Atelon is a Guarded World. It is home to four main groups, the L'npei, the Gornarod, the Keshdumah, and the Rapani.
The L’npei are the native race of Atelon and occupy most of the lowland forests and plains. They are enthusiastic believers of the Cult of E'lani and have access to much of the powers of the Taikahir. The civilized L’npei follow a traditional semi-nomadic way of life, but live within the defined boundaries of the lands of their Gens. Their wild cousins live as hunters and raiders in the unsettled lowlands and on the margins of the Genslands.
In an earlier age, humans dominated the planet and marginalized the L’npei. When the Guardians took control of the world (in an event the Gornarod call the Expulsion), the Taikahir disabled all advanced human technology. Weaponless, the human settlements were quickly overrun by the L’npei.
The Gornarod are descendants of the original human colonists who survived in the highlands during the Expulsion. They have survived there, creating a civilization within the constraints imposed by the Guardians. They are grudging but generally obedient followers of E’lani.
During the Expulsion, another group of human colonists trekked into the highland wilderness in the west of Atelon. There they founded the City of Amtirai where they preserved the ancient human knowledge and technology and escaped the notice of the Guardians and the L’npei. Their descendants became the Keshdumah and the Rapani.
Long after the Expulsion, a Guardian Destroyer named M'Maoulek abandoned E’lani to become the Protector of the Gornarod of the Darjevka Mountains, a people it was directed to destroy. M’Maoulek’s apostasy permanently tore the fabric of the Taikahir, so that in a small portion of Atelon, simple energy powered machines could operate again. Later M’Maoulek recruited the Amtiraide to conquer and resettle the eastern plains of Atelon. At first, the Amtiraide used their technology to extend M’Maoulek’s power. Eventually, their settlements turned against M’Maoulek and drove it and the Gornarod back into the Darjevka Mountains. The descendants of the Amtiraide occupy part of the eastern lowlands now known as Dumah and are called the Keshdumah or Dumerai. They are an advanced civilization, possessing technology and weapons of great power.
The Rapani are Keshdumah who rejected the Dumerai civilization and fled from the Dumerai homeland. They are enthusiastic followers of E’lani and occupy lowland areas to the west of Dumah. Their civilization is a mix of Gornarod and L’npei practices. They also have access to the Taikahir.
Most of the world remains under the influence of the Guardians. In those areas the Taikahir is still effective and most machines are weak or undependable. On the Dumah border areas and in the lands controlled by M’Maoulek, both Taikahir and machines are unpredictable in effectiveness. In the core of Dumah, machines and technology are effective and Taikahir is weak and intermittent.
