The Origins of Hrashchar's Peoples

Hrashchar's first settlers

  Hrashchar's current stock of diverse races and people groups is the legacy of the elder races of Char Navash. Through the gifts of the divine, meddling from other extra-planar forces, the aftermath of powerful sorcery and natural evolutionary processes, these elder races diversified over millennia and became the peoples that occupy Hrashchar in Chak Hruun's 7th millennium.  

Togi

The togi were proto-humanoids evolved from the apes of Hrashchar's southern jungle. So far as can be reasonably determined, they were the only elder race to have arisen out of the world's animal kingdom.   As such, there was a close affinity between the togi and Char Navash's eldest deities, those great Beast Chiefs who ran free in the wilds of creation long before arrival of true intelligence in the world's creatures.   The close affinity between animal gods and the togi led to changes in both over time. As the togi's intelligence burgeoned, so too did the intellectual capacities of their gods, touched as they were by higher minds. The gods, in turn, imparted something of their animal nature to their closest followers, which led to the formation of the six hybrid peoples that now walk Hrashchar: gnolls, tabaxi, tritons, aarakocra, minotaurs and loxodons. Those who have travelled furthest from Hrashchar have reported rumours of other races created by other gods in distant lands.   Some togi remained more or less untouched by the gods and evolved over time into present-day humans. A few among these humans have found their own divine path among the animal deities of their ancestors and ascended to become savage, shapeshifting Godbeasts.   The remaining descendants of the togi are much smaller communities born in specific circumstances from ordinary humans. Shifters are the offspring of a human and one of the hybrid peoples, taking on limited animal traits. Aasimar, tieflings and kalashtar are all born in from the union of a human and one who bears the blood of celestials, infernals and dream spirits respectively.  

Descendants of the togi

In order of approximate size of population on Hrashchar:

• Gnolls
• Tabaxi
• Tritons
• Aarakocra
• Minotaurs
• Loxodons
• Humans
• Shifters
• Kalashtar
• Tieflings
• Aasimar

 

Orkrell

The orkrell laid claim to the oldest civilisation on Hrashchar, building cities around Chavash Blue that now lie in ruins. Though their precise origin is shrouded in mystery, legend has it that they arrived from another world thousands of years ago in vast, rocky vessels that settled in the Koshton ocean to become the Koshtonir archipelago.   The orkrell, like their present-day progeny, worshipped an otherworldly pantheon. It is now widely accepted that their gods reside in a collection of realms entirely distinct from both Char Navash and the extra-planar homes of other Hrashchar pantheons.   Of their modern descendants, orcs are biologically closest to the orkrell. When the orkrell civilisation fell in a cataclysm in the distant past, the ordinary folk of the kingdom escaped to what is now the Koshtonir archipelago. Millennia of struggles to survive in that harsh, wild environment saw the ancient orkrell become notably taller and more muscular than their descendants, their skin darkening from light grey to a ruddy grey-green. At some point, they simply began to call themselves orcs.   The various elven races are those who were changed by the cataclysm. A natural affinity with magic was born in them that gave them an otherworldly appearance, unprecedented longevity and a tendency towards emotional extremes. The wood elves, high elves, drow, sea elves, eladrin and shadar-kai were all shaped in different ways, and dispersed over time to limit their devastating conflicts and rebuild their societies. Okrin are the offspring of an orc and one of these elven races.   The vedalken emerged much later, after Chak Hruun was founded. They claimed to have fled directly from the Realm of Thought, escaping from servitude to the tyrannical Livranka, long worshipped by orcs and elves as the god of knowledge.  

Descendants of the orkrell

In order of approximate size of population on Hrashchar:

• Orcs
• Wood elves
• Okrin
• High elves
• Drow
• Sea Elves
• Eladrin
• Shadar-kai
• Vedalken

 

Sennyth

The youngest of the founding races, the hobgoblins of Avail claim that their sennyth ancestors were created from rock and water by the Bolgrim, a race of extra-planar beings that some goblinoids worship as gods. Their origin is believed to be somewhere on the continent of Ekrys.   Sennyth were small, but similar in shape to the togi and orkrell. Perhaps their creators were inspired by the peoples that already occuppied Hrashchar. Their skin was a variety of hues, usually alabaster white, deep blue or burnt red.   Hobgoblins claim to be the closest descendants of sennyth, but their forefathers were made bigger and stronger by Osta, a daughter of the Bolgrim who broke from their ranks to become the patron of her own people. She is now revered as the first queen of Ostanner.   The sennyth that migrated to mainland Hrashchar and settled in the Otovrast Mountains changed over time into modern goblins as they were exposed to the magical properties of the rocks and lakes in that region.   Goliaths, originating in the Fists of the Moon, were shaped by interbreeding with trolls when one of the Bolgrim altered sennyth physiology in the region to make such a union possible.   Bugbears do not live on Hrashchar in numbers, but they are believed to be the only sennyth race to have been touched by Char Navash's Beast Chiefs in the same way as many togi.   The enigmatic gith are rarely seen. They grew out of a small group of sennyth who were given the ability to travel between planes by one faction within the Bolgrim. Planar travel altered them profoundly over time, giving them a similar otherworldly appearance to the elves and limited innate magic.  

Descendents of the sennyth

In order of approximate size of the population on Hrashchar:

• Goblins
• Goliaths
• Hobgoblins
• Bugbears
• Gith

 

Dwerrin

Dwerrin originated when an ancient pantheon sacrificed themselves to gift a race of beings from another plane the power needed to bring themselves to Char Navash and reshape their bodies into vessels that could survive in their new world. They settled in the idyllic environment south of Lake Evercold.   Perhaps reflecting differences in the original races, dwerrin physiology began to diversify within a few generations (thanks, in part, to further intervention from their gods). Within 300 years, distinct races of dwarves, halflings and gnomes had developed and diversified further into subraces depending on their home environment. Perhaps as a symptom of the dwerrin's otherworldly origins, these races are slow to reproduce and remain concentrated in the steppes and Otovrast Mountains.   The dwerfolk - as the dwerrin progeny call themselves collectively - formed an alliance with the goblins of the Otovrast soon after the foundation of Chak Hruun when such formalities became a common way to codify ancient friendships. Curious Bolgrim took an interest in the dwerfolk at this time and encouraged the development of dwerfolk warlocks under their patronage. Some few dozen of the most powerful of these warlocks went on to be profoundly changed by Bolgrim magic, though the changes only showed in the birth of their children and grandchildren who carried innate magic and signs of sennyth physiology, despite the impossibility of interbreeding between dwerfolk and goblins. These warlocks' offspring became a distinct race in their own right, called firbolgs.  

Descendants of the Dwerrin

In order of approximate size of the population on Hrashchar:

• Mountain dwarves
• Hill dwarves
• Stout halflings
• Lightfoot halflings
• Rock gnomes
• Forest gnomes
• Firbolgs
• Duergar
• Ghostwise halflings
• Svirfneblin

 

Others

Kobolds and Dragonborn are unique in Hrashchar in that they are not descended from one of the four founding races. Both races owe their existence to dragons from beyond Char Navash. These extra-planar entities first created wyverns as their principal agents on the material plane as they clashed with one another and other planar travellers. However, over time the wyverns' limited intelligence became a hinderance as the dragons looked for more direct involvement in the world.  

Dragonborn

The dragons found what they were looking for when some (now known as the Founding Ancestors) allied with powerful extra-planar spirits to create the Dragonborn with a blend of wyvern and spirit, creating a new entity with high intelligence that could operate properly on Char Navash. Dragonborn mostly keep to their mountaintop fastness of Vrast Peak, but descend from its heights to interact with Hrashchar's peoples and explore their world. Nowadays, though many still serve a draconic master, an increasing number are breaking free from old traditions and seeking new ways to interact with the world.  

Kobolds

The first kobolds were created by powerful Dragonborn mages to serve them, though they were so successful in their biological experimentation that the kobolds bred and became a race in their own right. Investing large rock lizards with a measure of planar energy elevated them to sentient beings and altered their physiology to make it possible for them to speak, move on two legs and use their forelimbs as arms and hands.