Reviewing my mana, it has been close to two hours since I 'awoke'. Deciding to get it over with in one hit, I brought up the System messages that I ignored earlier.
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Random Race assigned
Small humanoid with a diminutive horn, vestigial wings and long tail. Mischevious, manipulative and cunning but physically inept, even inferior to goblins. They rely on their intellect to see them through most situations, if that fails, they always have an escape plan. Despite being demons they aren't inherently malevolent and are subservient to those they recognise as superior. Highly adaptable and capable of evolving into other demon species.
Strength - 2
Vitality - 3
Agility - 4
Dexterity - 4
Intelligence - 5
Wisdom - 3
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While I didn't know the exact difference between each point, or how they affected the individual. I did know that a lvl1 human had an average of 8, with some difference based on their lifestyle. Imps barely made it into the iron rank with an average of 4.2. Being 60cm tall with reddish hued skin they weren't exactly the most intimidating on creatures. They were rather apt as a dungeon creature, however. A dungeon could give them more complex instructions with less strain on their own processing ability.
I had discovered that as soon as they were assigned as my starting race, I inherently knew that they were viewed with scorn and judged in a case by case matter. Seen as an intelligent rodent by most races, even other Demon species saw them as expendable fodder at best. Moving on as another headache began to throb, I looked at the last message.
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Due to your Trait 'Sentient', you have been granted an additional race
Please select from the following categories
- Beast
- Slime
- Demi-Human
- Undead
- Elemental
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I immediately ruled out Undead and slime. Undead as I didn't know the world around me and couldn't rule out that they would cause some church to destroy me as part of a Crusade, I was nervous enough about having Imps. Slimes I ruled out as they were considered as the weakest by many stories and games from my world. There were a few that had slimes evolve into grossly overpowered creatures, but I didn't know if this world was one of them. I decided to play it safe.
That left Beast, Demi-Human and Elemental. The Elemental category contained only Golems and Spirits so I ruled that one out as well, golems I viewed as a detriment due to their inability to take independent action and spirits would take too long to raise to a useable level. Imps could fight, barely, from day one and Spirits generally couldn't affect the world around them. That left Beast and Demi-Human.
Thinking that if both my races could communicate and work together would be best, I looked through the Demi-Human tab.
The length of the list was astounding. There were many that I recognized such as goblin, kobold and harpy and much more that I didn't. It became apparent rather quickly that Demi-Human was a catch-all phrase for anything with intelligence and humanoid features. Going through the list and then narrowing it down by removing ones I didn't like for various reasons, I was left with these.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
- Gnoll
- Harpy
- Kobold
- Sahuagin
Sahuagin were reputed to be extremely aggressive, not just to others but even amongst their own family. Cannibalistic and ritualistic, they would weed out members of their society that didn't meet a standard. They bred in large numbers and had voracious appetites, viewing others as only a food source. At this point I was leaning towards removing them as they would essentially wipe out any other species. I also didn't have much knowledge about under water ecology so it was probable I wouldn't create a suitable habitat for them.
Kobolds were descendants of dragons and what they considered 'the lower races'. They were extremely powerful, territorial and prideful. Having the potential to evolve into drakes and eventually dragons, they scorn anyone not of draconic heritage but will live alongside them. If an individual or group they don't approve of tries to settle within approximately a weeks walk of their villages, they will match on it in full force and raze it within hours. Although things would be rough between them and the imps, there was great potential for merging demonic and draconic bloodlines. The downsides were that would take an extremely long time, and I doubted there pride would allow them to live under the heel of a dungeon. Leaving them as a possibility, I looked over my last 2 preferences.
Harpies looked like teenage girls with wings, talons and tail of birds. They were social creatures, moving around in large flocks. Though they required males of other species to breed, they practiced monogamy and mated for life. The partner of a Harpy was seen by all as a member of their flock. Extreamely territorial of their nests, and only laying one egg every few years, they would never forgive someone who harms their eggs and young quite often spent decades hunting the perpetrator. A task made easy with their eidetic memory. They were, however, rather gullible and easily mislead though the chances of the same trick working a second time were very minimal. Another possibility, and a better one than kobolds for the moment.
Gnolls, however, were not well known and about the only thing I heard about them were they could be savage when roused. Even the System stated that even the mindless and unfeeling undead would hesitate before striking at them, as provoking one group would cause all packs to unite and strike with a savagery unimaginable of sentient creatures. They lived a tribal life in packs and were primarily scavengers first, hunters second. They were said to be rather adept at tool making and traps.
My mind was pretty much set from then on, though I decided to look through the beasts section just incase. Though there was everything in there from fish and their monster variants, through everything I had ever heard of, to loads more I didn't. One entry even sounded like a certain extremely hostile alien species out of a Si-Fi series. And although there was a lot there I would have liked that would allow for the same achievements, Demi-Humans had 'utility' that beast races lacked.
I made my choice, followed by a mental curse as I blacked out again.
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You have selected Demi-Human > Gnoll
Gnoll - Aard Sub-Race Assigned
Gnolls of the Aard species are typically shyer than other Gnolls. This is due in part to being the smallest species of Gnoll, and in part due to not needing to be as aggessivet to acuire their dietary preferences. While mainly feeding on insects, they will also eat small game if they catch it. They are territorial and live in small family groups with around 2 - 3 pups at foot. Once the young mature, they leave to start their own family group within the same general territory. Unlike other Gnolls, the Aard are more comfortable in forests and swamps than the plains and ruins there larger cousins seem to prefer.
Strength - 9
Vitality - 8
Agility - 12
Dexterity - 14
Intelligence - 5
Wisdom - 6
The following species are being committed to core memory
-Demon - Imp
-Gnoll - Aard
-Fauna - Local Unranked
-Flora - Local Unranked
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