The Known World in Crimson Exodus features ten peoples that the players can base their characters on. Here I want to make a brief presentation of each. Keep in mind that the Known World is a large place and great stretches of untamed wilderness means that only a few intrepid merchants and explorers visit other cultures.

Bardur

The Bardur of the east live in a feudal society where the hereditary nobility rule with absolute power over toiling commoners. With the collapse of the Empire in the west there is little that holds the kingdoms together other than a complex and ever changing web of dynastic alliances, and pacts supported by arranged marriages and common enemies. War torn with internal feuds, and weakened by orcs and plague, an ominous and ancient shadow looms over the Eastern Kingdoms.

Dwarves

Isolationist, conservative and traditional the Dwarves are master craftsmen of great wisdom. Dwarven warriors are mean with the axe, but their real pride is in their craftsmanship and lore. Their great libraries and finest workmanships stir deep emotions in Dwarven hearts, and a Dwarven suitor is more likely to win a ladies heart with poetry, sagas and beautiful craftsmanship than with brawn.

Elnar

In their palaces of marble and exotic artefacts the nostalgic Elnar aristocracy cling to the lost golden age with arrogant pride. With the great exodus of Elves the Elnar nobility have more power than ever before, but their domain is rapidly shrinking under the combined onslaught of Dwarves and barbarians, as well as the encroaching misery of the plague and walking dead.

Elves

Arrogant and racist the Elves have strived to build an Empire on the backs of men. The Elves travelled across the Known World in their conquest of man, but being few in numbers left the Elnar to govern in their name. Now they hoist their crimson sails in a great exodus, and those few who remain behind are greet ed by men with a mixture of awe, respect, fear and hatred.

Heartlanders

Heartlanders are perhaps the most colourful, and often beautiful, of all the peoples of the Known World. Heartlander is a broad term that encompasses a great variety and mix of men and cultures. Often the only thing they have in common is their diversity, but as a people they are resilient and resourceful.

Maktiti

The Maktiti are a nomadic people who followed the seasonal migrations of the great Heartland herds long before the arrival of the Elves. Maktiti nomads have always lived by their own code of laws, and as the Imperial grip on the Heartlands slips many nomadic bands see fit to to demand their own taxes from poorly defended villages and travellers. Some are from honourable families and can be bargained with. Others are cruel killers who understand only force. Few who are not Maktiti can tell the two apart.

Orcs

Orcs grow up in a savage and competitive tribal society which teaches them merciless violence and the right of might. Orcs are often cunning, but rarely wise. There is fierce competition both between the many tribes and within them.

Senshoul

The Senshoul have much of the savagery of the Orcs, but this is tempered somewhat by the wisdom and spiritual inheritance of their ancestors. Survivors who have adapted to Orc culture their loyalties are often divided, and they have a treacherous and selfish nature.

Toth

In the dry, sandy and rocky landscape, east of the Serpent River, clay houses replace the lumber buildings of the Bardur. Within dwells the diminutive Toth who obediently serve their Bardur masters at day, but worship ancient Serpent Gods at night.

Vren

The barbarians that inhabit the cold wilderness of the Vren peninsula have been chiseled into a fierce and mighty folk by constant struggle with brutish trolls and merciless winters. Considered simply barbarians by most they are named northmen, or Vren, by those that have grown to respect them.