Editing Kulmorost Divided (section)

=== Humans ===
The Humans (also called Haumics) are mostly non-magic using scum who were driven to the cold Northern Wastes in the War of Human Exodus long ago in the ancient times. In modern times, they hover on the brink of extinction, living in [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|barbaric xenophobic]] nomad/barbarian tribes with a messiah-figure in the form of a conqueror who will unite their tribes. They are barely eking out an existence in the frigid, unforgiving wastes. 

Most form various kinds of primitive tribes. One particular interest is those tribes who herd ''Wooly rhinos''. Wooly Rhinos reproduce slowly, and consume massive amounts of food, making them extremely valuable in Human society. Only a few Human nomad tribes and townships near the coasts and the Troll lands have access to these magnificent beasts, and due to the advantages they bring, they will not part with their monopoly anytime soon.

The rest of the Humans make do with walking, and they are infamous among other races for their ability to march nonstop for days, even without magical assistance, if need be.

There are a couple cities which occupy themselves in other "trades" like piracy and raiding. Examples of these cities listed below.

They still resent the more magically gifted races for what their ancestors did, and many tribes raid southern civilizations to supplement their hunting and gathering during the cold season. Despite their magical inability, Humans are still extremely good at killing things, and many of the more civilized races fear that eventually an ambitious Human chieftain will arise and unite all tribes under one banner, forming an unstoppable horde.

[[File:Human_Knight.jpg|thumb|left|Scare other races to the bone]]

Some tribes of human have great affinity for working metal. They use it to create monstrous masked suits of armour, crafted to resemble the dead (usually shaped to the likeness of a relative's skull). The sight of these warriors strikes fear into the hearts of most civilized creatures. And very few live to tell of these abominable Iron Revenants.

"Clad in all that ghastly metal. Why would the living strive to become like the dead? Surely that cold iron freezes their hearts as well." -''The Shades of the North'', a study by Yulyn, Elvish Scholar.

It is impossible for Humans to reproduce with Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, or Goblins. Of course, this doesn't stop them from trying. The few who have laid with Humans know that the rumors of their almost supernatural endurance are not exaggerated.

Curiously, some legends state that the Magical Races are offspring of humans. While other legends say the magical races were created by an entirely different being.

==== Important Human Cities ====
*'''Tempest Edge''': The Tempest Edge sits on the most west point of Northern coast overlooking the Storm ocean. Here sits the Silent King. So named as the wind speaks for him and brings news of when to go into open waters or when to wait. In exhange he gave up his human tongue....Or so the elvish survivors tell. His ships come during both the worst weather boats can survive and in an eery quiet seemingly brought on by the men themselves, his warriors plundering villages and cities wordlessly before returning back to open sea with the same unsettling silence as they arrived.<br />  This human city has very poor and frozen earth, which leads most men to seek nourishment from dangerous waters of the ocean. Only the best survive this test of nature, molding them into perfect sailors whom their king wields with brutal efficacy. Hidden by storm, fog or rain from the eyes of Sot Watch Tower, he remains unpunished for his deeds. But the journey is always dangerous and deadly so beside the skilled men of Tempest, only madmen and martyrs join his raids. For their bravery, the Silent King builds great tombs for all human remains returned from their raids.
*'''Frostfrontier''': a human city on the coast of the Val sea. It has an underground section as well as an above ground one. It is one of the most important human ports, and you can find most kinds of humans within it. It began as an underground settlement nestled in a massive cave system and it has stood for at least 500 years. It houses the largest market of the Haumic lands, and has been ruled from the beginning by a family of centaurs.
*'''Toren''': Deep in the frozen northern coast of Talahaca lies the Toren volcano. In its shadow lives a particularly stubborn tribe of humans who are generally territorial and extremely protective of their warm and fertile lands - many have tried to conquer them and as of yet none have succeeded. This tribe has taken its name after the volcano: the Defenders of Toren. Another frequent cause of battles is that the Defenders are followers of "The Mother Toren". They hold many negative stories about other humans close to heart, (usually calling them Oathbreakers) typically revolving around the Defenders being wronged somehow in the War of Human Exodus. The true reason is forgotten, as the Defenders are illiterate, their history passed down through the generations as spoken word. Tales of the Oathbreaking are too nimerous wide ranging to truly decipher whatever wrongdoing occurred to make them despise their fellow man.<br />  Many other tribes, in turn, see the Defenders as heretics and  betrayers of their fellows, undeserving of their rich lands and worthy only of conquest. No wonder they are frequently attacked - the Defenders have a saying that "a summer without a siege is a great one indeed!". <br />The Defenders have adapted to their role particularly well - their villages are defensible forts linked by secret tunnels. Their lava-forges, although lacking steel or silver, produce large amounts of iron spears, shields, and arrows. The Defenders could become quite wealthy by selling these high quality weapons, yet they understandably fear that these weapons would be turned against them in the coming years. Combined with their general disdain of the the other tribes, they rarely if ever engage in trade.<br />  The Defenders are ruled by three forgemaster-commanders who decide what is produced, what is built, and who lead the defense of the tribe.
*'''Grimbridge''': The Grimbridge tribe sits by both sides of the old stone bridge, built long before they arrived. The bridge lays across river Stern (the large northern river which flows to Val sea). Known for their great strength and wealth among all the other local tribes.<br /> mostly due to every trader who wants to cross the river having to pay a toll and every raiding party crossing said bridge has to share a small part of their spoils, with any number of steelclad grimbride warriors stationed to enforce their claim as well as their tithes.
*'''Lemon Keep''': Situated on a small island west of The Neck is the Lemon Keep of the Latrosia family. They are a small but still somewhat rich family, one of the few noble houses that still exist after the Exodus. <br /> The castle is well made (built immediately after the Exodus) and easily defended from non-magical races. It is known for the trees that grow within the walls (merely a few lemon and orange trees) which is where it gains its many nicknames, The Lemon Keep, Yellow hill, Treehold and so on. <br /> If one is passing through the Neck you'll come close to the fort, making it a popular spot for Raiding parties looking to rest or the occasional traveler/trader. These factors all contribute to why the Latrosia family has kept its wealth and land for all this time (you wouldn't believe how much silver someone returning from an extended stay in troll territory will pay for a lemonade). The family is well connected with the pirate lords as well as the Valkery Cathedral and lords of Frostfontier.<br /> There are plenty of tribes and other people that would love to get rid of the family and have the land for themselves, but the Lemon Keep is so well fortified, supplied and easily defensible it's not really a good idea trying to lay siege to it as the family can just wait the invaders out.

==== Human Religion ====

Humans mostly practice ancestor worship and believe bones are sacred except for the ones who use bones for everything out of spite. Some believe in the winged goddess '''Valkery''', mother of all humans. Upon their death she pulls out soul from the bones and leads them to paradise. Though should their bones be disturbed she won't be able to pull soul out, that's why they are so protective of the bones. It is also believed if you reclaim (or die trying) bones of the disturbed your sins will be forgiven.

This leads to many criminals and alike to atone for their sins and go south with raiding party in one or several men crusade.

Also there is many kinds of myths about the One who will unite the tribes and lead them back to south. Fortunately for the rest of races, this has not happened yet.

Somewhere between the River of Death and Stern lies most important religious site for all humans, the '''Valkery Cathedral'''. A monument built from steel and stone when humans only arrived to Northern wastes. 

Warrior-monks live here guarding whole place from any intruders as not only it is sacred ground for praying, many chieftains find this place to recieve blessing of the goddess before taking leadership of their clan, it became common practice for them to bring remains of the last leader with them to put those bones in sprawling catacombs.

But unknown to most this place also holds library with tomes and books that humans brought with them after being driven north. The books that hold untainted by dwaves knowledge about times before exodus

==== Unorthodox Cults ====

*'''Of Pirate Lords''': There's a pretty simple reason that you rarely see the Pirate Lords in the northern segments of the wastes. They fear not simply for their lives but also for their souls. You see a common suspicion among the Pirate Lords is that Large bodies of water (including lakes rivers and the ocean) are the eyes of the Valkery into the mortal world. If one dies reasonably close to these places you are fine, but if you die too far from water then the Valkery will never know you died and won't come to collect your soul, leaving your soul trapped inside your rotting body until it is brought close enough to a body of water for the Valkery to see it and recover the soul. Not exactly an experience that most are in favour of. As such they rarely venture inland and if they do it is mostly via the water ways.
**'''Heresy among pirates''': It's become a somewhat custom among Human Pirate Lords to keep captured Elven women as concubines, to symbolize Mankind's supposed superiority over the Magical races. The fact that most Elves are quite attractive by Human standards and remain youthful for many decades is also a reason for this practice. Elves of noble blood and/or arcane talent are considered more valuable, because "humbling" them is much more satisfying. Those who follow the custom are a sizable minority among the Human Pirate Kings and Warlords of the Val Sea but as time goes on, it's becoming more acceptable. <br />Being captured by a Human pirate is the worst nightmare of many Elven noblewomen. Most Humans of the South believe that breeding with other races is permissible, (if somewhat distasteful) so long as the Human doesn't become attached or form a lasting relationship with a member of an "Inferior" race or begin to lust after other races over Humans. A few Human deviants believe that interspecies breeding should be encouraged but they are an incredibly small minority. <br />Many Humans view this custom as degenerate and blasphemous in the eyes of the Valkery, but they tolerate it because most of the Men who adhere to the custom are important to Human society. Though not everyone accepts this behavior of those pirates. More orthodox followers of Valkery refuse such pirates entry into ports or villages, while zealot warriors or greedy for spoils can even launch "crusade" against "hedonistic scum who left light of the Goddess and were seduced by elven sorceress"
*'''Northern Cult of City of Bones''': Deep on the north, surrounded by traps and hidden from plain view, lies most sacred place for all northern tribes - City of Bones, where all souls come to rest. It's not really cities, but a very several burial mounds and bone pits placed near each other, surrounding a temple made of Winged Goddes, made entirely from bones. Around that temple rised bone pits, burial mounds, tombs and shrines of many clans and tribes. It's a sacred ground, where spilling blood and killing a humans are strictly forbidden. <br />Once in year, this place is full of pyres and feasting humans - they all honoring their ancestors and the Winged Goddess. It's a tradition to add a bone of Hero or prominent chieftain into a Temple, expanding it power. Their Southern brothers view this cult a little heretical and rather impractical and so won't indulge such silliness, going to the Cathedral instead.
*'''The Grave lords''': Graves Lords were several very close to each other clans on the East coast of Wastes who were followers of City of Bones until one day they refused to follow laws of Valkery. <br />This rebellion against goddess they followed with plundering of the graves for the bones and donning them on over their armor. For this act they got their name but they were quickly squashed by union of angered clans and driven out of Northern Wastes to live on frozen islands in Ocean of Tahalaca. <br />These outcasts proclaim they worship a '''God of Death,''' unknown god by anyone outside of their clans and to this day not one captured clansmen has told anything about their god beside the fact that ''he gave them power no human ever had''. What is known though that they practice eating in moderation Trolls or Dwarven flesh captured in their raids. Dark powers and insanity they gain from it are even scarier since everything about them after rebellion is just frightening rumors.
*'''Cult of Mother Toren''': Completely heretical, Defenders of Toren volcano venerate her as the Mother of all Life instead of mother Valkery, who they completely ignore.
*'''Cult of the River of Death''': Few primitive human tribes worship the north-flowing River of Death, saying that it carries the souls of the dead. Their relationship with the City of Bones is not known.

==== Baseless Rumors ====

Not everyone in the human lands have read the thousands of books about the world, so many humans of different parts of the Northern Wastes hold these stories as truth:

Lemon Keep Lords actually are elves, so inbred with humans so they looks like humans! I swear, their ears are longer than other humans!

Don't drink the lemonade - it's laced with mind control drugs. To protect yourself from it, add a licorice. 

They say deep in North lies a tribe who learned secret how to make a Star Steel, from real stars, stolen from the sky! It can cleave a stone in half with ease and sings when swinging. 

Bone Lords are coming. They rising our ancestors against us so they can rule whole world. 

Pirates are up to something. I swear, more and more ships sails into Storm Ocean. And why they buying a live rhinos? It's not like they gonna milk them...

They say there was ancient race, who created every races. Doblings, I think. So these Doblins, in fact, was Humans! I don't lie, an ancestors told me these when I drinked a mushroom potion!

There is ancient ruins on South, somewhere in the mountains. It's full of strange things

Dwarves are making a self-driving wagon cart. With no magic at all!

Elven wine can turn you into  a elf if you drinks it too much. True story!

A ghost roams on eastern coast, looking for a passage into a Forsaken Isle. He claims his name is Riley. 

Elks numbers are dwindling, so some tribes are really desperate for food. Look closely to jerky you trade with tribes - some are made from beast much more common than elk and woolly rhinos. 

Some people say you can navigate yourself looking at the stars. If you follow a Goddess Light in a darkest night, you can find a way everywhere you want to go. And I mean everywhere. 

Lesians sure friendly, but what they are up to? Are they using us against elves? Testing us? Or their intentions are far more sinister?

When a babies cries for a first time in their life, they remember lives of our ancestors, long before dwarfs driven us out. They remember this and cries for our fate. 

They say some Dwarves are not dwarves at all! Someone called them Halfmins, and dwarves drives them out from their homes, just like us! We must band together with them against dwarves!

They say there is an Elven tribe lives in our lands. Vicious and cunning bastards they are.