Jisha (Sewer Goblins of the Undercities)

The sewers of the seven cities are rife with all manner of unsavoury creatures but the most pervasive are the Sewer Goblins or Jisha (literally "pisslings") who dwell in the rank filth exclusively. Their culture is one of scavengers who take great delight in killing each other or anything else that they think they can overpower. At heart the Jisha are cowards who will flee rather than face an equal or greater foe than their current numbers allow. They are quite intelligent in their own way and adaptiveness has earned them some praise from some scholars. 

They breed like vermin and the cities of the Caliphate conduct yearly purges of the undercity population, usually follow reports of rising numbers of bold Jisha raids to the above city. Completely eliminating them has proven elusive as they are resilient to the many attempts of genocide that has been committed against them. They seem to only evolve to slightly stronger or smarter variants when purged and often elect the strongest or most intelligent to lead them out of their calamity. Goblin shamans and arcanists are rare and their magic weak when compared to the High Born of the Caliphate but still capable of endless mischief. They occassionally get called upon as minions for darker and more dangerous creatures of the deep undercities or from other reality realms.

Gondehmar (Ogres of the North)

The Gondehmar ogres are brutal savages who usually prefer an isolated existence of wanton cruelty and lazing about in the hill lands of the northern Caliphate. However, on occassion they are rallied by a particularly brutish Chieftain or Shaman and form terrifying warbands that raid human and Darvaki settlements. 

Ogres are incapable of skilled craft and salvage their tools from the settlements and caravans that are unlucky to fall on their path. They have no written language and their verbal tongue is basic. This has not prevented them practicing a wicked form of flesh magic that sees their victims flayed and cut to feed the dark powers of the Shadow realm.

T'chin (Dragonkin of the East)

The Dragonkin of the T'chin Empire are regular visitors to the eastern cities, arriving in their strange, elegant Dragonships that sail through the sky as easily as they ply the waters. They often bring vast hauls of rare metal trinkets, ceramics and exotic herbs and spices with them making good business with the bazaari for iron ore, gemstones and textiles. Whilst the Dragonborn do not forbid visitors to their lands, few ships can sail past the hazardous reefs that guard their domain and the route by land across the Thousand Grains marshland is perilous. Still a few brave souls have travelled east beyond the Khagar Mountains or landed on the T'chin coast to find cities that dwarf the jewels of the Caliphate in their size and splendour. The Dragonkin numbers are legion and their cities house vast multi-level cavernous buildings that reach up into the heavens themselves.

The T'chin also display a vastly superior understanding of the arcane and it is only the fact of a regressive, dictatorial Empire that values the Old Way of the Wyrms above all else that halts their powerful Magis from dominating the entire world with their magic. The T'chin Empire is blessedly an inward looking entity, forever busying itself with maintaining the balance of its several strains of people. This is usually a subtle affair but on occasion spills into genocidal cullings of overpopulated areas.

Society in the Empire is highly structured with little freedom to cast off your birth colours and the position inherited from your parents. Each Dragonkin will perform the same function as his father or mother, depending on gender, until they die and so will any children they are allowed to hatch. Population control is a part of the balance the T'chin strive towards and thus mating and brooding are privileges that are given to the lucky few based on the need to replace numbers in each social stream to maintain equilibrium.

It is no surprise that Dragonkin who have ventured beyond the borders of the Empire find a world of chaos and freedom that is liberating. A few indulge a little too readily in these freedoms. Whilst tolerated in the Caliphate, partly for their value in trade and partly for fear of angering their Empire, they are often victims of nefarious dealers in their organs, eggs and hides which are highly valued components in the arcane or to a competent leatherworker. The experienced Dragonkin traveller learns early to avoid dark alleys without protection in numbers.

Umbrians (Elves of Westermor)

The Umbrians are a wild, wicked people who sail from the distant continent of Westermor to raid the unaware or even heavily armed ships that ply the Golden Gulf. Their long lithe bodies and pointy ears are as distinctive as their agile swords and accurate archery. They have long sold their souls to the Elementals who give their warlocks power in return for feeding them human souls.

The Umbrians view themselves as nothing more than truly free spirits who indulge their whims and live in harmony with the natural order, rejecting the dictates and false order of the Holy Divine. They instead turn to the Old Gods, the spirits of plants and animals, who answer their prayers and bring blight and pestilence upon the people of the Caliphate.

Few humans have lived to tell of their encounters with the Umbrians and they are literally the stuff of children's stories and coffee house gossip. Once in a while, an Umbrian sword or wand finds its way into the bazaars and there is ferocious bidding for the forbidden artefact imbued with dark magics. 

Darvaki (Dwarves of the Hamadar Mountains)

The Darvaki Clans of the northern Hamadi Mountains and the hills of the borderland below them are a proud and ancient race of dwarves who hold fast to their long traditions. They have lived upon the lands to the north from before the time the people of the Caliphate fled here from beyond the Azure Sea.

They honour their ancestors through the tombs inside their great stone holds built buried deep beneath the mountains and only accessible through fortified passageways blocked by solid rock and cunning traps. Some few of the Clans settle in the hilltops and mountain paths in smaller holds for purposes of trade and hunting. The Darvaki diet consists of mostly of rasht, a wheat-like funghi grown under the ground and game hunted in the hills and mountains.

Their society is a complicated web of blood ties, oaths and matters of honour that often spills into fratricidal warfare. When not fighting amongst themselves, they prove a nuisance to the northern villages and cities. Whilst neither stealthy nor subtle, the march of the Darvaki warbands bring the prospect of looting and pillaging. Some Darvaki clans are thought to enjoy the taste of human flesh and whether this is true or not, the myth is kept alive by the Darvaki themselves.

During the periods of peace, the Darvaki are known to trade with the bazaari of the north, selling their intricate metalworks and cunning devices in return for food, metals and precious gemstones. Their skill as craftsmen is the envy of the Mohandice who study their work to improve their own. Darvaki armour and steel is the prized possession or family heirloom in many houses of the High Born.