The Duff

The duff are a ethnicity of human that primarily inhabits the country of Ravenwing. They share the continent of Arken with three other primary human races, The Marshworn, and The Trigalo.

Physically, they are hard to distinguish from the other races, though they often have bright shades of hair ranging from red, pink and orange, to blonde, and platinum. Their skin is often a light tan color, and they usually have slender builds.

The Duff culture is based in ancient Draetoss, where they lived as nomadic pirates that pillaged the northern shores of the continent. They traditionally dressed in pale colors, and often wore clay based face paint. Their language is an amalgamation of several different Draetossian languages, due to their self education while travelling from place to place. The Duff were once highly traditional and ritualistic but these rituals have devolved to mild superstition over the course of several hundred years.

The Duff are theorized to have originated in the southern tropical beaches of Draetoss, and may have even travelled there from The Midlands. The name "Duff" in their language means "Far Traveler".

by the early 400s, The Duff had established themselves as a constant thorn in the side of the western Draetoss countries, and their numbers had grown to nearly 20,000. In 430 3E, under the leadership of Gerald Lyons, The Duff marched on the city of Argus, in hopes to finally establish a foothold in the continent, but were soundly repelled and their numbers were shattered and scattered. They wearily marched back towards the shore, but were intercepted by an army from the northern country of Renauld, and they barely escaped with a remainder of their force. Now only roughly 7,000 strong, they set sail across the ocean in a last ditch attempt to perhaps find a secluded island to recover on and lick their wounds. to the west, however, after five years of travel they found Arken in the midst of a massive conflict between the Marshworn, The Trigalo, Orcs from Vesselstrond, and The Grugons. They landed on Bloodlet Beach, a location just north of Einstadt. They marched south to the city, and found an already incredibly weakened Grugon force. The Duff swept into the city, and slaughtered the weary soldiers, and Gerald Lyons himself walked into the Grugon Castle and slayed Einborg on the steps of the throne, and the Duff occupied the city.

With the help of Orcs and other northern Arken races, The Duff, with their superior technology and tactics they quickly eradicated the majority of the Grugons and established Ravenwing officially by 437 3E. The Duff quickly settled everything as far east as the Crixo Mountains (Now The Skyrest Mountains), as far north as the Dakeyn River and quickly took the Kenu Peninsula from the Marshworn. As time went on, they eventually expanded past the Skyrest mountains to the Corkbed River, where their border stands today.

The conflicts that The Duff had with The Marshworn over the Corkbed River carried on for several hundred years, until the Corkbed Truce was signed on a riverboat that essentially signalled the Marshorn's (Now Revelon) unconditional surrender of the east side of the river.

The Lyons family lineage held the royal status in Ravenwing for many centuries until King Harold Lyons fell in battle in 1046 3E with no legitimate heirs. His one surviving and illegitamate son, Jacob Lyons, disappeared, and Harold's only surviving relative, Robert O'shea, took over the throne.

Once a proud and booming economy, suring it's golden era of 556 3E- 744 3E, over the last 200 years, the economy had slipped, and once O'shea took over the throne, his greedy ways had stricken Ravenwing with a crippling depression.