The races and tribes of Nitor - part 1 - origins of the races · 6:08am Feb 5th, 2020
Since I feel like sharing some stuff on the setting of Splintered Sky, but don't want to get too spoilery, I figure something I can talk about are the races and their tribes.
The races of Nitor are descendants of one of Harmony's original creations, a species of beings who's original name is lost to the sands of time, but are known today as the "harmonious ones". Within the harmonious ones, there were three distinct sub-races, or tribes, each with a gift given to them by the Empress to help fulfill their role in her world. Despite their differences, the tribes were still one people, and were inter-fertile with one another, though children born were always of one tribe. When the Empress retreated to hold back the chaos, the harmonious ones began to follow her children. After The Splintering, the harmonious ones became divided, with a portion of their number following the centaur that they worshiped. Over time, they diverged even further, becoming more reflective of their patron deity.
Today, the harmonious ones are gone, and the three races that follow the centaurs have replaced them, with new names of each tribe to reflect this change. Tribes marked with an asterisk are ascendants, which can arise from any of the three tribes when one of their number bonds with a special type of creature allied with their patron centaur.
Nice!
thanks for the info
Umbrum and umbra-keepers might cause a bit of confusion, but I doubt the two meet very often. Still, very cool bit of world-building.
Are there distinct visual differences between the various factions? Or do they all look pretty much the same and it's more of a cultural divide?
5197707
Thank you.
5197760
You're welcome.
5197769
They don't. Mostly because Sombra's people are hated by both the sun-gazers and the night-weavers, whom they hate in turn. Shadow-stalkers are also few in number compared to the other two races, and are nomadic.
5197799
There are some anatomical differences between the three, but not much in terms of overall morphology.
For example: Sun-gazers, having strong diurnal tendencies, have very good color and distance vision, but poor night eyes. Night-weavers, conversely, have excellent night vision, but can't see color very well, and their eyes are very light sensitive, with bright light easily blinding them. Shadow-stalkers are completely colorblind, but have exceptional detail vision, and can operate in both bright light, and near total darkness.
Interesting. Are there any other races? Based on changelings, griffins, dragons, hippogrifs etc. I mean.
5208145
I haven't really decided yet, but its a possibility. The exception is the changelings, who are allied with Sombra and his the shadow-stalkers.
Dragons do exist, and are comprised of five different genera: Wyrms (greedy, four legged, winged creatures), Wyverns (feral, venomous, winged, two-legged predators), Hydras (territorial, multiheaded, freshwater predators), Linnorms (violent, serpentine creatures with one pair of forelimbs) and Longs (peaceful, serpentine, oceanic creatures).
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I have ask. How intelligent they are? Can you talk with them? Can they change into humanoids with magic? Asking mostly because of Ember and Smolder.
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Longs, linnorms and wyrms are intelligent and capable of speech. Most of them speak their own dialect of draconic, with only a few rare individuals that dein to learn the languages of the "lesser' races. And, if they ally with a centaur, they can learn that centaur's magic type.
As a general trend, most dragons avoid areas immediately around Solaria and Selenia, due to a history of conflict with the two nations. The sun-gazers and night-weavers do not trust dragons, which is a sentiment they return. Conversely, many linnorms and wyrms ally with Sombra and the shadow-stalkers as they get older. Longs, being oceanic, do not really have contact with either.
If Ember or Smoulder were to enter into the story, they'd most likely be associated with Selenia, as both are wyrms, which are mostly found in the north.
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Thank you.