And in death, there is creation

[Ghostman]

The Huran are a smaller version of humans

Are they actually related to humans, or a truly distinct species?
 

Huran warriors favor spears, from light, aerodynamic ones for throwing, and heavy stone ones for melee combat. Also used are clubs and crude swords.

What material are the swords made of? If they're still using stone for spearheads, they probably don't know how to make weapons from bronze or iron. Stone isn't good for swords though. Some Mesoamericans made sword-like weapons by embedding sharpened obsidian blades on the sides of a wooden shaft, perhaps the Hurans have invented something similar?

Hurans also compete with large predators, such as huge Tundra Bears, wolves, and Snow Lions, huge cats with saber teeth and thick white hides. Pigmy Buffalo are the main prey for everything on the island, and are extremelly abundant. Everything on the island is smaller then normal.

It's kind of conflicting that the beasts are described as "huge" in one sentence and right after that you state that everything is smaller than normal. Might be a good idea to clarify whether they are supposed to be huge only relative to the Hurans or in a general sense - especially if bigger versions of them exist outside the island.

[Drizztrocks]

Changed some of that. Thanks.

[Drizztrocks]

Humans  
 
  Humans swarm Aranaul. They have built many a metropolis, and reproduce so fast that these great city have to be expanded often. They conquest over huge areas of land, and sometimes it seems they hold no regard for the health of the land they build on. They are easily taken by a lust for power, and this leads them to destroy many valuable things, but to no personal gain. Still, that is the human race as a whole. Do not be mistaken-there is a good in humans, and they change so drastically from person to person that generalizing humans is a mistake. Ultimatly, a human may choose to be anything they want to be.
                  -dwarf king on humans

   

 Humans started as tghe underdog of the races. They were plain, and held no special advantages or skills. It seemed they would survive merely as a low rank, ignored race. But when they were given the chance to breed in great numbers and given safety, they spread quickly, building, conquesting and inventing. They have expanded to the point where other races have had problems with them, sometimes even erupting into battles or the occasional war.

     

 Human success comes from their ambition. Since they have life spans that are a good ammount shorter then other races, they seem to have a natural drive to succeed from the beginning. This makes them hard workers and excellent learners. However, they sometimes take the easiest and shortest path to success. This can result in corrupt leaders and dangerous outlaws.

 

 Human features varies from where they are, so no one explanation can describe all of them. Most, however, are from five to six feet heigh, have skin anywhere between fair and dark and weigh in between a hundred and a two hundred and fifty pounds.

   
 [ic]Human Character Concepts
 Human Adventurer-Driven by ambition and wanderlust, you explore Aranaul to discover new things, and to find new places, all to better the human race, but also to satisfy your own curiosity. You are knowledgable in many things, and may even have some fighting experience.
 Human Warlock-You want power. You don't care who you have to kill to get it, but you will get it. You have sacrificed much to take the easy route to power, using the dark side of spirit magic. Able to control darkness and intinguish life, you have many unnatural powers, many of them that use shadows and hate to your own gain. [note]This version of a human warlock is the most extreme. There can be human warlocks on any level, those that needed something done and needed the power quickly, or simply dab in the darker arts. Anything is possible.[/note]
 Human Knight-You are your lord's weapon, and he uses you to uphold his ideas of honor and peace. Tradition is a great ally of yours, but you will need more then tradition to vanquish evil. You are extremelly well trained in the use of armor and a sword, and can use a longbow almost perfectly. You also have a trusty horse or other mount. This job comes with both a great influence on the world and people around you and the responsibility to hold up a strict code of rules and laws.    [/ic]
   

[Steerpike]

How big are those islands?  Australia sized, or North America sized, or Britain sized?

[Drizztrocks]

What islands would you be talking about? If your asking about the continents, Monraz is about the size of russia, if that helps you put it into size.

 

[Steerpike]

Ok, good to know.

What kind of political divisions are you picturing?  Monolithic race-empires, fractious city states, scores of small nations?  Are the elves theocrats (priest-kings?)?  The dwarves monarchists, the gnomes magocrats?

[Drizztrocks]

I'll be putting up info on certain locations in the setting next, and hopefully all of those questions will be answered.

[Drizztrocks]

Geography
                         Arunaul is a big place, with alot of different continents, cultures, and landscapes. This will describe some of them in detail.

                          World Map:
           http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Image:Aranaul.jpg


                     

                           Monraz
                     
                                Political and Terrain Map:
               http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=User:Survivorman

       Monraz has the highest population of all the continents on Arunaul, and is also the most produced. Nearly the entire center of the continent (Curn mainly) is covered in farmland and villages. The only true wilderness left in this place is in the far north, and most of that is just a few hundred acres of pine forest and a freezing, barren tundra with nothing on it. This continent is inhabited mainly by humans, gnomes, and dwarves, the three races that originated here. The continent is united very strongly, except for The Empire, which is by far the safest country to live in, but once you live there its hard to leave, because the countries security is so tight.

   This means that you can travel freely most of the time, except for a few tolls, and the occasional highwaymen. Since this entire continent is covered in production, cities and farms, there are no monsters roaming these lands, and very little need for adventurers. There are no lost ruins to explore or dragon lairs. There are, however, opressive nobles, strange cults within cities, rising rebellions, theives guilds, assassination attempts, etc., etc. Most of these things are far from the eyes of the public so are not paid much attention to.


                               Hunrain
                       
     The richest country in Monraz, here nobles live in huge golden temples lining shorelines, and huge, wealthy cities ruled by merchant nobles are abundant. Hunrain is highly overpopulated, and there are two sides to the Gleaming South (a nickname for Hunrain). The first side is the most popular. Huge, beautiful temples, fine tapestries, exotic goods and wonderful veiws of the ocean. This is the rich side of the country. Just as common, sometimes more so, is the side in poverty. However, these are not an opressed people.
                              [spoiler] [/spoiler]

   The royalty and kings of Hunrain try with great strain to provide homes, food and money to all the people in their kingdom. This may be just to make their country look good, but it is certain that they do care about the other side of society. However, the population expands every year, and the leaders of this country can barely hold back the tide of poverty.

    Hunrain has a very warm climate, and the waters around it our also warm. Although it sits on the ocean, there are not many ships in these waters. This is because of the lack of the goverments control over these waters, and pirates becoming more and more prevalant. Because ships rarely enter the seas around Hunrain, the pirates are becoming more desperate and bold, launching raids on the rich seaside homes. The leaders of the country cannot do much about this, dealing with their fight with poverty and disease in the poor districts.

[Drizztrocks]

Curn
 
 Taking up almost the entire center of Monraz, this huge country was originally a huge expanse of grassy plains, but the soil was so rich and good for farming that now the country is mostly farms and small villages. This country, although it may not seem it at first, is extremelly wealthy, as it is the leading farming producer in all of Arunaul, having huge shipments of crops go out every year.

    [spoiler] [/spoiler]
 Many large cities occupy the southern section of Curn, but the rest of it is literally just farmland and small villages. This is one of the most peaceful and quiet places in Monraz, but not the safest. Although there are no dangers lurking within its borders, were an attack to come to this peaceful country, the only defence would be a small official militiary and town militias, which are only trained to fight a local threat, known as the CPR.

   CPR
 
  Curn's  Peoples  Rebellion. The CPR is a mysterious organization that rebels against the goverment of Curn. This may seem strange, but it is actually more common then may be thought. While more opressive goverments like that of The Empire do not face many rebellions, more peaceful, free countries do. Especially Curn. Curn's booming economy would allow it to easily be the most powerful country in all of Monraz, and perhaps even the world. But Curn has always been governed in such a way that they remain peaceful and barely bothered. Ironic that the fact that they do not want to face violence and have no interest in conquest leads to in fighting in their own country.

            [ic]They call themselves freedom fighters. Bah! We are free! And when we tell them that, they argue that we could be more free, a better country, more powerful. Ridiculous. It is a good thing that most people of Curn aren't dumb enough to fall to this kind of nonsense. Besides, they are nothing but a gang of terrorists. Why do you think i'm living at this damn farm! My little village, that I lived at all my life, was attacked by the CPR. They offered us "protection" in exchange for money. Everybody in the village rejected it. For obvious reasons, to. Protection from what? Afterall, they were supposed to be freedom fighters, not highwaymen, right? So they burned my home to the ground and killed my neighbors. And now i'm an old man working for my food because some damned theives want to use wealth to rule the world.
             -an elderly farmer on the CPR [/ic]  

[Steerpike]

Anything more specific than that (i.e. what dangers?)?

[Drizztrocks]

Hmm...I haven't really thought of anything yet, but anybody who could gain control of the country would get extremelly rich from all the farming exports, so maybe i'll make some sort of organization that is trying to quietly slip leadership of the country to themselves.

[Drizztrocks]

Buen
 

 A freezing wilderness, seemingly uninhabitable. To the north-huge flat tundras inhabited only by white bears and snow oxes (smaller oxes with much thicker coats that are well adapted to their freezing enviroment). To the south, there is a rugged mountain chain covered in dense coniferous forest. This region of the world is under a layer of snow year round. Why would anyone want to live here?

 

 Buen is home to many, many gold hunters. Almost every mountain has a rich deposit of the valuable ore, and with Gardar, a trading country, bordering it, people come here and get rich. There are hundreds of small towns full of gold hunters deep in these mountains.

  Some also come to Buen seeking solace and a reprieve from the rest of the world. Monastaries of monks, sometimes only gnome monks, come here to live out their lives in peace and study philosiphy.

  This countries capitol is in its southwestern most corner. This city is small, but has the densest population in all of Buen. The country is ruled by one family, which sons and daughters inherit the kingdom. This place is a frontier, a rugged wilderness where only the bravest dare go.

[Drizztrocks]

Gardar
 
 On the west coast of Monraz, Gardar is the main bulk of production in the world. Gardar represents a sharp contrast in the world. While in some places huge cities pump smoke into the air, dump pollution in the water, in other places beautiful mountains and majestic lakes dominate the landscape. This is due to very limited rescources in some areas, and rugged, uneven landscape. Somehow, however, there is a balance between the huge metropolis's and nature. The main conflict in Gardar is racial.

 
 Dwarves are the main race of Gardar. They rule most cities and most of the population is dwarven. This is because the way the dwarves build their cities, and have their goverment. Although a dwarf does not mind living in a tiny house many stories above the ground for his entire life, working hard every day without break, and never seeing outside of their city, that prospect does not appeal to elves, humans and gnomes. This has caused trouble within the country, with the few human ruled cities arguing and even having open war at some times.

  The reason for the trouble is complicated. Humans, who thrive by expanding and conquering, are stopped by the strict dwarven goverment. Most elves do not favor big cities, and since they come from the south, whether its from Tunruzz or the Shattered Sea, they hate cold weather so refuse to live in the wilderness of the north. But Tunruzz is in bad need of imports, and Gardar is the trading capitol of the world. The elves argue that they should be able to construct their own towns away from the big cities, but the dwarven goverment demands that all contstruction to be done within their already made cities, to protect the nature of the rescources of Gardar. Gnomes have the worst problem with dwarves, insulting everything they do, from their way of life to their goverment, but still need to trade and Gardar's rescources are so abundant that they want to harvest them.

[Ghostman]

Why are the human-ruled cities restless? Is it because the populations (mainly dwarves?) resent the human governments? If so, how and why did the humans come to rule those cities in the first place, and what keeps them in power?

Why is there conflict with elves and gnomes? They may not be able to adapt to dwarven lifestyle, but that shouldn't really matter unless they're being forced to live among the dwarves. What keeps them from founding their own settlements? Lack of resources?

[Drizztrocks]

I'll edit in the answers to those. The short answer is, however, the dwarves control the entire country, and since they are so extrutiangly detail oriented that creating their own settlement is not worth the trouble.