Table of Contents

Orlen	Overview/History: Orlen (singular and plural) were possibly the strangest result of the Annihilation to walk the surface of Taera, aside from the Gels. Exactly when and how they came into being is not known, but they are thought to have arisen in the radioactive wastelands of Arcia in the second millennium AA, perhaps the result of a nomadic human tribe who picked the wrong place to set up camp. Orlen were mutant humans who proved to be infertile with other human subraces, or in fact with any race other than their own, because their physiology was unlike anything else (the closest modern comparison can be found in the hideously mutated Ettins). Unpredictable, curious, and sometimes exasperating, Orlen were a highly chaotic people who found both friends and enemies wherever they went (frequently within the same people). Personality: The word which best fit the Orlen racial psychology was "whimsical." Orlen were staunch individualists, and constantly looking for new thrills and sensations. The fact that the heads of an "individual" Orlen were often at odds as to what to do next didn't seem to stop them from being people of action, even if those actions were usually brief and spontaneous. Orlen were just as likely to stop in a hostile situation to sniff a previously unseen flower, as they were to start attacking, and it was virtually impossible to get Orlen to form any kind of organization. Though they did sometimes hire themselves out for various dangerous and/or exotic services, an Orlen was just as likely to leave a job mid-work as he or she was to actually complete it. Exactly how a people so flighty were able to survive for so long is not known, but presumably most of them found sexual encounters enjoyable enough to repeat the experiences as often as possible. Physical Description: Orlen were tall, bright-blue-skinned human mutants with two heads and four arms each. Each head had its own personality, likes, and dislikes, and in conversation Orlen frequently used the words "I" and "We" interchangeably. Though such a setup normally makes a creature unwieldy, Orlen were able to resolve conflicts between the heads over body control with uncanny speed and grace, and it was a rare person indeed who could surprise an Orlen alert for trouble. In battle, Orlen were able to use each head independently to control various body parts, allowing them to essentially act twice as often as any other creature in the situation (for instance, an Orlen would have had no difficulty attacking with two weapons at the same time). Likewise, an Orlen spellcaster or psionic manifester was an extraordinarily dangerous opponent, as the creature would be able to use two spells/powers at the same time. Relations: Orlen had no political identity as a people; all relations were made between individual Orlen and those they interacted with. Given Orlen nature, it should come as no surprise that orderly people such as dwarves tended to despise Orlen, whereas less organized folk such as gnomes and elves usually liked them and enjoyed their company. Though Orlen were never very populous, at their height they could be found pretty much everywhere in the world, in cities and wilderness from Anarcia to Nakhu. Orlen were even frequent signers-on for expeditions to Wak. Alignment: Orlen were, by and large, Chaotic Neutral in alignment. Individuals could and did vary from this, of course, but it is telling that no Orlen with a Lawful alignment was ever recorded to exist. Religion: Orlen could be found worshipping all gods except the Lawful ones, and given their temperament it's impossible to say they preferred any one deity over another. However, it is notable that Paradox considered the Orlen his/her/its favorite people, and the Spirit of Change was reportedly despondent over their loss for an entire month (a ridiculously long time for Paradox to stay in one mood) after the last one died. Language: Orlen had a language of their own that involved talking out of both heads and combining the words, but it had no written form, so no records of it survive. Individual Orlen could and did learn practically every other language it was possible for them to learn. Height: Male: 70 + 2d10 inches; Female: 69 + 2d10 inches. Weight: Male: 170 + 6d10 pounds; Female: 140 + 6d10 pounds. Starting Age: 14 + 1d5 years. Maximum Age: 80 + 5d8 years. Doom: Orlen were, in the words of one fifth millennium scholar, "too weird to survive." Unable to interbreed with normal humans (or even other mutant subraces), the chaotic and whimsical nature of Orlen personality proved to be their undoing. As more and more individuals died in battles, crazy stunts, or other adventurous endeavors, the Orlen gene pool began to dry up. The last recorded Orlen was a jester named Sprong, who entertained the Duke of Halsberg in Western Zephra during the 3550s. Sprong died saving his liege's life during an assassination attempt, and in accordance with his will, he was cremated and his ashes were dumped on a rival performer, rather than being raised from the dead. Sad though this story is, it illustrates perfectly the character of the Orlen race, and a more fitting end for them could hardly be imagined. An interesting memorial to Sprong exists as well, in the form of the spell Jester's Taunt, which he is said to have created (and used in his unfortunate final performance).
Ice Elf/ Friizan	Overview/History: The Nard Delve produced several mutant Elder Races adapted to the cold of the Ice Age, but one race almost immediately began to dominate, enslave, and rule the rest- the Friizan House of Elves who had lived in Nard, and who alone among the survivors used magic to alter and control their mutations. The Ice Elves had a reputation for being as cold as the lands they lived in, both in temperament and heart. While their civilization existed, it ruled the regions on and near the northern ice cap with a cold iron grip. The cold-dwelling races still remember the Ice Elves in their haunted legends of early history, and aren't at all sorry that they're gone. Personality: Ice Elves usually lived up to their reputation in at least one way- emotionally, they were indeed cold. Ice Elves were obsessed with perfection, and strove to acquire it no matter the cost to themselves or others. Seeing the other races around them as less than perfect, they used them as tools, dominating and enslaving those they did not destroy. Resistance movements were a regular occurence in Ice Elf lands, but the wily Elves were able to defeat them every time through magical and psionic guile. Though cruel and heartless to other races, Ice Elves were apparently gentle and even loving towards their own kind, at least on the surface. Overt strife of the sort exhibited by Drow, for example, was unknown among them, and no resistance movement which tried to start civil wars was even remotely successful. Physical Description: Ice Elves were taller and thinner than most elves, often standing as tall as 7 feet, but rarely weighing more than 150 pounds. Their long faces were marked by more angular and pronounced features than other elves as well, though still quite striking by humanoid standards. Their skin tones were always pale colors, shades of white and blue, and their hair was colored much like Drow hair- white or silver being the most common colors. Their eyes were thinner and more slanted than those of most elves, being similar to those humans and elves of Nikkonese stock- so it is often thought that the original Friizan House came from there. They were known to be very intelligent and graceful, though not very strong at all, and their magical and psionic power was most frequently exhibited in Charming, Controlling, and Dominating spells and powers. Relations: Ice Elves were simple to deal with- they either ignored a species as unimportant, or treated them as targets for domination and enslavement. Even other elf subraces were treated badly by them, but in those cases the Ice Elves sometimes tried to get them to join their side (for various reasons- most often, it is thought, in hopes of improving their genetic diversity for future generations). Naturally, this sort of anti-relation to others led to the Ice Elves getting a "cold shoulder" from most people they dealt with, and as their relations with other elves worsened, they were forced into more and more inbreeding. Thus, their race slipped into a decline as their birth rates (and the number of births of "perfect" children who would be allowed to survive) dwindled. This is what eventually led to their downfall, though historians uniformly agree on wishing they had found a less spectacular way to do it. Alignment: Ice Elves tended to be Lawful Evil, though many individuals were Lawful Neutral or Neutral Evil. Occasionally, Ice Elves who were Chaotic or Good would surface, but such individuals were always either sent into exile, or neutralized somehow (putting them into insane asylums to "cure their imperfect thought patterns" seems to have been a favorite tactic). Religion: It is thought that Ice Elves originated the worship of Thrym on Taera, raising him from a mere Demigod of Marna to a full deity in his own right. The fact that Thrym is Chaotic now is partly a result of what happened to the Ice Elves who were his first and favorite followers; originally, he was more sober and subdued, and Neutrally aligned. Naturally, given their proclivities, the Ice Elves also paid frequent homage to Patrin and Nexus, and minority cults were known to worship Cenob, Luthor, Helm, and even Venom. Language: Ice Elves spoke their own variant of High Elvish, which is about 10% intelligible to modern scholars of that tongue. Few Ice Elf texts remain intact; most were destroyed during and shortly after the time of their ruin (see below). Their contemporaries were, apparently, frantically trying to make sure nobody could repeat their mistake, though it was of course already too late to stop what happened. Height: Male: 75 + 2d10 inches; Female: 73 + 2d10 inches. Weight: Male: 100 + 6d10 pounds; Female: 90 + 6d10 pounds. Starting Age: 110 + 5d6 years. Maximum Age: 900 + 4d100 years. Doom: The Ice Elves, in an effort to stave off their decline in the later centuries of the third millennium AA, became obsessed as a people with experiments in manipulating time and space, in hopes of creating or accessing a timeless plane where they could live forever (coming out to conquer and control the world at will of course). In 2967, the Year of Madness, they succeeded in opening a portal to the one truly timeless plane- Oblivion, also called the Far Realm, or simply Outside. Their portal allowed a few Ice Elves to pass through, but it also drew the attention of the Aboleth and Mind Flayers who had long been trapped on the other side. Quickly overwhelming the Ice Elves near the portal, the Aboleth and Mind Flayers began their world-shaking War of Return, which is well documented in ancient history texts. The few Ice Elves who survived the cataclysm and escaped enslavement (and destruction) at the hands of the returning monsters, became without exception paranoid individualists, who couldn't trust other people (even other members of their own race) for any reason. Accordingly, though both men and women were among the refugees, none produced any children, and the last Ice Elf (a powerful sorceress named Skolina) died in 3827.
Arcane Gnome	Overview/History: It has been suggested by some scholars (including gnomish ones) that Gnomes as a whole have a uniquely adaptable genome, capable of changing within a mere generation or two to adapt to changing environmental factors. Whether this can be seen in the Gnomish subraces existing today is a matter of some debate, but there are many gnomish subraces which have been lost to history. The best known of these was the race of gnomes called "Arcane" Gnomes, who lived exclusively in and around cities and places of learning. Thought to be an intensification of the scholarly traits that a majority of the Gnomes of the Golden Age are said to have had, Arcane Gnomes lived for learning above all else. Personality: Curious and inquisitive like all gnomes, Arcane Gnomes had powers to back them up, so they had a tendency to be more daring and reckless than gnomes today are known to be. Arcane Gnomes were sometimes accused of being somehow related to Tabaxi, despite the obvious absurdity of the suggestion, purely on the basis of their personality as a people. Physical Description: Aside from a tendency to be taller and thinner than average gnomes, Arcane Gnomes looked much like the general stock of the Gnomish race, the so-called "Rock" Gnomes. Their magical abilities were what really set them apart. Arcane Gnomes had astounding sensory apparatus, being able to sense magic and psionic emanations as easily as other races sense air temperature. With that ability came several others, but it is said that while all Arcane Gnomes were talented in magic and psionics, no two individuals had the same set of powers. Modern-day Arcane Prodigies or psionic Wild Talents are sometimes said to have "a touch of the gnome" in them, and the Arcane Gnomes were the source of that expression. Though Gnomes today primarily concentrate their powers in Illusion, Arcane Gnomes were not so set- their powers frequently ran the gamut of magic schools. Children of Arcane Gnomes and other gnome subraces were rarely Arcane- the traits which gave them their powers were apparently recessive ones. Relations: Arcane Gnomes, being so similar to regular gnomes, were welcomed in all the places one might find the normal sort. During the time they existed, most large universities and other centers of learning could boast of at least one Arcane Gnome researcher or two, and it is probable that the comment about them being related to Tabaxi is the reverse of the truth- and that the cat-people learned their well-documented tendecies from Arcane Gnome friends. Alignment: Arcane Gnomes tended to be Neutral Good, much like regular gnomes, though they had a greater tendency towards True Neutrality because a balanced perspective is always helpful to any research endeavor. Religion: Arcane Gnomes were most often followers of Methus, though some followed other gods of abstract things, such as Helm, Luthor, Justice, Paradox, or Deceptor. Arcane Gnomes were apparently not the believers in Luck that modern Gnomes are, though the cult of Deceptor probably came in second place to Methus in their racial heart. Language: Arcane Gnomes spoke many languages, and it was rare for an adult to be fluent less than five. Their own variant of Gnomish was more or less the same as modern Gnomish, though peppered with more scientific and research terms as one might expect. Height: Male: 40 + 1d6 inches; Female: 38 + 1d6 inches. Weight: Male: 65 + 5d4 pounds; Female: 50 + 5d4 pounds. Starting Age: 70 + 3d12 years. Maximum Age: 240 + 1d100 years. Doom: If any extinct race has some claim to still existing, it is the Arcane Gnomes. Their way of life did not so much disappear as merge into mainstream gnomish culture. Interbreeding between the Arcane Gnomes and the average "Rock" Gnomes is thought to have given rise to much of the internal magic gnomes enjoy today, including their strong senses of smell and taste, and the number of arcane prodigies they produce. The last pureblood Arcane Gnome family was the Glittersmiths, a small "clan" consisting of only seven individuals including the matriarchal granddame. The four children of this clan young enough to bear children married into the clans around them, and their children did not carry the recessive Arcane traits, so the original stock ended there. Arcane Gnomes are no longer a distinct subspecies, but their legacy lives on in the lives and existence of average gnomes today.
Orog/ Black Orc	Overview/History: When the gods came together to begin their work of restoration, several of the Creator gods who originally seeded Taera with life joined the circle of new deities. The first split in the circle was precipitated from Cenob inviting the Hate god Patrin to join; Damok considered the inclusion of one of his greatest enemies to be a personal insult. Patrin himself did nothing to directly attack Damok or his positions, however, and in fact offered to take a sort of self-exile by confining his activities to the Hollow World. Convinced (reluctantly) by other gods to let Patrin have his way, Damok agreed, and Patrin accordingly found a small contingent of worshippers who would represent his interests in Arite, leaving the surface world behind. Among those worshippers was a small, weak-bodied clan of Orcs, who were to become his greatest instrument- the Orogs. After following their new god to the Chosen Land (a valley near the center of the continent Ablish), the Orogs quickly won the tournament Patrin used to decide which of his worshippers would be worthy of his graces, by allying with the humans against the Drow and dwarves, and then turning on the humans at the last second and finishing all the non-Orcs off. Delighted with the victory, Patrin decreed the Black Orcs his chosen people, and blessed them with great strength to match the guile they had shown. The children of these first Orogs carried the same great strength within their bodies, and thus the race was born. Personality: Orogs were a highly disciplined, strong-willed race bent on conquest of the entire Hollow World in the name of their dark god. They treated each other well, and if one ignored what they invariably did to non-Orcs they met, their society looked like a virtual paradise. Orogs loved contests of skill and athleticism, and every year on the anniversary of Patrin's tournament they held a grand contest of various athletic games in Patrin's honor in the capitol city of their Holy Empire over a period of four days. All Orog youths, male and female, were expected to serve time in the Imperial Army or Navy upon reaching the age of 15; only youths who completed their tours of duty were considered adults and accorded the rights of full citizens. Worship of Patrin was central to Orog life, and the priesthood was the most honored profession among them other than the armed forces. The Emperor (or Empress) was also the High Priest of the Holy Church of Patrin, and ruled for life. The Emperor was (in theory) supposed to be the strongest member of the Orog race, but in practice the throne was always controlled by family dynasties for several generations, and several dynasties were known to have existed. When the Imperial Family became too weak to rule, another simply stepped in to eliminate their rivals and establish a new dynasty. Orog city life was therefore set around the needs and desires of the noble families, and the politics of their jockying for position. Whichever family held the throne at any given time had the most power throughout the Empire, of course, and usually had the best lands and resources. Physical Description: Orogs were imposing orcs who normally stood 7 feet tall or more, and had muscles to match their height. In a frightening contrast to their physically powerful appearance, Orogs not only did not have small minds, but were in fact highly intelligent and educated, and master tacticians. Their creed taught them that they were a superior race destined to conquer all, and while they lived they certainly had a greater effect on life in Arite as a whole than any other race. It is quite likely that without the catastrophe which claimed them, they would have realized their divinely-inspired destiny of conquest. Relations: Orog relations with other races were limited to hateful ones- the Orog hated all races other than their own, and only tolerated the existence of those they could dominate and make slaves. Accordingly, the only interaction most people ever had with Orogs was fighting them during their raids across the seas, and the other races of the Hollow World quickly learned to fear and watch for such attacks- especially those living near coasts. On the continent of Ablish at the height of the Holy Orog Empire, slaves of a degenerate breed of Goblin could be found everywhere, but evidence of other races (aside from those destined to be sacrificed on altars of Patrin) was scant. Alignment: Orog alignment was most often Lawful Evil, and those few who were not Evil were generally at least Lawful. Orog society so frowned on lack of discipline and respect for authority, that the few Orogs who were not Lawful were usually sent into exile, which (given the tightly-knit nature of their society and the contempt it was held in by other races) was always a death sentence unless the exiles changed their ways. Religion: Worship of gods other than Patrin was officially illegal in Orog lands, but in truth the Priest-Emperor tolerated the existence of cults of evil gods who were allies of the Hate god, such as Nexus and Cenob. Among the few non-evil Orogs who managed to stay hidden within the society, cults of Luthor and Helm quietly existed, and some history texts even claim the existence of a small following of Thero among the Black Orcs. Language: The Orog variant of Orcish was their official language, and quickly spread to the other orcish descendents living in the Hollow World. This language, called Dark Orcish, is still spoken by the majority of Orcs living in Arite today, even though the race that first gave voice to it is long dead. Orogs also often learned to speak Aritian Common, though given their relations with other people of the Hollow World they had rare cause to use it. Height: Male: 78 + 4d8 inches; Female: 76 + 4d8 inches. Weight: Male: 270 + 15d10 pounds; Female: 250 + 15d10 pounds. Starting Age: 16 + 1d4 years. Maximum Age: 85 + 5d8 years. Doom: The Orogs were, in the end, victims of circumstance. The Mind Flayers who reached Arite during the War of Return entered through the Nix Vale, which they mistakenly believed to be their holy lost home city of Rl'yeh. Chased to sea by the dragons of Drachaven, they reached the continent of Ablish first, and immediately began a campaign of conquest. The Orogs' military might, which had served them so well for so long, was not enough to save them from the massive supernatural invasion. Within a few years, the Mind Flayers spread out across the continent, overwhelming the Black Orcs at every turn with their vast psionic powers, and soon the entire population was dominated and enslaved. Some Black Orcs tried to escape to other lands, of course, but those who succeeded in reaching other shores were all hunted down and killed by the inhabitants of those continents. Whether it was out of retribution for the centuries of attacks, or fear that these were more such attacks, the result was the same- the only Black Orcs left alive were slaves and cattle of the Mind Flayers. Over the centuries that followed, the Black Orcs interbred with their former goblin slaves, eventually producing the Ceruleans. It is not known when the last actual Orog died, but it hardly matters, as their former lands are now held by a far worse enemy. Also, the destruction of the Orogs marked and caused Patrin's return to open activity on the surface world of Taera, as he now searches for a new Chosen People to bestow his blessings upon.
Aspis	Overview/History: The Aspis were mutant ant-people, living in great hive-cities rules by their racial queens (strangely, named by a word whose most direct translation was "cow") in the deserts of central Zephra and Nakhu. They never sought to seriously expand their territory, but they had a reputation for overhunting and overeating their territories, and many people blamed the spread of the deserts on them. No evidence of this overeating was recorded, though, and most modern historians consider the reputation undeserved, noting that the Aspis (although not terribly bright normally) were too smart to not have noticed the detrimental effect such actions would have on their environment and their lives. Personality: Aspis were social insectoids, much like Thri-Kreen, but unlike the Thri-Kreen they kept much of their ancestral social structure intact. Aspis hives were divided into several castes, including the workers, warriors, thinkers, and queens. Each hive generally had only one queen, and while thinkers were the ones best suited to deal with other races, it was more common to see the less intelligent and capable workers assigned to duties beyond the hive. Aspis other than thinkers also seemed to have little or no concept of individuality; warriors and workers alike obeyed thinkers and queens without hestitation. Aspis hives were, in general, very orderly and regimented places. Physical Description: Aspis were large insectoid creatures, again much like Thri-Kreen, but whereas the Kreen stand on two legs and use their front four as arms, Aspis stood on their back four legs and only used the front two as arms. Workers and thinkers were usually slightly smaller than warriors; thinkers had larger heads and more dexterous fingers than workers or warriors. The queens were easily the strangest of the lot- they were huge, bloated slabs of flesh without legs or arms, or even a differentiated head, barely capable of movement- but also highly intelligent on average, and dedicated to the survival of the hive and species. Relations: Relations between Aspis and surrounding races were largely dependent on the attitudes of their queens, though thinkers often had some influence as well. Most hives were content to live next to their neighbors and keep to their own affairs aside from trade, which was invariably conducted through workers (sometimes, for important ones, a large group led by a thinker with a few warrior bodyguards). Aspis never started wars, but their hive tactics and great numbers made most people who started wars with them leave in defeat. Since Aspis social structure and thought patterns were so different from most races, they were a popular subject of study by sages, and many of the better-known sages of the time were granted temporary living time in the actual hives themselves by the queens to help neighborly relations. Despite the known prowess of Aspis warriors, Aspis were a generally peaceful people, content to live and let live as long as they were not bothered. Once an Aspis hive claimed territory, however, the warriors always began campaigns to force other races out of that territory; Aspis apparently had no concept of conquest- or even rulership beyond the hive, for that matter. Of course, the newly-displaced former residents usually didn't like being chased off their lands, and it has been suggested that this practice of the Aspis was what gave them their reputation for badly managing their territories. Alignment: Aspis were by and large Lawful Neutral in alignment; workers and warriors didn't really have enough brainpower to be anything else. Thinkers were sometimes other alignments, but such aberrations were rare among Aspis. Queen-cows were also, usually, Lawful Neutral, though at least one case of a Neutral Good queen (she was a worshipper of Luumpho) was recorded. Religion: Aspis apparently had no religion of their own; all recorded instances of religion within their hives were direct results of missionaries from neighboring peoples. Aspis therefore tended to reflect the religion of the people around them, though given their racial personality it comes as no surprise that the successful missionaries were usually from Lawfully-aligned churches. Language: Aspis language was one based on scent, and though it had a written form, no person other than an Aspis is recorded to have learned to understand the language directly. Aspis could learn to understand the languages of other people, however, and the thinker caste apparently did so readily and often. Workers who were involved in trades with neighboring people usually learned to understand and write in those languages, though few workers ever learned more than one other language. Of the various castes, only thinkers had the necessary mouth-parts to actually speak sound-based languages, but Aspis other than the queens could and did learn to write such tongues. Height: Male Thinker: 60 + 2d8 inches. Weight: Male Thinker: 100 + 3d10 pounds. Starting Age: 6 + 1d6 years. Maximum Age: 35 + 4d4 years. Doom: Whether or not the Aspis overate their territories, they were a legitimate threat to the hegemony (and expansion) of the rising Rolfish Imperium, and in 4142 Emperor Rrakba XVII accordingly decreed a war of extermination against them. The Imperial Armies took more than 60 years to destroy all the Aspis hives, and took heavy losses during all the campaigns- but they were eventually successful. Rumors of live Aspis continued well into the 4500s, but none were confirmed, and no such rumors have surfaced since that century. If any Aspis survive, it is in a place so remote that no other people ever go there. It has also been suggested that the outsiders called Formians, which resemble ants (and even carry themselves in approximately the same stance as the Aspis), are the spirits of the Aspis in the afterworld.
Rakshasa/ Tabaxi Lord	Overview/History: Ordinary Tabaxi were (and are, even today) stauch individualists, even loners, just like nonsentient cats. However, one set of mutations that arose among their kind early on gave rise to a subspecies of exceptional power and fury. These powerful Tabaxi were utterly convinced of their own superiority, especially over the others of their own kind (whom they most often termed "mewling kittens"), and naturally that led them to fight for control over the slowly forming First Tribes. They called themselves the Rakshasa, but most other people knew them as the shadowy (and frightening) Tabaxi Lords. Personality: Rakshasas were predators, pure and simple. They took greatest delight in hunting down dangerous prey, and since (as a general rule) more intelligent prey tends to be more dangerous, the Rakshasas frequently hunted sentient people- even Tabaxi of other tribes and breeds. Cruel and domineering, Rakshasas who gained control over Tabaxi tribes invariably ruled those tribes with iron fists, killing (and frequently eating) all dissenters without hestitation or mercy. While they lived in the open, the rule of Rakshasas over their tribes was usually broken only by death at the hands of other Rakshasas, often relatives or children of the deceased out to make power plays. Physical Description: Rakshasas were large humanoid cats, knotted with muscle, standing over 7 feet tall on average and weighing in excess of 300 pounds. Their fur was usually black or dark brown, though occasionally a Rakshasa had stripes of orange or red fur (ending up with a tigerish appearance). Consummate trackers and hunters, Rakshasas also had great mental powers gifted to them by their mutations, including powers of charming, domination, and illusion (especially the kind that change personal appearance). Rakshasas often disguised themselves and moved among other races when on hunts, and many a forest village was brought low by a betrayer who let raiding Tabaxi in after turning out to be a Rakshasa in disguise. Almost a Tabaxi version of Valheru, Rakshasas were exceptionally long-lived, often living several centuries unless brought down by their own hunting children or grandchildren. Relations: Unsurprisingly, the Tabaxi Lords were universally feared and hated by those members of other races who were aware of them at all. Given their tendency to stay disguised and in the shadows, Rakshasas were rarely seen in their natural shape by people outside the tribes they ruled- and those who did see were usually captured prisoners about to become dinner. Even though only about half of all Tabaxi tribes were actually ruled by Rakshasas, those tribes were more than enough to give Tabaxi the black reputation they had among other races before the faithful of Bast began their efforts to bring the race into her fold. Alignment: Rakshasas were most commonly Neutral Evil, though many individuals had a bent towards Law or Chaos. No non-evil Rakshasa was recorded to exist, but if any such individuals did, they probably would have been killed by the more vicious members of their breed before becoming truly powerful, simply because they presented inviting prey. Religion: The Tabaxi Lords were not known to be devotees of any deities, but it seems likely that at least a few venerated Nandra, Cenob, and Venom. Had any of them come to venerate Bast, the goddess of Cats might have spared them in the end- but of course, none did, and she didn't. Language: Rakshasas spoke Tabaxi, and often several other languages as well, the better to disguise themselves among other races and hunt them. Height: Male: 88 + 2d10 inches; Female: 86 + 2d10 inches. Weight: Male: 350 + 10d10 pounds; Female: 300 + 10d10 pounds. Starting Age: 25 + 1d6 years. Maximum Age: 250 + 10d12 years. Doom: Determined to erase the stain of evil from her obviously ordained people, the goddess Bast started a pogrom in the early 2300s AA to hunt down and kill the vicious Rakshasas and free the tribes. Though the powerful Tabaxi Lords were able to hold out for several decades, and later on (through their powers of disguise) fight guerilla war for centuries, eventually the powers and faithful of Bast prevailed. The last Rakshasa was slain on the first Liberation Day in 3002, and the goddess immediately decreed an annual day of celebration to commemorate the victory. The modern celebrations of Liberation Day are the direct result, though most people outside of her religion are unaware of its significance today.
Badder	Overview/History: When the radiations on the continent of Zephra gave rise to the Rolf race, they also gave rise to a race descended from badgers- especially vicious creatures known for the berserk fury they fly into while fighting. The sentient badgers were, in their own way, just as vicious, and the evil reputation they had among other races led those others to dub them "Badders" as a sort of insulting pun. What they called themselves is not known today, though it seems likely that those among them who were aware of the nickname and its significance would have worn it as a mark of pride, rather than being insulted by it. At their height, the Badders controlled territory spanning much of eastern Zephra, easily holding out against the occasional raids by the then-young Rolfish Kingdoms. Records of them are scant, because Badders were manically xenophobic, never allowing other races into their territory. Personality: Badders seem to have been concerned mostly with maintaining dominance over their territories, making the world safe for themselves by eliminating all possible competition within it. Though they did sometimes trade with other races, more often they just warned them off with threats and posturing, and simply killed parties that got too close to their borders. In combat (which other races had plenty of opportunity to observe), Badders were known to share the ability of their ancestors to fly into a berserk rage, and it is said that no Barbarian berserker of modern times can match the power of a Badder elite berserker warrior in a Rage. Among their own kind, Badders appear to have been fairly normal for sentient mammals, caring for their young and raising them in the ways they thought right, mating and staying together for life. Physical Description: Badders were relatively small for mutant races, standing an average of 4 1/2 feet tall and weighing around 120 pounds. Their fur was always various shades of brown, with several white stripes marking patterns on the face and back, especially lines going between the eyes down to the tip of the nose. These fur markings appeared to have some special superstitious significance within Badder culture, because even the most unruly berserkers of their kind groomed their fur very carefully and kept the white markings accented with chalk or other cosmetics if necessary. Their mouths were filled with sharp teeth, which Badders were all too happy to use in fights, and they retained claws from their ancestors as well. Badders seen by outsiders were most often in excellent physical shape, so it is thought that physical fitness was highly important in their culture. Relations: Badders had no relations with other races besides telling (or forcing) them to leave their lands. It was sometimes possible to trade with Badder neighbors by leaving packages of goods in designated places and then leaving, allowing the Badders to take the offered goods and leave whatever they felt was fair in return- but such arrangements were rare because of the potential for loss on both sides, especially if the non-Badder traders were foolish enough to stay close enough to watch the Badders take the trade. By and large, wise people did their best to avoid Badders, and the Badders definitely preferred things that way. Alignment: Aside from their extreme xenophobia, Badders were apparently not particularly evil, and they included individuals of most alignments among them. Their extreme tempers make it unlikely that any were reliably Lawful Neutral or Good, though Neutral and Good Badders of Chaotic alignments were known to exist by virtue of occasional communications they left for other races, as well as the Badder border patrols which let other people leave rather than killing them on sight. Religion: Badders worshipped many gods, even (it is said) some of the good-aligned ones. Records from a temple of Damok near Badder territory at a time close to their destruction say that Damok himself claimed to be making great strides among them, holding out hopes that the Badders might yet overcome their racial xenophobia and become helpful members of planetary society. Sadly, it was the evil religions which prevailed in the end, eventually causing the downfall of the entire race. Language: Badders spoke their own language, which sounded similar to Rolfish, but had a significantly different syntax and word structure. The language had a written form, and many Badder records survive in Imperial libraries and temples of Methus in eastern Zephra. Learned Badders were apparently knowledgeable of the languages spoken by their neighbors, though they rarely had cause to use that knowledge; also, Badders who spoke the Common tongue of Zephra were often made members of border patrols, to warn off people of other races who strayed into Badder territory. Height: Male: 42 + 1d10 inches; Female: 41 + 1d10 inches. Weight: Male: 130 + 4d12 pounds; Female: 120 + 4d12 pounds. Starting Age: 12 + 1d3 years. Maximum Age: 70 + 2d10 years. Doom: According to the researchers sent to investigate their mysterious disappearance in the late 3800s AA, the xenophobic Badders found their doom in their extreme intolerance. When pups with strange fur markings began being born among various Badder tribes, the older Badders naturally killed them due to the superstitions about their fur patterns, but they didn't stop there. Because the mutations which produced the new patterns must logically be in the parents, Badders in affected communities usually tried (and often succeeded) to kill the parents of "new-pattern" offspring as well. Eventually the phenomenon became so widespread that the entire race was embroiled in civil war, and at the height of the fiercest battle, a High Priest of Patrin made a truly fatal mistake. Weaving the powerful Genocide spell, the priest targetted it at his hated foe, a recently-grown-up new-pattern Badder fighter on the other side of the conflict. The spell did its work exactly as it was intended to, killing every Badder it could reach by the time it was over- but because the new pattern was only a superficial difference, the spell killed old- and new-patterned alike. The few survivors of the racial self-immolation were widely scattered, and all but four were killed in fights with other races before they could meet other survivors to start the race anew. With only four members left, and only one of them female, it was not long before the last Badders succumbed to the dangers of the world, and consigned their race's existence to the graveyard of history.
Dracon, Black/ Shade	Overview/History: The supernatural wave of radiation that swept over Arite after the Annihilation ended up transforming the dragons it touched into two smaller races, not just one. Some dragons became various colored species of Dracon, who interbred and continued to mutate, eventually becoming the Chromithians as known today. Others, however, stayed apart, and in their studies of the wave which had transformed them, they achieved a new kind of power previously undreamed-of. These Dracon wielded frightening forces of madness, nightmares, and decay, and were called Black Dracon by the other inhabitants of Arite from the start, even though their scales did not come to match their name until several generations after the initial transformation. The surviving Elder Dragons of Drachaven sensed something in the Black Dracon that they feared, and in 1012 AA they forced the "Shades" off of their ancestral home and onto the desert continent of Kharz. The Black Dracon, however, were happy to leave their less daring brethren behind, and with nobody to stop them, they delved deeper into ever-stranger research, and eventually discovered means of creating life that allowed them to populate the continent with previously unimaginable lifeforms. The steamy, dreamlike jungles of Kharz in those days were filled with strange flora and fauna, often dangerous and even deadly to those who let their guard down. To the Black Dracon, this was a paradise, a source of endless research subjects as well as proof of what fruit their research could bear. Delving still further, the Black Dracon warped the material existence of their home, creating previously unknown minerals and metals, and causing alien flows of energy to ripple out across the land. Finally, study of these energies led the Black Dracon to learn direct manipulation of the interfaces with the planes of Positive and Negative Energy themselves, allowing them the chance to create not just new life, but actual new worlds as well. Content to keep to themselves, Black Dracon trusted their created lifeforms to defend their home continent from intruders, and left it only during the War of Return to fight the Mind Flayers. Personality: Black Dracon were obsessed with one thing- their research. They were completely indifferent to anything not dealing directly with it, but showed a wide range of emotions and attitudes when somebody was discussing it with them, or helping or hindering it. Individuals had their own specialties and private studies, of course, and strongly preferred to deal within their specialties (many being indifferent to any other specialties), but on the whole the individuals tended to support the racial goals which made them appear to be a monolithic entity to outsiders. Black Dracon were best characterized as "mad scientists" above anything else. Physical Description: After the first few generations, Black Dracon were tall, thin Dracon (similar in body shape to the Purples of modern Anarcia) with glossy, iridescent, black scales. Their eyes were usually red, but had a range of color from deep yellow to maroon. Their claws were stunted and generally useless for any real fighting, their jaws were smaller and weaker than any other Dracon species (rendering them incapable of dealing much damage with their bites), and their tails were not barbed like their Chromithian relatives. Their breath weapon was a cone of dark energy which blinded creatures caught within it; as they neared the Transition, they altered themselves to develop this breath weapon into an actual energy draining attack, like the spell Enervate. Black Dracon were not physically powerful, but they invariably had great magical and/or psionic powers to bring to bear against any who were foolish enough to challenge them, so after their exile to Kharz, no races did so. Relations: Given that most other people didn't understand what the Black Dracon were doing at any given time, and were afraid of becoming subjects in some experiment, they avoided contact with the Shades as much as possible. When contact happened, such people were generally hostile and fearful, and did their best to end it as soon as possible. Some sages and people looking for obscure information, however, were able to overcome their fears long enough to ask the Black Dracon for answers, and normally the reptilians were happy to provide what answers they had. There were even cases of wizards, psions, and sages who went to live among the Shades for a while, and learn from them; it is thought that some such students might even have made the Transition to the final shadow-state with the Black Dracon themselves in the Black Burst. Occasionally, humans or other races are spotted on the Plane of Shadows who are infused with Shadow-Stuff, lending support to the idea. Alignment: Black Dracon were not (usually) Evil, just misunderstood. Their obsession with esoteric and outre topics made them seem alien and terrible to others, but in fact their usual alignment was True Neutral. Enough Black Dracon were Evil and did terrible research using other races as unwilling subjects to continue the stories, but the majority of the actual population were no more black-hearted than Firewalkers are. Their research, however, was usually focused on "forbidden" topics, so Black Dracon were almost never Lawful, and few were Good aligned. Religion: Black Dracon didn't really worship any of the gods, preferring to study the concept of gods and the mode of existence of the actual beings instead. It seems likely that a few might have paid some homage or made offerings to Methus, but there is virtually no chance of any other deity getting such attention from them. The Shades preferred to think of gods merely as extremely powerful entities that could someday be matched or surpassed with proper know-how. Language: Black Dracon spoke Draconic, and the Common tongue of Arite, as well as many other obscure and/or dead languages. Since their research often required the ability to read documents created by strange and/or alien races, it was rare for an adult Shade to be fluent in less than five or six languages, at least for reading purposes. Height: Male: 66 + 2d12 inches; Female: 66 + 2d12 inches. Weight: Male: 120 + 5d10 pounds; Female: 115 + 5d10 pounds. Starting Age: 40 + 2d5 years. Maximum Age: 500 + 1d100 years. Doom: The fight with the Mind Flayers led the Black Dracon to make contact with the same plane that the Ice Elves had, the Far Realm which had confined the Mind Flayers and Aboleth for so long. Rather than simply crossing the threshold as the Elves did, however, the Black Dracon sought to study and understand the insane non-place, and eventually their researches convinced them that they had succeeded. Instead of using the Far Realm as a place to live (as the Ice Elves had intended to), the Black Dracon resolved to build a bridge across it, to some alien dimension they believed existed on the other side. Accordingly, they used the powers of Positive energy to literally move a dark little Demiplane which had existed close to Taera's Material Plane for countless millennia, and the powers of Negative Energy to consume the void around the it, expanding the Demiplane drastically and forming the present-day Plane of Shadow. This new Plane, they intended to use as their bridge to the Other Side, carving a passage to it through Oblivion itself without actually touching or using the mind-twisting anti-plane. The portal to the new Shadow Plane was opened in the center of Kharz, and backwash from the Negative energy transforming and expanding the new Plane burst forth into Arite. It spread across the continent within a single day, killing all of the life the Black Dracon had seeded on their home continent, and left it even more barren and dead than it had been before their arrival- but some of the Black Dracon used the power to transform themselves into creatures of utter darkness and insubstantiality, undergoing a simultaneous racial exodus and transubstantiation. No accounts of them exist after the Black Burst of 3080, but it is whispered in modern dragon and Chromithian legends that the Black Dracon did not find what they sought in the end, for their new Plane was still too small to cross the gap. The Plane of Shadows was (and is) still expanding, however, so the Black Dracon who arrived in the new Plane went off somewhere to await the final completion of their work. Technically, these stories say, the Black Dracon never died as a race; those who survived the transition exist today in stasis, somewhere deep within the Plane of Shadow. The powerful emanations they left behind, however, created the Scourge of Kharz, which haunts Arite even today, and makes sure that no unfortunates who die on that accursed continent ever find final rest.
Shakti	Overview/History: Where the land-dwellers of Taera speak of the Ice Elves, and Aritians tell tales of the Orogs, the aquatic people in the Underwave spin stories of the hated Shakti- the shark-people. Shakti arose near the coasts of eastern Yoor in the early second millennium AA, living by hunting the sea life in their territories. As the centuries went on, and they interacted more and more with the other races of the Underwave, the Shakti began to treat them more and more as prey, and extended their hunts to include their weaker neighbors (and later their stronger ones as well). Shakti were a military power bent on controlling the seas through fear, leaving themselves at the definite top of the food chain and hunting whatever and whenever they liked. Personality: While many shark species are relatively peaceful or harmless creatures, the Shakti unfortunately did not arise from one of those types. Exactly which type of shark they did come from is not known, but it certainly was one of the dangerous kinds, because the Shakti were as vicious and mean as the worst nonsentient sea predators- and their intelligence made them many times more dangerous. They had the ability to fly into a berserk rage similar to that of Barbarians upon sighting or smelling blood, and once in the blood frenzy they rarely stopped fighting until either their side or the opposing side was dead. Shakti preferred to eat their meat raw, and if possible, still alive and struggling, though their favorite prey was the sort that was too weak to really fight back. Physical Description: Shakti were large sharks (about 8 feet long on average), with the fins near their chests grown out into fully articulated arms and hands. Normal sharks tear their prey apart by catching it in their jaws and chewing violently, but Shakti had their arms to hold prey in place while chewing, help rip off chunks, and even (once they advanced a bit technologically) wield weapons and shields. Shakti had a phenomenal sense of smell, capable of detecting blood in the water as far as three miles away, and allowing them the ability to track targets underwater for unusually large distances. Relations: In a word, bad. Shakti considered all races besides their own to be prey, and even their own children and elderly were often hunted by the healthy adults in some tribes. Shakti did not respect their prey, but they did learn from watching them, and many Shakti advancements came from carefully studying chosen prey before actually attacking to dispatch it. Alignment: Shakti were invariably Chaotic Evil or Neutral Evil, at least by the time they reached adulthood. Since Shakti children often didn't survive childhood, only the strongest and most vicious survived, and the Shakti were pleased with that state of affairs. Religion: The shark-folk were a fairly religious people, for all their concentration on hunting; their religion dictated that the sea was intended to be a perfect home for perfect hunters, and weaker races were there only to provide prey. Exactly which god or goddess they worshipped has not been documented, but many scholars have noted a disturbing similarity between the few Shakti teachings which have been translated, and the doctrine of Sekolah as preached among the Sahuagin today. Language: Shakti spoke their own language and no other, considering the idea of talking to one's prey to be silly and pointless. The Shakti language had a written form found on some of their temples and buildings, but few records of it exist today, and the writings mostly concerned simplistic concepts such as killing, eating, and chasing prey. Height: Male: 86 + 3d12 inches; Female: 86 + 3d12 inches. Weight: Male: 430 + 15d10 pounds; Female: 400 + 15d10 pounds. Starting Age: 15 + 1d4 years. Maximum Age: 90 + 3d10 years. Doom: After the extermination of the peaceful Clamfolk and Fronds, the other aquatic races saw that their days were numbered unless they eliminated the threat the Shakti represented. In a vast alliance that has not been equalled before or since, every other aquatic race began a campaign to hunt down and destroy the shark-folk. It took more than 100 years to root out the last enclaves, but even the considerable fighting might of the Shakti was not enough to save them from the combined fury of the rest of the sea peoples. The Battle of Blibdool Trench in 3726 was the swan song of the Shakti race, and the last of their spawn were slaughtered by the end of it. The battle, however, may not be over. It is thought by some scholars that the Demigod Sekolah may be a Shakti raised to godhood; if this is so, then the Sahuagin may be in for a similar fate, as their behavior certainly seems suspiciously similar to that of the Shakti. Sekolah himself may touch off the conflict, if the idea is true, since he is certain to attempt revenge once he thinks his chosen people are strong enough.
Clamfolk	Overview/History: The Tako and Flawder were not the only mollusks granted sentience by the mutagenic radiations left behind by the Annihilation. In the shallow seas between the island of Nikkon and the western coast of Arcia, the new seas gave birth to a people descended from giant clams. Though they had powerful protections, spread far and wide through the early Underwave, and developed many of the most useful underwater Abjuration spells (which are still in use today), the Clamfolk kept one instinct from their ancestors which proved to be their undoing in the end. Though the Clamfolk are long dead, they did leave one monument behind by which knowledgeable people remember them; their race was (and remains) the only mollusk species that ever developed the ability to make Rainbow Pearls. The fact that new Rainbow Pearls can never be made, now, contributes greatly to their high value, but even during the time of the Clamfolk their beauty made them the most sought-after kind. Personality: Clamfolk were a generally peaceful and agreeable species, satisfied to live and let live. Their thickly-armored shells and magical and psionic powers of protection gave them confidence in most combats, though they preferred not to let events reach that level of violence in the first place; when accosted, Clamfolk preferred to simply "clam up" and retreat into protections and let the enemy tire themselves out trying to get through. Clamfolk were also happy to jump at a chance to talk things out, and often ended conflicts with other people by simply buying them off somehow. The fact that other races were so enamored of the colorful pearls that only the Clamfolk could make was often a factor in such agreements, and the wide spread of Rainbow Pearls even today is proof that most of their opponents accepted the bargains they offered. Physical Description: Clamfolk looked fairly similar to even larger versions of common giant clams, with huge wavy shells roughly 6-7 feet across being their most recognizable feature. Clamfolk shells were thinner than those of normal giant clams, but actually offered more protection, because a living Clamfolk naturally produced a psionic armoring field through its shell very similar to the Inertial Armor some trained Psions use today. This inborn psionic talent was soon matched by magical talent for protective spells, which allowed the Clamfolk to render their shells invulnerable to common low-level attacks (most notably Magic Missile) as well. Though Clamfolk had a set of four tentacle-arms protruding from their fleshy bodies, the arms were too soft and weak to be useful for locomotion; instead, Clamfolk used water jets similar to those of some cephalopods to essentially "levitate" through the oceans at will. Since nutrients could be filtered out of the water they jetted through their bodies this way, Clamfolk rarely needed to eat in the normal sense, though after particularly strenuous activity it was not uncommon to see a Clamfolk pursue some krill or other tiny food-animals. Finally, unlike the other sentient mollusks of the Taeran seas, Clamfolk were hermaphroditic, with each individual having both male and female sex organs to help propagate the species. Clamfolk eggs were laid inside rocky-looking sacs, hatched after a seven-month incubation period, and grew their first shells about six months after hatching. Clamfolk young took approximately 20 years to reach maturity, and their lifespan was comparable to that of humans and Merfolk. Relations: Clamfolk carefully maintained good relations with all their neighbors and contacts, as best they could; however, evil-aligned races typically took advantage of their instinct for appeasing and retreating from persistent enemies to get better bargains from them (especially more of the unique Rainbow Pearls). In the end, this instinct proved to be the Clamfolk's undoing, when one enemy decided to simply exterminate them instead of bargain with them (see below). Alignment: Clamfolk were by and large Neutral, staying out of conflicts whenever possible and seeking to live in balance with nature and their fellow sea-dwellers. Religion: The Clamfolk mainly followed racial aspects of Marna, Initia, and Methus, but individuals among them were known to follow virtually all of the other gods. Language: Clamfolk spoke their own language which consisted of sounds produced by special modulation of their water jets and the tubes that produced them. Vertebrate races found those sounds virtually impossible to duplicate without magic or psionic powers, but they could and did learn to understand the Clamfolk tongue even though they couldn't normally speak back. Clamfolk also took care to learn the languages of the races around them, to aid in bargaining, and could (with some difficulty) mimic the sounds of most undersea languages. Height: 70 + 2d10 inches. Weight: 450 + 6d10 pounds. Starting Age: 15 + 1d6 years. Maximum Age: 75 + 2d20 years. Doom: The Clamfolk propensity for retreating and appeasement did not save them from the fury of the Shakti, who cared nothing for the pleas of the shell-people, and only wanted to eat their succulent flesh and use their pretty pearls to decorate their dark temples. Fresh off their total victory over the Kelpfolk, the Shakti decided to turn next to their second-favorite prey, and continue their cleansing of the oceans. Constantly hunted by the Shakti, the Clamfolk found no final refuge, and the Massacre of Dark Reef in 3619 was the end of them.
Frond/ Kelpfolk	Overview/History: Personality: Physical Description: Relations: Alignment: Religion: Language: Height: Male: 65 + 1d20 inches; Female: 65 + 1d20 inches. Weight: Male: 120 + 2d12 pounds; Female: 120 + 2d12 pounds. Starting Age: 20 + 1d12 years. Maximum Age: 200 + 1d100 years. Doom: The tranquility of the peace-loving Fronds aroused the ire of the vile Shakti, who considered the existence of such a "weak" species to be an insult to their vision of a sea as a hunter's paradise. Therefore, the Shakti chieftess Nemargo led her people in their first campaign of actual genocide, against the Kelpfolk, starting in 3516. It took a long time for the Shakti to find and destroy all of the Kelpfolk seeds, but the shark-folk were nothing if not fanatically determined, and the last Frond seedlings were slaughtered in 3601.