While the other races of the world were cowering in fear, the Successors were rebuilding. The result of a project to perfect Humanity, Successors view themselves as the way to the future and have rebuilt technology to a remarkable degree. Now they rule a collection of varied kingdoms across the land as the dominant species of the World After.
Physical Description
Successors look extremely similar to the Humans they are based on. They have no extreme differences in appearance, but often appear as an idealized version of the Human form. Successors have skin in various shades of grey ranging from pure white to nearly black. Hair colors are often pastels, with greens, blues, and reds being common, though yellow is by far the most widely seen. The eyes of a Successor swim with color, appearing to be an ever shifting rainbow of hues dancing across their eyes.
Each of the three subtypes of Successors have slight physical differences from each other. Orcs are bulky, with broad shoulders and muscular builds. The most discernible feature of Orcs however are their lower canine teeth which are long and potroud out of their lips even when their mouth is closed forming a set of tusks.
Elves are the picture of perfect, androgynous beauty. All elves, both male and female, appear so similar to each other that even elves find it impossible to tell one from another. They are all tall and thin with long, pointed ears. To tell each other apart, elves wear masks that are all uniquely carved and painted to distinguish individuals. Women often paint their masks with warm colors like red, yellow, orange, or pink, whereas men paint their masks with cool colors like blue, green, or purple.
Dwarves are simple, appearing the most like their Human ancestors. Their only major difference is in their height. Dwarves stand shorter on average than other Successors, usually around half a foot to a foot shorter. Most dwarves pride themselves on being closest to the legacy of Humanity and take offence at comments on their difference in height.
History
Those who would come to be known as the Successors are the result of countless torturous genetic experiments conducted by the Preeminent. The widely accepted reason for these experiments is to have perfected the Human race, though this itself is only a guess at the Preeminent’s true intentions. After countless generations of change, the first strain of Successors emerged. Continued tinkering with this strain would eventually come to create the three groups of Successors that are known today.
With the departure of their creators, the Successors were left to their own devices in the world. They quickly set out to find their own way, founding technologies like fire and agriculture. By the time the other races of the world began to crawl back to the surface, the Successors had already returned technology to the status of Humanity’s long distant medieval period. Now, Successors are the dominant force in the World After, ruling over vast swaths of land and having far more people than any other race.
Culture
Though they are the most numerous race in the World After, Successors are not the most unified. Far from it, Successors are often bickering, feuding, and fighting with each other. While each type of Successor has its own culture, the long grudges of the Dwarves, the Militarism of the Orcs, and the Artistic grace of the Elves, Successors have some cultural traits that are common among all of them.
Successors value loyalty and stability. Staying loyal to one’s kingdom is of the highest importance to Successors and treason is the greatest sin. Within Kingdoms, Successors value personal freedoms like freedom of movement, association, and thought as well as hard work and person drive. While the Kingdom comes first, it cannot run without individuals and thus many Successors are known to place themselves ahead of their neighbors. This often manifests as a highly competitive attitude in all things and a belief that if one is not in first, then they are in last.
Successors consider themselves to be the successor to Humanity’s legacy. They are dedicated to discovering the lost secrets of the World Before and returning Humanity to its former glory.
Politics
While varied in appearance, name, and culture, the Kingdoms of the Successors are all structured similarly. Each of the three kingdoms sits with a monarch at the top who has authority over the entire kingdom. Beneath this monarch are lords who rule over smaller areas of land and report directly to the monarch. These lords form the aristocratic backbone of the bureaucracy and serve to keep the kingdom running. Each lord rules over their vassals, individual landowners who control villages or castles and pay tribute to the lord in exchange for protection.
Lands
The Successor Kingdoms rule over the vast majority of the land in the region. Between the Kingdoms of the Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves, there is little land to spare. Orcish power flows from their capital city of Kordan, a fortified caste from which the Orcish King Bismarck III plans his wars. For Elves, their lands are centered around the city of Loth’Randriel, a sprawling settlement filled with green spaces and parks and populated by the most visionary artists of the land. Here, the Elven Queen Victoria basks in the radiance of her own beauty and that of her Kingdom. Finally, the Dwarves center themselves around the city of New Washington, a planned city built from salvaged ruined bricks that attempts to recapture the glory of the World Before. Here, King Andrew rules with a light touch and allows his lords to do mostly as they please.
Relationships
For the most part, the Successor Kingdoms are focused on each other. They maintain a tense peace, with skirmishes occuring on their borders on occasion. Any major political disaster threatens to topple this precarious balance of power and risk an all out war.
Each Kingdom maintains relationships with the various other races of the world, though most have to make deals on the Successors terms due to their size and power. In general, Successors maintain peace and rule over much of the land, setting the tone for the world through their exercise of feudal law.
Religion
Most Successors worship ancient Humans, believing them to be ascended and above the creatures of the World After. Most see the tools and technologies of the World Before as sacred artifacts that must be gathered and safeguarded.
A sizable minority of Successors worship the Preeminent as their creators, believing them to be all powerful and awaiting the day of their destructive return.
City of Rainfall 