Races of Hayethe

Common Playable Races in Hayethe

Player Races

NOTE: When a race counts as both of its parent races, remember that you can take alternate racial traits from the parent races as long as you have the racial trait it replaces.

Example: Elves and Half-Elves both have low-light vision, and thus the Half-Elf gets access to alternate traits like Blended View which replaces low-light vision.

Demi (Human)

The prominent population of Hayethe and as far as anyone knows. Old records from Pre-Desolate scholars have implied that men once traveled the planes themselves using magic and found others like themselves there. Demi, as they are known today, are the preeminent masters of malleable adaptability and the passionate pursuit of lofty ambitions. What they lack in longevity, they make up for in tenacity.
While no one knows where they came from on the cosmic scale, just about any Demi will have some idea in their head about where they -personally- are going. Demi come in all shapes and sizes, but some find their population and ambition to be suffocating and chafe at seeing a Demi in every corner of the world.
Demi are the most populous race in the cultures of Gansang, Gachari, Ralian, Thule, and Vietic. Generally, the closer one gets to the center of the Cradle region, the more Demi they'll find.
Language: Intelligent demi can choose to learn 1 non-secret, non-archaic language outside their culture or region.

Demira (Kuru)

No one doubts that Kuru are also Demi in many senses, but they are Demi whose blood and essence holds powerful shades of the Rakag and primal cultures from lost ages. While they are sometimes seen in the same light as Half-Rakag, they are not at all the same.
It is believed that at the creation of the Rakag themselves, the Demi who fell in battle near the Rakag Nascent were rejuvenated by his blood and fury. Demira and Rakag that procreate end up with children that run the gamut of Demira, Half-Rakag, and full Rakag -though, however their features shake out they are often seen as mixed-breed.
Superstitions about the Demira vary but are only prevailent in rural areas where they have seldom tread.
Demira are not the most common in any one land, but are often found where Rakag are plentiful.
Language: Demira with high Intelligence may choose to speak Rakag (orc-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Volu (Halfling)

Volu are small in stature but their character (and appetites) are larger than life. Optimism and cunning run in their veins and if luck were tangible material they would skip rope with it. Their earliest recorded origin shows them primarily as servants to the predecessors of Alsan, but there is no unified creation myth for their people. Most Volu families have a familiar origin story, but none that links them to the beginning of life or start of the First Age.
They are predisposed to seek that which they can enjoy for a time and find comfort in later. Friendships with Volu can be life-long and low maintenance. A Volu you shared a beer with ten years back is very likely to still remember your name as soon as they see your face again. Volu, however, are not all sunshine and roses to some. A few see them as two-faced and flaky, often seeing their general acceptance as a societal fault.
Volu are not the dominant race in any land, but are found most often in the isles arond the Alsani Caliphate and those around Dalantia.
Language: Volu with high Intelligence may choose to speak Volu (halfling-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

"Rakag" and "Half-Rakag" (Orc)

It is said that a Rakag, lives 100 years in only forty.
Rakag blood boils at the first hint of boredom and malaise. It is believed that their origin lay in a Nascent (a near-god) from the Pre-Desolate. One who, for reasons lost to history, lay trapped within Hayethe, crushed and bleeding. So potent was his anger that he bled malice and fury instead of his life's blood. He tore at his flesh try try and free himself and the discard scraps of muscle, skin, and bone became the Rakag.
Anger comes naturally to them, even their half-kin struggle with this, but their emotions do not only come in white-hot fury, but in crashing waves of despair, and roaring fountains of joy. The reason people believe they are such wrathful creatures is because undirected, anger is the path of least resistance and rage and ferocity is woven into their essence. Rakag are oft-mistrusted and shunned peoples outside of Rhorhoan and Ulus cultures. Their half-kin can easily find themselves outcasts of both worlds who struggle to cope with the intense passion and ferocity that their emotions manifest.
While it's is often said that full Rakag clans and tribes throughout the land shun them even more violently than "polite society", this is mostly myth. Many a Half-Rakag has found themselves a chieftan or honored hunter in untamed lands.
Rakag and their kin are easier found in Rhorhoa and Tsetsegia than anywhere else.
Language: Rakag and Half-Rakag with high Intelligence may choose to speak Rakag (orc-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Avaar (Dwarf)

The Avaar have had it with everyone's shit. The gods, the men, the elves, and the fae alike. At least...that's the stereotype. The truth is the Avaar can be stoic, aloof, and gruff, but it's often not how they see themselves. Avaar live a long time and like the stone they believe themselves hewn from in the First Age, they aren't easily spurred to action. However, when an Avaar gets rolling, they can be very hard to stop.
Whether its drinking, fighting, or producing masterworks of craftsmanship, the momentum of an inspired Avaar is all but legendary. They are stubborn because by the time they set out to do something, they've really put a lot of effort and thought into it. Their minds are hard to change, and they tend to value a person who sticks to their convictions or stands their ground. Avaar aren't often encountered, a somewhat rarer race that have had several bloody conflicts with the Rakag in the past.
It is believed that each race had a Nascent (a would-be god during the Starkened Night) that represented them. When the Nascent of the Avaar met that of the Rakag, the two fought bitterly over the isle of Avrahana.
They were both killed leaving their children and brothers uncertain of their Hereafter. Avaar are stereotyped as stingy, grouchy, and far too willing to lie where coin is involved while being prone to long-lasting grudges. Those with an anti-Avaar agendas are often outspoken about it.
Avaar are found most in Tsetsegia and Dalantia but a great number also appear in the Viet lands.
Language: Avaar with high Intelligence may choose to speak Avaar (dwarvish-archaic) or Kashari (undercommon-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Hido (Hobgoblin)

Hardy, agile, and brutally efficient, the hido have plenty of reasons to believe themselves superior to those their people conquered in the sunset of the Starkened Night. Finding few equals but plenty of disagreements in the southern isles of Hayethe, the hido soon formed clans, each centering around their own sets of ideals, worship, and martial arts.
While the origin of the hido is known, they don't much enjoy speaking of it. They evolved from the jeido, naturally for the most part, but the Yarada were result of magic enhancing the jeido along with blood of the oni to mould them into a desired being.
As for how the century of clan wars turned out? Well, today 98% of all Hido trace their lineage back to a single clan. Yarada. Their arrival from the cold southernmost isles changed the species forever. While most hido are bald and rather hideous, the Yarada were both taller and less goblinoid in appearance than most other clans. Yarada (and thus nearly all hido) bear blue-gray or dark red skin tones with pointed ears, fiery red-orange eyes, and sharp pointed canines on the lower rows of teeth. Most notably, the Yarada were not bald like all other goblinoid races, but rather had long, straight, coarse hair that they frequently wove into intricate braids and manes.
While many hido had already subjugated their cousins the jeido (goblins) and used them for labor and fodder, the Yarada appeared to the jeido as almost divine representations of themselves. Different enough that they were exotic, but similar enough that they felt a kinship. More than this, the Yarada religion of Ya Trada does not dismiss the jeido as being lesser, but sets the hido up as what the jeido can become in the next life should they serve well. Now, the hido are seen as hard working but blunt to a fault or, in the worst stereotypes, simple and heartless. Only the Avaar have an equal or greater reputation for weapon and armorsmithing. Often, with hido, techniques have been passed down for many generations while all the hido did -day in an day out- was wage war with their insolent kinfolk.
They and their kin are overwhelmingly dominant in Hoyoko, Teshi, and Toko.
Languages: Hido with high Intelligence may choose to speak Hido (goblin-archaic) or Slu'un (common) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Jeido (Goblin)

A genetic cousin of the hido, smaller and more nimble. The Jeido were brought first into Hoyoko by the Yarada centuries ago as slaves and servants. Despite their overall social status, there are elevated "noble" houses of Jeido descended from the families of those used as soldiers in the Yarada's initial flight through what's now known as Hoyoko.
At least that's the story these days. In truth, all over the world, Hido evolved from Jeido, it's only the Yarada clan where the Hido were crafted from the Jeido and the blood of the Oni, their ancestors. To the Jeido of Yarada culture, if they live honorable lives and are good servants, they believe they will be reborn as Hido.
Black hair like that of the Yarada is seen as highly prized and evidence of nobility to the Jeido immersed in their mother culture, to the point that it extends to anything black in color that can be adorned.
Naturally curious and excitable, the Jeido are almost exclusively located in the western isles like Hoyoko.
Languages: Jeido with high Intelligence may choose to speak Hido (goblin-archaic) or Slu'un (common) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Vishkanya

The Vishkanya (Vish for short) were not born in the Ulu lands of Gurga and Tsetsegia where they now reside, nor were they always the alluring serpentine survivalists so well known today.
Very few remember what the first Vish of the north were like. Many believe they were a much more serpentine race and as they conquered the other people of the north they intermingled into homogeny, or perhaps it was the initial Vish that conquered the serpents?
They believed this would bring out the best in both of them, and that philosophy is at the core of their biology. Vish are often naturally attracted to members of different races with purists seen as oddities and extremists.
From their resistance to poisons, natural allure, and keen senses, the Vish are rivaled only by the Demi in their versatility. in fact, it's believed that their toxic body fluids are all that have slowed down their changing the last several centuries as it has added complications in their coupling with others.
They are perfectly comfortable in the chilling north scrambling for purchase in the snow, talking their way into a meeting of Alsani city leaders to negotiate trade, or skulking through alleys to put down a bounty like wild game.
Their half-blooded counterparts, the Ulukana named simply for the term used for a 'work-in-progress' toward their next evolution.
Vish are often seen as untrustworthy and duplicitous but many allow them trust in spite of themselves. It can be hard to gain renown or trust for a Vish without connections in places where this sentiment is higher. Some Vish lean into these stereotypes becoming dancers, courtesans, and servants to get close to high-value marks while others reject them and set out to prove they're more than labels placed on their blood.
Vishkanya and kin are overwhelmingly abundant in Gurga and Tsetsegia, making up a great majority of the Ulus culture.
Language: Vishkanya with high intelligence can choose to speak Viskha (archaic). Archaic languages cannot normally increase their proficiency level outside of character creation.

Asir (Triaxian)

Hailing from the midst of the Alsani continent in the east, the Asir are children of “Rahatha’s Breath”. A wind that rushes through the Alsani continent which brings with it a coming tide of magical awakening. They champion themselves as having the first sorcerers of the new age.
The Asir have lived in the tumultuous weather of their region for as far back as history goes in the Desolate Age, and their adaptive nature shows this. It paid to be quick and hardy in the days of the Starkened Night which they embody with severity. Asir cultivated a curious disposition and tireless pursuit of all they set their minds to.
Many other people of Hayethe have trouble placing the Asir as their strangely insightful minds and dimourphous appearance makes them seem more alien than they really are. Summerborn are sleek-furred and familiar to most other races, while winterborn have thicker fur and tend to bring in more stereotypes that paint Asir as "cat people".
Asir who find themselves in cultures and ethnicities outside of Turchian don’t often see themselves as much different than others and tend toward a rather fierce attachment to their heritage. They can find constant frustration in being assumed to be of Turchian descent regardless of their background. It is in very poor taste to assume an Asir or Ryahd is Turchian. Of course, this Still happens all the time.
The Alsani Caliphate is the home of the Asir and kin, with their bloodlines dominating that land and the Principality of Ryahda.
Languages: Asir with high Intelligence may choose to speak Asir (triaxian-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

“Quessir” and “Half-Quessir” (Elves)

Immortality is a quest sought out by many but for the average Quessir, they’re close enough as it is. Boasting an average lifespan of 550 years without any supernatural boosts to speak of, it is only among these people that one is likely to find individuals who have seen the end of the Desolate Age, survived the Starkened Night, and live even into the present day.
With so many years available to them, many expect that quessir would be on a number of paths in life that rival the stars. However, for all their complexity, people are creatures of habit and averages exist for a reason. The quessir largely fall into two camps.
Those afraid of death due to the vast wealth of knowledge and experience available to them. For a Quessir to die young is a tragedy unfathomable to races like the demi or the rakag who have lived a full life or more at 80 summers. For the quessir, to die here would mean centuries of time they will never see. What could have been? These quessir are strict in diet, exercise, caution, and preparation. They protect their own lives with almost religious fervor and often purposely seek out their own kind if they decide to pursue romantic endeavors.
On the other end of the spectrum, and the most common disposition, is a people who have limitless options. Not only can they start anything and know they’ll have the time to take on even more, but they can personally see tasks and projects through to completion. A quessir doesn’t build a house by paying experts and laborers, but by planting trees and studying construction.
Quessir are seen as troublesome and capable of anything no matter how grand or fowl. Their grudges are legendary and their flights of fancy far-reaching. They often struggle with long-lasting relationships. Either there’s always time to rekindle a flame, or -in the case of shorter-lived races- it will be gone in the blink of an eye.
Full-blooded Quessir are exceedingly rare, their empires in the east seemingly vanished overnight excusing those conquered by The Walking Sun -now known as Grand Caliph Yagaira. Most Quessir are half-blood or less, their hereditary markings a kaleidoscope of etherially comely features and magical quirks. When Quessir couple outside their kind, often the offspring exhibits very little evidence of their heritage, so it's not uncommon for Quessiri features to skip generations and clearly appear unexpectedly between couples who had no idea they each also had Quessiri heritage.
Half-Quessir suffer from an inaccurate nomenclature, as those who are the product of a full-blooded Quessir coupling outside their kin are nearly as rare as the full-blooded themselves. Most simply boast Quessiri blood in their history and it has not become dilute enough for the features to disappear entirely.
Full Quessir are even more rare than Avaar, but "half" Quessir can be found all over.
Languages: Quessir and Half-Quessir with high Intelligence may choose to speak Quessiri (elven-archaic) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

Fenn (Gnome)

The Fenn are vibrancy, color, and wild imagination made flesh. Their origin is in another plane, the First World or the realm of the fae where change is constant, thought can take form, and nothing is definite. They adore the unusual and things that stand out in the rather static Material Plane and have a deep-rooted urge to alter their appearance and make impulsive decisions that could spice up a boring day.
Fenn live quite some time and where most races fear things that will cause great sorrow or anger, the Fenn have an aversion to stasis that borders on the phobic.
Seen by some as flaky, relentlessly annoying, and unreliable, there are people who will simply refuse to patron a shop helmed by a Fenn, or who will leave in disdainful silence at an offer by Feenfolk to attend tea or play a game. Some superstitions even extend to their fae heritage with people believing any deal made with a Fenn would be turned against them.
Languages: Fenn with high Intelligence may choose to speak Fenn (gnome-archaic) or Sylvan (common) as one of their additional language choices. Archaic languages cannot have their proficiency level improved after character creation.

New Hybrid Player Races

Hebido (Half-Hido)

Hebido have angular, stark features and pointed canines. The offspring of hido and demi coupling over decades until their once-rare offspring became exponentially more common. They are the majority in Yamoto areas and as easy to find as any Yarada in Hoyoko.

Ryahd (Half-Asir)

Ryahd are the hardy and capable offspring of the Asir (Triaxian) and Demi (Human), losing some of the intricacies of their parents’ specialized ears and seasonal adaptation, but maintaining a sturdier frame and flexible mind.

Szarkir (Half-Szarkai)

Szarkir are the next step in evolution from the ancient Aiwari and Szarkai. They often take offense to being called “half-drow” or even “half-szarkai”, the Szarkir see themselves as their own people and the successors to both Aiwan and Szarkai bloodlines.

Ulukana (Half-Vishkanya)

Built sturdier than their vishkanya parent but more flexible and naturally alluring than their human parentage, they lack toxic bodily fluids, but they still contain powerful natural antivenom in their blood.

Vedhi (Half-Volu)

Often seen as tied to some grand and amazing fate, Vedhi are exceedingly lucky and those they call friends and allies are often graced by their good fortune when in peril.

Wavekin (Half-Merfolk)

Both hale and beautifully-made, the wavekin are a rare sort most at home on or in the sea. They are often spotted by small glistening and scintillating scales along the arms and legs, but are often very difficult to tell from tall beautiful humans or elves.