Dacians (▸ˈdeɪʃɪnz◂)
Dacians are an ethnicity of Regal Elves that claim the many forests and holts of the Dacemyra as their native range. They are magically bound to these lands and wear living accoutre, made from their homewood, when traveling abroad. Dacians are the tallest of the Regal Elves, regarded for their beauty, elegance, and grace, and believe they are the master race, having sole and sovereign rights over the fate of the world. They have a variant lifespan between sexes, with females living three to five times longer than their male counterparts, and have a matriarchal society that is highly stratified by gender, legacy, and wealth. Dacians are nontheistic, rather glorifying their ancestors and legacy, their venerable forests, and the Great Spirits of the world. The reverence of these sacred integrants is performed by a dedicated class of priests, through continuous and guarded rituals, that are alleged to have lasted for millennia. Like all Elves, Dacians are innately magical, but have very little diversity or strength in their ability, and often use Reece-imbued living accoutre to augment and amplify their effectiveness. They also have a low tolerance for spellcasters, considering the act brutish and harmful to Maneau, but have recently ventured into the practice out of a necessity created by the explicit threat from their Arcadian rivals, thus maintaining a small, and highly regulated core of mages dedicated to research and the defense of the realm. Dacians control the oldest of the three prominent empires in the world, and were major belligerents in the Ages Wars, which resulted in vast devastation and the collapse of the Old World Order. They are a contracting party to the Treaties of Ahdequin, and thus have agreed to support the post-racial ideologies set forth therein and work together with the other nations of the world to ensure the success of the New World Order.
The Endless Dream
Elves do not experience sleep as traditionally understood by the other Peoples of the world, rather their sleep is a ritually entered, meditative state where they join into a shared and endless dream, simultaneously experienced across Elfindom. Here they relive the transpired events witnessed since their last sleep, and can explore the experiences of their cousins in a timeless and fluid manner. They may also dive deeper into the dream, into a more refined and static space, where they can attempt guidance from the past experiences of their ancestors. Elven sages claim that these memories are dynamic and interactive, and can even present as fully formed representations of Elven ancestors.
While the Long Memory is a foundational component, and universally experienced phenomenon, inconsistencies do exist between the many and varied societies across the Elven Racial Group. Opponents point to these anomalies when attempting to discredit the historicity of the Memory, but Dacian sages maintain that these discrepancies exist only as a result of the undisciplined methods employed by most of their Elven cousins, and claim that the rituals practiced across their society purify their interactions and create clear and indisputable results.
Dacian Hegemony
Many societies across the Elven Racial Group share a common belief that Elves were the first sentient life, and thus hold a privileged place over that of the other Peoples of the world, when concerning affairs related to the many uses of the various environments. This belief often acts as an innate barrier to Elven relations with their racial neighbors, but is rarely more prominent than the benefits of reaching a mutual understanding and normalizing relations. However, Dacian society developed with this belief as its core tenant, and has driven them into broader, and more devastating conflict with all the Peoples of the world. Elven Hegemony, or Dacian Hegemony as it is referred to by other Elven societies seeking to distance and differentiate themselves from their unpopular cousins, is this belief in practice. It is the institutionalization of expansion, exploitation, and extirpation, and the justification for their many extreme and nefarious policies. The Dacian Empire enjoyed millennia of unchecked influence over the affairs of the Inner Seas, propagating the looming menace of the Kindoms that threatened to spring from the foreboding wilderness and envelope the world, as the worse, and only option in opposition to the growing cruelty of their practices; thus creating a festering animosity that inevitably erupted into centuries of brutal warfare, as the Peoples of Arcadia and Kora pushed back in the twilight of the Age of Dacia. The centuries of strife and destruction that beset the world following the sunset of the millennia of Dacian supremacy, is today replaced by the New World Order, where Dacian Hegemony is checked by the Treaties of Ahdequin and governed by the universal consent of the world.
Dacian Accoutre
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Dacian Magic
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History
Dacians are the most hegemonic and dominant of all Elves, claiming supremacy and sovereignty over all Elfindom, and jurisdiction over the fate of the world. They are insistent that the record of their Long Memory supports their claim, as it links their ancestors as peers of the legendary Master Race of the Quen, and heirs to their legacy. This belief has driven the Dacians to near constant conflict with their racial neighbors throughout history, and justified the exploitation of the labor and resources of any and all that they desired. Over the millennia since the Ruinous Age, they've built a world empire that dominated the affairs of the Inner Seas, and demanded tribute from all Peoples within the reach of their influence. However, recent centuries have seen their dominance and control wain as the rise of the Arcadian Empire has usurped their influence, and forced the Dacians to retreat from their once peerless heights. This conflict has been nearly continuous, sapping the strength of their empire, inciting turmoil within their ancient society, and halting their quest for world hegemony.The Elven Long Memory and the Dacian World View
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The Elven Long Memory is a magical phenomenon unique to the Elven experience, and is presented as a reliable and factual record of history by several of their more prominent societies. This claim is widely debated in academia, as the Memory is often cited in contradiction to more substantial evidence standing in contrary to the Elven narrative. Arcadian institutions have led the way in recent decades to supplant the Long Memory's prominence in academia through efforts aimed at tying their own historical traditions to observable evidence. Despite these, and other efforts, the Long Memory continues to serve as the foundational context of the modern historical narrative, due primarily to the lingering influence leftover from the ancient Age of Dacia.The Endless Dream
Elves do not experience sleep as traditionally understood by the other Peoples of the world, rather their sleep is a ritually entered, meditative state where they join into a shared and endless dream, simultaneously experienced across Elfindom. Here they relive the transpired events witnessed since their last sleep, and can explore the experiences of their cousins in a timeless and fluid manner. They may also dive deeper into the dream, into a more refined and static space, where they can attempt guidance from the past experiences of their ancestors. Elven sages claim that these memories are dynamic and interactive, and can even present as fully formed representations of Elven ancestors.
While the Long Memory is a foundational component, and universally experienced phenomenon, inconsistencies do exist between the many and varied societies across the Elven Racial Group. Opponents point to these anomalies when attempting to discredit the historicity of the Memory, but Dacian sages maintain that these discrepancies exist only as a result of the undisciplined methods employed by most of their Elven cousins, and claim that the rituals practiced across their society purify their interactions and create clear and indisputable results.
Dacian Hegemony
Many societies across the Elven Racial Group share a common belief that Elves were the first sentient life, and thus hold a privileged place over that of the other Peoples of the world, when concerning affairs related to the many uses of the various environments. This belief often acts as an innate barrier to Elven relations with their racial neighbors, but is rarely more prominent than the benefits of reaching a mutual understanding and normalizing relations. However, Dacian society developed with this belief as its core tenant, and has driven them into broader, and more devastating conflict with all the Peoples of the world. Elven Hegemony, or Dacian Hegemony as it is referred to by other Elven societies seeking to distance and differentiate themselves from their unpopular cousins, is this belief in practice. It is the institutionalization of expansion, exploitation, and extirpation, and the justification for their many extreme and nefarious policies. The Dacian Empire enjoyed millennia of unchecked influence over the affairs of the Inner Seas, propagating the looming menace of the Kindoms that threatened to spring from the foreboding wilderness and envelope the world, as the worse, and only option in opposition to the growing cruelty of their practices; thus creating a festering animosity that inevitably erupted into centuries of brutal warfare, as the Peoples of Arcadia and Kora pushed back in the twilight of the Age of Dacia. The centuries of strife and destruction that beset the world following the sunset of the millennia of Dacian supremacy, is today replaced by the New World Order, where Dacian Hegemony is checked by the Treaties of Ahdequin and governed by the universal consent of the world.
Origins
Character
Dacians are the most zealous pursuers of the ideals of Elven racial supremacy and hegemony, and the most vain and indecorous advocates of their elegance and beauty. They always consider their needs and goals as intrinsically tied to the betterment of the world, and use the magic of their innate charisma to manipulate weaker minds to their own benefit. Dacians believe that all other Denizens are a pestilence beset to grind the fruits of the world under their collective industry, and justify their cruelty and dominance towards the Races they exploit as their right in their defense of Maneau, and the survival of the world. They consider the ideation of divinities as unnatural, and irrefutable evidence of the inferior nature of the lesser Races, and hold their own veneration of the ancient forests and eternal Great Spirits as a harmonious example of their own eternal nature. Dacian society immortalizes these ideals of supremacy, beauty, and eternity in great works of art and music that transcend the entropy of time. They cultivate great, heraldic trees over millennia into expansive living structures that tell their history through every twist of branch and vine, and shape the breezes through their eternal canopies to sing soft songs that praise their presence and efforts.Appearance
Dacians are regarded as the most elegant and beautiful of all the Ahdequin Races, and are the archetype of the Elven Racial Group across Arcadia, and the wider Caditia. They are the tallest of all Elves, with males and females averaging 76" and 70" respectively, and their features are sharp and delicate, featuring prominent noses, angled check bones, slender jaws, and large, almond shaped eyes. The Dacian ear is also unique amongst their racial cousins, as it boasts an extended tip akin to the dewclaw of a dragon's wing, which is often adorned with gemmed hoops and studs, chains, or metallic sheathes. They are generally the palest of their racial cousins, having smooth, flawless skin that is subtly reflective of natural light, and long, straight hair colored in the soft shades of flowers native to their homewood. Dacian clothing is also representative of their homewoodDacian Accoutre
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Dacian Magic
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