People
From Aparsus
The Empire's great size makes it a cosmopolitan land - a melting pot of cultures and races born from the long age of conquest and expansion that followed the Great Refusal and the fall of the Elven Nation of Farnoth. Most commonly seen are the natives of the Northern and Western provinces - the Verindi from the low plains of the Verindus River valley, and the tribal folk known as the Coln who dwelled in the young forests and highlands known as Colndor, north of the Low Hills. Time and close association have caused the two races of men to mingle into one, commonly known quite simply as "Imperials". Fair of skin and favouring both dark hair and eyes, they are a slender people of medium height, and their culture is the culture of the Empire - such as it is.
From the western Isles come the Cmyri (Ki * Meer * ee), the northern tribesmen of the Isles of Mist. Fair-haired, tall and broad, they are in many ways the opposite of the Imperials, and they combine aspects of their Sirini and Lyonnian neighbours. They favour long hair in both men and women, and intricate tattoos known as slvir, or "life-marks", are worn by both sexes, detailing their lineage and deeds for all the world to see.
The Bendeni of the East are short of stature, but broad of build, with swarthy features and dark hair and skin, and they favour their heavy furs over the normal modes of Imperial dress, while their souther neighbours - the Kavadra - are tall, slender and ebon-skinned, favouring piercings of bone and gold, and wearing little more than silk robes to better adapt to the heat of their desert home.
Then there are the Ghulmith, or "Dark Elves" in the Imperial Tongue. Their skins range from light blue to the deepest black, their eyes are one solid colour of white, black or red, and their hair is invariably white. They wear little, favouring simple kilts and short-cut shirts of white cotton and silk.
These five are the most common races at the core of the Empire's population, each bringing their own culture and ideology into its framework. The relative enlightenment of the Empire, however, has also led many outsiders to settle there in small numbers. A handful of Orcish enclaves dot many of the northern cities of the Verindi counties, descendents from the Galtish mercenaries who fought in the Great Refusal and the Seventy Day War and Free Dwarves - refugees from the Orcish occupation of the Hall of Rain and Night in Kharghalt, sought and were granted citizenship and permission to reopen their Halls in Kordath and Mur, old fortresses of the lost Dwarven Empire of Murengaard located in the Low Hills. These Dwarves, styling themselves "Hill Dwarves" operate with a surprising degree of autonomy, and their Elder Councils are even petitioning the Emperor and the Senate for Great House status.
Though they rarely seek Citizenship and the responsibility that that bears, troupes of Ruunmith - River Elves - wander Verind and Colndor as peddlers and merchants, often adopting human wayfarers and forming wandering gipsy bands. Even Halflings have found their way to settling in the vales of Colndor and on the Bendeni Frontier, though their communities remain insular and resist the governance of "secular" Imperial law.
Despite this varied atmosphere, the culture of Colndor and Verindus dominates Imperial life by sheer dint of majority, and a careful observer can see how the coming of the Empire has affected the cultures that it now rules - both subtly and overtly.
