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Armageddon is a fantastic MUD, but it isn't exactly mideval fantasy. There aren't forests full of happily frolicking elves and bunnies. It is a desert world, so there is only one forest, it is tinder dry, and the "halflings" that live there aren't so much happily frolicking as savage and canabilistic. Don't look for Frodo, they probably ate him, they certainly would have eaten Legolas, Striker and Gimli.
You might call the PC races semi-original, or at least warped. They often share the names of classic fantasy races, but are seriously bent in some way. Imagine if someone nuked Middle Earth back to the stone age, and these are the decendants of the survivors a couple thousand years later.
Halflings - Xenophobic savages willing to suppliment hunting by killing and eating any too-talls that invade their territory. Their social graces are limited, and their table manners appalling. However, they do seem to live in a sort of xen-like commune, living in touch with nature and eachother, eschewing material possessions. Think canabalistic hippies.
Elves - Tall and slender, with pointy ears and that elven arrogance everyone loves. However if these elves were ever immortal, then the apocolypse that turned their land into a smoldering desert ruin stole it from them, and now they barely live longer than humans. They are the second most populous race in the known world, but remain an oppressed minority. Despised by the humans, anti-elf prejudice among the human powers keeps them from the most lucarative jobs and prevents them from attaining positions of real power. They have become a race of theives and swindlers. Most elves rot in the stinking ghettos of the cities, while a few of their wilder bretheren still run free in the wastelands outside.
Dwarves - Short, strong, completely hairless. No beards here, the poor bastards don't even have eyebrows. The usual dwarven determination has been warped into something darker, a sort of genetic version of obssessive compulsive disorder. Every dwarf has a focus, an over-riding goal that he persues tirelessly. An obsession that rules his life and colors every action, every thought.
Half-giants - 12 foot tall neaderthals, with a real gift for mimicry. They are ugly and prone to breaking things, but boy do they come in handy when you want something heavy moved. Thier sense of self seems somewhat weak, they usually mimic their friends and other people they admire, though if someone new and interesting happens by they may drop their old friends without a thought of regret to latch on to their new friend.
Muls - An angry slave-race, a sterile hybred born of a forced union between a dwarf and a human. Born to be tools and weapons, occasionaly this weapon turns and strikes down it's wielder. Unfortunately the world is not a friendly place for a rogue mul, no one wants to be around a moody guy prone to berzerker rages and emo-like deperessions, his emotions are volitile and often violent. A mul is either a slave or a runaway, and there are very few places a runaway can find safety, much less acceptance.
There are a few other races, including intelligent insectoids, but these should give you the idea. The environment shapes its people, and this world shows every sign of wanting to irradicate the humanoids responsible for its own wounds. It is a constant struggle to survive, either in the opressive cities or the barren wasteland outside.
Angela Christine
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