There are races native to Mawr - certainly residents long before the arrival of the Five Kings and their peoples.

P’ntri

The dark cat-like people of Mawr are no strangers to the ways of the Dragon and the Serpent, having bargained with these great beings in the Bright Paths long ago to earn their place on Mawr and drawing in the power of these great spirits to maintain harmony on the island.

The P’ntri have a rare caste of albino spiritual leaders who guide their people in the ways of living with the spirits of Mawr - and of the Bright Paths - great and small.

The P’ntri describe the gods - the great beings who came in two waves with humanity to Mawr as parasites on the body of Mawr and on humanity itself.

The P’ntri are undisputed masters of the great forests on the dawnward side of Mawr, and no one walks in those shadows without eventually reckoning with its masters.

The P’ntri bury their dead with the seed of one of the great trees in their belly so that their ancestors rise around them and join the green life of Mawr.

The P’ntri are said to have many orders given talent and favor by the Dragon or the Serpent.

Vulfen

The Vulfen had their home in all the open lands of Mawr, roaming all the coast, the mountains, the bogs and plains between the mighty forests, the eaves of the woods. Deeply companionable and loyal as a people, their fall is all the darker: conquered quickly in war by the collaboration, war-experience and magic of the people of the Five Kings, the Vulfen’s original society failed, and they became the loyal hounds of the Kings.

It’s rare to find a non-enslaved Vulfen in the Kingdoms, but it does happen. However, more often than not even when freed a Vulfen will remain a loyal companion to a former owner.

Naturally athletic, great runners, hunters, possessed of a profound sense of smell, the Vulfen make astonishing shield warriors and hunting companions.

Even now, most Vulfen believe that their ancestors rise to join the band of stars called the Belt of Heaven across the vault of the firmament. It’s said when enough heroic Vulfen shine the way forward, the Vulfen people will move with their ancestors beyond the Vault of Heaven into a new world prepared for them.

The Vulfen are said to have ancient ways to enter the Briht paths - the secret ways the Bright Ones and the gods use to move unseen and quickly across the lands of men. Bright Ones and other sprits tend to be gentler with the Vulfen than the other Peoples of Mawr.

Saren

The great Saurian people believe themselves to be the children of the Dragon itself.

Their original homes are the great waterways and the dawnward swamp beyond the Dragon’s Spine mountains. It’s said a great company of free Saren still live in the great swamp beyond the moountains. Alas, they are a fallen race in the rest of the island, existing only as torqued slaves in the Kingdoms.

The life cycle of the Saren is different than the other races. They are hatched from large eggs cared for by larger, older males in a community. Within weeks of being born, the small Saren are walking, talking members of their community. A limited connection to their racial memory allows young Saren to mature quickly and need a very short learning/weening period compared to any of the other peoples. In addition, the Saren are fast in every way at the beginning - growing swiftly, talking fast, thinking quickly, acting quickly. As they grow, Saren become progressively larger and slower. By the time they are in their second decade of life, they are already slowing down, becoming stone-ish - their hide hardening, their eyes becoming dim, sleeping more and more. It is said that old Saren do not truly die, but they simple slow down so much that the turf grows over them and they become another hill or standing stone or hillock on the isle. Some say that in ages past, the Saren could grow vast in size if the island needed them - the Dragon’s Spine mountains are said to be ancient Saren laid down to slumber.

Saren are vegan, thriving on roots and tubers. Meat is toxic to them, and animal by-products are hit and miss.

At times of need, great Heroes are raised up out of the ranks of the Saren, given gifts by the Dragon and an unshakeable Geas.

Flit

These small squirrel-esaque people are flighty, good with their hands, fiercely independent and tending to keep their own company, small groups of Flit live both integrated with and separate from the people of the Kingdoms. They have never beeen subjugated because slavery is utterly inimical to them - subjected to bondage, durance, enslavement or imprisonment, the Flit quickly give up their bright interest in the world, wither and perish.

They tend to excel at fiber arts, they are industrious, private and deeply connected to their small clans.

Avae

Not a part of the daily life of Mawr, the Avae are a hawklike species, making their eyries in the peaks and stone towers of the island - in the tops of the great trees in a godswood, atop high islands in the Endless Ocean and the Sunburnt Sea.

They have negotiated trading places - mostly with the Vulfen and perhaps with the P’ntri - where they will leave goods from the heights and rivers and the sea - beautiful shells, nuggets of gold, beautiful windchimes made of painted bone, fine stones and painted gut or wire.

In times of great need, they have been known to come into human settlements with riches to trade for goods or aid.

Humanity

The Five Kings and their clans came from beyond the Tower Sea (the direction of sunset). It is said they burned their great boats and sank them into the sea lest anyone be tempted to return whence they came.

The great Sorcerer Kings themselves had world-shaping power - Paths and Sciences of the Talent we no longer even have names for. As soon as they landed, they came into conflict with the native peoples of the island: driving them back, enslaving them, claiming the island piece by piece for themselves until finally backed by the might of the Dragon and the Serpent, the P’ntri drove the sorcerer kings back from the Dragon’s spine mountains and confined them to the sunset half of the island.

Humans are the only race known to have The Talent.

Humans are the only race known to be chosen as Siar, Speakers for the Gods.