The People of Xian-Tau

= The people of Xian-Tau =

Xian-Tau has the distinction of being the only one of the world’s four continents that is truly free. While humanoids are entirely prohibited from setting foot on Zienne, and large swathes of Andos and Torre have been set aside as the exclusive domain of dragonkind, no land within Xian-Tau is subject to such a claim beyond the holds of kobolds and the small number of their draconic masters that dwell here.

The humanoids of the continent are generally divided into three groups, the farming people, the secluded people and the savages.

Beyond these there are two other major groups of humanoids on Xian-Tau, the giants and kobolds.

Dragons
Of the dragons that do dwell here, almost all seem to reside only temporarily, remaining for a period to watch over a humanoid city or carry out some other duty to their masters elsewhere. It is suspected that a few rogue individuals live in remote sections of the continent, disconnected from the mysterious workings of the draconic hierarchy, although little is known of these individuals as they presumably don’t take kindly to humanoid intrusion in their affairs.

The Farming People (Humans, halflings, and gnomes)
The farming people consist primarily of humans, halflings and gnomes. Their role is generally to produce food through agriculture and fishing. While most live in small rural settlements the most significant works of this group come from the continent’s great cities. The cities serve as centres for education, trade and research, and also exercise government over the surrounding lands, organising most of the continent into 11 city-states. While governments fiercely protect their interests within the cities and their immediate surrounds, borders between city-states in more remote areas are ill-defined and large areas of countryside are effectively without any overarching rulership.

The Secluded People (Elves and Dwarves)
The secluded people are the elves and dwarves. While the two races live apart from one another they are generally grouped together due to their isolation. Relying on trade with the farming people (in the case of dwarves) and careful stewardship of the land (for elves) to provide them with their base needs they do not claim and modify vast tracts of the countryside in the way the farming people do, although the networks of underground mines created by the dwarves are said to rival in size the greatest cities of the surface. While neither race specifically bars outsiders, neither are welcoming of visitors. Dwarves are cold and business-like with the traders who make the trip along winding mountain passes to exchange agricultural products for the wealth of the mines. Elves, with long lives and brilliant intellects, have gained a reputation for thought over action. They spend great deals of time in their modestly sized forest or mountain-top cities considering and debating highly esoteric issues and feel they have little to gain from interaction with other races (elves here are generally LN).

The Savage People (Goblins, Orcs and others)
The savage people consist primarily of goblins and orcs with smaller numbers of creatures such as lizardfolk, ogres and trolls. They mostly live brutal nomadic lives, hunting and gathering and contributing little to the other races. Small groups of races traditionally considered farming people also live such lifestyles in more remote areas. Most of the city-states of the farming people do not consider savage people as truly people, and they often find themselves enslaved or mistreated within such societies unless they can show themselves to be particularly worthy of the rights that farming people are born to. Hobgoblins are often considered a special kind of savage. While their own societies are nomadic and brutal they have the discipline and good sense to change their behavior to be more acceptable around other races and many are welcomed within the lands of the farming people for their martial skills.

Giants
Giants are a highly diverse group. Hill, Stone and Frost giants are generally considered simply as larger versions of the savage people. Fire Giants are more or less unknown on the continent, only being seen in the service of dragons, the only non-kobolds to seemingly have some kind of racial agreement with dragons outside The Covenant. The nature of this agreement is a mystery to other humanoids.

While these lesser groups of giants are generally an unwelcome site for civilized people, the same cannot be said for Cloud and Storm giants. They share the long lives and powerful intellects of the elves but not their predisposition towards inaction. They have a reputation for curiosity and living life to the fullest and are incredibly valuable sources of information and physical strength. While they mostly live in extended family groups in highly inaccessible locations they are always welcomed with open arms within the cities of the farming people and have come to be the subject of great reverence amongst a small number of individuals.

Kobolds
Kobolds live wherever the other races live, having their own citadels adjacent to all major cities and regularly patrolling amongst rural and nomadic populations to ensure that tribute is provided to their masters and that their gods are being given appropriate worship. Kobolds also maintain three cities occupied exclusively by their race on Xian-Tau. These are heavily fortified and other humanoids are never allowed in, however as all kobolds located around the settlements of other races are present as part of military units it is assumed that these cities must be home to all the continent’s kobold children and their civilian population, if indeed the race has such a thing. The land around these cities is barren and cleared for miles in the name of defense. The cities are provided for by steady streams of tribute taken from other humanoids and the populace has no need to lower itself to engaging in such primitive pursuits as agriculture.