Human and Human-Adjacent

These are the folk which are or closely resemble humans. In the context of the Confluence, the category of "humanoid" is a social construct which largely seeks to differentiate more "human-like" species from others. It is a term with origins that date hundreds of years ago, and which originated with the use of bio-engineering magics in Arcturia. Because of Arcturia's terrible eugenics campaigns, the term "humanoid" has become a term largely used by bigots.

Humans

Physiologically, humans are exactly as they are in the real world. In every nation-state other than Arcturia (on account of Arcturia's history), they are a minority. Any ethnic traditions exercised by humanity are likely to have stemmed from Arcturia, though hostility to that nation-state has encouraged humans in other nations to be quiet about their practices or to water them down to be something less recognizable as anything that originated from there.

Elves

Elves are tall, gaunt, and albinic. Their bodies are angular, with bony joints, talon-like hands, and pointed ears. While frail, they have a natural resistance to poison. Hundreds of years ago, before Arcturia became a theocratic and fachistic state, its society began to dabble in eugenic magics and practices, and the elves are part of the result of that. They were designed for aristocratic lifestyle, with bodies unable to partake in heavy manual labor but designed with resistance to both disease and poison. After the Eugenics War, they were scattered. Their largest communities now exist in Avalon and the Druidic Plexus.

Orcs

Orcs are tall, are predisposed to muscularity, and have skin tones that range between lighter and darker greens. All grow massive tusks (which in some cases unfortunately never stop growing, leading to a need to remove them before they curve inward and begin to penetrate their skull). They were also results of pre-faschist Arcturia, but were designed to be a warrior class. Culturally speaking, due to their historic place beneath elves in a long-dead social hierarchy, there remains stereotype and some tension between them. Their largest populations can be found in the Plexus as well as Corpus Corona.

Dwarves

Dwarves are stocky fellows, again with a predisposition toward muscularity, but as opposed to a warrior class they were meant to perform grunt work. They were made with exceptional respritory systems in order to ensure mining conditions nobody else could. Dwarves and orcs have traditionally found camaraderie with one another, both having been beneath the elves so long ago in the society which had made them. Like orcs and elves, they too were driven out during the Eugenics War and today their largest population can be found in Avalon.

Gnomes

Gnomes in this setting are essentially just half-dwarf-half-humans. They're small (though slightly taller than dwarves) and whether they inherit dwarvish traits is largely up to chance.

Giants

Giants were initially among the Living Weapons created during the Eugenics War (a class of being which will be spoken about on the monster page once that's up). They stand at an average of 14 feet tall and, after some were able to have their minds restored, they began re-integration into society. Most places are, rather unfortunately, still not designed with them in mind, and as such they're most at home in the Plexus or in small, isolated communities in Corpus Corona.

Half-Giants

Half-giants are notable among mixed species folk just due to their sheer size. Just like giants, they aren't often found outside of communities that accomodate them, but the friction that prevents fullblooded giants from engaging in wider society is slightly lessened with folk that're closer to 10 feet tall than 14, especially in regions such as Corpus Corona, where the gnollish population is an average of 7 feet tall.

Taur

Taurs were made as Living Weapons designed to dominate flat areas, such as plains. They were designed to be cavalry which didn't require the imperfect communication between rider and mount and instead made them one and the same. The animalistic lower torso is variable and it dependent on region. Coronan taurs might have a bottom half of a giant hyena, and Arcturian taurs used horses. Taursare unique among Living Weapon species because the changes they were subjected to often didn't damage the mind of the person therein, which led to societies at large accomodating their presence a lot sooner than others.

Triton

Triton are swampy, humanoid fishfolk. Similar to humans, most have two arms and two legs, though this is where similarities largely end. Some populations of Triton have mer-folk tails, though these populations are rarely seen due to their physical inability to leave the water without assistance. Their fingers and toes are webbed, they possess fins and gills, and their head is oft that of a fish. The species of fish is variable, and it can be any sort of fish ranging from a blue catfish to an alligator gar. They largely reside in the Plexus, as it has the highest density of bodies of water, though there are populations elsewhere. Corpus Corona and Arcturia have bodies of water that are suitable for Triton life, and even in Avalon you can find manufactured habitats to accomodate such peoples.

Anthropomorphic Species

There's a wide variety of anthropomorphic folk that populate the Confluence as well. Unlike human-esque folk, they have a wider variety of origins. Of course, if their anthropomorphism were to be designated as anything special by those considered human-adjacent, they would be quick to point out that humans are merely anthropomorphic monkeys.

Gnolls

Gnolls are the primary population of Corpus Corona. These hyena-folk stand at an average of 7 feet tall overall, though it would be more accurate to examine their physiological traits through the lens of sexual dimorphism (it should be noted, of course, that these traits are largely merely clustered together, and much like real life, anybody is nominally able to be born with any traits not usually associated with the others they possess. Bios magic also tends to blur the line further). AFAB gnolls are generally taller and are often genetically predisposed to a more muscular build, standing at an average of 7 1/2 feet tall. AMAB gnolls, on the otherhand, are usually closer to 6 1/2 feet tall and are more lithe. Regardless of sex observed at birth, they have generally hunched statures, sharp claws and sharper teeth. Gnollish societies are largely matriarichal.

Draconians/Kobolds

Dragons were one of the fiercest species among the Living Weapons, and were nigh uncontrollable. Their creation represented a terrible and indiscriminate destructive force and they were an existential threat atop the Eugenics War for a time due to their ability to reproduce asexually via pathenogenesis. It took great effort to subdue the dragons and it took greater effort to restore the mind of even one, but it has been done. The restoration of a select few dragons' minds (the process therein took great effort and presented great cost to the casters) meant that it was now almost possible for a dragon to integrate into society. Through substantial bios magicks, a humanoid form was achieved for those who were once dragons: the draconians. They're generally about eight feet tall and their scales are exceptionally tough, and some have even retained the ability to reproduce via pathenogenesis. As Draconians integrated into society and developed relationships with all manner of other folk, it was found that relations with smaller species usually led to the creation of much smaller dragonfolk, who came to be called kobolds.

Procyeans

These short raccoon-folk can primarily be found scampering about in the Druidic Plexus. Culturally, they have a heavy focus on change and reuse, often elevating transformation (metaphorical and otherwise) as not only an integral part of life, but as a principle to explicitly live life by. Procyean-founded societies often reuse the waste generated by other peoples (while this isn't a new practice, this has become a more defining trait of theirs as Avalon has industrialized), which calls for many of them to travel and take up jobs as traders and seafaring folk. You can find Procyeans in many places outside of the Plexus, but you often won't see them there for long.

Arachnids

Clustered around the Confluence, there are a variety of cave systems. These systems span miles underground, providing dark and damp spaces which yield almost alien ecosystems. There are, additionally, some peoples which populate this space. The Arachnids are one such people. These 7-foot spider-folk, even among anthropomorphic species, are generally seen as a bit freaky. It's not often to see large groups of them, as they are not a social people. They often live isolated, individual experiences and largely disregard larger societies in favor of a calm, quiet existence in solitude in cave systems.

Vesperti

In contrast to the asocial arachnids, the Vesperti are extremely social batfolk. Unlike other anthropomorphic species, which often can largely be compared to humans in physiology, the Vesperti are exceptionally closer to bats than human, though they're capable of standing upright. Their native societies are colonies underground where they can live in defensive groups comprised of hundreds of members, most of whom dedicate themselves to raising young and the rest of whom leave to hunt and gather food. They usually stand at about four feet tall and they are capable of flight and echolocation. When living in non-Vesperti societies, they'll still often live in large pseudo-familial units.

Corvus

The short, 5-foot crowfolk that are the Corvidae have a history that is largely unknown. They've lived everywhere for an exceptionally long time, with flocks that are constantly migrating from one place to the next. They rapidly pick up and discard local traditions that are shown to them, and as such their life is a pastiche and collage of everything they've seen in their travels, with members usually only settling down for a permanent existence somewhere when their age prevents them from continuing their migratory life.

Felidae

There are a variety of catfolk in the Confluence. Tigerfolk, pantherfolk, ceracalfolk, all of whom fall under the umbrella of felidae. There is a lot of variety between felidae groups, with some groups being taller and others shorter and with a variety of coats, all of which is dependent on the cat species they resemble. Many felidae groups are native to the Plexus, though they've spread around to everywhere else as well.

Canidae

Canidae are the canine equivalent to the felidae. Their appearances are exceptionally varied, and they've spread around everywhere as well, though there are some key differences. Canidae are native to Arcturia, always having existed outside of main Arcturian society in isolated packs, though the events that led to the Eugenics war led to their expulsion throughout the Confluence. During the war, the canidae in the Druidic Plexus used bios magicks to emphasize different traits of their biology, turning what once was a species of exclusively wolf-folk into a larger species encompassing a variety of breeds. It's even said that this practice is what inspired the creation of many Living Weapons species.