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Quickjump:

Elves - Half-Elves - Humans - Half-Orcs - Dwarves - Halflings - Gnomes

 

"Did we not have a civilization when the barbarians still swung in their trees?"

 

The elves of Havenhall are the group with the second largest impact on the city next to Humans. The Elves' original reasons for moving to the city are unknown and a matter of much debate, with many different books being written on the subject. However, no matter how much speculation is given to the subject, the elves' own explanation always shows up again: "you needed guidiance, the world needed us to give it to you".

For this reason the humans both admire and hate the elves, no one can deny that the elves have given much to the city, both in terms of adminstrative power as well as cultural influence, however the elves do not mind telling the humans about it, showing the human population in a very condescending way how much the elves consider themselves superior.

To the elves, this is not racism, nor do they brag about being better, to them it is an everyday fact of life, they do not bother telling humans about their superiority anymore than a human would tell a dog that he's smarter than the dog, instead the elves treat the humans almost like they where children, wich tend to annoy the humans more than a little.

Internally the elves are very obsessed about what is right and proper and are as such very tradition bound, one example of elvish tradition is that they raredly use first names unless private, using a persons first name is seen as impolite at best, leaving out a title is in elven tradition considered implying that the person is unworthy of the title, something the proud elves generally frown much on. Because of this elves usually introduce themselves with their full family name and proffession, for example "High judge Liriamnu Silverleaf", in this case it would be considered impolite to call him high judge Liriamnu, it would be considered degrading to call him Silverleaf and calling him by his first name only or shortening his name would be seen as very rude indeed, using the front names is only done amongst very close friends in private, or amongst two lovers in the bedroom.

Speaking of courtship, the elven courting of each other often take decades, most couples take as much as fifthy years before they become married and are often bethrothed for more than twenty years, after all, the elves life a long life, so they insist that they may as well do it properly.

Elves are typically found in jobs where they can take good time to do it right, and as such they are often working with nature wich has a slow gracefull and to the elves, systematic, way of growth or also quite often in beurocratic positions within the city's goverment such as lawyers, it is especially the latters that annoy the humans.

In addition to this, the elves often seem directly self-contradicting to humans, praising long and intricate plans, yet forcing their way through quickly in an issue, needing extremly long courtships, yet insisting that children should come quickly afterwards, loving to teach humans the intricacies of life yet always seeming to with-hold something, still, when the elves explain this, it seems to make perfect sense in an odd way, wich just adds to the irritation that so many humans feel around the elves.

Elves tend to live up to three hundred years and are considered adult from the age of fifty.

 

Views on other races:

Half-elves:
They are an abomination, how can anyone of our kin fall for a hairy, smelly, rude and apelike creature like the human? We are their caretakers, not their lovers!
-at least humans are the only race wich we are genetically compatible with.

Humans:
Try not to mock them for their short lifespan, their limited grasp on culture or their apelike appearance, they cannot help it that they are like that, oh and do not mention to them how ugly they are, they seem to take it personally, instead, try to help the human by guiding it.

Half-orcs:
We can be happy that half-elven half-orcs are a genetic impossibility, those barbaric things should be put to death at birth.

Dwarves:
Small hairy humans with a long lifespan, a worse temper, inability to look forward and no sense of humour whatsoever, in addition to this they have an unnatural fixation for beards.

Halflings:
Good cooks, better thieves, be carefull not to step on them, they are so small that you can easedly miss them, at least they share our love for nature.

Gnomes:
It is odd, that a race that is so different from ours still has things in common with us, in their case it is the inclination to study the gracious world, even though gnomish scholars tend to overcomplicate or oversimplify things, but at least they try.

 

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"Grace of the elves, adaptability of the humans, bearers of tommorrow"

The Half-elves of Havenhall are with the exception of the half-orcs the smallest population group in Havenhall in terms of influence, being scorned by the elves for being the product of a union that never should have been and being disliked by humans who often see half-elves as troublemakers as most of them are brought up at orphanages after being left by their parents in shame.

Most half elves are the product of a drunk male elf and a female human (often also drunk), most such relations have ended by the father leaving the pregnant human girl pretending it never happened trying to hide it should she ever threathen to tell the public what happened, for this reason the mother usually have to give up her child to the orphanage as the laws of Havenhall states that no unmarried woman may raise a child, this again results in the half elves often being rootless and a larger group of them being often directly lawless.

In the recent years however a group of them have tried to form their own culture, trying to take the "job" as the advisors for the humans from a position of understanding both groups, usually this fails as very few half elves truly understand either group, being strangers in both cultures.

Half-elves can only get children with other half-elves and are utterly infertile otherwise.

Half elves tend to live up to hundred and twenty years and are considered adult from the age of twentyfour.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
Our fathers or in some cases our mothers, why must they scorn us so? Why do they not see that we are the happy product of the unification of the races, we are the living proof that no matter how much it is argued, humans and elves can truly be together.

Humans:
Our mothers, and in some cases, our fathers, they distrust us when they should embrace us, why can they not see that we could be a stepping stone in achieving a better life? Our long life compared with the adaptability of the humans, they should try to make more of our kin, not distrust us or force us to grow up in orphanages!

Half-Orcs:
We understand them better than most, a shame however that they so often turn to violence when they feel suppressed.

Dwarves:
In some ways the dwarves are our true parents, for they have never judged us for our race, they have always treated us quite well, beneath the gruff exterior, most dwarves have a heart of gold.
-we'd just wish that they realise that we not are dwarves nor ever will be.

Halflings:
Excellent cooks, but watch out for your pouch while near them!

Gnomes:
Why do they speak so funny?

 

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"We are the children of destiny, the future belongs to us for we have both wits, will and numbers"

 

Humans are unsuprisingly the single most influental race in Havenhall being both more numerous than any other race and holding many more positions in the city, it is even supposed that the entire high magocratic council consists of humans and a single elf.

Their dominance in the governing sectors of the city comes as no suprise for anyone knowing the history of the city, for they where the founding race, the original settlers that came to mage Ruskin's tower where humans, this large dominance shows in everything in the daily life in the city, the different sections of the city are all human buildings at their core even though the different sectors might be influenced by the other races in the city to adapt them to their taste.

In addition to this the humans are the only race known to be genetically compatible with other races, that is humans and elves and humans and orcs, though most humans loathe to admit it, the humans have always experimented much in every field, including the interracial one, for this reason alone they have also been the ones to originally create the strict laws on sexuality, humans does not trust humans on this field.

humans tend to live up to eighty years and are considered adult at the age of eighteen.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
arrogant "think they are so much better" things, so thin and frail, yet so ...beautifull, moving like a gracefull willow wind.
-they are the race that looks most alike us, yet are the most alien in mind.

Half-Elves:
Many of them are petty thieves, many more are vagrants and no-goods, dont trust them.

Half-Orcs:
...I would wish they did not exist, how painfull it must have been for the maiden when she was raped by the orc, for I cannot concieve any human wishing willfull intercourse with an orc.

Dwarves:
Ah! The race to wich we owe so much, they have helped us build the foundations of our city, they have taught us a lot on ironworks until the day we became as good as they, and still today they are patient helping us, being our most stalwart friends, we also understand their dislike for the elves.

Halflings:
Brilliant cooks, though often expensive, and so often misunderstood, they are not exactly thieves, they just forgot to ask when borrowing.

Gnomes:
Sorry... I was so busy laughing that I forgot to comment.

 

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"They call us outcasts, they call us dirt, yet we are their most stalwart defenders, someday they will see"

 

The half orcs of Havenhall is a mystery, they are few in number these days but there was a time where many of them where around filling the legions of Havenhalls armies, some speculates that they had been purposefully bred for battle, but most push such claims off as outrageous, none more fiercedly than the half orcs themselves for they are unusually proud, despite their status as the most disliked race in Havenhall or perhaps because of it, they are the ones that are most determinded to prove their worth to the city, for this reason half orcs can often be seen serving the city watch where their natural strength gives them a clear advantage.

The last couple of years the dwarves have tried to help the half orcs by teaching them about culture, the importance of society, the importance of family and honor, something wich the half-orcs as a small community within Havenhall has been very gratefull for as it has helped giving the half-orcs some identity and some feeling of belonging.

Apart from this trait however, the half-orcs of Havenhall has no defining culture.

Half orcs tend to live up to sixty years and are considered adults from the age of fifteen, though they recieve no legal rights prior to the age of eighteen.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
No good arrogant fops! They think themselves so much better, yet what do they actually add to the city?

Half-Elves:
By some considered our closest kin, not to us however, they should stand together and define their own culture, be proud and be a part of the city, only by doing does one earn respect, talking gets you nowhere!

Humans:
Our mothers it is said, we are sad that we so often are reminders of a violent past, however, we shall not let ourselves be tainted by deeds that where not ours, and we shall overcome the prejudice of society!

Dwarves:
Our true family, our mentors, we owe them much, beneath their gruff outer there truly beat a heart of gold.

Halflings:
Good cooks, taste good as well...

Gnomes:
HAHAHAHAHA!

 

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"Like The mountains are the fundament of the world, we are the fundament of the city"

The dwarves in Havenhall are a proud people, often touchy and appearing gruff they seem to take a particulair delight in hardship just to prove their toughness, often gleefully telling old tales about disasters and experiences that would have killed any non-dwarf, often this leads to the dwarves speaking about present problems as something of a lesser value, since "'tis be nothing manling! Now, I be remembering a winter when it was so cold that me beard nearly broke off, and ol Thorkinsons fingers broke from cold and fell into the soup, good soup it was I be telling ya!" humans tend to laugh at this considering it dwarven humour, the really funny part of it is that its usually true, dwarves raredly exaggerate, on the contrary they like to understate things, making a kings randsom a "pretty penny".

Dwarves have more defining factors other than their grumbling and gruff exterior however, one of them is their almost fatherly behaviour towards the half elves and half orcs, for the dwarves have appearently taken it on themselves to try to really help these two races, wich is very odd considering how they feel for elves and orcs (pointy eared basterds and filthy orcs).

In addition to this curious trait Dwarves value tradition and honor very highly, a dwarf raredly gives his word of honor, but when he does he keeps it unless he wishes to be shamed by his clan, the dwarven clan and his family is second only to his honor in importance to the dwarf, followed up by gold on the third place, dwarves take great pride in their personal wealth, often being seen as somewhat greedy to the other races, one thing is certain, the dwarven race are not a race that often spends gold when they can avoid it, they can however be quite generous in helping others, as long as these others not are orcs or elves that is.

Their dislike for elves does however not often turn to violence, the dwarves consider it degrading to the whole society, and they do not want that spot on their honor, and a dwarf tavern keeper won't refuse an elf a drink though he may charge a little exstra at times, after all, there are no laws against that.

Dwarves tend to live up to two hundred years and are considered adult from the age of forthy.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
Bloody treehuggers, so thin, so frail, pfeh, I be betting that they could break like a twig... they look like twigs too...

Half-Elves:
Poor fella's, we try to help 'em, but they 'ave ta do some work fer themselves.

Humans:
Aye, they be da clanlords o' this city, we'd be 'onour bound ta 'elp 'em, often they are worthy of our 'elp too.

Half-Orcs:
Unlike the 'alf-elves these 'ave taken the lesson we 'ave tried ta teach 'em ta 'eart, we 'ope that they will continue ta do so.

Halflings:
Even smaller than us, brews good ale, second only to dwarven ale.

Gnomes:
Get down ta buisness instead o' talking bout it yer silly twit!

 

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"True civilization is found in a warm home and good heart"

 

The halflings of Havenhall are one of the reasons the city has stayed alive, despite the city being overpopulated, despite famine threathening each and every year, the halflings of Havenhall who worked in the fields has seemingly a natural affinity or ability to make the fields produce more, and has as such made food go around every time, an oft overlooked but vital part of the running of the city, the halflings may not man the walls if a foe comes to the city, they may not bravedly go out into the unknown, they may not cast great spells, but withouth the small halfling faming communities, Havenhall would have had devasting famines, withouth the halflings Havenhall would never have grown to the size it is today, yet the threath of famine are never far away, despite the halflings abilities in the gardens.

The halflings are at heart a peacefull and curious people, relaxed about their life, this does not mean that they are lazy, far from it, they are a honest hardworking people even though their ease at life seems to give another impression at times.

Halflings that venture out of their small communities take on a host of different roles in society, small adminstrative positions, scouts, clergy and more.

Halflings tend to live up to hundred years and are considered adult from the age of twenty.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
Fancy folk these elves, they tend to have their heads a bit in the sky however if you get my meaning.

Half-Elves:
It would be easier for society to accept them, if they just accepted themselves instead of trying to create their own culture, alienating them from everything else.

Humans:
Friendly, at times, unfriendly at others, lazy, hardworking, intelligent, dumb, the humans must be the only race with no defining feature other than their lust for growth, I wonder if we can keep famine away if they insist so on growth.

Dwarves:
I rather like the dwarves, they are hardworking, they appreciate good food and they tend to have a good heart below that gruff exterior, though... it would be nice if they showed that heart a bit more.

Half-orcs:
A thing that should never have happened, half-orc is half-beast, half-monster, I shall not spend my time with them.

Gnomes:
A inquisitive people, though I would wish they had the patience to reflect on their experiments a little more before testing them, would cause less noise and fewer accidents

 

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"Lets-see-how-this-works!"

 

Havenhall has the gnomes to thank for several things and several other things to curse them for, inquisitive to the point of the suicidal and great tinkerers the gnomes are the unchallenged masters of invention in Havenhall, however their experiments have a nasty habbit of going wrong as the gnomes often get caught up in their own work withouth doublechecking their work, often this only causes small accidents, but the gnomes are a hardly people and hard to discourage from trying again.

Often however, they lose interest for their inventions and go onto something new, at wich time the dwarves usually step into the process, takes over the inventions and makes it work, perhaps not as ideally as the gnomes would wish it, but far more stable.

When not inventing different ways to improve the ways of Havenhall Gnomes can often be found in positions such as lawyers loving to go about the small details in the lawbooks, or advocates, some of them are also talented (if somewhat shunned) wizards often specialising in illusion.

The gnomes of Havenhall tend to live up to ninety years and are considered adult at the age of twenty.

 

Views on other races:

Elves:
Interesting way to think... nah... BOOOORING!

Half-Elves:
You find yourself unique with the better part of both races? Nah, your just as soft as the humans and as trivial as the elves, come here and i'll show you my latest invention, now *thats* unique!

Humans:
Some of them are good enough, some of them are not, some of them share our interest for inventions and are intelligent enough to be our apprentices, but most are simply not cut for it, oh well... I guess we need someone to stand on the wall and take the arrows in case of a war.

Dwarves:
Very backward people, always taking the slow process, they should take more chances, yet its still better than most.
They could use a little bit more humour though.

Half-orcs:
Brutes, of no use other than pack mules at best.

Halflings:
Almost as boring as the elves, and so lazy ...but good cooks!

 

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