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A Silver Room
As you walk down the silver hall, you notice a dim lit torch in the middle of a nearby room. You enter it, and discover that this room is all silver, everything. Chairs, tables, the door, everything. You take the torch in hand to blow ever so softly on to it, the torch gradually grows from a simmer to a blasing flame. The flame reflects off the walls and the room becomes very bright. There are plaques on every wall. Some with a small picture others none, some are complete and some are missing. You look carefully at them:
*Note: this page has a lot of graphics on it*
Centaurs
Half man, half horse—there is said to be no greater archers than the Centaurs. They move fast and possess physical strength few other races have. Their archers are said to be able to shoot arrows heavy enough and fast enough to literally crumple even the sturdiest of buildings. Their large size and hardened hooves make it difficult to do anything that requires silent movement and careful hiding. Their horse body also prevents them from being able to wear the bottom half of their armor, so they are often left very vulnerable to wounds.
Ogres
Ogres are huge warlike behemoths, capable of crushing a castle wall with almost any part of their body. Strong beyond even what their size hints at, Ogres live almost entirely to destroy. No one is sure if Ogres are capable of magic. If they are, they rarely make use of it. Ogres prefer to crush enemies with their bare hands and crude weapons. They rarely leave the bodies of their slain enemies behind, as they tend to use them for war rituals and for food.
Gnomes
Hard working and very religious, the diminutive Gnomes are the greatest farmers in Shadowmere. Their size makes open warfare hard despite the excellence of the tools their craftsmen can forge, but being small also allows them to slip in and out of places without being noticed.
Gnomes are usually a peaceful breed. However, peaceful does not equal weak! As the saying goes, "Money is power", and by selling their abundant food surplus on the open market Gnomes are able to afford the best troops money can buy. This, combined with their ability to call the holy wrath of the heavens upon their enemies makes them a force to be reckoned with.
Goblins
Hungry creatures of the night, shape shifters—they are the thing under the bed, the monster in the closet. The sight of these fast-breeding changelings has even been known to inspire fear in the hearts of Ogres. They are a vengeful race, though who or what they are avenging is unknown. They rarely show mercy on an opponent and have been known to eat their enemies’ children.
Dark Elves
Evil is the first word that comes to mind and deadly is the second. Some of the stealthiest Assassins and Thieves are Dark Elves -- so quick and deadly that most never suspect that they are about to die. They are also very capable spell casters and have been known to destroy entire cities with their spells. Their underground habitat makes for poor farming, construction of new buildings takes much longer, and there is little for them to explore. It is a rare day when their efforts result in something useful. They can use a strong spell only Dark Elves know, which is capable of draining the very souls from people for use as mana.
Halflings
These are happy little folk. They tend/seem to be "nice" and peacefully. Good farming, and average building, the halfling is a decent race. Since there size is small they like to "slip" into kingdoms armories, graineries, treasury, ect. These often get them in very difficult situatuions. Halflings can cast magic, and they are very, and I repeat. VVVVEEERRRYYY good looters!
High Elves
High elves are the magic users of the elven world. They are excellent scholars and one of the best magic wielding races in the game, but when properly played can also do very well in military combat. Their weakness is the low building rate, which slows them early on. A powerful race in the right hands, they are also easy to misuse and get nowhere with.
Humans
Humans are the standard in this game and, like almost all other games, have no distinct strengths or weaknesses. Humans are well-known for their use of arson and poisoning water to defeat a fortified enemy.
Leprechauns
Leprechauns are smaller than most races but are deadly, powerful magicians and very skilled thieves. The Ogre Scholar Dongo once said smashing rocks with hand is good, smashing with mind is scary. Leprechauns have also been known to teleport almost at will.
Minotaurs
The bulky cow-men are good farmers, and although they do eat somewhat more than normal sized races they can still support large amounts of troops/laborers without having to buy extra food. Combined with their excellent building ability, and above average rangers this allows them to quickly get a new kingdom off the ground, and later on makes building castles and such much less difficult than for some other races, and also, combined with their natural ability with weapons, armor and war machines allows them to maintain excellently equipped armies.
Only the most foolish or desperate opponents will attack a Minotaur due to the excellent defenses that they erect for their kingdoms, and their ability to retaliate. Minotaurs are somewhat restricted in who they can attack due to their code of honor.
Dwarves
Dwarves are by far the best craftsmen in the game. Their engineers build faster than any other race. They are also good fighters, and their war machines are well known for wreaking havoc on any battle field. Dwarves do suffer a small penalty when it comes to casting spells though. Dwarves are notoriously poor assassins and are very poor at any form of covert operations. Dwarf thieves are somewhat skilled but are still not very effective.
Orcs
Orcs are without a doubt the most bloodthirsty race in the land of Shadowmere. Large, ugly creatures, they love battle above all other things. Nothing inspires an Orc more than marching upon a kingdom and slaughtering hundreds of innocent villagers. So inspired in fact that an Orc can nearly double their strength before entering combat, making a small army able to conquer much larger forces. Orc’s have a great love for engines of war, and it is a matter of intense pride to them that they surpass even the Dwarves in the deadliness of their machines. They prefer head-on attacks, and aren't particularly good at looting or assassinations. Having such a love for fighting allows them to attack kingdoms much higher or lower in score than them without a large mutiny, making the range of targets larger. In addition, the Orcish shamans have developed the horrifying ability to make the casualties of war turn into hideous skeletons, which then attack the opposing kingdom relentlessly. This savage ability can turn the tide of a battle between warring kingdoms, killing off many enemy troops without sacrificing warrior's lives.
The Orcs warlike culture displays some contempt for scholarly research, with the result that any Orc spending too much time studying is accused of ‘acting elvish’. Accruing advanced knowledge of spells suffers because of this, making them hard to come by. Even with a full array of spells, the lack of mana seriously reduces an Orcs spell-slinging ability. Construction of buildings also seems to be a little below average for Orcs, as they have little need to build when they capture so many buildings from fighting.
Sprites
Sprites are the smallest and least human-like of all elves. They make up for their physical weakness by relying on magic both in war and in peace. Sprite armies can use powerful destructive spells to weaken an enemy and then attack them with their skilled archers and very powerful clerics. Their small size allows them to spy easily and they may also use their natural telepathic ability to spy by magic. They prefer magic and battle to underhand methods such as theft and assassination and they will not attack easily unless provoked. Sprites need very large numbers of laborers to erect buildings and the quality and quantity of the weapons and armor that they can build is so poor that they will almost always prefer to create them by magic. They are poor farmers and will rarely bother to produce surplus food, but they also eat less than other races and can sustain themselves cheaply by buying food from the market. They are highly intelligent and can quickly improve their skills by studying, but also easily distracted which is why their rangers will often return empty handed. Sprites are whimsical and flighty creatures who will leave easily if they are unhappy and may take a long time to return.
Trolls
No other race is nearly as ugly as the Trolls. It has been said that even Goblins are unable to shape-shift to anything nearly as ugly. Despite their large and ugly appearance, Trolls do not look particularly threatening or dangerous, and are often thought of as a good-natured race. They have a very powerful regenerative force, which has been the source of many experiments by powerful wizards seeking immortality. Their natural regeneration has led them to a very brutal form of entertainment, which few other races would even be willing to attempt. This brutal pastime mostly involves bashing each other with large objects or attempting extremely dangerous things such as jumping off a cliff and trying to be the first to hit the ground. These games have led the Trolls to having very short-term memories, limiting their ability to learn.
Vampires
Children of the night, the vampires rise to glory amidst the chaos they themselves help create. Their perpetual quest for dominance and eternal craving for the blood of the living have given these abominations a lust for war that is unrivalled among any other race (except, perhaps, for Orcs). Their darkened hearts only beat for the next upcoming battle, so they waste little time honing their scholarly skills and agriculture is completely unheard of for them. They can feed on the blood of farm animals but this is considered a great humiliation for vampires and they will avoid it whenever possible. Vampires will use any weapon or tactic to beat an enemy and they will go to any length to achieve their goals. This is also why they train and utilize the stealthiest of all assassins, far surpassing the dreaded dark elves. They disdain to use armor, mocking the inferior races with their immortality. All vampire troops excel in their particular fields, except the clerics for which vampires use subdued and blood-bound victims to assist the vampires in battling the forces of life and nature. Vampires have no code of honor when it comes to preying on victims and they rely on trickery and deceit as often as brute force...
Werewolves
Werewolves are incredibly good scouts, owing mostly to their fine sense of smell and night vision. Unfortunately, their table manners leave much to be desired, and tailoring is expensive, which hurts the economy of most Werewolve kingdoms.
Wood Elves
Wood Elves are the Children of the Woods, and Song. They enjoy singing, and merrymaking. Somewhat naturally magical they tend to have huge amounts of mana. Most wood elves are nuetral and really try to avoid combat, due to their nature. But! Don't be a fool they are a forminable opponent. Great rangers and decent building, the wood elf is an economic powerhouse!
To the North
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