Although enslaved, the humans thrived during the Age of Dominion, growing stronger under the yoke of servitude and multiplying to become the race with the highest population and the most variation. They discovered that they alone of all the races had the ability to procreate with some of the other humanoids, including the elves, thus not only strengthening their gene pool but also creating political and emotional ties to their overseers.
They grew restless and began sewing thoughts of equality and even rebellion. At first, the elves were able to quell these ideas through retribution and propaganda, but the will of the humans grew stronger. Establishing an alliance with the orcs and the dwarves, the humans surprised the elves with one synchronized strike of violence. Overthrowing the elves entirely was simply not an option though. The elves had magic, and the tools and creatures at their disposal would eventually undo the alliance. So the humans fled. Although many were wiped out in the effort, the humans eventually came across a wide swath of land that was largely uninhabited. There they established their new community. The dwarves continued on and settled in a nearby mountain range.
For over a hundred years the humans and orcs (and their respective and co-mingled offspring) built their own villages and outposts, some of which thrived to become cities and strongholds. Occasionally bands of elves and their minions would attack and defeat them, but frequently the humans and their allies would fight and expand into elven territory. A wary impasse eventually emerged.
Humans outnumbered orcs by roughly a ten-to-one margin (and no one was quite sure how many dwarves resided in the mountains). Orcs began to grumble about how they were treated as second-class citizens. When their complaints weren't taken seriously, the orcs segregated themselves into orc-only villages and orc-only neighborhoods in the cities. Sometimes hostility broke out amongst them as they disagreed how to conduct themselves. Sometimes they acted in violence against the humans, justifying that they were being subjugated by the humans in a similar way to what the elves were doing to their ancestors. An exodus was staged, and about three-quarters of the orc population moved south. The ones who stayed were the ones who felt they had as much right to the existing settlements as the humans, and they fought to gain as much control of the human civilization as possible. Hopelessly outnumbered, the efforts of the remaining orcs came to little. Eventually, most of them left to join the rest in the south.
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