When the dark elves arrived, the confusion could be traced like a painting on all of their faces. They were looking around themselves to the thousands of goblins and orcs walking around, carrying wood, stone, sticks, making spears, riding dire wolves, feeding rabbits and deer, building houses for the dark elves, cooking food, primitively making clothes with some odd fiber. Maybe amazed was the word one ought to use for the state they found themselves in, or maybe it was appalled. Monsters have never been in such a big group, yet alone, although this town of theirs was primitive, it was way above the expectations one would have from an orc or a goblin village.

What’s more, Harren had monsters that the dark elves did not initially recognize. Tall, blue, sharp eared monsters they saw wandering around, for instance. What were they? Sure they looked like goblins, but they looked like humans too. They looked a bit like orcs, except their fangs were much smaller. Were these… Goblins? No way.

And, and… what about that red orc that rose over the others like blood-bathed mountain? They were sure that it was an orc, but they have neither seen nor heard of one like that.

Monsters were supposed to be stupid and could be easily hunted down by dark elves. Any of the elves, actually, could take an orc or a couple goblins down alone without getting a single scratch. Orcs were strong, surely, but they only had muscle. They had no training, nor the smarts to train. Goblins, on the other hand, were much weaker than orcs, and their only advantage was their numbers. They usually lived in groups of ten to thirty mostly in caves, and occasionally had villages outside. And, of course, Harren resembled nothing like a goblin village: a goblin village would usually be a collection of tents made with leaves with no houses. Orcs too, had villages, much sturdier than goblins, but an orc tribe with a village was even rarer. Village orcs were rare not only because they were smarter, but also because they were the only orcs that moved in groups – normally an orc would live alone like a feral beast. They would have no weapons, and no clothes, making it much easier for humanoids to hunt them.

Yet, there stood in front of them a village of at least a thousand orcs and goblins, built by a human who spoke their language – built by a human who casted a spell on the dark elves so that they could now also speak their language. No tales have warned them of such a threat – yet, surprisingly, these monsters were the farthest thing from a threat. They offered accommodation and food to the dark elves in return of information. So, dark elves were not hesitant to give it.

There were multiple humanoid races: humans, dwarves, elves, wood elves, dark elves, hins, gnomes, and angels were the most common ones. They were named humanoids because it is believed by humans that the creator had a form of a human when he descended to the world three days after he created it. He created many creatures, and those he liked he shaped them, so they looked like himself – and his last creature to put on this world by his own hands was the replica of the image he took at the time – a human was born. Monsters, in contrast, are the creatures that were made by the siblings of the creator. Although some of them are neutral, like dryads and fairies, and have no hostility towards humanoids, most of them are wild and harbor great hostility, like orcs and goblins.

The most populated race in the continent Lostra, which Harren is in, the most common race is humans. The continent is divided into seven: five human kingdoms, one dwarven kingdom, and one elven kingdom. Except for one of the human kingdoms, none of them accepts members of other races as their citizens. Slavery of other races is common in all human kingdoms even in the one that accepts members of races other than humans. Even in that one, the acceptance relies solely upon high taxation. There are some groups that are against this structure that feeds into the shared hatred for other humanoid races, but they are too powerless.

Besides Lostra, there are two other continents as far as the knowledge of the dark elves goes. Yet, Lostra rarely communicates with those as they are rather seclusive. So, even the knowledge of all Lostrans is limited to some extent.