The commonly understood history of the humans of the Flaeness begins just over one thousand years ago, when the great conflict between the ancient Suloise and Baklunish empires forced massive migrations eastward across, around, and even under the western mountain ranges. This resulted in the mixture of races and cultures that defines the modern Flanaess.
Human Subraces
There are few pure ethnic groups extant on the Flanaess, save perhaps at the fringe areas of the continent. Of course, the races of demi-humans are relatively unmixed, but humankind, as is its wont, has industriously intermixed in the central regions to form a hybrid type which has actually become the norm. The peoples that comprise this mix are as follows:
The Baklunish people have golden-hued skins, gray-green or green eyes, and hair ranging from dark brown to blue-black. The lands of Ekbir, the Tiger Nomads, Ull, and Zeif around the Drawmij Ocean are home to this pure Baklunish strain. Farther east, racial mixing results in modified appearances: the Wolf Nomads are Baklunish mixed with Flan (from the Rovers of the Barrens), and have correspondingly darker features. In Ket, mixing with both Oeridian and Suloise folk gave rise to folk with pale yellow or golden-brown/tan skin.
The original human occupants of the Flanaess had bronze complexions varying from coppery tones to deep brown. Their eyes were dark brown, even black, or rarely amber. Likewise, their hair was always dark brown or black. The Flan are now scattered to the winds. The Rovers of the Barrens have no land to call their own; the Tenhas, pure Flan and proud of it, are enslaved by Iuz or have fled to the south; the Flan folk of Geoff and Sterich have likewise fled south and east from their homes. In the Theocracy of the Pale, Flan/Oerid descendants are lighter of skin and hair than pure Flan. Perhaps within a handful of generations, almost all Flan blood will be found only in such blends.
The Oeridians have fairly dark skins, varying from tan to olive colors, but their hair color runs the range from honey blond to black, with brown and auburn the most common. Their eye colors are likewise variable. Pure Oeridian stock is thus less easy to spot with the casual eye than most races, but it can be seen most readily in Furyondy, Perrenland, and in the east and south of the Great Kingdom.
The Suel were scattered to the margins of the Flanaess in the distant past, so it is small wonder that most Suel blood has been intermixed with other racial groups. The Suel are fairskinned, some being almost albino, with red or blond (even platinum blond) hair and blue, gray, or violet eyes. The barbarian peoples of the northeast are the purest example of original Suel stock, but the Suel also dominate the Scarlet Brotherhood and the eastern islands of the Aerdi Sea. On the main continent, the Duchy of Urnst has the largest (proportionately) enclave of Suloise. Anomalous populations of Suloise are found in Hepmonaland and the Almedio Jungle; while many have developed tanned skins with heavy freckling, pale and albino faces that look utterly incongruous in the steaming jungles can still be seen.
