The World of Arden
Ardenimoridae
Arden, short for Ardenimoridae, blends languages and meaning to reflect the heart of the world—vast, wild, and laced with magic.
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Arden (Hebrew): Garden of Eden – beauty, solitude, and sacred origins
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Mori (Japanese): Forest – lush, living, and ancient
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Dai (Japanese): Great/Vast – expansive, boundless, awe-inspiring
Together, Ardenimoridae conjures the image of a “Great Forest Garden”—a realm where magic takes root and stories blossom like wildflowers.
Hokari - The Forest Folk
The Hokari live in harmony within The Heartwood jungle. With dark skin tones and vibrant colored hair that grows darker with age, Hokari are marked by fox-like ears, retractable claws, and tribal body markings. Their tribal culture values balance, community, and spiritual reciprocity, worshiping Gaia, the Mother of the World, and honoring magical creatures called Eldaryn. Hokari are both fierce protectors of the wild and graceful stewards of tradition. The Root Tree City stands as a living monument to their spirituality and respect for nature—a vast, towering tree that serves as their cultural heart, a library of lore, and a magical nexus guarded by the avian Eldaryn, Skrya.
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Hokari life is steeped in vibrant rituals and rich artistic traditions. Their nomadic tribes practice a gift-based economy, where resources are shared, professions are assigned through tribal consensus, and storytelling, dance, and music are cherished as sacred forms of expression. Their diet, housing, medicine, and even fashion reflect a symbiotic relationship with the jungle. Homes are grown from living plants, illuminated by glowing insects, and adorned with vines and personal details. Children are raised communally, education is experiential, and sex is open, celebrated, and ritualized. Their festivals range from spiritual gatherings to wild communal celebrations like the Last Night. Despite being deeply peaceful, the Hokari are fierce when defending their sacred forest, using staffs and bows more for survival than conquest. With each act of living, the Hokari embody their guiding philosophy: Respect the earth, walk in balance, and give back what you take.
Ardenians - The City Folk
The Ardenians are a proud, industrious people who traded their ancestral connection to magic for invention, industry, and control. Shaped by their worship of Alderun, the God of the Forge, they believe progress is divine and mastery is the truest virtue. Their society, dominated by powerful guilds and noble houses, thrives on competition, innovation, and relentless advancement—often at the cost of nature, ethics, or equality. They no longer wield magic like the other races, but through Crytech—technology powered by mana crystals—they’ve carved a life of steam, spark, and glowing glass. Their sprawling cliffside city of Vale gleams with crystal-powered lights and towering machines, a testament to their ingenuity and ambition.
Yet beneath their shimmering metropolis lies a deep divide. The upper class basks in comfort and luxury, while the poor labor in soot-stained alleys. The guild system offers both opportunity and oppression, locking many into lives of toil while elevating a few to power. Though they celebrate invention through grand festivals and public showcases, whispers of unrest stir in the slums, where citizens question the cost of progress and the ethics of mana extraction. The Ardenians are brilliant, bold, and fiercely pragmatic. Their creations have changed the world of Arden—for better and for worse.
Avrae - The Sky Folk
The Avrae are graceful, avian-like humanoids who dwell in the highest reaches of Arden—floating cities and spires rising from the southern ocean. Born of Amaterasu, the radiant Goddess of the Rising Sky, they see themselves as her chosen descendants, blessed with wings, mana, and lineage touched by divinity. Their culture, steeped in elegance and harmony, is structured around a divine monarchy, where the Emperor rules from Skyhold, a breathtaking city suspended in the clouds. Every element of Avrae life—from their feathery architecture to the whisper of wind chimes—is shaped by the ideals of balance, honor, and legacy.
Avrae society blends spiritual reverence with ritual precision. Lineage is sacred, and flight symbolizes freedom of both body and soul. Their lives revolve around daily ceremonies, aerial festivals, and the pursuit of wisdom through mana mastery and disciplined living. Nobles wear veils as a mark of restraint and dignity, while elders are venerated as living fonts of wisdom. Despite their gentle appearance, the Avrae are fierce defenders of their skies, with elite Sky Sentinels and wind-powered technology standing ready to repel any threat. From their ethereal music and floating gardens to their moonlit vigils under Tsuki’s watchful gaze, the Avrae embody the serene, soaring spirit of the heavens—forever bound to the winds that cradle them, and to the legacy they were born to uphold.
Nymarin - The Sea Folk
The Nymarin are a humanoid race shaped by the tides and tempered by the depths. Living in coastal caves and island strongholds across Arden’s southern waters, they are deeply bonded to the ocean—its power, mystery, and rhythm forming the foundation of their culture. With iridescent scales, venomous fangs, and sleek fins built for speed, the Nymarin thrive as fierce hunters and agile warriors. They revere Azubuike, the King of the Deep Seas, whose gift of strength and sovereignty fuels their martial traditions and their philosophy that only the strong may claim the sea’s bounty. Their society prizes valor, loyalty, and conquest—though their battles are more often against colossal sea beasts than other mortal races. Their settlements reflect their reverence for the sea’s beauty and power, blending glowing coral, bone-carved totems, and Azurefruit Palm into homes and temples above and below the waterline.
Governed by the strongest among them—the Tidebreaker, chosen through grueling combat trials—the Nymarin live in a warrior-led dictatorship supported by clan-based Wavemasters. Magic flows through their Tideweavers, who draw on the ocean’s might and the moon’s pull to shape water, summon sea creatures, and form breathable air pockets for deep-sea travel. Rich in oral tradition and ritual, the Nymarin pass down their history through bioluminescent murals, kelp scrolls, and wave-sung stories of legendary hunts and sea gods. From their eerie underwater dances to their gleaming coral-forged armor, everything about the Nymarin reflects their central creed: the sea is a battlefield, and those who master lay claim to its power.
So're - The Earth Folk
The So’Re dwell deep within Arden’s Underearth, hidden from the sun in vast cities carved into stone. Small in stature but strong in spirit, they possess lavender-toned skin, jet-black eyes, and wide ears sensitive to even the faintest tremor—traits perfectly suited for navigating the labyrinthine tunnels they call home. Light blinds them, and color is meaningless without their faint crystal lamps, but in the dark, they thrive, guided by the steady heartbeat of the stone. Their lives are shaped by sound and vibration, with magic, worship, and even governance conducted through music. At the core of their society is a strict, caste-based structure led by the revered Priest Musicians and Crystal Mages, each role bound to purpose and tradition. Despite their rigidity, the So’Re value harmony and community, with music acting as both their magic and their voice.
Religion governs every aspect of their lives, centered on Morana, Goddess of the Deep Earth, whose presence echoes in daily hymns and the carved idols placed in the city’s lowest caverns. Their capital, Goragrad, is a masterpiece of resonance and architecture—a place where a single note in the central chamber can ripple through the entire city. Festivals of deep percussion, ancestral dances, and voice-layered choirs reaffirm their endurance and unity. Deeply insular and wary of outside faiths, the So’Re believe their strength lies not in conquest or expansion, but in listening—to the earth, to each other, and to the long memory of stone.
The Magic of Arden
Magic in Arden flows from mana, the life force that permeates the world and can be accessed through multiple disciplines: Racial Magic, Crystals, Alchemy, and Crytech.
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Racial Magic is the innate ability each non-Ardenian race possesses, allowing them to manipulate mana naturally in unique ways tied to their heritage. From the sky-wielding grace of the Avrae to the deep-earth resonance of the So’Re, each race expresses magic through its elemental affinity. The Ardenians, however, lost their natural connection to mana long ago and now rely on external tools to access its power.
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Crystals are the raw, elemental heart of Arden’s magical landscape. There are twelve types, each with distinct properties—like Pyraxis for fire, Verdalith for growth, and Zephyrite for air. These naturally occurring crystals are treasured across all cultures and used in everything from simple tools to world-shaping artifacts.
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Alchemy blends the arcane and the organic. It combines ground crystal powder with monster parts, herbs, and rare materials to produce elixirs, salves, and other magical concoctions. Each brew is carefully crafted to harness the elemental essence of the crystals involved, making alchemists both healers and weapon-makers.
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Finally, Crytech is the technological evolution of magic. Powered by crystals and developed primarily by Ardenians, Crytech replaces electricity with mana. From communication devices to levitating carts, Crytech fuses crystal energy with mechanical innovation, allowing even the mana-blind to wield the power of magic.
Racial Magic
​Hokari: Spirit Bond (Bonds)
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Elemental Domain: Fire
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Secondary Domain: Life (Connection, Energy, Growth)
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Aura Color: Green
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Sense: Touch
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Reasoning: Fire represents vitality, passion, and the spark of life. The Hokari’s magic focuses on the interconnectedness of living things, particularly through their bond with nature and the spirits.
Avrae: Whisperwind (Whispers)
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Elemental Domain: Air
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Secondary Domain: Mind (Perception, Knowledge, Foresight)
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Aura Color: Blue
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Sense: Sight
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Reasoning: Air is associated with intellect, awareness, and communication. A secondary domain of Mind aligns with clarity, perception, foresight, and even telepathic abilities.
Nymarin: Tideweaving (Weaves)
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Elemental Domain: Water
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Secondary Domain: Flow (Change, Motion, Adaptability)
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Aura Color: Yellow
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Sense: Taste/Smell
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Reasoning: Water is ever-shifting, flexible, and adaptive. The Nymarin’s magic could focus on change, meaning they excel at transformation, healing, and fluid combat styles.
So’Re: Seismic Resonance (Resonance)
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Elemental Domain: Earth
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Secondary Domain: Matter (Protection, Strength, Stability)
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Aura Color: Red
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Sense: Hearing
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Reasoning: Earth represents stability and resilience, making them masters of strength, both physical and magical. Their magic allows them to manipulate stone, metal, and vibrations, reinforcing structures, fortifying their bodies, and unleashing devastating tremors.
Crystals
Luminite
(Clear Crystal)
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Function: Conducts mana with near-zero resistance
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Equivalent Tech: Wires, fiber optics, superconductors
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Used For: Infrastructure, communication devices, mana transfer tools
Pyraxis
(Red Crystal)
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Function: Generates heat, fuels fire-based tools
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Equivalent Tech: Stoves, furnaces, flamethrowers
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Used For: Forges, hearths, flame-based weapons and tools
Verdalith
(Green Crystal)
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Function: Promotes biological growth and regenerative energy
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Equivalent Tech: Greenhouses, solar panels, photosynthesis boosters
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Used For: Agriculture, healing, environmental restoration
Aquaryte
(Blue Crystal)
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Function: Controls water, lowers temperature
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Equivalent Tech: Refrigeration, A/C systems, water purifiers
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Used For: Climate control, water sourcing, ice creation
Zephyrite
(Purple Crystal)
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Function: Controls air currents and kinetic force
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Equivalent Tech: Fans, turbines, jet propulsion
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Used For: Transportation, gust-based attacks, levitation
Sonorium
(Orange Crystal)
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Function: Manipulates sound waves
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Equivalent Tech: Speakers, sonar, sonic disruptors
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Used For: Communication, musical instruments, sonic weapons
Terralyx
(Brown Crystal)
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Function: Absorbs and dampens magic, resists physical force
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Equivalent Tech: Bulletproof materials, EMP shielding
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Used For: Magic-resistant armor, containment fields, tools
Solyra
(Yellow Crystal)
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Function: Emits light and projects images
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Equivalent Tech: Flashlights, projectors, holograms
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Used For: Communication, lights, surveillance
Magnyte
(Black Crystal)
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Function: Controls magnetic forces and gravity
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Equivalent Tech: Maglev trains, teleportation pads, anti-gravity fields
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Used For: Levitation, transport systems, spatial distortion
Auracite
(Gold Crystal)
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Function: Stores and outputs large amounts of mana
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Equivalent Tech: Batteries, fuel cells, generators
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Used For: Powering magical devices, fueling innate magic abilities
Nullium
(Silver Crystal)
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Function: Blocks and nullifies magic
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Equivalent Tech: Insulation, anti-magic wards
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Used For: Anti-magic armor and weapons, containment, locks
Aetherheart
(Prismatic Crystal)
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Function: Amplifies the power of all other crystals, the ultimate power source
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Equivalent Tech: Nuclear energy
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Used For: Legendary artifacts, city-wide spell engines, reality-bending magic
Crytech
Crytech is the pinnacle of magical innovation, the arcane technology that fuels every corner of Arden’s modern civilization. Instead of electricity, it runs on mana—harnessed and shaped through crystals, which are the solid essence of magic made tangible. These crystals, carved from the deep bones of Arden’s earth, are more than simple power sources. They are the veins through which the lifeblood of progress flows.
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For the Ardenians, who are born without natural magic, Crytech is essential. It allows them to survive, to build, to thrive. In contrast, the Hokari and Avrae, whose bloodlines hum with elemental energy, rely on it far less, tapping into its power only when natural mana falls short.
Crytech drives everything—from shimmering holograms and shimmering mana barriers to enchanted forges, ambient cooling systems, and floating carts that glide above the ground like whispers on the wind.
Each crystal is a unique expression of elemental force. Depending on the need, they can be shaped into ingots, blown into glass, ground into dust, or used in their raw form. Their colors are not just beautiful—they are functional. Luminite channels mana with the precision of copper wiring. Pyraxis radiates heat. Aquaryte draws in cold. Sonorium vibrates with sound. And so it continues, each one a key in the symphony of invention.
Crytech is more than a tool—it is the pulse of a civilization that thrives not on circuits, but on intention. Not on volts, but on vision. In Arden, progress resonates through crystal.
Alchemy
Alchemy is a powerful, nuanced craft practiced by various races throughout Arden, combining crystals with monster parts, plant materials, and unique ingredients to create potent elixirs, salves, and powders. Each race brings its own perspective to alchemy: the Hokari focus on natural elements, blending crystals with monster or plant parts; the So'Re prefer grounding alchemical creations in earth-based materials; and the Avrae infuse their potions with airborne or light-sensitive elements. Crystal powders are key ingredients, allowing alchemists to harness specific elemental properties depending on the crystal used.