CHIMERA

One of the most diverse classifications of Creaturae, a chimera is anyone who is descended from a variety of different beings who had a composite of animalian features. Griffins, manticores, and sphinxes are some of the best known and most common subtypes. Chimera are rarely able to shapeshift and are usually clearly marked by their heritage.

DRAGONS

Dragons, or drakus, are perhaps the least like their legendary counterparts of all the Creaturae. They possess immense strength, tremendous resilience against physical harm, and potent magical skills and resistances, but they aren’t dragons. Not in the literal, flying, serpentine sense. Drakus may have been able to take on such forms in the distant past, but it’s so unknown to them now even they’re not sure about that.

DWARVES

A proud and wily race of stout-but-powerful people, the dwarves traditionally made their homes in great underground caverns, where they found an endless use for their fondness of stoneworking, smithing, and enchantment. A dwarf who is a master artisan will rarely allow one of their pieces to go to someone who cannot use and appreciate it properly.

ELVES

One of the most ancient races of Creaturae, elves have historically been very different from the modern conception of them. They are generally quite tall, ranging from seven to nine feet, and very thin. Their faces are more narrow and angular than most humans, with slightly larger eyes, and a row of sharp teeth, similar to an alligator or shark.

GOBLINS

Once a deeply-isolationist people with an insular culture that interacted only sporadically with dwarves, a long history of being caught up in wars between people building ludicrous strongholds in the mountains and forests where they made their home convinced them they couldn’t stand apart and survive. Although most goblins maintain strong ties with their clan even today, they are much more cosmopolitan and have completely reversed direction. They do a great deal of work as political mercenaries — oppo research, diplomacy, mediation, espionage, and influence peddling are the bread and butter of the goblins, now.

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GNOMES

A chthonic race who, like dwarves, live mostly underground, gnomes are a smaller race with an average height of around four feet. They have mildly pointed ears and long, dexterous fingers. They are a fun-loving and mischievous people, prone to exploration and adventuring, though they enjoy applying their cleverness and wits pretty much whenever they can.

NYMPHS

Powerful nature spirits, all nymphs are female and are connected to some very specific aspect of nature (a type of tree, a specific biome, etc.). They have a limited range of shapeshifting, generally their human form, their more natural form, and various stages in between.

MAGI

Mages, shaman, sorcerers, warlocks, wizards, and any other term that might describe a wielder of magic. This term is most commonly used to refer to normal humans who have discovered how to perform magic in any of a variety of ways. Less often, it is used to describe structured organizations of magi who share similar worldviews, philosophies, or styles of magic. They account for the bulk of praeternatural beings in the world, if you exclude largely non-sentient things like basic spirits of nature.

THERIANS

Sometimes confused with chimera, therians are beast-people or, as they’re more commonly known, werebeasts. Although some are powerful wielders of magic, therians more often rely on the physical enhancements that come from their full or partial transformations.

VAMPIRES

There is a greater diversity of vampires than most people would think and their differences range from superficial to fundamental, but there are some traits almost all vampires share. They empower themselves by taking from the essence of others, although how this is accomplished and the impact on the victim can differ greatly between one type of vampire and another. Some are hideous monsters while others are almost indistinguishable from humans. Almost all vampires are significantly stronger and more durable than humans, able to move with superhuman speed, capable of shapeshifting into animals or insects. The most impressive and frightening power of vampires is that a number of them can influence the minds of other people in varying ways, which is among the rarest and most difficult forms of magic in existence.