HUMAN
Humans are the most abundant terrestrial species on the planet Drae, with a current global population of around 200 million. Since the end of the Compass Wars, a new industrial revolution has continued to improve human technology and survivability, leading to a massive surge in the human population. Indeed, the human population is expected to double over the next twenty years, according to leading Compass Alliance data scientists.
Varying wildly in physical appearance, the common traits of the human species include their bipedal movement, forward gate, five fingered hands with opposable thumbs, and of course, relatively large brains with a capacity for deep empathic connections and logical deductions. By utilizing female mitochondrial DNA, scientists have recently traced the genetic heritage of the entire human race back to a single ancient ancestor. Based on the analysis of this data, expert geneticists have concluded that all modern humans are the descendants of a single woman who lived two hundred thousand years ago. This narrative coincides with many origin myths and religious parables, which promote the philosophy of an "All-Maker", surprisingly creating a strong overlap between science and spirituality.
Human society is overwhelmingly authoritarian. Rather than relying on the strength of tribal family groups, humans have a tendency to centralize power within their societies. It is hard to say if this power structure leads to corruption or is caused by corruption, but regardless, all human governments tend to transform themselves into empires, eventually. Historically human societies have a tendency to grow beyond their reach, until they collapse, leaving poverty and chaos in their wake. Indeed human history can be viewed as a series of economic consolidations and collapses.
FEY
Feys, also known as faerie-folk, are the most numerous subterranean species on the planet Drae, with a population of around 90 million. Feys primarily live in a vast cave system known as the Elder Dark, which connects underground tunnels and reservoirs across the globe. Since the end of the Compass Wars, the Drunnish Empire has established itself as the world's leading exporters of fresh water, syphoned from the massive reservoirs in the Elder Dark. Being inhabitants of an arid planet, this has made the Feyish elite extraordinarily wealthy.
With extreme genetic diversity, Feys possess a wide range of physical characteristics, similar to humans. Distinctive features of "High Feys" are carapace horns, flat nostrils, lack of hair, and uncanny eyes. Their horns being their most distinct feature, a biologist might assume these intimidating features would be intended for self-defense or subterranean burrowing, however these carapace horns are actually just a protective casing for fleshy organs known as "Feyish Antennae". Like an antenna on a radio passively receiving radio waves from the air, Feyish Antennae receive universal energies. Known as "Astra", these universal energies allow the Fey to interact with reality on a higher plane of awareness, granting the Fey a sort of Sixth Sense.
High Feys tend to be slightly taller and stronger than their "common" fey counterparts. Those who are not "High Feys" are typically just referred to by their subspecies: Elf, Dwarf, Puck, Hob, etc. These Feys tend to appear much more human, and indeed, can even reproduce with humans to create feyish hybrid offspring. This is fascinating to genetic scientists, who argue that is obvious proof of a common ancestry between the human and fey species. Despite this, humans and feys have historically been great enemies, but have begun to trade and collaborate in recent centuries.
