Races of the Ring Realms


General Race Notes

Common Fantasy Races
General Race Notes Humans in the Realms Elves in the Realms Dwarves in the Realms Other Realms Beings
Ring Realms Unique Races
Elder Race Overview First ones & Descendants The Race of Jyril The Race of Kriar The Race of Eternals
The Race of Numanorians The Pantheon Lords The Race of Savants Abyssal/Planes/Elementals The Cyber Race

General Race Notes

For purposes of the reference in the Realms, the word 'race' is used somewhat more loosely. Typically, race refers to a sub-species of the same basic genetic that only has minor differences in physical traits; skin, hair, and eye color physical dimensions and proportions.

In the realms, there are many anthropoid lifeforms (see the lifeforms section) that generally resemble one another but share no common genetic ancestor. In the realms where magic is prevalent, the balance of the non-human population is predominantly made up of the "faerie" or "magical" races. This entire group of races can trace all of their ancestorage to a common root in the elder race of Silcanna that are sometimes called the silver elves.

The Origins of the Faerie Races

Though there's no specific evidence of it (besides some gross similarities), it is speculated that the Silcanna are descended from the oldest race indiginous to Eternity, the Sidri. As the speculation goes, the Silcanna are a crossing of the Sidri and Metath lines. If so, it would explain how a largely technical race would develop the powerful magical and psionic talents attributed to the Silcanna.

The Silcanna were both technical and magical in nature and there is a smattering of historical evidence to show that this duality caused a great deal of interracial conflict. Whatever the case, the Silcanna were a star-fairing culture with ships that seeded most of the worlds of the 27th Magocracy long before human-kind had any strong foothold there. The exact number of worlds where Silcanna colonies were established is unknown, but evidence of their presence can be found in most of the known worlds in the magical rings of the realms.

For reasons unknown, the Silcanna tampered with their own genetic makeup and from them burgeoned some distinct sub-species. These species were the earliest progenitors of the races that would come to be known as Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, and Elves. It is speculated that these genetically engineered sub-species were created as servitors. The Dwarves were miners, the Halflings in-home menials, and the Gnomes engineers. Note that the these progenitors only superficially resembled the "small folk" we know today. They all had a distinctly more "elven" aspect to their appearance. Proof of this rests only in a scant few archeological finds. The pre-dwarfs were only slightly smaller than their Silcanna progenitors, but broader and more muscular with a thicker bone structure to accomodate lifting and leverage. The pre-halflings and pre-gnomes show similar task-specific adaptations. Interbreeding of these pre-races and environment further evolved these sub-species over time.

The Elves we know today have their own distinct sub-species the gray elves (who most resemble the Silcanna genetically), the high elves, the wood elves, and sea elves. [NOTE: there are actually more sub-species of elves but these 5 are the roots from which further divergences occur.] The Elven offshoot of the Silcanna is the subject of the greatest mystery. That they are Silcanna descendent as with the other sub-species is without doubt. However, where there are specific and obviously intentional mutations in the Dwarven, Halfling, and Gnomish ancestors, no such "deliberate" alteration of Silcanna heredity can be found in the Elves. Thus, it is widely believed that the Elves are the result of an intertwining between the Silcanna and the either the Teritaani or Numanorians (there is hereditary evidence to support both suppositions). The truth of the matter is there may have been multiple half-Silcanna offspring. This would lend credence to one theory that speculates that Carellion Lothlarien (the patron diety of the Elves) is actually a result of a pairing between a Silcanna and one of the pantheon lords.

Archeological evidence of the Silcanna ends well before the first significant developments in human civilization in the Realms. Though the real reason for their disappearance is largely unknown, there is significant evidence to suggest that infighting was the central cause. The mythologies of the Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes all have a common theme of being "freed" from various forms of control. This invites the supposition that perhaps that a servitor rebellion may be at the root of the Silcanna vanishing from the Realms. The way that Silcanna lore and records were so thoroughly destroyed indicates a powerful hatred and desire to remove all memory of these creatures.

Though the accounts have never been confirmed. It is rumored that some few of the Silcanna may still remain.

Other Races in the Magic Realms

There are literally dozens of "races" in the magical realms, specifically those intelligent species which have some associated culture. A large number of these races are gathered under the title of "monster races" which include many familiar creatures such as dragons, giants, orcs, ogres, trolls, goblins, lizardfolk, merfolk and numerous others. Humans and the faerie races are in constant contention with the monster races for food and resources. It is this contention that has created and cultivated greater strength and magical power amongst the human and faery cultures. This evolution-through-hardship is what makes the typical member of the magic worlds so much more robust than the average technical world individual.