"The Ambiance"

  The people of the world share the same genetic ancestry.  What divided them into Halvine and D'Warvine was environmental influences through their collective evolution.

  The Halvine are what you might call the "normal" ones, in terms of their height and build, while millennia of living and mining in mountains have made the D'Warvine shorter and stronger.

  In the old language D'Warvine means "dwelling in the mountain", and Halvine means "dwelling outside".  What the people were called before this separation has been long since lost in time.

  The two groups largely do not mix, though more due to lack of need than anything else, but a D'Warvine living among the Halvine is not uncommon.  The opposite, however, is quite uncommon, but certainly not unheard of.

  The Halvine and D'Warvine are the Earth equivalent of Elves and Dwarves.  The Earth Halfling is from the breeding of an Elf and a Dwarf, but I have no name for them, yet.  Earth Gnomes are simply midget D'Warvine.

  Average height for an Halvine is about 6'.  Average height for a D'Warfine is about 4'.  Half-breeds vary anywhere in between the two.

  Halvine ears are pointed.  D'Warvine ears are more rounded, but still pointed compared to humans.

  There are some humans living in that world, but very few, and even fewer human/other half-breeds.

  Due to the nature of maljek, mental discipline is an important part of the world.  Anything that can be done, can be done significantly better if maljek is applied.  This fact has unintentionally lead to the development of an unofficial class system, because many people choose to specialize.  Farmers, healers, warriors, etc....

  Because of this specialization, the classes have respect for each other, and understand the importance of the contributions of each class.

  Not everyone specializes, though.  There are still shopkeepers, innkeepers, taverns.  The greater percentage of the population does not specialize.  What they do does not require exceptional skill, but they also respect the classes.

  Much like how saying "please" and "thank you" is considered basic good manners, there are certain common practices in this world.

  For instance, while there is no official expectation of this, it is considered polite for any warriors visiting a town or village to offer to help serve it if the need for physical defense arises.  It's polite for them to offer to serve as protectors even in small matters.

  The flip-side of this is that if a warrior, in good standing, is stopping in a village to eat, drink, sleep, or be healed, then it is polite for the service provider to provide that service for free or at a discount, within reason.  This is generally contingent upon the warrior first offering to pay.

Of course, if the service provider cannot afford this courtesy, then not offering will not be held against him/her.

  If a warrior expects to be given anything, then he/she will be looked down upon.  This does not mean that there aren't warriors who like to throw their weight around.

  I'm not dead set on this, but I'm imagining one of the two planet's main continents being divided mostly among five kingdoms.  (I use the word "kingdom" for the sake of convenience)

  Each of them having different forms of political structure.  Like one being ruled by elected dictator, another pure monarchy, another similar to America.

  With this variety, people can choose what system under which the want to live by moving to a preferred kingdom.  Not all the kingdoms are exactly friendly with each other, but in the interest of helping to preserve a sense of overall peace, each of the five kingdoms agreed to give up a portion of their land to create a neutral area that contacts all of the kingdoms.

  Also, the leaders of the kingdoms use this area as a neutral ground for treaties and other in-person meetings, if they do not entirely trust each other.  The leaders must obey the laws of the city, town, or village in which they choose to meet.  It is also where the kingdoms do their trading; either directly, or through marketplaces in cities.

  It's a large area which hosts cities, towns and villages that govern themselves.  It also means there is a greater lawless element.  Gangs, bandits and so forth.  It is in this area that roaming warriors are greatly appreciated.

  These are old kingdoms, so they did not all start with the same language.  The neutral land was a somewhat confusing place for a while, since so many different languages were spoken.  People of the same language generally did group together, but the need for trade demanded knowing other languages.

  The first human to set foot on this planet marked the conception of the common language... which eventually became known as Common.  It was not embraced by every single person, but over time, it spread and helped the process of communication.

  But more about that in another section.

  Before the awareness boom of maljek, the average life expectancy, there, was about 250 years, but since then has increased to about 400 years.  In spite of this long life, because of the time difference between the worlds, a human could still personally meet multiple generations of the others.

  Something that happened 1000 years ago for us was 52000 years ago for them.  They are much older than the human race, but they live life a little more slowly.