The Five Duchies are the embattled remains of the old Craenid Empire, a human kingdom which united the very different cultures still represented among The Five Duchies. Corruption, economic collapse and the ambitions of the great families have since torn asunder the fragile alliance under the Craenids. After centuries of war and power struggle, The Five Duchies have settled into a kind of stasis. Rarely do the forces of one duchy attempt to seize the lands of another, and on those rare occasions the aggressor can expect resistance from all four of the other duchies.
The human residents of The Five Duchies are already so preoccupied with the differences among themselves that the idea of welcoming non-human people to their lands is patently absurd - even people with mixed human heritage are likely to be assaulted upon discovery.