I've seen a bunch of posts asking about the Terrinoth setting, so I took the liberty of putting this brief overview together.
Factions:
Major Factions:
There are four major factions in Terrinoth. These races will definitely appear in RuneWars.
The Daqan Lords: (I might have some of the history wrong here, but I think I've got it right) This race consists entirely of humans, though they are the friendliest of all the races towards the others. They are know for their discipline, valor, and fighting skills.
History: After the First Darkness ended, an era of peace began, with King Daqan presiding over the 100 year peace. (Daqan was presumably given long life by the magic of Timorran, more on him later). However, Daqan mysteriously vanished during the Second Darkness, and was never seen again. People still whisper that Daqan will one day return to guide them through a dark time. The RuneWars are seen by most as that time. After Daqan's disappearance, the empire was split. The Council of Thirteen took over ruling the northern Baronies, while each Free City became a loosely allied self governing city-state. The most powerful of these city states was Tamalir, which was the only Free City given its autonomy during the reign of Daqan. This was meant to be a temporary solution until Daqan returned, but the system is still in use today.
Other important Free Cities:
Riverwatch: Home to people of many different races, like most of the Free Cities, however, it is unusual in its high Orc population, something shared only by Dawnsmoor.
Dawnsmoor: A loosely governed city of mercenaries, traders, and refugees, populated by Orcs, Elves, Humans, but not dwarves.
Greyhaven: Home to the most prestigious magical academies.
Forge: The only Free City consisting of primarily one non-human race. Forge is mostly dwarves, with a few humans who are descended from refugees from the Third Darkness. There are strong tensions in the city.
Between the Second and Third Darkness, the Usurper Kings overthrew the Council and took over the free cities. However, a combination of revolts, assassinations, and just plain bad luck killed them off. This led to the popular myth that any who tried to claim Daqan's throne would meet a tragic demise. The Council and The Free Cities rule most of Terrinoth to this day.
Troops:
Besides the usual cavalry, infantry, etc., Daqan features Rune Golems, which are magical constructs created during the reign of Daqan for use in emergencies. Siege Golems are massive, sightless golems that lumber around with a huge crossbow strapped to their back, which makes them a powerful siege unit, as well as a terrifying Catapult-type unit (no race actually has real catapults, an interesting fact). Also, many great heroes and generals ride a Roc, a massive bird that dominates the battlefield. Battlemages are commonly found in the ranks, and they are experts at creating "Rune Shields", which protect their troops. Finally, constructs called Ironbound are rare but powerful, being nearly unkillable.
Waiqar the Undying
Waiqar the Undying was once the top general in the army of the great wizard Timorran. But in Timorran's fight against the Uthuk Y'Llan in the First Darkness, Waiqar was captured and tortured by the Uthuk. When Timorran eventually rescued him, Waiqar had changed. Whether he had been corrupted by the demonic influence of the Uthuk, or if simply the torture broke him, nobody knows. At the end of the 100 year peace that followed the First Darkness and the Scourging of the Wastes, Timorran knew his life was nearing its end. So he channeled all his powers into an object he called the "Orb of the Sky", so as to keep his peace alive forever. This proved to be his undoing, for his most trusted general, Waiqar Sumarion, launched an assault on the tower where the orb was kept. Broken and defeated, Timorran was forced to shatter the Orb. He then used the power of one of the shards to transform his most trusted acolyte, Lumii Tamar, into a raven. He then told Tamar to take the shards and spread them across Terrinoth. When Waiqar reached the top of the tower and saw what Timorran had done, he was furious. He killed Timorran with one blow, and then took the shard from the dead body of the great wizard. Clasping the shard, Waiqar made a dark oath. He vowed never to rest until he had all of the shards. The enormous hatred within this oath produced an unexpected result. Waiqar vowed to never rest, so never rest he did. Death had no hold on him any longer. He took his army and fled to the Ru Steppes to the west of the Free Cities to plot his return. His army died, but rose from the grave to support their master. Waiqar then brought the most skilled Necromancers to his lands, and the undead army began to form.
Waiqar then launched an attack on Terrinoth, known as the Second Darkness, but was repelled by the King Daqan, and later, the Council.
Waiqar also caused the Third Darkness, the revolt of the DragonLords. He spoke to the powerful Zir the Black in her dreams, and when she learned of the shards, she and the other DragonLords set out to find them, tearing Terrinoth apart in the process. When the dragons found a shard, they carved their own runes onto them, amplifying their power. Some dragons split the shards into smaller pieces, giving them to their mortal allies. These are the minor runes used by spellcasters today. Two things stopped the DragonLords and Waiqar's plot. First, the Orcs of the Broken Plains joined the fight alongside the Elves, Dwarves, and Men, laying aside old hatreds. The second was that one of the dragons killed Zir.
Now Waiqar plots again to take the shards, and this time he won't rely on Dragons to do it. Waiqar is the one who started the Fourth Darkness, commonly known as the Rune Wars.
Waiqar's army consists of Reanimates, who are the remains of his original army. When their skeleton body is killed, the soul simply finds a new skeleton. The Reanimate Archers are are also his original soldiers. Necromancers create new soldiers every day for Waiqar. Bone Horrors are quickly cobbled together creatures made out of any bones the Necromancers could find. Death Knights are the bound spirits of mortals who swore allegiance to Waiqar at some point in time. They are mounted on undead horses, and wear black armor. Barghests are undead werewolf type things, and Wraiths are spirits bound to Waiqar. Banshees are typical Banshees, and occasionally a Barrow Wyrm, or undead dragon, can be found in an army. Carrion Lancers are new to the world, and I honestly don't know what the are. But I see why they created a new elite unit, because Banshees are so generic and Barrow Wyrms fly, which could be confusing in a starter set.
The Uthuk Y'Llan
This is the only faction truly unique to Runewars and Terrinoth.
The Uthuk were once simple nomadic people known as the Loth Khar living in the Ru Darklands. But the Shaman Llovar Rutonu was corrupted by the Ynfaernel, the dark gods of Menarra (Terrinoth is the continent, Menarra is the world). Llovar had his tribe drink demon blood, and soon they became the corrupted warriors we know today. During the First Darkness, the Uthuk were all but wiped off the face of Terrinoth during what was known as the "scourging of the wastes", which occurred after Timorran defeated the Uthuk. He wished to wipe them out for good. But some survived, and now they have returned, hungry for vengeance. The Uthuk can be found to the northwest of the baronies, and Lord Alcaron (the closest thing to a real character we have) was the first of the Daqan to fight them since the First Darkness. The Uthuk hunt the wild demons of their lands, and drink their blood in rituals to renew their dark pact.
Berserkers and Blood Harvesters make up the infantry for Uthuk. They have many bone spurs, and super human strength. Viper Legions use poison arrows to wound foes. Blood Sisters and Warlock Chieftains are the main magic wielders, and they use dark magics. Flesh Rippers are wild demons tamed by the Uthuk to fight as cavalry. The Obscenes are Uthuk possessed by demons of gluttony, and they go into battle frenzies and feast upon the blood of their victims. Grotesque are Uthuk that have severely mutated so that one arm is completed covered by bone spurs and shells. They use this arm to great effect in melee combat, and can also shoot Spurs on bone out from the arm to bombard their enemies. The Chaos Lord is a massive demon that serves as the Uthuk's heaviest, strongest ground unit. The Doombringer is an insect-like demon that burrows underground, surprising its enemies.
The Latari Elves
The Latari Elves are the last of the Elven tribes, the rest having been wiped out, mostly by the dragons in the Third Darkness. They live to the southwest of the Free Cities, south of Waiqar's lands. The other tribes which have faded into history are remembered in Latari by way of the Tears of Latariana. As they never received a Battlelore faction, and were never very important in Runebound, not much is known about them. Sorry bout that.
Less is known about the elf army due to never receiving a Battlelore faction. However, we know that they use archers as their primary foot soldier, their warriors are highly trained and difficult to kill, they ride bear-like creatures known as Leonx, as well as mighty pegasuses. They also enlist the help of mighty tree spirits known as Forest Guardians (which were rather lame in both Rune Age and the original Rune Wars.) They also have mages known as Storm Sorceresses.
Sub-major Factions:
These factions only appear in Rune Age: Oath and Anvil, as well as in passing references throughout the game series. They have a decent shot at entering the game, but don't count on it.
Dwarves of Dunwarr
Little is known about the dwarves. We know that they are generally reclusive, and only mix with other races at the Free City of Forge, and even then grudgingly. While the humans and elves are considered "good", dwarves are more "neutral". They generally stay out of everything, unless they have to. The only thing that convinces the dwarves to act is a threat to Dunwarr itself.
Dwarves have the least description of their armies of any faction. This is because three of their units in Rune Age are: Sentinel, Forge Master, Guardian. Very generic. So I guess they are mostly foot soldiers? They also employ bombs. This is known from the Demolitionist in Rune
Age (I so hope he enters RuneWars), and the Dwarven Fire Bombs in Rune Wars (again, the old one. This is so confusing. Couldn't they have come up with a different name?). They also use Digging Machines and War Machines to fight with. I personally take issue with them having machines. The rest of Terrinoth is still fighting with bows and swords, and haven't even invented the catapult yet, but they have all this technology. How come some hasn't leaked out to the other nations? Hopefully they change this in RuneWars, and make them magical constructs or something.
Orcs of the Broken Plains
Okay, there are a lot of myths to bust in this one, so let's get a move on. First, this is not a unified nation, rather it is a group of tribes. These tribes war often, and that combined with a harsh terrain make the orcs a tough people. They do unite in Rune Age: Oath and Anvil, but Rune Age is generally accepted as more of an alternate, possible history. They will likely unite at some point during the Rune Wars and join the game. Second, Orcs are not evil. In fact, some orcs are civilized enough to be on the Council of Dawnsmoor (of course, that doesn't mean much. It's not an elected position. You just show up. Still, an Orc that can participate in politics isn't evil at all, at least by the literal definition). You can meet very civilized orcs everywhere in Terrinoth, especially Riverwatch and Dawnsmoor. However, they get a bad rap because orcs often launch raids on the lands controlled by the Free Cities. Why is this? As I said, the orcs are made of many different tribes. Some raid, some integrate. But even the raiding ones really aren't evil. I mean, look at Old Man Waiqar (as he is known to fans of the games), or he Uthuk. They want world dominance and slaughter. These orcs just want some money, and they want it now. Even the Orc heroes in Rune Wars (old one, this is seriously getting annoying) are neutral aligned, reflecting the orc mentality of "I align myself with the winner/whoever pays me the most." Of course, racism is rampant in the Free Cities, mainly due to these raiding tribes, and naturally some cities are beginning to turn finding racists into a witch hunt (generally those with non-humans in control of the government), which overall benefits the civilized orcs greatly (especially the politicians). So you know, not that different than today's world! Third, orcs aren't stupid. Sure, the collective IQ of the Broken Plains ain't great, but that doesn't mean orcs are stupid. This isn't Warhammer. Orcs actually can count to ten. It's more that the vast majority of the orcs are warriors/survivors, and so they have the same IQ as humans of that type. Fourth, orcs are very spiritual. For whatever reason, they are the most religious of all the factions, and the Spirit Caves from Rune Age are an excellent example. Thing is, their religion actually works for them. Spiritspeakers often go to the Spirit Caves to ask a question. They then fall into a trance. When they awake, they find themselves in front of the picture that best answers their question. And sometimes that painting is fresh. This is the closest to divine intervention that the Runebound universe has, so don't worry, Nuffle won't strike down your Carrion Lancer. Elder Mok, a hero from the universe, has the power to unleash the power of his spirit in an incredible magical storm. So yeah, watch out for the Orc with the drum.
We have enough knowledge of the Orc armies to get a good idea of them. Their primary foot soldiers are called Ravagers, and they are rugged, tough brigands. They employ strange beasts in their army, and Beastmasters lead them. Spirit speakers are far from inept at Battle magic, and are seen as supporting units in the Orc ranks. They also ride lizards, furthering their connection with beasts. Finally, occasionally a Giant Troll can be found in the army. These are dumb as a brick and just kill whatever they want whenever, including other orcs. Oh well.
In case you haven't realized by the length of this section, I really love orcs.
A note on magic: Most magic (especially with humans) comes from rune shards (or in other words, the shattered remnants of the Orb). Hence the name Runebound. Very few people can create magic without a vessel such as a Timmoran Shard or Dragon Rune. Here's a quote from the Runiverse Document from 2013.
"Since Runewars posits the idea that the runes are actually shards of Timmorran's Orb of the Sky, later inscribed with magic runes by the Dragonlords, the "runes" created by the stone scribes are most probably based on the Dragon Runes which the Dragonlords left behind. It is known that the Dragonlords gave their shards to their followers to enhance their powers in battle. [RW]"
"Perhaps the stone scribes have found a way to "copy" runic magic onto an original shard onto a stone tablet, thus allowing wide distribution of known Rune spells, but not allowing the recreation of those spells whose original rune shards are still missing. This dovetails nicely into the Rune Seekers' quest to recover lost runes as well (see “Rune Keepers,” above.) It also explains why so many runes in the artwork look like stone tablets if the Stars of Timmorran are actually crystal shards of the Orb. These are scribed copies of the original shards."
What is the Canon?
I personally feel that only the following games can be considered canon.
Rune Age
Rune Wars
Runebound 3rd Edition
Descent Journeys in the Dark Second Edition
Battlelore Second Edition
Why not Runebound Second Edition? Two reasons: First, it has an inaccurate depiction of the Dragon Wars (or Third Darkness), which has since been rectified by the new edition, and second, let's not forget that an expansion added aliens. Yes aliens. Shoot. Me. Now. This leads me to believe that it really can't be considered canon.
Other factions?
It's unlikely, but the following factions could enter the game
Goblins
DragonLords
The Overlord (who controls an army of monsters)
Mercenaries (monsters who work for anyone)
Torue Albes (more humans)
Zanaga (Lizardmen)
Al-kalim (Arabia. Highly unlikely)
Isheim (Halflings (also called Onoit))
Katijie (Singhara): In some of the expansions for Runebound second edition, they speak of lion-people called Singhara. One of these heroes is called Lyssa. However, the new edition of Runebound has Lyssa in it, and she is now called a Katijie. So I'd go with Katijie. They never speak of Katijie nations or tribes, which make me doubt that they'd every make them a faction.
What is the Rune Wars?
A few years before the Rune Wars, the Uthuk left the Ru and began to invade the northern baronies at Hernfar. The heroics of Knight Captain Alcaron helped repel the invasion, but the Uthuk were far from done. For the Rune wars were started by Waiqar with his invasion of Daqan territory. Suddenly Daqan was fighting two fronts. It wasn't long before Daqan called the Elves to their side. Unfortunately, the elves didn't exactly go to the side of the Daqan Lords. You see, Waiqar's invasion was for more than just dominance over land. He wanted the runes. Daqan discovered this too, and began their own search. So when they asked the elves for help, the elves just jumped in with their own search for the runes. And the Uthuk were drawn to the runes, likely by the powers of the Ynfaernel. So you see, the RuneWars are fought over the dragon runes, not land. I know I didn't explain it well, but I can't really do better. The runes lead to power, so they fight over them. Got it?
Hope you found this informative.
). Who needs dark elves when you got these guys?
