Demographics & Population

Regional Descriptions

Khusan: A loose confederation of many races, predominantly descendants of travelers and outcasts from other regions of the world who have settled in a dessert steppe & notorious for a sense of being a ‘wild west’ and haven for pirates, outlaws, and merchants.
Grodraken: The oldest and largest kingdom of Mountain Dwarves on Aradaea who maintain a vast network of mountain-top and under-ground cities in the massive mountain range of Grodraken. Their society is a highly rigid, hierarchical caste-based society with delineated roles and established structures for the functioning of the kingdom.
Kolgaren: A valley in which many clans of Hill Dwarves live. They are loosely confederated in a moot of the clans but fairly independent insular societies which control separate regions of the hill valleys.
Ultara: A grassland with clusters of deciduous forest inhabited by a dynasty of High Elves who live in a carefully crafted and curated society created in close alignment with powerful magical leylines used by the High Elves throughout their empire. Benefits from an unusual degree of water for Aradaea due to the large watershed of the Grodraken Mountains to their south.
Aetha’lora: A dense forest of massive, ancient trees which roaming tribes of Wood Elves call home, this region is one of the only ‘rain forests’ of Aradaea due to the peninsula’s prominence in the Northal Sea and strong northern sea currents which carry moisture.
Enthak: A savanna steppelands with a long coast which is roamed by many (often antagonistic) warclans of Grekkin (green-skins, goblins, orcs, and trolls). They sustain themselves predominantly on herding, piracy, raiding, fishing, and some limited farming with drought-resistant plants.
Azura: A republic of Gnomish city-states in the foothills of the Grodraken Mountains. Their cities range from semi-subterranean construction of rock gnomes to defensive strongholds of wooden construction of forest gnomes. They make do with their limited supply of water from the snowmelt of the Grodraken Mountains with advanced technology & sophisticated greenhouse cultivation techniques with water reclamation and hydroponic systems.
Ashton: A partly democratic society, partially feudal of Halflings (similar to the Shire) inhabited predominantly by farmer, shepherds, and some craftsmen. Ashton’s prominence as a peninsula between the Northal Sea and the Altaran Ocean means it has higher rainfall than much of the planet which supports more traditional ‘feudal’ form of agriculture and lifestyle.
Kaladar: A mixed society organized around a technocratic-capitalist consortium which make use of advanced automation and constructs to support a dense population on a highly-developed corner of the island-continent of Shezul.
Esken: A small society off-shoot from Kaladar which furthered their technocracy around the concept of integration of of advanced machinery into their biology. They have formed an ecclesiatical society around the concept of the perfection of the mortal form through integration with machine and augment the sustenance of their population by being able to feed directly off of highly concentrated forms of Aethyr extracted from Aradaea.
Scorchedlands: A highly-volcanic landscape of deep valleys populated by Tieflings tribes and small city-states who often clash with one another and neighboring lands. They have cultivated a particular form of agriculture and shepherding which capitalizes on the highly-fertilized volcanic soils and the aquifers and springs which bring water to the surface using plants and animals specially suited for that environment & the Tiefling’s unique biology.
Eninthal: A highly stratified feudal chivalric kingdom of humans with many cities and smallers towns and hamlets and widespread agriculture supported by increased rainfall from the Northal Sea. Modeled after Feudal France.
Vilderbald: An autocratic imperial federation governed by a council of electors-counts. They are a highly industrious society and make heavy use of machinery and technology to expand on their production capacity to support a fairly bustling population of humans with many ethnicities. Modeled after Renaissance Eastern Europe & Germany.
Sylvaria: A forested grassland ruled by an authoritarian dynasty of necromancers who preside over a stratified population of humans with a large legion of undead servants who perform the most menial tasks to support their society through fairly traditional agricultural methods supported by regular rainfall from the Dolton Ocean’s Westward winds.
Stelvast: A Herrenvolk Democracy of Giant and Half-Giant folk (goliaths & firbolgs) with some humans who predominantly rely on mercenary work and trade with some light agriculture and shepherding to support their relatively small population. They are ruled by a hierarchical structure of giants who each have purview over particular areas of their society & have direct connection to the Giant Ordning of Vodgu.
Vogdu: A small mountain valley carved from the rock by Giants who live in a highly structured society organized around the Giant Ordning who have carefully carved and crafted the landscape to suit their needs and capture the water needed to support their large-scale agriculture and husbandry to feed the voracious giants who live there.

There are also many, less organized and well-known peoples who live in the southern reaches of Aradaea across Valdesh, Greymist Isle, Moorthal, the Mistmarches, and Northern Altara.

Population Estimation

To estimate the population of Aradaea, we need to consider multiple factors, including land area, climate constraints, civilization density, and water availability. Since Aradaea is arid and has less water than Vitaea, its population density will be significantly lower.

Step 1: Estimating the Land Area of Aradaea

Based on the map and the assumption that Aradaea has roughly half the mass and volume of Earth (since Terra was split in two), we can estimate:

• Earth’s total surface area: ~510 million km²

• Half of Earth’s land area (assuming similar ratios to Earth): ~74 million km²

Thus, Aradaea’s land area is approximately 70–75 million km². However, much of this consists of arid, semi-arid, and inhospitable regions, limiting population support.

Step 2: Establishing a Realistic Population Density

Given the lack of water and arid conditions, Aradaea’s population density will vary widely. Let’s compare it to real-world analogs:

• Sparse regions like the Sahara (~1 person/km²)

• Densely populated desert-adapted regions like Egypt (96 people/km², but concentrated along rivers)

• Moderate-density semi-arid regions like Iran (55 people/km²)

• Highly urbanized arid regions like the UAE (~120 people/km² in developed areas)

Since Aradaea has established civilizations along water sources, coasts, and highland regions, its overall average density is likely between 10–40 people/km², depending on the region.

Step 3: Estimating Population by Region

We’ll break it down by major civilizations and settlement patterns:

Aradaean Populations


Khusan (desert, scattered settlements, trade hubs)	10/km² (nomadic, trade-based)	3M km²	30M
Grodraken (mountains, densely populated underground cities)	50/km² (highly urbanized, underground)	1.5M km²	75M
Kolgaren (hills, independent valley clans)	30/km² (small but dense population)	0.8M km²	24M
Ultara (grassland, forests, magic-assisted agriculture)	60/km² (resource-rich elven lands)	1.2M km²	72M
Aetha’Lora (ancient forest, low population but deeply established)	20/km² (wood elves, rare large cities)	1M km²	20M
Enthak (savannah, roving warbands, scattered villages)	15/km² (low due to raiding culture)	2.5M km²	37.5M
Azura (gnomish republics, technological adaptation)	80/km² (efficient land use, high density)	0.6M km²	48M
Ashton (fertile peninsula, traditional agriculture)	90/km² (high-density rural and urban mix)	0.9M km²	81M
Kaladar (high-tech city-state, industrialized)	150/km² (dense city hub)	0.4M km²	60M
Esken (bio-augmented society, highly efficient)	120/km² (small but extremely urbanized)	0.3M km²	36M
Scorchedlands (volcanic, extreme conditions, low density)	8/km² (only viable in habitable valleys)	2M km²	16M
Eninthal (feudal human kingdom, agriculture-based)	70/km² (large farmlands, medieval structure)	1.8M km²	126M
Vilderbald (industrialized, eastern European-style)	85/km² (manufacturing and production)	1.6M km²	136M
Sylvania (necromancer-ruled, undead labor force)	50/km² (large numbers of laborers, efficient)	1.1M km²	55M
Stelvast (giant-dominated, small population, spread out)	5/km² (due to enormous size of inhabitants)	0.7M km²	3.5M
Vogdu (highly structured giant society, planned agriculture)	10/km² (large creatures, but more centralization)	0.5M km²	5M
Remote Settlements (unclaimed lands, nomadic groups, unknown civilizations)	5/km² (scattered populations)	10M km²	50M

Final Estimated Population of Aradaea:

Adding these together:

Conclusion:

• Total Estimated Population of Aradaea: ~870–900 million.

• Heaviest population centers: Eninthal, Vilderbald, Grodraken, Ulthuan, Ashton.

• Sparsely populated areas: Scorchedlands, Enthak, Stelvast, Vogdu.

• Water is a limiting factor, making settlements clustered around water sources, coasts, and mountain rivers.