Every culture roaming the face of Gorgh (cf. proto-Common “to enclose”) has its own version of where they came from, who made them, and who exactly has a valid territorial claim over a particular piece of land. Most generally agree that the Gods were involved somehow, but theological differences in the exact timeline can become contentious.

Most agree that the world was created by a central, very powerful deity, known variously as Ashibai, El, or the Ur-Father. Ashibai was alone, and desired a partner. He (or she, depending on culture) made the world, dragging the firmament from formless Chaos and raising mountains, carving seas, and causing water to fall from the sky to nourish the dry earth. This was Ashibai’s wife, Gorgh, the Earthmother. Together they had many children, and there children begat children, sometimes with a fairly standard level of celestial incest, sometimes by shaping Chaos through strength of will into the perfect partner. Thus were formed the many and multifarious dieties of the scattered peoples. Ashibai made a home for them, the Celestial Realm, and retired there with the spirit of his wife to bask in the adoration of his descendants.

At this point, most theologians and historians begin to disagree.

On Humans

The humans generally believe that they were the first children of the Gods, and were blessed with an ability to overcome the hardships of life through flexibility and sheer bloody-mindedness. Humans are maybe the most populous of the many races of Gorgh, being found throughout every land and adapting quite well to a variety of different environs.

The human population west of the Drakespine mountains are a hardy, practical folk. The fertile, temperate fields of Hudderland have been painstakingly carved out of the vast forests and desolate moors, and the Hudderlanders are now prosperous, productive, and pious. Their origins lie in the barbarian tribes living in the ruins of the fallen sky-cities of time-lost Mystara. For long years, they were kept fractious and disunited by the machinations of the Elves to the far south, but after the Elvish Schism, began uniting under Helm the Conqueror and rediscovered some of what their ancestors had squandered. Koenigsburg, the main trade hub and seat of the High King, is now a bustling modern city built atop the ruins of an old Mystaran fortress-palace.

The people of Hudderland worship at communal temples, many priests of many gods sharing a holy space and having private, vicious little negotiations over who gets which altar in the complicated polytheistic calendar. Choice of which god one worships is a personal and practical matter. Hudderlanders generally revere Ashibai in a general, abstract way, often tacking on additional thanks to prayers as a sort of post-script, and Helm as an ancestor-demigod, who gives strength in time of need. Religion is generally formal, with initiates to a certain god serving apprenticeships in the temple under more senior priests and clerics. Most family homes have a small shrine, but will attend services on holy days in a larger temple.

Magic among the Hudderlanders is generally provided in the form of wizards. Wizards generally attend the College in Koenigsburg, taking out exorbitant student loans and honing their minds on the musty tomes in the College’s various libraries. Some few wizards take younger students or fresh graduates, but this form of education tends to be more narrow, although the benefits can outweigh the limitations.

North of the clawing peaks of the Drakespines, various barbaric human tribes still flourish in the harsh tundras, snow-draped forests, and haunted peat bogs. These tribes resisted the efforts of Hudderland to bring them into the fold, spending the intervening centuries stealing cattle from one another in bloody raids and occasionally spilling over the mountains to loot, trade, or sometimes both. Outside of cattle thievery, the primary economic activity of the northern tribes is mostly trade in furs, amber, and smoked fish with the various dwarven holds in return for worked metal and Hudderlandish grain and wool.

The barbarians generally revere Ashibai as the Ur-Father alongside various totemic animal spirits. There is a rich cosmology that varies from tribe to tribe, with tales and myths to explain their world and the tribe’s place within it.

Magic in the barbarian tribes tends to be in the form of druidic orders, drawing power from the wilds of nature and generally hanging around menhirs.

On Dwarves

The dwarves believe they were the first children of the gods, and were blessed to overcome the hardships of the world with stoic determination and peerless skill in craftsmanship and engineering. The dwarves of the Drakespines are separated into various holds, cutting halls and galleries through the living rock, sinking deep into the roots of the earth. Many dwarves spend the majority of their life underground, and get unnerved by the sight of “too much sky” above their heads.

Dwarves believe that Moridin, first and stoutest son of Ashibai, pulled their race from the bones of the earth and taught them how to cut stone, work metal, and the value of duty. A dwarf is loyal first to his clan and people, seeing the individual needs of a single person as of little import against the needs of the clan. This clan-allegiance is easily seen in the way a dwarf styles his beard, although to non-dwarfs this is frequently opaque and confusing. Adding to the confusion is the inability to most outside races to distinguish dwarven men and women, with little apparent sexual dimorphism. For their part, less cosmopolitan dwarves are generally confused by any male without facial hair, seeing it as odd or suspicious.

The few dwarves who do venture aboveground are younger members of crafting clans serving as factors in human settlements and the dwarven rangers who crawl amongst the forests and peaks on the roof of the world, both on guard against enemies and forever prospecting for undiscovered mineral wealth. To be a ranger is both an honor and a useful solution for troublesome young dwarves, sent to cool their heads in the icy wind among the teeth of the Drakespines until they earn a place of honor amongst the clan.

Dwarves stand about 4’6″-5′ tall and are almost as wide, with broad shoulders and sturdy legs. Their beards are perhaps their most defining feature after their height, and great care is taken in the grooming, plaiting, and adornment of their beards. Dwarves who have shamed their clan or betrayed an oath will ritualistically shave their beards and be cast out of the hold, viewed as no longer a dwarf. Life is often short for these outlaws, as any other dwarf can legally kill such wretches, and rival clans have long memories. Contributing to these long memories is the dwarven lifespan of about 350 years.

Magic among the dwarves is primarily the domain of clerics. The dwarves produce few wizards, and rarely send students to the College, although some sorcerous blood pops up every few generations, and rumors abound of dark pacts made in the depths below the hold for unspeakable power. There are few enough options open to outcast dwarves, and one’s soul might be a small price to pay for revenge.

On Elves

The elves believe they were the first children of the gods, blessed by the nobility of their blood and the potency of their magic to dominate this world and reshape it as they saw fit. The elves were great, once, wielding the fires of creation with the effortless grace of a bird in flight or a fish in water. Untouched by age, the elves easily conquered the length and breadth of land, riding mindbroken beasts and wiping resistant cities from the face of Gorgh with phenomenal magic power. The Elvish Dominance lasted some 3,000 years, and ended in 100 years of fire, blood, and civil war now known as the Elven Schism. The exact causes remain a mystery to historians, although it is known that most of the Elvish pantheon died a True Death in the turbulence. It was in this cataclysmic event that split the Elven race and scattered them across world. The Schism scarred the world and birthed many of the horrors that still haunt dark and forgotten lands.

The Elves of today are mostly thin-bloods, a far cry from their proud ancestors. A full-blooded elf stands some seven feet tall, as perfect and cruel as a razor. The thin-bloods are much shorter, standing five to five-and-a-half feet. They are still known for their potent magics, producing wizards and sorcerers at a much higher rate than the other races, but tend to form scattered enclaves in the wild places of the world. Elves have a caste system, relegating certain tasks to certain bloodlines, and this rigid system pushes many elves out of their enclaves to find their fortune in the wider world.

Religiously, elves mostly mourn their lost gods, feeling the absence like a missing tooth in their souls. Some few cling to alien gods that align with their beliefs, but the empty temples of the elves remain quiet, mournful places.