Angels
Angels are radiant custodians of creation, descended not from faith but from dimensions of higher order that interlace with mortal reality. They embody purpose given form, each bound to a sphere of dominion such as light, judgment, healing, or war. Their presence is overwhelming to mortals, a fusion of searing brilliance and ineffable authority that compels awe. Though revered as guardians, they are not uniformly benevolent; their loyalty lies in maintaining cosmic balance, even when their judgments bring suffering to humanity. Angels walk as arbiters in the conflict of worlds, intervening when the scales tip too far toward corruption or annihilation.
Arachnians
Arachnians are towering, chitin-clad beings born of the earth’s fractured ecosystems and dimensional bleed. Resembling a hybrid of human intellect and spider form, they dwell in sprawling hive-cities woven into ruined metropolises and cavernous abysses. Their societies are matriarchal, ruled by colossal brood-queens whose will resonates through pheromonal and psychic signals. They prize patience, strategy, and entrapment, both in hunting prey and in manipulating rival factions. Feared as predators, they are also skilled architects, their webbing stronger than steel and laced with strange properties of captured dimensional energy.
Avatars
Avatars are the exalted vessels of transcendent power, standing just beneath the Mages in the grand hierarchy of existence. They encompass beings once worshiped as gods, whose dominion and knowledge shaped the foundations of civilization. Unlike the Mage—who represents the highest state of ascension and mastery of all realms—Avatars are conduits of immense but finite power, their wills bound to forces greater than themselves. They rule above angels and all other celestial hosts, their presence bending history and belief alike, yet even they remain shadows when measured against the infinite ascent of the Mage.
Banshees
Banshees are spectral women cursed to wander the boundary between life and death, their existence tethered to violent ends and places steeped in tragedy. Their keening wail carries more than sorrow—it severs the living from hope, unraveling courage and summoning despair. Though incorporeal, they manifest when bloodlines falter or when death’s shadow is imminent, serving as heralds of mortality. Few can endure their song without breaking, for it resonates directly with the soul. Banshees are not mindless; they are drawn to bloodlines, debts, and oaths, often haunting families or clans across generations.
Basilisks
Basilisks are serpentine monstrosities whose very gaze can calcify flesh and soul alike, turning living beings into brittle stone. They slither through the underworld of ruined earth and forgotten caverns, their presence accompanied by a silence unnatural to any ecosystem. Scales harder than iron and venom potent enough to dissolve bone make them feared apex predators. They are solitary by nature, ruling vast subterranean domains with primal dominance. To encounter a basilisk is to confront death incarnate, for even the prepared rarely survive the crushing force of its breath and the petrifying terror of its eyes.
Beasts
Beasts encompass the countless non-sentient creatures that prowl the broken earth and the realms beyond. They are the animals, insects, and predators of creation, some unchanged from ancient memory, others grotesquely altered by radiation, others from the breath of Aether that seeps through the Rift. Wolves stalk with ember-lit eyes, their howls echoing with dimensional resonance; insects grow to monstrous scale, their carapaces harder than iron; birds mutate into storm-wrought harbingers whose wings blot out the sun. Unlike the sentient races, beasts are driven only by instinct, hunger, and survival—yet their forms often mirror the corruption or vitality of the lands they inhabit. In every wasteland, jungle, ocean trench, and alien sky, beasts thrive as reminders that the natural order has not vanished, but evolved into new terrors and wonders that test all who would claim dominion.
Centaurs
Centaurs are proud nomads of the wild plains, fusing human intellect with equine strength. Their clans are bound by oral traditions that stretch back to the collapse of civilization, carrying wisdom of the stars, the hunt, and the forgotten ages of humanity. Though fierce in war, they are equally known as seers, guided by celestial patterns visible only to their keen senses. They resist the dominion of cities and empires, valuing freedom above all else. To allies, they are loyal companions; to enemies, they are a relentless tide of hoof and spear.
Chimeras
Chimeras are abominable hybrids created through reckless fusions of magic, science, and Rift energies. Their forms are grotesque amalgamations—lion’s maws, serpent tails, wings, claws, and humanlike eyes—all shifting and unstable. They embody chaos given flesh, often consumed by violent madness and insatiable hunger. Some retain fragments of their former selves, making them tragic reminders of the dangers of tampering with creation. Unpredictable and nearly impossible to domesticate, they roam battlefields and wastelands as living engines of destruction.
Cosmic
Cosmic beings are entities from beyond the veil of known dimensions, existing in forms incomprehensible to mortal perception. They are not bound by flesh, but manifest as vast geometries, living shadows, or voices that shatter sanity. Contact with them warps biology and thought alike, birthing cults of zealots who worship their alien logic as divine. They are neither good nor evil in mortal terms; their motives are so far removed that they can annihilate civilizations as easily as one brushes away dust. When they enter the mortal plane, reality itself bends, reshaping landscapes and minds around their presence.
Cyborgs
Cyborgs are remnants of the old world’s obsession with transhumanism, survivors whose bodies are interwoven with machines. Some are relic soldiers of forgotten wars, endlessly repairing themselves with scavenged technology. Others are seekers of perfection, replacing flesh with steel until their humanity is a distant memory. Their longevity is unmatched, yet they are cursed with obsolescence as ancient implants degrade and fuse unpredictably with biological tissue. Feared for their strength and cold efficiency, cyborgs embody both the triumph and downfall of human ambition.
Demons
Demons are destructive entities born of corrupted realms, feeding on suffering, desire, and the unraveling of order. They manifest in countless forms, from horned beasts to subtle whisperers cloaked in mortal guise. Wherever chaos thrives, demons gather, seeking to turn conflict into fuel for their existence. Though bound by power and hierarchy, they are treacherous by nature, each vying to carve dominion from the ruin of others. To confront a demon is to contend not only with raw force but with temptation, for they weave ruin through bargains as readily as they do through flame.
Devils
Unlike demons, devils are precise, calculating entities whose strength lies not only in their infernal power but in their mastery of law and manipulation. They construct empires of contracts, binding mortals and rivals alike through pacts that ensnare the soul. Where demons revel in chaos, devils thrive in order twisted to serve domination. Their hierarchies are rigid and eternal, each arch-devil a monarch presiding over endless legions. Mortals who cross them find themselves trapped in cycles of servitude that may last beyond death itself.
Dragons
Dragons are colossal, ancient intelligences, each embodying both natural forces and transcendent will. Their scales gleam with elemental resonance—fire, storm, frost, or shadow—and their wings cast shadows like storms across entire armies. More than beasts, they are oracles, custodians of forgotten history, and powers unto themselves. Some ally with mortals as mentors or patrons, while others see humanity only as trespassers in their eternal dominion. To stand before a dragon is to confront the weight of ages, for their eyes hold truths older than civilization itself.
Dryads
Dryads are the living essence of ancient groves, manifesting as women whose flesh is interwoven with bark, leaves, and vines. They are guardians of the forests, their spirits bound to the lifeblood of trees and rivers. To trespass upon their domains without respect invites wrath, for they command roots that can crush stone and thorns that pierce steel. Yet they are not wholly hostile; those who earn their trust find wisdom older than human memory and sanctuary within verdant sanctums. In them, nature speaks with both beauty and ferocity.
Djinn
Djinn are elemental spirits forged from storm, fire, and shifting wind, embodiments of the raw forces that tear across the world. Their forms shimmer between flame and smoke, solidifying only when they will it. Though immensely powerful, they are bound to compacts or vessels, tethered by ancient rules woven into the fabric of reality. Djinn are mercurial, driven by whims as sudden and violent as the storms they embody. They may grant boons, but their gifts often reshape the fates of mortals in ways unforeseen.
Dwarves
Dwarves are subterranean forgers and warriors, their kingdoms carved deep into the roots of mountains and stone. Compact and resilient, they are unmatched smiths, crafting weapons and relics from ores infused with lingering dimensional energies. Their societies are built upon unyielding loyalty to clan and craft, valuing mastery of trade as much as valor in war. Though often insular, they are fierce allies when bonds of oath are sworn. To enemies, they are immovable bastions, their warhammers ringing like thunder across the battlefield.
Elementals
Elementals are beings of raw, unshaped energy born from the primal forces of creation. They take form in firestorms, shifting rivers, living stone, and whispering winds, existing as both creature and phenomenon. Their presence destabilizes the balance of the natural world, as they draw endlessly upon the energies they embody. Some may be bound or guided by powerful Mage, but they remain inherently untamable. To encounter an elemental is to stand in the presence of a force of nature given sentience.
Elves
Elves are ageless beings whose lives are interwoven with the currents of magic and the pulse of the natural world. Tall, graceful, and keen of mind, they maintain vast enclaves hidden within forests and mountains, sustained by traditions that predate human memory. Their mastery of arcane arts is unmatched, their societies built upon harmony with the land and vigilance against corruption. Though many see them as aloof, they bear the burden of centuries of memory, both glorious and tragic. To walk among elves is to touch the echo of a world humanity lost long ago.
Efreet
Efreet are the infernal counterparts of djinn, born of fire unbound and hunger eternal. They manifest as towering figures of molten flame and smoke, their forms ever shifting with heat and fury. Unlike their airy kin, efreet are creatures of conquest, driven to enslave, dominate, and burn all that lies before them. They dwell in furnaces of the Rift and volcanic realms where reality itself bleeds molten rivers. To summon an efreet is to unleash devastation, for they obey only power and consume all weakness.
Faeries
Faeries are nature’s tricksters, small yet formidable beings who dwell in the liminal spaces of forest, glade, and shadow. They embody both beauty and mischief, weaving glamour to enchant mortals into folly or wonder. Their societies are divided into courts, some benevolent, others cruel, each ruled by monarchs of capricious temperament. While often underestimated, faeries wield potent magics, warping perception, memory, and even time itself. To deal with them is to risk being ensnared in riddles where words carry weight greater than steel.
Giants
Giants are colossal humanoids who stride the world as remnants of an age when the earth itself forged its children in greater forms. Their bodies are mountains of muscle and stone, their strength capable of reshaping landscapes with every blow. They dwell in high places and desolate expanses, often ruling as kings over clans of lesser kin. Despite their size, they are not simple; giants bear ancient knowledge of storms, fire, and the stars, though their tempers are legendary. Entire armies have broken upon a single enraged giant.
Goblins
Goblins are cunning survivors, small but resourceful, thriving in ruins, warrens, and shattered cities. Their wiry forms belie their strength, for they compensate with relentless ingenuity, crafting traps, crude weapons, and strange machines from scavenged scraps. Tribal and fractious, goblins bicker constantly, yet in war they swarm like locusts, overwhelming larger foes with sheer numbers. While often dismissed as pests, their adaptability makes them impossible to eradicate. Wherever civilization falls, goblins rise to scavenge what remains.
Gnomes
Gnomes are curious, inventive folk whose spirits burn with ceaseless creativity. Though small of stature, they are mighty in craft, blending magic and mechanism into devices that often blur the line between brilliance and disaster. They thrive in hidden enclaves, building elaborate workshops filled with whirring machines and glowing crystals. Ever inquisitive, they are both admired and feared for their habit of experimenting without restraint. In times of war, gnomes unleash devastating constructs, turning the tide with ingenuity rather than brute strength.
Golems
Golems are constructs of stone, metal, or clay animated by lost sciences or ancient runes. Soulless yet enduring, they serve as guardians, laborers, and weapons, bound to the will of their creator. Their strength is unmatched, their resilience near absolute, yet they lack independence save in rare cases when enchantments fracture, granting them sparks of awareness. Entire civilizations once relied upon golems to defend their gates and carry their burdens. Now, they wander ruins, fulfilling commands long since forgotten.
Halflings
Halflings are small, sturdy folk who thrive in pastoral settlements, valuing community, hearth, and peace above conquest. Though rarely drawn to war, they possess remarkable courage when threatened, defending their homes with unexpected ferocity. Gifted with agility and a knack for going unnoticed, halflings often succeed where larger beings falter. They prefer lives of quiet plenty, yet their resilience ensures they endure through catastrophe. To underestimate them is to learn too late that their spirit is far greater than their stature.
Humans
Humans are the most adaptable and fractured of all races, surviving in every environment from scorched wastelands to fortified citadels. Though lacking the innate gifts of other beings, they excel in resilience, ingenuity, and sheer willpower. Their societies are endlessly diverse—tribal, feudal, technocratic, or anarchic—each shaped by the demands of survival in a broken world. Humans are dreamers as much as destroyers, capable of acts of immense compassion or unparalleled cruelty. In them lies both the frailty and the indomitable spark that drives the fate of civilizations.
Kitsune
Kitsune are fox-spirits that walk between mortal and spirit worlds, their forms shifting from human guise to furred predator with graceful ease. Each bears multiple tails, gained with age and power, their number reflecting cunning and mastery of illusion. They are deceivers and guides alike, weaving glamours to test mortals or to shield sacred places from corruption. Their loyalty is difficult to earn, but once given, it is fierce and enduring. To cross a kitsune, however, is to invite retribution both clever and merciless.
Liches
Liches are sorcerers who have traded mortal flesh for undeath, binding their souls to phylacteries in pursuit of eternal mastery. Their bodies wither to skeletal husks, but their minds sharpen into weapons of vast arcane power. They command legions of undead, each step of their will spreading decay. Though feared for their cruelty, liches see themselves as visionaries, transcending death’s boundary to shape eternity. Their existence is parasitic, feeding upon the life and hope of all around them.
Mage
The Mage are not a species but a primordial force, older than stars and woven into the fabric of existence itself. They are invisible, unknowable, and eternal, dwelling in the breath of the wind, the pulse of the earth, and the silence between thoughts. With the opening of the Rift, the Mage stirred from dormancy and began to bond with mortals and other sentient beings—not as parasites, nor masters, but as symbiotic partners. The host remains wholly themselves, yet their strengths and flaws are magnified into legendary extremes, granting them powers that bend fire and storm, shadow and light, life and ruin. In this ascension, the ordinary are remade into heroes or monsters, and the Mage ensure that myths are not merely remembered, but lived anew.
Merfolk
Merfolk are aquatic peoples whose dominion lies beneath the tides, in coral-fortresses and abyssal cities. Their forms vary, some graceful with scaled tails, others adapted into deep-sea predators with teeth like knives and eyes glowing in darkness. Masters of current and song, they wield hydromancy to shape oceans and summon storms. Their alliances with surface dwellers are rare and fragile, for they see landfolk as careless despoilers of the seas. To encounter merfolk is to confront the power of the ocean itself.
Minotaurs
Minotaurs are towering warriors with the bodies of men and the heads of bulls, bred for strength, endurance, and conquest. Their horns are both weapon and symbol, adorned with markings denoting lineage and triumphs. They thrive in warbands, reveling in combat and dominance over rivals. Though often cast as brutish, their societies possess codes of honor that govern loyalty, vengeance, and leadership. In battle, they are living battering rams, feared for their relentless charges and devastating strikes.
Naga
Naga are serpentine beings whose humanoid torsos rise from coiled, muscular tails. They are ancient rulers of subterranean temples and jungle ruins, commanding magics steeped in venom, charm, and shadow. Revered and feared, they often position themselves as gods among mortals, demanding tribute in exchange for their power. Their cunning is matched only by their patience, for they weave plans that span centuries. Those who fall into a naga’s gaze often find their wills enslaved, their fates entwined forever.
Nymphs
Nymphs are embodiments of natural beauty and vitality, each tied to rivers, meadows, mountains, or seas. They appear as radiant beings whose presence invigorates life around them. Though gentle, they are not without power; their wrath can wither fields or drown trespassers who profane their domains. They are guardians as much as muses, inspiring artistry, heroism, and folly in equal measure. To behold a nymph is to witness nature’s perfection in living form.
Ogres
Ogres are brutish, hulking humanoids driven by appetite and crude strength. They roam in savage bands, scavenging and pillaging with little regard for strategy or mercy. Their thick hides and brutal clubs make them terrifying in close combat, capable of crushing armored soldiers with ease. Though dim-witted, they are cunning predators when hunger drives them, setting ambushes that leave little chance of escape. Their presence is a blight upon any land they settle, for they consume all before them until nothing remains.
Orcs
Orcs are fierce warriors bound by clan and honor, thriving in societies forged by struggle and conquest. Their green-gray skin and tusks mark them as children of endurance, hardened by generations of survival in hostile lands. To them, battle is not only necessity but a measure of worth, and those who rise through combat earn leadership. Yet they are not mindless marauders; orc clans hold deep traditions of song, craft, and kinship. Allies find them unshakably loyal, while enemies know only relentless ferocity.
Satyrs
Satyrs are wildfolk of revelry and excess, their goatlike forms bounding through forests with music and laughter. They embody unrestrained passion, delighting in dance, wine, and temptation. Yet beneath their mirth lies a dangerous cunning, for they are masters of persuasion and enchantment. They thrive on luring mortals into folly, weaving bonds that can uplift or destroy. Satyrs are living contradictions—joyful companions and ruinous seducers in equal measure.
Shapeshifter (Mimics, Changelings)
Shapeshifters are fluid beings whose identities are mutable, shifting seamlessly between forms. Some are predators, adopting guises to lure prey; others are wanderers, living endless lives through borrowed faces. Their essence is unstable, a constant dance between self and other, leaving them vulnerable to fragmentation of mind. To confront one is to question the nature of reality, for nothing about them is certain. They walk the world as both infiltrators and survivors, thriving in secrecy.
Spirit (Ghost, Ghoul, Soul, Will-o-Wisps)
Spirits are remnants of lives unfulfilled, anchored by trauma, oaths, or unfinished purpose. They manifest in myriad ways: translucent apparitions, ravenous ghouls, drifting lights that lure travelers to doom. Though incorporeal, their presence chills the air and warps the will of the living. Some spirits seek only release, others vengeance, and still others are bound eternally to cursed places. They are proof that death is not an end, but a boundary that can be broken.
Trolls
Trolls are monstrous humanoids of immense size and regenerative flesh, dwelling in mountains, swamps, and dark forests. Their bodies knit wounds with unnatural speed, making them nearly impossible to slay without fire or acid. Crude in mind yet savage in strength, trolls rely on brute force and primal hunger. They are solitary predators, but when gathered into clans they become a terror to entire regions. Legends speak of trolls that have endured for centuries, growing to the size of giants.
Vampires
Vampires are cursed immortals sustained by blood, their elegance hiding the predator beneath. They walk with the appearance of beauty and refinement, yet their hunger is unending, driving them to manipulate, seduce, and feed upon mortals. Sunlight burns their flesh, forcing them into nocturnal dominion, but under moonlight they wield strength, speed, and charm beyond human measure. Their societies are feudal, ruled by ancient lords who play political games spanning centuries. Vampires are parasites upon civilization, thriving wherever mortals gather in abundance.
Werewolves
Werewolves are cursed shapeshifters bound to the cycles of moonlight, their humanity drowned beneath bestial rage when transformation overtakes them. In their hybrid form, they are apex predators—claws rending, jaws crushing, senses honed to unnatural sharpness. The curse spreads through blood, creating legacies of entire families haunted by their monstrous kin. While some struggle to control the beast within, others embrace it, reveling in the hunt and the kill. Wherever they roam, fear follows, for no chain can bind them under a full moon.
Wraiths
Wraiths are shadows of once-living beings, stripped of identity until only hunger for life remains. Unlike ghosts, they have no memory of who they were, only a void filled with malice and despair. They drift across battlefields and ruins, feeding upon the warmth of the living. Their touch drains vitality, leaving only hollow husks behind. To face a wraith is to fight despair itself, for they embody the inevitability of decay and oblivion.
Zombies
Zombies are corpses reanimated through disease, sorcery, or Rift-born parasites, stripped of memory and will. They stagger endlessly in search of flesh, guided only by hunger. Though individually weak, their numbers are overwhelming, turning cities into graveyards when infestations spread. Some strains evolve into faster, more cunning predators, driven by parasitic intelligence. They are the inevitable consequence of tampering with life and death—a plague that reduces civilization to carrion.