The Men from Gren

Hailing from the Northern isles above the countries of Gurn and Frynn, the Gren-men were an ethnic group closely related to the tribal peoples located on the northern fringes of the Long Stretch, a hardy folk sporting fair and fiery hair in equal measure. Blessed with an auspicious reserve of Void-ore from a meteorite shower in a bygone era, Gren-men society adopted an unusual attitude towards the use of magic of any kind, seeing it as the work of dishonest and evil forces in the face of the regular man's toils and achievements.
  Perhaps it is this opinion that allowed the Gren-men to advance their knowledge in all manners of craftsmanship and warfare far beyond most of their rival tribes and clans, who relied on the might of mages to act as a crutch. To emphasize this fact, the Gren-men were the first humans to successfully smelt Void-ore into the Great Equalizer that is Void-steel, no mean feat as it took Vull'jorgi forgers many centuries to grasp the art. Using this Void-steel, the Gren-men would become the greatest military force on the Long Stretch at the time, forging armaments and armor that rendered magic mute, allowing for the domination of a significant portion of The Long Stretch from roughly the year 4250 M.E.
  Though as any person on the Long Stretch versed in its history will tell you, this early empire lasted for little under a thousand years, before a schism between the various clans on the Isles of Gren initiated a steep decline in the empire's presence on the mainland of the continent, to such an extent that by 6000 M.E it was gone, only the ruins of Gren-men architecture and certain void-steel trinkets left behind.
  This does not mean that the peoples of the Isles of Gren did not endure, on the contrary, they still thrive on their home Isles to this day. However, they appear to be no longer interested in the affairs of the Long Stretch, content to stay as they are, an enigma to much of the outside world for a people so adept at the act of waging war to so abruptly have a change in cultural behavior. Apparently such change occurred during the dissolution of the Gren-men empire, with the in-fighting between clans resulting in devastating loss of life on the Isles. The surviving communities of this millennia long civil strife, as it seems, have prioritized the rebuilding of their cities and a policy of not inviting conflict upon themselves.
  At this point, the Gren-men have become more orientated towards trading with the odd merchant ship that may find itself in their territory, the ability to forge void-steel items still being passed down amongst smithing families, making a highly valuable commodity that makes up the bulk of their exports. That, and the considerably coveted mead they produce, some of the finest on all Az which as many Gren-men will jokingly say, was the key to their now tranquil way of life.