#Species Classification | writersblockcansuckmyballs (2024)

Species Alphabetical

Key - Species [Greater Family]

Abyssfolk [Aquafolk], Anchored Phantom [Phantom], Autumn Sprite [Sprite], Barbari, Cave Dragon [Dragon], Demon, Deepfolk [Aquafolk], Dreamer [Seer], Faerie, Ferin, Flicker [Phantom], Griffin, Intuitist [Telepath] Leviathan [Dragon], Lycan, Mimic, Mindreader [Telepath], Molten Wyrm [Dragon], Natural Sorcerer [Sorcerer], Nebula, Nightbound Vampire [Vampire], Phoenix, Pureblood Vampire [Vampire], Reader [Seer], Reaper, Remnant, Riverfolk [Aquafolk], Scryer [Seer], Sea Serpent [Dragon], Shadecrawler, Shifter, Shiver, Siren, Spiritual Sorcerer [Sorcerer], Spring Sprite [Sprite], Stargazer [Seer], Storm Dragon [Dragon], Summer Sprite [Sprite], Swampfolk [Aquafolk], Talismanic Sorcerer [Sorcerer], Tidefolk [Aquafolk], Trenchfolk [Aquafolk], Twilightfolk [Aquafolk], Wandering Phantom [Phantom], Winter Sprite [Sprite], Wraith

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Species Name: Abyssfolk, pluralisation- Abyssfolk

Greater Family: Aquafolk

Deities and Major Religions: The Abyssfolk pay their respects to the goddess of the Sea, Irrenna and the deity of Death, Styxx. They hold no regular religious gatherings or holidays, however whale-falls are considered a highly sacred event. The death of a podmate is also treated with great reverence, and thanks are given to Styxx before the deceased is consumed as their final service to the pod.

Lifespan: The Abyssfolk typically live for around thirty years without interference but can succumb to hunger, extreme atmospheric changes and a variety of natural predators.

Homeland: They can be found anywhere from around three thousand to six thousand kilometres below sea level in the oceans of Ri’ath and Earth, though Earthly pods are few and far between.

Key Cultural Aspects: As their habitat is highly inhospitable and chances of longevity are slim, the Abyssfolk are a very social species, living in pods of around ten to twenty podmates. Within the pod, all food is shared based on need; first to the young, then the child-bearing, then the food-finders, then the remainder is shared equally. A pod will typically not remain in one area for more than a few months, so as to not deplete food sources. They may briefly cohabitate with another pod if they cross paths but concerns of food mean this is an uncommon and short-term occurrence. Abyssfolk reproduce asexually when in an ideal environment.

Relations with Other Species: It is incredibly rare that an Abyssfolk would make contact with a land-dweller, but the Sirens are close friends. Larger Sea Serpents have been known to predate the Abyssfolk if they deign to venture so deep, though it is uncommon as the Serpents prefer warmer waters. The Deepfolk will attack any lone abyssfolk that cross their paths, especially the young or weak.

Origin: Aquafolk that adapted to the deeper waters, likely outcasted from the Deepfolk when their population grew too large and forced to retreat gradually deeper.

Physical Description: The Abyssfolk’s slender, Scaled bodies with webbed appendages are optimised for moving quickly and evading predators, their bodies are covered in bioluminescent stripes in patterns not unlike those of a tiger. Large, bulbous eyes, fully black, allow them to detect even the most miniscule traces of light.

Magickal Affinities: Like all Aquafolk, they can communicate with aquatic animals and they use this skill most often to find food.

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Species Name: Anchored Phantom, pluralisation- Anchoreds, Anchored Phantoms

Greater Family: Phantom

Deities and Major Religions: As Phantoms can be made of any species, and Anchoreds cannot leave their anchor point, they have no widespread religion of their own though it is common for them to keep to religions held in life. Styxx and their reapers act as caretakers for the Phantoms.

Lifespan: Anchored Phantoms are completely incorporeal and thus are physically invulnerable. They can be made to pass on if their anchor point is destroyed or through the work of a summoner.

Homeland: Anchored Phantoms are spirits bound upon death to a person, place or object of personal significance by a reaper. They are unable to leave this anchor point until they pass on.

Key Cultural Aspects: As they are tied to individual anchors, socialisation among Anchored Phantoms is incredibly unlikely and they mostly keep to themselves, sometimes going about routines they kept in life, watching over families or people they knew, or even guarding property that was theirs before their passing. It is considered a grave insult to interfere with someone’s anchor without permission and due reverence, and such actions are usually met with violence.

Relations with Other Species: The majority of people cannot see Phantoms without assistance from specialised talismans, so to most, they are elusive. Certain Ri’athan peoples have the innate ability to see and/or communicate with Incorporeal beings, and this ability occurs randomly among humans as well.

Origin: Though the memory of precisely how long ago the first Anchored was bound is lost even to Styxx, they believe it to have been accidental, as at the time, the deity was still learning the extent of their power. They recall speaking with a spirit as their life slipped away, listening to their worries about their family and how their children would get on without them, and they offered to take the spirit to check on the children before they passed. As they paused by the sleeping form of the youngest child, Styxx held a translucent hand over the luminous soul of the creature and saw a barely perceptible ribbon of energy flowing between them and the spirit who was now moments away from death, as they focused on it, it grew brighter, stronger and the spirit noticed it too. When asked what was happening, Styxx replied that they weren’t entirely sure but that the spirit’s soul was soon to move on and they should return to their body so they may be freed from it properly. Upon severing the spirit’s connection to their body, they saw that the bond they had forged between the child and the newly deceased grew ever stronger, and the spirit did not fade, thus the spirit remained and watched over their family until the youngest child passed as well.

Physical Description: A Phantom is little more physically than a projection of how they see themselves, typically this means that a Phantom will appear as they did when they died, although the longer they exist post-death, their appearance is likely to change and abstract. To those that can see them, they appear to be translucent, and many can only see them clearly in low light. An Anchored Phantom becomes less tangible the further they move from the core of their anchor and can appear almost solid when nearer to it.

Magickal Affinities: Anchored Phantoms have markedly varied magickal abilities based on the attributes of their personal anchor. If anchored to a person or an animal, they can make themselves visible and sometimes audible to them, in rarer instances, their anchor may even be able to feel a touch or otherwise perceive their presence. If anchored to a residence, vehicle, or place, they can exert some small influence over objects within, and if their anchor is interfered with or they are otherwise suitably incensed, they have been known to manipulate the space itself, and conjure illusions to disturb or repel the interloper. Those anchored to an object can exert physical force upon it, manipulate internal mechanisms if they are present, restore small damages, and move the object instantaneously when they feel threatened.

Species Name: Autumn Sprite, pluralisation- Autumn Sprites

Greater Family: Sprite

Deities and Major Religions: Autumn Sprites pay respect to the God of Nature, Jasper, as well as their monarch, the Keeper of Autumn. Many still offer worship to the late Lady Autumn.

The Autumn equinox is the most sacred celebration to the Autumn Sprites, for four days before, grand feasts and revelry are hosted by the Keepers, first Autumn, then Winter, followed by Spring and then Summer. Those away from the Wood or otherwise unable to attend will often put on their own feasts wherever they may be. On the day of the equinox, offerings, traditionally of fruit, amber jewellery and wooden handicrafts are made to Jasper and on the night, the Autumn Sprites will return to their homes to light bonfires, into which letters to ancestors, wishes, and blessings are cast.

During the first few weeks of Autumn, the Autumn Sprites enter a period of self-reflection. The turning of the season is a time of discarding things that no longer serve you, repairing broken things, and welcoming the renewal that awaits. A child’s first Autumn is filled with gifts and blessings, and it is a common belief among autumn-born children that catching a leaf as it falls is an omen of great luck, so caretakers will often send the children out to catch a leaf while they set to household repairs.

Lifespan: Though they are long-lived and excellent healers, they are not technically immortal by Ri’athan standards. A Sprite can live for up to three thousand years, and their bodies continue to age throughout this time, if very gradually. They can succumb to hunger, thirst, or illness and injury, though their innate skill for healing makes the latter circ*mstance significantly rarer. A Sprite will also Wither if disconnected from nature and/or sunlight for an extended period. This affliction manifests first as a gradual leeching of colour; hair grows dull, skin appears waxen and eyes grow ever so slightly clouded. If these first symptoms go unnoticed or untreated, lethargy takes hold, violent nausea arises and the afflicted will struggle to eat or drink, in the worst cases, muscles begin to atrophy and the mildest exertion can send them into convulsive fits. A Sprite affected by the Withering must be planted - laid in rich soil, best if nearby a token plant of theirs, they or another Sprite will then weave a cocoon of sorts around them out of roots, leaves or grasses - they will rest there, and have someone watch over them to ensure they receive ample sunlight and do not come under attack while they recover.

Homeland: The Keeper of Autumn resides in the Red Wood, this is the ancestral home of the Autumn Sprites and where all autumn-born Sprite children are raised. The Wood is resplendent with towering oaks, beeches, maple and poplar trees, stretching up to greet the clouds and sprawling across the land for acres upon acres in every direction, all radiating outwards from the colossal red maple that has stood proudly in the centre for innumerable years. It is in the branches of this that the grandest home in the Wood in suspended, it is here where young Autumn Sprites are taught by the Keeper and the elders of the season how to harness their unique talents. It is here where the Keeper hosts the equinox festivities, and here that guests to the Wood are entertained and housed.

Throughout the Red Wood are smatterings of carefully planted and tended clearings, around which, the homes of the Wood’s residents are nestled below the canopy, like the nests of gargantuan birds. Within the clearing proper, residents will share their crafts and food, teach children the more mundane lessons of housekeeping, writing, cooking, and crafting, and then loose them on the forest to play and explore.

[INSERT LOCATION OF RED WOOD, PENDING MAP]

The flag of the Red Wood is primarily a deep brown and features a grey squirrel and an orange fox chasing one another around a red maple leaf with golden veins.

Key Cultural Aspects: Sprites are a very social people, however, in the Red Wood, they live in fairly small communities that are spread out over a large area, so more often than not, when they meet in the clearing of an evening, no less than a quarter of those in attendance will be visitors. Be they, friends, crafters, traders, teachers or even the occasional stranger, all are welcomed and all leave well fed with many blessings for their travels and no small amount of walking food and gifted trinkets.

As is true of all Sprites, the children of Autumn are very rarely raised by the parents that bore them, and even those born to the same season as their progenitors will have a great many caretakers besides. Those who teach them to walk, talk and weave magic, those who teach them to hunt, fish and forage, those who teach them to sew, paint and whittle, those who house, clothe and feed them - all of these people are just as important as one another to a young Sprite - to them, community and family are essentially identical.

Sprite culture holds hospitality and caring for others as the most important personal virtue. A Sprite will always have a spare room, an extra serving, time to mind a child or brew a medicine, and a moment to listen to whatever you need to be heard. In Sprite culture, if somebody comes to you lost, injured, unwell or hungry, they become your utmost priority. It is also crucial that you be a good guest, be grateful for care and favours given, and bring your host a gift if you can. It will not likely be taken as insult if you forego such gifts, but it is impolite.

Relations with Other Species: There are a few colonies of Riverfolk who live just inside and near the boundary of the Red Wood, as the Great Wyrm river runs just by the easternmost reaches of the Wood, and it’s tributaries branch off into smaller streams that carve through the dense forest. They generally regard the Autumn Sprites as fantastic neighbours, often trading with them for handmade homewares and shiny trinkets. They also often receive invitations to the equinox celebrations, but these are typically politely declined, as the Aquafolk are understandably averse to fire and crowds.

Travellers of all creeds and cultures often pass through the Sprite territories to enjoy their renowned hospitality and generous trades.

Origin: It is generally believed that the first Sprites emerged from nature itself, as the seasons first made their cycle. The only being that could conceivably tell the full story of it is possessed of a memory brittle as a dried twig, so we shall here paint a picture of the fabled emergence. As it is told, the first children of Autumn were born of the falling leaves, of oaken saplings and sprawling pumpkin vines, of running sap and a brisk breeze carrying the scent of earth and warmth.

Physical Description: Those born of Autumn differ from Sprites of the other seasons only in their colouration. They have the needle-sharp front teeth, short, strong claws, pointed ears, petite stature and cherubic wide eyes with cat-like pupils typical of all Sprites. Autumn Sprites have warmer skin tones, ranging from honey-gold to bronze to deep brown. They typically have red, orange or brown hair and their eyes are brown, often with red or orange flecks and a bright ring around the iris.

Magickal Affinities: Like all Sprites, they can heal themselves and others, though the extent of their talent varies greatly from person to person. They are also connected intrinsically to a plant or animal that thrives in their season, called their token. They can communicate with their token instinctively.