Humans

The young folk

"We call them the young people, as they are shorter, weaker less experienced": Tergurin

Biology

Humans are a species of bipedal hominines living on Illangar. The closest relatives to humans are Elves, with many claiming that both are merely subspecies of one single species. Another closely related sapient species are Dwarves. Humans are physically and mentally almost identical to elves, yet there are some important differences. These differences might be the result however of magical selection in antiquity. Elves are taller and live longer than humans on average. This is in regard to those who have not prolonged their life trough the means of magic.
Are differences are mostly in regard to phenotypes, of which humans exhibit a greater variety than elves, aswell as physiognomy and differences in facial features. A noteworthy difference between humans, elves and dwarves is also their handedness. Elves are primarly left-handed, while humans are primarily right-handed. Dwarves are ambidextrous and consider the human-elven preference a disadvantage.
Humans are capable of reproducing with elves without problems. Children of mixed couples are called Half-Elves and fertile in almost all cases. They can have viable and fertile children with both elves and humans too. Reproduction with Dwarves however is more complicated and only a third of these children will be fertile. These Half-Dwarves however have no problems reproducing with both humans and dwarves. It should be noted that certain ethnicities of dwarves, albeit clearly being able to reproduce with other dwarves, can't have fertile offspring with humans.

Culture

History

Humans have lived on Illangar as long as other species too. Their ancient history however lies in the dark. Elven historians are generally not concerned with other species and regarded humans as little more than barbarians. It likely however that some elven nations, like the Shatun did capture humans and used them as slaves. This practice continued well into the historic period and gave rise to the war of Dauler against the Shatun.
Recorded human history begins with dwarven historians following the war against the Second God. They recorded nomadic peoples living outside of their own realms. They chose the name Talimë for their neighbors, meaning "Wanderers" as reminder of their nomadic nature. Many dwarven states began to trade with the humans and to influence them. They taught them to plant garden, to read and write, to settle down and build walled towns. Soon the student excelled the master and humans began to build their own states. While dwarves cultivated crops in their own gardens, humans began to plant large acres. Dwarves lived in small, but fortified settlements, lead by matriarchical clans. Humans soon began drawing borders and erecting ever larger walls around their growing towns. While dwarfs had a matriarchic culture, humans tended to be primarily patriarchic. The humans not only adopted writing from the dwarves, but also used the Classical Dwarven language for their purposes. They not only adopted the language, but also began to speak it and it began to replace their own ancestral tongues.
The following age was often called the First Age of Humanity, which roughly began three millennia ago. Humans had spread over the entire continent, had adopted writing and language from the dwarves. Some humans even became Sorcerers already in this time. Yet it was a chaotic time. Many small and petty kingdoms fought for domination. The borders of civilisation were always close and barbarian hordes, aswell as the forces of the Second God threatened the civilised realms. This first Age of Humanity ended with a large wall, culminating in the Battle of Illangar, in which Dauler the Great fought the cruel Shatun forever. After that, humanity entered a period of prosperity, called the Second Age of Humanity or the Age of Dauler.
Dauler also made several alliances with elves. His elven followers began to integrate into human society and brought about the rise of a large half-elven population. Thus, especially in urban areas, the majority of Daulerim has at least partial elven ancestry.

Magic

Like all sapient species, humans are also capable to possess the Gift of Magic. They did so in lower rates than elves, or at least did not purposefully try to increase the number of mages.
Ancient humans had their own traditions of magic, separate from elven and dwarven magic. These primordial mages were called shamans, ritualists, druids, witches, tidepriests, sages, soothsayers, augurs and diviners of all sorts. Their magic was primordial and archaic and none of them were schooled. In the best cases they learned their trade from a master who passed on their knowledge on an individual basis.
With the advent of the Second Age, these traditions have come under scrutiny. Many have been forgotten and its practitioners are ostracized. This is especially true for the humans living under the rule of the Daulerim Empire and the Empire of Illodia, which both sought to professionalise magic. Other places such as Alwaein and the realms of the far east and north, have become the only places, where these ancient rites are still practiced.

Language

Humans throughout the world speak hundreds of different languages of many different language families. The languages of western Illangar, have all a considerable influence from the Classical Dwarven language called Emat. Prior to their contact with the dwarves, humans had no written language on their own, so they simply adopted the dwarven language. With the adoption of the dwarven written language, humans also adopted lots of vocabulary and similar changes into their languages. These changes went so far, that many languages today could very well be considered Creoles between former human languages and Emat.
One such primary example is the language Daulerim, spoken within the Empire of the same name. Daulerim is at its core unrelated to Emat. Nonetheless it is considerably influenced by Emat on a deep level. Furthermore it is also influenced by the languages of the elves who joined Dauler and later integrated. Thus Daulerim is a true mixed language with a very complicated history of descent. Other languages, such as Illodzin of the Illodian Empire have fewer influence from Emat, yet are also influenced by the elven language of the Aldrim, simply by proximity.
One human language without much outside influence is Alwas spoken on the island of Alwaein. Just like the inhabitants of Alwaein have kept their ancient magical traditions, they have kept their language. While Alwas has relatives on the mainland, its relatives are few and bound to die. Alwas is all which will remain of a once widespread branch of languages.
Linguistically speaking, human, elven and dwarven languages are similar, if not the same at their core. Human, elven and dwarven children are capable of aquiring each other's language without problems. The designation human, elven or dwarven language is simply a historical denomination of what might constitute macro-families.

Name in Emat
Talimë

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Wild-Elves

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Dwarves
• Half-Elves

Lifespan

80-100 years

Average Height

1.5-2.0 meter

Related Ethnicities

• Alwaeinian
• Daulerim
• Illodian