Celestial Akhoata

All female-assigned species, like nymphs, muses, etc. with innate celestial or popular powers.

---

Akka

Akhoata who form magical clans.

• Lifespan: 300 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat : Boreal forests

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Akka appear to be human women, but taller on average - about 7’ tall - who are known, culturally, to wear red and blue outfits. Their skin is pale lavender, almost white, and their hair ranges the gamut of human appearance. Their "fathers" are "males" of any other species that can reproduce sexually.

Akka can invoke sexual magic to make thunder roll. Akka can sense and shape the unborn immediately after conception, whether this is their own child or that of any other being that can get pregnant. They can also shape the unhatched, but this is more difficult.

The touch of an akka will convey protections to any child, assuming the touch is not traumatic or harmful to the child (not an act of violence or violation). The protections must be specified during the touch - protection from disease, from cold, from a specific person, etc. The broader a protection, the weaker it is. Akka can also convey protections to adult women and non-men, but they must do so by marking them with their own blood. The protections work the same. They can only convey one protection at a time.

All akka belong to one of five clans. As many akka have connections to multiple families, the one that manifests powers is the one most recently connected, the one they are part of the clan of. The five clans are descended of the founders of the species:

• Jabme-Akka: Jabme-Akka was the last daughter of Maderakka. She was a psychopomp who sought to protect children in the afterlife. Those of her line can see the souls of dead children and offer them protections as if they were alive, and they can use mirrors to check if children are okay in the afterlife.

• Juksakka: Juksakka was an archer who protected children during times of strife. Those of her line have inherent skill with archery and combat.

• Maderakka: Maderakka was the first akka, the mother of the tribe, protector of women and children, who granted bodies to the unborn. Those of her line - most akka - can sense the bloodlines of those whom they can see and repel evil using their menstrual blood.

• Sarakka: Sarakka was the eldest daughter of Maderakka. She was very much like her mother. Those of her line can instill fertility in the infertile, have skill and insight into sex, can soothe pregnant people with their touch, and can tell when people love one another by sight.

• Uksakka: Uksakka was a midwife. Those of her line are more skilled at shaping the unborn than other akka. They can also open and seal doors.

Every akka has an affinity from their non-akka parent’s line as well. This varies by species.

If an akka harms a child intentionally and not in self-defense, the akka will begin to rot while alive. Their stench will warn children to stay away.

In their homelands to the far north, akka are nomadic nations. Their encampments feature tents that are made of reindeer-hide, but to keep warm, they often dig small burrows below the tents to sleep on. They wear bright colors and herd reindeer, and they have intricate family practices. In the city-states, they are oppressed and often enslaved, used as midwives and caretakers of children by the powerful.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 8 STH 8 ESS 9

---

Inannan

Daughters of love.

• Lifespan : 300 years
• Diet: Common mortal fare
• Habitat: Arid or subtropical
• Socioeconomic Status: Enslaved

Inannans are female-assigned beings who come from the southeastern continent of Shem. They appear to be human women with the normal range of human skin and hair color; however, they change forms in the morning and evening. If they merge with enough people, they gain a form known as their supernal form. Their morning and evening forms are simply hominid forms with different coloration. Their supernal form gains extra arms, rainbow flesh and hair, an aura of light, extra eyes, and wings.

Inannans are empowered by love. Different kinds of love give them different powers. To gain power from love, they must not only experience it, but seal it into their hearts. They do this by merging with a person with whom they share that emotion (temporarily) via an embrace, a touching of hands, or a deep shared gaze. Players will pick three of these to start with.

• Acceptance: resist senescence; the inannan will not feel the physical effects of old age for 25 years longer than average.
• Admiration: soothe soul; the inannan can touch someone and alleviate trauma, curses, sin, or infernal or imperial effects on their souls
• Affection: control goats; the inannan can control goats with their voice.
• Altruism: self-resurrection; the inannan will rise from the dead after three days, once.
• Beauty appreciation: beauty aura; the inannan will appear beautiful to anyone who sees them, no matter what their physical form is.
• Camaraderie: know mortal rules; the inannan will gain +6 to any roll to understand the local mortal laws, rules, or guidelines, including unwritten social rules.
• Communal love: speak to animals; the inannan can speak to up to six different species of animal.
• Compassion: control doves; the inannan can control doves with their voice.
• Desire: dominant presence; the inannan can invoke an aura that makes others more willingly submit to them once per year.
• Divine love: know Divine law; the inannan will gain +6 to any roll to understand the laws that govern Divinities.
• Familial love: instill fertility; the touch of the inannan will give any mature mortal being fertility if they did not already have it or have lost it.
• Friendship: earth-shattering roar; the inannan can roar like a lion and shatter solid matter.
• Kindness: rainbow walk; the inannan can walk on rainbows that teleport her up to 3 miles away.
• Love of nature: summon storms; the inannan can scream and summon a storm once per year.
• Love of object: fish form; the inannan can take the form of a fish local to their homeland by diving into an adequate body of water.
• Love of power : increased prowess; the inannan will gain a permanent +3 PRO.
• Loyalty: inflict justice; the inannan can touch someone and inflict a quest of redemption or an affliction of suffering equal to the injustice that person is guilty of, once per year.
• Parental love: lunar attunement; the inannan will attune to one of the three moons and gain bonuses when it is full and penalties when it is new.
• Passion: control cattle; the inannan can control cattle with their voice.
• Pet love: animal influence; the inannan can influence animals with a touch.
• Pride: kill serpents; the inannan can kill serpents with their gaze.
• Romance: destroy stone; the inannan can shatter stone with their gaze.
• Self-esteem: alter gender; the inannan can alter the fundamental gender of themselves or others with a consensual kiss.
• Sexual attraction: avenge self against sexual assault; the inannan can turn water to blood and kill anyone who has assaulted them by throwing them into it.
• True love: astrological sight; the inannan can look at the stars and make a prediction of the future or present once per month.
• Trust: summon flood; the inannan can summon a flood of water from a nearby body of water once per year.
• Unconditional love: beloved aura; the inannan can create an aura of sapphire light that makes them beloved to all who see them.
• Worship: control lions; the inannan can control lions with their voice.

Inannans were brought to the city-states as sex slaves. There are no free inannans in the city-states; they are automatically enslaved. Some hide their true being, living in secret, while others live openly in defiance. Some simply live as slaves, and others live in hiding, working with resistance groups. Most are trying to find ways to escape, however, and some have escaped and now live in hiding.

Coming from a complex culture where politics and magic were extremely advanced, they are skilled at manipulating and opposing those who have enslaved them. Therefore, there are strict rules requiring that they are debilitated when they are enslaved.

Those who remain in imperial lands are often isolated, but they can recall the culture of their homeland. They respect a wide variety of genders, worship their Beloved Divine, recall the intricate rules of their society, have strong feelings about vengeance, respect the seasonal rituals, honor the sun and moons, remember the work of the farms, know how to work poplar and willow wood, know how to make libation cakes, make hook-shaped knot symbols for their homes, recall the hymns, the drum music, and the stories of their people, know the special outfits worn for formal occasions, and have the skills they were raised with, including combat, magic, and politics.

PRO 11 ATH 11 STR 8 AWA 10 WIL 9 PRS 14 STH 7 ESS 10

---

Jasad

Daughters of virtue or principle.

• Lifespan : 300 years

• Diet: Normal human fare

• Habitat: Fertile valleys

• Socioeconomic Status: Enslaved

Jasadis appear to be human-like women with palest blue skin, hair that is metallic in hue (ranging the colors of metals), and markings along their right arms.

Jasadis can sense danger. They are able to communicate with sheep, goats, and sheepdogs. If a jasad has embodied a virtue, their touch becomes empowered and can deflect, repel, or harm imperial, industrial, or infernal powers. They also gain one other virtue-based power:

• Mercy: forgiving voice (singing or humming will purify a soul)

• Piety or Principle: faith bonus +6 or discipline bonus +6

• Humility: immunity to temptation (WIL+12 vs. temptation)

• Constance: strengthening voice (singing or humming gives +3 STR to target)

• Prudence: danger sense +6

• Sincerity: read people +6

• Resilience: quick healing

• Charity: always have something to give

• Sanctuary: defense (parry, dodge, toughness) +6

• Kindness: immunity to imperial energies of harm or pain.

• Patience: willpower +6

• Service: immunity to imperial energies of control or deception.

It is possible for a jasad to embody more than one virtue, even all 12, but it is very, very, very difficult. Embodiment requires living that virtue with no missteps whatsoever for at least a year before the power becomes available, and then any deviation means losing the power. Most jasadis choose to embody just one.

Most jasadis live on the central continent of Mahad where they live in valleys and herd sheep. Their communities are small, communal ones, led by elected elders who embody one of the virtues. Most are religious, worshipping Ba'Kal, a sheperdess goddess.

Those in imperial lands are there as slaves, captured in raids and sold on the worldwide slaving market. They are valued because they are considered "excellent servants" because their isolated culture is so focused on service. What their enslavers don't realize is that if and when they escape, they become the most fervent enemies of the slaving class out there.

Many have escaped into the wilderness or to go into hiding, and they have spread their faith among the oppressed and free.

PRO 6 ATH 8 STR 10 AWA 10 WIL 11 PRS 9 STH 6 ESS 9

---

Lamia

Serpentine akhoata.

• Lifespan : 300 years
• Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
• Habitat: Subtropical to temperate islands and mountains
• Socioeconomic Status: Enslaved

Lamiai appear to be human women (or those commonly assigned as women) within the full range of human and metahuman appearance, but with serpentine features. How their serpentine features look varies individually and regionally. The most common form is the upper body of a human and lower body (tail) of a snake. Variations include the following:

• Snake scaled along their torso, neck, and/or heads
• Snakes for hair
• Snakes around their waists
• A snake head at the end of their tail (very rare)
• Full snake body with only a human head or face
• A throat and mouth that open wide like a snake’s
• Serpentine fangs
• Human face and breasts and a snake from the cleft in their foreheads

Some lamiai have non-serpentine features, such as wings, metallic hands, clawed hands, swine tusks, removable and reattachable eyes, piscine features, and green tinged skin. Because some have the ability to shapeshift into full snakes or other forms, they may take on different appearances. About one in a hundred are born intersex, usually presenting as having testicles despite their otherwise assigned-female appearance. Their voices tend to be high pitched.

Lamiai are born with the wisdom of their predecessors that takes the form of three instincts:

1. An instinctual sense of those who have a history of sexual assault or rape. This manifests as a chill running down their spine the first time they interact with the person (touching, speaking to, holding the gaze of, etc - merely being near them without interaction does not work).
2. An instinctual sense of those who have a hatred of or prejudice against them. This manifests as a mild unease when they know they are being looked at. Covert surveillance does not trigger this sense, nor does passive observation, but direct observation does.
3. An instinctual sense of when a snake is nearby. This manifests as certain knowledge, even if there is no other indication of the snake’s presence.

Different experiences in the life of a lamiai might imbue them with certain powers. Each power has a traumatic triggering event, a positive triggering event, and a neutral triggering event. Consult the GM for a list of powers.

All lamiai have certain powers or features that come with being serpentine. Some of these are simply a consequence of their serpentine features - any snake heads will have a venomous bite, for example - and some are less explicable:

• A lamia can remove and reattach their eyes if they have a serpentine tail and human upper body.
• Blood from the left side of a lamia’s body is poisonous; blood from the right side of their body can be used to revive the dead. Blood used to revive the dead will not be replenished within the lamia and only works before it is replenished. This means the blood is permanently lost, which results in a loss of STR.
• A lamia can open their throat and mouth wide like a snake’s if they practice at it.
• A lamia who can shapeshift will sometimes turn fully into a snake when in a wild rage, uncontrollably.
• All lamias have a sharp sense of smell.
• If the flesh of a lamia is cooked and eaten, it can heal those who consume it.
• They are immune to snake venom.

Lamiai are an enslaved species in the city-states. Very few gain freedom, and those who do are very oppressed. They come from different parts of the world, and since most of them were enslaved or descended of those who were, their previous cultures only survive in remnants, often fused together with other lamia cultures due to their circumstances. The various nations are as follows:

• Alabasandrian: from the central continent and Island Bridge.
• Gorgon: from part of the imperial core not far from Talune, with a preference for hair of snakes.
• Kiyohime: from the far east.
• Nisa' al-Thueban: from the deserts of the south-central continent.
• Shāhmārān: widespread nation in the central regions.
• Shé Nǚ: far eastern nation known for the use of neidan, an ancient alchemical art.
• Tlanchana: from far to the south of the city-states, known for living near water or in caves.
• Xtabay: from far to the south of the city-states, associated with death by hanging.

Some cultural features that sometimes persist among them include a preference for solitude, cuisine with goat as a primary focus, reverence for children, old songs, a tendency toward group celebrations for the good moments of their lives, honoring snakes, use of multiple names to obscure their True Names, a reputation for a sharp tongue or quick temper, a preference for necklaces, some half-remembered alchemical or medicinal traditions, certain funerary practices, and a strong streak of feminism.

In imperial lands, they are often accused of eating children, which is untrue but persists none-the-less.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 9 ESS 9

---

Lilithian

Daughters of Lilith, the scorned.

• Lifespan : 300 years
• Diet: Scarce mortal fare
• Habitat: Badlands and harsh terrain
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Lilithians are all female-assigned beings who appear human in their day-to-day life, but who can take on different forms when they have tapped into their matrilineal ancestral memory - aemoa - which goes back beyond the Fall (the rise of patriarchy). When they take on these different forms, they often appear “monstrous” to people who have embraced patriarchal values.

Some common features include living snakes coming from their bodies, avian wings, bird feet, slightly large eyes and hands, hirsuteness, leonine heads, donkey’s teeth or ears, elongated fingers, talons or claws for hands or feet, fiery hair or auras, metallic nails and teeth, animalistic faces (pig, horse, dog, black cat, tiger, bird, lioness), large vulvas, stony or bark-like skin, skeletal features (face, hands, legs), glowing eyes, hooves for hands or feet, faces that are aged or rotting or bleeding, jaundiced eyes, serpentine tongues, shadowy auras or forms, backward feet, or full animal forms (pig, horse, dog, black cat, tiger, bird, lioness) with one human limb. All of them have hair that is abnormally strong. It is often very long, glossy, and/or mane-like. Their skin colors range from common human skin tones to blues, greens, yellows, or golds. Sometimes their skin shifts when they are in ancestral form, taking on a paler or darker tone.

Lilithians can remember their time in the womb, which makes them excellent swimmers.

Lilithians have the power to connect to their matrilineal ancestors before the Fall, a barrier that exists for most beings on Shem. This gives them access to matriarchal energies that protect them, empower them, and give them special abilities. To connect to their matrilineal ancestors, they must purge themselves of patriarchal influences by combing their hair, then engage in one of three special activities: consensual sex, physical care for others, or ritual honoring of their ancestors. If a lilithian dies in childbirth, their child’s ancestral memory will be immediately initiated so the birthing parent remains with them always, giving them a permanent connection and form. When they are connected to their ancestry, their bodies change to take on a form that is outside the normal range of human expression (see above for examples).

• Their powers while connected vary depending on their culture, ancestors, form, and individual experiences, but they include some or all of the following:
• Aura of protection from infernal powers or beings (WIL+ancestral bonus)
• Hard-to-kill edge or the ability to grant this edge to others temporarily
• Vanishing up to three times during the day or temporary invisibility at night for up to three minutes under a non-full moon (rare)
• Sense feelings of guilt in others (but not objective guilt)
• Produce milk that can nourish any animalCalm or panic any animal they resemble with their touch
• Cause or heal minor diseases with their breath (rare)
• Summon seasonal winds to imbue nearby trees and plants with seasonal forms (i.e., cold winds in autumn to make tree leaves change color) (rare)
• Using wet linen or other cloths as entangling weapons equal to steel chains
• Magically open doors with a word of commandThe ability to fly (very rare)

Lilithians gain magical powers from consensual sex. If they have sex in their ancestral form, these powers are even greater than if not. They also gain powers to protect themselves if sexually assaulted, though these are very different. During sex, a lilithian can do at least one of the following:

• Predict the death of their partner or their partner’s/s’ loved ones (rare)
• Gain physical or mental strength from the positive emotions shared during sex
• Reduce or increase virility of partner for duration of sex by sucking their toes
• Affect the eventual dreams of their partner(s)
• Draw upon the light of mercy (a blue light of pure aemoa) within them to heal, soothe, or otherwise aide their partner(s)

After sex, they may temporarily be able to do the following:

• Charming gaze
• Imitate the appearance of someone’s loved ones
• Predict the death of someone nearby (rare)
• Turn anyone who engages in patriarchal behavior into animals

If they are sexually assaulted or raped, they may defend themselves with one or more of the following:

• Instant kill by plucking out their attacker’s tongue
• Cause madness or death with their own visage
• Strangle their attacker with their hair
• Put their attacker to sleep with their soft voice

If a lilithian engages in patriarchal behavior or joins willingly a patriarchal society - i.e., if they engage in gendered oppression - they will become overly influenced by any men around them, no matter what the disposition of that man is. They will slowly lose all powers.

There are many nations of lilithian throughout the world, and all of them are enslaved by the ruling class of the city-states. Those lilithians who gain freedom in the city-states are very rare, and those who remain even rarer. But some do, either to stay near family who are still enslaved, out of defiance, or simply because they lack the resources to leave. Though they come from all over the world, their cultures are mostly lost or limited because of their enslavement, with only remnants remaining, often merging with other lilithian cultures. The nations include the following:

• Al Basty: lilithians from the east known for taking fiery appearances and having metallic nails and teeth.
• Caoineag: lilithians from fey areas who live near waterfalls in mountains or in glens or lochs, known for wearing green shawls and being washerwomen.
• Chedipe: lilithians from the east who often work as sex workers within the complex society there. They are also known for riding tigers at night.
• Ciguapa: lilithians of the Reever Sea (central Shem) who take a form where their feet are backwards. They are known for having dark blue or brown skin.
• Cihuateteo: lilithians from far to the south who have their own communities and only interact with others on specific days of the year. They take on clawed forms and distorted bodies,
• Ḍākinī: lilithian nation from the east known for their ritual consumption of elemental lifeforce and unaligned body magic.
• Geusstaan: the pig-faced women of the imperial core.
• Lauma: the women of the north who descended from the sky to be among the people. They have dog-like features, stone nipples, and magical charms of yarn.
• Lilîtu: the original nation found throughout the central continent and nearby. They take on avian features.
• Sheela Na Gig: stony-skinned fey lilithians found also in central and western imperial lands who have exaggerated vulvas.
• Sihuanaba: lilithians far to the south who take on equine features and are known for their varied forms.
• Vâlvă: lilithians from the imperial core who have many different roles in communities based on what they protect.

Some features that survive among the freed lilithains include ancestor worship, keeping of serpents as guards and wild or feral cats as pets, a preference for goat or pork in their cuisine, rituals of protection involving making bowls with specific designs, hair care routines and certain hairstyles (usually very long), coming-of-age rituals that help them connect with their ancestors, gaining new names over their lifetimes, clothes washing rituals for the dying, vigilantism, and a preference for less clothing while in private.

They are very oppressed in imperial lands, often enslaved.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 8 ESS 10

---

Mesecina

Daughters of peace.

• Lifespan: 300 years

• Diet: Fruitarian lunar fare

• Habitat: Lunar maria

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Mesecinae are female-assigned people with pale greenish skin. They have diaphanous wing-flaps under their arms that can help them drift down from heights, which they use to explore craters.

Mesecina have the power to look into someone’s eyes and make them unable to engage in any kind of physical attack. Their voices are very soothing to any one experiencing anger, rage, or some other intense, violent emotion. Their wing-flaps allow them to float. It is difficult for shebvic energies to affect them.

As they dwell on the moons, they can survive in light-atmospheres and resist the cold.

Individual mesecinae develop powers based on whether or not they have ever engaged in violence. The longer they go without any kind of direct violence, they become more and more attuned the quiet of the universe. This gives them the ability to sense events far from themselves.

There are three nations of mesecinae:

• Belosestra: the peaceful sisters of the White Moon.

• Sivosestra: the wild sisters of the Grey Moon.

• Zelenasestra: the strange sisters of the Green Moon.

Mesecina culture originated with the Belosestra nation on the White Moon, amongst the lunar maria, where they dwell in cities carved into the sides of craters. They are descended of Phryscara, a daughter of Shem, who charged the original mesecinae with protecting the peace of the beautiful maria they dwelled upon.

Each city is run by an elected council of elders. The cities each have a main public square terraced into the side of the crater (and many smaller ones), a special fountain of flowing lunar ice, three special observer towers, a network of libraries, schools, and hospitals, a spaceport, and a main hall where public business is done. Each of these plays a special purpose in their societies. The squares are where people gather for trading, sorting out disagreements, and social engagements. The fountains are where they go for commitment ceremonies and other moments requiring formal celebration. The observation towers are there for gazing into space and studying the stars. The libraries, schools, and hospitals are there to serve and are free for everyone, even strangers. The spaceports are major hubs for nations that do not wish to or are unable to dock with athak ports. And the main hall is where governance happens. Each of their cities has these features.

Other than the elected council, there are many other elected roles in each city, including judges and planners. Elections happen regularly, and every neighborhood has its own councils to keep peace. Members of neighborhood councils can be any adult, but the ruling council must be elders. There are no police or military, save for a small force of guards and watchwomen on the city walls. The commonest roles, other than those running the main features of the city, are caretakers, builders, repairwomen, animal handlers, cleaners, weavers, potters, scholars, and especially gatherers known as nabiralci (sing. nabiralec).

The gatherers are those who find the fruit and fungi that are food to the belesestre. They mix these rare fruits and fungi with lunar ice, but it's not necessary. They cultivate fields in the lunar maria, craters, and mountains where they find mineral deposits that nurture the rare lunar plants and fungi. The nabiralci are recognizable for their small rock hammers and picks, heavy gloves, aprons, baskets, and masks. Their fields are considered public property and controlled by the city councils.

The animal handlers have special steeds known as konji. The konji appear to be sleek, scaled three-legged horses that are used as pack animals, draft animals, and riding animals.

Belosestra children are raised by their extended families. Orphans or unwanted children are raised by neighborhood caretakers if no extended family is available. They start school at the age of nine and graduate by the age of 20 with a specialization they usually choose around the age of 18. Those who need further training (healers, builders, etc.) go to special schools for a few more years. Once graduated, they are considered full adults and can vote. Every occupation has a union, and all unions have elected representatives.

The only part of a Belosestra city that isn't fully unionized and controlled by the city council is the spaceport, which has to have private enterprises held by foreign powers due to old treaties. All of these are subject to tariffs from the city council. The spaceports are well-guarded and complicated economically, but they are crucial to trade with the other mesecinae nations, which is an important part of the Belosestra culture.

Arts and music flourish in Belosestra cities when there is no threat to them. Everyone partakes in different arts, music, entertainment, and theatricals. They love to share what they create, encourage each other to learn and create, and generally make it a major part of every day life. The public squares are filled with people's art. Games are also commonly played, with neighborhood teams forming and shifting constantly.

Because they rely upon other species to reproduce, they often have non-mesecinae among them. These are required to adapt to their culture or they will be asked to leave.

The other mesecinae nations have similar cultures:

The Sivosestra live in matriarchal bands that do not have the technological advancement or socialist economy, but rather primal communalism. They are gatherers who dwell on the Grey Moon in the mountains, where they have some connection with the surori, whom they honor as friends. The Zelenasestra live in the forests on the Green Moon. Their pacificism has made them victims to colonials there.

PRO 4 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 9 ESS 9

---

Muse

Daughters of inspiration.

• Lifespan: 300 years

• Diet: Normal human fare

• Habitat: Mountains and temperate isles

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Muses appear to be female-assigned humans (unless they have acted to change this), though some have faint coloration in their skin to make them appear slightly more than human.

Every muse has the power to instill inspiration into someone with their touch. This must be skin-to-skin or at most a thin layer of cloth. The more they connect, the more powerful the inspiration - thus a full-body hug is more potent than a handshake, for example.

The inspiration they provide is almost always related to some form of art or science. Most muses attune to a specific kind of art or science as they grow up, not necessarily connected to that of their parent. These are the most common (and the nation of muses they are most associated with):

• Aoidean: song.

• Apollonisian: medicine.

• Archean: genealogy.

• Borysthenisian: archery.

• Calliopean: epic poetry.

• Cephissoan: poetry.

• Clioan: history.

• Eratoan: lyric choral poetry.

• Euterpean: flute.

• Hypatean: the lyre.

• Meletean: practice or events, contemplation, philosophy.

• Melpomenean: tragedy.

• Mesean: the lyre.

• Mnemean: memories or nostalgia.

• Netean: the lyre.

• Polyhymnian: hymns, agriculture, sacred poetry, pantomime.

• Terpsichorean: light verse and dance.

• Thalian: comedy.

• Thelxinoean: persuasion.

• Uranian: astronomy, astrology, and space.

Other examples may include dramatic arts, general learning, general science, geography, mathematics, or oratory, but any science or art will work. If a muse grants someone inspiration, it will have one of the following effects:

• An instantaneous idea comes to the person.

• The person’s relevant skill is temporarily heightened.

• The person gains the power to invoke the muse when they choose, instilling the magic directly into a work of art or science.

The muse chooses which it will be, as each one tires them out in a different way.

Muses have other powers. Each individual muse has one of the following:

• Artistic appraisal (knowing the skill level of an artist or scientist)

• Blinding retribution (for arts contests)

• Booming strike (causing a loud noise by striking the air)

• Cloudwalking

• Heightened memory

• Immunity to electricity

• Innate singing ability

• Innate swimming ability

• Purify waters

• Render artless (remove someone’s artistic or scientific knowledge or skill, based on the art or science of the muse, always as revenge)

• Soothing touch (reduce pain, stress, or worry)

• Speak to pegasi

• Stoneskin

• Transformative retribution (turning people into magpies for harming them)

Some nations of muses are not named for their inspirations but for their regions, often named for nearby rivers. Local muses in the region are named thusly and have a variety of arts and sciences they might inspire, though each individual is attuned to a specific one.

All muse nations have complex mourning and funeral rituals that reflect the arts they work with.

There is often a cultural rivalry between muses and sirens. It is a custom among some muse nations to wear crowns of feathers to mock or taunt them (sometimes in a friendly way, sometimes in a rather cruel way).

Each muse nation also has their own symbols. Calliopeans carry writing tablets, styluses, or lyres; Melpomeneans carry tragic masks, swords or blades, clubs, or special boots. Consult the GM for your muse’s national symbol.

Muses are known for their complex communities with deeply held cultural beliefs about the role and responsibilities of each member of the group. These vary by culture.

In the city-states, muses are extremely oppressed, often enslaved and used for their powers.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 11 WIL 8 PRS 10 STH 8 ESS 9

---

Nymph

Daughters of celestial nature.

• Lifespan: 300 years
• Diet: Normal human fare
• Habitat: Varies
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Nymphs appear to be female-assigned women. No matter what they look like, others find them beautiful.

All nymphs have an aura that makes them beautiful to behold to anyone. If someone attempts sexual assault on them, the attacker will be charmed, struck mute, driven to madness, blinded, or killed by the aura.

They are also resistant to enslavement (magical or mundane), though many have found infernal ways to get around this.

Nymphs have a connection to nature. Different nations of nymphs connect to different aspects of nature. They all can bathe in a spring and be restored to health. About one in a thousand nymphs can use their blood to heal others or to use in divining. One in five thousand can shapeshift. One in ten thousand can ride whirlwinds.

Nymphs have a very spiritual culture, worshipping a variety of love and mothering deities. Their culture values non-monogamy and freedom of the body, and they hold love as the highest virtue. They prefer to live away from major population centers. Music and dance are important to them, especially communal performances.

Many nymphs have been enslaved and taken to the city-states. Some have escaped or become refugees and live in neutral towns or among the locals.

Their nations include the following:

Nation	Singular	Connection
Alseides	Alseid	Groves
Anthousai	Anthousa	Flowers
Auloniades	Auloniad	Valleys
Aurae	Aura	Breezes
Crinaeae	Crinaea	Fountains
Daphnaeae	Daphnaea	Laurel trees
Dryades	Dryad	Trees
Epimeliades	Epimeliad	Apple trees, Flocks
Haliae	Halia	Sea, Sea horses
Hamadryades	Hamadryad	Trees
Hecaterides	Hecaterid	Rustic dance
Hesperides	Hesperid	Evening, Far west, Sunset
Hyades	Hyad	Star cluster, Rain
Hydriades	Hydriad	Water
Hyleoroi	Hyleoro	Woods
Kabeirides	Kabeirid	Metallurgy
Kissiae	Kissia	Ivy
Lampades	Lampad	Torch bearer
Leimonides	Leimonid	Meadows
Lenai	Lena	Wine-press
Leuce	Leuce	White poplar trees
Limnades	Limnad	Lakes
Limnakides	Limakid	Marshes
Maenads	Maenad	Frenzy
Meliae	Melia	Manna-ash trees
Melissae	Melissa	Honey
Mimallones	Mimallon	Music
Minthes	Minthe	Mint
Naiads	Naiad	Fresh water
Napaeae	Napaea	Dells
Nephele	Nephel	Clouds
Nereids	Nereid	Sea
Oceanids	Oceanid	Oceans
Oreads	Oread	Mountains, Grottoes
Orphneads	Orphnead	Darkness of the river
Pegaeae	Pegaea	Springs
Pleiades	Pleiad	Constellation, Hunting, Mountains
Potameides	Potameid	Rivers
Thyiades	Thyiad	Thrysus bearers

Dryades are common in the region's forests and often live connected with the green folk and other plant people there. They follow the ancient nature religion and are enslaved by imperials. Nereids are common in the seas and friends to the local sea species, and oceanids similarly dwell in the nearby ocean. Naiads are common in the rivers and lakes, and oreads in the mountains.

But most nymphs in the area are disconnected from their original nations, having been enslaved or assimilated into imperial society.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 12 STH 8 ESS 9

---

Phryscaran

Daughters of Phryscara. Daughters of the Rainbow.

• Lifespan: 1,000 years
• Diet: Light mortal fare
• Habitat: Rainbow forests
• Socioeconomic Status: Enslaved

Phryscarans appear to be female-assigned beings with hair made of rainbow light. Their eyes change colors every day, cycling through white, red, orange, brown, yellow, green, blue, violet, and black. Their skin is always a dark brown. Some have feathered wings. Some have piscean fins. Some have unicorn horns. And some have scorpion tails. None have more than one of these features, but all have at least one.

Every phryscaran gains power by helping others. This can be within their own communities or aiding others in need, but it cannot involve aiding in oppression, exploitation, abuse, pollution, or other infernal, industrial, or imperial practices. As they age and continue to help others, they gain different powers. Assuming they spend their lives doing this, they will gain a total of nine powers over the course of their lives, even if they have a few bad periods or make mistakes along the way. Those who spend time harming, controlling, oppressing, abusing, or exploiting others may lose their powers, but redemption is always possible.

Some potential powers include the following:

• Amplify love: they may invoke this power and make the love in the hearts of others stronger
• Ancestral consultation: asking questions of one's matrilineal ancestors
• Animal warding: take damage for any nearby animals
• Aura of serenity: they can exude an aura that calms everyone and everything
• Chainbreaker gaze: their gaze can shatter literal and metaphorical chains
• Child warding: take damage for any nearby children
• Cleansing light: they can clean any surface with a soft beam of light
• Communal nexus: they may connect multiple disparate people magically into sharing skills, powers, and abilities
• Earned wisdom: the lessons they learn give them bonuses to different stats
• Empowering words: they can uplift others magically with their words
• Farsight: they can see extremely far
• Forged heart: infuse their emotions with celestial metal to make them more resistant to emotion magic
• Goldvining: encouraging healthy and bountiful growth of nearby plants
• Hardened soul: infuse their soul with celestial stone to protect from infernal magic
• Healing touch: they can cure flesh, normal, or deep wounds with a touch.
• Helpful spores: summon spores that instantly grow into nourishing mushrooms
• Hunter's sense: their perception enhances if they are seeking something to help others
• Immunoexciting touch: a touch that makes someone's immune system stronger
• Jeweled sight: seeing emotions
• Joyous lightness: they become nearly weightless when happy
• Just retort: counterattack any imperial attack on the phryscaran's body
• Loyal oath: a magical oath of loyalty to someone that bonds them
• Necessary crafting: bonuses to making a tool to meet an immediate need
• Overflowing pockets: as long as they keep giving, their pockets remain full of a specific minor necessity
• Passive vigilance: even when asleep, they are aware of any danger nearby.
• Plentifying: they may share food that meets the needs of those present
• Preserving spell: they may choose a small number of provisions to preserve and be used longer than they should be (making them last longer even if used)
• Protective stance: they can stand in a way that makes them much, much harder to harm
• Rainbow form: they may take the form of an empowering, multipowered rainbow spirit briefly
• Releasing repellant: they can shove someone and break them free of oppressing energies
• Returning: they can always find their way home
• Revelatory reflection: looking at their reflection can reveal deep insights
• Shadowy embrace: if they wrap their arms around someone they wish to protect, no one can see them
• Sonorous voice: they can make their voices resonant with beautiful music
• Tears of salvation: their tears can restore the souls of others
• Truth sense: they can sense what is true in the words of others
• Unifying oratory: their voice can be infused with power to bring people together, especially to a single work
• Valorous strength: they become stronger if facing their fears
• Virtuous/principled attunement: they can sense which virtue or principle is someone's most prominent
• Zone of equality: around them, all things become equal
• Zone of serendipity: good things happen to good people around them.

Other powers may be possible.

Phryscarans live in a city of rainbows in a forest of rainbows in a continent far to the south. Their society is a communal, matriarchal, free society save for the intense defenses they must maintain to keep the colonials and other dangers out. They are led by two councils, the Council of Elders and the Council of Warriors. Their culture focuses on art and invention, on community, and on meeting the needs of the people. They worship the Rainbow Serpents, whom they view as their ancestors.

Every year, nine phryscarans are chosen to go on special quests into the wider world, bringing back information and doing good for others. They travel for nine years before they return.

Some phryscarans have been captured and enslaved by imperials. They are otherwise considered demonic and evil in imperial lands.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 10 STH 8 ESS 11

---

Piramno

Daughters of chaos.

• Lifespan : 300 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat : Temperate forests and mountains

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Piramno, called the Folk of the Waterfalls by some, stand between seven and nine feet tall on average. Their skin is usually a soft, light blue, green, grey, brown, or pink, with darker whorls of black throughout their skin. Their hair is a contrasting and lighter hue of any other color, shifting to white as they age. They are anthropomorphic celestial chaos with faces that seem human save for their hooded eyes that are shadowy sockets with small pinpoints of light for pupils and the dark mark on their foreheads that have a small, golden, shimmering ridge within it. Their lower bodies usually end in human legs, but some have animalistic features, including myriapodal lower bodies, serpentine lower bodies, or simply hooved feet and furry legs.

Piramno have the power to sense celestial chaos. If they are near it, they can control it with a touch and with gestures, spinning it into any natural, unliving substance at will. They can eat anything made by oppressed mortals, including poisons or toxins that would kill others, safely.

All piramno have a celestial affinity beyond celestial chaos that gives them extra powers:

• Animal: protect animals
• Bounty: generate a fully cooked, nutritious feast.
• Cleanliness: cleanse area
• Community: magical bonding
• Emotion: empathic sense
• Equality: equalize with opponent
• Fabric: create finely woven celestial fabric
• Family: protect children
• Fungus: protect fungi
• Generosity: give without losing
• Harmony: harmonic song
• Health: healing touch
• Hearth: protection of the home
• Hope: invoke miracle (once)
• Hunt: sense prey
• Innovation: crafting +3
• Inspiration: art +3
• Joy: instill joy
• Judgment: fires of judgment
• Justice: invoke justice
• Labor: +3 job
• Liberation: resist tyrant
• Light: shining light
• Love: protect loved ones
• Loyalty: protect class
• Matriarchy: matriarchal ancestry
• Metal: smith celestial metals
• Microbe: protective microbes
• Peace: evoke peace
• Protection: protect others
• Provision: provide what is needed
• Rainbow: empowering light
• Sacrifice: protective self-sacrifice
• Salvation: purify soul
• Self-Esteem: true self form
• Serendipity: good luck
• Shadow: blue shadow form
• Stone: craft celestial stone
• Truth: aura of truth
• Valor: +3 vs. foes with 6 or more greater stats than the piramno
• Vigilance: danger sense
• Virtue: virtuous empowerment
• Water: calm waters
• Wind: uplifting
• Wisdom: +3 AWA
• Wood: protect plants

Affinities can change as the piramno has new experiences in life. Major life events can alter their affinities, such as falling in love with someone with a different affinity, having a child, completing a major work, or special ceremonies for life milestones such as coming of age. Children are born with their womb-parent’s affinity but can change rapidly throughout their early life as they find themselves drawn to different activities or objects.

Piramno are nomads who are severely oppresed and hated within the imperial core. They have spread all over the world, living in small matriarchal families. Every community tends to have a preferred affinity, but all affinities are welcome. They get by making small crafts and selling or trading them, protecting people in secret, and connecting networks of resistance around the world. They worship their ancestors and speak to them regularly, drawing power and wisdom from their oral traditions, and seeking small, safe havens.

Piramno are extremely rare; only a few have traveled to imperial lands without having been captured or kidnapped.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 11 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 8 STH 7 ESS 10

---

Siren

Daughters of harmony.

• Lifespan: 300 years
• Diet: Pescatarian
• Habitat: Rivers and seasides
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Sirens appear to be female-assigned humans with varying shades of golden hair. Their skin tone ranges the natural range of human skin tones, but with green and blue tinges under their hair, between their fingers and toes, around their eyes, and in their armpits.

The voices of sirens are said to be beautiful to most who hear them. This is a result of supernatural qualities of the siren, however; their voices have the same range of expression of humans. They do have innate skills with music.

Sirens can be overtaken by the songs they sing. If they sing chords or if they sing in unison with others, their bodies often transform temporarily to have features of passerine birds. This can take the form of replacing their arms with wings, turning their head and shoulders into that of a bird, transforming their legs into birds’ legs, turning their lower bodies into bird bodies, or transforming them into birds with human heads. The type of bird is always a passerine, but specifics vary by individual and culture.

They have gills and lungs; their gills are only visible when they are underwater. Sirens are born with the ability to swim and breathe underwater. They have a resistance to the cold and their bodies adjust to pressure changes easier than most. Rainbows form when they comb their hair.

Sirens have perfect pitch and exceptional hearing. Their voices have a supernatural quality that makes them appealing to others, and when they sing, this is amplified significantly. If they sing underwater, the song carries for the whole length of the river or for hundreds of miles along the coast. If someone hears their song resonate from the waters while looking into it from above, they see the image of the person they love most in the waters.

When a siren sings with all of their heart, with an intensity of emotion, they can sing chords (multiple notes at once). When they do this, their bodies transform. Depending on the intensity of their song, their transformation will be more complete and last longer. They may do this intentionally or not.

This can also be effected if they sing with other sirens in harmony, but only if they do this with the intention of transforming. All of them will be transformed, and they can control the transformations in these cases.

Sirens can take the form of any passerine bird they have heard the song of or that those they sing with have heard the song of. Some nations have a cultural affinity for specific birds.

The sirens come from several nations:

• Aloja: Danuan siren who dwell in or near lakes.

• Fließenders: the original siren in central Jesenya, along the rivers and cliffs there.

• Laminak: (sing. lamina) the siren of Jael’ [Basque] in western Jesenya, the mountains between the Galdish westlands and the Kerupene states.

• Réfsi: the Stayflian siren in southern Ranu, along seasides and rocky rapids. Called sirens by the locals.

• Tekushchiy: the southwestern Dabusense siren who dwell along rivers alleged to have a connection to the land of the dead.

In their original culture, they dwell in small communities led by a group of powerful sirens elders (holunderin), those who are recognized in the community as having the wisdom to lead, harmony of heart and mind, and the power to protect. Their communities are an egalitarian mix of sirens and people of other species.

Communication between them is more often song than not. They sing without thinking about it, due to how they were raised. Children are raised by the whole community; it is custom to sing to the child rather than speak until they are old enough to understand language and communicate back. Once they begin singing back, they are taught how to speak without singing, but primarily, they are communicated with via song.

Children are given a prospective name when they are born. This name is always based on what the birthing parent hopes for her child - love, happiness, wisdom, kindness, etc. After the child sings their first transformative song, they are given a new name based on the song, their voice, and the other people involved (if any). Examples include Strahlstimme (“lambent voice”), Süßtraur (“sweet and sad”), etc.

For the first decade of their lives, they are allowed to be free from worry and stress, left to play and sing, dance and bond with the community. In the year they turn ten, they and all the other sirens who turn ten that year are gathered for a ceremony during the late spring or early summer wherein they are encouraged to sing together. They spend the year before picking what songs they will sing together, practicing a ritual dance, and learning special parts of the rite. During the song, at the climax of it, the adults in the community join in, and the harmony created in this moment - controlled as it is to prevent transformation - shares with them the hearts of the children. From this, they learn what roles the children most want (at this time).

From then on, they are trained to meet that role. They spend the next decade learning how to fit their favored role - commonest roles include weaver, spinner, fisher, farmer, ferryer, healer, and shepherdess. Uncommon roles include priestess, harmonist, and bladesinger. Though they do not need to use a ferry, they often have ferryers in their communities for the non-sirens or to raise money for the community to use.

As adults, they have the right to vote in all important decisions of the community; after the age of 200, they retire and become elders. The elder harmonists and priestesses are usually elected to the council of leadership who guide the community in most decisions and tasks.

They believe that being in harmony musically is the best way to protect the community. They weave songs together and use many different powers to turn that music into protection from evil, including harmonism. They also use this to find when others in the community are feeling discordant; when someone does not feel attuned to the community, they sense it in the song and seek to heal them.

Music is so common among sirens that they don’t even view it as a special art. It is simply a fact of life. Dance is their most common artform - they view it as the most important expression of emotion and thought outside of direct (musical) communication. Other arts are respected, but dance (of any form) is revered.

Water is sacred to them. Their voices stay with the water; they never live far from a river, lake, or sea. If their bodies are not buried in the water, they believe they will not be carried to heaven. They rely upon the waters for food as well; they eat fish, but not other meats. They raise sheep for wool.

The other nations of sirens:

• Aloja: they have an affinity for water blackbirds, and are said to make the waters boil when they bathe. They are said to be very prideful of their beauty. Their hair is often red-gold. They love nice clothing and appear more beautiful under the full moon. Like the Laminak, they also prefer to work at night because of oppression. They keep their bodies and wings beautiful. They wield hazel wands and use mana. They are very protective of their children.

• Laminak: they are brutally oppressed in the conquered regions where they dwell, and so they only operate at night. They create a bond with the local community by exchanging labor for food left out for them. They will plough fields, build bridges, or repair external damage to buildings overnight. They must finish their work at night or they abandon it completely. They often build dolmens during the night time as part of their religion. trans masculine Laminak are called mariak and are more common with them.

• Réfsi: Réfsi culture is extremely similar to Fließender culture, but they accompany their songs with lyre, kithara, and aulos playing. They live closer to the seas than to rivers, and they have a nasty reputation locally, which they play up to keep outsiders away.

• Tekushchiy: in the taiga of southwestern Dabusen, the Tekushchiy have a reverence for their founder, Sirin, and they are deeply religious, worshiping a cluster of celestial deities. They are said believed by other locals to protect the rivers that lead to heaven.

Sirens are accused of wrecking ships, hiding treasure, being loveless, seducing men, cannibalism, and being witches by patriarchal powers. They are often conflated with merfolk.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 10 STH 9 ESS 9

---

Succubus

Daughters of attraction.

• Lifespan : 200 years
• Diet: Common mortal fare
• Habitat: Temperate to subarctic
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Succubi are female-assigned beings who innately know how to wield sex magic. They often appear to be human women, but they can take other forms, including the shape of any common household pet. Many of them choose to have bird's talons, serpent tails, or take on body shapes often scorned by patriarchal societies.

Succubi are shapeshifters who take many forms. They can change form only after they have had sex, but they can always return to their base form. They can also simply give themselves an aura that makes anyone who sees them feel arousal, no matter what they look like, or one that repulses anyone who looks at them.

When they have consensual sex, they can form a magical bond with their partner, allowing them to give emotional support, physical attributes, or magical protection. They can also send anyone they have bonded with specially crafted dreams.

If they are assaulted sexually, they have magical protections, including the ability to inflict sleep paralysis, drain mental health, drain physical strength, or inflict a curse. If they are being stalked, they can turn invisible.

In the city-states, they are an enslaved species. Their protections against sexual assault are often negated by powerful infernal magic, and they are taken as sex slaves. When they are freed or free themselves, they often exact terrible revenege.

The remnants of their home cultures that they retain are a fondness for all-black animals, reverence for their deity the Beloved Divine, and skill at politics

PRO 8 ATH 11 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 12 STH 8 ESS 9