[Atanea] Races of the mortal plane
The mortal plane of Atanea is home to eight sapient races. Most of them are descended from the First People, having branched off during the Fracturing, when the children of the Old King and Queen went their separate ways and took their followers with them.
* **Humans**: Descended from the followers of Lem, fourthborn son of the Old Royals. Lem had a way with words and was known as a great diplomat. He was what held his siblings together despite their differences, until the tensions grew too great even for him to mend. His followers became a race of travellers and traders, famous throughout Atanea for their charm and wits.
* **Elves**: The followers of Shar, thirdborn daughter of the Royals, who remained the most faithful to the Creator's laws. As such, unlike their sister races, they didn't lose their longevity and can still live up to three hundred years. They revere the Creator through Their works in nature, living in harmony with the plants and wildlife.
* **Dwarves**: Descendants of the fifthborn daughter, Nai, who was the most curious and appreciative of the Creator's works. She strove to emulate those works, and her followers took after her. After the fracturing, they grew stouter and hardier, and became known as gifted craftspeople and inventors, well versed in the arts of science and engineering.
* **Orcs**: The followers of Baphen, the firstborn child of the Old Royals, who murdered his younger brother Joren out of spite after the latter was chosen by their parents to inherit the throne after their death. The villainy of Baphen's act earned him the Creator's wrath, and he and his followers were marked in their flesh, becoming monstrous in the eyes of all mortalkind.
* **Goliaths**: The sixthborn and youngest daughter of the King and Queen, Gis was the bravest. She wished nothing more than to live a simple life in the mountains of Atanea and develop her body and mind to achieve her greatest potential. This mindset carried over to her followers, who grew taller and stronger, becoming the fiercest warriors in the mortal plane.
* **Munkai**: The Dwarves, all too eager to imitate the works of the Creator, dabbled in soul magic and made artificial beings of clay and stone. The process of their creation was imperfect, and so they only had half-souls and lacked true free will. They were named Khomunkai, or "servant stone people" by the Dwarves, for the latter used them as slaves. Eventually, Archcelestial Deonel took pity on the golems and granted them true souls. They rebelled, claimed their freedom and renamed themselves Munkai, or "stone people".
* **Jinns**: Beings made by the Creator from raw elemental power. Jinns exist in four courts, one for each element, and are meant to keep the elemental balance of the mortal world.
* **Tieflings**: Descendants of mortals who laid with the Devils of the Underworld. Their blood red skin and horns make them a target of bigotry. Most Atanean societies outlaw their very existence, and the few that don't treat them as untouchables or slaves in punishment for the sins of their ancestors.
*Atanea is a homebrew D&D setting based on the abrahamic faiths.*