make their homes in the north, in and around the country of Ashdor, but their kind can be found peppered throughout the lands. Skilled artisans, shrewd businessmen, fearsome warriors, and gentle tenders of the land - all of these have sprung from dwarven stock. They are an adaptable people, who have readily integrated themselves into human culture.

Even our oldest stories tell of the darven, so they must be an ancient race indeed. It is hard to say whether their race appeared first, or our own - but the dwarves seem to have no true sense of themselves or their own culture. In this, they are an enigma to me - they do care a good deal about their own family and history, but as a race, they are apathetic at best. I've made an effort to speak with as many of them as I can, but seldom do I find a different answer. Your average dwarf seems at his or her happiest seeking out the nearest tavern and finding out whether they can outdo the locals in drinking and song.

Orcs

Orcs are a tribal people, and there is little that I could say which would apply to them as a whole. From what I can gather, they live in tightly-knit family groups of no more than fifty members, and are highly nomadic. Every orc in a tribe is either related by blood, or the bond (mate) of a related tribe member. The various tribes of a clan will come together at irregular intervals for raucous celebrations and bonding rituals, after which they disperse once more. I've spoken to only a few orcs in my days, and none of them were able to explain the means by which they knew it was time to meet. In their words, they simply knew.

Some clans are peaceful, trading furs, crafts, and gemstones to some human and elven villages. Others view all outside of their own clan as an enemy, a challenge which they, by overcoming, may increase their rank among their own brethren.