One For All: The World and its People

The first in a series of articles highlighting Spilled Ale Studios' own setting which is currently in development, this post looks at the world in which One For All is set and those races that can be found there.

The World

The world as a whole is named Tierra, and is not dissimilar to our own. It is 71% ocean and 29% land. While it has two moons, one slightly smaller than our own and a second much smaller moonlet that orbits the first, it has a single sun and the distances to the sun and the two moons are equivalent, as are the orbits. Thus the Tierran calendar year has three hundred and sixty five days, each of them comprising twenty-four hours of sixty minutes.

One For All is set in and around the nation of Gallian, which is located in the Eastern half of the continent Uraopia. Gallian is a predominantly human nation which nevertheless has citizens of other races. While foreigners tend to be distrusted due to the prevalence of wars between the various nations, a wave of goodwill currently improves racial relations in the country somewhat thanks to the marriage of King Régis XIII to Natania, an elf of the Royal House of Espera who carries an unusual reputation for kindliness toward the little folk.

A Map of Gallian.

Religions of the World

Uraopia and many lands beyond are largely dominated by a single religion known simply as The Faith. The Faith is a monotheistic religion built around the worship of an entity practitioners simply call the Divinity. There is a dark side to the Faith in modern day Tierra. While the beliefs the Faith is built on are intended to keep men and women from straying from the right path, the organisation itself has become corrupted.  With one hand the Church of the Faith preaches love, peace, and tolerance, while punishing non-conformity with its other. The church of the Faith actively seeks to convert all to its flock, and since it has become the dominant religion almost universally throughout the continent, the Faith has a lot of power to advance its own cause. Tolerance for other religions varies by nation and whether the Faith is the only allowed religion by law (as in Espera). In Gallian it is still legal to practice other Faiths, but increased marginalisation and hostility causes most to convert or at least hide their practices.

Other religions include:

• The Word, a religion that evolved among the hobben that bears marked similarities to the Faith and may share a common root. Because the Esperan hobben cannot legally practice their faith, many do so secretly at great risk, living in fear of the Inquisition. The religion of the Word is so named because its members follow the Word of Shujaat, who they believe to be the true prophet of Iilhi, a Hobben word meaning “Divine”. The Word finds room to embrace the gods worshiped by others into the religion, although they are believed merely to be powerful jinn. 
• The Dwarven Pantheon, touched on in the description Dwarves below. Technically, they are also considered Old Gods.
• The Old Gods, a broad and dismissive catch-all term used by practitioners of the Faith to refer all other gods that came before and have been (or should be) abandoned. Nature deities and powerful genius loci, elemental powers, and other stranger gods have been worshipped across Uraopia and elsewhere in Tierra, and many still carry on their ancient practices in private or the secrecy of small communities. 

Races

Other races that can be found in and around the nation of Gallian include:

• The Drakken: a reptilian race thought to be related to Tierra’s drakes and the dragons of legend. Like the drakes for which they are named, drakken are born with an inherent affinity for one of four classical elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Their culture is divided into four Descendancies split along these elemental lines.
• The Dremund: a race of humanoid rodents known for their adaptability, their mercantile culture, their fecundity as a species, and their loyalty to kith, kin, and comrades. Dremund follow a set of laws that their race holds in an esteem bordering on sacred known as the Conventions of Comportment, and each family line has their own additions to the code known as their Decorum. 
• The Dwarves: the dwarves are a pragmatic yet spiritual race. Their old religion is one of the most unique in all of Tierra, telling the creation myth of the stone god Dwarth who shaped them from the stone where they already existed in potential. Many dwarves also hold to the philosophy of Geodogmatacy, which holds that knowledge and wisdom is held within the earth and rock all around, waiting to be untapped. Sadly the old ways are being abandoned, as the Dwarven Kings of Detzhald have long been affiliated with the Holy Empire of the Divinity and are even known as the Holy Emperors. 
• The Elves: descendants of outsiders from the realms of the Fey, the elves once belonged to the Summer Court. The tale they tell is that they were manipulated into betraying their current master by the Queen of Winter, after which she refused to take them into her own court on the grounds that she couldn't trust known traitors. With nowhere else to turn they settled on Tierra, where they became mortal. While exceptions do exist most of the elves of Tierra are arrogant, proud, and often cruel. The so-called "high" elves who rule Espera distanced themselves from their fey roots long ago. 
• The Hobben: a highly advanced race in both academia, spiritualism, and war, the hobben have their own empire elsewhere in Tierra. In the past they conquered large portions of the nations now known as Espera and Artuga, bringing the elven society there low. When the Caliphate of Pontola was finally driven back, many hobben settlers were left behind. They have integrated into the elven-ruled society, becoming the backbone of Esperan labour and military might. As the "face" of Espera's army, and due to the tensions between Espera and Gallian, hobben in Gallian find themselves subject to more hostility than the elves themselves (who, since they are typically nobles, are often too dangerous to provoke).
• The Hoeflin: the hoeflin are a race that in some other worlds might be referred to as halflings, but you should never let one hear you use that derogatory word! Despite their small stature, the hoeflin race are fierce, proud, and brave. They are a warrior race, known for fighting with their signature sword—the hoeflin claymore. Along with humanity, the hoeflin are one of the two ruling races of Alben, to the south. 
• Dual-Blooded: Other than Half-Elves and Half-Hobben, who find themselves on the margins of both parent races and inheriting the prejudices against both, there are also the rare and tragic Half-Orakk. The latter are born after raids by the vile orakk, who are more like a plague than a species. When the orakk rise from their dark lairs the civilised world unites to crush them, but they return and spread like a malignant cancer. Sad as it is, most half-orakk parents don't bring their child to term, ending the life of their child or their own instead. Other half-orakks are killed immediately after birth. And perhaps this is a kindness in the end, for half-orakks must endure universal hate, fear, and scorn. Worse still, they must endure the dark urges that sometimes rise up as though a calling from their very blood, or else fall to them and become the very monster others see them as.