The Whole of Humanity

Wyrlde has four broad characterizations of what counts as People. These four groupings are a combination of from whence they are descended and to what degree their existence is able to repeat among those who come after.

The only known settled landmass on Wyrlde is Avilon.

After The Bleak Journey, the remaining Humans began to adapt to the world, and so today they and those who survived the God’s War are known as The People.

For most of Wyrlde’s history, there was only one people – Human. As the God’s War began and the cost in human lives increased, the God’s reshaped other peoples to serve as shock troops and logistical support in their battles, and, in the case of some, to ensure that there would be life that continues.

The first people shaped were the Dwarfs. Intended as logistical support, they tend toward strength, firmness, and resolution, and are well known for being unflappable while also being the best at partying. They often still carry aspects of that era, in part because of people limiting them to those roles still, so we find many Physics, many Drovers and Teamsters, wrights and smiths among them They have resisted this in the years – and produced some of the finest poets, playwrights, and painters in history.

The second peoples shaped were the Elfin. Elfin were shaped to serve as special assignment, shock, and front-line troops. They are fierce, aloof, and disciplined people and for good reason. They are seen by many as tending to temper too quickly, to be deeply emotional and subject to those emotions, though the Elfin themselves resent that line of thinking. They have, nonetheless, worked to use it to their advantage. After them came the Tritons, who remain masters of the sea and stream.

Towards the end of the God’s War, a few of the Powers That Be created the Therians, in a variety, but kept them a secret and separate from the rest – until they began to harass and harry the survivors during the Dark Age as they traveled the Bitter Road in search of a place to call home.

The Dread Powers That Be were not still, themselves, though the timetable of their work is less well known beyond the creation of the Goblins, which predates the God’s War. They shaped the Goblins, Grendels, Imps, Thyrs, Merow, and Kobolds. Of all of them, only the Goblins can interbreed with Imperials – and the effect of it is always fatal for someone, ignoring the way in which it happens.

On Gender

Like everywhere else, Wyrlde has always had a multiplicity of gender. With a few of the deities being variant themselves, it is recognized as a normal and simple part of the whole of humanity. Gender Variance runs in about 7% of the population. All of the languages have specific terms and appellations for gender variant people, and they have occupied all strata of society.

Although linguistically there are three broad categories of gender recognized (masculine, feminine, and neutrois), there are seven major groupings of gender recognized: Men, Women, Demiwomen, Demimen, Enby, Demiby, and Anby. Anby are the most clearly without a gender that relates to the wider world, though how it manifests is individual. Enby are folks who occupy a space directly between or who combine the aspects of man and woman, including switching between them. Demiby are those who tend to be more fluid and flexible in their presence. The other Demis are generally mostly one, with a large chunk of the other that manifests, where the mainline Masc and femme are wholly such.

Something of note to the aspect of Gender is that Lemurians are absolutely hostile to anyone violating the rigid roles and expressions dictated by the rulers of Lemuria. The penalty is death. Which is shocking considering that they all pretty much look the same physically. Ogres at least have genuine variance.

Growing Up in Wyrlde

Growing up in Wyrlde means growing up within the traditions and expectations that have held firm for over a thousand years. It means having lived with the history and values and duties and responsibilities that come for all of us. And it also means that we can group the process of growing up into stages.

The first is as an Infant. Infants are just born up through the age of 4. Life begins with the Quickening, which happens at first breath. The second stage is when they are a Child, from 5 to 9. It is in childhood that the ability to use magic becomes more apparent, and that there is a risk of being kidnapped by Urmages. Sometimes people will talk about “kids”, and when they do, they are always talking about Children.

The third stage is Youth. Youthhood is between 10 and 14 years, with coming-of-age rites around 14 or so for most, but connection to the broader community and responsibility are delayed. Upon Wyrlde, development is uniform among the sexes. As a result, women and men mature physically at the same rate, and around the same time, instead of distinctly in different times.

Youthhood is where the first inklings of the person you will become is seen, and those parts and things affixed here will carry over throughout one’s life. It is during this period that some of the most famous adventurers learned much of the unique qualities about themselves.

Starting at 15 is when they are called Apprentices, only in part because it is the age most folks are apprenticed out. The term is used more commonly than the more officious Juvenal (derided as Juniors), because ultimately, it tends to be true.

Adulthood comes following that at the age of 20, and most apprenticeships are given over to Novice status or the individual heads into the world proper. This is the age at which it becomes described as Age of Majority and Age of Consent, and there are elaborate rites of passage for this. It is also the age at which responsibility for one’s actions kick in, regardless of other factors – many a ‘prentice has been enslaved or imprisoned or branded for some damn fool thing they did. Fortunately, the young are more likely to claim Ordeal.

Senior is when they generally become what folks think of as “old”. It is when infirmity and depredations of time have firmly taken hold of the body, and it begins to become more and more difficult to remain hale and whole for nearly all the peoples, this happens starting around 20 years before the end of their lifespans, or about the last 20% of it.

Lifespan is a general end point for most people, assuming illness and disease or violence do not claim them. This figure can vary as much as ten years in any direction for all but the Goblin. They seem to be almost programmed, having a variance of only about a year to either side. The rest can vary 3 to 10 years in either direction.

Death is not the end upon Wyrlde. When one dies the spirit is reborn within one of the seven Mortal Realms, and there is always a chance that they will recall some or much of their past life. The Realm you are born into is determined by your actions in this life, but eventually you will return here, for we all go through all the Realms at least seven times.

Aging & Lifespan

Most of Wyrlde grows up at around the same rate of speed and in the same number of years. When you start out, you will be anywhere between 15 and 28 years old, depending on your personal preferences and background.

The majority of folks on Wyrlde live about 125 years, and only the last fifth or so are old age, equal to my world’s old Senior status, with reductions in physical ability and overall health striking in the last 20 years. As far as general aging goes, most peoples do not seem to age spectacularly – the general differences between an 80 year old and a 30 year old are minor and mostly cosmetic and superficial. However, it is generally acknowledged that between 25 and 30, people’s appearances will begin to stabilize, and endure until they reach the age of 105, where they begin to show significant signs of aging.

It is commonly said by folks of Wyrlde that we are all promised five sets of 20 years, and after that, resurrection and reincarnation will not work. That period of 125 years is of import in many places, and is considered all that one is allotted – it is a lifespan, and while there are those who do live longer, they tend to follow the same overall gaining pattern of the last fifth of their life showing the marked decline.

One exception to this is the Meka. Meka do not appear to age, but as their parts wear out, they are known to become slower, more stiff, and, ultimately, to stop altogether. Also of peculiar observation is that Meka are thought to be able to be reincarnated after their 125 year existence. Unproven, though some hints suggest it is possible.

Also of note is that while it does not seem to apply to others, Semihumans who are older than 125 years do not seem to be able to be resurrected or reincarnated. It is thought that because they have lived beyond the allotment that they are “living on borrowed time”, and the longer duration of aging for them (40 or 50 years long) is part of their mortality being lost.

What does remain known is that they are not aways part of the Cycle, and that while some cases do exist of them entering it, they are very few in terms of those who have reached across the Pale and looked beyond the Veil in search of lost loved ones.

Those whose lifespans are shorter tend to have shorter aging periods – always about 20% of the total span – and the numbers given can vary as much as 20% of the total (some therians have lived as long as 118 years, for example).

Afterlives

When one dies, their Quintelan is divided into the Spirit, the Soul, the Heart, and the Mind. The Body has passed, the Spirit and the Soul are immortal, though the Mind and the Heart can fade without something to anchor them.

These aspects of each person are sometimes broken up a bit and then given new form – in one person or in several – on a new Plane of reality, where they now live an entirely new life. Sometimes the Heart and the Soul will be together while the Mind and the Spirit are elsewhere, but other times the order will be different and in some cases the whole will travel – but there is always the Spirit and the Soul, for those are the core of a person.

Those who pass are born again on the other planes, in a constant cycle of rebirth that moves one throughout the many reflections until the ideal place is found for them. It is said that the order is based on the actions and behaviors of the person in the immediately previous life, but the Planes remain the same and a person will be born again and again on the Seven Mortal Realms – Wyrlde, Yrthe, The Bleak, The Unknown, Perdition, Kismet, and Shades. The denizens of those realms do not normally see folks from other Worlds – and each of those seven worlds is still a reflection, or a shadow, of Wyrlde.

Resurrection gathers the Quintelan and binds it back into a body, so long as that body has the time allotted for it. Each person is allotted five Spans, and resurrection has the price of one span. Reincarnation binds it to an existing body different from the original, not a new one. As animals do not have a Mind, or a Heart, they are often used as vessels since a vessel cannot have an existing heart or mind.

Every seven lives, a person will be reborn on Wyrlde. Where the Fairywilde is a close reflection of Wyrlde with many openings and passages, so too do these other Planes have their own version of it – and so too do they have their own version of the Astral and the Ethereal, though not always in a manner that is a direct link. That is, the Planes are not, themselves, inherently tied to the afterlife of someone. That cycle will ultimately bring them through The Mortal Plane once again.

Kindreds

Each Heritage has capabilities that are drawn from what it means to be of that kindred, that ancestral line. These are something unique to them as a whole people, and something they may share in common with others.

Heritage	Type	Height	Weight	Lifespan	Notes on Heritage
Cambion	Semihuman	57 to 75	90 to 210	200	Half Infernal
Dakoan	Human	63 to 75	100 -275	125	Wandering
Dwarf	Demihuman	42 to 54	90 to 200	150	Makers, healers, feeders, builders
Elf	Demihuman	48 to 60	65 to 125	150	Warriors, Artists, Philosophers
Exilian	Human	54 to 66	100 to 175	125	Wandering,
Faery	Semihuman	19 to 35	15 to 30	250	Half Fae
Fay	Halfling	54 to 69	90 to 175	125	Half-Elf
Gnome	Halfling	52 to 64	102 to 250	125	Half-Dwarf
Harrier	Humanoid	33 to 48	20 to 45	100	Racoon/Badger Therian
Iara	Halfling	58 to 60	125 to 225	125	Half-Triton
Imperial	Human	63 to 78	150 to 300	125	Seven Cities
Meka	Construct	60 to 66	150 to 230	125	Constructs restarted
Myrmian	Human	60 to 75	125 to 275	125	Exiles, Rebels
Ogre	Halfling	72 to 84	150 to 300	100	Quarter Goblin
Panther	Humanoid	34 to 46	35 to 85	100	Cat Therian
Seraph	Semihuman	57 to 75	80 to 200	200	Half Celestial
Serpent	Humanoid	28 to 36	60 to 140	100	60 to 84 long, Snake Therian
Spright	Halfling	46 to 58	100 to 200	125	Dwarf-Elf
Swift	Humanoid	30 to 42	20 to 50	100	Rabbit/Bear Therian
Thalasian	Human	54 to 69	75 to 225	125	Sea Folk
Triton	Demihuman	46 to 58	75 to 200	150	Under sea folk
Vulcan	Humanoid	36 to 46	40 to 90	100	Fox/Wolf Therian
Whiskers	Humanoid	32 to 44	20 to 40	100	Weasel/Mongoose Therian
Goblins	Demihuman			125
Merow	Humanoid			100
Imps	Demihuman			150
Thyrs	Humanoid			125
Grendels	Humanoid			125
Kobolds	Humanoid			125