Demions ( with rune maker symbol of cor-sumona )
The first race to ever walk the face of Inkemia, the Demions are actually lesser sentient spirits who infused themselves into non-living material. They craved for a physical form but was not patient enough to wait until the Almatheon grant it to them. They became jealous of the other races because the Almatheon loved them more and because they had something the Demions would never have, a truly living body. This jealousy is one of the main reasons behind the Runewar.
The Demions are beings of immense spiritual power. They are practically immortal because their body is a mere husk which they can replace if it was damaged. Only a spiritual attack would deal true damage to a Demion. Their physical form varies from one another depending on the type of material they infused in. They created their own technique of crafting Runes different from other races.
El-Var ( with rune maker symbol of leanuen )
The second race that came into being only after L’anduin, an Almatheon, sacrificed himself to give true life to Inkemia. L’anduin infused himself with the land and created Madressil, the World Tree. The firsts of the El-Var people sprouted from the fruits of Madressil.
The El-Var was the beloved race of the Almatheon and in the beginning they are the ones who shall inherit all of Inkemia and be granted the responsibility to nurture it. But the El-Var race could not fulfill the Almatheon’s wish. They could not reproduce without the Madressil so they could not populate the world beyond the lands surrounding the World Tree.
The jealous Demions persuaded some of the Almatheons into thinking that the El-Var race must be eliminated and replaced with a new race. This split the Almatheons in to two factions. Those who want to eradicate the El-Var called themselves the Reglar and those who wants to preserve them called themselves the Zueltar.
This was the beginning of the Almatheon wars. The El-Var fought the Demion and the Zueltar fought the Reglar. As the powerful Almatheon battled sparks of their power reached the land of Inkemia and transformed the animals and plants of the land. It was during this time that the younger races came into being. To name a few there was the Goblins, the Dwarves, Dragons, Trolls, and many others. After the war the El-Var race was ultimately spared and they were appointed to be the guardians of the younger races.
The El-Var were forest dwelling people. They have a relatively long lifespan compared to the younger races. They have smaller and slender frame compared to humans but are actually stronger. They prefer to fight from a distance using their deadly bows. They learned the technique to craft Runes from their Valar allies.
Shaggarts ( with rune maker symbol of sog-hive )
The Shaggarts are actually a race mutated from the El-Var. During the Almatheon war Karnshamon, an El-Var Champion, was tricked by a Reglar spirit named Enojado. Karnshamon was promised the power to end the war and the ability to reproduce without Madressil if he would only give himself willingly to be transformed. Karnshamon did not hesitate to take the offer and gathered a few other of his loyal followers to Enojado. They were transformed to Shaggarts and they gain enough power to sway the balance of the war to their favor. But the Shaggarts are a cursed race, wherever they breed they intoxicate the land. Karnshamon was ultimately cast away from the lands of the El-Var and in his rage he led the Shaggarts to attack the El-Var.
Although they are very powerful and they breed at a very rapid rate, most of the Shaggarts are a little more than mindless animals controlled by the will of Karnshamon and Lilith the Blood Queen, and a small group of Blood Champions and Matriarch. When Eladrin, the El-Var Queen, killed the Blood Queen the Shaggart army were reduced to the mindless animals they really are. Karnshamon and his followers were forced to retreat and hide themselves.
The second Blood Queen did not appear until Sheeba, a traitor from the El-Var people, secretly planted the arrow that had slain Lilith into Madressil. Madressil sprouted an El-Var girl which was mistaken for a gift from L’anduin and Madressil because it was only the second time that Madressil bore fruit without a seed from an El-Var couple. Later Shivara transformed into the second Blood Queen and Sheeba was also transformed into a Shaggart Matriach.
With the transformation of Shivara Karnshamon renewed his attack on the El-Var. But this time the El-Var has allied themselves with the humans of the Valar Empire. The alliance defeated the Shaggart army and Shivara was killed. Karnshamon was again forced to retreat.
The Shaggarts remain dormant until the early days of the Runewar. During the Goblin and Morgoul invasion to the Valar Empire, Sheeba disguised herself as a human bounty hunter and stole the secrets of Rune crafting for Karnshamon. With the ability to create their own Inspirit Runes the Shaggart managed to be an unignorable force during the Runewar, even without a Blood Queen.
The Shaggarts race is a collection of many different creatures. Each of them is bred for a specific purpose like Workers or Predators. Their extraordinary ability to breed rapidly depends heavily on the presence of a Blood Queen. Without one they breed at a normal rate. The Shaggart soldiers are all powerful at close combat, thanks to their sharp claws, brute strength and their thick armorlike skin.
The Valar Empire ( with rune maker symbol of Valar Military )
The Valar Empire was the largest human Empire in Inkemia. The humans were created together by the Zueltar and Reglar at the end of the Almatheon war. Although there were already many other races at that time, they were all deemed unworthy of nurturing the world. The Reglar and Zueltar finally agreed to create a new race together and gave them the freedom to choose their own fate.
Before the Runewar the Valar Empire had managed to unite all of the many human tribes and kingdoms into one giant Empire. The Valar worshipped both the Reglar and the Zueltar. But because of the strict lawful nature of the military Valar Empire, the chaotic Reglar had fewer worshippers among the humans and had more followers among the other races.
Lwhenevere, one of the Almatheon, was really fond of the humans. Such was his love for the humans he was punished by the other Almatheon for teaching the humans the forbidden knowledge of magic. The punishment was to live among the humans as a mortal, then to die as one and to be reincarnated again.
During the war between the El-Var-Valar alliance and the Shaggarts he was known as Melkor. Melkor invented the Inspirit technique and only by using the Runes he crafted did the alliance finally defeated the Shaggarts. After the war he thaught the technique to the El-Var and Valar people and formed the Guild.
Using the Runes the Valar Empire conquered almost all of Inkemia. But unfortunately a civil war broke when the throne was usurped by an evil priest of Reglar. The usurper was taken down but not before a few of his followers escaped to the Nystad Islands and established the Morgoul Kingdom. The ensuing conflict between the Morgoul and Valar brought about the beginning of the Runewar.
The army of the Valar Empire is a very disciplined army. The military nature of the Empire does not reflect on most of the populace. The Valar people are relatively peaceful, their ambition lies mostly on the pursuit of knowledge and art. They have a close relationship with the Guild and they also have Rune crafters working directly under the Emperor.
Goblins of Guerolek ( with rune maker symbol of Guerolek )
The goblins are originally created by the Reglars during the Almatheon war as slaves to do the work that the other races of their army won’t or can’t do. Although they are not very effective in combat, they posess a twisted intelligence not common among the races of the Reglar. The Goblins created many powerful, though unreliable, warmachines and were assigned to serve the Orcs, trolls, ogres and dragons of the Reglar army. They make weapons and armor, they prepared food for the army and, for some unfortunate ones, they became food.
After the Almatheon war the Reglar neglected the races that once formed their army. Most of them became extinct without their former masters guide, some of them went into self-imposed exile like the dragons. But the Goblins survived well enough on their own. They even managed to enslave some of the stronger, but less intelligent, races such as the giants and the orcs.
The goblins dwelled in the mountains and were never a major threat to the Valar Empire. That is until the Morgoul enslaved them. The Morgoul kingdom which have a scarce population, used the goblins numbers to boost their army. But a goblin hero named Bohr Gjue led the goblins to revolt against the Morgoul. The goblins freed themselves but not before they learned the technology to craft their own Runes.
The goblins are short stocky creatures, what they lack in physical strength they more than make up in sheer numbers and cunning intelligence. In battle they utilize powerful but unreliable warmachines that are as dangerous to their enemy as it is to themselves.
Morgoul ( with rune maker symbol of Sul A Mon )
Like the Shaggarts, the Morgoul are actually mutated from another race. In this case they were transformed from the humans. When Balazar, the usurper of the Valar throne, was finally killed most of his followers, including his personal guards, the Black Paladins, fled to the Nystad Islands. The Nystad Islands was a cursed land, it was uninhabited save for evil spirits and a lone Demion named C’thull.
Zacharias, the leader of the Black Paladins, pleaded to the Reglar to save him and his followers. The Reglar answered his prayers and ordered C’thull to help them. Zacharias struck a bargain with C’thull. He will provide C’thull with the spirits of living sacrifices if C’thull would teach him the secrets of manipulating the spirits.
From C’thull Zacharias and his people learned how to manipulate the spirits in a way that was never even imagined in the Valar Empire. They could take the spirit out of a living creature and force it in a dead body. They learned to mutate their own physique and create unholy artefacts of undeath. With this, Zacharias and his followers declared the Nystad Islands as the Kingdom of the Morgoul with Zacharias as its King. The Morgoul also had the technology to craft Runes when they fled from the Valar.
Using their powers the Morgoul tricked the goblins into slavery and declared war against the Valar. The goblins finally revolted and fought back against their former master. The Shaggarts took advantage of this and also attacked the Valar. The El-Var did not stand by to watch their old enemy attacking their ally and fought alongside the Valar people. The Demion who had remained dormant for thousands of years were roused by the fighting. They were delighted of the chaos and took part of in the war. They helped no particular faction and lend their aid as they please. Sometimes they helped the El-Var and Valar, sometimes they help the Morgoul or Shaggart. Their only intention is to prolong the war.
This was the start of the Runewar.
The Guild
The Guild of Runecasters was founded by Melkor after the end of the second Shaggart Wars. The Guild functions as a learning and research center. The members are scattered all over Inkemia, exploring the world for new and innovative uses for the Inspirit Runes to better their understanding of the world.
During the Runewars the majority of members of the Guild remained neutral and refused to take part in the war. But a few members lended their power to various factions. Some to defend their home and people but some left their services for hire.
The runecasters of the Guild are among the most powerful in Inkemia. Their technique and choice of Runes are unique. Rather than use etherian copies of existing creatures, they prefer using runes to enhance their own prowess.
