Vampire Clan
You were not born a Monster, not like everyone else here. Once, you might have dreamed of being chosen by one of the Gods of Light. Once you might have feared when the Goblinkin might raid your home, without your Heroes to defend you. But not anymore. Blood no longer runs through your veins naturally - it must be replenished through outside sources regularly, lest your body cease to grow and function, and begin to onset the rot and decay that has been denied of it. Your skin burns under the light of the sun, as if you were exposed to fire itself, and you cover yourself thickly whenever you walk into it. And places blessed with divinity make your whole form Itch - an idle blessing from a priest on the side of a road on a good day enough to make you breathless, as if you had been punched in your solar plexus.
However, your unlife has also blessed you in ways you found most agreeable. On first embrace, your body righted itself into its most perfect form - every pox mark, every scar, every thing about you that could be considered a Flaw on your form was healed. Your words drew eyes towards you just by speaking, your voice the kind that drew people in. You had to be careful of how you showed off your physique to the mortal world, because you simply were stronger than you should be. Even as a youth, your body held the power of an adult. And now as you reach adulthood yourself, your body is that of a peak mortal, in all physical aspects.
Your magical talents were the only ones you had to 'learn' to master, but the art of Bone and Blood came easily to your undead form. Your Father's teachings were anything but swift - a repetition of a hundred times to ensure you were comfortable. And while you could at most raise a skeleton or zombie, far from the dread wights he was capable of, you knew that they were at least something; for every wound was potentially a death, and every guardian corpse taking the blow was thus potentially a life. Blood Magic was even more important in this matter, however. While your body was great in many ways, it did not heal itself naturally, not in the way a truly Living body would. Instead, through works of Blood Magic you could do that and more, utilizing the blood stores in your own veins, rather than the mana core inside of your body.
Being a Vampire made you Better. But what were you before?
[x] A. A human, Write in a trait.
Humanity is the most numerous Race of Man, and is spread across nearly every part of it in some way. Three Gods name themselves as Patrons of Humanity, lending a special eye to them above all others, including the chief goddess Lumesa. As a whole, humanity is not exceptional in any way; they are not the strongest of Men, they are not the most Magical, the most Beautiful, the most Intelligent, or the most Graceful. In many ways, the average human is Less than the average member of any other Race of Man. But their talents are more varied; and their strength comes from numbers, making that variety most terrifying. There are four mainly Human kingdoms, though three all come from the remnants of an Empire founded by the Last Hero - each claiming to be his true successor.
Human Vampires often exist at the higher parts of society - in old money families who predate the Hero's rise and fall, even. These families utilize their influence on human politics to help stave off any attempts at unity against Demons, empowering the worst of Humanity's biases and greed against each other.
Starting Trait: (Any! Write in a trait, and that's your human talent. This cannot upgrade a currently possessed talent. Some limits apply, but not many)
[x] B. A Predatory Beast(wo)man Write in a species
[x] C. A Prey Beast(wo)man Write in a species
Originally born from uplifted animals around the Mother Tree, Beastmen are a species that looks wise is even more varied than that of Humanity. Large, fur covered wolf headed beastmen co-exist with four feet tall humans who simply possess bunny ears, and everything in between. The Sacred Forest is their only Kingdom, but is one of the most massive in sheer landmass - mostly due to the fact that few would comfortably be able to live within the dark forests, even amongst the Elves. Beastmen are technically one species - and are a true Species at that - but are commonly split down the lines of Predator and Prey species, due to the large size dimorphism between the two.
Predatory Beastmen most often descend from Wolves and Bears, but also include Badgers, Cats, Owls, and many others. Predatory Beastmen, even those originating from what are originally small animals, are physically larger than most Men, usually standing around six feet tall. Their appearances are also more often schewed towards the Beastial side - though this is purely a result of the standards of beauty imposed by other members of the species. More Man-Like catgirls and the like are looked at with suspicion of being half-breeds and the like. Predatory Beastmen currently control must of the Sacred Forest, due to their superior strength in an age of conflict - their natural skill at utilizing their bestial weapons something many have come to fear.
Starting Traits: Natural Weapons, Species Trait (Unlike with Human, you don't get to decide this trait. You get to decide your beast species, and I will give you a trait for it.)
Prey Beastmen mostly descend from Deer, Rabbits, and even small Birds, though they also include some rarer species like Squirrels and Horses. Much like Predatory Beastmen, irregardless of their original species, Prey Beastmen tend towards similar heights - topping out around the five foot mark. Prey Beastmen have a highly tuned danger sense, that tells them exactly when they're about to be in terrible trouble - and this has made many of them easier to intimidate, not harder. Human-looking Prey Beastmen are more often seen, though most Prey Beastmen do not display a preference.
Starting Traits: Prey's Sense, Species Trait
Vampiric Beastmen are a rarity - though that is mostly due to how young their species is. No Families have sprung up within the Sacred Forest, instead most Beastmen Vampires are chosen of outsiders, exiles, or explorers. Those who left the sacred forest.
[x] D. A dwarf!
Dwarves are one of the oldest Races of Man, predating most of History as it is currently known. While their current obsession with metals and magma are new developments - relatively - they have always been known for the Halls of Stone, carved deep into the earth and hiding their true power from outward eyes, within stone that spoke to them. Even the smallest of Dwarf Villages are the equivalent of highly fortified castle towns, when compared to the homes of Men or other species. Their greatest cities are guarded by fortresses that only can withstand their own weight due to the nature of Dwarven Mastery. Short and stocky, most Dwarves rarely peek above four feet tall, but are often as wide or wider than a full grown human man - and are in no way weaker than one.
However, their society is full of paranoia - dwarves are naturally agoraphobic, an act simply written into their existence. And from this fear of the open sky and places under the sun, came a fear of those who lived under it openly. While Dwarves do not hate other races of Man in the way Elves do, they have a deep distrust for them - every dwarf is raised from birth to fear surface-dwelling people, for inevitably the surface dwellers only want them for their riches, for their mastery of metal, or for other sick and twisted reasons. However, this distrust and fear also has lead to dwarves refusing to expand beyond ancient homes, locking them into conservative ways that eat away at them, as they pick clean their halls of all they were worth.
Dwarves are known for their ability to 'see' through solid stone, so long as they are touching it. All Dwarves have some level of this talent, extending their senses to around a dozen meters. But some Stone-Sages can see through stone even miles away. Dwarves are also highly resistant to the effects of heat, which was part of why the God of Magma and Flame chose them to be his patron race. The dwarves also also excessively stable, as a result of their body's low center of mass; the saying goes that a dwarf can stand tall even as a bull charges him down.
Dwarves are long lived and hate the sun; and thus they have been long infected by a multitude of vampiric families, who barely need to work to sustain their cover. The greatest danger to a dwarven vampire is the fact that the act of working a craft is seen as a holy act - causing a deep discomfort, physical pain, or in some rare cases literal death, when witnessing a Great Workman do their work.
Starting Traits: Stone Sense, Heat Resistance, Stable Footed.
Starting Bane: Agoraphobia
[x] E. A High Elf, write in magic type
[x] F. A Weald Elf
Elves were the first race of Man to divorce themselves from the United Empire of Man, founded by the Last Hero. It was on the day of his death, without a moment of hesitation - all races of Man who were not elven were forcibly removed from Elven lands at sword point, and those who resisted were ejected by their forests themselves. The reason for this was simple; the Elves viewed themselves as the greatest amongst the races of Man, and could not accept the idea of simply being one of many. Indeed, to imply any relation between Elf and Mankind as a whole is an insult to elven dignity. Only rare travelers and traders are permitted entry into the Elf-homes, and they are carefully scrutinized.
Elves are split into two cultural forces; high elf nobility, and 'weald' elf commoners. High Elves are renowned for their great magical talents, and often master multiple forms of the magical art. Weald elves, however, have a natural kinship to animal creatures and the forests themselves. All elves were originally weald elves, but as time moved forward and some elves began to venture into the forests less and less, pouring over books and knowledge, a division came. High Elves are typically pale haired irregardless of their skin color - most often greys and whites, but often times speckled based on their magical mastery, while weald elves typically sported greens and browns.
High Elf Starting traits: Mana Core, Any Magic Type (Cannot upgrade current traits)
Weald Elf starting traits: Animal Kinship, Forestry, Herbalism
High Elves are more often the target of Vampiric inflitration than Weald Elves, due to their importance; but are also much more dangerous. Powerful mages being one of the few beings that can identify a vampire, and being extremely common amongst them. Still, Necromancy is not illegal for a High Elf to practice, and some do choose it as their art of choice; allowing a vampire to hide amongst them for a time at least. Weald Elf vampires find themselves less well viewed by comparison; though one particularly notable family of them claims to have mastered the art of creating Ghoul-Animals, animals with the power of vampires.
[x] G. A Gnome
Gnomes should be the most populace race of Man, for many a biological reason. They are not, for many a sociological reason. Namely; Gnomes lack fear, to a dangerous degree. Despite being almost as small as a Half-Folk, with none of their plucky camraderie, Gnomes were well known for charging into danger without an ounce of hesitation. For what the Gods did not gift them in size, they gifted them in bravery. All was... unstable but stably so in their society, until the discovery of Spiritual Engineering. Humanity was actually the first to discover the art of binding Spirits to rune words - but Gnomes were the ones who perfected it. Or at least tried to. The art of Spiritual Engineering was a dangerous one, liable to explode in your face with the slightest mistake. So any race with a sense of fear abandoned it.
Leaving it to the Gnomes. Four feet to four and a half feet tall with colors ranging all the human ones, Gnomes are not fast, are not strong, are not even particularly tough. But they're clever to a fault, and their people respect those who are Inventive above all else. So societal pressures force Gnomes to live fast, and innovate quickly. This has made them a terrifying force in the modern days. While they lack the stability of dwarven designs, their innovations can be thrice as terrifying as a proven dwarven ballista. A storm cannon that launches literal storms of lightning and fire would make or break any offensive against an Army of Man... if they could only stop the spirits from rebelling.
Starting Traits: Spirit Calling, Spirit Binding, Spiritual Engineering, Fearless
Starting Bane: Fearless
Gnome Vampires do not last long; for many of them walk into the sun unfearing, in the moments they are turned. However, with proper warning and educating on the benefits of not walking straight into their deaths, a Gnome Vampire can and will survive to do horrible, horrible things. As long as they don't expose themselves out of a sense of superiority. Spirits are much less intimidating with the power of a Vampire, after all.
[x] H. A Half-Folk
Half-Folk are... agreeable. That is their strongest trait - very few people can come to hate a Half-Folk. Loved by their patron goddess more than any other race, they live life in near idyllic happiness, farming, brewing, and never seeking more. No nation of Half-Folk exists, because they are instead an exception to nearly every people's hatred - even some small amount of Half-Folk villages exist on the outskirts of Elven lands. The average Half-Folk tends to live a simple life and never seems to mind it - for what happiness can truly be found in hustle and bustle, in finding the newest way to Move Up, that cannot be found in simply wrapping your arm around someone you love, and eating a good meal after a hard day's work?
Very few Half-Folk heroes exist, and those who do often are priests of their loving Goddess. Instead their lands are often protected by heroes of other species, who live in The Big House upon the village land - a station that many heroes come to covet if they want an easy life. For near every Halfling old enough to hold a spoon is skilled at all manner of 'life' skills - cooking, brewing, house building, fishing, the like - and are more than happy to share the fruits of these masteries with their heroic protectors.
Starting Traits: Unassuming, Life Skills
Half-Folk vampires can sometimes forget they are vampires - feared and hated. Even if their neighbor catches them sneaking into their pig pen at night to suck blood, they're likely to simply offer them a hot meal and a drink! Many Vampires have been made of Half-Folk, only for them to fall into a comfortable routine, simply limited to going out at night more often than before, and needing to drink blood instead of beer. It's something of an embarrassment to Vampires.
