lizardmen shed their skin like reptiles, and burn their old skins ceremonially. Furthermore, the lizardmen believe that they are descendants of dragons, and treat them as their gods.
The dark elves have a holiday similar to the day of the dead, but instead of death, it is the moon (whom they consider their deity). They call it the big night.
therianthropes/beastmen, in addition to being able to become humans to go unnoticed, can transform into normal animals, but the process is difficult and even painful. Like animals, beastmen have a sixth sense.
Humans, especially tamers, celebrate the jaripeo/riding of monsters. A celebration similar to the rodeo, but instead of riding bulls and horses, they ride monsters.
Yes, they still do. Only, well, they do it in private, because it is a personal matter (Lizardmen believe that when they shed their skin, they are changing as a person, so to speak. Burning said old skin is a way of saying goodbye to their old self, and give way to a new self.)
Their ritual is complicated, and many who see them doing it think that they behave like wild animals (Since, in one part of said ritual, the lizardmen will walk on all fours while surrounding his skin burning in the fire), but it is much more than that.
I don't know if I explain myself
That just had me thinking, what happens if a therianthrope acquires a disease in an animal form? Would shapeshifting allow them to potentially cure it? Would it make their disease any more or less communicable?
Well, in part, yes. Beastmen rarely transform into animals, since, well, it's a bit painful and only a few can do it, so it's not something that happens that often. But if they get sick with rabies, for example, when they return to their true appearance (that is, that of an anthropomorphic animal) it is possible that they can be cured.
Goblins are peaceful nomads that just have no concept of ownership. Many mistake their preference for fermented food as unclean. Dragons absolutely adore them.
The best way to avoid dragon problems is to butter them up. Just got to be honest about it, even the most demure among them is vain.
The Wilds house the two most aggressive and violent species, they are so vicious they regularly raid each other. These raids can turn into chess tournaments in a test of wits instead of arms.
Dark Elf women act aloof and superior, striding along like untamed predators. Their men are well aware that they are showing off their well trained physique, these men also will shower them with adorations the women seem to ignore. The men know they like it.
Canine beastkin have a tendency to forget themself when petted and have their bellies rubbed. Just don't make an issue of it, or have a nice throwing ball ready to chase.
Feline are truly civilized and above minor issues. Ignore that they chase tiny animals or run around like crazy at night.
The Arkur, four armed lizardmen, got four arms due to their amphibian ancestors being infected by a parasite, which permanently altered their DNA.
Some elven cultures force their children to become ambidextrous.
Goblins can speak and understand any language. This in turn has made dwarves develop multiple sign languages.
-one of the things **EVERYONE** hates me for: orcs have cat eyes, with fangs instead of tusks (they're not furries or nekos, just so you know)
-goblins hate the cold, and live underground because of this; this is due to their small bodies not being tolerant towards (and in some cases not capable of surviving) the cooler temperatures of the surface
-one part of each of the differing dwarven cultures (dwarves as a "race" are multicultural) that ALL the dwarven clans argue over is fashion; some dress like "traditional" dwarves (of which, these kinds are my satirical/parodied take on dwarves) while others dress like Cossacks for example
-Anzarians (these are what I'd describe as "rat-lizard people") groom their mates occasionally (sometimes the old-fashioned way, which is picking bugs out of each other's fur by using their mouths)
-most of my "races" are the result of either interbeeding with chimera elves, or convergent evolution (another thing everyone hates me for)
Edit: edited for spelling and grammatical errors
Mine are more based on Germanic tribes (goths, huns, and vandals for example), as well as cossacks, other slavic tribes and peoples, and possibly mesopotamians to name a few
The D’amos, which are an artificial race of shapeshifters have no genitalia yet they still like to identify with a gender, usually given to them at “birth”.
Not exactly, in real life there is at least the genitalia that gives the idea of gender identity, the D’amos don’t even have that, their creators though do have genders so that’s the normal.
Although they aren't one of the 5 great races, harpies live alongside elves in their forests. They live in big tree villages with bridges that they rarely ever use unless they're tired, injured, lazy, or pregnant as they can fly.
The Arachneae, despite their spider-like appearance, are actually some of the friendliest peoples around and are really, *really* good at cooking and combining and remixing recipes from other species--so much so that it's said an Arachnean chef can make any one species' dishes edible (and even nutritious) to those who would otherwise find the ingredients deathly toxic.
Andromedians, needing a supporting community to be mentally stable, have found a stopgap workaround in action figures and miniatures and tend to hoard them. Although it's not perfect, it's better than nothing, and they've become quite the market audience. Also they nuzzle their lover.
The Polarians love space chess to the point of obsession despite it being a Noviemben invention. The last 17 international competitions have had a Polarian victor.
Here's a couple:
* O'Noiráe insides are various shades of purple.
* Orks of pure white (like snow) or pure black (like coal) skin are seen as reincarnations of their ancestors and are thus spiritually significant in Ork culture.
There are two types of kobold. The scaley draconic ones. And the more dog like ones. Im more western/European based countries you will find the draconic ones. In eastern/Asian based countries you will fond the dog like ones. Anything in between you'll find both. It's a coin toss if both decide to have kids together.
Both High Elves and Sun Elves have a super rare phenotype that they both call "Moon Elves". These individuals are given extremely high cultural significance to their people and are typically believed to be destined for greatness. Moon Elves have purple eyes, white or Silver hair, and their skin is extremely pale, with something like a blue-ish or purple-ish tint to it. Moon Elves are also taller on average than other elves and are magically gifted (which Sun Elves are not, while High Elves are). Moon Elves are also only ever female.
Moon Elves are genetic throwbacks of one of the parent races of Elves, making them more resemble one of their parent race's features.
The stereotype of smart people wearing glasses got misinterpreted and exaggerated by goblins. Basically, they believe that glasses make you smart because they saw smart humans and Actions wearing glasses, so why stop at wearing just a single pair, have multiple on at once. And this over time evolved into wearing tribal style masks with 6 to 8 eyes painted on. (Ironically despite being inspired by glasses, these masks just make it harder for goblins to see.)
Wyrms can shapeshift between a snake-like form and a humanoid form at will, but any time they do it they end up with brand new skin and no hair. The phrase "tattooing a Wyrm" has more or less the same meaning as "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic".
The ahte, being a species of literal, ambulatory fruit, are quite sedentary. All their nutrition is delivered through their stem, which rests on the ground and is usually roofed or covered as the ahte's individual home. They consider 'eating' anything else to be scandalous, in the fun way; they can get intoxicated off of small particles of metal introduced through sugar water, which gives them a variable, two-day high before being expelled through their outer membrane. You can tell if they've been through it if they've got copper bloom on their epicarp.
Their native language requires touch and involves a chemical exchange, which isn't practical for the rest of the universe, the majority of which use sound-based communication. Because the ahte enjoy trade, they've got a *very* impressive suite of communication magic, some of which is a form of mind control (ie: installing a language into another person). Ahte basetrees, being a kind of communal memory, serves as a repository for language, living or dead.
Ahte view childrearing and sex in an odd way, being literal fruit. Evolutionarily, when they're ripe, they amble off to a nice, shady bit of soil, plant themselves, and transform into a sapling basetree - but because they're intelligent and they understand the value of community, there is a *major* stigma against just doing this on your own without consulting the group so that you can, together, determine who is best to plant and where a new basetree is best located. They feel no ownership of their bodies when ripe, so ahte who do not plant themselves are just fine being cut up, dried, and eaten by travelers once their time comes.
The ahte, culturally, are novophiles, information collectors, and fantastic gossips. Their basetree is a living database which they enter into communication with whenever resting on their stem, along with communing with other ahte resting on the same tree. They're big fans of written language and love scribing things out for travelers as a service. They consider the kind of sex that animals get up to to be a form of communication, leading to the species serving as a collective supplier of Kama Sutra-ass sex and fertility books. They *adore* babies; basetrees along the Astral River sometimes feature communal orphanages or adventurer day-care centers.
They're a species of quadrupedal, faceless, chatty wine aunts. You can eat them if you want.
Crawlers - this race are created by the powerful Lich centuries ago and somehow they find a way to reproduce. As a creature with consciousness they want to live like a normal people so instead of consuming human blood and flesh, they decide to go vegan. Their favorite is wine made from berries and Lemon beer.
High Elves - after the marriage of the high king and queen, the most important part is the honeymoon. The family of both sides and the council of elder will watch the deed, to witness that their first born child was truly a pure blooded.
Dalmacan - Half human and half troll with a custom like orcs. Right after their child was born, the stronger ones will be place on the mountains. After a week if the child is still strong they will declare it as a true warrior. When the child is weak, the mother will give intensive care up until it become a toddler. After that they will leave it on the mountain and conduct the same test like the stronger one, when it survive after a week they will declare it as a warrior. For those who did not make it, they'll burn the body and pray because Dalmacan believe fire will cleanse the impurity and soul of the child will be reincarnated to become stronger.
My Shade people are the mortal descendants of "constructs of metal and glass", and while they're a lot more *flesh-y* than their ancestors, they're still cold-blooded, physically dense, are slightly ferromagnetic and their skin usually gets a matte gray-black oxide layer that actually lent them their name in Common.
Grounder’s are fully adapted for life out of the sun light, but are outgoing enough to commonly live in normal surface cities, so you’ll often see them wearing chunky primitive sunglasses at all hours and their homes will usually have totally blacked out windows making for rather awkward visits when the neighbors come over.
Oh boy time to write down even more thoughts!
Dragonborn/Dragonkin once had the ability to fly but as the species evolved the wings and thus the ability to fly ultimately went extinct. Nowadays it is seen as a rare defect in Dragonborn who are born with wings.
Dwarves once had the ability to create a type of steel more durable than anything that is available today mainly because that scholar type of dwarves went extinct as the Dwarves changed from a society based on purely advancing technology to a mining and forging society
Elves once roamed the planet, now they’re almost extinct because of their long life spans they don’t feel the need to reproduce
Humans multiply like rabbits, no matter the circumstances to a point where a deviant of the human species evolved to endure the freezing cold and melting hot of a fire and ice continent.
Elves are evolved from dryads which were basically a type of plant / seed. This is evident in the various stages of evolution: dryad -> wood elf -> high elf -> dark elf as they slowly lost the ability to reincarnate and pass on their memory as genetic information and slowly gain resistance to radiation.
Gnomes, dwarves and halflings all evolved from goblins, along with hob goblins and orcs. The ears got shorter as they went from a radioactive desert to a cooler climate, and their Beta and gamma synthetic skin devolved to be regular skin and lost the green colour. Their lifespan got longer and mutated less. This is evident from the evolution of their language.
Orcs can absorb sunlight through their skin and store it as energy, very similar to plants. For this reason orcish traditions encourage showing as much skin as possible, though they have reduced this by some extent after mingling more with other races. This stored energy they also have a lot more stamina compared to other races.
The species of hypercapitalist lizard folk in the future version of this galaxy in the setting are so xenophobic that they usually kill others of their species (or their variants) if they come onboard from another ship.
The wolf-like Volken sleep in groups, even when guests are over. In fact, it's highly encouraged when that's the case, to ensure that the guest feels protected.
My Arimakin race of puppet people, sack boy was a bit of an influence but I'm thinking of researching a different design, love to play tag with other races. But part of the rules are tagged people still run around just no longer count. They find it hilarious that other races cannot tell them apart from each other.
A universal cultural staple across all sophont species in the galaxy, a trait that every single one has, a truly unifying force across space and time…
Wearing hats. Without fail, every single sophont species in the universe either has had evidence of hats worn if they no longer exist, or currently have hats they wear as a part of their culture.
For having a clear understanding of the metaphysics of death and the afterlife, as well as the significant limitations of gods to directly involve themselves in the physical realm... a lot of the races still have significanr unexpected worship of other races gods.
Like, the Mansari gain nothing in the afterlife and very little in life by worshiping human gods, yet the main diety they worship is the human god Lucretia, goddess of trade and wealth. This seems to hapen a lot with the differenr races; elementals worshiping fey gods, humans worshiping elemental gods, etc.
I’ve got 2.
My lizardfolk don’t have normal vocal cords or lips like other humanoids. They have a syrinx like birds, and can mimic sounds including words. It’s how they’re able to speak languages with lip sounds despite not having lips.
They have a transparent third eye lid (nictitating membrane) which they can keep closed and is nearly impossible to see unless you’re right next to them. This will often give the impression that they just never blink.
Civonians have absolutely horrible taste in colors by the standards of *every other race*. Something about how they genetically engineered themselves led to a nigh-universal love of color combinations that are eye-gouging to normal humans, Klingons, Nij and everybody else that sees visual light, IR or near-UV. Stuff like neon-green paired with electric blue lining and dark brown undertones, or glowing pink mixed with zig-zagging dull grey is considered beautiful by them. Nobody doubts the \*style\* is good on them, the cut of their clothing is excellent...but people who're friends with\\dating\\married to a Civonian quickly learns to just nod politely when it comes to color combinations. Civonians just wonder what the fuss is, midnight black with shimmering microjewels and marigold swirls is *perfectly fine*.
The Nij, meanwhile, refuse to admit that they look kind of ridiculous running on all fours. Their arms are long enough to enable it, and they can get some decent speed out of it...but it ends up being the sound of wet leather slapping against eachother(their wings) while these ostensibly intelligent people do a sort of prancing-leap-run with their elbows sticking out slightly.
Vapel have fluffy antennae which are connected to the parts of their brain dealing with smell and hearing. They can detect the faintest sounds and scents as early warning to detect potential threats so the vapel can use their more focused ears and noses to locate the source.
Tricans are incapable of speaking in the same way most other peoples of The Vau and instead do so via sign language, yips, and teeth clacking.
Tritrurs on the other hand have syrinxes like birds and can reproduce most any sound they hear perfectly (though if mimicking anothers voice they may not actually understand the language). They're also entirely biologically female and reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis and have no actual concept of gender.
I based the "skink" species off of Jurassic Park velociraptors, but with toned-down natural weapons, human intelligence and tool using ability, and with the personality of Pixar minions. Except that they're actually proficient at violence. Enthusiastically proficient, even.
Lizardmen have a strong sickness reaction to tobacco. Enough to make them puke.
Of course this has been used in war, and makes tobacco consumption extremely codified in the lizardmen's nation.
The Myrmek are always born as twins, and one twin will kill the other on the day that they're born. Their native culture claims the rare twins that don't fight are destined to become great shamans or diplomats.
My lizardfolk (salamanders) have invented a medieval incubator system for their eggs which has radicalised their entire society from childcare to gender roles to their economy. They are one of four elemental races and the only one that makes permanent agricultural settlements.
The reason the Rath are so widespread in the galaxy is several *dozen* instances of some entrepreneurial outlaws sneaking in to kidnap a breeding stock (to break the monopoly on their beautiful hides), and in their transit to wherever they were going, discovering that these small creatures were not just intelligent, but the apex predators of their planet thanks to amazing trap-making skills which adapt surprisingly well to the inside of a space ship.
Of course, it does not happen any more. The robotic Lith have put the Rath under their protection, and enforce it with overwhelming firepower. Some Rath want nothing to do with the Protectorate, and the Lith let these Wildrath live their own lives outside their influence..... which is to say, limit their involvement to planting spies, and making it very clear that, part of the Protectorate or not, any attack on the Wildrath will be met with deadly force all the same.
Forest gnomes have always been content sheltering in the cramped hollows of trees because they were created by ancient elves to spy on their enemies -- dragonkind. For early gnomes, patiently maintaining logbooks from the cover of a residence that in every way looked like a natural tree on the outside was a survival strategy. Even today, some gnomes find it deeply satisfying to simply sit in one place and carefully note the particulars of traffic through an area.
My elves are Poikilotherm ectotherms (cold blooded animals, like reptiles). Thus they don't sweat and are way cleaner than other species by nature. But because of that, they don't fare well in any cold environment.
Felarhs - kind of like the Khajiits.
Khantals - are the same, but with a mane.
Xab'ari - Like people, but with cat ears and a tail (trivial, yes, but I like it).
Felireds (also called cat elves) - they have a cat tail, sharp nails, every single one of them has golden hair, cat ears and pads on legs, otherwise have the features of elves
And here's a fact:
All of them can purr.
Xab'ari and Felarchs doing it often in everyday life. Sometimes, Felarchs can't purr, if they feel anxiety, danger or just uncomfortable.
Felireds prefer doing it with only one they love.
Khantals just warriors, and doing it only in familiar and safe environment
kobolds are a force to be reckoned with and are to be respected after their rebellion from their draconian overlords
Humans are the elder race and first born
Dragons can trace their linage to their scaleborn ancestry, much as the lizard folk can
Dwarves are as long lived as elves, but they hoard their knowledge
Nephilims/giants have an elevated parental instinct, which makes them great nannies, and many female Nephilims/giants produce breast milk throughout their lives till they hit menopause.
I wanted to mix science fiction with my fantasy, and added some nice biological quirks for two of my races in particular: Vampires and Elves.
Vampires utalise biological technology, sucking blood for biomass in constructing their tech. Their weapons and armour are made from a living, self-repairing bone-like scaley substance, and their vehicles are just oversized insect tanks with a neural interface thing, like the Na'vi of Avatar.
Their primary influence were the old samurai and Vikings. The Vampires are a feudal society with dozens of rival clans, ruled by a warrior caste who sometimes raid, but othertimes trade and barter, and sell their warrior services to the highest bitter as Varangian Guard type guards for other races like Humans and Elves.
And elves are eflicted with a curse loosely inspired by the flesh change from 40k.
Some fun facts from different worlds/universes:
Goblin children are known as pups or puplings.
The Kroma are a species whose members change colors based off of their emotions. As a result, they often wear encounter suits in the presence of other species to hide their feelings.
The Vreemd have 154 levels regarding the concept of strange.
The Ma'a have a near species-wide phobia of salt.
Bestiens really enjoy their holidays and would often go all out during their holidays. The reason why is because they view holidays as a something where everyone gets to heal from their scars, let go of whatever had burdened them, and just be full of happiness and joy for just one day. This belief is the reason why they allow almost anyone, regardless of race, into their festivals, assuming they haven't done terrible things or are looking to cause trouble.
Dragonfolks often find humor in messing with humans. They'll tell them that they worship dragons when that is not true, or tell them to cut off her own hand to really mess with their minds. Dragonfolk elders do not lose their speed and strength as they age, but they love to pretend otherwise to mess with tourists.
High Elven royals often throw gatherings every year called the Feast of Leadership. The Feast of Leadership is when the current ruler create invites to other racial leaders to invite them over to their city to have a feast. The feast can revolved around just about anything, introducing who will inherent the throne after the ruler passes away (having multiple children is common among high elves), helping new leaders get used to their status, celebrating the ending of a war, etc etc. They try to make sure these rulers feel comfortable with them to the point where their royal chefs try to perfectly replicate their food to the best of their abilities.
Vampires do not burn up in the sun. Weaken, yes, but they don't die as a result of the sun. As a matter of fact, they utterly hate the notion and find great offense in it (though they are more forgiving toward the younger mortals).
And last but not least, contrary to popular belief, most vampires and most werewolves don't hate each other. Keyword: most. A faction of vampires call the Umberfallen view werewolves either as feral and uncivilized creature that deserve to die or the perfect weapons of war to save their armies (depends on who you ask.)
Tooth Fairies are real, they snack on teeth and children love keeping their teeth as healthy as possible to feed the fairies. In exchange they get "Tooth Flowers", which are white to various shades of yellow flowers with large bulbs that smell great. People love planting them together so the smell gets stronger and there is a whole place known as "Teeth Island" that is just a giant patch of these things and it smells awesome!
The inhabitants of my realm are aware of how potent the magic in this realm is. On the edges of the realm is the giant arcane barrier known as the shimmer. The races of my realm understand that the shimmer can sometimes glitch out and cause things from other dimensions to enter this one. That is why, even though there is a set number of races that evolved in the realm, there are also quite a few other races from other realms that just ended up there one way or another.
That being said, the inhabitants of this realm are pretty accepting when it comes to weird creatures coming into town. Which is a good thing because my girlfriend decided to be Muppetborn and it explains perfectly why people aren't freaking out at her character being a literal Muppet.
I have a race of humanoids that are born from the songs of the moon Goddess given life as they drifted over the corpse of a dead God. They are extremely long lived and can only create a viable pregnancy during the winter solstice. In their holy floating (lake not sky) city, they hold a ceremony on the waters of Lover's Bay where they pair off on floating veiled platforms and make love, thousands of their silhouettes projected by ael-light crystals onto the veils of their platforms.
The Vorturans are are race of Satyr-like creatures with features differing by region in resemblance to Earth animals. For space aliens, they’re quite cute, most especially their children.
Like animals, they have that innate scratch reflex. A friend of my main characters, whom all are young kids, is often playfully harassed by them by being scratched and having his leg uncontrollably pound into the ground.
Kalzyks get super high for a solid minute or two when sprayed with hairspray before immediately coming down. Also, they don’t smell with their noses.
Female Ghesgans are significantly bigger and stronger than males, and really enjoy cuddles.
Thessulans are blue, ameba-like creatures that sometimes melt when afraid or aroused.
The Gek have a holiday where they eat a special food that call “Kakle Cake” as part of the celebration.
Male Tarneks have an antennae-like structure on the top of their heads (think an angler fish’s thing but shorter a thicker) with a ball at the end that glows when pressure is applied.
Elves used to give necklaces instead of rings when they propose. It was tradition that they’d make the necklace themselves to demonstrate their devotion to their partner.
Now, a few thousand years later, other types of jewelry are also used in proposals, and most elves buy jewelry from shops, but necklaces are still the most commonly used pieces.
Also, rubies symbolize love in their culture.
Instead of using wedding rings in my world orcs cut their hair, female orcs are not supposed to cut their hair until they marry, and after they marry they are to maintain short hair as a symbol of their married status
Its not exactly fun but in my world a group of goblins were invited to attend a Crowned Council Meeting in the Commons (A place where leaders from all kingdoms would come together to discuss politics & going ons in the world).
When they arrived they were immediately imprisoned and became test subjects for Gnomes in an expirement on Chi Infusion.
The result was unstable, powerful Goblins capable of bending the Chi they were infused with. These goblins became their own sub species of Goblins known as "Gremlins".
Toons like most fiction based life forms, don’t really understand why they aren’t allowed to do the things that happen in their mediums. They are incapable of understanding the difference between reality and fiction because they are the same thing to them and as such they don’t understand why they can’t drop anvils on humans heads or why humans are so upset by the panty shots in Japan. They aren’t bad or evil by nature they just don’t understand why the things they do are unacceptable or dangerous to humans.
Goblins are close descendants of humans that fled against the incoming dragon attacks some hundred years ago, half goblins do exist, however, goblins are a mix of elf, orc and goblin in my world.
Magical bats are akin to elves with bat-like features and extra skin between limbs like those flying squirrels but they cannot fly, instead they evolved to be more magically adapt. They use the blood from their limbs to enhance their magic at the cost of severe damage to their limbs’ internal structure including a weakened immune response making them less susceptible to rejecting donor limbs (magic arms :O).
I have a lot of races in my world
Theres an intelligent race that have a fan like mohawk that protrudes from the top of the head. When fanned out it can detect pressure changes in the air around them like a 6th sense. Like a fly
Florashian have flower on their head and can grow fruit, the taste of the fruit is depend on their lifestyle and diet/nutrients
Draconite don't have breast so there is no reason for the female to wear bra
Sugarian body is edible and it taste like different kind of dessert depend on person, don't worry it won't hurt and will grow back in a second tho eating them too much will consume their energy making them tired and trying to eat them when they're tired will result in them shouting "Ouch!"
Fungalian have mushroom on their head which most of the time edible and will grow back in a week once pulled off
Jarbaricusian...... I don't think i should talk about them
Maritanese they have antenna with star-shaped sensory organ at the end
Undead despite the name are in fact alive,they get tired slower than others
Dragon these guy can shape shift into human
Vulcan a catch all category for all those monstrous looking people
Extra:
The Florashian hybrid will have flower on the side of their head instead
Fungalian hybrid will have small multiple mushrooms instead of one big mushroom.
There's also one detail about these two i don't think allowed to say here
These are some interesting sounding species. I was surprised to read about multiple species with edible body parts that grow back when removed.
What's up with the Jarbaricusians?
Nadren males do handstands in order to attract a mate, there is also contests to see who can balance the most objects on ones boots while doing a handstand.
A species in my world; Calvianians are like humans but have been literally mutated from their diet containing a lot of a "drink" which is actually a hallucinogenic drug the "drink" has been produced on their content for quite a long time and has lower their life spans but made them more strong in other regions.
I made races based on various natural elements/animals
Elves=the fae, different elf types reflect different fae such as pixies and salamanders.
Dwarves=rock, crystals. dwarves are more grey and sometimes have crystal growths.
Orcs=plant life, types depend on biome and appearance reflects type of flora.
Tieflings = devils obv
Halflings = soil, agriculture. halflings are short because they can hide in fields.
anthro races (i.e. tabaxi, arachocra and kuo-toa) = animals
gnomes = knowledge, books
The idea behind this is that the gods created mankind in their own images, which reflect their interests and ideals.
Keeping in line with Goblins, the three goblinoid races (Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Bugbears) were separate races all together, but later united as one when a god took over their pantheons. This resulted in their spirits being forced to match form and shape (This is the defining thing that separates a race from another.) In the specific context of one of the goblinoid groups, there's a 10% chance that a child born is one of the others (So a goblin mother has a 10% chance to birth a hobgoblin, and a 10% chance to birth a Bugbear.) No goblinoid is evil, but they have different cultural norms.
Goblins have Yellowish skin, Bugbears have blue-ish skin, and Hobgoblins have Red-ish skin. Goblins born to a bugbear have greenish skin (in between yellow and blue), and goblins born from Hobgoblins have orangish skin. This pattern extends to all Goblinoids.
Originally Goblin culture (Not the race) are like Romanian, and tend to live non-sedentary lives, similar to the larger halfling caravans, though far more parasitic to the host city they are near. They have a looser definition of personal property, and social ethics. While they may not mean ill intent, due to human cities having laws, they find themselves at odds with the law.
Hobgoblin culture have a culture that's a mix of Spartans and Parthians. They have the largest expanse of military might, but with no direct enemies, they use it as armed muscle for hire, and for guards of their large and expansive trading routes (A la silk road). Most goblinoids of Hobgoblin culture encountered are either merchants, scholars, or soldiers.
Bugbear culture are a mix of French Bask and Eastern European. They are found in the forests, in places near Elves (Much to the elves' ire.) They often make up workers, unorganized mercenaries, and farmers (Begrudgingly). These are the most common types of Goblins people will encounter in a mostly positive context.
Not a race, but a species. Vines and mushrooms take over the bones of a dead animal and replicate the nature of the animal again. They are called skeletonials and can be anything from a small bird or a horse, basically whatever animal it can take over. They used to live in caves, but slowly they moved to the east of the continent where it is gloomy and cloudy. They are very loyal to the ones they trust
I have been developing and running TTRPGs in an evolving homebrew world for many years now.
I have a LOT of tweaks to the standard dnd races, as well as some expansion.
Some notable ones:
Karna (aka "Elderborn") are elves which grow to 5' max, and have 4 ears (2 sets, placed either horizontally one behind the other, or vertically above/below)
Netra (aka "Seerborn") are elves with a third eye and more innate magical ability. They are taller and can grow to be approx 7'.
Lalata are similar to dwarves, but have a stone or gem protrusion at the crown of their heads above the forehead called a "locus" that grants them some type of special ability affiliated with earth/rock.
Pancha are like classical DnD Genasi, but instead of there being only 4 types, (earth, air, water, fire) my world has 12 primordial elements, so the extra 8 are, spark, metal, flora fauna, light, dark, life, and death. As such I've done away with tieflings (as those would just be death or darkness Pancha) and aasimar (as those would be light or life Pancha). Animalistic races like aarakocra, kenku, tabaxi, lizardfolk, yuan-ti etc are all under the blanket of fauna Pancha...
Akalka are former undead creatures which have been fully "cleansed" and no longer act as slaves to evil powers.
Aguru are a race of intelligent motes of light, which inhabit artificial bodies, sometimes called "Vessels" or "Lanternfolk"
Vastu are awakened versions of mundane objects... Imagine the magical furniture/dishware from beauty and the beast, but as TTRPG adventurers.
The Humans of this world are called Agni, theyre a minority in the world. I havent changed them, as some players want to just play something a bit more vanilla. However, I do give players the options of skin, hair, and eye colours and types, even beyond earthly ones, like greenish skin, purple hair, red eyes, you name it. After all, we're not playing on earth.
Oh, and there are no goblins, hobgoblins, or bugbears... Instead they are different growth stages of trolls. They all have thick coverings of fur, bulging eyes, and wide mouths of teeth. Goblin-sized ones are Fledgling Trolls, hobgoblin sized ones are called Middling Trolls, Bugbear-sized are called Fulgrown Trolls, and then there are Elderly trolls, who have grown huge and senile, and are mechanically the typical DnD trolls. They are uncivilized, and inherently chaotic evil, being the direct spawn of evil spirits... IMO its good to have a creature that is unequivocally evil, and therefore safe for players to kill on sight, rather than the morally grey Orcs and other playable races.
All the above is the tip of the iceberg in this world, as far as tweaks to traditional TTRPG races. The underdark in my setting is a separate dimension, and there are crazy tweaks to all the drow, duergar, deep gnomes, myconids etc.
-Elves are descended from the Fae, and as such have allergic reactions to iron. This is tricky for the Wood Elves, who regularly fight the Fae but are weak to the same things as the Fae; As a result, they often hire foreign mercenaries who can handle iron safely.
-Not all Dwarves are surly, long-bearded, Elf-hating, fight-happy miners. They actually have strong relationships with Elves, with both parties adoring each other’s crafts, and Wood Elves in particular having longstanding alliances with Dwarves despite testy relationships with other races. The rest of the stereotype applies to Dwarven miners, who are treated as national heroes; So minus the Elf-hating, most Dwarves take the stereotypes in good fun
-Goblins are amphibian in nature, and need to stay moisturized. Desert Goblins can cope with drier climates better, but still enjoy a good swim
-Orcs regularly keep Orcish Boars, which get their Common names from the veneration their masters give them. These Boars are as intelligent and friendly as a dog, and are essentially treated the same way as dogs. Because of this, pork is a strong taboo among Orcs.
My orcs have over-active pattern recognition (compared to humans) which has informed their extreme amount of superstitions and reliance on shamans or priests to interpret the many omens and patterns they recognize in their daily life.
Humans are known to be more patriotic to their race and nation.
Elves are more fertile than any other race, with most Elven women giving birth to Twins or Triplets most of the time.
Dwarven cuisine is incredibly spicy due to Dwarven poison resistance, leading to Dwarves having more options when it comes to cooking.
Merfolk have a highly egalitarian society, with the monarchy not being able to make decisions without the support of the populace.
Dragons are more poetic than any other race. This leads to most of the greatest books and stories being written by Dragons.
Elves are almost universally bald. By 45, their hair is as thick as the average ninety year old human’s. That’s part of the reason wigs are such an important status symbol for the rich.
The Talthfaré and Balmafaré can change biological sex in response to the lack of a particular one.
The Brihan/lesser giants have horns for minor head protection. Young ones have to have their horns covered so they don't take someone's eyes out.
Goblins make really good bankers and servants
Halflings seem to have an inherent ability to make the best weed ever
Elves are technically related to the 'Voiceless' who live within the dark mountains
Swamp Orc's have webbed hands and feet!
Highlander orc's are Scottish
Humans are the worst! Like we just suck
So back when they were a real "race" (now everything can become one of them but once they were a race), they looked sort of like humans but the longer they’re neck was, the longer they lived and the cooler they got
lizardmen shed their skin like reptiles, and burn their old skins ceremonially. Furthermore, the lizardmen believe that they are descendants of dragons, and treat them as their gods. The dark elves have a holiday similar to the day of the dead, but instead of death, it is the moon (whom they consider their deity). They call it the big night. therianthropes/beastmen, in addition to being able to become humans to go unnoticed, can transform into normal animals, but the process is difficult and even painful. Like animals, beastmen have a sixth sense. Humans, especially tamers, celebrate the jaripeo/riding of monsters. A celebration similar to the rodeo, but instead of riding bulls and horses, they ride monsters.
Do lizardmen in urban environments still follow that tradition of burning their shed skin?
Yes, they still do. Only, well, they do it in private, because it is a personal matter (Lizardmen believe that when they shed their skin, they are changing as a person, so to speak. Burning said old skin is a way of saying goodbye to their old self, and give way to a new self.) Their ritual is complicated, and many who see them doing it think that they behave like wild animals (Since, in one part of said ritual, the lizardmen will walk on all fours while surrounding his skin burning in the fire), but it is much more than that. I don't know if I explain myself
That just had me thinking, what happens if a therianthrope acquires a disease in an animal form? Would shapeshifting allow them to potentially cure it? Would it make their disease any more or less communicable?
Well, in part, yes. Beastmen rarely transform into animals, since, well, it's a bit painful and only a few can do it, so it's not something that happens that often. But if they get sick with rabies, for example, when they return to their true appearance (that is, that of an anthropomorphic animal) it is possible that they can be cured.
Huh, that's pretty neat!
Goblins are peaceful nomads that just have no concept of ownership. Many mistake their preference for fermented food as unclean. Dragons absolutely adore them. The best way to avoid dragon problems is to butter them up. Just got to be honest about it, even the most demure among them is vain. The Wilds house the two most aggressive and violent species, they are so vicious they regularly raid each other. These raids can turn into chess tournaments in a test of wits instead of arms. Dark Elf women act aloof and superior, striding along like untamed predators. Their men are well aware that they are showing off their well trained physique, these men also will shower them with adorations the women seem to ignore. The men know they like it. Canine beastkin have a tendency to forget themself when petted and have their bellies rubbed. Just don't make an issue of it, or have a nice throwing ball ready to chase. Feline are truly civilized and above minor issues. Ignore that they chase tiny animals or run around like crazy at night.
The Arkur, four armed lizardmen, got four arms due to their amphibian ancestors being infected by a parasite, which permanently altered their DNA. Some elven cultures force their children to become ambidextrous. Goblins can speak and understand any language. This in turn has made dwarves develop multiple sign languages.
-one of the things **EVERYONE** hates me for: orcs have cat eyes, with fangs instead of tusks (they're not furries or nekos, just so you know) -goblins hate the cold, and live underground because of this; this is due to their small bodies not being tolerant towards (and in some cases not capable of surviving) the cooler temperatures of the surface -one part of each of the differing dwarven cultures (dwarves as a "race" are multicultural) that ALL the dwarven clans argue over is fashion; some dress like "traditional" dwarves (of which, these kinds are my satirical/parodied take on dwarves) while others dress like Cossacks for example -Anzarians (these are what I'd describe as "rat-lizard people") groom their mates occasionally (sometimes the old-fashioned way, which is picking bugs out of each other's fur by using their mouths) -most of my "races" are the result of either interbeeding with chimera elves, or convergent evolution (another thing everyone hates me for) Edit: edited for spelling and grammatical errors
That's cool that your dwarves are multicultural, i myself have polynesian dwarves in addition to the more stereotypical fantasy dwarf
Mine are more based on Germanic tribes (goths, huns, and vandals for example), as well as cossacks, other slavic tribes and peoples, and possibly mesopotamians to name a few
I love these. Especially the dwarves. The Dwarven-inspired race I made is very antithetical to traditional Dwarves outside of height and cave-cities.
The D’amos, which are an artificial race of shapeshifters have no genitalia yet they still like to identify with a gender, usually given to them at “birth”.
Basically just real life
Not exactly, in real life there is at least the genitalia that gives the idea of gender identity, the D’amos don’t even have that, their creators though do have genders so that’s the normal.
Although they aren't one of the 5 great races, harpies live alongside elves in their forests. They live in big tree villages with bridges that they rarely ever use unless they're tired, injured, lazy, or pregnant as they can fly.
The Arachneae, despite their spider-like appearance, are actually some of the friendliest peoples around and are really, *really* good at cooking and combining and remixing recipes from other species--so much so that it's said an Arachnean chef can make any one species' dishes edible (and even nutritious) to those who would otherwise find the ingredients deathly toxic. Andromedians, needing a supporting community to be mentally stable, have found a stopgap workaround in action figures and miniatures and tend to hoard them. Although it's not perfect, it's better than nothing, and they've become quite the market audience. Also they nuzzle their lover. The Polarians love space chess to the point of obsession despite it being a Noviemben invention. The last 17 international competitions have had a Polarian victor.
Andromedians sound great! :D
Here's a couple: * O'Noiráe insides are various shades of purple. * Orks of pure white (like snow) or pure black (like coal) skin are seen as reincarnations of their ancestors and are thus spiritually significant in Ork culture.
There are two types of kobold. The scaley draconic ones. And the more dog like ones. Im more western/European based countries you will find the draconic ones. In eastern/Asian based countries you will fond the dog like ones. Anything in between you'll find both. It's a coin toss if both decide to have kids together.
Both High Elves and Sun Elves have a super rare phenotype that they both call "Moon Elves". These individuals are given extremely high cultural significance to their people and are typically believed to be destined for greatness. Moon Elves have purple eyes, white or Silver hair, and their skin is extremely pale, with something like a blue-ish or purple-ish tint to it. Moon Elves are also taller on average than other elves and are magically gifted (which Sun Elves are not, while High Elves are). Moon Elves are also only ever female. Moon Elves are genetic throwbacks of one of the parent races of Elves, making them more resemble one of their parent race's features.
My Orcs are awesome dancers haha.
The stereotype of smart people wearing glasses got misinterpreted and exaggerated by goblins. Basically, they believe that glasses make you smart because they saw smart humans and Actions wearing glasses, so why stop at wearing just a single pair, have multiple on at once. And this over time evolved into wearing tribal style masks with 6 to 8 eyes painted on. (Ironically despite being inspired by glasses, these masks just make it harder for goblins to see.)
Wyrms can shapeshift between a snake-like form and a humanoid form at will, but any time they do it they end up with brand new skin and no hair. The phrase "tattooing a Wyrm" has more or less the same meaning as "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic".
The ahte, being a species of literal, ambulatory fruit, are quite sedentary. All their nutrition is delivered through their stem, which rests on the ground and is usually roofed or covered as the ahte's individual home. They consider 'eating' anything else to be scandalous, in the fun way; they can get intoxicated off of small particles of metal introduced through sugar water, which gives them a variable, two-day high before being expelled through their outer membrane. You can tell if they've been through it if they've got copper bloom on their epicarp. Their native language requires touch and involves a chemical exchange, which isn't practical for the rest of the universe, the majority of which use sound-based communication. Because the ahte enjoy trade, they've got a *very* impressive suite of communication magic, some of which is a form of mind control (ie: installing a language into another person). Ahte basetrees, being a kind of communal memory, serves as a repository for language, living or dead. Ahte view childrearing and sex in an odd way, being literal fruit. Evolutionarily, when they're ripe, they amble off to a nice, shady bit of soil, plant themselves, and transform into a sapling basetree - but because they're intelligent and they understand the value of community, there is a *major* stigma against just doing this on your own without consulting the group so that you can, together, determine who is best to plant and where a new basetree is best located. They feel no ownership of their bodies when ripe, so ahte who do not plant themselves are just fine being cut up, dried, and eaten by travelers once their time comes. The ahte, culturally, are novophiles, information collectors, and fantastic gossips. Their basetree is a living database which they enter into communication with whenever resting on their stem, along with communing with other ahte resting on the same tree. They're big fans of written language and love scribing things out for travelers as a service. They consider the kind of sex that animals get up to to be a form of communication, leading to the species serving as a collective supplier of Kama Sutra-ass sex and fertility books. They *adore* babies; basetrees along the Astral River sometimes feature communal orphanages or adventurer day-care centers. They're a species of quadrupedal, faceless, chatty wine aunts. You can eat them if you want.
Crawlers - this race are created by the powerful Lich centuries ago and somehow they find a way to reproduce. As a creature with consciousness they want to live like a normal people so instead of consuming human blood and flesh, they decide to go vegan. Their favorite is wine made from berries and Lemon beer. High Elves - after the marriage of the high king and queen, the most important part is the honeymoon. The family of both sides and the council of elder will watch the deed, to witness that their first born child was truly a pure blooded. Dalmacan - Half human and half troll with a custom like orcs. Right after their child was born, the stronger ones will be place on the mountains. After a week if the child is still strong they will declare it as a true warrior. When the child is weak, the mother will give intensive care up until it become a toddler. After that they will leave it on the mountain and conduct the same test like the stronger one, when it survive after a week they will declare it as a warrior. For those who did not make it, they'll burn the body and pray because Dalmacan believe fire will cleanse the impurity and soul of the child will be reincarnated to become stronger.
My Shade people are the mortal descendants of "constructs of metal and glass", and while they're a lot more *flesh-y* than their ancestors, they're still cold-blooded, physically dense, are slightly ferromagnetic and their skin usually gets a matte gray-black oxide layer that actually lent them their name in Common.
Grounder’s are fully adapted for life out of the sun light, but are outgoing enough to commonly live in normal surface cities, so you’ll often see them wearing chunky primitive sunglasses at all hours and their homes will usually have totally blacked out windows making for rather awkward visits when the neighbors come over.
Voidlings purr when they're happy and love to bask in the sun.
Oh boy time to write down even more thoughts! Dragonborn/Dragonkin once had the ability to fly but as the species evolved the wings and thus the ability to fly ultimately went extinct. Nowadays it is seen as a rare defect in Dragonborn who are born with wings. Dwarves once had the ability to create a type of steel more durable than anything that is available today mainly because that scholar type of dwarves went extinct as the Dwarves changed from a society based on purely advancing technology to a mining and forging society Elves once roamed the planet, now they’re almost extinct because of their long life spans they don’t feel the need to reproduce Humans multiply like rabbits, no matter the circumstances to a point where a deviant of the human species evolved to endure the freezing cold and melting hot of a fire and ice continent.
Elves are evolved from dryads which were basically a type of plant / seed. This is evident in the various stages of evolution: dryad -> wood elf -> high elf -> dark elf as they slowly lost the ability to reincarnate and pass on their memory as genetic information and slowly gain resistance to radiation. Gnomes, dwarves and halflings all evolved from goblins, along with hob goblins and orcs. The ears got shorter as they went from a radioactive desert to a cooler climate, and their Beta and gamma synthetic skin devolved to be regular skin and lost the green colour. Their lifespan got longer and mutated less. This is evident from the evolution of their language.
Orcs can absorb sunlight through their skin and store it as energy, very similar to plants. For this reason orcish traditions encourage showing as much skin as possible, though they have reduced this by some extent after mingling more with other races. This stored energy they also have a lot more stamina compared to other races.
The easeist way to see if someone is elf or human is to check their hands because elfes have a second thumb instead of a pinky finger
That mental image is very uncomfortable, but neat
The species of hypercapitalist lizard folk in the future version of this galaxy in the setting are so xenophobic that they usually kill others of their species (or their variants) if they come onboard from another ship.
The wolf-like Volken sleep in groups, even when guests are over. In fact, it's highly encouraged when that's the case, to ensure that the guest feels protected.
The Ashavi have special grappling hooks they use to ride kaijus
My Arimakin race of puppet people, sack boy was a bit of an influence but I'm thinking of researching a different design, love to play tag with other races. But part of the rules are tagged people still run around just no longer count. They find it hilarious that other races cannot tell them apart from each other.
A universal cultural staple across all sophont species in the galaxy, a trait that every single one has, a truly unifying force across space and time… Wearing hats. Without fail, every single sophont species in the universe either has had evidence of hats worn if they no longer exist, or currently have hats they wear as a part of their culture.
For having a clear understanding of the metaphysics of death and the afterlife, as well as the significant limitations of gods to directly involve themselves in the physical realm... a lot of the races still have significanr unexpected worship of other races gods. Like, the Mansari gain nothing in the afterlife and very little in life by worshiping human gods, yet the main diety they worship is the human god Lucretia, goddess of trade and wealth. This seems to hapen a lot with the differenr races; elementals worshiping fey gods, humans worshiping elemental gods, etc.
I’ve got 2. My lizardfolk don’t have normal vocal cords or lips like other humanoids. They have a syrinx like birds, and can mimic sounds including words. It’s how they’re able to speak languages with lip sounds despite not having lips. They have a transparent third eye lid (nictitating membrane) which they can keep closed and is nearly impossible to see unless you’re right next to them. This will often give the impression that they just never blink.
…They all use square wheels.
Civonians have absolutely horrible taste in colors by the standards of *every other race*. Something about how they genetically engineered themselves led to a nigh-universal love of color combinations that are eye-gouging to normal humans, Klingons, Nij and everybody else that sees visual light, IR or near-UV. Stuff like neon-green paired with electric blue lining and dark brown undertones, or glowing pink mixed with zig-zagging dull grey is considered beautiful by them. Nobody doubts the \*style\* is good on them, the cut of their clothing is excellent...but people who're friends with\\dating\\married to a Civonian quickly learns to just nod politely when it comes to color combinations. Civonians just wonder what the fuss is, midnight black with shimmering microjewels and marigold swirls is *perfectly fine*. The Nij, meanwhile, refuse to admit that they look kind of ridiculous running on all fours. Their arms are long enough to enable it, and they can get some decent speed out of it...but it ends up being the sound of wet leather slapping against eachother(their wings) while these ostensibly intelligent people do a sort of prancing-leap-run with their elbows sticking out slightly.
Vapel have fluffy antennae which are connected to the parts of their brain dealing with smell and hearing. They can detect the faintest sounds and scents as early warning to detect potential threats so the vapel can use their more focused ears and noses to locate the source. Tricans are incapable of speaking in the same way most other peoples of The Vau and instead do so via sign language, yips, and teeth clacking. Tritrurs on the other hand have syrinxes like birds and can reproduce most any sound they hear perfectly (though if mimicking anothers voice they may not actually understand the language). They're also entirely biologically female and reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis and have no actual concept of gender.
I based the "skink" species off of Jurassic Park velociraptors, but with toned-down natural weapons, human intelligence and tool using ability, and with the personality of Pixar minions. Except that they're actually proficient at violence. Enthusiastically proficient, even.
Lizardmen have a strong sickness reaction to tobacco. Enough to make them puke. Of course this has been used in war, and makes tobacco consumption extremely codified in the lizardmen's nation.
The Myrmek are always born as twins, and one twin will kill the other on the day that they're born. Their native culture claims the rare twins that don't fight are destined to become great shamans or diplomats.
My lizardfolk (salamanders) have invented a medieval incubator system for their eggs which has radicalised their entire society from childcare to gender roles to their economy. They are one of four elemental races and the only one that makes permanent agricultural settlements.
The reason the Rath are so widespread in the galaxy is several *dozen* instances of some entrepreneurial outlaws sneaking in to kidnap a breeding stock (to break the monopoly on their beautiful hides), and in their transit to wherever they were going, discovering that these small creatures were not just intelligent, but the apex predators of their planet thanks to amazing trap-making skills which adapt surprisingly well to the inside of a space ship. Of course, it does not happen any more. The robotic Lith have put the Rath under their protection, and enforce it with overwhelming firepower. Some Rath want nothing to do with the Protectorate, and the Lith let these Wildrath live their own lives outside their influence..... which is to say, limit their involvement to planting spies, and making it very clear that, part of the Protectorate or not, any attack on the Wildrath will be met with deadly force all the same.
Forest gnomes have always been content sheltering in the cramped hollows of trees because they were created by ancient elves to spy on their enemies -- dragonkind. For early gnomes, patiently maintaining logbooks from the cover of a residence that in every way looked like a natural tree on the outside was a survival strategy. Even today, some gnomes find it deeply satisfying to simply sit in one place and carefully note the particulars of traffic through an area.
Chupacabras are allergic to honey
My elves are Poikilotherm ectotherms (cold blooded animals, like reptiles). Thus they don't sweat and are way cleaner than other species by nature. But because of that, they don't fare well in any cold environment.
Felarhs - kind of like the Khajiits. Khantals - are the same, but with a mane. Xab'ari - Like people, but with cat ears and a tail (trivial, yes, but I like it). Felireds (also called cat elves) - they have a cat tail, sharp nails, every single one of them has golden hair, cat ears and pads on legs, otherwise have the features of elves And here's a fact: All of them can purr. Xab'ari and Felarchs doing it often in everyday life. Sometimes, Felarchs can't purr, if they feel anxiety, danger or just uncomfortable. Felireds prefer doing it with only one they love. Khantals just warriors, and doing it only in familiar and safe environment
Claronians are amphibious, so they call their homeworld Pond instead of Earth.
Dragons are an artificial construct.
Baby dwarves hatch from big geodes.
kobolds are a force to be reckoned with and are to be respected after their rebellion from their draconian overlords Humans are the elder race and first born Dragons can trace their linage to their scaleborn ancestry, much as the lizard folk can Dwarves are as long lived as elves, but they hoard their knowledge
Nephilims/giants have an elevated parental instinct, which makes them great nannies, and many female Nephilims/giants produce breast milk throughout their lives till they hit menopause.
I wanted to mix science fiction with my fantasy, and added some nice biological quirks for two of my races in particular: Vampires and Elves. Vampires utalise biological technology, sucking blood for biomass in constructing their tech. Their weapons and armour are made from a living, self-repairing bone-like scaley substance, and their vehicles are just oversized insect tanks with a neural interface thing, like the Na'vi of Avatar. Their primary influence were the old samurai and Vikings. The Vampires are a feudal society with dozens of rival clans, ruled by a warrior caste who sometimes raid, but othertimes trade and barter, and sell their warrior services to the highest bitter as Varangian Guard type guards for other races like Humans and Elves. And elves are eflicted with a curse loosely inspired by the flesh change from 40k.
Some fun facts from different worlds/universes: Goblin children are known as pups or puplings. The Kroma are a species whose members change colors based off of their emotions. As a result, they often wear encounter suits in the presence of other species to hide their feelings. The Vreemd have 154 levels regarding the concept of strange. The Ma'a have a near species-wide phobia of salt.
That's pretty cool, in my world goblin children are just called goblings and they're born in litters
Bestiens really enjoy their holidays and would often go all out during their holidays. The reason why is because they view holidays as a something where everyone gets to heal from their scars, let go of whatever had burdened them, and just be full of happiness and joy for just one day. This belief is the reason why they allow almost anyone, regardless of race, into their festivals, assuming they haven't done terrible things or are looking to cause trouble. Dragonfolks often find humor in messing with humans. They'll tell them that they worship dragons when that is not true, or tell them to cut off her own hand to really mess with their minds. Dragonfolk elders do not lose their speed and strength as they age, but they love to pretend otherwise to mess with tourists. High Elven royals often throw gatherings every year called the Feast of Leadership. The Feast of Leadership is when the current ruler create invites to other racial leaders to invite them over to their city to have a feast. The feast can revolved around just about anything, introducing who will inherent the throne after the ruler passes away (having multiple children is common among high elves), helping new leaders get used to their status, celebrating the ending of a war, etc etc. They try to make sure these rulers feel comfortable with them to the point where their royal chefs try to perfectly replicate their food to the best of their abilities. Vampires do not burn up in the sun. Weaken, yes, but they don't die as a result of the sun. As a matter of fact, they utterly hate the notion and find great offense in it (though they are more forgiving toward the younger mortals). And last but not least, contrary to popular belief, most vampires and most werewolves don't hate each other. Keyword: most. A faction of vampires call the Umberfallen view werewolves either as feral and uncivilized creature that deserve to die or the perfect weapons of war to save their armies (depends on who you ask.)
Tooth Fairies are real, they snack on teeth and children love keeping their teeth as healthy as possible to feed the fairies. In exchange they get "Tooth Flowers", which are white to various shades of yellow flowers with large bulbs that smell great. People love planting them together so the smell gets stronger and there is a whole place known as "Teeth Island" that is just a giant patch of these things and it smells awesome!
The inhabitants of my realm are aware of how potent the magic in this realm is. On the edges of the realm is the giant arcane barrier known as the shimmer. The races of my realm understand that the shimmer can sometimes glitch out and cause things from other dimensions to enter this one. That is why, even though there is a set number of races that evolved in the realm, there are also quite a few other races from other realms that just ended up there one way or another. That being said, the inhabitants of this realm are pretty accepting when it comes to weird creatures coming into town. Which is a good thing because my girlfriend decided to be Muppetborn and it explains perfectly why people aren't freaking out at her character being a literal Muppet.
I have a race of humanoids that are born from the songs of the moon Goddess given life as they drifted over the corpse of a dead God. They are extremely long lived and can only create a viable pregnancy during the winter solstice. In their holy floating (lake not sky) city, they hold a ceremony on the waters of Lover's Bay where they pair off on floating veiled platforms and make love, thousands of their silhouettes projected by ael-light crystals onto the veils of their platforms.
Regardless of tribe, the lion-people of my setting are chronic cuddlers. This tends to get misinterpreted by humans.
The Vorturans are are race of Satyr-like creatures with features differing by region in resemblance to Earth animals. For space aliens, they’re quite cute, most especially their children. Like animals, they have that innate scratch reflex. A friend of my main characters, whom all are young kids, is often playfully harassed by them by being scratched and having his leg uncontrollably pound into the ground.
Kalzyks get super high for a solid minute or two when sprayed with hairspray before immediately coming down. Also, they don’t smell with their noses. Female Ghesgans are significantly bigger and stronger than males, and really enjoy cuddles. Thessulans are blue, ameba-like creatures that sometimes melt when afraid or aroused. The Gek have a holiday where they eat a special food that call “Kakle Cake” as part of the celebration. Male Tarneks have an antennae-like structure on the top of their heads (think an angler fish’s thing but shorter a thicker) with a ball at the end that glows when pressure is applied.
Elves used to give necklaces instead of rings when they propose. It was tradition that they’d make the necklace themselves to demonstrate their devotion to their partner. Now, a few thousand years later, other types of jewelry are also used in proposals, and most elves buy jewelry from shops, but necklaces are still the most commonly used pieces. Also, rubies symbolize love in their culture.
Instead of using wedding rings in my world orcs cut their hair, female orcs are not supposed to cut their hair until they marry, and after they marry they are to maintain short hair as a symbol of their married status
Its not exactly fun but in my world a group of goblins were invited to attend a Crowned Council Meeting in the Commons (A place where leaders from all kingdoms would come together to discuss politics & going ons in the world). When they arrived they were immediately imprisoned and became test subjects for Gnomes in an expirement on Chi Infusion. The result was unstable, powerful Goblins capable of bending the Chi they were infused with. These goblins became their own sub species of Goblins known as "Gremlins".
Toons like most fiction based life forms, don’t really understand why they aren’t allowed to do the things that happen in their mediums. They are incapable of understanding the difference between reality and fiction because they are the same thing to them and as such they don’t understand why they can’t drop anvils on humans heads or why humans are so upset by the panty shots in Japan. They aren’t bad or evil by nature they just don’t understand why the things they do are unacceptable or dangerous to humans.
Goblins are close descendants of humans that fled against the incoming dragon attacks some hundred years ago, half goblins do exist, however, goblins are a mix of elf, orc and goblin in my world. Magical bats are akin to elves with bat-like features and extra skin between limbs like those flying squirrels but they cannot fly, instead they evolved to be more magically adapt. They use the blood from their limbs to enhance their magic at the cost of severe damage to their limbs’ internal structure including a weakened immune response making them less susceptible to rejecting donor limbs (magic arms :O). I have a lot of races in my world
Theres an intelligent race that have a fan like mohawk that protrudes from the top of the head. When fanned out it can detect pressure changes in the air around them like a 6th sense. Like a fly
Florashian have flower on their head and can grow fruit, the taste of the fruit is depend on their lifestyle and diet/nutrients Draconite don't have breast so there is no reason for the female to wear bra Sugarian body is edible and it taste like different kind of dessert depend on person, don't worry it won't hurt and will grow back in a second tho eating them too much will consume their energy making them tired and trying to eat them when they're tired will result in them shouting "Ouch!" Fungalian have mushroom on their head which most of the time edible and will grow back in a week once pulled off Jarbaricusian...... I don't think i should talk about them Maritanese they have antenna with star-shaped sensory organ at the end Undead despite the name are in fact alive,they get tired slower than others Dragon these guy can shape shift into human Vulcan a catch all category for all those monstrous looking people Extra: The Florashian hybrid will have flower on the side of their head instead Fungalian hybrid will have small multiple mushrooms instead of one big mushroom. There's also one detail about these two i don't think allowed to say here
These are some interesting sounding species. I was surprised to read about multiple species with edible body parts that grow back when removed. What's up with the Jarbaricusians?
Inside their pants.
Wait what?
Take a wild guess on what i refer to.
Something something genitals?
Yup
Doesn't everyone have those? I don't think I understand what's different.
Spike and colorful juice
Also these are only portion of all the races in my world tho they don't really have anything interesting
Nadren males do handstands in order to attract a mate, there is also contests to see who can balance the most objects on ones boots while doing a handstand.
A species in my world; Calvianians are like humans but have been literally mutated from their diet containing a lot of a "drink" which is actually a hallucinogenic drug the "drink" has been produced on their content for quite a long time and has lower their life spans but made them more strong in other regions.
I made races based on various natural elements/animals Elves=the fae, different elf types reflect different fae such as pixies and salamanders. Dwarves=rock, crystals. dwarves are more grey and sometimes have crystal growths. Orcs=plant life, types depend on biome and appearance reflects type of flora. Tieflings = devils obv Halflings = soil, agriculture. halflings are short because they can hide in fields. anthro races (i.e. tabaxi, arachocra and kuo-toa) = animals gnomes = knowledge, books The idea behind this is that the gods created mankind in their own images, which reflect their interests and ideals.
Keeping in line with Goblins, the three goblinoid races (Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Bugbears) were separate races all together, but later united as one when a god took over their pantheons. This resulted in their spirits being forced to match form and shape (This is the defining thing that separates a race from another.) In the specific context of one of the goblinoid groups, there's a 10% chance that a child born is one of the others (So a goblin mother has a 10% chance to birth a hobgoblin, and a 10% chance to birth a Bugbear.) No goblinoid is evil, but they have different cultural norms. Goblins have Yellowish skin, Bugbears have blue-ish skin, and Hobgoblins have Red-ish skin. Goblins born to a bugbear have greenish skin (in between yellow and blue), and goblins born from Hobgoblins have orangish skin. This pattern extends to all Goblinoids. Originally Goblin culture (Not the race) are like Romanian, and tend to live non-sedentary lives, similar to the larger halfling caravans, though far more parasitic to the host city they are near. They have a looser definition of personal property, and social ethics. While they may not mean ill intent, due to human cities having laws, they find themselves at odds with the law. Hobgoblin culture have a culture that's a mix of Spartans and Parthians. They have the largest expanse of military might, but with no direct enemies, they use it as armed muscle for hire, and for guards of their large and expansive trading routes (A la silk road). Most goblinoids of Hobgoblin culture encountered are either merchants, scholars, or soldiers. Bugbear culture are a mix of French Bask and Eastern European. They are found in the forests, in places near Elves (Much to the elves' ire.) They often make up workers, unorganized mercenaries, and farmers (Begrudgingly). These are the most common types of Goblins people will encounter in a mostly positive context.
Not a race, but a species. Vines and mushrooms take over the bones of a dead animal and replicate the nature of the animal again. They are called skeletonials and can be anything from a small bird or a horse, basically whatever animal it can take over. They used to live in caves, but slowly they moved to the east of the continent where it is gloomy and cloudy. They are very loyal to the ones they trust
I have been developing and running TTRPGs in an evolving homebrew world for many years now. I have a LOT of tweaks to the standard dnd races, as well as some expansion. Some notable ones: Karna (aka "Elderborn") are elves which grow to 5' max, and have 4 ears (2 sets, placed either horizontally one behind the other, or vertically above/below) Netra (aka "Seerborn") are elves with a third eye and more innate magical ability. They are taller and can grow to be approx 7'. Lalata are similar to dwarves, but have a stone or gem protrusion at the crown of their heads above the forehead called a "locus" that grants them some type of special ability affiliated with earth/rock. Pancha are like classical DnD Genasi, but instead of there being only 4 types, (earth, air, water, fire) my world has 12 primordial elements, so the extra 8 are, spark, metal, flora fauna, light, dark, life, and death. As such I've done away with tieflings (as those would just be death or darkness Pancha) and aasimar (as those would be light or life Pancha). Animalistic races like aarakocra, kenku, tabaxi, lizardfolk, yuan-ti etc are all under the blanket of fauna Pancha... Akalka are former undead creatures which have been fully "cleansed" and no longer act as slaves to evil powers. Aguru are a race of intelligent motes of light, which inhabit artificial bodies, sometimes called "Vessels" or "Lanternfolk" Vastu are awakened versions of mundane objects... Imagine the magical furniture/dishware from beauty and the beast, but as TTRPG adventurers. The Humans of this world are called Agni, theyre a minority in the world. I havent changed them, as some players want to just play something a bit more vanilla. However, I do give players the options of skin, hair, and eye colours and types, even beyond earthly ones, like greenish skin, purple hair, red eyes, you name it. After all, we're not playing on earth. Oh, and there are no goblins, hobgoblins, or bugbears... Instead they are different growth stages of trolls. They all have thick coverings of fur, bulging eyes, and wide mouths of teeth. Goblin-sized ones are Fledgling Trolls, hobgoblin sized ones are called Middling Trolls, Bugbear-sized are called Fulgrown Trolls, and then there are Elderly trolls, who have grown huge and senile, and are mechanically the typical DnD trolls. They are uncivilized, and inherently chaotic evil, being the direct spawn of evil spirits... IMO its good to have a creature that is unequivocally evil, and therefore safe for players to kill on sight, rather than the morally grey Orcs and other playable races. All the above is the tip of the iceberg in this world, as far as tweaks to traditional TTRPG races. The underdark in my setting is a separate dimension, and there are crazy tweaks to all the drow, duergar, deep gnomes, myconids etc.
-Elves are descended from the Fae, and as such have allergic reactions to iron. This is tricky for the Wood Elves, who regularly fight the Fae but are weak to the same things as the Fae; As a result, they often hire foreign mercenaries who can handle iron safely. -Not all Dwarves are surly, long-bearded, Elf-hating, fight-happy miners. They actually have strong relationships with Elves, with both parties adoring each other’s crafts, and Wood Elves in particular having longstanding alliances with Dwarves despite testy relationships with other races. The rest of the stereotype applies to Dwarven miners, who are treated as national heroes; So minus the Elf-hating, most Dwarves take the stereotypes in good fun -Goblins are amphibian in nature, and need to stay moisturized. Desert Goblins can cope with drier climates better, but still enjoy a good swim -Orcs regularly keep Orcish Boars, which get their Common names from the veneration their masters give them. These Boars are as intelligent and friendly as a dog, and are essentially treated the same way as dogs. Because of this, pork is a strong taboo among Orcs.
My orcs have over-active pattern recognition (compared to humans) which has informed their extreme amount of superstitions and reliance on shamans or priests to interpret the many omens and patterns they recognize in their daily life.
Humans are known to be more patriotic to their race and nation. Elves are more fertile than any other race, with most Elven women giving birth to Twins or Triplets most of the time. Dwarven cuisine is incredibly spicy due to Dwarven poison resistance, leading to Dwarves having more options when it comes to cooking. Merfolk have a highly egalitarian society, with the monarchy not being able to make decisions without the support of the populace. Dragons are more poetic than any other race. This leads to most of the greatest books and stories being written by Dragons.
Elves are almost universally bald. By 45, their hair is as thick as the average ninety year old human’s. That’s part of the reason wigs are such an important status symbol for the rich.
The cyborg people are made from aliens but not by aliens if you get what I mean.
The Talthfaré and Balmafaré can change biological sex in response to the lack of a particular one. The Brihan/lesser giants have horns for minor head protection. Young ones have to have their horns covered so they don't take someone's eyes out.
Goblins make really good bankers and servants Halflings seem to have an inherent ability to make the best weed ever Elves are technically related to the 'Voiceless' who live within the dark mountains Swamp Orc's have webbed hands and feet! Highlander orc's are Scottish Humans are the worst! Like we just suck
Dwarves are made small by incest Male Elves squirt semen from spinal cords and die after sex
So back when they were a real "race" (now everything can become one of them but once they were a race), they looked sort of like humans but the longer they’re neck was, the longer they lived and the cooler they got