Cardinal Races

The Cardinal Races were the most initially successful of the mortal races, whether due to an early start, superior design, or some extra helping hand from their creators. They were the races who dominated the early part of the Mortal Age, forging the last of the great empires which formed the basis of the current geopolitical arena.
Despite these early triumphs, the Cardinal Races are no longer dominant over the Secondary, a fact that some of them are more accepting of than others.
There are seven mortal species widely accepted by scholars to be Cardinal Races. One was created by the Titans, two by the Primordial Dragons, and the other four were the paramount creations of the Young Gods. In religious terms, the Cardinal Races are most focused on the worship of their creators, but they all have other gods as well.
Two of the cardinal races, the oldest of all, are notable for their sheer size and power.

• The Dragons are the mortal successors to the Primordial Dragons and the Elder Wyrms, and easily the most powerful mortal beings in Aiaos. Desperately few in number, they husband their power in remote lairs, seldom getting involved in the affairs of the world.
• The Giants were the inheritors of the Titans, and the powerful civilisation of Titanis, although how direct the descent might be is contested. Long since fallen - literally as well as figuratively - from the heights of Titanic knowledge and power, the remaining giants are largely split between isolated contemplatives and vainglorious tyrants. The giants adhere to a rigid social structure called the Orden and consider themselves the greatest of all mortals. They refer to themselves and the dragons as the paramount races, although the term has little use by any others.

The remaining races are all humanoids, scaled if not patterned in line with the Titans' Eladrin servants. The Eladrin themselves could be considered a cardinal race, but they are also considered to be extinct.

• The Elves founded the first and most successful empire in mortal history, the Regime.
• The Dwarfs have always been insular, husbanding wealth and power in the deep places of the earth.
• The Orcs were forged to conquer and destroy as part of the Legions, but turned on their masters to make their own destiny.
• The Dragonborn consider themselves the future inheritors of the power and prestige of the dragons, but have grown decadent in awaiting their legacy.
• The Tortle are patient and inquisitive scholars, who devote their long lives to garnering experience.