In the magical world of Oathikar where your word is your bound and any oath you make is enforced by the gods to the best of your ability. Where those with the money to do so breed the magical and monstrous beasts of the world to be powerful tools and status symbols. Through this it was discovered that every person could make one Blood Oath with anything that had a soul. It was theorized that a bound between two people was possible it is considered taboo as there is only one Oath Master and the bound is essentially a slave to their master without bounds. Now slavery still exists but all slaves are considered as such for as long as they live but bounded do not age or fully die. Their body may be destroyed but they will live on in a spirit form only seen by the master and can no longer interact with the world. The Oath Master also receives a slowing to their aging biased on the power of their bounded they will still die of old age but they will look much younger when they do. Thus Oath Masters are not bound until their 18^th birthday as to not effect the majority of their youthful growth.

 The beasts that are bred can range from the completely mundane animals like dogs and cats to the magical were-dogs and were-cats and other fantastical beasts. All beings that can partake in a Blood Oath can talk but the less humanoid ones only have this through a form of telepathy with their Oath Master. Although most a lot of the monsters of Oathikar are left in the wild as there wasn’t enough demand for them or to tame them was too dangerous. Thus, these rare breeds and difficult to tame genusus are treated with reverence as are their breeders. As such those who have affinities with the more common and easier genusus are looked down upon as lesser beings and rarely rise above their station. The Bounded are named as part of the bounding and as such are not named until that point. 

There is a Church that exists throughout Oathikar called The Oathbearers. They aren’t a religion so much as the ones that teach and arbitrate anything related to oaths. One might make an oath to never kill someone but then later beat that person within an inch of their life the gods will not see it as a broken oath but if The Oathbearers are called they may see it as you broke the spirit of the oath and propose a penalty or under extreme circumstances petition the gods to annul the oath and present the arguments on your behalf. To even be associated with the church you must swear an oath on something called The Ethicalities to combat corruption. There are other religions but they are regional and to numerous to talk about.

Of the many things that inhabit Oathikar those that are considered people hale from Humans, High Elves (porcelain coloured skin (tanning wont change this)), Wood Elves (tanned skin), Dark Elves (dark skin tones to greyish), Halflings (short Humans), Dwarves (taller and sturdier than Halflings but still shorter than humans), Goliaths (taller and much stronger than Humans), and all the half-breeds that one expects exist (yes even a Goliath and a Halfling (what this looks like I have no idea)). Some of these races have their own kingdoms from which there is a highest concentration of their population. There are a multiple Human kingdoms spread throughout the world these kingdoms are only run by Humans all the other races have some population in these, one High Elf kingdom on an island, a Dwarven hold in most major mountains, a couple of warring tribes of Wood Elves in a massive forest, there was a major Dark Elf kingdom in and around a mountain but it was destroyed by a volcano a long ago. The people of this world are not against polygamy but see it as a result of being wealthy and powerful thus the only ones who practice it apart from nobles are the ultra wealthy merchants. Also, those that can afford the luxury of a more humanoid Blood Oathed beast generally have sex with them, but it is looked down on those who have not built a sufficient bound with them first. While beast brothels as they were named exist, they are seen as heretical and if they are discovered are promptly shutdown.

Normal citizens are normally encouraged to pick an Oath Beast based on their profession for example a guard usually chooses something from the Canine genus, or a merchant might choose a beast of burden. A noble will usually be given the rarest beast that the family breeds so a family that breeds the genus Felidae will likely be given a sphinx. Most noble families only allow the females to be sold as males are rare need to be kept as breeding stock, these same families if forced to choose between their male stock and ruined land holdings they would choose the male stock. An unintended outcome of the family’s closeness to their genus is that they instinctively are wary of those with an affinity to that genusus enemies.