The Greater Races

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The Greater Races represent the smallest minorities in the world. They are not necessarily the strongest magic users, but on average, a member of one of these races is stronger than most others. All of them are highly magical by nature. Fewer characters should come from this selection (or the variants thereof. See the Variant Races thread for more details).

Keep in mind, however, that some of these are categories, not explicit species. There could be dozens, even a hundred different species or more within some of these categories. After all, we care less about what you - the player - call your character or what your character looks like, and more about whether each player's racial benefits are balanced with another's.

These categories do not, however, take into account natural abilities, like what a character can breathe, how fast they can run, or how far they can see. Natural abilities will be addressed on a case by case basis in the character creation process.

It should be noted that these races almost universally have little to no need of technology. While there's little explicitly stopping some of these races from picking up a gun, there's little point in it for them.

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High Fey -
Bonus Special Abilities: 1 Free, 2 Magical, 1 Travel

The greatest of the Fey, these beings were once thought of as gods by early civilizations. In some places, they still are treated that way. Their numbers are minuscule now, but those remaining are ancient, with memories longer than some countries and powers to match. High Fey appear - those rare times they are seen at all - to resemble Noble Fey, or Wild Fey, or something in between. Some magical communities hypothesize that the High Fey are in fact a kind of magical evolution of the Fey, and that any Fey may be able to take this leap under the right circumstances. The only ones who know, the High Fey themselves, aren't talking. High Fey seem to care almost nothing for technology or the modern world in general, secreting themselves away in primeval corners of the world, beyond the control of governments and earthly powers.

Special Game Mechanics: All High Fey know how to use magic and how to move through the world in some supernatural way. They gain a single bonus Travel special ability. Many are natural teleporters. All High Fey are Tier 4 at least and more likely to be Tier 5, with all the advantages that comes from being so strong. Fey must be that strong to make the leap in the first place, though there are other factors involved with their ascension, depending on the specific Fey. This leap may or may not even be possible, or may only be possible under certain circumstances. The exact details regarding a High Fey, or the ascension into one, will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 150 posts with a single character, demonstrated a strong skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play a High Fey. A player with a Noble or Wild Fey character who meets these requirements may be allowed to change their character to this race instead.

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Mythical Beastfolk -
Bonus Special Abilities: 1 Free, 1 Physical, 1 Magical

Children of fortuitous birth, the Mythical Beastfolk are born special - under a rare celestial event, or in an enchanted area, they are marked by the magic of the world. They don't take after animals like the rest of their kind though; they take after Magical Beasts instead. Sea Serpent, Manticore, Unicorn, Phoenix, Sphinx, Griffin, Kirin, even the Dragon and more - the Mythical Beastfolk are more powerful then the rest of their kindred and are natural-born mages all. Beastfolk legend says that each one of them is destined for greatness and so they are held in high regard, but their incredibly small number makes ascertaining the truth of this to be quite difficult.

Special Game Mechanics: Like Magical Beasts, Mythical Beastfolk may have a unique magical ability related to their specie. A Dragon Beastfolk, for example, may have some kind of breath attack. At the same time though, these are fundamentally living, mortal creatures, unlike other Greater Races. Because of that, Mythical Beastfolk are still able to take such features as Heritage and Lichdom. Such a being would not only be extremely rare, but extremely powerful, and a subject of great interest in the political and magical communities.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 100 posts with a single character, demonstrated a good skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play a Mythical Beastfolk who is Tier 1 to 2. A player must make 150 posts to play a Mythical Beastfolk who is Tier 3 or higher though.

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Angels -
Bonus Special Abilities: 2 Free, Humanoid Shapeshifting, Wings

Magical emissaries of the Celestial Realm, Angels are beings of pure goodness, kindness, and grace - and if they're doing their job correctly, most people will never know they met one. Angels rarely, if ever, show themselves in their full, resplendent glory, choosing instead to adopt humble, unassuming personas that one would pass in the street and forget five minutes later. They are guardians, protectors, subtly insulating the young and the innocent from harm, but when push comes to sword, an angel can be a formidable opponent to the forces of evil. The strongest actively seek out such threats, to find where monsters dwell ... and stop them from hurting anyone else ever again.

Special Game Mechanics: While not all angels look like perfect humanoids, or are even necessarily solid beings, most character-played angels should. Angels may glow if they wish, and can magically extend or retract wings at will. These wings provide them a pseudo-form of levitation as they don't necessarily need to keep flapping to hover when in use. These wings also tend to vary in appearance from one angel to the next: some have one pair, some have three, some have white feathers, or rainbow-patterns, and some warrior angels have majestic black feathers. All angels are able to pass freely among the common races as one of them, and their very nature predisposes them to subtlety and humility. All angels are natural mages and near immortal - they are made of celestial energy and magic, not born - though that does not mean all angels are as strong as each other or cannot become stronger.

Because angels are beings of goodness and kindness, a player must rp them accordingly. This does not mean they have no personality. One angel may behave vastly different from another, depending on their methods and experience. An angel can make mistakes, but err on the side of wisdom. They are not omniscient - just benevolent helpers. An angel that just outright goes bad or goes against their nature can 'fall' however. Such an angel loses touch with their Celestial half, and while they don't explicitly have to take on an Infernal connection like demons, most do become full demons, with a change of abilities as appropriate. A fallen angel retains its special abilities, but its wings usually change and it loses its ability to cast light. For a fallen angel to regain their celestial nature is easier than if the angel became a full demon, and usually is a simple matter of repentance or redemption.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 100 posts with a single character, demonstrated a strong skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play an angel. A primarily "good" character who dies may become an angel after death.

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Demons -
Bonus Special Abilities: 2 Free, Enhanced Toughness

In as much as Angels are beings of celestial, magical energy, Demons are just the reverse: embodiments of Infernal forces. They are avatars of malice, violence, and if they aren't making people suffer, they're working on how to make people suffer. While some do look like members of the common races, and some take a perverse pleasure in passing themselves off as angels, most demons have shapes straight out of a child's nightmares - and they use these forms to incredibly lethal effect. Demons are themselves as diverse as the shapes they take, with as many law-abiding demons (read the fine print) as there are liars and monsters among them who couldn't care less what they promised. Not all demons use their magic for explicit violence, but all of them do have a natural ability for it, and there is story after story of demons who offered their services to mortals ... if only to get something in return. At the end of the day though, demons would like nothing better than to rip the universe asunder in shadow and flame. Everything else is an appetizer to that end.

Special Game Mechanics: While not all demons look like perfect humanoids, or are even necessarily solid beings, most character-played demons should be, or have some similarly humanoid demonic body. Specific physical traits and natural abilities will be addressed on a case by case basis. The stronger a demon is magically, the more infernal energy they're made of, the more leeway a player will have in what their demonic character looks like. Keep in mind, however, that demons cannot shapeshift unless they take that special ability. If your character has a dozen eyes and tentacles where tentacles don't grow, most npcs should react accordingly. All demons are natural mages and near immortal - they are made of infernal energy and magic, not born - though that does not mean all demons are as strong as each other or cannot become stronger.

Because demons are beings of malice and violence, a player must rp them accordingly. This does not mean they have no personality. One demon may behave vastly different from another, depending on their methods and experience. They are not omniscient - but knowing your target does help in making them suffer. However, demons are not fully 'locked' into doing evil. A demon can do a good deed one day, to do a greater evil the next. A demon must be 'careful' when pretending to be a good person, however, because when the door is open, it's easier to walk through. For more information on this, see the Rising Demon post in the Variant Races thread for details.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 100 posts with a single character, demonstrated a strong skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play a demon. A primarily "evil" character who dies may become a demon after death.

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Dragons -
Bonus Special Abilities: 1 Free at Tier 1, 1 Physical at Tier 2, 1 Magical at Tier 4, Flight, Breath Attack

When a person thinks of magical creatures, the dragon is one of the most iconic. A true dragon is not a "Magical Beast," however. They're in a league of their own. Some species of dragons are feral, but a good chunk of them are as intelligent as any other civilized race - some, even more so. What a dragon looks like varies between each one, even between family members, but there are a few over-arching similarities between them - thing like their extremely powerful, pseudo-reptilian bodies, their universal facility for flight, and a unique ability to channel their raw energy into a magical breath attack. Their population isn't what it used to be, however. With modern technology, trained dragon hunters, and a lucrative market based on the many magical uses of dragon organs, these magnificent beings are becoming something of an endangered specie. Most of the remaining dragons prefer to make their living in the uncultivated corners of the world, like the High Fey, and its not uncommon for the two to overlap in area. Those who wish to do otherwise rely on a shapeshifting ability to mask their true forms, the better to walk among people without fear - the people's fear of them, and their fear of the people.

Special Game Mechanics: Despite technically being a mortal race, dragons are some of the most long-lived creatures on the planet, and the older a dragon gets, the bigger they get, the more powerful they get. It's not uncommon for an old dragon to be a millenia or two, if only nothing bad happened to them. While some dragons are feral, a player's dragon character should be fully sentient. Even the feral dragons naturally increase in Tier just by growing older, gaining more special abilities and greater magic pressure accordingly, but only fully sentient dragons are able to use their magic for anything more than their breath attack. 

When a dragon is born, they are considered Tier 1 mages. Even a recently born dragon - called a wyrmling - has a small breath attack, but their internal energies are still growing. A Tier 1 dragon only has one bonus special ability from any category. After a few decades, when the wyrmling has become a young adult, they rise to Tier 2 and gain a second bonus ability, from a physical category. They are considered adults after a hundred years, rising to Tier 3 if they haven't already. They only gain a third bonus ability when they reach Tier 4, as mature dragons rounding their first millennium. This last choice must be from a magical category. The oldest of dragons, the great wyrms, are Tier 5 mages. Proportionally speaking, almost none of them manage to live to this point any more, and will probably die in their first few hundred years, if that. 

This is not to say that a dragon cannot 'peak' earlier than their age would suggest. A talented young dragon who actively works to better their magical nature could be the same Tier as a mature dragon, but they still only gain their bonus special abilities at the appropriate age bracket. Also, when it comes to their natural traits, dragons can vary wildly - some being spiky, muscular brute machines, others being smooth, agile river swimmers. Specific physical traits and natural abilities will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 100 posts with a single character, demonstrated a good skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play a Dragon who is Tier 1 to 2. A player must make 150 posts to play a Dragon who is Tier 3 or higher though.

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Spirits -
Bonus Special Abilities: 2 Magical, Levitation - Unable to take some Physical Abilities

A Spirit has no body. While many things about spirits vary between one and another, that detail never changes. They are not a race; they are a classification of incorporeal beings that can include members from most other racial categories. Ghosts - people who have died but not yet passed on, or somehow managed to come back - are prime examples of spirits, but they are hardly the only ones. Most spirits that a person will meet are of another kind: spirits that were born of magic, the pseudo-living embodiments of a highly magical place, concept, or thing. The exact nature of their 'birth' is a matter of discussion in magical communities, but there have always been stories of nature spirits, winter spirits, spirits of the past or spirits of a city. While most spirits are not only nonviolent, but expressly avoid contact with physical beings, there are a handful of bad eggs that have to be dealt with.

Special Game Mechanics: Spirits are all magically inclined by the very nature of their existence, being Tier 1 mages or higher. A powerful mage who dies might retain their full strength as a spirit instead of moving on, but this is not always the case. Being without a body has many implications, not the least of which is that a spirit cannot touch or be touched by anything mundane. They can't eat, don't need to sleep, and though they can drain themselves using magic or special abilities, they don't get tired in the same way as corporeal creatures. The appearance of a spirit is also entirely a subjective matter. While most do have a sort of default appearance, two spirits - even of the same sort of thing, such as two tree spirits - can look vastly different from each other. A spirit must still take Shapeshifting if they wish to alter the way they appear.

Spirits all move through a form of Levitation instead of walking, with some taking other forms of movement such as Teleportation or Discorporation as they want. Phasing is a unique case. A spirit that takes Phasing can temporarily interact physically with the natural world, but not all spirits can learn to do this, and those that do cannot maintain it for extended periods of time. Spirits can take Enhanced Speed and Enhanced Sense, but no other expressly Physical abilities, for obvious reasons.

However, being comprised entirely of consciousness-directed energy is a double-edged sword. An evil or malicious spirit that can cast magic is a huge threat to nonmagicals, as most corporeal attacks just go right through. Put the same spirit against a mage, and watch the tables turn. All spirits are vulnerable to magic, in all its forms. A bullet may be solid, but if a mage enchanted it, it will still hurt the spirit as if it was hit, and how much moreso if the mage fires a lightning bolt instead. A spirit is almost never really and truly 'killed' in the way mortals think of it though.

When a spirit is too drained or too 'injured' to maintain it's form, it loses cohesion and eventually disperses. The spirit will reform after a length of time, which is a subjective matter each time this happens - ranging from minutes to months, maybe even years. Similar to passing out, the spirit won't be aware of or remember anything that happened in this state, and can do nothing until their self reconstitutes. Most spirits run away before it comes to that, however. A mage that has Soul magic or access to such a spell through Necromancy or the like is the most dangerous foe a spirit can encounter, as spirits have little resistance to that kind of magic, and could even be permanently trapped or dispersed (read: killed) by one.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 100 posts with a single character, demonstrated a strong skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play a spirit. Any character who dies may become a spirit after death.

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Elementals -
Bonus Special Abilities: Discorporation, 2 Magical or Physical Special Abilities

The similarities between Elementals and Spirits are many and have often been noted throughout history. There seems to be little difference on the surface between these two magical races, but what differences there are makes each distinct. While the Spirit of an element can look like a humanoid personification of the element, or look like a big ball of the stuff, an elemental is actually made of the stuff. Like spirits, angels and demons, elementals' bodies are born of magic, made of magic, and even held together by magic. There is little difference between them if they look like a moving statue, a few hundred rocks floating together, or a talking cliff face. Not all elementals are equal however, and there are many who only have an animalistic intelligence at best. While such elementals have been treated as monsters, demons, or even just walking batteries waiting to be tapped, many sentient humanoid-looking elementals have managed to ingratiate themselves in other cultures as working, reliable members of society. 

Special Game Mechanics: When making an elemental, there are two things to keep in mind. First, while some elementals are feral, a player's elemental character should be fully sentient. Second, an elemental's form is tied directly to their magic. All elementals can use magic, even the feral ones, but in almost all cases their first Tier magic is a Mental or Physical narrow specialization based on their actual form. This is something of a chicken-and-egg situation, as earth elementals use earth magic and fire elementals use fire magic. While elementals usually stick to those single specializations for the first few tiers, the more powerful, more intelligent elementals can learn to use any of the five forms. In some cases, learning additional narrow specializations can 'add' to an elemental's form. An earth elemental that learns water magic might become a mud elemental, remain the same, or become something else entirely.

When it comes to their bonus special abilities, elementals fundamentally can be divided into two groups: the hard ones, and the soft ones. Hard elementals are made of earth, metals, wood, ice, or similar material. A hard elemental gains 2 bonus physical special abilities because of their more durable nature. On the other hand, a soft elemental represents a more amorphous, or energy-based being. These elementals are made of water, air, fire, lightning, or similar material. These elementals are more magical than their denser counterparts, and gain 2 bonus magical special abilities. All elementals, whether hard or soft, gain Discorporation as a special ability. Since their bodies aren't as rigidly defined in terms of organs, bones and similar biological features, it's an easy thing for most elementals to disperse into what they're made of.

However, being comprised of consciousness-directed energy is a double-edged sword. A feral or malicious elemental is a huge threat to nonmagicals, as most corporeal attacks aren't as effective. Hard elementals resist damage. Soft elementals let it pass through. Put the same elemental against a mage, and watch the tables turn. All elementals are vulnerable to magic, in all its forms. A bullet may be solid, but if a mage enchanted it, it will still hurt a soft elemental as if it was hit, and how much moreso if the mage fires a lightning bolt instead. At the same time, elementals usually have some kind of weakness that could be exploited by anyone, magical or not. For a fire elemental to walk through water is tantamount to suicide, and unlike spirits, elementals can be killed if they are hurt enough.

Player Restrictions: A player must first have made 50 posts with a single character, demonstrated a good skill level of roleplaying and good sportsmanship to play an Elemental who is Tier 1 to 2. A player must make 100 posts to play an Elemental who is Tier 3 or higher though.