The Kivikoshi - A race of 8' tall stone-fleshed men with four arms. They were driven underground around 400 years ago and since have lived in three major cities beneath the ground. They are strong and fierce but normally considered a docile people. They gave up the worship of their gods after they were supposedly forsaken by them when they lost the war that resulted in their exile, and turned to revering the group of ancestors that set about founding their new civilization. They reach adulthood after just six years normally, but have very short lifespans of between 20-25 years. Although there is no more common gender, males tend to keep three or four wives. In turn, each of these wives 'belongs' to more than one man. This allows for rapid population growth, providing more men for a workforce consisting of primarily miners and builders. For food, the Kivikoshi have trouble finding animals and edible plant life without straying to the surface, so they simply trade their massive mineral wealth for ample food supplies. The hierarchy of the Kivikoshi differs from city to city. For example, Sundari Kivikoshi revere a sort of Shaman as a leader, who is said to be able to communicate with the dead and communicate their ancestor's wishes to the people, whereas the Viro Kivikoshi look up to a king who earned his place in a meritocratic society, where the strongest
lead.
The Draíochta (Pronounced Dry-Och-Ta, Dry-oct-ah)
Inter-species races: “Diabhal”
There are two variants of this race. The only major difference is their skin colour, while the tanish golden skinned are called Draíochta, the darker skinned are called Diabhal. For most however, Draíochta is the adoptive term used to describe them all, going into specifics is when you call the darker skinned Diabhal. So as an entire species, Draíochta is what they are called.
Famous For
Their extremely long lifespans, tanish gold skin, darker skin, unusual eye colour.
General Description
Overall Appearance
Their eyes are always a shade of purple for the females and red for the males. They stand with their shortest full grown adults at 6 ft, their tallest at 7'3. The females have very alluring and feministic voices, while the males usually have a deep and powerful voice. The Draíochta sleep for roughly 3 hours per every 24 hours. They eat a variety of foods, but due to their extremely powerful immune systems are capable of eating what would kill humans.
The Head
The females are fresh faced, unlined and look perfectly sculpted. That is not to say all the females are attractive, but their faces show no signs of flaw or error. Such as freckles, aging wrinkles or blotches. The features may not be attractive, but they are without physical flaw. Their hair depends on the individual but the Draíochta have very thin hair and so it is difficult to keep their hair in a specific style, as the weather can ruin it very easily. The city dwelling Draíochta keep their hair maintained and in a specific style that suits their needs. This usually means a ponytail, or loose but neat just below the shoulder length hair. As this is very easy to maintain. It is rare to see a Draíochta with flowing lush hair.
For the males, they usually keep their hair very short and unstyled. Their faces are chiselled and craggy, a difference from their female counterparts. They are unable to grow bears and so their faces always resemble a perfectly clean shaven man. The Draíochta are unable to grow body hair in general.
The Body
The males are usually fairly masculine, whether they are laboring workers or not. The females keep a somewhat slim athletic appearance, by nature and by their own doing. The females usually like to keep an attractive appearance for the same reasons as some human females. The males are fairly strong naturally and like to keep their athleticism. Their hands tend to grow short but sharp nails, almost like little claws. Only they protrude just past the finger and are triangular in shape, the end of the triangle being the nail. Their nails are fairly light or dark, dependent on variant of race, and extends sloping up above a normal human nail.
(What I'm trying to say is, where human nail is just flat, theirs slopes upward a little. Get me?)
Special
They do not grow body hair, females do not menstruate, they age much slower than humans and when they do get older in age their skin does not appear to age. Their skin heals without scar. Their immune systems are extremely strong, however they are at a great weakness when something is lodged into them. Even a small bit of rock getting stuck into their skin after going through an open cut can prove very problematic and hospitalize them, their body completely rejects it and if the rock is not forced out or surgically removed via a knife or other means, their heart could shut down and they could die of a serious blood infection.
Gods
The Draíochta do not have a cultural god, but they worship the god of their King. A fair few however are non believers, or they believe in gods of other cultures. Their culture has not created a god to worship of its own. This leads to many of the non-believing Draíochta to consider the believers of any race brainwashed into believing whatever gods they are taught to believe, since religion comes unnaturally to their race.
Specific Accomplishments
Inventions and Discoveries
The Draíochta have helped discover many cures and tonics to poisons for other cultures, which has well integrated them as an important contributor to society. They find out when something is poisonous in other races, and by using their cures on themselves and having this poison removed. To them it is something harmless being purged from their body, but to the other races it is lifesaving. Ways the poison comes out is usually by puking or bowel movements.
So they are not cures per se, but they do remove the poison in their system.
World View
Culture and Customs
There is no dominant workers in their culture, the males and females work just as much in most cases. There are no gender expectations, although sometimes one gender is predominantly better at an activity or job than the other. They are hard working for very long periods of time and then they have very long holidays as well, holidays which can exceed 10 years after working for 100.
Their marriage ceremonies are big outdoor celebrations, usually very fancy, regardless of class. Among the Draíochta weddings are a right that everyone has, if they cannot afford it everyone pitches in and contributes in their own way. Weddings are a sign of good faith for everyone involved, even the richest of their race have much of their own weddings contributed to by their fellow Draíochta.
Funerals are also outdoor, spiritually representing the freedom of the outdoors rather than the entrapment of closed in walls. The body is cremated in a huge fire for all to watch, and then the remains are scattered somewhere high up where the wind can take them.
Society
The Draíochta blend in well humans very well, the way they build their houses is fairly similar only the Draíochta build bigger houses for obvious reasons. The families usually are limited to a married pair and do not exceed 3 children. Draíochta women are unable to produce more than three babies as after this most become infertile. The record for most children among their kind is 5.
The Draíochta are an important part in keeping
Language
They do very well in picking up foreign languages and are very good readers of body language, they have integrated with the human society for a very long time and have stuck to the common tongue of the humans.
Combat
The Draíochta are generally a peaceful race and prefer to not be involved with any tournaments or unnecessary fighting, wars included. They do still learn fighting skills and spar like most others, but most do not like to use this to fight unnecessary fights. Hunting is an entirely different matter however.
Many of the Draíochta also resort to magic, as a whole their population has 85% of females knowing magic and 65% of males.
The Li'ivi - The Li'ivi are a race of dark-skinned humans that dwell in the mainland deserts. Unlike normal humans, the Li'ivi possess a sort of natural armor plating in the form of thickened muscles under their skin to protect from beast attacks. Extra layers of skin reduce the shredding damage dealt by raging sandstorms. They have an extra finger on each hand and an extra toe on each foot, for added balance and surer grip, as hunting for survival in the harsh desert climates is incredibly difficult, so the need to be fast and steady is of the utmost importance. They typically do not communicate with the city-dwelling races, preferring to remain isolated in the desert where no others are adapted to best them, however certain tribes have migrated to cities. They seem to share the same properties as humans in terms of height and weight but have much longer average lifespans of 140-150 years, reaching full adulthood at 18 like humans. Due to their isolation and reliance on self-sustainability, the Li'ivi have grown as generation after generation of hunters and alchemists, capable of turning almost any desert plant or animal into a high-quality meal. Typically the weapons they use are short-swords, bows, and the deadly Naginata.
Garron Li'ivi - The Garron Li'ivi are a race of mountain-dwelling Li'ivi. Still native to desert regions, the Garron Li'ivi, nicknamed Stoneheads due to the masks they carve for themselves from stone, are shorter and have thicker skin on their palms and feet, due to the difficulty in finding resources for clothes and shoes, they have adapted to make climbing rock faces easier. The Garron Li'ivi are very rare, with less than five known clans left in the world. None remain in the desert, but instead have moved on to islands and mountain ranges. The locations of these clans are not known and it is speculated on whether they have become extinct or not.
The Yunta - The Yunta are a race of bug-men, composed similar to a Centaur. A heavily-armored six-legged thorax eventually gives way to the torso of a standard human being. They are typically quite mercantile in their society, carrying out even the most trivial of tasks for money. Their six legs and natural exoskeleton gives them incredible speed and remarkable physical strength that far surpasses that of a human. However, to allow for mobility they tend not to armor the human part of their body very heavily, making it a weak spot in battle. A race of skirmishers as much as warriors, the Yunta frown upon most forms of magic, and live in camps organized outside of cities rather than inside them. Like the Viro Kivikoshi, their society is a meritocracy, in which only the most accomplished and richest of the Yunta may rule. In combat, the Yunta fight with short-shafted spears and one-handed axes, slashing and stabbing their foes to pieces in rather crude fashion. They do not, however, isolate themselves from human society, and it is not uncommon to find Yuntan citizens on the cities. They have average lifespans of 50 years, and have been growing increasingly scarce as of recent after a deadly disease known as the Thunderplague that only affected the Yunta wiped out more than half of their population before humans helped them to stop it. Now less than 10,000 remain in the known world.
Giants - Giants are sapient beings that resemble oversized(4 times bigger) versions of old humans. They inhabit quiet mountain regions and sometimes grasslands. They are spread into clans and inhabit both warm(non-dessert) and cold regions. The number of giants decreased severely when the Patriarchy declared their hostility on them and exterminated them from the western lands. Today, most giant clans are peaceful, refusing to fight humans, or to fight between themselves, and some giants go as far as to help humans in constructing cities for no price at all. There are, however, some hostile Giant clans, that paint their body with weird symbols that resemble the old gods. The hostile giant clans do cause a lot of ruckus but are generally made of mideles giants that want to please the old gods by sacrifice. Giants are very weird beings, no scientist has fully understood them. They do not reproduce, but their numbers do grow in time, and no one knows why. There are tales of Giants stealing children at night, performing rituals on them until they grow in size. Giants do not require food to live, but they do drink a lot of water. They don't exactly worship the old gods as much as they believe they exist, and are permanently afraid of them. Giants are said to never age, and they are all very smart. They are afraid of magic since they are unable to use such a thing. Giant clans have no leader, instead every single member of the clan has a say in important matters. There are very few giants left, known to be 73 clans left standing.
Harpies -
The Harpies claim that they were the first beings to ever walk the earth, and that the humans were created by them. Harpies tell that a millennium ago they were joined by their husbands, the Feroci. The Feroci are assumed to be an extinct race of male harpies. In harpy legends, the Feroci were descended from the old gods, and they conquered the harpies, forming the Feroci empire. The harpies took them as husbands are offered them children, even tough one in 5 offsprings was female. The Feroci Empire is said to have covered all known world, and the humans were nothing but slaves. Legends say the old gods took pity on the humans and gave them power through sacrifice. For the price of freedom, powerful mages sacrificed those they held dear to gain great powers whom they used to defeat the Feroci. The Feroci are now extinct, and the harpies are all that remain. The harpies look the same their entire life, but have a life cycle of about 300 years. Soon harpies started to mate with humans in order to continue their bloodlines. Not many humans wanted to mate with harpies, however, which is why their population is very slim, of about 20, 000 in the entire world. Today, Harpies can be seen flying like regular birds, finding pray, both animal and human. They took their worship of the old gods to the same level as the mages that killed their husbands centuries ago. Harpies are able to use magic after they sacrifice humans to the old gods. Many young harpies have the habit of seducing young humans, breeding, and then sacrificing them. The offspring is sacrificed too if it comes out a human. Few Harpies live within civilization, but those that do are generally nobility.
Guardians - Guardians are humanoid beings that protect certain sacred forests. Not much is known about them other than the fact they can take the form of trees, elks, bears, wolves or any other forest animal. They protect their few sacred forests in mysterious ways. Besides being able to morph freely into any animals, they can also become hybirds and cast strong alteration and illusion magic(as in the pic above). It is traditionally known which forests are sacred, and people generally avoid them. If a human kills an animal or a chops down a tree in those forests, they hear a strong magical voice saying "Leave" before a winds starts blowing strongly and animals unleash their characteristic sounds. If the human is bold enough to continue whatever he was doing, the forest will eat him alive.
There is a common poem which justifies the existence of the Guardians, called Robson's Justice. The poem goes as follows:
There once was a strong king named Robsom
With a son brave and quite handsome
That picked on the art of hunting
Forever he wanted but one thing
To see the forest on a glorious day
And to also hear, what it has to say
So did the son venture deep in the forest
But when the father had heard from his fortress
That his son never could came back
His heart was broken and his blood turned black
Both his fists and his teeth did he clench
As he desired his sweetened revenge
He rose his armies of a thousand banners
The smiths forged him a sword with their hammers
And he marched in the forest with torches and steel
Sure to himself no one can match his zeal
The trees were ablaze and smokes climbed high
And the king believed he served justice hereby
But neither the king, did ever the return
And his armies had a valuable lesson to learn
As the roots and the trees fought against the flames
All the noble knights were turned to remains
"You have heard our voice" the forest talked back
"Never do come here and always turn back"
Teracari
Cari
Appearance
Height: 1 ft
Weight: 5 lbs
Desc: a small primate with talons, a birds head, wings, and a tail. Male's feathers are beautiful to attract females, while the females have much more dull feathers.
Behavior
Wild: Live in flocks, scared of most races besides guardians.
Tame: Very playful, will bond with a single person.
Movement: Moves much like a small monkey, but flies to heights or long distances.
Eats: Fruit.
Extreme Fear: Smoke.
Traits: Hollow bones like a bird, quick like a monkey, extremely intelligent (can learn commands to the extent of the most intelligent monkeys and apes.), pretty useless for battles, extremely loyal to it's owner, can easily deliver messages to anywhere it has been before or shown on a map.
The Grok - The Grok are a quadrupedal race of swamp-dwellers that feed upon mainly plants and small insects. Despite their sharp teeth and claws, it is rare for them to attack people and other animals. They possess a series of small bumps on their back that glow blood red to deter chasing predators.
The Viryi - The Viryi are a very small race of poisonous insects that swarm on dead creatures and melt the flesh into goo with their venom before carrying it back to nests to feed their hundreds of young. Their poison is strong enough to melt flesh and they are not afraid of attacking humans in swarms, but races like the Li'ivi are seldom bugged by them.
The Drono - The Drono are a race of large serpents, around 12 feet long in places, covered in spikes and armor. They are not venomous, and they prey on smaller animals. They are found commonly in deserts and swamps, and even more so in jungles and grasslands. They are very large and very dangerous, but their meat is a delicacy to those brave or foolish enough to hunt them.
The Styre - A huge race of reptilian behemoths, larger than giants and twice as strong, the Styre live in mountain caves and feed on large animals. They are very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs, but there are only about 10 left in the world and only one has ever been tamed.
The Fex - The Fex are a race of small tree-dwelling predators, lethal and very agile. They are weak and scare easily, but they are ferocious and capable enough to literally shred flesh to pieces.
The Mire - The Mire are a race of swamp-dwelling herbivores. They make their homes in boggy earth and bury themselves to hide from predators. They have very hard carapaces that prevent them from being chewed up for long enough for them to release their natural poison into the predator's mouth, forcing them to drop the Mire. They are very small at about two feet high, and are eaten commonly as food.
The Dzin - A gargantuan race of passive herbivores, the Dzin are enormous quadrupedal beasts that are herded by giants and ridden by the Li'ivi desert tribes. They provide an excellent source of milk, and from there cheese and creams, and when killed their skin and meat is incredibly useful.
The Nauna - The Nauna are a docile race of herbivores that graze grassland plains. They are also common in forests, and variations are found in deserts and icy regions. They are often hunted and commonly eaten, as their antlers hold medicinal qualities. They are too lively and free-willed, however, to be tamed and ridden or kept on farms and ranches.
The Inkus - The Inkus are a race of small scaly hounds, with red skin, believed to be the spawn of dragons and wolves. They are fiercely loyal and strong despite their meager frame, standing at a maximum of 1 foot high and 3 long from nose to tail, they are surprisingly strong, making them good substitutes for dogs in hunting, but they scare easily at loud noises and so make for poor wardogs.
The Swiftwing - only four Swiftwings exist in the known world. They are enormous birds that resemble the phoenix, with a wingspan of 30 meters. They often feast on the Dzin, and in one case a pair was able to kill and feast upon a Styre.
The Vun - The Vun are a race of griffin-like creatures, except much more predatory and much less isolationists. often in flocks of 4-8, the Vun are about as large are horses and can be tamed temporarily, but never long enough for effective use before they turn rogue again. Taming them seems to be extreme pacification more than any thing else.
Karks - Karks are mountain-dwelling quadrupeds. They are normally hostile, feeding on rodents and small insects. Growing normally to only three feet tall, Karks have large spiky backs resembling rocks to allow them to hide from larger predators and blend into their mountain homes. In mountain regions, farmers often attempt to herd them, although they are often overlooked and it is difficult to keep them in groups larger than ten.
Nachi - The Nachi are swamp-dwelling humanoid predators. They are human-sized and live in clans of up to 20. They are not intelligent and communicate through clicks and growls. They hunt small creatures like the Mire and Grok, but cannot speak. They are feral and primal, unable to wield weapons. Their teeth inject venom into prey, meaning even a single bite from a Nachi can be fatal to most creatures.
Xhox - Swamp-dwellers, Xhox worms are often kept as pets by the Nachi, although they are found wild. They are around 5 feet long and a foot in diameter. They feed on rodents and small creatures like the Mire. They are very toxic and so are never eaten under any circumstances, even by the poison-immune Nachi. They are normally used for tracking, and are difficult to tame.
Gors - Gors are grassland predators. Roughly the size of a very large dog, Gors hunt in pairs and mate for life. They feed on the Nauna mainly but have been known to attack humans, and can easily kill them They are strong and quick, and some have been domesticated by beast-masters and trained as personal pets. Due to their pairing mentality they do not work well alone and do not work well in groups larger than the pair.