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vharuunensong) wrote2017-10-14 09:35 pm
vharuunensong) wrote2017-10-14 09:35 pm
Setting
Modern-day level of technology, interspersed with magic. Less/barely any use of fossil fuels, as renewable energy sources like solar cells are mostly used (and things like geothermal heating underground). There's less issue of food supply or climate change as fighting over resources and racial tension, as well as political and civil rights within any given country.
*if the BDSM AU flavour of dom and sub dynamics are used (as in, one is born with the inclination to dom, sub, switch or, in some very rare cases, null/"normal" in our world, no inclination), the dominant sexes for any given species or particular culture means they are the ones who're *supposed* to be dom/mes or at least switches, with the sex less favoured as the subs... which of course doesn't always happen, but then there's usually lengths gone to to keep that private (easier or harder depending on culture, since some do consider that to be a more private thing, at least in practice), or to present themselves as switches or "null" (also easier or harder depending on how dynamics are officially and socially handled and how and when these things need to be revealed to authorities).
And, obviously, general preferences in regards to procreation and attitudes about who should present as what means that, yes, in general the favoured sex is the one that presents dominant dynamic.
Gods
Each race has their own pantheon of individual and independently existing deities. The only exception to this is the deity of creation (the one who originated/directed the accretion of the the local solar system after the sun was old enough to draw/originate enough cosmic divine energy to spawn the local deity of creation). They have a name that shares at least some elements among all of the races that remember them, and while their domain(s) might be slightly different across races, the way they're portrayed in their particulars share some definitive similarities, though few would admit this or look closer at it.
Elves/An'sess
A long time ago, they were one. A little *less* than that, they split into the surface dwelling nath'sess and the underground vel'sess (crudely parsed as "light elves" and "dark elves", where the translation more properly turns it into "sun elves" and "moon elves"... or, as an elvish insult for the latter kushtan'lloth (spiderspawn). They live about 900-1000 years, with equivalent to human ages simply moved up into the hundreds (so a 30 year old elf would be 330 years old).
(Male genitalia reminds of a dolphin's penis, with a baculum - thus allowing for copulation to continue until ejaculation is possible again, and since there nearly always are more than one man present, more ejaculations mean greater chance for impregnation; this means their testis are somewhat larger than, in comparison, human ones.
Female genitalia looks rather human, though the vagina sharply tapers off towards the uterus (hence the slender tip on the penis), and does not appreciably expand with arousal. Usually means if males of other species have sex with an elven woman, they won't be able to get the whole way in.)
Vel'sess are concentrated underneath the Sunshards and have from there extended eastwards into the other continents' undergrounds, both north and south, and generally not in mountains. Their skin colours are grey, purple or shades of dark brown (a hefty minority are dark brown, which is a slow development towards getting back to natural skin colours - shortly after the plague, all survivors were grey/black or purple, and the only reason they're still in majority is because they've basically bred to keep it out of a sense of 'fuck you' to their cousins), and hair is white, lavender or pale pink, though white is what the majority have. Eyecolours are red, violet, blues or nearly black and their sclera are black.
Vel'sess venerate only one goddess and are thus monotheistic or vaguely henotheistic; the goddess Llotharis is a goddess of death, war and, paradoxically, reproduction, her attributes being decay and plenty. The moon isn't her symbol (as that is the spider), but it's an important religious and spiritual symbol and presence among the dark elves anyway, as a 'needed counterweight' against the poison and deception. For the mirror reflects the light of the sun, and where the sun can blind you from the truth as much as reveal it, the moon does not lie, even when there's only the barest of sliver visible. Lloth's religion isn't a proselytizing one (in fact, they are explicitly against proselytizing and it's something of a mystery religion) and thus it's only really practiced by the dark elves, especially as worship of her elsewhere has been suppressed.
While not all dark elf countries are ruled by the high priestess of Llotharis, most of them are, with the power then resting on a two-fold support of the priestesses underneath her and a group of High Judges (though since all judges are also, as any administration is, part of the religious structure, they're technically priestess as well, just with different focus). There are a small handful of countries where the ruling power is split between a hereditary monarch (usually styled as the Lloth's Handmaiden) and the high priestess, however.
Dark elf society is segregated, some to the level that no men are living within a country (with women then doing what men usually do, obviously), some with certain "male enclaves" within (or just outside) the cities, and some simply with certain designated areas within a house. Men farm, perform housework, serve as guards/weaponized militiamen etc. They have no part in the religious structure, and thus not in the administrative or ruling levels of society. Those countries with no men within them (at least not as permanent citizens) have ways of producing children - women can travel elsewhere, or take some of the temporary guests in, or appeal to Lloth, singly or as couples - the last, however, mean the second child will be dedicated to the temple, without question and as a newborn.
There's more or less strong opinions about 'religious purity' within various dark elf societies, hence the differing levels of presence of men, though all agree that men has no place within the temples (and thus not part of organising or ruling society). Producing cloth, weaving and sewing (aside from administrative tasks and ruling) are all jobs for women for example, as is magic.
The differing attitudes to the sexes in vel'sess (and in nath'sess) society sometimes follow pretty closely to other patriarchal attitudes about men, if for differing reasons, and sometimes veer wildly off-course, expecting and socialising for different things. Strength and martial ability is of course "a male thing" and as economics and maths (if on differing levels and for differing applications) is something considered good for both sexes, men being merchants (depending on station) or otherwise conducting business is either expected or tolerated. Men are expected to initiate advances - *after* a woman has indicated interest (how a dark elf woman would initiate/show interest might be somewhat obscure and to other cultures it might seem like male dark elves are sometimes being "properly manly" and sometimes weirdly "feminine" in cases like this.
On the other hand, men are seen as emotional and certainly not expected to suppress emotion or tears, rather, the admonishment of young boys become "come on now, it wasn't that bad was it? you're a big boy, there's no need to cry any longer." Emotional outbursts (a proper amount of it) is fine, as long as they aren't too emotional - though on the other hand boys, you know? The only thing not tolerated is violence towards girls (at all), or towards other boys though more than when it's aimed at the opposite sex. Girls, on the other hand, might be admonished with something like "you're a big girl, get a hold of yourself... crying is all well and good, but do something about it." As in, they're encouraged to act about what made them upset or angry, while a boy will most likely be soothed and then cautioned that it's fine now, isn't it.
Male dark elves are mostly still fighting for equal rights, to differing degrees in the different dark elf countries (as in some, they may not even leave the house without a female guardian present, or with their explicit permission, or drive, etc).
(In the case of dynamics, obviously female dark elves are the ones mostly presenting as domme, with the males as subs, but there's a sizable population of nulls - and a very small part of the population presenting as switches (it's not considered 'pure'. Even nulls are better in that case, because that is at least a solid stance).
*The children dedicated to Lloth through reproductive prayer (as it's called) are usually not destined for any higher position anywhere within the religious or administrative levels of church and state, but rather used as menial labour of various sorts, and addressed as 'acolyte'.
Nath'sess can be found all over the world though in a range roughly corresponding in real world locations with southern Europe down to South Africa, due to complications from the plague that means too little sun for any length of time affects them negatively (and thus far north or south isn't somewhere they can live year round), and thus with any skin colour, but tend to have at least a faint golden undertone if not outright pale yellow/golden in a minority population (which, shortly after the plague, was actually the majority population/all of them) - hair colours go from blond, pink and paler shades of violet, with the majority being blond/e.
While they have a pantheon, they are generally henotheistic and no matter which deity is considered the 'main one', that is the only one addressed as 'god/goddess' - other deities are usually rendered as spirits and servants, but still divine. The most wide-spread religion is that of the proselytizing Sky Twins; one male and female, their symbol is the sun and the sky, and rain is an important component. They're deities of 'law and instinct', Life. As it's a proselytizing religion, it's one of the three largest in the world, having its widest spread among elves and humans, but with smaller smatterings among orcs and dwarves as well.
The largest nath'sess country is a multiple-state republic, being one of the four current world powers. In general, their societies lean somewhat matriarchal (a few are more patriarchal, most of them having done a hard turn when the species split), but are also generally far more egalitarian (and got so earlier) than most other species, and male nath'sess have had a much easier time agitating for their equal rights (and getting them). Unfortunately this lends itself to a certain flavour of superiority towards other species, completely aside from actual xenophobia.
(in the case of dynamics being used, they're the only species that mostly present as switches, though in return seem to have basically no nulls).
Background: The reason for the split in the an'sess species so long ago was a religious conflict between the religious 'cult' of Lloth, who performed funerary services (organs burned for the deities as 'food', bones to be buried for the earth and the grief of the family, the meat to sustain the living) and the growing cult of Sanaros and Tllessom, where the funerary practice was to cremate the whole body. In the end, pressured as Llotharis' followers were, they were retreating, and asked their goddess for assistance.
The nath'sess says Lloth provided a poison her followers were immune to and struck down the nath'sess, and then the Sky Twins punished the vel'sess and drove them underground. The vel'sess says the war created a plague, and while they did indeed grow immunity towards it via protective magic given by their goddess, it wasn't instant... but it allowed them the chance to retreat (and yes, the immunity led to the physical changes that visually separates them from the nath'sess).
What happened was that both sides took to magical-based biological warfare, and they combined to different effects, with the uniformly black/purple skin and dark sclera for the vel'sess, and eyes that are very sensitive in sunlight to such a degree they always need to be protected/covered in daylight (they can easily go blind otherwise). In addition, some percentage of spilled blood doesn't simply just coagulate, it hardens into actual "stones" which have ended up being called blood rubies. In the dark or under moonlight, the glow deep red.
The physical changes to the nath'sess were less obvious - what's mostly clear is that any prolonged lack of exposure to sunlight makes them sick and weak, which means they have retreated from the far north and south all over the world. They have a golden tint to their skin, however, and while the most extreme versions has been bred away by now, right after the catastrophe their skin was brightly golden. In addition their blood is glowing gold when first spilled, through it starts to fade almost immediately, revealing the red, before it starts to coagulate. If the blood is collected in some sort of container before it can loose too much colour, the actual blood will evaporate and leave a golden glowing liquid warm with energy - if it's left out in the sun, it'll be recharged, and it can be used as a lamp, to light fires, or similar things requiring energy/a battery.
Elves call it Tllessom's tears and others call it elven sunlight.
The war also resulted in their home continent of Solarsal being shattered into an archipelago of larger and smaller islands (due to a supervolcano eruption being triggered by magic), since then named The Sunshards, and sinking most of the rest of the continent. The vel'sess live in the underground of the former Solarsal, but have expanded from there.
(Moongrave, to the south, was the religious center of Llotharis' cult, and the everlasting darkness (Llotharis' Gift/Sunless dark) around the main temple spread out over the whole island after the continent shattered, where only the moon is visible at all times. The large island looks very alien indeed, with all its surviving greenery pale from lack of direct or strong sunlight but still surviving. The dark elves here are particularly zealous about protecting their one spot of surface land, and if it was considered holy before the shattering, it's even more so now.)
Underkant - what the dark elves call the underground of their shattered continent. The expansion into Golden Abode's underground is called the Colonies, and the far more recent expansion into Spears' Rest's underground is called the Rim.
Plague spikes - a form of skeletal dysplasia disorder created in the aftermath/due to the plague the elves used to fight each other with, it presents itself as spurs of bone growing out of other bones. The most usual places are on the forehead, along the hairline, and the shoulders. But on the back of the hands and feet and along the back can happen as well. Most of these are of more or less minor issue (though the back of hands and feet mean limited mobility and more pain), but when the spurs grow along the spine, it can lead to deformities, severely limited mobility or more or less severe paralyzation of the lower body. Stiff joints and minor to major pain, depending on the locations of the spurs are usual, usually leading to some minor mobility and flexibility issues. The spurs are usually a few cm long and covered with skin, and thus it will of course hurt to have that cut or scraped.
(Even up to modern day light elves are generally of the opinion that plague spikes are a disorder unique to them, and blames it squarely on the dark elves. The dark elves, even if it'd be easy to prove their cousins wrong, have never made it generally public that they suffer from it as well and merely add that to the pile of 'nath'sess are foolish, weak, and think they are SPECIAL' attitudes.
Elf deities:
(The Foundation, the Star Seeder, Ahvassuuhm; forgotten deity of origin and the abyss. When they were still remembered, the elves considered them to cycle through various sexes/genders, beginning with female, going to male, to intersex and basically non-sexed/agendered, and then back again. Some elements of this is still reflected in Hllesareth.)
The Sky Twins, Sanaros and Tllessom, rain and sun (water and warmth/light), guardians of society and the mind.
The Weaver (of life), Llotharis, decay and plenty (life), goddess of war/death and procreation
The Dancing Child/Consort, Ahranasee, personification of spring and the guardian of agriculture/harvest (the child of the Sky Twins, Llotharis' consort).
The Changing Moon, Hllesareth, child of Llotharis and Ahranasee. Deity of innovation, the mind and dreams, and the creator of the elven species. Oracle and "Truth Seer".
(A number of other, more or less local deities. Where some form of Ahvassuuhm is still worshipped, it's only as a highly local divinity whose original importance and meaning as been mostly lost.)
Dwarves/Drak'dver
The first species to find and be plagued by dragons, driven underground but staying near (under) their beloved mountains that the dragons had taken over. At least, that's the *official* story. Dwarves are, actually, dragon hatchlings. Before the elves, the dragons' hatchlings looked like... something else. When the elves came onto the scene, the look of the hatchlings changed, and there were the drak'dver. Dwarves are short, pale (blond or redheaded), and other species have no idea what makes a male or female dwarf, even in the modern present. The dwarves merely say they're asking the wrong questions.
The thing is, dwarves are born, dragons are made - from gold need. All dwarves consume a small amount of metals/jewels, but when the need grows to a point where they eat nothing else, they are destined to become a dragon, probably because a dragon has died somewhere in the world (there aren't that many actual dragons around, but the huge amount of pre-metamorphosis hatchlings means there's an unending supply of possible dragons that can mature). So it is from dragons' eggs, collected from dragons' nests, that dwarves are born.
Physically, dwarves are functionally intersex, possessing the genitals of both male and female (no balls, however), and while they cannot actually give birth or create more dwarves between them, as part of the disguise of what dwarves are, they can produce children with any other species (carrying or impregnating), though those children will be sterile. Dwarf 'gender' attributes are more tied to vocations than sex... and since 'as much hair as possible', which includes beards, is what those dealing with money possess, and all merchants/traders/businessmen deal with that, all of them have beards, and most of these people are who other species would meet when they meet dwarves outside their own cities or enclaves, and most of the planet have patriarchal societies which means it's easier if you're assumed to be male and beards are assumed male... well, then those dwarves are the "male" ones.
The metals/jewels dwarves eat can be anything from raw material (flakes of iron, geodes etc), but the more refined something is, the more nutritional value it has, so steel is better than iron, and cut gems (even as small as such that goes into rings) are better than raw. Even the slag from smithing works, but it's not exactly healthy in the long run - it's a starving diet, kind of like eating something that will keep you alive but will slowly kill/poison you. They treat eating metals/jewels like dessert in the meaning of where this part of it goes in the meal (so, last), and the lower the quality and the less often they consume it, the more they need each time they do eat it.
Dwarves are usually democratic in different flavours of it, though gold needy dwarves are removed from all positions of influence since the need affects their priorities. Not to cruelty or intentionally depriving others, but it does affect them.
(in the case of dynamics used, drak'dver do not present them - they're all nulls)
Dwarf deities:
None. They are ancestor worshippers and thus, technically, venerate dragons that have passed. They may pick up other species' believes, but that is always in addition to their ancestor worship of dragons.
Humans
Live and originate on the Golden Abode, the southern continent, so mostly they are a variety of dark skinned, though they still present blond hair and green eyes among the darker shades possible. They have spread upwards to southern Spears' Rest and to the southern and northern parts of the Sunshards that the light elves do not live in, but the elves are none too pleased by this. Generally patriarchal with a varying amount of gender equality. A few kingdoms/empires and republics among them.
(in the case of dynamics used, men mostly present as dom and women as sub, with a sizable minority as switches and a small minority as nulls)
Are patriarchal, though in the modern day that's starting to ease up. Only very recently turning to more democratic measures of government; has mostly had kingdoms or similar during all of history.
Have a pretty contentious relationship with all other races, though patriarchal sun elves are looked up to (and elves in general are considered very attractive). Elves are the only species that hasn't been held as slaves by humans at some point. Very vehemently denies that the feli would ever have had things such as kingdoms; they are the domain of humans to shepherd.
Human deities:
Avas - the spirit of knowledge, considered the creator of the world and all species (in terms of those humans who venerate the elven Sky Twins, Avas is considered their progenitor). Surprisingly seen as non-gendered, and has a pronoun only used for them. No matter what other religion and cult a human belongs to, Avas is a deeply-ingrained belief.
Maras - the god of war and civilization. Humans insist the orcs twisted Maras into Verk'han - rather that than admit they might think in similar ways, for some very few things.
Aphrassa - the goddess of love, fertility and death. Maras' wife. These two are, much like the Sky Twins, venerated as a set, and have their own distinct religion.
The Five Gods of Fortune - venerated as a set as well. (Nara - Wealth/commerce, Kur - Health/longevity, Harmon - Luck, Kallas - Battle/Enterprises, Gul - Wisdom.) Those who believe in these often incorporate Maras and Aphrassa too, which is seen as blasphemy by the believers of the two.
Local deities of cities or kingdoms, guardian gods. Where Maras and Aphrassa isn't venerated (in which case they are invariable made out as the country/city's guardians), these together with Avas and/or the Five Gods of Fortune make up the local religious belief.
Orcs
Live and originate on Spears' Rest and have also spread south into Golden Abode and west into the northern parts of the Sunshards that the elves don't occupy, fighting/rubbing elbows with humans over the space there. Mostly egalitarian, with a few outliers in *both* directions. Have swung wildly between oppressive, dictatorial regimes and democratic rulership throughout history (compared to humans, who *mostly* have been going on a slow development from one to the other). Currently, the majority of their countries are social democratic to different flavours, and one of the world powers is a pan-country alliance of 7 countries.
They are, on the other hand, not particularly inclined to think of other species as on the same level as *them*, so equal rights for racial minorities in orc countries have always been a fight, and still is.
Orcs are a tall, broad and muscular species, but they don't actually have much endurance - in simple terms they're ambush predators, not, like humans, endurance/pursuit predators capable of outlasting prey (as long as they can be tracked). They rely on tactics/strategy, quick, overpowering strikes and their superior strength when involved in fighting with other species (a misconception is that orcs are dumb and don't use strategy or tactics, which is often a deadly misconception to have).
Their skin colours go from dark greens to pale mint colours, spotting is more or less usual and depends on the particular population. Their eyes are a solid colour, with blue, green, very pale brown/golden and red being more or less usual, and they have no external ear shell - their hearing is acceptable, but their eyesight and smell is far better. They have no eyebrows - merely a somewhat to prominently marked brow-bone. In return, their eyelashes are very full and long. They have have a small, triangular tail which usually don't grow much longer than the length of a hand, with three fingers and a thumb on their hands and four toes. Average height for women is 210 cm and for men 225 cm.
The average lifespan of an orc that dies of natural causes is 150 years, and women enter a post-fertile state in their 70's as a consequence.
Genitalia reminds of the fossa's, so the length of the male's genitalia is spiny (for stimulation of the vagina and induced ovulation, not traumatic insemination), and tapers off towards the tip with a bulge before the actual head. Female genitalia consists of a large clitoris ca 3-5 cm in length with small bumps/'spines' on the body and supported by a baubellum.
(In the case of dynamics used, orc men and women present about equally as sub or dom, and switches are extremely normal (nulls are a small minority) and while there's sometimes adjustment for presentation being important to who is allowed to do what, it's mostly considered a thing influencing the *personal* sphere and working in conjunction with the individual's sex and thus their place in society, so where gender matters to such a degree to actually have impact, the dynamics usually do not.)
*Goblins are an off-shoot of orcs, and most orcs don't even acknowledge them as their own species; they're a 'race' at the most, or ethnic minority, and for a fact goblins and orcs can have fully viable and healthy children between each other (with some care, given the height differences). Goblins are of similar heights to dwarves (between 110-135 cm), just tend to much slimmer builds than the dwarves... or their orc cousins. They share the same skin and hair and eye colours as well as genitalia as orcs, but do have some differences; their tails are longer (about the length of their arm from elbow to fingertip), and they have rather large, pointed ears. Their tusks are small, on both sexes, though they're a lot stronger than might be expected of such a small species that aren't dwarves.
(in the case of dynamics used, goblins present as orcs do)
Goblin names consist of two - a public one, usually "simple" and descriptive ("Bell", "Day", "Shadowsong" etc), while the private one, known usually only to the individual, their parents and any extremely close friends and/or lovers, is always built from a deity's name. In comparison, Orcs do not use deities' in their names (place names are different).
Orc deities:
The Crafter, Ahk'suh, deity of procreation (origins), life and death. Patron of the arts and architecture. The Creator, simply. Possesses both male and female attributes, both socially and physically (perfect balance). Birthed the Pillars alone.
The Pillars; Earth (Hurr'ka), Sky (Khar'va) and Weather (Csur'ma) (female, male and female, respectively), the basis for actual life to exist as it is. Csur'ma is said to have "a hundred thousand children" which all are various personification of different sorts of weather etc, and they can be "very naughty".
The Lord of Conflict, Verk'han, war and civilisation. Orc sensibility presents conflict (even if not full out war) as a necessary part of life and thus how civilisation forms and is shaped. Patron of innovation. The father of Tark'han (by different deities depending on who you ask, and a not insignificant number of the myths use other species' deities as the mother - which isn't seen as very popular by said other species).
The Gentlest One, Tark'han, deity of sleep and peace - not as weird as it may seem, because peace in orc sensibility and philosophy is a needed period of rest (sleep, if you will) in society, a moment of recuperation to assess the previous conflict and prepare for the next period of the same. Patron of psychology, prophecy and dreams.
There is a small number of 'Beast people', mostly living as nomads or within the settlements and countries of other races. Since at least two share some passing similarity to other races, there are many myths and stories of how they 'became' what they are.
Centaurs - resembles elves on their upper half, and are the most insular; they're nomads by default, though how they survived Solarsal's destruction to spread to both other continents no one is quite sure, and the centaurs aren't talking. Generally lightly built on their bottom horse halves, though the ones in Spears' Rest tend to be heavier and larger. Half of a regular elven lifespan.
Cat people - resembles humans (though with cat ears it's harder to tell), covered in fur except down their front, though some populations sport only the ears and the tail, otherwise no furrier than a human is. walks on the balls of their feet, (some few might not), and the feet often look like a cat's. Are mostly spread out among the human population in their own enclaves, with varying amount of integration and discrimination happening. The most independent ones are (still) nomads. Regular human height and lifespan.
Gnoll - have no obvious similarity to other races (being more fully animal-looking while yet bipedal than the other "beast people"), but the possibility that they're actually connected visually to what the dwarves looked like before the elves came along is very high. Nomadic, and pretty insular, though not as much as the centaurs. If they integrate among other races, it's among the orcs, after they spread up to Spears' Rest. Short, between harpy and human height.
Firbolg - even more insular than the gnoll, and while any similarity between them are easily missed, they are actually interrelated.
Harpies - there's arguments if they're closer to elves or humans, and they're small and delicate enough and lack obvious external ears, so it's hard to say, with their huge eyes and fine features (they are actually drawn from goblins and are thus an off-shoot of orcs). Can be found on all continents, usually as nuisances or something of 'pets' in a lot of cases. A short species the same height as goblins and dwarves.
Magic
Elemental manipulation: fire, earth, wind, air. Both the easiest and the hardest to master. Usually the discipline most start with, even if their individual skill lies elsewhere.
Physical manipulation: healing (and its opposite) and shapeshifting. It's quite a rare discipline in general, with shapeshifting the most rare.
Thought manipulation: telepathy, telekinesis. The rarest, both in actual use and people who present any skill or ability in it - technically not magic as such, but categorised as it.
Enchantment: attaching various positive or negative qualities to items that were non-magical before the application. Next to most used (and perhaps useful). It can do anything from the rare healing potions (as all ingredients need to be infused with magic and the intent of healing), to making sure weapons never lose their edge, etc. Enchanting is technically parted up into two "disciplines"; the enchanting itself, done by Enchanters, who usually will also be able to use their enchanted object, and Attuners, who, while they might not be capable of enchanting something, will always be able to use what others have enchanted. Given, most people with enough magic are automatically Attuners, but some may simply be able to get much more out of an enchantment, or use it for longer.
(As an example, anyone can get something out of an enchantment that make sure a weapon never loses it's edge, but an item enchanted to throw the Attuner's shadow is extremely hard for a regular person to get to work, and you'd practically need to be an actual Attuner to use it... and further get the most out of it (distance, time).)
Moon divination/truth saying: a collection of skills tied together as one discipline, includes psychometry, being something like a lie detector, prophecy, and the ability to see past illusions (regardless of if said illusion was created via elemental manipulation (under air) or enchantment).
*Someone with very strong mental shields or will may be able to lie and the truth sayer will not be able to tell they are lying. The same goes with someone who believes what they're saying is the truth, from ignorance or having been tricked into it.
The only magic that does not rely on innate ability (like a hook catching on something bigger, innate skill and ability goes inwards from the individual to the greater energy in the surroundings), is that which uses music as a conveyor. Anyone can, hypothetically and potentially learn to turn music into magic, but it relies on skill and ability (and lots of practice) in magic as well as mathematics. As this type isn't innate, practising it leaves no "stain" on the magic-user, and the results are usually always on a smaller scale than one could make with the magical disciplines.
People with magical ability are marked with some part of them turning white - for elves, it's their hair (which means there's no way to tell if a dark elf has magic or not), for orcs and goblins, it's their skin in its entirety, for humans it's their palms and tongue, and for dwarves it's a spot on their forehead (third eye position).
*if the BDSM AU flavour of dom and sub dynamics are used (as in, one is born with the inclination to dom, sub, switch or, in some very rare cases, null/"normal" in our world, no inclination), the dominant sexes for any given species or particular culture means they are the ones who're *supposed* to be dom/mes or at least switches, with the sex less favoured as the subs... which of course doesn't always happen, but then there's usually lengths gone to to keep that private (easier or harder depending on culture, since some do consider that to be a more private thing, at least in practice), or to present themselves as switches or "null" (also easier or harder depending on how dynamics are officially and socially handled and how and when these things need to be revealed to authorities).
And, obviously, general preferences in regards to procreation and attitudes about who should present as what means that, yes, in general the favoured sex is the one that presents dominant dynamic.
Gods
Each race has their own pantheon of individual and independently existing deities. The only exception to this is the deity of creation (the one who originated/directed the accretion of the the local solar system after the sun was old enough to draw/originate enough cosmic divine energy to spawn the local deity of creation). They have a name that shares at least some elements among all of the races that remember them, and while their domain(s) might be slightly different across races, the way they're portrayed in their particulars share some definitive similarities, though few would admit this or look closer at it.
Elves/An'sess
A long time ago, they were one. A little *less* than that, they split into the surface dwelling nath'sess and the underground vel'sess (crudely parsed as "light elves" and "dark elves", where the translation more properly turns it into "sun elves" and "moon elves"... or, as an elvish insult for the latter kushtan'lloth (spiderspawn). They live about 900-1000 years, with equivalent to human ages simply moved up into the hundreds (so a 30 year old elf would be 330 years old).
(Male genitalia reminds of a dolphin's penis, with a baculum - thus allowing for copulation to continue until ejaculation is possible again, and since there nearly always are more than one man present, more ejaculations mean greater chance for impregnation; this means their testis are somewhat larger than, in comparison, human ones.
Female genitalia looks rather human, though the vagina sharply tapers off towards the uterus (hence the slender tip on the penis), and does not appreciably expand with arousal. Usually means if males of other species have sex with an elven woman, they won't be able to get the whole way in.)
Vel'sess are concentrated underneath the Sunshards and have from there extended eastwards into the other continents' undergrounds, both north and south, and generally not in mountains. Their skin colours are grey, purple or shades of dark brown (a hefty minority are dark brown, which is a slow development towards getting back to natural skin colours - shortly after the plague, all survivors were grey/black or purple, and the only reason they're still in majority is because they've basically bred to keep it out of a sense of 'fuck you' to their cousins), and hair is white, lavender or pale pink, though white is what the majority have. Eyecolours are red, violet, blues or nearly black and their sclera are black.
Vel'sess venerate only one goddess and are thus monotheistic or vaguely henotheistic; the goddess Llotharis is a goddess of death, war and, paradoxically, reproduction, her attributes being decay and plenty. The moon isn't her symbol (as that is the spider), but it's an important religious and spiritual symbol and presence among the dark elves anyway, as a 'needed counterweight' against the poison and deception. For the mirror reflects the light of the sun, and where the sun can blind you from the truth as much as reveal it, the moon does not lie, even when there's only the barest of sliver visible. Lloth's religion isn't a proselytizing one (in fact, they are explicitly against proselytizing and it's something of a mystery religion) and thus it's only really practiced by the dark elves, especially as worship of her elsewhere has been suppressed.
While not all dark elf countries are ruled by the high priestess of Llotharis, most of them are, with the power then resting on a two-fold support of the priestesses underneath her and a group of High Judges (though since all judges are also, as any administration is, part of the religious structure, they're technically priestess as well, just with different focus). There are a small handful of countries where the ruling power is split between a hereditary monarch (usually styled as the Lloth's Handmaiden) and the high priestess, however.
Dark elf society is segregated, some to the level that no men are living within a country (with women then doing what men usually do, obviously), some with certain "male enclaves" within (or just outside) the cities, and some simply with certain designated areas within a house. Men farm, perform housework, serve as guards/weaponized militiamen etc. They have no part in the religious structure, and thus not in the administrative or ruling levels of society. Those countries with no men within them (at least not as permanent citizens) have ways of producing children - women can travel elsewhere, or take some of the temporary guests in, or appeal to Lloth, singly or as couples - the last, however, mean the second child will be dedicated to the temple, without question and as a newborn.
There's more or less strong opinions about 'religious purity' within various dark elf societies, hence the differing levels of presence of men, though all agree that men has no place within the temples (and thus not part of organising or ruling society). Producing cloth, weaving and sewing (aside from administrative tasks and ruling) are all jobs for women for example, as is magic.
The differing attitudes to the sexes in vel'sess (and in nath'sess) society sometimes follow pretty closely to other patriarchal attitudes about men, if for differing reasons, and sometimes veer wildly off-course, expecting and socialising for different things. Strength and martial ability is of course "a male thing" and as economics and maths (if on differing levels and for differing applications) is something considered good for both sexes, men being merchants (depending on station) or otherwise conducting business is either expected or tolerated. Men are expected to initiate advances - *after* a woman has indicated interest (how a dark elf woman would initiate/show interest might be somewhat obscure and to other cultures it might seem like male dark elves are sometimes being "properly manly" and sometimes weirdly "feminine" in cases like this.
On the other hand, men are seen as emotional and certainly not expected to suppress emotion or tears, rather, the admonishment of young boys become "come on now, it wasn't that bad was it? you're a big boy, there's no need to cry any longer." Emotional outbursts (a proper amount of it) is fine, as long as they aren't too emotional - though on the other hand boys, you know? The only thing not tolerated is violence towards girls (at all), or towards other boys though more than when it's aimed at the opposite sex. Girls, on the other hand, might be admonished with something like "you're a big girl, get a hold of yourself... crying is all well and good, but do something about it." As in, they're encouraged to act about what made them upset or angry, while a boy will most likely be soothed and then cautioned that it's fine now, isn't it.
Male dark elves are mostly still fighting for equal rights, to differing degrees in the different dark elf countries (as in some, they may not even leave the house without a female guardian present, or with their explicit permission, or drive, etc).
(In the case of dynamics, obviously female dark elves are the ones mostly presenting as domme, with the males as subs, but there's a sizable population of nulls - and a very small part of the population presenting as switches (it's not considered 'pure'. Even nulls are better in that case, because that is at least a solid stance).
*The children dedicated to Lloth through reproductive prayer (as it's called) are usually not destined for any higher position anywhere within the religious or administrative levels of church and state, but rather used as menial labour of various sorts, and addressed as 'acolyte'.
Nath'sess can be found all over the world though in a range roughly corresponding in real world locations with southern Europe down to South Africa, due to complications from the plague that means too little sun for any length of time affects them negatively (and thus far north or south isn't somewhere they can live year round), and thus with any skin colour, but tend to have at least a faint golden undertone if not outright pale yellow/golden in a minority population (which, shortly after the plague, was actually the majority population/all of them) - hair colours go from blond, pink and paler shades of violet, with the majority being blond/e.
While they have a pantheon, they are generally henotheistic and no matter which deity is considered the 'main one', that is the only one addressed as 'god/goddess' - other deities are usually rendered as spirits and servants, but still divine. The most wide-spread religion is that of the proselytizing Sky Twins; one male and female, their symbol is the sun and the sky, and rain is an important component. They're deities of 'law and instinct', Life. As it's a proselytizing religion, it's one of the three largest in the world, having its widest spread among elves and humans, but with smaller smatterings among orcs and dwarves as well.
The largest nath'sess country is a multiple-state republic, being one of the four current world powers. In general, their societies lean somewhat matriarchal (a few are more patriarchal, most of them having done a hard turn when the species split), but are also generally far more egalitarian (and got so earlier) than most other species, and male nath'sess have had a much easier time agitating for their equal rights (and getting them). Unfortunately this lends itself to a certain flavour of superiority towards other species, completely aside from actual xenophobia.
(in the case of dynamics being used, they're the only species that mostly present as switches, though in return seem to have basically no nulls).
Background: The reason for the split in the an'sess species so long ago was a religious conflict between the religious 'cult' of Lloth, who performed funerary services (organs burned for the deities as 'food', bones to be buried for the earth and the grief of the family, the meat to sustain the living) and the growing cult of Sanaros and Tllessom, where the funerary practice was to cremate the whole body. In the end, pressured as Llotharis' followers were, they were retreating, and asked their goddess for assistance.
The nath'sess says Lloth provided a poison her followers were immune to and struck down the nath'sess, and then the Sky Twins punished the vel'sess and drove them underground. The vel'sess says the war created a plague, and while they did indeed grow immunity towards it via protective magic given by their goddess, it wasn't instant... but it allowed them the chance to retreat (and yes, the immunity led to the physical changes that visually separates them from the nath'sess).
What happened was that both sides took to magical-based biological warfare, and they combined to different effects, with the uniformly black/purple skin and dark sclera for the vel'sess, and eyes that are very sensitive in sunlight to such a degree they always need to be protected/covered in daylight (they can easily go blind otherwise). In addition, some percentage of spilled blood doesn't simply just coagulate, it hardens into actual "stones" which have ended up being called blood rubies. In the dark or under moonlight, the glow deep red.
The physical changes to the nath'sess were less obvious - what's mostly clear is that any prolonged lack of exposure to sunlight makes them sick and weak, which means they have retreated from the far north and south all over the world. They have a golden tint to their skin, however, and while the most extreme versions has been bred away by now, right after the catastrophe their skin was brightly golden. In addition their blood is glowing gold when first spilled, through it starts to fade almost immediately, revealing the red, before it starts to coagulate. If the blood is collected in some sort of container before it can loose too much colour, the actual blood will evaporate and leave a golden glowing liquid warm with energy - if it's left out in the sun, it'll be recharged, and it can be used as a lamp, to light fires, or similar things requiring energy/a battery.
Elves call it Tllessom's tears and others call it elven sunlight.
The war also resulted in their home continent of Solarsal being shattered into an archipelago of larger and smaller islands (due to a supervolcano eruption being triggered by magic), since then named The Sunshards, and sinking most of the rest of the continent. The vel'sess live in the underground of the former Solarsal, but have expanded from there.
(Moongrave, to the south, was the religious center of Llotharis' cult, and the everlasting darkness (Llotharis' Gift/Sunless dark) around the main temple spread out over the whole island after the continent shattered, where only the moon is visible at all times. The large island looks very alien indeed, with all its surviving greenery pale from lack of direct or strong sunlight but still surviving. The dark elves here are particularly zealous about protecting their one spot of surface land, and if it was considered holy before the shattering, it's even more so now.)
Underkant - what the dark elves call the underground of their shattered continent. The expansion into Golden Abode's underground is called the Colonies, and the far more recent expansion into Spears' Rest's underground is called the Rim.
Plague spikes - a form of skeletal dysplasia disorder created in the aftermath/due to the plague the elves used to fight each other with, it presents itself as spurs of bone growing out of other bones. The most usual places are on the forehead, along the hairline, and the shoulders. But on the back of the hands and feet and along the back can happen as well. Most of these are of more or less minor issue (though the back of hands and feet mean limited mobility and more pain), but when the spurs grow along the spine, it can lead to deformities, severely limited mobility or more or less severe paralyzation of the lower body. Stiff joints and minor to major pain, depending on the locations of the spurs are usual, usually leading to some minor mobility and flexibility issues. The spurs are usually a few cm long and covered with skin, and thus it will of course hurt to have that cut or scraped.
(Even up to modern day light elves are generally of the opinion that plague spikes are a disorder unique to them, and blames it squarely on the dark elves. The dark elves, even if it'd be easy to prove their cousins wrong, have never made it generally public that they suffer from it as well and merely add that to the pile of 'nath'sess are foolish, weak, and think they are SPECIAL' attitudes.
Elf deities:
(The Foundation, the Star Seeder, Ahvassuuhm; forgotten deity of origin and the abyss. When they were still remembered, the elves considered them to cycle through various sexes/genders, beginning with female, going to male, to intersex and basically non-sexed/agendered, and then back again. Some elements of this is still reflected in Hllesareth.)
The Sky Twins, Sanaros and Tllessom, rain and sun (water and warmth/light), guardians of society and the mind.
The Weaver (of life), Llotharis, decay and plenty (life), goddess of war/death and procreation
The Dancing Child/Consort, Ahranasee, personification of spring and the guardian of agriculture/harvest (the child of the Sky Twins, Llotharis' consort).
The Changing Moon, Hllesareth, child of Llotharis and Ahranasee. Deity of innovation, the mind and dreams, and the creator of the elven species. Oracle and "Truth Seer".
(A number of other, more or less local deities. Where some form of Ahvassuuhm is still worshipped, it's only as a highly local divinity whose original importance and meaning as been mostly lost.)
Dwarves/Drak'dver
The first species to find and be plagued by dragons, driven underground but staying near (under) their beloved mountains that the dragons had taken over. At least, that's the *official* story. Dwarves are, actually, dragon hatchlings. Before the elves, the dragons' hatchlings looked like... something else. When the elves came onto the scene, the look of the hatchlings changed, and there were the drak'dver. Dwarves are short, pale (blond or redheaded), and other species have no idea what makes a male or female dwarf, even in the modern present. The dwarves merely say they're asking the wrong questions.
The thing is, dwarves are born, dragons are made - from gold need. All dwarves consume a small amount of metals/jewels, but when the need grows to a point where they eat nothing else, they are destined to become a dragon, probably because a dragon has died somewhere in the world (there aren't that many actual dragons around, but the huge amount of pre-metamorphosis hatchlings means there's an unending supply of possible dragons that can mature). So it is from dragons' eggs, collected from dragons' nests, that dwarves are born.
Physically, dwarves are functionally intersex, possessing the genitals of both male and female (no balls, however), and while they cannot actually give birth or create more dwarves between them, as part of the disguise of what dwarves are, they can produce children with any other species (carrying or impregnating), though those children will be sterile. Dwarf 'gender' attributes are more tied to vocations than sex... and since 'as much hair as possible', which includes beards, is what those dealing with money possess, and all merchants/traders/businessmen deal with that, all of them have beards, and most of these people are who other species would meet when they meet dwarves outside their own cities or enclaves, and most of the planet have patriarchal societies which means it's easier if you're assumed to be male and beards are assumed male... well, then those dwarves are the "male" ones.
The metals/jewels dwarves eat can be anything from raw material (flakes of iron, geodes etc), but the more refined something is, the more nutritional value it has, so steel is better than iron, and cut gems (even as small as such that goes into rings) are better than raw. Even the slag from smithing works, but it's not exactly healthy in the long run - it's a starving diet, kind of like eating something that will keep you alive but will slowly kill/poison you. They treat eating metals/jewels like dessert in the meaning of where this part of it goes in the meal (so, last), and the lower the quality and the less often they consume it, the more they need each time they do eat it.
Dwarves are usually democratic in different flavours of it, though gold needy dwarves are removed from all positions of influence since the need affects their priorities. Not to cruelty or intentionally depriving others, but it does affect them.
(in the case of dynamics used, drak'dver do not present them - they're all nulls)
Dwarf deities:
None. They are ancestor worshippers and thus, technically, venerate dragons that have passed. They may pick up other species' believes, but that is always in addition to their ancestor worship of dragons.
Humans
Live and originate on the Golden Abode, the southern continent, so mostly they are a variety of dark skinned, though they still present blond hair and green eyes among the darker shades possible. They have spread upwards to southern Spears' Rest and to the southern and northern parts of the Sunshards that the light elves do not live in, but the elves are none too pleased by this. Generally patriarchal with a varying amount of gender equality. A few kingdoms/empires and republics among them.
(in the case of dynamics used, men mostly present as dom and women as sub, with a sizable minority as switches and a small minority as nulls)
Are patriarchal, though in the modern day that's starting to ease up. Only very recently turning to more democratic measures of government; has mostly had kingdoms or similar during all of history.
Have a pretty contentious relationship with all other races, though patriarchal sun elves are looked up to (and elves in general are considered very attractive). Elves are the only species that hasn't been held as slaves by humans at some point. Very vehemently denies that the feli would ever have had things such as kingdoms; they are the domain of humans to shepherd.
Human deities:
Avas - the spirit of knowledge, considered the creator of the world and all species (in terms of those humans who venerate the elven Sky Twins, Avas is considered their progenitor). Surprisingly seen as non-gendered, and has a pronoun only used for them. No matter what other religion and cult a human belongs to, Avas is a deeply-ingrained belief.
Maras - the god of war and civilization. Humans insist the orcs twisted Maras into Verk'han - rather that than admit they might think in similar ways, for some very few things.
Aphrassa - the goddess of love, fertility and death. Maras' wife. These two are, much like the Sky Twins, venerated as a set, and have their own distinct religion.
The Five Gods of Fortune - venerated as a set as well. (Nara - Wealth/commerce, Kur - Health/longevity, Harmon - Luck, Kallas - Battle/Enterprises, Gul - Wisdom.) Those who believe in these often incorporate Maras and Aphrassa too, which is seen as blasphemy by the believers of the two.
Local deities of cities or kingdoms, guardian gods. Where Maras and Aphrassa isn't venerated (in which case they are invariable made out as the country/city's guardians), these together with Avas and/or the Five Gods of Fortune make up the local religious belief.
Orcs
Live and originate on Spears' Rest and have also spread south into Golden Abode and west into the northern parts of the Sunshards that the elves don't occupy, fighting/rubbing elbows with humans over the space there. Mostly egalitarian, with a few outliers in *both* directions. Have swung wildly between oppressive, dictatorial regimes and democratic rulership throughout history (compared to humans, who *mostly* have been going on a slow development from one to the other). Currently, the majority of their countries are social democratic to different flavours, and one of the world powers is a pan-country alliance of 7 countries.
They are, on the other hand, not particularly inclined to think of other species as on the same level as *them*, so equal rights for racial minorities in orc countries have always been a fight, and still is.
Orcs are a tall, broad and muscular species, but they don't actually have much endurance - in simple terms they're ambush predators, not, like humans, endurance/pursuit predators capable of outlasting prey (as long as they can be tracked). They rely on tactics/strategy, quick, overpowering strikes and their superior strength when involved in fighting with other species (a misconception is that orcs are dumb and don't use strategy or tactics, which is often a deadly misconception to have).
Their skin colours go from dark greens to pale mint colours, spotting is more or less usual and depends on the particular population. Their eyes are a solid colour, with blue, green, very pale brown/golden and red being more or less usual, and they have no external ear shell - their hearing is acceptable, but their eyesight and smell is far better. They have no eyebrows - merely a somewhat to prominently marked brow-bone. In return, their eyelashes are very full and long. They have have a small, triangular tail which usually don't grow much longer than the length of a hand, with three fingers and a thumb on their hands and four toes. Average height for women is 210 cm and for men 225 cm.
The average lifespan of an orc that dies of natural causes is 150 years, and women enter a post-fertile state in their 70's as a consequence.
Genitalia reminds of the fossa's, so the length of the male's genitalia is spiny (for stimulation of the vagina and induced ovulation, not traumatic insemination), and tapers off towards the tip with a bulge before the actual head. Female genitalia consists of a large clitoris ca 3-5 cm in length with small bumps/'spines' on the body and supported by a baubellum.
(In the case of dynamics used, orc men and women present about equally as sub or dom, and switches are extremely normal (nulls are a small minority) and while there's sometimes adjustment for presentation being important to who is allowed to do what, it's mostly considered a thing influencing the *personal* sphere and working in conjunction with the individual's sex and thus their place in society, so where gender matters to such a degree to actually have impact, the dynamics usually do not.)
*Goblins are an off-shoot of orcs, and most orcs don't even acknowledge them as their own species; they're a 'race' at the most, or ethnic minority, and for a fact goblins and orcs can have fully viable and healthy children between each other (with some care, given the height differences). Goblins are of similar heights to dwarves (between 110-135 cm), just tend to much slimmer builds than the dwarves... or their orc cousins. They share the same skin and hair and eye colours as well as genitalia as orcs, but do have some differences; their tails are longer (about the length of their arm from elbow to fingertip), and they have rather large, pointed ears. Their tusks are small, on both sexes, though they're a lot stronger than might be expected of such a small species that aren't dwarves.
(in the case of dynamics used, goblins present as orcs do)
Goblin names consist of two - a public one, usually "simple" and descriptive ("Bell", "Day", "Shadowsong" etc), while the private one, known usually only to the individual, their parents and any extremely close friends and/or lovers, is always built from a deity's name. In comparison, Orcs do not use deities' in their names (place names are different).
Orc deities:
The Crafter, Ahk'suh, deity of procreation (origins), life and death. Patron of the arts and architecture. The Creator, simply. Possesses both male and female attributes, both socially and physically (perfect balance). Birthed the Pillars alone.
The Pillars; Earth (Hurr'ka), Sky (Khar'va) and Weather (Csur'ma) (female, male and female, respectively), the basis for actual life to exist as it is. Csur'ma is said to have "a hundred thousand children" which all are various personification of different sorts of weather etc, and they can be "very naughty".
The Lord of Conflict, Verk'han, war and civilisation. Orc sensibility presents conflict (even if not full out war) as a necessary part of life and thus how civilisation forms and is shaped. Patron of innovation. The father of Tark'han (by different deities depending on who you ask, and a not insignificant number of the myths use other species' deities as the mother - which isn't seen as very popular by said other species).
The Gentlest One, Tark'han, deity of sleep and peace - not as weird as it may seem, because peace in orc sensibility and philosophy is a needed period of rest (sleep, if you will) in society, a moment of recuperation to assess the previous conflict and prepare for the next period of the same. Patron of psychology, prophecy and dreams.
There is a small number of 'Beast people', mostly living as nomads or within the settlements and countries of other races. Since at least two share some passing similarity to other races, there are many myths and stories of how they 'became' what they are.
Centaurs - resembles elves on their upper half, and are the most insular; they're nomads by default, though how they survived Solarsal's destruction to spread to both other continents no one is quite sure, and the centaurs aren't talking. Generally lightly built on their bottom horse halves, though the ones in Spears' Rest tend to be heavier and larger. Half of a regular elven lifespan.
Cat people - resembles humans (though with cat ears it's harder to tell), covered in fur except down their front, though some populations sport only the ears and the tail, otherwise no furrier than a human is. walks on the balls of their feet, (some few might not), and the feet often look like a cat's. Are mostly spread out among the human population in their own enclaves, with varying amount of integration and discrimination happening. The most independent ones are (still) nomads. Regular human height and lifespan.
Gnoll - have no obvious similarity to other races (being more fully animal-looking while yet bipedal than the other "beast people"), but the possibility that they're actually connected visually to what the dwarves looked like before the elves came along is very high. Nomadic, and pretty insular, though not as much as the centaurs. If they integrate among other races, it's among the orcs, after they spread up to Spears' Rest. Short, between harpy and human height.
Firbolg - even more insular than the gnoll, and while any similarity between them are easily missed, they are actually interrelated.
Harpies - there's arguments if they're closer to elves or humans, and they're small and delicate enough and lack obvious external ears, so it's hard to say, with their huge eyes and fine features (they are actually drawn from goblins and are thus an off-shoot of orcs). Can be found on all continents, usually as nuisances or something of 'pets' in a lot of cases. A short species the same height as goblins and dwarves.
Magic
Elemental manipulation: fire, earth, wind, air. Both the easiest and the hardest to master. Usually the discipline most start with, even if their individual skill lies elsewhere.
Physical manipulation: healing (and its opposite) and shapeshifting. It's quite a rare discipline in general, with shapeshifting the most rare.
Thought manipulation: telepathy, telekinesis. The rarest, both in actual use and people who present any skill or ability in it - technically not magic as such, but categorised as it.
Enchantment: attaching various positive or negative qualities to items that were non-magical before the application. Next to most used (and perhaps useful). It can do anything from the rare healing potions (as all ingredients need to be infused with magic and the intent of healing), to making sure weapons never lose their edge, etc. Enchanting is technically parted up into two "disciplines"; the enchanting itself, done by Enchanters, who usually will also be able to use their enchanted object, and Attuners, who, while they might not be capable of enchanting something, will always be able to use what others have enchanted. Given, most people with enough magic are automatically Attuners, but some may simply be able to get much more out of an enchantment, or use it for longer.
(As an example, anyone can get something out of an enchantment that make sure a weapon never loses it's edge, but an item enchanted to throw the Attuner's shadow is extremely hard for a regular person to get to work, and you'd practically need to be an actual Attuner to use it... and further get the most out of it (distance, time).)
Moon divination/truth saying: a collection of skills tied together as one discipline, includes psychometry, being something like a lie detector, prophecy, and the ability to see past illusions (regardless of if said illusion was created via elemental manipulation (under air) or enchantment).
*Someone with very strong mental shields or will may be able to lie and the truth sayer will not be able to tell they are lying. The same goes with someone who believes what they're saying is the truth, from ignorance or having been tricked into it.
The only magic that does not rely on innate ability (like a hook catching on something bigger, innate skill and ability goes inwards from the individual to the greater energy in the surroundings), is that which uses music as a conveyor. Anyone can, hypothetically and potentially learn to turn music into magic, but it relies on skill and ability (and lots of practice) in magic as well as mathematics. As this type isn't innate, practising it leaves no "stain" on the magic-user, and the results are usually always on a smaller scale than one could make with the magical disciplines.
People with magical ability are marked with some part of them turning white - for elves, it's their hair (which means there's no way to tell if a dark elf has magic or not), for orcs and goblins, it's their skin in its entirety, for humans it's their palms and tongue, and for dwarves it's a spot on their forehead (third eye position).
Beast peoples - Feli
There has been Feli kingdoms in the past, but it's ancient and definitely buried history. There is only one Feli country (by the time of Vala'kktur's rule, going forward into Adisa's time, at which point no Feli are, at the least, kept as slaves), hidden on the 'bridge' between the main land and the easternmost part of Golden Abode. It's kept itself protected thanks to the practically impenetrable, razor sharp and needle-like mountains in the area, where there's very few stable paths, plus judicious use of magic.
There's some staunchly hostile nomad clans in the desert that stretches along the land south of the northern coast, keeping free from a mix of inhospitable climate and landscape, aggressive culture, moving around, and, again magic (plus, control of and hiding any persistent oasis and hiding any more transient water sources as well). Similarly, there's tribes of feli on the north-eastern peninsula of Spears' Rest, half-nomadic but mostly using aggressive raiding as their best offense, but the climate.
The first two are both extremely isolationist and hostile towards intruders, though the ones hidden in the mountains more open to foreign Feli to settle. The desert nomad clans only take slaves, even of their own (humans are most usually just killed). The northern tribes are hostile to any towards other feli, though they tend to be rather condescending towards the feli they consider "tamed" (which is basically any who do not show "big cat" features).
In modern times, the island continent west of Moongrave is locked in constant conflicts between Feli who are attempting to settle somewhere on their own, and humans who want the land for themselves (it's only in such recent times that island continent has recovered enough from the magical storms around Moongrave to be more hospitable).
Most free Feli live either as nomads, travelling between towns and cities and doing transient work or light trading, or live in areas within human (or orc/light elven) cities, very often struggling as they're usually not allowed just any work they might want.
There's technically two "types" of feli; "small cats" and "big cats", where the differences relies on the shape of the ears, and that the "big cats" are no less than 190cm tall on average. These features have always been present only in a very small percentage of the population, which would be the entirety of the northern tribes plus the elites/aristocracy among the old, southern kingdom(s). This means that a very few scattered families among the desert tribes and the nobles of the hidden kingdom, plus the northern tribes are the only ones who possess these traits, the rest are "small cats".
Monsters - main ones for each continent
Lindworm - mostly entirely snake-like, but much larger. A set of arms on the front half of the body. (northern half of the continent)
Water-horses - usually predatory and carnivores, but not all of them. Makes excellent mounts if they can be tamed, befriended, or controlled in some manner. Care taken advised. Middle-south of the continent, one breed adjusted for the brackish water of the Inner Sea.
Skvader - winged rabbit. Harmless, popular pet.
Mandrakes - tiny plant people. Usually stays put underground in their colonies, but if disturbed will swarm. Only rarely can their screams kill (but they're obnoxiously noisy either way), and learning to pick out the one in a swarm that can and kill it first is a good skill to have. Hallucinogenic, gives a rush when consumed, so they keep being searched out. Pests, technically, can live near everywhere and have spread to the other continents, otherwise native to the southern half of Spears' Rest.
Golden Abode
Sphinxes (winged) and their lesser and entirely animal-form cousins the winged cats (size of housecats, no more dangerous than their mundane relatives). (northern half of the continent)
Manticores (launchable quill-spines or scorpion tails). (middle, but flexible)
Sea-lions (lion top half, fish bottom), mostly only found in Sleeping Drake Sea (smaller relatives in the shallow seas inside the main ring of The Sunshards).
Winged Snakes - several sets of feathered wings, with a crest of feathers down the center-line of their back. May or may not have a set of front legs. Poisonous breath or bite. (southern half of the continent)
The Sunshards
Wyverns (all over the archipelago).
Phoenixes (southern half, has spread east to the eastern coast of Golden Abode.)
Anssu - feline-faced eagles with razor-edged feathers that can be launched (western half of the archipelago).
(All over)
Slimes - in the various undergrounds, and on the surface, in caves. Can be found away from caves in the night and on very rainy days. They don't do very well away from moist environments. Avoid being surrounded by the big ones, but they're more obnoxious than immediately lethal either way.
Hippocampi - in the seas, but miniature relatives can be found in lakes, curiously enough.
Sea drakes - all oceans.
Dragons - usually keep to mountains for their nests, fewer around than it might seem. Their various relatives are more numerous and more of a problem.
Beast peoples - Gnoll and Firbolg
Firbolg also have various bits of plants growing out from around their hair; gnoll might be harder to pick it out on, but they have mushroom features, though spread out more (one easy place to spot it is their palms, where it looks like they have a mass of very thin, white veins right under the skin. This is visible mycelium).
Originally, the gnoll and the firbolg were both much more plant/mushroom-like, and they were grown in their creator's garden, at the dawn of the world. They helped cultivate the young planet, only starting to change into more animal-like shapes as the elves were created. Their populations were also greater in the beginning; they're much more reduced now, but still exist in some numbers (greater numbers than what other races know or assume, certainly), because they are necessary for the world's ecological well-being.
There are two isolated (from other populations of their respective species, as well, not just the rest) populations of highly corrupted and maddened gnoll and firbolg scattered out on the shattered remains of the elven origin continent; they look sufficiently dissimilar to the current looks of gnoll and firbolg they aren't recognized for what they are. Ironically, they look and are closer to what they once were, undoubtedly prompted by the massive magical-natural calamity the elves managed to set off in their civil war.