Races

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Here is a list of those that inhabit this world. This list is no means exhaustive. It is, however, a list of commonly known creatures that exist. Players are welcomed to come up with something on their own, but should be warned that I may have come up with it and just not shown it.

Fey: Fey refers to anyone whose origin is from a small set of dimensions adjacent ours. Crossings between worlds have taken places for centuries all around the world. The Fey can be divided into four groups: Elves, Fairies, Spirit Folk, and Bogies. All Fey have an aversion to iron. The affect varies from group to group. Elves are the most susceptible, to the point where a small amount could be lethal. Fairies are also very vulnerable. Spirit Folk much less so, and for Bogies it is more of an inconvenience.

Within the last millennia a war occurred in their lands and divided up the population. The war lasted for a very long time (for those in our dimension it was a short time). Those on the losing side (the Unseelie) fled to our realm. The winners (the Seelie) were loyal to Tatiana while the Unseelie claimed loyalty to Oberon, King of Fairy.

Witches/Warlocks: In the common vernacular witches and warlocks refer to those of a particular subculture in modern society. Sometimes called pagans as they practice .alternate. forms of religion, they permeate through modern society with something of a stigma. Some claim to have magical skills, however their spells tend to be more psychological than anything else.

The reality is that most who claim to be witches are not witches. Real witches and warlocks (the male counterpart) stay away from those new age magic want-a-be.s as much as possible. Witches come in a variety of flavors, while not official categorized like others in this section they can be place in one of the following categories. These categories are fairly loose and individuals can cross them.

NOTE: Sometimes Witch and Warlock are used as titles and should not be confused with these classifications. Examples are the Trinity Warlock and the Easting Witch.

Immortals: The study of immortals is almost exclusively done by those of the Forever Young Society. They claim that there are four types of immortals. In order to be listed as an immortal one must be immune to aging and have a soul. Vampires, other undead, Mythics, and the like are not categorized as immortal even though they may be active for eternity as they do not have souls.

Mythics: Mythics are those beings found in any number of pantheons across the world. They are divided into two groups: Legends and Heroes.
Legends: Legends is a label used to identify those whose power and even identity are determined by the belief of others in them. Many were once gods or demigods. Usually their earth realm form is just avatars of themselves. They, themselves, exist on an entirely different plane of existence and are able to project their power through their avatar. The amount of power they can project is determined by the number of people who believe (or worship) them.
Even without their followers and believes Legends are still quite powerful and potent individuals. Their power is primal in nature as they tap into power directly from its source.
Heroes: Heroes are not necessarily the heroes of the stories; they are those that have interacted with Legends to the point where they are part of the myth.
Unlike Legends, Heroes do not garner power from worshipers, their power that they have is permanently granted to them. However, while they do not age they can be killed.

Djinn and Effrets: Most often known as Genies, Djinn and Effrets these beings are thought to grant wishes while others are thought to be mischief makers. Commonly found in lamps there have been incidents where they were imprisoned in other artifacts, rings, boxes, etc. The reason for imprisonment varies. In general the more powerful the Genie to more dangerous and more likely they will turn on their former masters.

Dwarves: Most people believe Dwarves come from the Teutonic myth (Norse) and are traditionally isolated to Scandinavia. This is far from the true. Dwarves, like the Fey and Vampires run the gamut of cultures. The Awakkule of Native American mythology, Dwende from the Philippines, the Melanesian Lipsipsip, Menehuni in Hawaiian, and in the Zulu tradition there are a number of references to dwarf like beings. There are a few things all Dwarves have in common: They are (in general) shorter than the average man, live under ground, and have a certain connection to stones works.

Giants: There are a variety of giant types that vary is size and power. Most that inhabit our realm contain their size or of smaller stature. However, still prefer a larger size typically appearing 7 to 9 feet tall.

Mages: There are a number of methods to throw magical energies. Classifications are at best very loose. Most subscribe to the division by which one has learned their craft. In any case individuals must have the 'gift'. The gift seems to be genetic to some extent as it tends to be handed down generation to generation in some families.

Psychics: Psychics have existed since the dawn of man. For the most part those who claim psychic powers are frauds. The few that aren.t frauds are at too low a level of power and have no control to allow them to be reliable. Most common are minor forms of clairvoyance, telepathy, astral projection, and astral awareness. Recently there have been evidence of psychic amplifiers. These individuals have the power to increase another person.s psychic ability.

Animorphs: Animorphs are somewhere between Fey and Lycanthropes. They are shape shifter but are not or never were human. They have similar magical properties as those of Fey blood. In general they keep to themselves away from human societies. Notable exceptions are the Neko and Kitsune who are just the opposite.

Some times confused for lycanthropes, Animorphs procreate for their next generation, not necessarily true for lycanthropes; bites form Animorphs do not create another Animorph.

They tend to have twice the life span as humans. Few of these shape shifters have half forms.

Gargoyles: These rocky creatures have life spans of a couple of centuries. Not much is really known about these creatures. It is believed that they are a result of a magic experiment. These creatures are very rare.

What is known about them is mostly their social behavior. Adults are usually solitary. Females lay a clutch from anywhere from 2 to 7 eggs. After about 20 years mother leaves them. The social group of a clutch lasts for about 50 to 80 years. Females may breed two or three times in their life.

In general gargoyles are inquisitive and intelligent creatures.

Syrens: As far as it is commonly known there are no male Syrens. These beautiful creatures are known for the enchanting voices. So lovely are their songs that men can not resist them and are attracted like moths to a flame. These creatures make their homes next large bodies of water. Iara is the Japanese version of a Syren.

Tengu: These half men half crow creatures originate from Japan. They have limited shape changing abilities as they grow older. Their natural shape is that of an anthromorphised crow, having wings, arms, and legs. As they grow older they can change their form to a more human looking one. Males tend to have long noises while women tend to have sharp pointed chins.

Angels and Devils: Angels come from the Judeo-Christian/Muslim faiths. They are messengers and agents of God. Devils are those Angels that have fallen.

Their interaction the mortal realm is fairly limited and rare.

Goblinkin: Goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, kobolds, some trolls, some ogres, and the like come from a realm that is not actually under the control of the Fey. These lands are the home of a variety of grotesque humanoids. They are in constant war the Fey lands.

Their relationship with the Fey in our realm (the Unseelie) is actually much better. Rumor has it that several tribes actually supported the Unseelie.

There are a fair number of goblinkin in our realm; they mostly keep to themselves as the dislike the use of glamours.

Undead: As universal as death is, so are those that escape its finality. The undead were once living and breathing but upon their death something happened to prevent them from going to their respective afterlives. Nearly every society has encountered these, creatures and likewise they all have their own way of dealing with them.
Animated Corpse: This category refers to those that have been departed but through some magical means have their body reanimated. The sub-categories usually refer to how much of the soul remains. All Animated Corpses do not suffer from the effects of trauma.
Ghouls: Ghouls are those undead that have had a daemon or some type of other worldly being bonded to them before death. It is even possible that those with daemon blood could become a Ghoul after death. Ghouls are known to feed on the flesh of the recently departed. The reality is that they would prefer to eat living flesh. They replace their own lost soul by consuming the remnants of the dead (and in the case of the living they have much more soul to consume). In the modern age they have been known to employ a number of magical solutions to their need to consume souls.
Assuming that they have a constant source of soul material, they are effectively immortal. They can regenerate their body at an enormous rate. Because they are dead themselves and are immune to disease they are known to be carriers of a number of plagues.
Vampires: One could naively say that vampires are an eastern European invention, where the modern media; books, movies, and comic books, have played up on the gothic nature of the legend. However, one would be wrong. Nearly every culture has had a blood sucking or life draining monster in their pantheon of myths and stories (Azeman - African, Vrykolakas - Greek, Yara-ma-yha-who - Aboriginal, Pontianak - Malay, Katanes - Islamic, Mahr - Slavic). That said vampires do range in a variety of appearance and habit. Their powers vary, but they have several common threads generally known: they feed on blood; are immortal; dislike sunlight.
For the most part, vampires can feed on any type of blood; however human blood is most desired. The effect of human blood is a high, and as a result has addictive effects on vampires once they have had a taste of human blood. As a general rule vampires don.t need to feed, they have a hunger to feed. And if the have tasted human blood the desire to feed is stronger.
Ghosts: Ghost is a generic term used for spirits that dwell in this plane of existence. For some reason their soul was not taken to one of the number of unearthly realms that collect such things nor returned to the cycle of rebirth. Instead they decided (consciously or not) to remain in this realm.
There are a number of different types of Ghosts, each with their special limitations and powers. All Ghosts are incorporeal, however, and their physical boundaries are fairly meaningless.
In general Ghosts are rare elements to the Neighborhood.

Lycanthropes: Like vampires there are many different Lycanthropes. When one thinks of Lycanthropes most think of the more popular werewolf. However, the term includes a variety of animorph shape changers. While the term Lycanthrope comes from the Greek king Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who is transformed into a wolf by Zeus, the history of the Lycanthrope is clouded in mystery. Many primitive cultures have garnered power of animal spirits.

Composites: Creatures listed here usually have one of two origins. They were either from another plane where these creatures existed and were brought over or found their way over to our realm or they were the result of a magical experiment. Most origins have been lost in legend and history.

We divide Composites into those have only animal qualities and those that have qualities of man. One should be careful to assume that man composites are smarter than those with only animal parts.

Yeti: Also called sasquatch, abominable snowman, or Bigfoot these rather larger apish looking creatures are quite gentle and rather smart. They tend to shun big cities and prefer to live in the open spaces.