Duskborn
The Duskborn are a mysterious race with a shadowy past. Native to the Shadow Dimension, a magically irradiated and generally terrifying plane with a variety of warped and powerful creatures which constantly harass the Duskborn. Naturally, this has led to the Duskborn adapting to this plane in multiple different ways. Due to the rampant magic of the plane, these different methods of adaptation have actually led to their evolution into differing subraces, the startouched and voidheart. The startouched are those whose ancestors warded themselves against the corrupted magic of the plane by weaving what are known as dreamcatchers. Eventually this would lead to all startouched cities being warded by massive dreamcatchers. On the other hand, the voidheart chose to embrace the corrupted magic of the plane rather than try to avoid it. While this does not mean that all voidtouched are evil, many of their goals would be apocalyptic for the other races of the world.
Duskborn history only goes back to an event known as the sundering, in which their founders woke up in the Shadow Dimension with no memory of how they arrived or where they came from, although they kept their skills and knowledge of basic things such as farming and craftsmanship. Everything seemed so similar to these earlier settlers, but many of their journals attest to things simply being wrong, usually in an indescribable way. They were soon beset by a number of magically irradiated creatures and forced to fend for themselves in an environment that became more and more hostile as the years went on, although the initial magical radition has leveled off for the most part. Spread across such a large region, there was little central government to support the Duskborn, and their small communities were forced to fend for themselves. Therefore, they huddled in the remains of cities clearly built for many, many more people as they slowly decayed. During this time, the Duskborn were all exposed to the harmful effects of the Shadow Dimension which shortened their lifespans while attuning them to the magic of the plane. After several generations of this, they had already acquired many of the features that define them today- pale skin, a slight glow, and an array of strange hair colors. It seemed that the Duskborn were doomed to be forever slaves of the shadow dimsension, at least until the invention of the dreamcatcher. It was discovered that by infusing nets with certain properties, negative magic could be attracted to the dreamcatcher, instead of to people, thus lessening the affects of the dimension upon the Duskborn. However, this came at a cost- both magical and economical. The communities which couldn't afford to maintain these inventions or didn't want to would have to take another way. They eventually grew into the Voidheart, while the Startouched defended themselves against the worst of the negative magic and managed to slightly revert some of its effects due to the integration of the Newcomers, though at a cost.
The newcomers also had no memory of their history beyond the basics: they were brought here by a powerful magic which also gave them their powers. In fact, their history only begins in 783 S.C., when a group of elven rebels in the disintegrating Empire of Oleandron tried to overthrow the government. Elven rebels in what would become the Enclave of Cianheart wove a dreadful spell which forcefully expelled all non-elves from "their" woods. The Cianians had absolutely no idea where the expelled were teleported by the spell, but they simply did not care. When the newcomers arrived, there were only around 20,000 of them, but they did not suffer from the magical radiation of the shadow dimension, so when they and their descendents intermarried into the Startouched it had a stabilizing effect on their gene pool.
Duskborn history only goes back to an event known as the sundering, in which their founders woke up in the Shadow Dimension with no memory of how they arrived or where they came from, although they kept their skills and knowledge of basic things such as farming and craftsmanship. Everything seemed so similar to these earlier settlers, but many of their journals attest to things simply being wrong, usually in an indescribable way. They were soon beset by a number of magically irradiated creatures and forced to fend for themselves in an environment that became more and more hostile as the years went on, although the initial magical radition has leveled off for the most part. Spread across such a large region, there was little central government to support the Duskborn, and their small communities were forced to fend for themselves. Therefore, they huddled in the remains of cities clearly built for many, many more people as they slowly decayed. During this time, the Duskborn were all exposed to the harmful effects of the Shadow Dimension which shortened their lifespans while attuning them to the magic of the plane. After several generations of this, they had already acquired many of the features that define them today- pale skin, a slight glow, and an array of strange hair colors. It seemed that the Duskborn were doomed to be forever slaves of the shadow dimsension, at least until the invention of the dreamcatcher. It was discovered that by infusing nets with certain properties, negative magic could be attracted to the dreamcatcher, instead of to people, thus lessening the affects of the dimension upon the Duskborn. However, this came at a cost- both magical and economical. The communities which couldn't afford to maintain these inventions or didn't want to would have to take another way. They eventually grew into the Voidheart, while the Startouched defended themselves against the worst of the negative magic and managed to slightly revert some of its effects due to the integration of the Newcomers, though at a cost.
The newcomers also had no memory of their history beyond the basics: they were brought here by a powerful magic which also gave them their powers. In fact, their history only begins in 783 S.C., when a group of elven rebels in the disintegrating Empire of Oleandron tried to overthrow the government. Elven rebels in what would become the Enclave of Cianheart wove a dreadful spell which forcefully expelled all non-elves from "their" woods. The Cianians had absolutely no idea where the expelled were teleported by the spell, but they simply did not care. When the newcomers arrived, there were only around 20,000 of them, but they did not suffer from the magical radiation of the shadow dimension, so when they and their descendents intermarried into the Startouched it had a stabilizing effect on their gene pool.
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