Androids are superficially identical to humans in many ways, and to the uninformed it can be difficult to differentiate the two. In the right light, though, androids’ alien nature is revealed by the metallic sheen in their eyes and the biological, tattoo-like circuitry that riddles their skin. Their bodies are completely artificial, though made of materials that mimic the flexibility, shape, and density of human flesh and bone. Their organs mirror those of humans so well that only by examining the materials and makeup of these systems�which use sheeny oils and polymer alloys rather than blood and marrow�could one guess that their physiology is alien. Androids are roughly the same size as humans; on average, they are 6 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds.
Shamans speak of great forges where androids are “born” from metal wombs and are cut from electrified umbilical cords. Even androids can�t refute or verify such stories, since most who emerge from ruins do so naked and without any memories beyond their initial egress into the wide, unfamiliar world. Their complex design is unlike that of any race known, leading many to suspect that they originated from a distant star system or even another galaxy.
What separates androids from golems and other mindless constructs is that androids are living beings and as such possess souls. Similarly, androids don�t live forever, though barring violence or tragedy their bodies never deteriorate. Rather, an android�s cybernetic mind eventually shuts down and self-restarts after about a century, leaving its body vacant for several weeks as the old soul departs for its final reward in the Great Beyond and a fresh, new soul finds its way into the shell.
d805f2cf9c7f4c2182ab98f8af92ce3e
AndroidRace
A demon who has overcome their evil nature is such a rare occurrence that most people don’t even believe in their existence. The path of ascension is long and thorny: before truly achieving virtue, a demon spends many years in spiritual search and repentance, between good and evil, every moment risking to fall back into the depths of sin. An ascending demon loses most of their demonic powers, which helps them to battle the temptation to return to their old ways, but also leaves them vulnerable to retaliation from other demons, who loathe the idea of a rebellion against evil.
d2f15e42167f4210ac04349329a523b5
AscendingSuccubusRace
Changelings are the offspring of hags and their lovers taken through magic or madness. Dropped off on doorsteps of prospective foster parents, changelings are raised by strangers. Typically tall, slender, dark haired, and attractive, changelings otherwise resemble their fathers’ race. They are always female, and their mismatched colored eyes and abnormally pale skin hint at their true heritage. At puberty, changelings receive “the call,” a hypnotic spiritual voice that beckons them to travel and discover their true origins. Changelings who ignore this call choose their own destiny; those who heed it discover their “mother” and may come into great power by transforming into hags themselves.
bc9b8d879d104455895c98e31f8d8503
ChangelingRace
Cruel and cunning, drow are a dark reflection of the elven race. Also called dark elves, they dwell deep underground in elaborate cities shaped from the rock of cyclopean caverns. Drow seldom make themselves known to surface folk, preferring to remain legends while advancing their sinister agendas through proxies and agents. Drow have no love for anyone but themselves, and are adept at manipulating other creatures. While they are not born evil, malignancy is deep-rooted in their culture and society, and nonconformists rarely survive for long. Some stories tell that given the right circumstances, a particularly hateful elf might turn into a drow, though such a transformation would require a truly heinous individual.
5d357ab2ba684b76b7f13e8f3fe441c4
EbonsDrowRace
Duergar dwell in subterranean caverns far from the touch of light. They detest all races living beneath the sun, but that hatred pales beside their loathing of their surface-dwarf cousins. Dwarves and duergar once were one race, but the dwarves left the deeps for their mountain strongholds. Duergar still consider themselves the only true dwarves, and the rightful heirs of all beneath the world’s surface. In appearance, duergar resemble gray-skinned dwarves, bearded but bald, with cold, lightless eyes. They favor taking captives in battle over wanton slaughter, save for surface dwarves, who are slain without hesitation. Duergar view life as ceaseless toil ended only by death. Though few can be described as anything other than vile and cruel, duergar still value honor and rarely break their word.
ac2584f867f24c8499b8c77572dd4a61
DuergarRace
Descended from humans trapped on the Shadow Plane, fetchlings are creatures of darkness and light intertwined. Generations of contact with that strange plane and its denizens have made fetchlings a race apart from humanity. While fetchlings acknowledge their origins, they exhibit little physical or cultural resemblance to their ancestors on the Material Plane, and are often insulted when compared to humans. Some members of the race also take offense at the name fetchling, as it was given to them by humans who saw them as little more than fetchers of rare materials from the Shadow Plane. Most fetchlings instead prefer to be called kayal, a word borrowed from Aklo that roughly translates to “shadow people” or “dusk dwellers.” Infused with the essence of the Shadow Plane and possessing human blood commingled with that of the Shadow Plane’s natives, fetchlings have developed traits and abilities that complement their native plane’s bleak and colorless terrain. Though most fetchlings treat the Shadow Plane as home, they often trade and deal with creatures of the Material Plane. Some fetchlings go so far as to create enclaves on the Material Plane in order to establish alliances and trade routes in areas where the boundary between the two planes is less distinct. These fetchlings often serve as merchants, middlemen, and guides for races on both sides of the planar boundary.
29454c0ec53946c48cd34bcad4311ab7
FetchlingRace
Unlike the crossbreed aasimars and tieflings, ganzi are mutations caused by generations of exposure to chaotic energies in the Material Plane.
Ganzi share many traits with proteans. They are fluid and flexible, resilient, resistant to the energies of decay and entropy, and can sense the delicate currents of chaos that bind the planes together, alerting them to danger and deception and allowing enterprising ganzi to stir those eddies and rewrite a creature’s fortunes. They also share the proteans’ curiosity and disdain for order, compulsively wandering the world to see what can be seen.
14be0c2967a842febd853380ad785ce5
GanziRace
Goblins are a race of childlike creatures with a destructive and voracious nature that makes them almost universally despised. Weak and cowardly, goblins are frequently manipulated or enslaved by stronger creatures that need destructive, disposable foot soldiers. Those goblins that rely on their own wits to survive live on the fringes of society and feed on refuse and the weaker members of more civilized races. Most other races view them as virulent parasites that have proved impossible to exterminate.
Goblins can eat nearly anything, but prefer a diet of meat and consider the flesh of humans and gnomes a rare and difficult-to-obtain delicacy. While they fear the bigger races, goblins� short memories and bottomless appetites mean they frequently go to war or execute raids against other races to sate their pernicious urges and fill their vast larders.
93fb4931c7b34ec4a023f429e3b16239
EbonsGoblinRace
Fierce and militaristic, hobgoblins survive by conquest. The raw materials to fuel their war machines come from raids, their armaments and buildings from the toil of slaves worked to death. Naturally ambitious and envious, hobgoblins seek to better themselves at the expense of others of their kind, yet in battle they put aside petty differences and fight with discipline rivaling that of the finest soldiers. Hobgoblins have little love or trust for one another, and even less for outsiders. Life for these brutes consists of duty to those of higher station, domination of those below, and the rare opportunities to seize personal glory and elevate their status.
be0a8e971f8e4ab6975154dade7a2446
Hobgoblin
Humans whose ancestry includes beings of elemental fire such as efreet, ifrits are a passionate and fickle race. No ifrit is satisfied with a sedentary life; like a wildfire, ifrits must keep moving or burn away into nothingness. Ifrits not only adore flames, but personify multiple aspects of them as well, embodying both fire’s dynamic, ever-changing energy and its destructive, pitiless nature.
87e8aa20f969479fa73b559c6912fc74
IfritRace
Kuru are red-eyed humanoids often with disturbing tribal tattoos covering their faces. Their jagged teeth appear to have been filed down to points.
While most kuru live in small tribal villages in or around ruins, some choose to abandon their cultic faith and seek adventure beyond the islands from which they hail, though such individuals are extremely rare.
000616ac4bc44e269063215d094cd6ff
KuruRace
For most people, the mongrels are little more than an urban legend. They are believed to be the descendants of those who fought in the First Crusade, when the crusaders had little experience in dealing with the unique hazards the Worldwound presented. As the story goes, during the First Crusade, many unknowingly exposed themselves to fell energies and nightmarish radiations. In the years that followed, a shocking number of children born to the crusaders were hideously deformed. Many of these unfortunate innocents were put to death by overzealous inquisitors or even fellow crusaders, but some parents fled underground to raise their children outside of the light of intolerance.
Whether or not this story is true, the mongrels are quite real, and inhabit the vast underground catacombs and caverns below the cities. Despite their monstrous appearances, mongrels are generally hardworking and peaceful creatures. No two mongrels look the same: each of them usually has characteristics from several different creatures. This strange mixture enforces mongrels’ place away from society, for they are shunned by all who fear their twisted appearance. Mistaken as enemies by all, mongrels prefer to be left alone. A tragically short lifespan limits the creatures’ population growth � mongrels rarely live past 35 years.
f507a86740de40009cbd981c4458d07e
EbonsMongrelRace
The nagaji are a race of ophidian humanoids with scaled skin that mimics the dramatic appearance of true nagas. Like serpents, they have forked tongues and lidless eyes, giving them an unblinking gaze that most other races find unnerving. Their physical forms are otherwise humanlike, raising wary speculation about their origins. It is widely believed that true nagas created them as a servitor race, through crossbreeding, magic, or both, and indeed nagaji revere nagas as living gods. Nagaji often inspire awe and fear among other humanoids, as much for their mysterious ancestry as for their talent for both swords and sorcery.
Bred in the ancient past by nagas seeking a servitor race that combined the loyalty of a slave with the versatility of the human form, the nagaji have long since developed into a vibrant and proud race.
4e6e156b707f47c5993ac9262ca19a56
NagajiRace
Orcs are aggressive, callous, and domineering. Bullies by nature, they respect strength and power as the highest virtues. On an almost instinctive level, orcs believe they are entitled to anything they want unless someone stronger can stop them from seizing it. They rarely exert themselves off the battlefield except when forced to do so; this attitude stems not just from laziness but also from an ingrained belief that work should trickle down through the pecking order until it falls upon the shoulders of the weak. They take slaves from other races, orc men brutalize orc women, and both abuse children and elders, on the grounds that anyone too feeble to fight back deserves little more than a life of suffering. Surrounded at all times by bitter enemies, orcs cultivate an attitude of indifference to pain, vicious tempers, and a fierce willingness to commit unspeakable acts of vengeance against anyone who dares to defy them.
7088a348ef0646dabdb3900fb187fb21
EbonsOrcRace
Rougarous are wolf-headed humanoids who can transform into wolves. While this sometimes confuses others into mistaking a rougarou for a werewolf, these humanoids are not lycanthropes. In fact, most detest werewolves and hunt them mercilessly.
The race isn�t numerous or widespread, and rougarous tend to live in secluded communities. They are very protective of their families and friends, and the communities they form tend to be strict and lawful. In their homeland, rougarous are most plentiful in southern swamps and marshes, where it is believed they originated, but have since spread throughout the rest of the world.
While most of rougarou society is upstanding and trustworthy, as with any group there are some violent and aggressive members. These evil, loner rougarous occasionally form into packs that raid the countryside and prey upon the just and kind. Thankfully, rougarous are generally civilized and loyal, and most are quick to hunt down and punish their feral kin for their foul deeds.
Rougarous age like humans, but they tend to be slightly taller and heavier than typical humans.
3dddde720f8e4cd0a470003c74f25feb
RougarouRace
Mysterious humanoids with pale blue flesh and transparent blood like the waters of a trickling brook, samsarans are ancient creatures even in their youth. A samsaran’s life is not a linear progression from birth to death, but rather a circle of birth to death to rebirth. Whenever a samsaran dies, it reincarnates anew as a young samsaran to live a new life. Her past memories remain vague and indistinct�and each new incarnation is as different a creature and personality as a child is to a parent.
Samsarans appear similar to humans, with dark hair and solid white eyes with no pupils or irises. Skin tones are generally shades of light blue.
Capable of recalling the lessons and failings of their previous incarnations, the samsarans seek to live lives of balance and enlightenment in order to ensure they are reborn upon death to continue their trek through history.
69ad3e90baf7442c9df956170c7206f0
SamsaranRace
Death is more terrifying for those who have the best of life. Many rulers obsess over their mortality, the most brazen turning to the mystical arts, pouring their fears into splendid vessels, fashioning simulacra of themselves to bear the scourge of their god’s judgment. In the mortal world, these icons are nothing but gold with a ruler’s face and name, but in death, they are shabti.
Existing as something between mortal souls, fabricated beings, and true children of the planes, shabti are immortal facsimiles of death-obsessed nobles. They serve out the sentences of their mortal twins, whether it be an infinity of torture or an eternity wandering the planes. Most never emerge from such trials, but some manage to find their own paths upon the planes.
Shabti typically look like idealized humans with perfect physiques and flawless features. They usually stand just over 6 feet tall and weigh between 150 and 210 pounds.
6d12b8e74aac4843aeb29c0edb37e991
ShabtiRace
Skinwalkers resemble humans much of the time, but they possess the uncanny ability to transform into bestial humanoids who combine the most fearsome aspects of flesh and fur.
Most people believe skinwalkers are half-breeds of lycanthropes, or that they share some slight version of the curse of those creatures. Skinwalker shamans say they are chosen by nature or the gods to be a bridge between the world of humanity and the animal world. The truth may lie somewhere between these two ideas. For indeed, skinwalkers are those with a lycanthrope crouching somewhere in the branches of their family tree. These distant progeny of monstrous werewolves and other creatures of the night have special talents unlike those of most civilized peoples, and they arise randomly among remote humanoid populations as well as within their own secretive sects. A pair of humans may give birth to a skinwalker�the dormant lycanthropic ancestry making itself known in a child neither beast nor human�or a pair of skinwalker parents may produce a skinwalker child, though these couplings can sometimes produce human children as well.
0542e029324749cda4453d13b34a31a8
SkinwalkerRace
Human neighbors tell horrific tales of slaughter woven with frightened suspicion when speaking of strix. Strix, however, tell a tale of encroachment and a struggle for land and resources. For ages, humans invaded strix lands fighting bloody battles against the fierce, black-skinned creatures they thought to be winged devils. Over time, strix have developed a hatred for humankind and now fiercely protect their dwindling numbers.
ba18e67e636b4470890da4c5ad0642b4
StrixRace
Sulis, or suli-jann, are the descendents of mortals and jann. They manifest their otherworldly heritage in adolescence, or when awakened by an encounter with a genie. Strong and attractive, these dynamic individuals can call forth elemental energies to augment their prowess in combat. Neither genie nor quite human, sulis stand in two worlds and often feel as if they don�t belong to either.
d5398269cc1442d7802469cbe7fdf151
SuliRace
In the dark below earth, svirfneblin protect their enclaves, keeping their small communities safe from the terrors of the lightless depths. Serious creatures with slate-gray skin, these gnomes vary greatly from their surface cousins by choosing to live in the shadowy depths and protect the world above from the foul creatures sharing their chambers, vaults, and tunnels.
ee7b945a0cf04c9fa6cb2c29aff3f4a8
SvirfneblinRace
Born from the descendants of humans and beings of elemental air such as djinn, sylphs are a shy and reclusive race consumed by intense curiosity. Sylphs spend their lives blending into the crowd, remaining unnoticed as they spy and eavesdrop on the people around them. They call this hobby “listening to the wind,” and for many sylphs it becomes an obsession. Sylphs rely on their capable, calculating intellects and on knowledge gleaned from eavesdropping to deliver them from danger.
8efda37663bd45f9a17e5fb180074abd
SylphRace
Undines are humans who trace their ancestry to creatures from the Plane of Water. Even at first glance, one notices the potency of their ancestry, for an undine’s very flesh mimics the color of lakes, seas, and oceans. Whether they have the blood of marids or water mephits as their kin, all undines define themselves through their ancestry. They perceive their individual differences as gifts and explore the supernatural aspects of their unique heritage to the fullest.
The undines are a proud race and show little outward fear. While good-natured and somewhat playful among their own kind, they behave with slightly more reserve and seriousness in the company of non-undines. They have excellent emotional control, and can edge their tempers from calm to raging and back again within but a few minutes. While some might dub their behavior erratic, undines are simply a bit more outwardly melodramatic than most races. Certainly, they are not moody and do not become angered, excited, or otherwise emotional without provocation. As close friends, some find them overly possessive, though they are also extremely protective of those they care about.
Undines tend to settle near water, usually in warmer climates. Though land-dwellers, they spend a fair amount of time in the water. For this reason, most dress sparsely, wearing only enough clothing to protect themselves from the elements, and few wear shoes. They avoid wearing jewelry around their necks and keep their hair slicked back and tied into tight knots. This prevents hair or other objects from becoming a distraction or hindrance while swimming. Similarly, undines pursuing martial classes choose weapons that they can wield efficiently on land as well as in water.
e7d00f27623042d2896fd5215f5876d8
UndineRace
Vishkanyas are a race of exotic humanoids with poisonous blood. Possessed of an alien beauty, these graceful humanoids see the world through serpentine eyes of burnished gold. Their supple skin is covered with tiny scales, often of a light green, which are sometimes arrayed in patterns not unlike those of a serpent. They cannot be generalized as good or evil, but since they truly speak with forked tongues, they are content to accept the gold they’re offered and leave questions of morality to others.
700231ed562e4b89a87cc2c350bec42e
VishkanyaRace