Primates
Primates are a diverse group, especially flourishing after the Crisis of Creatures. The most successful group were the Fae, exploding in diversity greater than any other species of magical creature. They are highly intelligent, hardy and adaptive creatures, ones that rarely rejected magic. Of the ones that have no particular predilection for magic one way or another are the basic monkeys and apes, while the ones that display great magical integration seem to primarily be of the larger, bipedal variety. With such strong magical preference for this variety of creature, it is odd that there is the occasional creature within this group that seems to have evolved a weak connection or even resistance to magic.
Primates evolved from tiny tree-dwelling mammals, developing and diversifying in the canopies of forests. Groups of primates would eventually leave the trees to traverse through the plains and tall grasses forming small pockets of communities that would eventually also diversify. During the Crisis of Creatures, the primates did exceptionally well, and a relative few of them died from bodily rejection of this new air tainted with magic. While many animals struggled to adjust, the progress of adaptation and diversification stagnating for many creatures, with primates it was the opposite. Many groups emerged from this time, though the magical abilities they took were as wide and varied as the creatures themselves.
With relation to humans, primates have a complicated relationship. Humans are primates, though many don't see themselves as part of the group, but rather outside of it. This has led many societies of people to have strained relationships with their relatives, distant or not. Humans are Fae, part of the main group that benefitted from the Crisis, but oddly enough have evolved without heavy need of magic, though are still classified as such due to their taxonomy.
Nadubi
It is unclear if these are primates or a close relative. The nadubi is a solitary hunter, predatory and vicious, it hunts at night. Its body is covered in sharp spikes, especially on the joints and extremities like elbows and knees, on its long tail, rump and hands. Females also have rows of spikes on their vulvas. They are mainly invisible during the day, and at night they blend into the darkness, thus are very hard to spot, if not impossible. It takes someone of high magical ability to be able to see them. They hunt by sticking their spikes in their intended victim. They're brittle and break off easily, but grow back in a matter of days. Inside there is a potent venom that will kill the victim anywhere between a few hours to a day. The nadubi will stalk its prey after it has been stung until it collapses and dies. There are medicines that can counteract the venom and break it down before it delivers its deadly blow, but it must be administered in time and by someone who is knowledgeable enough with plants. Nadubi rarely interact with creatures other than those they are going to eat, and it is known to be aggressive toward those looking to patron with it. More often than not, a potential witch or other creature winds up as dinner rather than a patron partner of the nadubi, but there has occasionally been instances where someone has claimed they are patroned with this elusive killer.
Jueyuan
These creatures are very monkey-like in appearance, resembling a macaque with blue-purple fur, they are larger than most monkeys and dangerous to humans. Having a keen sense of smell and a wicked libido, it is said that all Jueyuan are male, and can only breed by kidnapping human or similar females to mate. This isn't true, but the females are rarely ever seen, usually being kept close by to males for easy access. Males have such an insatiable lust that they often try to go after females of other species to mate, though any resulting children of this interspecies union will always be born as completely that of the mother's species, oddly enough. Thus it is impossible for the jueyuan to mate successfully to propagate the species with anything but a female of their own kind.
When females are scarce, any captured woman that they take to mate with will not get pregnant despite how often she may be copulated with. Instead what is injected is a transformative venom that will slowly turn her into a female of his species after a decade or so. This will dull her mind and make her complacent and eventually prefer the life lived as a jueyuan mate. Otherwise, if a woman does not conceive or refuses to have a baby, she will be killed. They are mainly frugivorous but it might be possible they eat the carcasses if they don't leave them for other wild animals to consume. As such, it is usually highly detrimental to tolerate any kind of jueyuan to establish a territory nearby. Females of the species are just as fervent with their high libidos, though usually they are surrounded by enough hungry males to fulfil their desires. If no such male is around, it may be possible the female goes roving for males of other species as well, though the likelihood of this scenario happening is exceedingly rare due to the ratio of males to females.
Kenmun
The kenmun is a diminuitive mountain-dwelling creature that lives in trees. As such, it has been mistaken for many things, including distant Fae relatives the Nymph hamadryads and the Occuloni yamawaro and most of all, the Aelf kijimunaa. However, they are different from all of them, with an ape-like appearance and red hair all over their bodies. Similar to kappas, they have small indents on their heads filled with liquid. Kappas fill the indents with water from their home rivers and lakes, while the kenmun's is a natural bodily oil secreted from its skin. This is likely a form of convergent evolution, as the kenmun is known to also spend a lot of time near water, hunting for marine food items. Their natural enemies are octopus, which are known to prey upon kenmun and occasionally eat them, so the kenmun is deathly afraid. Oddly, they also detest giant clams, though the reasons may just be a disliked meal. Kenmun are mostly benevolent creatures and have been known to help humans, even forming intense loyalty to any that form friendships, though they are as childlike as their stature implies, and can play pranks, using their magic to shapeshift into animals to startle humans.
While not Fae themselves, they have similar rituals to them, having their own codes of respect that when abused or broken will result in the wrath of the kenmun falling down on the individual or family that broke them. These include insulting them for their body odour, which can range from their yam-smelling body to their foul-stenched drool. If their banyan tree is also cut down is another great insult, resulting in the culprit being cursed and their possessions stolen or destroyed by the wrathful kenmun. Also like some Fae and even the kappa, their rituals can be exploited, as these normally fun-loving creatures love games and wrestling. The oil indents give them super strength, and wanting to be polite and obey the customs and rituals of those they play with, can be tricked into bowing or otherwise draining the oil from their heads, giving a fairer match.
Shoujou
Very closely related to the kenmun, though unlike its relative, the shoujou spends all of its time near the beaches where it finds food and doesn't migrate with the seasons. It consists of a mostly seafood diet. The main delight of the shoujou is alcohol. They can't get enough of it, especially rice wine. They are said to be very wise, despite their drunken vices. They also brew their own alcohol and can share it around, though the taste differs depending on the individual and their moral standing. If they are a good person, the alcohol will be delicious. But if the drinker is a morally corrupt person, the alcohol becomes poisonous and may even kill them should they not change for the better.
They do not speak Fae languages, but can mimic certain words and phrases. They also have some sort of ability of foresight. Despite this, and possibly because of their inebriation, they are incredibly trusting to new people. They are naturally friendly and curious creatures, often going up to new faces and encouraging them to party with them in blissful ignorance of the world and even time around them. Their lives are fairly simple, and they highly dislike any life where there is organization and responsibility beyond what is absolutely necessary. While generally peaceful, benign, fun-loving and gentle, shoujou can become quite nasty when provoked. Sailors that disrespect them will be stolen from, or even have their ships sunk. If there is any alcohol on board, it will all be stolen.
Vanara
Vanara are apes that live deep in the thick jungles and ancient forests. They build entire treetop villages and towns between the branches of clusters of trees, spending the majority of their lives off the ground. Their diets consist of mostly fruits, nuts and tree bark, occasionally insects and meat. They live in tight-knit matriarchal family groups and are the farthest living relatives of Fae that have something close to Fae culture. This includes advanced toolmaking, clothing, armour, burial practices among other things. They're also relatively human-sized, with males standing at a maximum 5'4" and females at 5'1". They are slenderly built, highly acrobatic and exceedingly fast both in daily life and in battle. It is said that they can leap incredible distances in a single bound. They have a long standing animosity toward a multi-headed monster they call a ravana, which they have a deep animosity for. Otherwise, they are friendly, trusting and generous creatures to those that enter their territories, but rarely ever leave their own forests to interact with the outside world.
Hanuma
These are the first primates that have the physical build of a Fae, where the lines start to blur between what is or is not a Fae. There starts being confusion what is a non-Fae primate and what is a fae demon with monkey traits. The build is so close to that fae body standard, but there are subtle differences with context in history that lends to where the hanuma fit in the family tree. They look this way through natural means, not by magic. Their bodies are incredibly human-shaped, though their builds are thick and stocky, muscular and hardy. Their entire bodies are covered in numerous hairs, not thick enough to cover the skin. Their feet still retain a more monkey-like shape, and combined with their tails and their ape-like faces are the only inhuman aspects about them.
These creatures live relatively quiet, peaceful lives. They are defined as being incredibly strong and agile. They boast incredible feats of strength, though their minds aren't the sharpest. The hanuma tend to be impulsive, though well-meaning, often going to do things right away with barely a plan on how to accomplish it. They are known to be incredibly loyal and devoted to those they love, including family, friends and allies and will go to great lengths for their loved ones in need of help.
Satori
Highly empathetic, the satori is a telepathic mind reader primate that lives in the mountains and when met, will speak aloud the thoughts of the traveller they come across. Normally the satori is a reclusive species that live up in the mountains, and are said to look after the rune spirits that reside there. They are creatures that can see into the heart of the person they are interacting with, knowing what they are thinking and what they are going to say before they say it. If the person is kind, the satori will be friendly. If the person has a wicked bend to them, they will either flee or turn violent. Those that go up the mountain to work are treated kindly, and the satori will often guide them to the correct trees and avoid ones that house another creature that would be affected by them. With forests and mountains that hold satori and large fae settlements there are often many trees that are decorated with shrines and markers that tell loggers what trees are off-limits.
Their forms are tied to the power on their mountaintops. Normally a satori is a human-sized ape. They have human-like bodies, though they're quite a bit furrier than something like the hanuma. They have flatter faces than the other apes, much closer to the faces of the fae while still holding onto those monkey characteristics. If their mountain is sick or has a lack of rune spirits due to various reasons, the satori will shrink almost to the size and shape of a regular non-magical monkey and will take on a more bestial appearance.
They are culturally very similar to their close relatives, the satyrus, though there are some major differences. While many satori are rather anti-social due to experiencing what is in the hearts of others outside of their clans, there are the occasional satori that venture out despite the hardships they face, either to explore, for a sense of adventure, or out of desperation.
Satyrus
Satyrus and satori are the closest living relatives of the fae. As such, they have very human-like bodies, though both species still have very monkey-like appearances. Visually and culturally the two races are nearly identical, with both having visually appealing faces for fae. They often get along quite well with their diverse cousins. The main difference is the satyrus always give birth to twins. One twin is chosen to be loved, and the other is hated, even abandoned and left for dead. As the satyrus are very similarly empathic and telepathic like the satori, this is a difficult cultural phenomenon, and due to this the babies sometimes aren't completely left until death. This comes from an omen that states that a world-ending entity will be born as the second child that will cause the end to the satyrus and even Lyria's way of life as a whole, causing death and destruction across the continent.
There is a fruit tree called white winter peaches that are considered sacred and heavenly delicious that the satyrus cultivate. They ripen near the end of winter, and is considered an important feast to mark the end of winter and the rebirth of the year. Satori also often partake in eating these peaches, and they are often used to foster good relations with other races and animals around them. The last few hundred years this has been less prominent with the fae, who mostly live outside of the forests in villages.
Fae
Fae are a diverse race that exploded into several dozen sub-races during the start of the Crisis of Creatures. They flourished during this period where many other creatures struggled or died off as they adjusted to this new major change to the world.
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