Humans
Humans are the most populous race in Tal’Dorei
today, though at one point in this land’s history, all of
humankind’s holdings were naught but a speck on
the western coastline.
If humans ever lived upon Tal’Dorei in the Age of Arcanum, they were wiped out entirely by the end of the Calamity. But after the world had begun to recover from the devastation wrought by that war of gods and mortals, an expedition of human explorers departed from Vasselheim in Issylra, thought to be the only bastion of humanoid culture on the surface of Exandria to survive the Calamity. Sailing eastward, they reached the land that would eventually come to be called Tal’Dorei, and were shocked to find elves, dwarves, orcs, and half-giants already living there—shattering their belief that the Calamity had washed away all mortal life except the people of Vasselheim.
Over the years, humans and their ambition have been responsible for bloody wars, weapons of unimaginable devastation, and spells that have reduced entire cultures to ruin. Yet humans have also driven great advances in art, music, poetry, and theater, and have shown love and compassion to the other mortal peoples of the world. The course of human history is never straight, and can turn at any time. After all, humans’ lives are short and their minds are chaotic—a fact that troubles many of the long-lived elves and dwarves of Tal’Dorei. Still, despite these weaknesses—or perhaps because of them—humans have produced some of the most innovative and forward-thinking figures Tal’Dorei has ever known.
Drassig’s betrayal nearly condemned humankind to an eternal reputation for villainy. However, one human rebel named Zan Tal’Dorei forged alliances of renewed trust between her rebellious faction and the other beleaguered peoples of Drassig’s kingdom. Her forthright idealism and steadfast determination won the Scattered War, and laid the foundations for a new society that enshrined the alliances she created.
Though human adventurers can hail from anywhere in Tal’Dorei, humans are most commonly found in the lands connected by the Silvercut Roadway: the Bladeshimmer Shoreline in the west, the Lucidian Coast in the east, and the Dividing Plains that separate them. A number of humans from Wildemount also sailed across the Shearing Channel long ago and settled in the Alabaster Sierras, where they founded the city-state of Whitestone.
Humans living along the Silvercut provide the infrastructure for trade across the continent, and as such are often involved in some form of craft, business, or production. Human-dominated cities in Tal’Dorei are typically highly diverse, because they were founded with the aid of many allies of other ancestries. Today, members of all Exandria’s other peoples come together in great cities such as Emon, even as humans from the distant continents of Issylra, Marquet, and Wildemount travel to exchange goods and ideas with the vast and bountiful lands of Tal’Dorei. Beyond the cities, dozens of humanfounded outposts spread along the fringes of lands better known by Tal’Dorei’s older ancestries—the elves, dwarves, orcs, goliaths, and even the reclusive giants. Outlanders, explorers, and hermits take refuge here from the hectic pace of city life, but still find danger enough in the wilderness to keep them on their toes.
Many humans likewise live in settlements founded by non-humans, ranging in size from tiny gnome-majority villages in Torian Forest to the ancient and stately cities of Syngorn and Kraghammer. These humans absorb the cultures of their homes, just as people of other ancestries raised in cities such as Emon can grow up with a distinctly human outlook on life.
If humans ever lived upon Tal’Dorei in the Age of Arcanum, they were wiped out entirely by the end of the Calamity. But after the world had begun to recover from the devastation wrought by that war of gods and mortals, an expedition of human explorers departed from Vasselheim in Issylra, thought to be the only bastion of humanoid culture on the surface of Exandria to survive the Calamity. Sailing eastward, they reached the land that would eventually come to be called Tal’Dorei, and were shocked to find elves, dwarves, orcs, and half-giants already living there—shattering their belief that the Calamity had washed away all mortal life except the people of Vasselheim.
Over the years, humans and their ambition have been responsible for bloody wars, weapons of unimaginable devastation, and spells that have reduced entire cultures to ruin. Yet humans have also driven great advances in art, music, poetry, and theater, and have shown love and compassion to the other mortal peoples of the world. The course of human history is never straight, and can turn at any time. After all, humans’ lives are short and their minds are chaotic—a fact that troubles many of the long-lived elves and dwarves of Tal’Dorei. Still, despite these weaknesses—or perhaps because of them—humans have produced some of the most innovative and forward-thinking figures Tal’Dorei has ever known.
A Far-Reaching People
Humans can hail from anywhere in Tal’Dorei, for although their presence on the continent began as a small colony in the west, that presence quickly spread. Humans were eager to trade, to forge alliances, and to find love with the elves, dwarves, orcs, and goliaths of Tal’Dorei. Their lands quickly grew in size and power. But then a human despot by the name of Warren Drassig broke the peace of trade and coalition in favor of conquest.Drassig’s betrayal nearly condemned humankind to an eternal reputation for villainy. However, one human rebel named Zan Tal’Dorei forged alliances of renewed trust between her rebellious faction and the other beleaguered peoples of Drassig’s kingdom. Her forthright idealism and steadfast determination won the Scattered War, and laid the foundations for a new society that enshrined the alliances she created.
Though human adventurers can hail from anywhere in Tal’Dorei, humans are most commonly found in the lands connected by the Silvercut Roadway: the Bladeshimmer Shoreline in the west, the Lucidian Coast in the east, and the Dividing Plains that separate them. A number of humans from Wildemount also sailed across the Shearing Channel long ago and settled in the Alabaster Sierras, where they founded the city-state of Whitestone.
Humans living along the Silvercut provide the infrastructure for trade across the continent, and as such are often involved in some form of craft, business, or production. Human-dominated cities in Tal’Dorei are typically highly diverse, because they were founded with the aid of many allies of other ancestries. Today, members of all Exandria’s other peoples come together in great cities such as Emon, even as humans from the distant continents of Issylra, Marquet, and Wildemount travel to exchange goods and ideas with the vast and bountiful lands of Tal’Dorei. Beyond the cities, dozens of humanfounded outposts spread along the fringes of lands better known by Tal’Dorei’s older ancestries—the elves, dwarves, orcs, goliaths, and even the reclusive giants. Outlanders, explorers, and hermits take refuge here from the hectic pace of city life, but still find danger enough in the wilderness to keep them on their toes.
Many humans likewise live in settlements founded by non-humans, ranging in size from tiny gnome-majority villages in Torian Forest to the ancient and stately cities of Syngorn and Kraghammer. These humans absorb the cultures of their homes, just as people of other ancestries raised in cities such as Emon can grow up with a distinctly human outlook on life.
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