Human, Type 2

This is the standard race. Humans are the most adaptable race, giving them a natural bonus of 4 to their HP. They can also be any class and equip any weapons and armor. However, they are also easily possessed by spirits and can be exploited as mediums for powerful demons and spirits.

Breakdown:

+ HP + 4

+ Can be any class

+ Can equip any weapon

+ Can equip any armor

- Can be exploited and/or possessed easily by demons and spirits (Faith Save - 5)

Humans can have black, brown, red, or blonde hair.

Humans can have black, brown, green, blue, hazel, blue-green, or gray eyes

Humans can have any brown skin tone (from nearly black to pure white (albino))

Humans range from 5' to 7' on average, but can be shorter or taller if the GM allows

Adventuring humans range from 90 lbs to 250 lbs on average, but can be lighter or heavier if the GM allows.

Strigoi

Strigoi are "ghosts" or "vampires" in the eyes of humans. They feed on the life energy of humans directly, but in recent times, they have allied themselves with the humans against the oncoming threat from the demons and other spirits. Strigoi can shapeshift into (and from) various animals instantaneously up to 3 times per day. Their possessions change with them as long as they are touching them. They deal 4 more damage with magic than other races.

Breakdown

+ Shapeshifting (3/day)

+ Energy Drain (d4 HP drain)

+ Magic Damage + 4

- Undead

Strigoi have red hair.

Strigoi have pale skin.

Strigoi have blue eyes.

Strigoi have 2 hearts.

Dazh

Dazh children are indistinguishable from human children (boys have brown hair and brown eyes, girls have blue eyes and brown hair), but once they hit puberty (between 8 and 13 for both genders), a dazh undergoes a transformation far greater than any other race in addition to the changes that humans go through. The exact change is different based on gender.

A male grows spikes on the back of their arms, their legs become far more muscular, and their irises change from the child's brown (all dazh boys have brown eyes) to the adult's black. They cannot tolerate bright light without special chemical treatments, but this limits the visible color spectrum to only seeing colors between yellow and blue. Their hair also turns a bluish black and becomes very coarse. Their upper and lower arms extend until their fingers are able to touch their knees.

A female grows horns that run parallel to the scalp and begin to grow downward like hair before they turn forward again, just above the shoulders. Their hair turns black and their irises turn a deep red. The bones in their spines begin to sharpen and extend, eventually piercing through the skin (painlessly) to form a ridge of spikes down their back, with elders having spikes up to a foot long. Their fingertips also extend to form short claws (this pushes their fingernails off).

Dazh have naturally sharp teeth and slightly longer canine teeth, but it is barely noticeable until puberty, when they grow an additional 50%. Both genders also grow to be the height of normal adult humans.

Because of each gender's spikes, it is nearly impossible for them to wear human clothes after puberty. Females find it even more difficult, as they cannot wear anything that covers their backs. Females must be dressed by someone else, but this is easy to accomplish since each dazh is paired with another of the same gender at birth and they never part, even if one dies; if one dies, the other dies instantaneously because of the psychic bond shared between the two.

Their "birthpartner" is either born before them (and that one had no partner) or after (and this one had no partner before them). It's very rare that they're born at the same time, but it's not really an important factor; what matters is that they all have a partner of the same gender. Skinship (close bonding by means of intimate contact (not necessarily sexual, though it's not frowned upon in Dazh societies)) is not only very, very common, but necessary to maintain their psychic bond. The dazh can sense the emotions and senses of their birthpartner. The more skinship is shared between birthpartners, the stronger this bond is; near-constant contact can even lead to minor telepathy, but this bond fades if they don't have content. A year without a birthpartner is enough to dull even the most powerful senses shared between them to their most basic levels (pain, happiness, hot, and cold). As stated before, if one dies, the other dies, as well, usually from cardiac arrest. However, if they've been apart for too long (the limit varies based on how much skinship they had), it's possible that it may only weaken the heart or have no effect at all. While most humans would prefer this, dazh feel they are worthless without their birthpartner. This is for good reason; they can only be at most half as happy (they get used to feeling the happiness of two dazh) and they feel completely empty. Other dazh (particularly the superstitious) believe that one who has lost their birthpartner (or at least the bond) has no soul.

Other races tolerate the Dazh, even though they often think of them as nightmare creatures. They are tolerated because they have very fun-loving personalities and love everyone. In fact, they are often viewed as being TOO trusting, often letting people into their homes, even if they look dangerous because they only see the good in people.

Dazh have no government because they are too carefree to rule anyone and any government run by a dazh, in theory, would only have one law: Mandatory fun, punishable by forced entertainment. They don't really need a government to tell them how to live, nor do they need police; they're too busy not caring about anything and having as much fun as they can each day to get into trouble.

Dazh eat the same foods as humans, in smaller amounts, but they make sure to enjoy the food while they have it.

Dazh live in hastily-built, but high-quality small homes with just enough room for a large bed in the bedrooms, a small table for food near the floor with no chairs, and the largest room they save for whatever they find most entertaining at the time.

While normally, a dazh would have no need to go adventuring, they will do it (and enjoy it very much) if they feel that their way of life is being threatened.

Dazh hairstyles are very ornate combinations of dreadlocks, braids, straight, and curly hair, sometimes all at once. This is mostly unintentional (except the braids, but these are randomly placed in the straight hair).

Dazh live roughly as long as humans (usually dying between 80 and 100 years).

Interspecies breeding is possible with any other race with human-like genitalia (Humans, Consati, Nyane, and Voshi) and occasionally encouraged. They feel that they should love everyone. There are no taboos about it and the children are viewed as being just as much of dazh as any pure-bred dazh. There are no real benefits to this, but it does alter the appearance of the children:

Dazh-Human (Haelus) - There is no physical difference, but their puberty is delayed by two or three years.

Dazh-Consati (Caevus) - The skin of a caevus is slightly greener, but otherwise, there is no difference.

Dazh-Nyane (Nyaku) - Nyaku appear almost like a separate race. They do not grow in height at puberty and retain typical Dazh child hair and eye colors. They have nyane fur on their arms and legs. After puberty, the males' arm spikes stick out through the fur. The legs of a male still become more muscular after puberty, but their eyes do not change at all. While their head hair does not change, their nyane fur becomes the bluish black and stiffens to be almost like hedgehog spikes. The horns of the female do not grow parallel to the scalp, instead growing forward and curling up. The claws of the females alse extend past the nyane fur on their arms and their back spikes grow out half the speed and blacken at the tip. Instead of the canine teeth being longer and sharper, all the front teeth are.

Dazh-Voshi (Valis) - Valis develop exactly like other dazh, except with the skin pigmentation of the voshi parent.

Famous Dazh
Kala Mievnal, a dazh gypsy in one story and a treasure hunter in another; in both, she is searching for her birthpartner, Yena, who was kidnapped while Kala was in prison (though she wasn't guilty of anything but being a dazh).

Nyane

Nyane are a race that appears like furry human children. Their bodies have a very thin layer of hair, exactly like humans, but as an extremity moves away from their bodies, the hair gets progressively thicker. Their hands and feet on their own are hairless, but their lower leg hair forms something like a brush with their toes sticking out. Their hands are also hidden in this long, very soft, hair. Other than this distinguishing feature, the only other thing that separates them from humans is their ears, which are nearly invisible under their hair; their ears are very furry mixed-breed dog ears ("floppy ears") covered with so much hair they blend. Nyane have white body hair and blue, green, or white head hair that they keep immaculately clean. The irises of their eyes are so far back that the white doesn't show, even when looking around or when they're scared. This allows their pupils to open all the way, making their eyes solid black at night and giving them the ability to see if any light at all is present, including infrared and ultraviolet; however, they are far more likely to be blinded by a sudden light change.

They live in small communes attached to, but not officially part of, human towns. Humans don't often interact with them and when they do, they often treat them as children, even though the average Nyane lives twice as long as a human. Other races think of them as nothing but furry humans and treat them the same. If the Nyane were to start a war, the humans would be attacked as well by most races (other than the Voshi and the Dar Mien, who can easily distinguish them).

Nyane hand fur doesn't allow them to use bows or guns or even wear long gloves. The same applies to their feet, which cannot fit in human-sized shoes. Nyane feet have higher arches than human feet, as well, and they tend to walk on just the balls of their feet, making them excellent at moving silently.

Nyane have no distinguishable history as the two races known for keeping histories (humans and consati) don't distinguish them from humans or take credit for their work (thinking it's cute that the little children came up with an idea for them). They don't really care much, as their names are attached, they're just identified as humans.

The average intelligence of a nyane is about the same as humans, but they choose to focus it on practical pursuits. Their homes are tiny and nearly empty (The average single-nyane home being 6' wide by 6' long by 5' tall), and what is present in the homes is either edible or used very often. What they don't use, they leave in the center of town for others to use or recycle.

Nyane reproduce like humans and are capable of producing half-nyane children with humans, but the majority of humans consider relations with nyane to be taboo, and the humans who do so are branded as paedophiles and are legally treated as such. Nyane babies are half the size of human ones, with no significant size difference between pure nyane and half-nyane. Half-nyane children have human life expectancies, but are immune to human- and nyane-specific diseases (but they can still get diseases that aren't exclusive to either race).

Nyane clothing is always very loose everywhere but their chests due to the fur concentrations. Their leg fur makes wearing normal pants difficult and uncomfortable, so it is not uncommon to see clothes that tie on the sides or even nyane men in skirts. Nyane don't discriminate based on clothing, but they do have traditional human gender roles, with men working and women staying home. Nyane women also grow their head and arm hair to nearly twice the length as the men and the men doing the same for their leg hair. A nyane is never bald and they do not lose hair with age. If a nyane were to be shaved, their head hair would grow to a foot long within the day and arm hair half that.

Nyane technology is exactly the same as that of humans, though tools made for nyane use are child-sized.

Nyane eat the same foods as humans, but prefer to eat the meat more rare. They enjoy the flavors of blood and have twice as many canine teeth as humans, giving them a preference for a more carnivorous diet.

Nyane voices are higher pitched than even most human children and do not change when they reach puberty (which most races don't even know they reach anyway; this happens between 18 and 30). There is very little noticeable change in nyane during puberty, but other nyane can see it as obviously as a human can see another human change during puberty.

The Nyane language sounds like English, but is written differently, consisting of only nineteen letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, t, u, w, y, z) an average of two sounds per letter (M and P both only have one sound each while A, C, and O have four or more each) made from either the letter alone (except i, which is only used as a modifier) or a combination of two letters.

A Nyane's name, due to the alphabet, is almost never pronounced how a non-nyane reader would pronounce it. For example, C'ieta is pronounced like the human name Kita. There are near-English equivalents like Adam, Ebelyn (Evelyn), Cetela (Stella), Ab'igeil (Abigail), Fyl (Phil), Dion (John), and Eloiece (Eloise), as well, but they are less common than names like Pleiile (Prier), Aiely (Hayley), G'ilblet (Gilbert), Dioce (Josh) and Sobliena (Sabrina).

Classes

Nyane can be any class they want to be, but are genetically unable to be Revenants. They would be best as assassins, though most nyane societies find being an assassin morally wrong (though this isn't to say they don't do it occasionally).

Voshi

Voshi are a race of near-humans who don't quite fit in with human societies. Unlike most other races, Voshi have never had slaves as their culture states no one can be owned, nor can possessive terms be applied to a living being, so Voshi don't HAVE friends, relations, families, or pets; they ARE WITH or ARE AWAY FROM them. In other words, a Voshi's pet would be a pet with a Voshi. They may also say "this" instead of "my" (which they don't use anyway*)

*Voshi do not refer to themselves in the first person, which annoys many races. Instead, they use a gender-based pronoun (he or she), as in "She doesn't like that person." They also don't refer to another in the second person, also using gender if they know it, otherwise referring to the other as "it". Because they have no written language, and if they did, no one would understand it, they don't write at all, but learn to read every language they can.

Voshi are slightly more attuned to nature than humans, but not as much so as the Consati. They feel empathy for plants for the same reason as the Lorax: "I speak for the trees because the trees have no voice."

Voshi are naturally adventurous, very intelligent, and have more common sense than other races. However, they lack a sense of self-preservation, so they are often the first races on and last races off a battlefield. They are very capable fighters and join almost every war, but have never bothered the dar mien. Unlike other races, they have no fear of the dar mien and see no need to fight them.

The name of a voshi is often an adjective followed by a bird species, such as Golden Sparrow, Little Robin, or Adventurous Whippoorwill.

Appearance

Voshi appear very much like humans, but have (blood) red-tinted black hair and natural, white-pigmented patterns on their flesh. This pattern is unique and is how voshi identify each other. Also, they have a tendency to attach the most modern technology to their bodies, occasionally giving them the appearance of robots, but they are not cyborgs, as the technology is seldom an enhancement on nature, nor is it controlled with anything other than button presses or switches. Most of the technology they equip is related to their job or role in life, so a voshi doctor may have a robot surgeon on their arm and a voshi welder will likely have a specialized blowtorch on theirs.

Reproduction

Same as humans, and able to interbreed with both humans and consati without the burning and scarring that both of the other races get from each other. The resulting child gets either the immune system and genetic diversity of a human or the lack thereof from the consati, making consati hybrids genetically inferior to human hybrids. The child will look and act as a Voshi otherwise. Voshi treat these hybrids as anyone else, but are only as likely to reproduce with them as they are with a consati, as it weakens the race as a whole.

Technology

Voshi technology is the same as it is for humans, though technology they attach to themselves is modified to be more useful and practical.

Cuisine

Voshi will eat anything edible and cannot be poisoned.

Relations

Despite being in almost every war, they have mutual respect for all other races and are, in fact, peaceful with them. They will fight on any side of any war unless the war is with the dar mien, but are not any closer to understanding the dar mien than any other race is.

Classes

Voshi can be anything and will have added helpful technology to their bodies.

Officer

One who plans so the majority doesn't have to. An officer has no natural talent with the use of magic; however, they are extremely efficient with the use of items created for people who are proficient in magic. In fact, most of their skills are passive skills that help them unlock the latent abilities of the items, such as increasing the damage or duration by up to two hundred percent. They also command others, offering party-wide buffs or degenerative auras. Some commands are offensive, some are defensive, and others can cripple enemies. However, they can only have one beneficial and one baneful command in effect at any time.

Officers are only best and brightest students from military academies or have gained experience as leaders already and have provided proof of their prowess to their people. Officers can wear any armors, guns, and melee weapons and gain a slight bonus to their effectiveness.

The abilities of an officer allow almost any other class to be tanks, especially duelists, who do not generally have the durability on their own. An officer can even create temporary enchantments on normal items, but requires the aid of a darkening with the specific spells they want to enchant an item with.

Officers are often raised to noble status simply because they are great leaders. They have a lot of sway with merchants because of this, as well, so they can get a ten percent discount within their home city, or only five percent if they are a disliked race in that city.

Officers are trained in parkour, allowing them to fight from practically any location, potentially avoid detection and injury, and still issue commands.

Duelist

One who fights in a balanced fashion, valuing fairness over all else. A duelist gains bonuses to damage and speed when fighting a lone enemy, but in large battles or when surrounded, these bonuses increases substantially for each enemy to make fights more fair. They also employ skills that dampen the skills of anyone attacking them. Unfortunately, they are also affected by this dampening; again, for the sake of fairness.

Duelists are extremely common in human cities, but members of every race are capable of being duelists. A duelist is not a warrior in the traditional sense, as they focus their arts for speed more than damage, they can only wear medium armors (no heavy or light), and they can only use lightweight melee weapons if they want the full range of their skills. Due to their equipment, they are not durable enough to be tanks (or at least it's not recommended, despite their bonuses to damage and speed).

A duelist's skills are either weapon-based or sphere-based, meaning they can only affect those within a certain area around them, as well as themselves. The sphere skills also affect them, as well and are all focused on removing buffs or causing negative states. They have no buff skills of their own, but they don't really need them with their automatic bonuses to damage and speed.

Duelists are capable of using guns as long as their current target is using a gun; otherwise, their accuracy goes down exponentially as they get farther away to balance the bonus of having distance between them and their target. However, if their target has a ranged weapon and they have a melee weapon, this is reversed, giving them exponential bonuses to their chance to hit as they get closer; when standing next to their target, they have almost no chance to miss at all, even if their target is visually displaced or extremely evasive. They don't get this bonus against invisible enemies, but they are considerably harder to hit when facing these foes.

Subclasses: Tank (gains resistance to damage instead of speed), Elitist (doesn't gain speed or damage bonuses, but gains more AP so they can use more skills instead), Heavy Hitter (gains no bonuses, but can equip heavy armor and heavy weapons)