🌕Selenia

	Silur The inhabitants of Silur resemble the dwellers of Selenia, but unlike the latter, they are endowed with feline/fox ears and tails, and furthermore can boast a far more ancient history. Silur — is, first and foremost, a land of knights standing guard over their native borders. In Silur, the region's primary currency, the kaho, was devised, and generally they are happy to maintain trade relations with other countries but, like the lifs, they are unfriendly toward foreigners and do not welcome their presence on their land. Due to long-standing rivalry, they remain in hostile relations with Lycilis to this day.
	Lycilis One of the world's oldest states was founded by the chosen ones of the goddess of light, Phos — the lifs. The average lifespan of lifs is one millennium; upon reaching a certain age, they stop aging, and their bodies undergo practically no changes regardless of diet and physiological processes. They also have no body hair, and their beauty is an object of envy for many peoples. Living in harmony with nature, lifs strive not to consume meat and not to harm nature. Despite their long lifespan, the population of Lycilis is small. This is because, with the exception of the capital Lefkos, the lifs have no large cities, and they themselves are weakly interested in carnal pleasures and start families only after centuries when they find their soulmate.
	Outcasts Although there are followers of other deities among the lifs, they are nevertheless forbidden from going against the will of Phos and violating the laws of Lycilis. For example, conducting research (magical or scientific) that could disrupt the accepted way of life in Lycilis or harm nature; worshipping Ereba — the opponent of Phos; voluntarily entering into sexual relations with a non-"beloved" person. Lifs who turn their backs on the ancient teachings become outcasts — their skin darkens and their hair fades, which serves as a identifying mark for other forest dwellers. Subsequently, they are cast out and forced either to wander the world or seek a new home.
	Gemmas Inhabitants (as a rule) of the underground world. They are characterized by short stature but a sturdy build. By nature, they are very hardworking, honest, and calculating. They love to trade and invent things. They live in independent underground city-states governed on the principles of meritocracy. There are, however, exceptions — some Gemma cities, for one reason or another, develop in a completely different way: among them are despotic city-states subject to the will of some tyrant, city-states governed by a caste of warriors or mages, etc. etc.
	Selenia Humans — are one of the weakest peoples of this world. They do not live as long as lifs; they do not possess as advanced a civilization as Silur; they cannot live underground like gemmas or underwater like neptunians; they are not endowed with thick hides and sharp fangs like the inhabitants of Saiirt; they cannot boast bodies as mighty as the tribes of Orikes. Heat is dangerous for them, cold is dangerous, and even the thinnest twig can wound them. And yet, it was precisely their weakness that allowed them not only to survive, but to stand equal with other sentient races — working side by side, they created advanced science, their own economic model, tactics, strategy, and much more, which other peoples did not have or had developed to a lesser extent.
	Saiirt Saiirt is a land of a peaceful and religious people of humanoid dinosaurs and snakes who managed to tame the wild world surrounding them. For example, triceratops help them in agriculture, and dinosaurs such as utahraptors are used as cavalry. Being home to probably some of the most dangerous creatures in the world, Saiirt represents a great threat to anyone who dares encroach upon their lands, however, their reluctance to break isolation from the rest of the world was breached by the efforts of Seriz the Kind, who managed to establish friendly and mutually beneficial trade relations with the country of snake-people. The inhabitants of Saiirt worship Lepus (in their culture he takes the form of a huge, dinosaur-like creature), and the central building of their settlements is always a temple.
	Neptunia The Kingdom of Neptunia serves as a home for various inhabitants of the underwater world, but it is ruled by neptunians and neptunes — human-like beings with fish tails instead of legs and unusual "ears". As the name suggests, it is a kingdom in every sense with its own royal house, warrior class, and laborers who, however, manage to live in greater harmony than the dwellers of the land. For a very long time, the warriors of Neptunia were aggressive toward them, sinking merchant and warships and hindering land opponents in conducting business at sea, but with the journey of Seriz the Kind and his marriage to one of the princesses, friendship was achieved between Neptunia and Selenia, and the sea dwellers began to treat the residents of the "upper world" with greater understanding, no longer considering them enemies.
	Orikes In ancient times, the ancestors of modern Orikes inhabitants angered the goddess of light Phos with their banditry and poaching, which they practiced on the territory of the sacred forests of Lycilis, for which she cursed them. The bandits' bodies took on grotesque forms, and they forgot the human language, which forever separated them from other humans. However, instead of repenting for what they had done, they resigned themselves to their new appearance and continued their activities for many centuries that followed, right up until their tribes were conquered by Selenia. The inhabitants of Orikes (commonly called orcs) are quite tall, possess a powerful build and vision worthy of predators. Orcs settled in Selenia live either alone or huddle in gangs, whereas in Orikes they are divided into tribes led by the strongest warrior of a given territory.
	Pandinus Desert Realizing that he would not become king, the second son of Seriz the Kind gathered comrades and set off north, hoping to leave his own mark on history, and he succeeded — in the size of its borders, the greatness of its army, and its riches, the empire he founded significantly surpassed his homeland, however, due to his feelings of love for it, he never encroached upon its sovereignty. The ambitious emperor, however, was merely a magnificent general and leader capable of surrounding himself with talented people and inspiring the people, but not a politician, which is why after his death the Pandinus Empire first drowned in the fires of civil war, and then passed into the hands of a community of imperial wizards, under whose rule an era began in this country known for inhuman cruelty, moral decay, and brutal magical experiments. In history, this time is called the "dark century," after which the Pandinus Empire remained in ruins, and once fertile land turned into a desert. Now, instead of diverse peoples, it is populated by all sorts of monsters, and those few intelligent creatures who survived became so hideous that outside their native desert they are forced to hide their faces behind masks, hoods, and other similar elements of clothing.

Arete

Arete, or as it is also called, the pantheon of the west, was formed thanks to the polytheistic belief system of the inhabitants of this region, for whom it was characteristic to show at least a minimal degree of respect for the deities of other peoples, whether this was a result of culture and upbringing or simply fear of higher powers. Over time, thanks to prolonged contact between neighboring peoples, all these deities were merged into a single pantheon, where the significance of gods and goddesses was determined by their popularity among believers as well as prestige. Thus, there are many deities in the pantheon of the west, but only six of them are counted among the supreme deities. As for the etymology, regarding gods "arete" denotes "perfection" and "superiority", i.e., that which should be worshipped and emulated. Regarding people, it denotes "virtue", which in this case is represented by the worship of the gods. Whether the gods of the western pantheon "actually" exist or are just part of a well-thought-out mythology is not reliably known, but the majority of the inhabitants of this land certainly believe in their existence.

Phos — goddess of light, sun, and sky, the chief among the deities of Arete, which is, of course, related to her age, since the civilization of Lycilis is an order older than all others in the region. For this reason, in some myths, other deities and heroes joke about her, for which she sometimes curses them later. Among other things, Phos — is the goddess of justice, a formidable punishing force opposing "evil" on earth.

Selena — in the dark times for the people of this land, the brilliance of the sparkling eye of night was for them the only source of light and hope for tomorrow; over time, many beliefs grew from this, and eventually a whole cult, whose followers founded a state in honor of their deity. Since it was seen how the tidal wave follows the Moon, the attribute of water was also attributed to her; thus she became the goddess of the moon, water, and understanding.

Terron — the first of Phos's sons, god of fertility and patron of agriculture, widely revered by peasants and gemmas; for the latter, he is the most significant god. He is sometimes also associated with masculine strength and in myths is usually depicted as very arrogant.

Aether — the second of Phos's sons, god of air and sky; according to beliefs, it is he who determines the weather, which, given his willful character, causes the dwellers of the land, especially peasants, quite a few problems. When people need specific weather, they pray to Aether in hopes of appeasing him or distracting his attention. For this reason, he is sometimes also called the god of humor and fun.

Lepus — god of fire, fate, luck, doom, lust, ambition, and many other things; in various forms and names, Lepus was encountered in all cultures of this region and is worshipped by the most diverse personalities, starting from gambling-prone people and ending with the very religious inhabitants of Saiirt, for whom Lepus is the central deity, although for the latter he is primarily associated only with aspects of fire and fate.

Ereba — goddess of darkness, night, and romantic love. The image of Ereba originated at the time when the first outcasts appeared in Lycilis. It was believed (and is believed to this day) that it is she who inclines lifs (and other sentient beings) toward evil. Those who worship her have an opposite perception of Ereba: for them, she is the patroness of those who found no place in society.

Sisters of Strife Anatomical differences between representatives of the male and female sexes are weakly expressed among most peoples of this region — they are almost the same height and possess roughly the same range of physical capabilities relative to each other. Lifs, both men and women, are distinguished by a slender beauty of form, proportion, and movement, and can equally well shoot, cast spells, and wield a sword. The native population of Silur is distinguished by agility and speed regardless of gender. Gemmas are sturdy and strong, but slow and clumsy. But for the Selenians, things were always different: whether by the will of nature or the gods, the men and women of this people differed from each other. Long ago, when lifs already knew many secrets of the universe, cast spells, and methodically shot bows, the ancestors of Selenians engaged in hunting, received wounds, and brought back prey, while women, accordingly, knew how to heal these hunters and prepare their prey. Probably for this same reason, the majority of healers and cooks of Selenia are still women, and it so happened that for a long time they were not admitted to military affairs, and were protected from war and other harm. This state of affairs changed in the year 130 from the founding of Selenia, when the sister of the then-king, Princess Ava Ahisa, convinced the monarch to allow her to act against the orc chieftain Nuseg. Ava's heroism in this war and her role in restoring order in Selenia served as a reason for many folk songs and legends to be composed about her, and in the year 210, King Harbid would approve an ideological order founded by Ava's students. From then on, the women of Selenia were allowed to serve in the guard and officer corps of armies, and for members of the order, there were no restrictions at all. The Sisters of Strife devoted themselves entirely to the warrior craft and honed their skills day by day, participated in all military campaigns of Selenia, and continue to exist to this day, although the era of ruin did not spare them — today they have fewer active members, resources, and influence.