Humans- Are Humans
- Technologically capable, not great with magic
- Can be found nearly anywhere
- Classically adaptable but no single specialty
Elf stand-ins- Tall, pale - skin is often blue-to-purple tones, ethereal-looking. Hair is white/silver or void-dark; either way, they look almost unreal
- Culture values extreme privacy and stoicism; [elves] are often regarded as rude or aloof by the more sociable races (humans and [lizards]) but in truth they are polite, just private. [elf] marriage ceremonies are often the spouses and immediate family only, and consists of BRIEF vows and an exchanging of NAMES rather than rings. Otherwise [elves] go simply by their race name, their professions, or just appellations based on their appearances.
- Skilled in magic - much of their civilisation is built on/with it - and so they are often the least technologically-advanced race, as magic has simply eliminated the need for it.
- Other races are generally not welcome within their cities due to their culture's privacy, and to be invited to their cities is a great honor and even then you will be escorted at all times; to be invited into an [elf's] home is considered the deepest expression of friendship that can be offered.
Dwarf stand-ins- Short, dark-skinned, extremely tough/hardy skin; rarely, if ever, fall ill, and very tough to hurt. Most long-lived of all races.
- Again technologically capable, but also good with specific kinds of magic, mostly around metallurgy and terra/pyromancy, making them natural smiths and gravitating toward mountainous, desert, or underground settlements.
- They eat minerals - i.e. stone, metal, sand, earth, etc etc. They can eat plantlife; they cannot digest protein i.e. meat.
- Culture heavily values commerce. Nearly every interaction with a [dwarf] is an exchange; they bargain for everything, they seek or expect fair exchange for anything given, and altruism is EXTREMELY rare and regarded as very odd.
- This is mostly due to the pillar of their culture being independence; once matured (which happens quickly), a [dwarf's] ability to literally eat the ground, be virtually unable to come to harm, and hardiness allowing them to settle literally anywhere, means that they set out to tread their own path. [Dwarves] sometimes keep in touch with family but ultimately aren't tied to their parents or siblings, again due to their independence.
- They do form friends and find romantic partners, but again many times these are based on exchange first and love/admiration second.
Lizards- They're reptile-people! Descended from the setting's Dragons! They don't have snouts, they have little snake nose-bumps! They have long tongues and slit pupils! They don't hiss, that shit is trite af!
- Scaled, no hair. Their scales are iridescent and patterned, so they are very varied-looking, with all kinds of colours and patterns on their scales.
- Extremely sociable, living in clan/tribe units of multiple mixed families. Babies are born as eggs, which are looked after by the males until hatching, whereupon care switches back to females for post-natal feeding; duties are shared in the clan units, so any one [Lizard] may have been raised by multiple mothers in their clan.
- Amphibious - mostly live in coastal or lake regions - not always, but wherever [Lizards] settle, large bodies of water are guaranteed to be nearby.
- Culture values family (naturally) - though not always blood-family, but found-family as well - and HONESTY, nearly to a fault. [Lizards] are practically incapable of lying, finding it extremely taboo and very uncomfortable to partake in. That said, they're not tactless, so are often happy to 'talk around' or simply not respond when doing so would be uncomfortable and/or rude, though again there are [lizards] that don't bother with this courtesy.
Human Gods- 'All-Father' expy - monotheist religion - singular 'ruler/creator' god.
- Has a son and a daughter - demi gods - birthed the human race (adam/eve stand-ins)
[Elf] Gods- Multiple deities worshiped as a pantheon:
Top God/s - preside over Time and Cycles. Depicted as 3 figures draped in sheets made of context-relevant material. Gods of: Past/Present/Future, Bloom/Harvest/Wither, Day/Twilight/Night, Birth/Death/Afterlife, etc
Death Goddess - presides over Death and Rebirth. Associated with the Moon, the Sea, the Dark, and Moths. Large woman with 4 arms, 2 in prayer and 2 covering face, which is never seen. 2 pairs of Moth-like wings, and wearing a long robe made of the night sky.
Life God - presides over Life. Associated with the Sun, Heat, Light, Fertility, and Harvest. Depicted as a roaring flame, backdropped by many interlinked halos.
Magic God - presides over Magic. Associated with Knowledge, Learning, Secrets, Mystery, Discovery. Depicted as a tome with infinite pages, which all contain uncountable eyes, of all different shapes and sizes and structures.
Sacrificial Goddess - presides over Sacrifice. Associated with Pain, Struggle, Suffering, and Strife, but also Overcoming Adversity, Self-Improvement, Catharsis, Hard-Won Success, and Spiders. Depicted as an impossibly tall woman with skin made of black onyx, wearing a sari spun from spider-silk and carrying an excerebration hook.
Fortune God/dess - presides over Fortune. Associated with Good/Bad Luck, Serendipity, Fate, Freedom, Coincidence and Destiny. Depicted as an ever-changing figure that alternates and shifts constantly, fluctuating between genders, races, and appearance, but never the same thing twice and never appears to more than a single person at once.
Creativity God- presides over Creation. Associated with Art, Performance, Music, Unity, Joy, Hard Work, Labour, Smithing, and Conception. Depicted as ? but has lots of arms, each holding a tool of creation! e.g. a paintbrush, a quill, an instrument, a smith's hammer, etc etc
[Dwarf] Gods- Elemental deities, working in balance to preside over all that everything is, was, and will be:
Elemental Gods: Fire / Earth / Air / Water
[Lizard] Gods- 'Spirits' of the world, rather than gods specifically; these Spirits inhabit the world alongside mortals and are responsible for the essence of the mortal plane:
- Mountain, Sea, Forest, Storm, Sky, Desert, etc?
Qia
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