Mainland Malex

A description of the general layout and major races of mainland Malex.

Geography
Between the great bodies of water including Isidis Bay, the Sea of Utopia and the Aeolian Waterway in the north, the Hellas Sea and Hadriaca Highlands in the south, the Red Wanders desert in the west and the Malexian Munds mountain region in the east are a number of distinct regions with racial and ethnic groups.

Humans
After the Directorate took control of human affairs on the mainland, they helped the humans form permanent settlements throughout the mainland. Humans are the most populous race in Malex, due to their propensity for adaptation, and they can generally be separated into distinct ethnic groups, referred to as Coastlanders, Lowlanders and Highlanders.

Coastlanders
The coastlands of Isidis Bay and the Aeolian Waterway have always been the most prosperous and bounteous — which means Coastlanders have always made up the bulk of Malex’s population. Coastlanders have long plied their trade as fishers, though in recent years many have turned to the mercantile trade. An increase in shipping has led to a small increase in piracy, which has led to an increase in wildly exaggerated stories about dangerous and seductive Coastlander pirates. Coastlanders are distinct because of their dark skin, dark hair and pale, usually silver eyes. They are thought of as bold, clever people, quick to celebrate and indulge in their pleasures.

Lowlanders
Lowlanders are the farmers, foresters and miners of Malex, occupying significant pockets of the Tyrrhena Hills, Nepenthe Lowlands and up against the Malexian Munds. They are a simple, good-natured, hardworking, earthy people. Their skin is generally lighter than their coastland neighbours, though many are swarthy or tanned dark from long hours of work in the sun. Their hair ranges from auburn to raven black, and their eyes, as well, run the gamut of sky blue to emerald green to coal black.

Highlanders
The Hadriaca Highlands is the least populous region in Malex, and the Highlanders are the least integrated into Malexian society. That they are even a part of the Directorate is a formality, as the soggy, foggy, rocky highlands are about the opposite of an elf’s preferred habitat. Highlanders are fair-skinned, usually with blond or fire-red to hay-coloured or auburn hair, and pale blue or pale green eyes. Highlanders are thought of as a brooding, reclusive, humourless people, who rarely travel beyond their own hearths. They tend towards hardscrabble farming or raising livestock, especially sheep, on their rocky heaths, though the textile work of Highlanders is renowned through Malex.

Other Races
In the process of settling the humans, the elves displaced racial groups they saw as being unworthy of Directorate interest. Other racial groups have surfaced in Malex since.

Halflings
At one point halflings were a race living peacefully in the forests and farmlands of the western Nepenthe Lowlands. As humans began to populate the mainland in greater numbers, halfling settlements suffered but fought back against the human onslaught, which is likely the reason the humans turned to Elysium.

Unlike humans, elves proved to be formidable fighters in the woodlands, and as they advanced, they pushed human and halfling resistance further west. Halflings grieved the elven advance for every inch, but lost many in the warfare and became cornered in the hills between the Tyrrhena and Watchtower Rivers. Eventually a halfling Matriarch, Vitalia, brokered a temporary peace with the elves. The halflings would be given safe passage out of their former homeland. They formed what has come to be known as the Exiled Convoy, the bulk of the surviving halfling population in a massive caravan that roams the boarder of the Red Wanders and the western Nepenthe Lowland.

Halflings occasionally travel through the mainland, and sometimes even settle down in human settlements, but their animosity towards elves, which is mutual, makes it difficult to live in Directorate controlled land. Halflings have made trouble for Directorate order, and are considered agitators.

Orcs
Similar to halflings, orc tribes once called the Hadriaca Highlands and the eastern lowlands at the base of the Malexian Munds mountain region home. For much of history orcs were content to battle over their tribal lands, with tribes rising and falling, joining and splitting in their own chaotic fashion.

Despite their ferocity, orc forces were too divided and oppositional amongst tribes to pose any serious threat to Directorate forces. The orc tribes who did not die in battle migrated into the Malexian Munds mountain region, where they've nursed their grievances against elvenkind since.

Many orcs who leave their nomadic tribes find themselves working as mercenaries or body guards for less discerning humans. Others find work in mines or other types of hard labour. The largest permanent orc settlement is found in Goblin Town, where less violent members of their kind mingle with humans and goblins. Unions between orcs and humans, while uncommon, often yield half-orc offspring. Half-orcs do better amongst orcs, if only because their appearance stands out more amongst humans.

Goblins
Goblins are ugly, petty, mean-spirited creatures, most about half the size of humans. Historically, goblins have kept to the caves of the Malexian Munds mountain region, although in recent years they have been making their way further into the mainland, especially working as miners with the Felsic Combine.

Goblins may share a common ancestor with orcs, as they both worship Karuuk the Red Hand, though they do little intermingling except as labourers with the combine. Individually goblins are cowardly, and they easily submit to creatures stronger to them. Goblins are better known for ganging up against the weak.

The only real permanent settlements of goblins in Directorate controlled land outside of their caverns is the headquarters of the Felsic Combine, Goblin Town, though they've been spreading throughout the mainland as the Combine expands operations.

Desert Folk
Over the past half-century, the mysterious Desert Folk have been appearing out of the Red Wastes in greater numbers, refugees to Malex.

Desert Folk are humanoid in appearance, although men and women always wear clothing that covers their entire bodies except their eyes, which are solid colours. Their skin, as well, appears in different non-human shades as well. They often wear thick head wraps. It's believed they are unaccustomed to the cooler climate out of the desert. Their native language is unknown to Malex, though many speak Common, or learn quickly.

They are secretive, appearing in public only if necessary and mostly keeping to their own quarters or lodgings, usually in poor, overlooked districts in human cities. Little is known about Desert Folk, or what brings them to Malex in increasing numbers, either individually or entire families making their way into the Nepenthe Lowlands, or along the coast of Isidis Bay. The few who speak of their pasts say that tyrants have taken over their land, and they flee to escape a life of slavery.

Desert Folk can mostly be found in the poorer districts of town in Isidis or Port-of-Utopia. Their increasing numbers means small districts have become known as Desert Folk slums. They mostly keep to themselves and are either treated with suspicion or ignored. They are fiercely protective of their own kind, and are rarely seen by themselves beyond the walls of their homes.