This is in progress and my spellcheck doesn't work on the stories for some reason so it might be a while before I do an editing pass. Behold, the Sezentia infodump!

The world's largest concentration of Riraen, Sezentia is the empire formed by Charis from the remains of three countries: Lita, homeland mountains of the birdfolk Litan, Maphas, a human kingdom, and Dasari, the home of the eponymous people.

Over a thousand years ago the empress conquered Maphas (at the time a human-ruled nation but with a large population of Riraen living in otherwise inhospitable regions) from within with a combination of underhanded politics and civil war, forming the bulk of Sezentia. Most of the land is covered with plains, heathland, and steppes which made wood hard to come by before expansion. In all directions but west and south/southwest it is bordered by mountains, providing a natural defense from invasion.

West and southwest of Maphas lies what once was Lita, the Grave of the Goddess. The flatlands of the human lands give way to the Lita shield, large rolling hills with vast sections of exposed rock between patches of forest that form a sort of staircase to the mountains. The mountain range that extends east into Maphas is known as Xis Silphsi to the Litan, or more vulgarly as the Corpse. At the crag peaks- according to legend the highest in the world and certainly the highest on the continent- the Litan built their cities. They built into the sheer rock itself and out from the numerous natural caves that riddle the mountains. Since the Litan are winged and can fly there are no land routes between their great cities, but there are lesser villages and towns at the base of the range and across the shield, populated originally by both Litan and humans. Since it ceded to the empire and the Litan were nearly wiped out all but the peak-cities are now mostly human with Riraen overseers. Even in the cities the Litan have no haven, as the Riraen have moved there, using the wind-paths between them to keep tabs on the rest of the empire.

South of Maphas and just touching part of Lita's eastern border is the home of the Dasari, from which they get their name. It is a small region, barely hospitable even to those native to it. A pit of swamp, fens, and moors, fading to thicket to the west and north and bayou (and, eventually, the ocean) to the south. According to legend the bones of several civilization lie buried, swallowed by the marsh. The Dasari had a single city-state, Enyreal, in a particularly stable section of the bayou overlooking the ocean, built from the wreckage of a previous city (which was, itself, built from the remains of another city, and so forth. The Dasari claim that if you dug beneath Enyreal for long enough you could reach the dawn of civilization). The entire race rarely left the city and its surroundings until the Riraen came, making them a pathetically easy target for the empire. With their fall Sezentia's borders were secure: the small area outside of the Corpse (which forms Dasari's northern border, save for a single pass) and the only flat ground by the ocean.

Satisfied with the land and with plenty of room to expand within its bounds (Maphas alone is roughly 88% wilderness) Charis ceased her expansion and had the capital of Etrene built in the heart of Maphas from Litan stone and Dasari clay. The Litan were forced to become a vassal race subject to regulations from the ruling Riraen and all Dasari enslaved by the empress. Humans are by far the most numerous and form the lower and lower-middle class, but most remain free. The empress has declared that all Riraen from the outside may have a place in the empire, though many form the upper-middle class instead of nobility. (This is primarily by choice: nobility, despite its comforts, comes with responsibility. Many find it easier to manage a single estate and business with the help of a handful of slaves and several paid servants instead of an entire section of the empire. And Charis does not permit the shirking of duty among her people.)

The races:

"Race" here is used because they're all believed to share a common ancestor, though humans are split up into races as they are in the real world. But since this is just a section of the world we're mostly dealing with Sezentian humans so the point is moot anyway. These are just basic rundowns. All of them have their own cultures and beliefs, and in many cases more than one of both. (Exceptions being the Litan and Dasari, whose population was so small and centered that their cultures are largely homogeneous.)

• Humans: Your average, garden-variety humans. In Sezentia and the regions around it they tend toward pale, tall, and dark-haired with light colored eyes in green, blue, or grey. Nearer to Lita and Dasari their hair is commonly lighter, sometimes brown or dark red. Blonde hair is very rare in the whole region. They make up most of the empire and outside of those who are enslaved they're mostly laborers, farmers, and simple craftsmen. A very, very few produce fine goods or work as traders and manage to make a small fortune. While never able to achieve the status the Riraen have and forbidden to own slaves, the Riraen respect those that try to rise above their station... in much the same patronizing way an adult respects a well-spoken child. Age of majority is 16, average lifespan is 60 though some manage to live to see their 80's.

• Riraen: The rulers of Sezentia, pseudo-vampires who have managed to insinuate themselves all across the continent and perhaps the world. Incredibly hardy, they can survive in places few others can. They are faster and stronger than the average human, but more importantly have greater endurance. Like ancient humans, they hunt by following their prey (these days criminals, escaped slaves, and foreign scouts) until it collapses from exhaustion and can't resist. They can survive without blood, which in fact makes up only a small part of their diet: instead of providing nourishment it slows the aging process, allowing them to live much longer than humans. A "natural" death to a Riraen means aging to the point their body can no longer physically hold itself together; even if they never feed they can live to 150 at least (at which point they strongly resemble Sokushinbutsu.)If they feed regularly they can live for centuries, and if they feed just once on the blood of a Dasari they will never die of age. The latter is referred to as "achieving (or attaining) eternity" as they can live forever as long as no-one kills them. They are similar in appearance to humans in the region, with slightly greater variation in hair/eye colors (browns and reds are more common hair colors, and their eyes can be of much darker shades than most local humans). Their skin tends to be smoother, not prone to scarring or blemishes, and even the the most indulgent and indolent have little body fat and a healthily toned build. Their muscular system is very slightly different, so they always appear to be stalking or prowling when they move, have a naturally lazy stance even when at attention, and a tendency to sprawl when at rest. In general, they move and position themselves reminiscent of cats.

• Litan: The bird-folk, by far the most varied race in Sezentia. They range from very short to very tall, and have wings that, when folded, are slightly taller than they are. They 'mimic' various species of bird, including many that aren't found even on the continent, from crows and hawks to parrots and penguins. Their wings mirror species exactly, their hair color matches their feather color (whatever would be found on the head of a bird of the same kind, in the case of multicolor birds. Sometimes there are streaks or stripes of other head-colors, but never ombre. Highlights are rare unless the feathers are iridescent) and their skin is lightly tinted with the main body color of the corresponding bird. For example, a bluejay might have blue, white, and black wings, blue hair (perhaps with a black stripe), and pale skin with a blue cast. Litan have hollow bones and delicate features. Eye colors also correspond to bird species. Their genetics are weird. If both parents correspond to different species a child could match either, or another species that combines traits of the two. For instance, the child of a raven-Litan and a snow owl-Litan could be a raven, a snow owl, a dove, or even a seagull. The child of a hawk-Litan and some kind of songbird-Litan could be a parrot. Sometimes, very rarely, there seems to be no connection at all (like two falcons producing a finch). Litan genetics are weird and no-one pretends to understand them. They have short lifespans, rarely living longer than 50, and their age of majority is 13 (though at that age they're roughly equivalent to a 15/16-year-old human).

• Dasari: They and the Litan share minority status in Sezentia, though the Dasari win as their population originally consisted of a single city while the Litan had at least five plus the smaller villages. They are almost identical to humans, though their hair has greater range and veers slightly into unnatural shades (though to nowhere near the same extent as the Litan). They are the only (non-Litan) race in the area to produce blondes with any frequency, and also sometimes have light brown or coppery-orange hair. They never have distinctly unnatural hair colors, but it is sometimes tinted with odd colors (a white-blonde with blue cast, for instance, or a greenish brown, or Lilim's pink tint to her copper-red). Their eyes come in every color including a few never or rarely seen in humans (violet, red, yellow, orange). They're naturally a bit tan, but with many of them spread across the empire they now range from deathly pale (especially among adouva, because of the connection to blood) to sunkissed gold-brown. Their age of majority is 16 and their lifespan is equivalent to humans, but since they're all owned by the empire and very well taken care of they often live to see 80+, with the exception of adouva who tend to "burn out" early.

Classes and cultures in Maphas:

• Slaves: The slavery in Sezentia is based more on Greek and Roman practices than anything else. There are three main groups of slaves: the Dasari, Grounded Litan, and humans. Dasari, being both valuable and few in number, are treated best and owned exclusively by nobility. Technically they're all owned by the empress and she 'lends' them to her favored nobles, but in practice the nobles are the ones considered owners. The only thing they can't do is sell a Dasari, and the empress can remove any Dasari they own should they displease her. Dasari slaves serve mainly as personal servants and companions, are often educated and encouraged to learn the arts, and mistreating one is severely looked down on. The exception is if one tries to escape: punishment is swift and brutal, but rarely lethal except with "problem cases." Usually life-long isolation and imprisonment is used instead, to keep them from spreading rebellious ideas and prevent the creation of martyrs. All adouva live in the palace at the capital and are more directly considered belonging to the empress. Their role is usually less as actual servants and they spend most of their lives honing their powers and using them in service to the empress. Some, as a reward, are given to the most powerful members of the court or are permitted to directly serve the empress herself. Human slaves are either descendants of rebels whose families were enslaved when the empire first formed or are indebted. A craftsman may ask for backing from Riraen noble or merchant and not be able to provide the quality goods they promised, or may die or become injured/crippled before they can finish, and they and/or their family has to work off the debt, for example. The work is rarely particularly hard or brutal, the main draw for Riraen is not having to pay them in coin. Riraen also prefer that their house and especially personal servants are slaves, ensuring their secrets can't be bought. Some people/families also voluntarily sell themselves, as well. Some may be lacking in actual trade skills and don't want to be scraping by doing manual labor when they can do the same work with assured room and board. Some may have angered another Riraen family, so they sell themself to another for protection- Charis strictly forbids the families to harm each others' property and the perpetuation of feuds. The Grounded Litan are the ones who are actively mistreated, mostly because they're criminals. Among the Litan, when someone commits a crime so horrible they consider death too merciful, they cut their wings off and throw them from the mountain cities. Most die, and the few who survive are effectively exiled: the only way back other than flight is through the caves where one is likely to get lost or eaten before ever reaching the city. The Riraen found this practice wasteful and take the Grounded away as slaves. Because the Litan no longer consider them people, they don't object to their mistreatment. Only Grounded who possess valuable skills avoid the worst work not even given to human slaves. Dasari wear gold collars, often adorned, and may have them switched out to match their clothes. Human slaves wear comfortable leather collars with an engraved plate with the name or crest of their master. Grounded Litan wear simple iron collars, either a single piece of metal or a short length of chain. Relatedly, Riraen will never wear collar-like jewelry. The closest you'll find is a short string of pearls or rondelle beads but even those will hang looser and very obviously be Not A Collar even from a distance.

• Farmers make up the next lowest class. All of the land in the empire is split between the Riraen nobles so they technically own any and all farmland in their allotted territory. All farmers in the region have to give up a certain percentage of their harvests to whoever owns their land to the noble's household and servants/slaves. The rest they keep to feed themselves and trade. Most farmers have very little money, but may own many goods after a good harvest: barter is common throughout the empire but farmers are the most frequent barterers, trading food and animal goods for everything from clothes to furniture to beers and 'company' at the local inn. Farmers are exclusively freemen.

• Laborers are your other peasants. Miners, lumberers, haulers, transporters, and unskilled to semi-skilled work and anything best described as "pick things up and put them down." About half are slaves. The most dangerous or disgusting work (sewer maintenance/"gong farming", corpse hauling during plagues, adding new mine supports, snake milking, so on) is done by Litan Grounded.

• 'Lower' Tradesmen are your basic craftsmen who produce necessary goods, but not fancy ones. Blacksmiths who make nails, horseshoes, and tools but not weapons. Carpenters and joiners, masons, simple tailors, mat and rug makers, so on. They keep the empire running and hardly starve. Their most common customers are farmers, which keeps them fed, but any big project needs a few of these guys on the payroll. While most people have ovens in their house, bakers who make things that aren't generic bread also fall under this category. There are also official bakers, who are both craftsmen and distributors. They run the granaries and manage an area's official food stocks as well as baking bread. Where there are slaves there are granary bakers to keep them fed. Almost all are freemen; very few Riraen bother training slaves in basic trades so they usually come into slavery later in life.

• Landlords' trades are in the hospitality business. Most run taverns, bars, and inns of various qualities. Poor landlords may run flophouses and seedy whorehouses while rich ones may own bath houses, theaters, and not-so-seedy brothels. Their prosperity can very all across the board, often depending on their business of choice, how they run it, and where. Exclusively freemen. If a landlord finds himself a slave he loses all of his property, which is typically auctioned off as part of his price.

• 'Upper' Tradesmen are your skilled, specialized craftsmen who serve the needs of the rich. Jewelers, gold- and silversmiths, silkweavers, perfumers, makers of cosmetics, incense, or soap, trainers and breeders of exotic pets or arena creatures. They tend to be absurdly wealthy if they have any talent to speak of: Riraen love their luxuries and any human who's reached as high as they're permitted is likely to bury themselves in status symbols to prove it. Almost entirely freemen with the exception of a few Litan Grounded.

• Merchant Traders are those whose business is almost exclusively the purchase, transport, and sale of goods. Most are Riraen who didn't want the responsibility that comes with nobility, but a few human and Litan upper tradesmen might transfer to being merchants over time. It usually goes like this: a tradesman works with exotic and/or expensive goods, such as a jeweler with emeralds or a high-class tailor with silk (worm- or spider-), and get used to watching the market for price dives so they can get their raw materials cheap. If they're strapped for cash between commissions they may sell left over materials. A savvy craftsman may buy more materials than they need when it's cheap, mostly so they don't have to buy it when it's expensive, but if the price spikes many see the opportunity for profit. Over time they may make more money buying and selling than they do at their craft, and may train one of their children in the ways of the market instead of the family craft. Thus the family branches, and a new merchant enters the trade. Most human merchants only trade locally, buying straight from the local mine and selling directly to craftsmen in need. Riraen have connections all across the nation, and may bring spidersilk from Lita all the way to the capital. Exclusively freemen.

• Nobility are exclusively Riraen. They are all powerful and moderately to absurdly wealthy, but none fall under 'idle rich.' The empress demands competency from her people, and nobility comes with both power and obligation. Nobles own a section of land in the empire which they are responsible for- they are expected to keep the peace and ensure productivity. They handle the law and order within their region, setting the punishment for crimes, keeping the people happy enough that they don't revolt, keeping roads and travelers safe. It's not benevolence that drives them, but economy. Happiness = productivity = peace. Crime = unhappiness. Tyranny = unhappiness. Most freemen might grumble about the local noble the way practically everyone complains about their boss, but will have few solid complaints. Charis has had a millennium to balance her empire to its current equilibrium and a noble who upsets status quo by letting criminals run amok or growing too demanding/heavy handed is quickly replaced.

• Maphasan humans used to be a much more diverse people, as the plains divided them. Over the last thousand years they've started to merge into a single culture that combines lore from all the disparate people, though the specifics may change depending on region. Orakonis, the most widespread religion, was very open and permitted 'wanderers'; gods from other pantheons who enter the realms of Orakonic gods and are effectively adopted into the religion. When Charis conquered and united Maphas she also helped facilitate the spread of Orakonis. With their beloved gods accepted and adopted there was little religious conflict. Now Orakonis is the official human religion, able to request supplies and workers for the building of churches, shrines, and monuments. Some of the other religions are still practiced privately, but their only places of worship are those from before the empire. None are explicitly banned, though anyone caught committing a crime for religious reasons will not be given leniency. 'Heartland' or central Orakonis is the most common practiced around Etrene, capital of the empire.

  • There are two head gods. Ilo is God of Truth and Luck, who knows the answers to all questions and rolls the dice for every life. 'Fate' in the sense of a set, unchangeable path does not exist, but there are branching paths, options, chances, and probabilities. Latosi, God of Hardship narrows those chances and options. His duty is to test humans, to balance their chances of success with failure. Those who give in to despair, who sabotage themselves, or take easy choices that make their situation worse, are said to be lost to Latosi (Lah-toes-EYE). Latosi is not an evil god and wants humans to thrive and succeed, but but success without challenge is empty. Those who overcome his tests live forever in paradise. Those who fail are reborn again and again until they figure it out. Riraen are seen as the hand of Latosi, which is perhaps one of the reasons Charis promoted the religion when she took over. They add hardship by their rule, meant to be managed and overcome, but not so much that it must be challenged. To accept a tyrant is to fail Latosi's tests, but to accept a hard but fair ruler is not. Figuring out what to accept and what to reject is part of it. Ilo brings good fortune, except when he doesn't. It's generally explained that Ilo rolls the dice, but if it's a bad roll Latosi chooses what hardship to bring. Most pray to Ilo for luck, that the dice land in their favor. Ilo knows the outcomes to all possibilities, but not which will happen. He knows what will happen should the dice land a certain way, but not that they will. He can account for human choice as well, but refuses to chose for humans; that would defeat the point.

  • Wanderer gods find their way by Latosi; hardship brings them to the realms of other gods. Because they have overcome these hardships and reached these realms, they have passed Latosi's tests and are worthy of joining the pantheon.

  • Clergy are technically a class of their own, but are very few in number and rarely hereditary. They are ordained by other priest(ess)(e)s at or after their coming of age, though many are chosen as children. Sezentian law permits this, but if the child is from a lower tradesman family or below they can't be taught to read and write until they've been ordained. They accept men and women, encourage celibacy and discourage marriage as family is a distraction to their duties. It's not forbidden for them to have relations with other clergy, though again it's discouraged, and any children are raised among the orphans but chosen out to eventually join the clergy. They are not permitted to know their parents, or that their parents are part of the church/temple. Priests and priestesses technically live on charity, but in practice certain donations are required from certain people. The Riraen nobles need the clergy to keep the people happy, so they often donate and 'gift' extravagantly. Wealthier landlords, upper tradesmen, and human merchants often donate either goods or coin, as an obligation because they're in a better situation and because the clergy tends to target those who can but don't, which can easily ruin a business. Some parts of clergy's life is spartan- their diet is restricted, they're not allowed to own non-ceremonial or religious items of precious metals or gems, they can only wear wormsilk which is expensive, but it must be undyed and they can't wear spidersilk (which is much more extravagant). Their homes are also places of worship, which are well made and decorated, but their personal areas are less so. But there is an extravagance- undyed wormsilk is still silk, and they sleep on it as well. Many Riraen benefactors send them religious iconography as jewelry, which they can wear and own. They do not reach Vatican levels, however. Even the high priests and priestesses must follow the same rules, with very little visible difference between them. (As opposed to monks looking like beggars and high priests looking like pimps.) Clergy are loci of communities (which is another reason the Riraen like to be on their good side: they know just about everything going on in their community), ceremony leaders, spiritual advisers, and interpreters/teachers of myth and scripture.

  • Apathy and indifference are the two highest sins. It's important to note that acceptance isn't considered either of these two. If you've thought about something and come to terms with it you are neither apathetic nor indifferent. If you feel as if something doesn't affect you, if it stirs no emotion at all in your heart, that is the sin. Even if there's nothing you can do to help or fight something, as long as you feel something you're fine. To recognize the hardships of others is a virtue, even if circumstances demand you make things harder for them.

  • Standard worship is solemn and full of prayer both in public and private. Clergy perform ceremonies every day that others may or may not take part in (depending on their schedules. Followers try to attend at least once ceremony a week, but most can't make it every day) that end in prayer. Prayer is not only a direct request to the gods, but may take the form of meditation, or be a way of addressing deceased family members believed to be in paradise.

  • As if to counter this, there are a truckload of holidays and they're all huge celebrations. They celebrate everything from astrological events (in a world with three moons there's a lot of excuses to party every time you look up. Party for every new/half/full/half again moon... that's three times the party as on earth! Party extra hard every time two moons are at the same stage! Party for a week when all three match up!), saints, the joining of Wanderer Gods, mythological heroes, historical events (they actually celebrate the formation of the empire as a dedication to Latosi), harvests, season changes, and any other excuse they can come up with. Fortunately, the Riraen also love a festival.