Okay, moving on to my second race: Vandels.

Vandels aren't technically Arenian; they come from the neighboring country Morvara. However, they invaded Arenia... so they're pretty important.

Vandels were unknown to Arenians until 5053, when they began massing at the border. A desert divides Morvara and Arenia, so no one had ever ventured far in that direction. Anyway, the Vandels had defeated Arenia within 2 years. The were able to overcome the shifters on the mainland by sheer numbers, and the shifters on Bekohan were too wrapped up in their family feuds to notice. Also, the Vandels took extra care to ensure no messengers could reach Bekohan.

After Arenia was totally conquered, the Vandels came to Bekohan, where they slaughtered the shifters one village at a time, and by night, until nearly all the shifters were killed.

So that's how they came to control Arenia.

Anyway... I haven't worked out the Vandel's appearance. Originally, they had red eyes and grey skin. But I thought having the bad guys look evil was kinda cliche, so I'm back to square one. I'm thinking that they'll look pretty much human, maybe even generally good-looking. What do y'all think?

The Vandels do have an ability that gives them an edge over others - especially humans. They have very powerful minds that are not only cunning, but also able to create illusions. They can, in essence, mess with anyone's mind to make them believe they are seeing something that isn't there. Also, they can plant ideas. If someone else knows this, it loses some of its potency, but since the Vandels were unknown before they attacked Arenia, no one knew. They can't deceive other Vandels, either.

As far as culture... I'm not really sure. I was trying to figure out how you could realistically have an entire race that was evil. The only thing I could think of was a Nazi Germany-like society, where ideas were given to children early, and they grew up under the influence of some terrible leaders. And, on the off-chance that any disagreed with the leaders, they were executed.

(Oh yeah... what do you guys think of the name? I came up with it forever ago, and I'm not sure if I should change it. )

Any thoughts?

What if they still have red eyes and grey skin, but they create an illusion that makes them appear to be good-looking normal humans?


That sounds reasonable, particularly in a fantasy setting, and you might could have one or more Vandel characters who aren't bad at some point.


It makes me think of the historical Vandal tribe, so it might need to be changed.

That would make sense... why didn't I think of that?



That might be because I decided that would be their name after studying the fall of the Roman Empire in 6th grade.

So... does anyone have some name ideas? (Or, I could just call them 'Morvarans', since that's where they come from.)

Morvarans sounds good.

Okay.

Vandels made me think of robbers.

'Morvarans' sounds cool.


Uh... yeah. They're cool.

Yeah... there's that small problem, too.



Thanks!