Verrik

War. War never changes.   The land of Verrik has been scarred by a millennia of bloodshed. Holding the Western front is the Elven Coalescence and its Legion. On the East, the Dwarven Stratocracy and its Corps. Between them lies the Theatre of War. A zone of destruction that constantly shifts East and West as one side gains an advantage, then the other responds in kind. Neither side can recall why the war started, but it can be traced to the Celestial Clash, when the Gods battled and split the pantheons. There are whispers of an Elven Counsel that lived during the Clash, but such a Counsel has never surfaced. If they exist, they would be the only souls that know why this war that can never end, started.   As bloody as it is now, it is not nearly as ferocious as the early years. Almost a thousand years after the Clash the war has cooled down significantly, bringing us into the current era of the war: The Cold War. Tactics have shifted from all out raids on strategic positions to espionage and skirmishes. Battles still break out within the Theatre on a daily basis, but long gone are the days of entrenched sieges.   The further East or West you travel away from the Theatre, the less the brutality of war significantly impacts your daily life. Maybe the price of bread goes up because the Dwarves salted some fields, or the butchery changes what they have in stock because the Elves cursed a generation of calves. "That stuff happens constantly though, nothing to worry about. The army will fix it by next month." All citizens are expected to serve a mandated minimum service time, but not all soldiers see combat or pursue a military career after.   Elves and Dwarves are historically long lived. Under normal circumstances they are expected to die of natural causes after several centuries. And of course this is still the case in Verrik, but, as the Dwarvish saying goes, "Beware an old Dwarf in a land where Dwarves die young." Soldiers on either side aren't expected to live long lives. Life expectancy goes up drastically the further you are from the Theatre. Elven civilians over the age of 300 typically have some kind of political influence. Dwarven citizens over the age of 200 typically are in the reserves or are otherwise too valuable to be deployed on the front lines. In general, in Verrik the life expectancy of any given species can be as much as halved.   The other species, native or not, can fall into three categories:   The Valor species - The war has been very profitable for these species. They can be expected to rise to higher status in civilian life and are given preferential treatment.   The Tragic species - These species were hit the hardest by the war. They are generally looked down upon, taken pity on, or shunned outright.   The Neutral species - The politics of the war has not sufficiently impacted the social life of these species negatively or positively.   Most species are Neutral species. Although for some that may change depending on which side of the Theatre they live. For example, an Elf in the West has access to Valor privileges, however, in the East is given the Tragic treatment. All the species of the world can be found living in Verrik in some capacity, but their culture may be drastically altered from their non-Verriki counterparts.