"In the same way that your heart feels and your mind thinks, you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. If you choose to care, then the universe cares. If you don't, it doesn't." — Unknown
There are many races and ancestries of Iolcus whose traits and lineages diverge past simple ethnic diversity to represent something closer to unique humanoid species.
For additional information on compatibility for child-bearing and lifespans, see:
Iolcusian Racial Information
Creatures blessed with a celestial bloodline, aasimars seem like normal members of their parent race except for some exotic quality that betrays their otherworldly origin. While aasimars are nearly always beautiful, something simultaneously a part of and apart from humanity, not all of them are good, though very few are evil.
Anadi are reclusive, sapient spiders who hail from the jungles of the Twilight and the arid lands of the Everlight. Though they act in many ways like natural-born shapeshifters, their twin forms actually stem from carefully developed magic.
Aphorites were created to serve as diplomats, translators, and envoys between the axiomites and the myriad cultures of the countless Material Plane worlds.
Astral elves are dreamers carved from stardust and silence—mystics whose very souls hum with arcane potential. With eyes that mirror the universe and minds sharpened by obsessive pursuits, they walk the world not as conquerors but as seekers. They are Phaendar's chosen, and often devote their lives to the relentless pursuit of knowledge, the mastery of magic, and the search for meaning. Shunning kingdoms and crowns, they instead build sanctuaries of wisdom and rule through intellect and spellcraft, their sovereign city of Praetor glowing like a lone star in the night.
Bugbears are hairy goblinoids born for battle and mayhem. They survive by raiding and hunting, but are fond of setting ambushes and fleeing when outmatched.
A race of graceful explorers, catfolk are both clannish and curious by nature. They tend to get along with races that treat them well and respect their boundaries. They love exploration, both physical and intellectual, and tend to be natural adventurers.
Commanding the elements as did their progenitors, the dragonborn conduct themselves with a rigid code of honor and a persistent ambition to improve. They adhere to long-held traditions and highly value their close-knit clans.
Stalwart, proud, and shaped by the weight of rock and tradition, dwarves are a race bound by ancient legacies and rigid hierarchies. Living deep beneath the earth in mighty fortress-cities, dwarves are masters of craftsmanship, history, and endurance. Their society is defined by a complex caste system, reverence for ancestral memory, and a near-religious bond with the living Stone that surrounds and shelters them. To be dwarven is to carry the weight of one's forebears, to honor the unyielding order of the deep, and to endure—unyielding and unbroken—through the rise and fall of empires above.
Long ago, fetchlings were humans exiled to the Shadowfell, but that plane's persistent umbra has transformed them into a race apart. These creatures have developed an ability to meld into the shadows and have a natural affinity for shadow magic. Fetchlings—who call themselves kayal—often serve as emissaries between the inhabitants of the Shadowfell and the Material Plane.
A race of humanoids distantly related to giants and the fey, who often take on fawnish appearances. Firbolg tribes cloister in remote forest strongholds, preferring to spend their days in quiet harmony with the woods. When provoked, firbolgs demonstrate formidable skills with weapons and druidic magic.
Gnolls are a race of hulking, humanoids that resemble hyenas in more than mere appearance; they show a striking affinity with the scavenging animals, to the point of keeping them as pets, and reflect many of the lesser creatures’ behaviors.
Expatriates of the strange land of fey, these small folk have a reputation for flighty and eccentric behavior. Many gnomes are whimsical artisans and tinkers, creating strange devices powered by magic, alchemy, and their quirky imagination. Gnomes have an insatiable need for new experiences that often gets them in trouble.
Crazy pyromaniacs with a tendency to commit unspeakable violence, goblins are the smallest of the goblinoid races. While they are a fun-loving race, their humor is often cruel and hurtful. Adventuring goblins constantly wrestle with their darkly mischievous side in order to get along with others. Few are truly successful.
Native to frosty mountain ranges, goliaths are creatures of fierce competition. They tame the inhabitable peaks in nomadic tribes, where one either carries their weight or sheds it in exile.
Furtive frogfolk with the ability to camouflage themselves among fens and swamps, gripplis typically keep to their wetland homes, only rarely interacting with the outside world. Their chief motivation for leaving their marshy environs is to trade in metal and gems.
Often caught between the worlds of their progenitor races, half-elves are a race of both grace and contradiction. Their dual heritage and natural gifts often create brilliant diplomats and peacemakers, but half-elves are often susceptible to an intense and even melancholic isolation, realizing that they are never truly part of elven or human society.
Often fierce and savage, sometimes noble and resolute, half-orcs can manifest the best and worst qualities of their parent races. Many half-orcs struggle to keep their more bestial natures in check in order to epitomize the most heroic values of humanity. Unfortunately, many outsiders see half-orcs as hopeless abominations devoid of civility, if not monsters unworthy of pity or parley.
Members of this diminutive race find strength in family, community, and their own innate and seemingly inexhaustible luck. While their fierce curiosity is sometimes at odds with their intrinsic common sense, halflings are eternal optimists and cunning opportunists with an incredible knack for getting out the worst situations.
These creatures are the most disciplined and militaristic of the goblinoid races. Tall, tough as nails, and strongly built, hobgoblins would be a boon to any adventuring group, were it not for the fact that they tend to be cruel and malicious, and often keep slaves.
Ambitious, sometimes heroic, and always confident, humans have an ability to work together toward common goals that makes them a force to be reckoned with. Though short-lived compared to other races, their boundless energy and drive allow them to accomplish much in their brief lifetimes.
Ifrits are a race descended from mortals and the strange inhabitants of Ignis, the Plane of Fire. Their physical traits and personalities often betray their fiery origins, and they tend to be restless, independent, and imperious. Frequently driven from cities for their ability to manipulate flame, ifrits make powerful fire sorcerers and warriors who can wield flame like no other race.
Considering themselves the scions of dragons, kobolds have diminutive statures but massive egos. A select few can take on more draconic traits than their kin, and many are powerful sorcerers, canny alchemists, and cunning rogues.
Island natives of the western seas, the kuru satisfy an innate lust for blood and combat through combat and harsh mutilation of the body.
Lizardfolk are primitive reptilian humanoids that lurk in swamps and jungles. Fiercely territorial, they kill when it is expedient and do whatever it takes to survive.
Humanoid elephants native to the tropical and frigid lands of Iolcus, these 7 foot tall elephants value wisdom and peace over everything, and do not consider their kind to reach adulthood before the age of 60.
Minotaurs are a strong and combative race of monstrous humanoids resembling bull–human hybrids. They are rare in Iolcus, outside of their labyrinth homes in the Darklands or their surface tribes.
Born of ancient elven stock yet shaped by the cold light of the Moons, the moon elves are a nomadic and whimsical people who follow the guidance of the goddess Nephinae, the Moon-Mother. Their culture is rich and vibrant—marked by a reverence for change, personal expression, and the soft wisdom found in shadows. Where sun elves build golden cities to endure for eternity, moon elves pass through the world like drifting snowflakes. They see their journey through the world as a dance beneath the twin Moons, each step a story, each encounter a thread in their ever-growing tapestry of life.
Savage, brutish, and hard to kill, orcs are often the scourge of far-flung wildernesses and cavern deeps. Many orcs become fearsome barbarians, as they are muscular and prone to bloody rages. Those few who can control their bloodlust make excellent adventurers.
Creatures of human ancestry mixed with the blood of creatures from Terra, the Plane of Earth, oreads are as strong and solid as stone. Often stubborn and steadfast, their unyielding nature makes it hard for them to get along with most races other than dwarves. Oreads make excellent warriors and sorcerers who can manipulate the raw power of stone and earth.
These small, ratlike humanoids are clannish and nomadic masters of trade. Often tinkers and traders, they are more concerned with accumulating interesting trinkets than amassing wealth. Ratfolk often adventure to find new and interesting curiosities rather than coin.
Ghostly servants of karma, samsarans are creatures reincarnated hundreds if not thousands of times in the hope of reaching true enlightenment. Unlike humans and other races, these humanoids remember much of their past lives.
Sun elves are the radiant heirs of a golden legacy, scions of ancient empires who once bent the skies and stars to their will. Born beneath blazing skies and crowned in firelight, they stride through the world with the unshakable poise of those who believe destiny itself favors them. Their skin gleams like burnished bronze or polished amber, their eyes alight with the brilliance of captured sunlight, and their voices carry the cadence of old songs that shaped the heavens. Yet beneath their elegance lies a cold pride, a fierce conviction that theirs is the only true path, and that the fire of civilization must be spread—even if it burns the wilds to ash.
Ethereal folk of elemental air, sylphs are the result of mortal blood mixed with that of airy elemental folk. Like ifrits, oreads, and undines, they can become powerful elemental sorcerers with command over their particular elemental dominion. They tend to be beautiful and lithe, and have a knack for eavesdropping.
Tengus are a race of wingless avian humanoids with humanoid hands, clawed feet, and a beak that resembles that of a crow or raven. Typically belonging to the underclass, many tengus turn to lives of crime, secrecy, and subterfuge to survive.
Diverse and often despised by humanoid society, tieflings are mortals stained with the blood of fiends. Other races rarely trust them, and this lack of empathy usually causes tieflings to embrace the evil, depravity, and rage that seethe within their corrupt blood. A select few see the struggle to smother such dark desires as motivation for grand heroism.
Like their cousins, the ifrits, oreads, and sylphs, undines are humans touched by planar elements. They are the scions of elemental water, equally graceful both on land and in water. Undines are adaptable and resistant to cold, and have an affinity for water magic.
Among the ancient elven peoples, none are so entwined with the flesh of the world as the wood elves, a reclusive subrace whose blood sings with the rhythm of Iolcus, whose hearts beat with the truths of nature, and whose lives flow like falling leaves into the endless dance of Folia. They are kin to the trees and watchers of the oldest groves, calm and unfaltering as the seasons. Where other elves chase glory or contemplate mysteries, the wood elves endure—rooted, enduring, and unbending as ironwood.
This relatively young race of golems was created by a cabal of wizards who needed nimble and skilled construct servants to do their dirty work.
Strangely beautiful on the outside and poisonous on the inside, yuan-ti see the world through slitted serpent eyes. Yuan-Ti possess a serpent's grace and ability to writhe out of their enemies' grasp with ease. Yuan-Ti have a reputation for being both seductive and manipulative. They can use their saliva or blood to poison their weapons.
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