Enemies of Adel

The Adelians suffer from the same ordinary ills that any society suffers. Beneath the happy, peaceful surface there is some crime and some political and institutional corruption. The world is mostly safe, but it is not perfect. The powerful may still oppress the weak, the strong may still exert themselves over the helpless. Overall, however, Adel is a stable world, a good place to live. But the world has its great enemies. Each of the following is a grave threat to Adel – when they appear in sufficient force, these enemies can be threats to anything from whole communities, to whole regions, to, in the most dire of circumstances, whole Nations or the world at large. These are the Enemies of Adel – creatures sometimes distrusted, sometimes hated.

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Races of Adel

A variety off human-like races inhabit the world of the Spirits of Eden. Past the cataclysm, many species once dominant over the landscape have vanished entirely. The last of the humans from the Lost World have succumbed to the conditions of the new world and vanished. The Dwarves are all gone, only ruins of their great monuments remaining behind to attest to their existence. Creatures such as orcs have either vanished or changed shape so as to be unrecognizeable – as an example, the goblins that do exist on Adel are much more lizard-like, akin to Kobolds, than they are akin to past goblinoids.

Many new species of human-like beings have risen to claim the new world, each in their own way adapted to Eden. Though they all resemble humans, the mark of the new world is upon each of them in a unique way that sets them apart. These changes attest to the divine power nestled within each. Though Adelians come in a variety of ethnicities and groups, physical differences are hardly a problem for them. They are drawn together by much stronger nationalist ties – it is more often one will see two Iomadi bickering over their homelands than over their physical features, or arguing with a Damakran or Cuporo about their bodies.

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Religion In Adel

Adelians are an entirely polytheistic culture. There is a spirit for every craft and emotion, for every concept and item. A farmer might worship spirits of the rain, of plants, of the earth. Worship of the spirits tinges everything that Adelians do. This does not entirely mean that they are all god-fearin’ zealots, paralyzed without religion or paranoid of its influence in all things. They believe in their own free will – but they will often see things through the prism of religion, for better or worse. An Adelian sees rainfall and thanks the Spirits of Rain for answering his or her prayers – despite the fact that the rain likely had nothing to do with his or her prayers. An Adelian’s belief is next to impossible to destroy, although it can be shaken. One would be blind to turn away from the Spirits. But it is impossible to be forsaken by them, and many stories tell of such tragic misfortunes.

Spirits are physical beings that can exert great, visible power; however, they hardly ever seem to do so. A Spirit’s metaphysical function is, one could say, as a life support system for a dying world. The Cataclysm destroyed much of the World’s natural ability to sustain its processes, such as the cycle of the water, the geologic movement of the crust, the growth of plant and animal life. But the Cataclysm also dispersed massive, infinite amounts of magical energy, known as Essence, about the world. This Essence gathered in the shape of the Spirits. As long as Spirits exist, the world will keep moving as it should. They are (sometimes unknowingly) the timekeepers for the labors of the world, subtly and sometimes helplessly causing the changes that should be natural but no longer are. While a Spirit is this grand magical creature, the majority of them are also emotional beings. They have a mental life that requires some stimulation, and they are as capable of want and need as a mortal.

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