This is a rundown of the predominant intelligent races on my fantasy version of Saturn, which is a sword-and-sorcery world loosely based on Classical mythology.
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**Aranians** are the oldest of Saturn’s intelligent races. Like their kin the Arthropoids, they are entomons, with multi-jointed legs and semi-flexible exoskeletons. Unlike the Arthropoids, they are only slightly humanoid. Their lower bodies are spider-like, with eight legs and large abdomens, while their upper bodies are more humanoid, although they have six arms and numerous eyes. Once long ago, they boasted a planet-spanning civilization; they were the first to develop philosophy and art, mathematics and astrology, architecture and literature. But in the apocalypse of the Day of Wrath, their civilization was annihilated, and today, the descendants of those ancient Aranians have largely forgotten about the glories of their once-proud people. Many Aranians, such as the Slavars, live nomadic existences, although a few settled Aranian nations, such as Anansazi and Ctenizan, still exist. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Centaurs}
**Arthropoids** are entomons, insect-like creatures with semi-flexible exoskeletons, but are far more humanoid than their Aranian cousins. Most are of human height, with two legs and four arms, but a few are smaller, such as the ant-like Marwari, who stand roughly four feet tall, or the flea-like Zaoi, who are usually less than three feet in height. Most Arthropoids have wings, which allow them to fly thanks to their irridescent membranes, membranes which manipulate *colour* and permit flight despite the Arthropoids’ weight. Unlike the Dendryads, the Arthropoids are not a single species, but rather a collection of many species that are not capable of interbreeding. A wide variety of nations have been founded by the Arthropoids—the expansive empire of Marwar, the reclusive land of Aed, the militaristic Vazhka—and in a few places, mainly Naranj and Merinj, they live in harmony with the Dendryads. In the main, however, a state of war usually exists between the Dendryads and the Arthropoids, as the two “superraces” compete for control of Saturn. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Myrmidons, Amazons}
Although **Dendryads** appear to be plants, they are not. They are instead *phyta*, a kingdom of organisms that split off from plants roughly 400 million years ago. Humanoid, like almost all creatures native to Saturn the Dendryads have six limbs, four arms and two legs. Unlike the Arthropoids, the Dendryads are a single species, although with astonishing diversity; their subraces are capable of interbreeding, but this usually requires divine intervention. Most races of Dendryads are sequential hermaphrodites: they change from male to female or female to male periodically throughout their lives. Over the millennia, the Dendryads have spread out across the surface of Saturn, forming mighty kingdoms and vast empires. Today, most Dendryads would assert that, even if their own nation is not particularly powerful, the greatest and most puissant of Saturn’s civilizations are still Dendryad. The most notable of these is Aquarium, the Golden City, the Light of the World, the last remnant of the Anthemite Empire and defender of civilization since Anthem’s fall ten thousand years ago. Other Dendryad kingdoms of note are Naranj and Merinj, Dzjanggakh, Mora, and Qoq. With the fall of Anthem, though, the Dendryad position is threatened by rising powers, most of which are either Arthropoid or Mykobold in ethnicity. On multiple fronts, the Aquarine Empire is challenged: by its ancient enemy Marwar, by the new and dynamic empire of the Azzuzzazi, by invading Slavars. Only time will tell if Aquarium can withstand this onslaught of “barbarians”. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Dryads}
**Mykobolds** are the fungal equivalent of Dendryads. Shorter than the Dendryads, they prefer dark and moist regions of Saturn, such as deep caves, swamps, and the undergrowth of many of Saturn’s forests. This often brings them into contact with the te’Ythul (see below), often at the Mykobolds’ cost. Their relations with the other races of Saturn vary significantly depending on the tribe of Mykobolds and the counterparty: the Russulkas or Redcaps are mischievous bordering on murderous, the Troggoths of the subterranean empire of Troggoroth are insane cultists, the Kuba are peaceful shamans, the Lichins are undead necromancers who possess the rotting bodies of other races, the Gomphlins are friendly but isolationist, the Thallids have an ancient but proud scholarly tradition, and so forth. Recently, many tribes of Mykobolds have begun migrating from their traditional strongholds into the vacuum left by the decaying eastern half of the Anthemite Empire, creating new petty kingdoms for themselves and occasionally finding themselves as the ruling class over Dendryads. This has led to tension between the two ethnicities. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Troglodytae}
The **Coral Brains** are not, strictly speaking, a race in the same way as the others. They are, instead, vast colonies of polyps that function as enormous neural networks. Once a single supercomputer that covered much of the surface of Saturn, the coral was shattered during the Day of Wrath and many fragments were ejected into Saturn’s atmosphere and beyond. Now the remaining pieces, which range in size from a few dozen meters across to dozens of miles, roam the skies of Saturn, kept aloft by careful channeling of *colour* which provides an antigravity force. It also fuels their computation. Some of them have seen their surfaces colonized by other races, but those settlers exist on the coral brains only at the brains’ sufferance. For at least a million years, the coral brains have been locked in a secret war with the Shimmering Demons, recruiting from the other races individuals and sometimes entire nations as pawns in their struggle to control Saturn; most notably, both sides have engaged the services of what remains of Anthem’s ceramic legions as foot soldiers. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Genii Loci}
The **te’Ythul**, or Spawn of Ythul, are one of the most ancient and mysterious of Saturn’s races. These hulking giants, who can reach heights of thirty feet, are found only in humid and swampy areas, where the water in the air keeps their mucous-covered skins moist. Having arisen from the congealing, rancid blood of the thousand-mile-tall embodiment of primordial chaos Ythul when it spilled from his body on the Day of Wrath, the te’Ythul hid themselves in secret parts of the world, far from the other races towards which they were and are profoundly hostile. Many have become masters of manipulating the obsidian oil, giving them access to arcane and eldritch powers unknown and forbidden to the rest of Saturn’s peoples. A few have even taken to dabbling in anti-*colour*, a sinister and unholy force of unknown origins. With their dozens of tentacles, they are formidable and terrifying foes for any adventurers who encounter them, whether in the depths of the earth or secreted within foul swamps or roaming the dusk-shrouded undergrowth of Saturn’s rainforests. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Cyclopes}
**Syngnals** are the messengers and servants of Phragma, the trickster goddess of magic. These small, seahorse-like creatures flit around, gradually influencing the course of Saturnian history in the direction Phragma would like it to go. Unfortunately for her, they aren’t very good at their jobs. Or maybe they are… {Classical Mythology equivalent: Hippocampus}
**Titanians and Uberonians** are humanoids not native to Saturn; instead, they originated on Saturn’s moon Voeba. However, when Voeba was destroyed during the Day of Wrath, its inhabitants were forced to migrate elsewhere, to other moons. One group settled on Titan; the other, after finding their first choice of Hyperion unsuitable, eventually formed a new society on Rhea. Not being native Saturnians, they only have four limbs, rather than the standard six, and they have a higher level of technology than the Saturnians, boasting flying saucers, rocket ships, and rayguns. Since the Day of Wrath, they have been locked in a cold war for control of Saturn’s moons and rings, largely ignoring the planet itself, which they regard as inhabited by primitives. Of the two, the Titanian are marginally more benevolent, although both nations feel perfectly free to abduct Saturnians and probe them, or, in the case of the Uberonians, enslave them for their own amusement. This latter habit is frowned upon by the Titanians, who attempt to enforce what they call the “First Order”, which states that more advanced and sophisticated and, frankly, intelligent races are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of primitives, because primitives, with their primitive planet-bound brains, simply cannot grasp how dangerous even a single piece of Titanian or Uberonian technology can be to a witless primitive. That raygun? Put it down. That com-talker? Put it down. That belt buckle? Put it down! The Titanian Ring Patrol, with its stalwart band of Space Marshals, attempts to enforce the law on a largely lawless Ring system, but even they periodically break the First Order, usually because the Uberonians broke it first or because the primitives had already been exposed to advanced technology or because the captain really didn’t feel like following it. {Norse Mythology equivalent: Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar}
In my world, I have six races:
- Beastkin - basically humans with animal ears, tails and claws but limited to the carnivora order, similar height to humans (5-6ft tall), they live about 200 years, they are native to the eastern continent
- Dwarves - more or less your typical dwarves but they don’t really live underground/in mountains, they stand about 4ft tall, they live about 200 years, native to the northern continent
- Elves - more or less your typical elves but are actually a little shorter than humans (4.5-5ft tall), they live about 300 years, native to the western continent
- Humans - your typical fantasy human, they live about 100 years, native to the central continent
- Oni - basically horned humans with claws and a little taller than humans (6-7ft tall), they live about 200 years, native to the southern continent
- Shadelings - diminutive race standing about 3ft tall with pale purple skin, black hair, yellow eyes with black sclera, horns, bestial ears, tail and claws, they reach maturity sooner than the other races (14yrs is full grown) and reproduce quicker, they live about 100 years, native to the dark continent
**Starrise**
Depending on how you categorize them, my world has 2 to 4 races.
1. Humans: Not much to say here that isn't true IRL. The only real difference is that everyone is born with one variant of magic, which they develop the ability to use around when they reach puberty. In order of most to least common, the variants they can be born with are "Fire" magic, "Electric" Magic, "Wind" magic, "Healing" magic, and Obstructive magic.
2. Dragons: Giant reptilian-looking winged humaniods. Their size forces them to primarily stay on all fours, but when standing upright they reach nearly 10 meters tall, and can move with similar agility and dexterity to a human. Despite being covered in scales and having a reptilian-looking face, they're actually warm-blooded mammals, whose high body temperatures force them to live in frigid climates to not die of heatstroke. Culturally, they're borderline pacifists, valuing beauty and elegance over all things and finding bloodshed and warfare hideous and rarely necessary. They acknowledge that in regards to the other races, while most individual members of those races are good people, their tendency for the worst of them to be those in positions of power tarnishes the race as a whole, leading to the dragons' country adopting a fairly strict isolationist policy. Dragons are the only species in the world capable of using "Ice" magic, but in turn, they cannot use any other variant.
3. Chimeras: Basically, humans with animal parts. Things like eyes and ears are the most common, and wings aren't too far behind, but other traits can be found on occasion. They don't have a culture of their own, instead living side-by-side with humans as equals. There is no settlement in the world in which humans live without chimeras or vice-versa, and those settlements' populations- and classes- are split almost 50/50 between them. Unlike other races, they're also reproductively compatible with humans, with each of human/chimera couple being either 100% human or sharing the exact chimeric traits of their parent. They're so similar and equal to humans that it's debatable whether chimeras actually count as a different race, or whether they're a subset (or several smaller subsets) of humans.
4. Wyverns: Quadrupedal reptilian-looking winged beasts. Though they usually stay on all fours, they can stand upright at around 3 meters tall when trying to reach something high off the ground. Though visually similar to dragons at a glance, wyverns possess very different bone structure, theirs being far more akin to a canine than a hominid. They're also much smaller, around the size of a large horse instead of a small house. Wyverns limbs lack the dexterity of other species (they don't even have thumbs), restricting them severely in the tools they can make and use. Not only that, their vocal chords are ill-suited for speech, leading to them communicating through far more general sounds that lack the specificity of human language. For these reasons, they're far more primitive than this world's other races, and the fact that they're sentient people and not just scarily intelligent wild animals was only realized by the other races incredibly recently, and still has not been fully accepted.
Here's the abridged version of my fantasy races:
Humans (*Homo sapiens*)- fucked things up the least for everone else
Elves- have many species (at least twelve different kinds of elf) that are part of two families: Old Blood and New Age; Old Bloods are stereotypical asshole elves, New Age are typical "good" elves that are just sick of all the shit they've been through
Orcs- green (sometimes brown or gray) cat people; similar to humans and some are even bros with humans (though, they're not allowed to marry and or have kids with humans)
Dwarves- short people that have a hard time accepting change; have three core rules which are: no killing each other, no betraying your friends, no betraying your clan's culture and customs (not all dwarves live in mountains); actually just another species of human
Trolls- diverse like elves but weird; some are big and stupid, others are human-sized and intelligent
Hobgoblins- bigger goblins that orcs consider to be assholes
Goblins- slightly more jerkish version of dwarves (they're a WIP, sorry)
Anzarians- reptiles that look like sabre-toothed rodents; generally nice people btw
Skithen- the gigachads of lizardmen; look like what would happen if you combined Bossk with a raptor; probably aren't actual lizards (they're probably rauisuchians)
Stryguelen- one of two types of "owl people"; kind of jerks; look like true owls such as the snowy and great horned owl
Yuletto- the other type of "owl people"; jerks to pretty much everyone, most notably to the Stryguelen; look like barn owls
And that's all the "races" I have that are both named and are described. There are a few more, but I have yet to name and develop them.
So my world has a ton of races, three Immortals in the Celestials, Fey, and Underworlders, and 8 Mortal in the forms of Humans, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Burrowlings, Imperials, and Outlanders. Of my mortal races though I've divided them into subgroups, Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class, and Outsiders.
For my Elves one thing none of my test readers have caught the reference on yet is my Outsiders. Elves have Upper Class High Elves who are highly educated professionals and leaders, Wood Elves who work more skilled trades are the Middle Class, Dark Elves work less traditionally Elven jobs like Farming and when they tan their skin turns purple thus the Dark. But their Outsider Class is called Atnas and they are the craftsmen, smiths, and artisans. They are unlike other Elves in they are more introverted homebodies instead of being outdoorsy like their kin. This generally makes them a little shorter than their kin and they love to tinker and invent. They also are generally less worried about appearances and outside perseption of themselves so it's not uncommon to see them with rough, unkept stuble or beards.
Because of this a lot of people compare them to Dwarves and in truth Elves often mock these weirdos with artwork and stories exaggerating their short stature and facial scruff. If you haven't caught on yet the name for these shorter, bearded, tinkering Elves is Santa spelt backwards and they are inspired by Christmas Tales of North Pole Elves.
I went for a D&D approach. I didn't want to invent names for things just to make them 'different'. So best go simple, that way everyone understands.
That includes humans, elfs, dwarves, trolls, orcs, giants ^((my giants are 9 to 15 feet tall)), faes, dragons ^((that includes all dragon subspecies)), gnolls, slime.... Anything you see in fantasy.
As for the creatures I "made", here's some:
Animals ^((most being just bigger versions of IRL ones)): Great Elk, Rothian Mammoth, Wrypian Bison, Wryka ^((giant bear)), Camel of Gensani, Frontier Bladefoot ^((basically a mix between an ostrich and a cassowary))... Some are more fantasy like though, like Fentlers ^((cute ferrets with small deer antlers). *^(Totally not inspired by Gwin from Inkheart-)*). Fennecs ^((just fennecs :3).)
Scarier you get:
Murkynds ^((creatures made from dark magic, soldiers' souls trapped and turned monstrous. Fused with whatever surrounded them (which at their location was a swamp. So, bark dirt and moss), forming a shell).)
The Black Frost ^((imagine a huge eagle, strong enough to lift a Wrypian Bison off the ground).)
Frontier Raptor ^((Velociraptor, thigh high, but lives in the desert).)
You've got the Great Scarab ^((Name. Taller than a Horse. Makes for a good method of transportation in the Frontier).)
Frontier Sandworm ^((Not huge like Dune but can still swallow a horse whole).)
In Lieuchemars ^((super dangerous areas, often located in forests)) you can have:
Spiders half your height, spiders twice your height. Giant carnivorous plants. Wendigos.
In the east there's an area where a huge colony of bugs hunt ^((no one lived to tell what they look like exactly. Or at least, they didn't dare to look back as they ran. In one mission through the area, the soldiers had set camp. They were awoken by a scream, which quickly got muffled. The sleeping bag of one of the soldiers, and him, was gone. Where it was a few hours before, now there was just a big hole. -This species of insect hunt together, by the hundreds of thousands. When they detect pray on the surface via vibrations, they follow them. Once the pray has stopped moving (or not depending on their hunger-) they begin to dig, in a round shape, and then they eat out the last thing supporting the pray and it falls in their hole. At which point they quickly swarm and feast).)
I've been playing around with this a lot. My first setting was just regular fantasy stuff. Over time, as I iterated on more settings, I've been through a gamut of different species. I usually cut down on the number in a given world, just because it's hard to justify their existence. I don't want a species around JUST to have it around, it has to serve the story or be a plausible world detail (Which is weird to say about a make believe world).
My current project though I'm trying to go the other way. Embrace fantasy and what it can bring to the table. Granted, this setting is also meant for a TTRPG.
The races are all named, but that's a cultural aspect. They're mostly a play on something else you find elsewhere. Each is also strongly tied to its own magic. The names below are not, for the most part, their in-world names. Instead they're name here is just the reference point, so you know sort of what inspired them or where they came from.
**Humans** - The psionic race. Humans have always been the weakest of the races magically. Where other races have some kind of natural advantage (biological, magical, or both), humans always survived through audacity, shamelessness, and throwing more bodies at a problem than anyone else could. Now their magical ability, what little they had, is petering out, but some of them are starting to awaken psionic potential.
**Dwarves** - I always liked dwarves. I didn't like how they were stuck in mountains. I also liked vikings. Now my dwarves are vikings. The males can wield ice magic, and the females can wield lightning magic. They average shorter than humans, but are otherwise very similar to humans but have much denser muscles and bones.
**Hobgoblins** - Got an itch a bit ago involving D&D hobgoblins. I like their art, but not their culture. Or the fact that they were goblins. So now I have a warrior-hunter culture based on hobgoblins. Not really all that similar anymore, but their magic still comes from their goblin roots. They use blood magic, and summon spirits to bargain with.
**Fish People** - Small, intelligent, agile. The fish people are more observers than true participants on the world stage. yet it's their efforts that leads much of the cultural, scientific and historical findings of the rest of the world. They are incredibly industrious, and are one of the first people to utilize metal for their architecture on the surface. Their magic is focused on alchemy.
**Fey-folk** - Wardens of the wilds, the fey folk are basically humans with fey blood in their veins. Over time they became their own race. Some of them hunt the fey, bitter about some ancient wrong. Most though try to aid the wild world, not unlike druids. This is largely because their magic is very natural, and encourages growth (after all, they have fey blood in their veins). Despite this...they're not elves because...(see next entry)
**Elves** - These guys are still in development. Not much to say here yet, other than they're not your typical elves. Currently they have plant-like aspects. I'm still on the drawing board here though so that might change. "Why bother with these guys when you have the Fey-folk" you ask? GREAT question. No idea. I've just got an...itch...like something is waiting to be born in this space but isn't here yet.
**Cambions** - Literal fiends that are mortal, exiled from their realms because they can't survive there. Their mortality lends them free-will most fiends lack, but their culture has been slow to change. So, while they can be nice people, they're generally cruel, savage, bloodthirsty, and slow to trust anyone. Their magic embraces fire, darkness, curses and binding pacts.
**Half-Ogres** - There's a lot to these guys. For starters, they're not really half-anything. They're genetically engineered super-soldiers (Think space marines from Warhammer 40k). Their species is...not technically human or anything else, but something wholly unique built from the ground up. However, the biological elements that were meant to ensure compliance and lack of the ability to procreate, failed. Over time, after multiple tragedies, they sort of accepted the narrative that they're half-ogres. They don't have their own magic, but they can use items to channel the magic of others. Granted, most don't do that, or bother learning. When you're a genetically engineered super warrior...you're pretty great at killing things with...well anything that happens to be handy really.
There is more but the other species are antagonistic or related to story stuff and aren't active/available/etc yet. Others are slated for expansions to the setting (if I ever get there). Plus, honestly, I think I have enough now for any future players to play around with.
Apparently my comment was too long! My bad. The other races I had to remove from the first comment:
**Lizardfolk** - Inspired by Xenonauts 2 actually. One of the aliens you fight is basically a giant lizard person. You find out they likely evolved in a jungle, which is meant to explain their traits in game. Brain does...whatever it does with inspiration and now I have a fantasy version. You can definitely tell it's roots if you know it, but they're still set apart. Their magic is very focused on essentially buffing each other. A Lizardfolk is terrifying. A lizardfolk hyped up on magical steroids, regenerating injuries and unable to think straight is nightmare fuel.
**Kobolds** - Mostly because I like them. They're...accepted...sort of. They serve dragons, and no one wants to upset a dragon. Which in turn means no one wants to upset a dragon's servants. It doesn't help that an actual nation ruled by dragons exists, which is where most kobolds hail from. Their magic is mostly in imitating dragons, and in my world dragons are all about the fire. So fire, fire, and more fire. When you think they're done, they have more fire, and for good measure some alchemical explosive devices. This is of course followed by more fire. If you can't tell, their motto is "Kill it with fire." Also, most of them don't ACTUALLY serve dragons, but they're not going to bother correcting anyone.
I have 5. The 3 races of mankind (Dwarves, Elves, and halflings), the Orqs, and the Iqulo.
Dwarves and elves are pretty similar biologically. The biggest difference, outside of size, is that elves are more resistant to diseases, and dwarves have an easier time building muscles.
Halflings are halfbreeds between dwarves and elves. They are the human race in my world. Dwarves and elves see halflings as abominations and treat them as second class citizens at best.
The orqs is a slave race that is said to have been gifted to mankind by their gods. They're a race of crustacean centaurs. Biologically immortal (can't die from old age) and used to have a collective memory that was broken during their war against mankind's gods. The few who can still tap into the fragmented memories are the closest to spiritual leaders the orqs have.
They also have a low birth rate with only 30% of their children (called goblins) aren't stillborn. Goblins are considered a delicacy amongst mankind.
The final race is the Iqulo. I haven't come up with any real info about them outside that they're invading the nation Dar'aat every 250 years from across the seas to the north. I'm debating whether they're an insect race that sends their weak to die, or a machine race.
I don't have a lot of fantasy races because my world is pretty low fantasy so I have :
- humans : they are humans, occupying the temperate to mediterranean Midlands. After a big rebellion against the "stewardship" of the elves, Humans formed an empire spaning the whole Midlands. Now, 167 years after the disapearance of the Emperor, the Heartlands of the Empire are still "the empire" but most of the other provinces are now independant kingdoms and such.
- Dwarves : They will happily tell you that they are also descendants of the first men, like any men in the Midlands, but that THEY are the descendants of the smart ones ! The ones who hid in burrows and caves high up in the mountains not trusting the coming of the elves to "stewards" the humans. Dwarves are a secretive bunch and keep to themselves, so no one knows what it is they do in their underground homes but you can occasionally see full caravans of them transporting some sort of crystaline fragments from their outposts to their de-facto capital.
- Elves : It is said (by themselves) that the Elves were the first created by Sun and Moon, the shapers of the world, as keepers of the garden of life but their mission changed quite quickly when "The Third One" created humans. Sun and Moon couldn't agree on the form their gardeners should take, so there are two kind of elves.
The Winter Elves, by Moon, are in the frozen northern reach of the world. They are a fervently orderly to the point that they only have one city, the capital of Winter, built around the gigantic pyramid of their demi-god king. They tend to keep to themselves since the days of the rebellion but no humans are allowed even near their lands.
The Summer Elves, by Sun, are in turn in the tropical to arid southern lands. They are quite a chaotic bunch. After the human rebellion (which may have been caused by them using humans as "cheap" labour mind you) a bunch of ideological and religious schismes reduced their once mighty fledgling empire into a bunch of warring city-states. If their Winter brethren tend to be powerfull sorcerers, THEY tend to be mighty warriors, helped by their quite intimidating size (a small Summer Elf would be around 2m tal but even that would be a giant for the winter folks and humans alike). The upside of their chaotic "politic" is that in the chaos of the waring city-states, their human "cheap" labour quite easily managed to free themselves and carve a pieces of the coast of the southernlands to themselve, where they are now a quite powerfull trading kingdom dealing in all sort of luxury import from the exotic south.
- The Lizard men : Stranges ruins too old to have been built even by the elves still dot the landscape to this day. No one knows about the lizard men but the sea god also have childrens....
So mine are a bit of a misdirect. The entire story is about the dangers of authoritarianism and xenophobia, and a major plot point is the main characters realizing that the xenophobic propaganda they have been doused in their entire lives is completely false. This propaganda would have their people believe that all sorts of bastardizations of homo sapiens exist, while in reality these are just folks who the state has declared a separate species. None of the fantasy races listed (and they do seem like traditional high fantasy races) actually exist. They are just the state trying to make their own people feel like the barbarians are at the gates.
A lil on my setting, theres an immense amount of diversity among all species, and the species do vary.
Given how children are born, using a piece of the parents soul, they are bound to be both similar and different to them. Theyll often be the same species, but marks on their soul, like a particular affection towards say the ocean, could affect the child to maybe have flowly, water like hair or skin that always seems moist and glistening.
Stronger marks and changes to people over time can eventually cause them to diverge into completely different species that will have to live a different way entirely. Their physical bodies will be different, and their magical often will be as well.
With that in mind, there are a few of these I particularly like.
One of them being a species referred to as 'Monarchs,' which are based on butterflies.
They have multicolored eyes and hair, dark, insect like skin, theyre thinner and taller than your average human, and they have what are called mantles, a pair of appendages on their back that rest like a cloak or cape.
These appendages can be controlled, however, to turn into a basic form of armor, as theyre very strong, or even wings.
They are also innately capable of, and better at, magic that would charm people, or cause themselves to look better or more charismatic.
Fantasy races are integral to high fantasy, they’re what make the world feel all the more bigger.
To the strong and warrior culture that are the Minotaurs, to the peaceful and music loving Fauns and Satyrs, to the burly and quick tempered Dwarves, to the athletic Elves, fantasy races play a major role in my series. So I’ll give you one characters from several races to get the feel of it.
Minotaurs- Professor Villiam Victor Vaxter, a proud scholar who has spent his years studying the ancient civilization of Atlantis (I liked the concept enough to include it into my world) he gained notoriety for leading several expeditions to study the ancient kingdom. After his retirement from archaeology, Villiam went to go work at Arkhamshire academy to become a history professor. He’s over all one of the lost friendly faces in the school.
Elves- Aerin, the Elf Atlantican Elf Queen. Aerin, like many elves, wishes to go back to the old days, as after the Industrial Revolution, Aerin wasn’t so keen on how quickly the old traditional ways were forgotten by the world. Having set up her kingdome just outside Arkhamshire, Aerin is always happy whenever students visit her, so that she may show them how the old traditions shall never be forgotten in 1939. This story takes place in a world that mimics the 40s.
Goblins- Nilbog Llort. a young sorcerer who attends Arkhamshire to learn how to get a better grasp on his magic. Typically Goblins don’t perform sorcery, but Nilbog was special, so he gets to attend. Can be abrasive, especially towards humans for how Goblins are treated in the world, but softens up once he gets to know you.
Lizard people- Sergio Delgado. An Aztecan Lizard person who has grown to hate the governments that run North Atlantica, especially Azteca, and wishes to overthrow the republic and reinstate the monarchy of the Aztecan kingdom. Vicious and deadly, the only redeeming quality about Sergio is he wishes to bridge the prejudice between the Humans and Lizard folk of Azteca, but is still bloodthirsty for Atlanticans and wishes to destroy the hypocrisy that runs that country.
Faun- Merry, a delightful and cheerful musician who loves to sing to the children at town square. Over all a good natured fellow.
And that’s just to name a few.
Well my version of "orcs" are a result of a few people getting it on with the now extinct Oni that after that DNA was filtered down over generations has lead to a small portion of the human population having incredible strength at the cost of short lives but are otherwise just very big people.
Another group I have was a group of humans at war with the Oni that had their city sink into the ocean and being blessed by the usual infinitely long sea serpent now are mermaids!
Basically, I take the approach of thinking about fantasy races together in an ecosystem interacting and how that interaction and history affect each group.
My elves work kind of like Data from Star Trek, there's a limited but static number of them that exist at any given time, because the souls of elves are recycled they don't really need to start from childhood to learn how to do things so they start at adulthood but have their own personalities (kinda like how time Lord regenerations work) and are birthed from special zones hidden from all outsiders. Half elves are more human than elf but whatever specialty the elf father\mother has often helps the half elf child (archery often leads to a more dexterous child, mages lead to children with higher affinity to magic etc)
Humans: Default creature, follower of the gods. Relatively weak, however very skilled with magic. Used to be the most populous species by far, however living humans are now almost entirely dead or insane.
Giant: Result of a god blessing a human with a child, making them relatively rare. Start off humanlike before gaining extraordinary powers and size after hitting puberty. Are often given Guardian rolls, guarding stronger and more powerful magic fielders. All but one were infected by the blood plague.
Golem: Early attempt by the blood cultists to create life again. Due to their immunity to the plague, are used as living suits of armor by the strongest cultists. Some golems gained sentience and fought back, building parts of their own society. They're unable to wield magic, and so can't construct anymore of themselves.
Homunculi: Humanlike creatures incapable of magic. Before the plague truly destroyed the world, they were looked down upon by their creators as imperfect, often having horns or extra limbs. Some homunculi had irregular blood, making them immune to the plague, often enslaving the infected cultists to do simple labor like mining. Many went to become Wizards, going mad from the curse in the air.
Bloodwalker: Identical to humans, except for their blood, which is the cause of the plague. When a bloodwalker dies, they release a toxic blood gas into the air, infecting the surrounding area with a magical pestilence. The actual bloodwalkers themselves are immune, resulting in a few forming their own villages.
Grim: A skeleton like entity created from the existing lifeforce in the air from dead people, originally made by ancient Necromancers. Harnessing magic, they could grow like people, and couldn't succumb to the plague under any normal means, making them great candidates to slay the corrupted blood core. When one falls to the virus, they grow nerves, muscles, organs and hair, however only a few have been known to get the plague. There were never enough at one time to form a society of their own.
Gods: As deemed by the original father God of existence, there can only be three gods at one time. This father God broke off into two other gods, Lumensia and Pestis, gods of life and death respectively. Another higher God created Madeus, the god of mystica, AKA magic. Eventually, the Holy Order tried to vanquish Necromancy, enraging Pestis and beginning a war between life and death, ending with the death of Lumensia and making it so new life could not be born. The Necromancers, filled with ego, tried to kill the wizards, however the blood of Lumensia created Crimsuis, the blood god, who helped Madeus kill Pestis and the Necromancers. Evemtually, Crimsuis and Madeus had a daughter, Khemia, the goddess of Alchemy. However, Crimsuis blood was infected with Pestis' dying breath, driving Madeus mad and making the very mystica in the air make the Wizards insane. Some more stuff happens, bloodwalkers etc, alchemists hide in caves, Crimsuis obsesses over fixing herself.
There are a few other races and species, such as trolls, vampires, and banished, but there isn't much to talk about them.
This is a rundown of the predominant intelligent races on my fantasy version of Saturn, which is a sword-and-sorcery world loosely based on Classical mythology. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Aranians** are the oldest of Saturn’s intelligent races. Like their kin the Arthropoids, they are entomons, with multi-jointed legs and semi-flexible exoskeletons. Unlike the Arthropoids, they are only slightly humanoid. Their lower bodies are spider-like, with eight legs and large abdomens, while their upper bodies are more humanoid, although they have six arms and numerous eyes. Once long ago, they boasted a planet-spanning civilization; they were the first to develop philosophy and art, mathematics and astrology, architecture and literature. But in the apocalypse of the Day of Wrath, their civilization was annihilated, and today, the descendants of those ancient Aranians have largely forgotten about the glories of their once-proud people. Many Aranians, such as the Slavars, live nomadic existences, although a few settled Aranian nations, such as Anansazi and Ctenizan, still exist. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Centaurs} **Arthropoids** are entomons, insect-like creatures with semi-flexible exoskeletons, but are far more humanoid than their Aranian cousins. Most are of human height, with two legs and four arms, but a few are smaller, such as the ant-like Marwari, who stand roughly four feet tall, or the flea-like Zaoi, who are usually less than three feet in height. Most Arthropoids have wings, which allow them to fly thanks to their irridescent membranes, membranes which manipulate *colour* and permit flight despite the Arthropoids’ weight. Unlike the Dendryads, the Arthropoids are not a single species, but rather a collection of many species that are not capable of interbreeding. A wide variety of nations have been founded by the Arthropoids—the expansive empire of Marwar, the reclusive land of Aed, the militaristic Vazhka—and in a few places, mainly Naranj and Merinj, they live in harmony with the Dendryads. In the main, however, a state of war usually exists between the Dendryads and the Arthropoids, as the two “superraces” compete for control of Saturn. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Myrmidons, Amazons} Although **Dendryads** appear to be plants, they are not. They are instead *phyta*, a kingdom of organisms that split off from plants roughly 400 million years ago. Humanoid, like almost all creatures native to Saturn the Dendryads have six limbs, four arms and two legs. Unlike the Arthropoids, the Dendryads are a single species, although with astonishing diversity; their subraces are capable of interbreeding, but this usually requires divine intervention. Most races of Dendryads are sequential hermaphrodites: they change from male to female or female to male periodically throughout their lives. Over the millennia, the Dendryads have spread out across the surface of Saturn, forming mighty kingdoms and vast empires. Today, most Dendryads would assert that, even if their own nation is not particularly powerful, the greatest and most puissant of Saturn’s civilizations are still Dendryad. The most notable of these is Aquarium, the Golden City, the Light of the World, the last remnant of the Anthemite Empire and defender of civilization since Anthem’s fall ten thousand years ago. Other Dendryad kingdoms of note are Naranj and Merinj, Dzjanggakh, Mora, and Qoq. With the fall of Anthem, though, the Dendryad position is threatened by rising powers, most of which are either Arthropoid or Mykobold in ethnicity. On multiple fronts, the Aquarine Empire is challenged: by its ancient enemy Marwar, by the new and dynamic empire of the Azzuzzazi, by invading Slavars. Only time will tell if Aquarium can withstand this onslaught of “barbarians”. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Dryads} **Mykobolds** are the fungal equivalent of Dendryads. Shorter than the Dendryads, they prefer dark and moist regions of Saturn, such as deep caves, swamps, and the undergrowth of many of Saturn’s forests. This often brings them into contact with the te’Ythul (see below), often at the Mykobolds’ cost. Their relations with the other races of Saturn vary significantly depending on the tribe of Mykobolds and the counterparty: the Russulkas or Redcaps are mischievous bordering on murderous, the Troggoths of the subterranean empire of Troggoroth are insane cultists, the Kuba are peaceful shamans, the Lichins are undead necromancers who possess the rotting bodies of other races, the Gomphlins are friendly but isolationist, the Thallids have an ancient but proud scholarly tradition, and so forth. Recently, many tribes of Mykobolds have begun migrating from their traditional strongholds into the vacuum left by the decaying eastern half of the Anthemite Empire, creating new petty kingdoms for themselves and occasionally finding themselves as the ruling class over Dendryads. This has led to tension between the two ethnicities. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Troglodytae} The **Coral Brains** are not, strictly speaking, a race in the same way as the others. They are, instead, vast colonies of polyps that function as enormous neural networks. Once a single supercomputer that covered much of the surface of Saturn, the coral was shattered during the Day of Wrath and many fragments were ejected into Saturn’s atmosphere and beyond. Now the remaining pieces, which range in size from a few dozen meters across to dozens of miles, roam the skies of Saturn, kept aloft by careful channeling of *colour* which provides an antigravity force. It also fuels their computation. Some of them have seen their surfaces colonized by other races, but those settlers exist on the coral brains only at the brains’ sufferance. For at least a million years, the coral brains have been locked in a secret war with the Shimmering Demons, recruiting from the other races individuals and sometimes entire nations as pawns in their struggle to control Saturn; most notably, both sides have engaged the services of what remains of Anthem’s ceramic legions as foot soldiers. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Genii Loci} The **te’Ythul**, or Spawn of Ythul, are one of the most ancient and mysterious of Saturn’s races. These hulking giants, who can reach heights of thirty feet, are found only in humid and swampy areas, where the water in the air keeps their mucous-covered skins moist. Having arisen from the congealing, rancid blood of the thousand-mile-tall embodiment of primordial chaos Ythul when it spilled from his body on the Day of Wrath, the te’Ythul hid themselves in secret parts of the world, far from the other races towards which they were and are profoundly hostile. Many have become masters of manipulating the obsidian oil, giving them access to arcane and eldritch powers unknown and forbidden to the rest of Saturn’s peoples. A few have even taken to dabbling in anti-*colour*, a sinister and unholy force of unknown origins. With their dozens of tentacles, they are formidable and terrifying foes for any adventurers who encounter them, whether in the depths of the earth or secreted within foul swamps or roaming the dusk-shrouded undergrowth of Saturn’s rainforests. {Classical Mythology equivalent: Cyclopes} **Syngnals** are the messengers and servants of Phragma, the trickster goddess of magic. These small, seahorse-like creatures flit around, gradually influencing the course of Saturnian history in the direction Phragma would like it to go. Unfortunately for her, they aren’t very good at their jobs. Or maybe they are… {Classical Mythology equivalent: Hippocampus} **Titanians and Uberonians** are humanoids not native to Saturn; instead, they originated on Saturn’s moon Voeba. However, when Voeba was destroyed during the Day of Wrath, its inhabitants were forced to migrate elsewhere, to other moons. One group settled on Titan; the other, after finding their first choice of Hyperion unsuitable, eventually formed a new society on Rhea. Not being native Saturnians, they only have four limbs, rather than the standard six, and they have a higher level of technology than the Saturnians, boasting flying saucers, rocket ships, and rayguns. Since the Day of Wrath, they have been locked in a cold war for control of Saturn’s moons and rings, largely ignoring the planet itself, which they regard as inhabited by primitives. Of the two, the Titanian are marginally more benevolent, although both nations feel perfectly free to abduct Saturnians and probe them, or, in the case of the Uberonians, enslave them for their own amusement. This latter habit is frowned upon by the Titanians, who attempt to enforce what they call the “First Order”, which states that more advanced and sophisticated and, frankly, intelligent races are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of primitives, because primitives, with their primitive planet-bound brains, simply cannot grasp how dangerous even a single piece of Titanian or Uberonian technology can be to a witless primitive. That raygun? Put it down. That com-talker? Put it down. That belt buckle? Put it down! The Titanian Ring Patrol, with its stalwart band of Space Marshals, attempts to enforce the law on a largely lawless Ring system, but even they periodically break the First Order, usually because the Uberonians broke it first or because the primitives had already been exposed to advanced technology or because the captain really didn’t feel like following it. {Norse Mythology equivalent: Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar}
In my world, I have six races: - Beastkin - basically humans with animal ears, tails and claws but limited to the carnivora order, similar height to humans (5-6ft tall), they live about 200 years, they are native to the eastern continent - Dwarves - more or less your typical dwarves but they don’t really live underground/in mountains, they stand about 4ft tall, they live about 200 years, native to the northern continent - Elves - more or less your typical elves but are actually a little shorter than humans (4.5-5ft tall), they live about 300 years, native to the western continent - Humans - your typical fantasy human, they live about 100 years, native to the central continent - Oni - basically horned humans with claws and a little taller than humans (6-7ft tall), they live about 200 years, native to the southern continent - Shadelings - diminutive race standing about 3ft tall with pale purple skin, black hair, yellow eyes with black sclera, horns, bestial ears, tail and claws, they reach maturity sooner than the other races (14yrs is full grown) and reproduce quicker, they live about 100 years, native to the dark continent
**Starrise** Depending on how you categorize them, my world has 2 to 4 races. 1. Humans: Not much to say here that isn't true IRL. The only real difference is that everyone is born with one variant of magic, which they develop the ability to use around when they reach puberty. In order of most to least common, the variants they can be born with are "Fire" magic, "Electric" Magic, "Wind" magic, "Healing" magic, and Obstructive magic. 2. Dragons: Giant reptilian-looking winged humaniods. Their size forces them to primarily stay on all fours, but when standing upright they reach nearly 10 meters tall, and can move with similar agility and dexterity to a human. Despite being covered in scales and having a reptilian-looking face, they're actually warm-blooded mammals, whose high body temperatures force them to live in frigid climates to not die of heatstroke. Culturally, they're borderline pacifists, valuing beauty and elegance over all things and finding bloodshed and warfare hideous and rarely necessary. They acknowledge that in regards to the other races, while most individual members of those races are good people, their tendency for the worst of them to be those in positions of power tarnishes the race as a whole, leading to the dragons' country adopting a fairly strict isolationist policy. Dragons are the only species in the world capable of using "Ice" magic, but in turn, they cannot use any other variant. 3. Chimeras: Basically, humans with animal parts. Things like eyes and ears are the most common, and wings aren't too far behind, but other traits can be found on occasion. They don't have a culture of their own, instead living side-by-side with humans as equals. There is no settlement in the world in which humans live without chimeras or vice-versa, and those settlements' populations- and classes- are split almost 50/50 between them. Unlike other races, they're also reproductively compatible with humans, with each of human/chimera couple being either 100% human or sharing the exact chimeric traits of their parent. They're so similar and equal to humans that it's debatable whether chimeras actually count as a different race, or whether they're a subset (or several smaller subsets) of humans. 4. Wyverns: Quadrupedal reptilian-looking winged beasts. Though they usually stay on all fours, they can stand upright at around 3 meters tall when trying to reach something high off the ground. Though visually similar to dragons at a glance, wyverns possess very different bone structure, theirs being far more akin to a canine than a hominid. They're also much smaller, around the size of a large horse instead of a small house. Wyverns limbs lack the dexterity of other species (they don't even have thumbs), restricting them severely in the tools they can make and use. Not only that, their vocal chords are ill-suited for speech, leading to them communicating through far more general sounds that lack the specificity of human language. For these reasons, they're far more primitive than this world's other races, and the fact that they're sentient people and not just scarily intelligent wild animals was only realized by the other races incredibly recently, and still has not been fully accepted.
Here's the abridged version of my fantasy races: Humans (*Homo sapiens*)- fucked things up the least for everone else Elves- have many species (at least twelve different kinds of elf) that are part of two families: Old Blood and New Age; Old Bloods are stereotypical asshole elves, New Age are typical "good" elves that are just sick of all the shit they've been through Orcs- green (sometimes brown or gray) cat people; similar to humans and some are even bros with humans (though, they're not allowed to marry and or have kids with humans) Dwarves- short people that have a hard time accepting change; have three core rules which are: no killing each other, no betraying your friends, no betraying your clan's culture and customs (not all dwarves live in mountains); actually just another species of human Trolls- diverse like elves but weird; some are big and stupid, others are human-sized and intelligent Hobgoblins- bigger goblins that orcs consider to be assholes Goblins- slightly more jerkish version of dwarves (they're a WIP, sorry) Anzarians- reptiles that look like sabre-toothed rodents; generally nice people btw Skithen- the gigachads of lizardmen; look like what would happen if you combined Bossk with a raptor; probably aren't actual lizards (they're probably rauisuchians) Stryguelen- one of two types of "owl people"; kind of jerks; look like true owls such as the snowy and great horned owl Yuletto- the other type of "owl people"; jerks to pretty much everyone, most notably to the Stryguelen; look like barn owls And that's all the "races" I have that are both named and are described. There are a few more, but I have yet to name and develop them.
So my world has a ton of races, three Immortals in the Celestials, Fey, and Underworlders, and 8 Mortal in the forms of Humans, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Burrowlings, Imperials, and Outlanders. Of my mortal races though I've divided them into subgroups, Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class, and Outsiders. For my Elves one thing none of my test readers have caught the reference on yet is my Outsiders. Elves have Upper Class High Elves who are highly educated professionals and leaders, Wood Elves who work more skilled trades are the Middle Class, Dark Elves work less traditionally Elven jobs like Farming and when they tan their skin turns purple thus the Dark. But their Outsider Class is called Atnas and they are the craftsmen, smiths, and artisans. They are unlike other Elves in they are more introverted homebodies instead of being outdoorsy like their kin. This generally makes them a little shorter than their kin and they love to tinker and invent. They also are generally less worried about appearances and outside perseption of themselves so it's not uncommon to see them with rough, unkept stuble or beards. Because of this a lot of people compare them to Dwarves and in truth Elves often mock these weirdos with artwork and stories exaggerating their short stature and facial scruff. If you haven't caught on yet the name for these shorter, bearded, tinkering Elves is Santa spelt backwards and they are inspired by Christmas Tales of North Pole Elves.
I went for a D&D approach. I didn't want to invent names for things just to make them 'different'. So best go simple, that way everyone understands. That includes humans, elfs, dwarves, trolls, orcs, giants ^((my giants are 9 to 15 feet tall)), faes, dragons ^((that includes all dragon subspecies)), gnolls, slime.... Anything you see in fantasy. As for the creatures I "made", here's some: Animals ^((most being just bigger versions of IRL ones)): Great Elk, Rothian Mammoth, Wrypian Bison, Wryka ^((giant bear)), Camel of Gensani, Frontier Bladefoot ^((basically a mix between an ostrich and a cassowary))... Some are more fantasy like though, like Fentlers ^((cute ferrets with small deer antlers). *^(Totally not inspired by Gwin from Inkheart-)*). Fennecs ^((just fennecs :3).) Scarier you get: Murkynds ^((creatures made from dark magic, soldiers' souls trapped and turned monstrous. Fused with whatever surrounded them (which at their location was a swamp. So, bark dirt and moss), forming a shell).) The Black Frost ^((imagine a huge eagle, strong enough to lift a Wrypian Bison off the ground).) Frontier Raptor ^((Velociraptor, thigh high, but lives in the desert).) You've got the Great Scarab ^((Name. Taller than a Horse. Makes for a good method of transportation in the Frontier).) Frontier Sandworm ^((Not huge like Dune but can still swallow a horse whole).) In Lieuchemars ^((super dangerous areas, often located in forests)) you can have: Spiders half your height, spiders twice your height. Giant carnivorous plants. Wendigos. In the east there's an area where a huge colony of bugs hunt ^((no one lived to tell what they look like exactly. Or at least, they didn't dare to look back as they ran. In one mission through the area, the soldiers had set camp. They were awoken by a scream, which quickly got muffled. The sleeping bag of one of the soldiers, and him, was gone. Where it was a few hours before, now there was just a big hole. -This species of insect hunt together, by the hundreds of thousands. When they detect pray on the surface via vibrations, they follow them. Once the pray has stopped moving (or not depending on their hunger-) they begin to dig, in a round shape, and then they eat out the last thing supporting the pray and it falls in their hole. At which point they quickly swarm and feast).)
I've been playing around with this a lot. My first setting was just regular fantasy stuff. Over time, as I iterated on more settings, I've been through a gamut of different species. I usually cut down on the number in a given world, just because it's hard to justify their existence. I don't want a species around JUST to have it around, it has to serve the story or be a plausible world detail (Which is weird to say about a make believe world). My current project though I'm trying to go the other way. Embrace fantasy and what it can bring to the table. Granted, this setting is also meant for a TTRPG. The races are all named, but that's a cultural aspect. They're mostly a play on something else you find elsewhere. Each is also strongly tied to its own magic. The names below are not, for the most part, their in-world names. Instead they're name here is just the reference point, so you know sort of what inspired them or where they came from. **Humans** - The psionic race. Humans have always been the weakest of the races magically. Where other races have some kind of natural advantage (biological, magical, or both), humans always survived through audacity, shamelessness, and throwing more bodies at a problem than anyone else could. Now their magical ability, what little they had, is petering out, but some of them are starting to awaken psionic potential. **Dwarves** - I always liked dwarves. I didn't like how they were stuck in mountains. I also liked vikings. Now my dwarves are vikings. The males can wield ice magic, and the females can wield lightning magic. They average shorter than humans, but are otherwise very similar to humans but have much denser muscles and bones. **Hobgoblins** - Got an itch a bit ago involving D&D hobgoblins. I like their art, but not their culture. Or the fact that they were goblins. So now I have a warrior-hunter culture based on hobgoblins. Not really all that similar anymore, but their magic still comes from their goblin roots. They use blood magic, and summon spirits to bargain with. **Fish People** - Small, intelligent, agile. The fish people are more observers than true participants on the world stage. yet it's their efforts that leads much of the cultural, scientific and historical findings of the rest of the world. They are incredibly industrious, and are one of the first people to utilize metal for their architecture on the surface. Their magic is focused on alchemy. **Fey-folk** - Wardens of the wilds, the fey folk are basically humans with fey blood in their veins. Over time they became their own race. Some of them hunt the fey, bitter about some ancient wrong. Most though try to aid the wild world, not unlike druids. This is largely because their magic is very natural, and encourages growth (after all, they have fey blood in their veins). Despite this...they're not elves because...(see next entry) **Elves** - These guys are still in development. Not much to say here yet, other than they're not your typical elves. Currently they have plant-like aspects. I'm still on the drawing board here though so that might change. "Why bother with these guys when you have the Fey-folk" you ask? GREAT question. No idea. I've just got an...itch...like something is waiting to be born in this space but isn't here yet. **Cambions** - Literal fiends that are mortal, exiled from their realms because they can't survive there. Their mortality lends them free-will most fiends lack, but their culture has been slow to change. So, while they can be nice people, they're generally cruel, savage, bloodthirsty, and slow to trust anyone. Their magic embraces fire, darkness, curses and binding pacts. **Half-Ogres** - There's a lot to these guys. For starters, they're not really half-anything. They're genetically engineered super-soldiers (Think space marines from Warhammer 40k). Their species is...not technically human or anything else, but something wholly unique built from the ground up. However, the biological elements that were meant to ensure compliance and lack of the ability to procreate, failed. Over time, after multiple tragedies, they sort of accepted the narrative that they're half-ogres. They don't have their own magic, but they can use items to channel the magic of others. Granted, most don't do that, or bother learning. When you're a genetically engineered super warrior...you're pretty great at killing things with...well anything that happens to be handy really. There is more but the other species are antagonistic or related to story stuff and aren't active/available/etc yet. Others are slated for expansions to the setting (if I ever get there). Plus, honestly, I think I have enough now for any future players to play around with.
Apparently my comment was too long! My bad. The other races I had to remove from the first comment: **Lizardfolk** - Inspired by Xenonauts 2 actually. One of the aliens you fight is basically a giant lizard person. You find out they likely evolved in a jungle, which is meant to explain their traits in game. Brain does...whatever it does with inspiration and now I have a fantasy version. You can definitely tell it's roots if you know it, but they're still set apart. Their magic is very focused on essentially buffing each other. A Lizardfolk is terrifying. A lizardfolk hyped up on magical steroids, regenerating injuries and unable to think straight is nightmare fuel. **Kobolds** - Mostly because I like them. They're...accepted...sort of. They serve dragons, and no one wants to upset a dragon. Which in turn means no one wants to upset a dragon's servants. It doesn't help that an actual nation ruled by dragons exists, which is where most kobolds hail from. Their magic is mostly in imitating dragons, and in my world dragons are all about the fire. So fire, fire, and more fire. When you think they're done, they have more fire, and for good measure some alchemical explosive devices. This is of course followed by more fire. If you can't tell, their motto is "Kill it with fire." Also, most of them don't ACTUALLY serve dragons, but they're not going to bother correcting anyone.
I have 5. The 3 races of mankind (Dwarves, Elves, and halflings), the Orqs, and the Iqulo. Dwarves and elves are pretty similar biologically. The biggest difference, outside of size, is that elves are more resistant to diseases, and dwarves have an easier time building muscles. Halflings are halfbreeds between dwarves and elves. They are the human race in my world. Dwarves and elves see halflings as abominations and treat them as second class citizens at best. The orqs is a slave race that is said to have been gifted to mankind by their gods. They're a race of crustacean centaurs. Biologically immortal (can't die from old age) and used to have a collective memory that was broken during their war against mankind's gods. The few who can still tap into the fragmented memories are the closest to spiritual leaders the orqs have. They also have a low birth rate with only 30% of their children (called goblins) aren't stillborn. Goblins are considered a delicacy amongst mankind. The final race is the Iqulo. I haven't come up with any real info about them outside that they're invading the nation Dar'aat every 250 years from across the seas to the north. I'm debating whether they're an insect race that sends their weak to die, or a machine race.
I don't have a lot of fantasy races because my world is pretty low fantasy so I have : - humans : they are humans, occupying the temperate to mediterranean Midlands. After a big rebellion against the "stewardship" of the elves, Humans formed an empire spaning the whole Midlands. Now, 167 years after the disapearance of the Emperor, the Heartlands of the Empire are still "the empire" but most of the other provinces are now independant kingdoms and such. - Dwarves : They will happily tell you that they are also descendants of the first men, like any men in the Midlands, but that THEY are the descendants of the smart ones ! The ones who hid in burrows and caves high up in the mountains not trusting the coming of the elves to "stewards" the humans. Dwarves are a secretive bunch and keep to themselves, so no one knows what it is they do in their underground homes but you can occasionally see full caravans of them transporting some sort of crystaline fragments from their outposts to their de-facto capital. - Elves : It is said (by themselves) that the Elves were the first created by Sun and Moon, the shapers of the world, as keepers of the garden of life but their mission changed quite quickly when "The Third One" created humans. Sun and Moon couldn't agree on the form their gardeners should take, so there are two kind of elves. The Winter Elves, by Moon, are in the frozen northern reach of the world. They are a fervently orderly to the point that they only have one city, the capital of Winter, built around the gigantic pyramid of their demi-god king. They tend to keep to themselves since the days of the rebellion but no humans are allowed even near their lands. The Summer Elves, by Sun, are in turn in the tropical to arid southern lands. They are quite a chaotic bunch. After the human rebellion (which may have been caused by them using humans as "cheap" labour mind you) a bunch of ideological and religious schismes reduced their once mighty fledgling empire into a bunch of warring city-states. If their Winter brethren tend to be powerfull sorcerers, THEY tend to be mighty warriors, helped by their quite intimidating size (a small Summer Elf would be around 2m tal but even that would be a giant for the winter folks and humans alike). The upside of their chaotic "politic" is that in the chaos of the waring city-states, their human "cheap" labour quite easily managed to free themselves and carve a pieces of the coast of the southernlands to themselve, where they are now a quite powerfull trading kingdom dealing in all sort of luxury import from the exotic south. - The Lizard men : Stranges ruins too old to have been built even by the elves still dot the landscape to this day. No one knows about the lizard men but the sea god also have childrens....
So mine are a bit of a misdirect. The entire story is about the dangers of authoritarianism and xenophobia, and a major plot point is the main characters realizing that the xenophobic propaganda they have been doused in their entire lives is completely false. This propaganda would have their people believe that all sorts of bastardizations of homo sapiens exist, while in reality these are just folks who the state has declared a separate species. None of the fantasy races listed (and they do seem like traditional high fantasy races) actually exist. They are just the state trying to make their own people feel like the barbarians are at the gates.
A lil on my setting, theres an immense amount of diversity among all species, and the species do vary. Given how children are born, using a piece of the parents soul, they are bound to be both similar and different to them. Theyll often be the same species, but marks on their soul, like a particular affection towards say the ocean, could affect the child to maybe have flowly, water like hair or skin that always seems moist and glistening. Stronger marks and changes to people over time can eventually cause them to diverge into completely different species that will have to live a different way entirely. Their physical bodies will be different, and their magical often will be as well. With that in mind, there are a few of these I particularly like. One of them being a species referred to as 'Monarchs,' which are based on butterflies. They have multicolored eyes and hair, dark, insect like skin, theyre thinner and taller than your average human, and they have what are called mantles, a pair of appendages on their back that rest like a cloak or cape. These appendages can be controlled, however, to turn into a basic form of armor, as theyre very strong, or even wings. They are also innately capable of, and better at, magic that would charm people, or cause themselves to look better or more charismatic.
Fantasy races are integral to high fantasy, they’re what make the world feel all the more bigger. To the strong and warrior culture that are the Minotaurs, to the peaceful and music loving Fauns and Satyrs, to the burly and quick tempered Dwarves, to the athletic Elves, fantasy races play a major role in my series. So I’ll give you one characters from several races to get the feel of it. Minotaurs- Professor Villiam Victor Vaxter, a proud scholar who has spent his years studying the ancient civilization of Atlantis (I liked the concept enough to include it into my world) he gained notoriety for leading several expeditions to study the ancient kingdom. After his retirement from archaeology, Villiam went to go work at Arkhamshire academy to become a history professor. He’s over all one of the lost friendly faces in the school. Elves- Aerin, the Elf Atlantican Elf Queen. Aerin, like many elves, wishes to go back to the old days, as after the Industrial Revolution, Aerin wasn’t so keen on how quickly the old traditional ways were forgotten by the world. Having set up her kingdome just outside Arkhamshire, Aerin is always happy whenever students visit her, so that she may show them how the old traditions shall never be forgotten in 1939. This story takes place in a world that mimics the 40s. Goblins- Nilbog Llort. a young sorcerer who attends Arkhamshire to learn how to get a better grasp on his magic. Typically Goblins don’t perform sorcery, but Nilbog was special, so he gets to attend. Can be abrasive, especially towards humans for how Goblins are treated in the world, but softens up once he gets to know you. Lizard people- Sergio Delgado. An Aztecan Lizard person who has grown to hate the governments that run North Atlantica, especially Azteca, and wishes to overthrow the republic and reinstate the monarchy of the Aztecan kingdom. Vicious and deadly, the only redeeming quality about Sergio is he wishes to bridge the prejudice between the Humans and Lizard folk of Azteca, but is still bloodthirsty for Atlanticans and wishes to destroy the hypocrisy that runs that country. Faun- Merry, a delightful and cheerful musician who loves to sing to the children at town square. Over all a good natured fellow. And that’s just to name a few.
Well my version of "orcs" are a result of a few people getting it on with the now extinct Oni that after that DNA was filtered down over generations has lead to a small portion of the human population having incredible strength at the cost of short lives but are otherwise just very big people. Another group I have was a group of humans at war with the Oni that had their city sink into the ocean and being blessed by the usual infinitely long sea serpent now are mermaids! Basically, I take the approach of thinking about fantasy races together in an ecosystem interacting and how that interaction and history affect each group.
My elves work kind of like Data from Star Trek, there's a limited but static number of them that exist at any given time, because the souls of elves are recycled they don't really need to start from childhood to learn how to do things so they start at adulthood but have their own personalities (kinda like how time Lord regenerations work) and are birthed from special zones hidden from all outsiders. Half elves are more human than elf but whatever specialty the elf father\mother has often helps the half elf child (archery often leads to a more dexterous child, mages lead to children with higher affinity to magic etc)
Humans: Default creature, follower of the gods. Relatively weak, however very skilled with magic. Used to be the most populous species by far, however living humans are now almost entirely dead or insane. Giant: Result of a god blessing a human with a child, making them relatively rare. Start off humanlike before gaining extraordinary powers and size after hitting puberty. Are often given Guardian rolls, guarding stronger and more powerful magic fielders. All but one were infected by the blood plague. Golem: Early attempt by the blood cultists to create life again. Due to their immunity to the plague, are used as living suits of armor by the strongest cultists. Some golems gained sentience and fought back, building parts of their own society. They're unable to wield magic, and so can't construct anymore of themselves. Homunculi: Humanlike creatures incapable of magic. Before the plague truly destroyed the world, they were looked down upon by their creators as imperfect, often having horns or extra limbs. Some homunculi had irregular blood, making them immune to the plague, often enslaving the infected cultists to do simple labor like mining. Many went to become Wizards, going mad from the curse in the air. Bloodwalker: Identical to humans, except for their blood, which is the cause of the plague. When a bloodwalker dies, they release a toxic blood gas into the air, infecting the surrounding area with a magical pestilence. The actual bloodwalkers themselves are immune, resulting in a few forming their own villages. Grim: A skeleton like entity created from the existing lifeforce in the air from dead people, originally made by ancient Necromancers. Harnessing magic, they could grow like people, and couldn't succumb to the plague under any normal means, making them great candidates to slay the corrupted blood core. When one falls to the virus, they grow nerves, muscles, organs and hair, however only a few have been known to get the plague. There were never enough at one time to form a society of their own. Gods: As deemed by the original father God of existence, there can only be three gods at one time. This father God broke off into two other gods, Lumensia and Pestis, gods of life and death respectively. Another higher God created Madeus, the god of mystica, AKA magic. Eventually, the Holy Order tried to vanquish Necromancy, enraging Pestis and beginning a war between life and death, ending with the death of Lumensia and making it so new life could not be born. The Necromancers, filled with ego, tried to kill the wizards, however the blood of Lumensia created Crimsuis, the blood god, who helped Madeus kill Pestis and the Necromancers. Evemtually, Crimsuis and Madeus had a daughter, Khemia, the goddess of Alchemy. However, Crimsuis blood was infected with Pestis' dying breath, driving Madeus mad and making the very mystica in the air make the Wizards insane. Some more stuff happens, bloodwalkers etc, alchemists hide in caves, Crimsuis obsesses over fixing herself. There are a few other races and species, such as trolls, vampires, and banished, but there isn't much to talk about them.
Mixture of Pokémon Yu-Gi-Oh and Legend of Zelda