Dwarf Fortress > DF Modding

Ace's List of Fantasy Races

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AceSV:
Hey.  Before I got into animal-people, I had a big list of fantasy races that I used to keep around for projects.  Now that I'm starting to like animal-people better for fantasy, I'm probably not going to use them, so I thought I'd make the list here in case any modders find it useful.  This was made before I ever heard of DF, so it's not originally intended for DF, and my version of things like dwarves and goblins are different from the ones that exist in DF. 

Human - The standard
Barbaroi - A variety of humans with a more savage, animalistic nature and increased physical ability.  Sometimes I give them animal ears and tails.  Could also be called Barbarians or Wildmen. 
Sorceroi - A variety of humans with a genetic gift for magic.  Like a race of Witches or Wizards that are genetically distinct from other humans.  I would usually give them pale skin, purple eyes, or something like that to visually distinguish them. 

Dwarf - I usually try to make Dwarves more different, like small but stronger than a human.  Because of their higher muscle-mass, they sink in water, and can't swim.  (except apes can swim, so that doesn't necessarily pan out)  Highly materialistic and capitalistic, obsessed with trade and wealth, sorta like Star Trek's Ferengi.  Their leader is called the Chairman. 
Zwerg - Meant to be more like the Old Norse version of dwarves, more like zombies or vampires.  They were like living corpses, standing still for days at a time, pale skin and eyes like burning coals.  Not necessarily evil, but alien to surface dwellers and difficult to relate with. 
Genoma - The original word for Gnome, I usually cast them as a race of dwarfoids with a stronger tradition for magic and illusion than for metalcraft and martial prowess.  Living in mushroom houses and hiding behind magical barriers and so on.  I give them darker skin and brightly colored hair to distinguish them from normal Dwarves.   
Powrie - In legend, they are a race of evil dwarves that can run with supernatural speed and need to dye their hats red with blood, or else they die.  Also known as red caps.  I would usually make them more physically plausible, a predatory dwarfoid that has to drink blood to survive.  Sometimes combine them with Zwergs, like in one idea, Zwergen special forces units wear red caps and use speed enchantments.
Kobold - To my mind, another type of evil dwarfoid rather than an animal-hybrid as they are portrayed in DF and D&D.  Their name actually has the same root as Goblin, Kobaloi, so they could be a sort of goblin-dwarf hybrid. 

Sylph - A forest elf.  Xenophobic, highly militaristic, kinda like a fantasy North Korea.  They use plant magic to genetically engineer trees to provide for their needs, like a wheat tree that grows wheat vertically, and mining trees that extract ore with their roots.  Their senses are highly acute and can see, hear and smell at greater distances and more accurately than humans.  Sylphs (and elfoids in general) have green blood, which is toxic to any non-elfoids.  These toxins are part of the Sylvan immune system and prevent most common ailments and extend the lifespan of elfoids compared to other creatures. 
Aelf/Alfar - A high elf.  More interested in architecture and pursuing arcane magic.  I would typically use them as antagonists or frenemies.  In one of my fantasy worlds, they were once Gold Elves and Grey Elves.  The Gold Elves gained an upper hand and enslaved the Greys.  The Golds built flying cities and blotted out the sky with grey clouds and forbid the Greys to learn arcane magic.  But the Greys discovered a different source of magic, Psionics, and eventually rebelled and destroyed the Golden cities, and chased down the last of the Golds across the world, killing anyone who dared assist the Golds.  In another, they lived on an isolated island-continent, where they fought endless wars against each other using powerful magic.  As they grew tired of the death-toll, they started inventing golems and automatons to fight on their behalf.  Eventually, the Aelf-wars ceased and they started a campaign to conquer and "civilize" the mainland, home to humans, dwarves, sylphs and others.  In a story where they play a more benign roll, they live on floating cities and high mountain strongholds, carefully guarding their magical and technological secrets, lest the lower races become a threat.  Sometimes they send disguised agents to the lower world, to upset the balance of the lower races, to end wars or halt prosperity so that the lower races are balanced against each other and struggle against each other and not the Alfar. 
Drow - These are sort of redundant in my worlds where Sylphs and Alfar are already perfect antagonists, but Drow can come into play as an underground dwelling elf if needed.  I would lean more towards a culture of hedonism and debauchery rather than murders and thieves, as in D&D.  Supposedly the word Drow actually started as Trow and is related to Troll. 

Goblin - A predatory race with sharp teeth and claws, they have no qualms about eating people.  They try to terrify their foes to gain a psychological advantage, and so often engage in torture or displays of brutality for the benefit of their victims.  They are human-sized or dwarf-sized, but lean and more agile. 
Gremlin - A smaller sized race of goblinoid.  They are also predatory, but make due with things like rats and bugs.  Adept at sneaking and sabotage, also good with machinery in fantasy settings where that is appropriate.  These are more like the small goblins of Warcraft or D&D. 
Orc - I usually avoid Orcs because they don't have a mythological background, Tolkien made them up.  However, the word comes from Orcus, a Latin underworld deity, so I might use them as a kind of demon race, summoned from another plane of existence for the sake of destruction, or a magically constructed race, kind of like a golem.  (possibly constructed or summoned by Alfar)
Ogre - Since I don't like Orcs, I usually use the word Ogre for the same kind of people.  I like a more Shrek-like Ogre, mean and dangerous, but not inherently evil. 

Vanara - A race of monkey-ape-human hybrids from the Ramayana.  Like apes, they are super strong, they are described as wielding boulders and tree trunks as weapons.  They are possessed of an animal-like naivety, they care little for fineries but enjoy the simple pleasures of a good meal and good companionship.  Sometimes I throw in elements of Sun Wukong, who is more of an anti-hero, to give them more dimension. 
Rakshasa - The demonic antagonists of the Ramayana, they are cannibals who hunt humans for food.  They can fly and have venomous claws.  They seem to be prone to mutations, like their king Ravana who had 10 arms and 10 heads, or his broth Kumbakarna who was a giant.  But they are also refined, they live in a beautiful city created by the gods, and some of them turn against Ravana to follow their sense of justice.  In early artwork, they are portrayed as various animal-people, in later artwork, they appear as black or purple skinned humanoids.  D&D Rakshasas have little to do with anything. 
Tengu - A Japanese bird goblin.  They can range from completely bird-like, to winged ogres with red faces and long noses to normal looking people with bird wings. 
Kinnara - A southeast asian creature, they have a human torso and the lower body of a bird, kinda like a centaur, but with a bird instead of a horse.  In India, Kinnara is a centaur, and is probably cognate to the original Greek word, Kentavros. 
Naga - Snake people.  In legend, the term Naga can range from talking snakes, monsterous snakes to snaketaurs, to people who transform into snakes.  When they angered the holy bird Garuda with evil deeds, he vowed to hunt them down so they fled, some to the bottom of the ocean, some to a deep subterranean world. 
Kappa - A Japanese turtle goblin that needed to keep its head moist or it would die.  In more plausible settings, they are a race that breaths through gills.  I'm pretty sure this is the basis for Koopas from the Mario universe. 
Yak/Yaksha - The Thai version is an ogre-like creature that guards holy temples.  An other-world bouncer if you will.  In India, Yaksha is a very undefined mythological being, although the female version, Yakshini, is often portrayed as a beautiful woman with huge boobs. 
Kitsune - The Japanese word for fox, they were believed to have the ability to transform into humans or humanoids.  As they grow older, they grow more tails, eventually becoming the Kyuubi (nine tails) and then the Tenko, a golden furred, god-like creature.  They could also possess people with magic, and some legends tell that they needed to drink blood to survive, while others claim they have a soft spot for sweetened tofu.  In human form, they were infamous for seducing people, like a succubus.  And the one from Sonic the Hedgehog can fly. 

Troll - Rock skinned people.  Depending on the level of realism, they could be genuinely made of rocks, or they have a very hard body armor that is camouflaged to look like stone, akin to a crocodile.  The mythological background for Trolls is interesting.  In Old Norse, they were a sort of half-Jotun (Titan), associated with magic, modern Norwegian word for magician is trollman.  Supposedly, trolls and dwarves would turn to stone if exposed to sunlight, and rocks that look like people are called troll stones.  The D&D version of Trolls is not based on anything.  If one wanted to differentiate between various types of trolls, there are other variants like risi, thurs and huldra.  Alternatively, the rock people could be called Petrads, a variation of Dryad. 
Dryad - Same idea, humanoids with wooden exoskeleton or wood camouflaged armor.  They are born from eggs that look like seeds.  (Of course in DF that won't work)
Myconian - Mushroom people, or people with mushroom camouflage, following the theme.  Or Mycad, if following the Dryad, Petrad naming convention. 
Kryad - Ice people.  Following the same naming convention, but totally made up. 

Centaur - I love centaurs and I always try to throw them into fantasy settings.  I've often thought about the physiology of centaurs.  I think they should not be as big as modern horses, as the horse body is too big and it looks silly.  Some have told me that centaurs should be as big as horses, but the human torso should be scaled up to match.  If you look at ancient Greek depictions of centaurs, they are actually very low slung, shorter than humans.  One theory behind the extra body area is that centaurs have a set of back-up organs, two hearts, four lungs, and so on, though probably just one very long digestive tract.  Although I've been told than in DF physiology, you'll still die if one of your four lungs gets punctured, and having more lungs just increases the chance that this will happen.  Another theory is that Centaurs are actually related to or descended from Nagas and Merfolk, their "horse" body is actually a modified tail and the horse-like appearance is coincidental or convergent evolution.  I tend to prefer Shining Force's rendition of centaurs as armored knights, rather than forest dwelling archers.  After all, we've already got forest dwelling archers.  Possibly a version of centaurs that are more like the Mongols. 
Yaktaurs - The dreaded upgrade of centaurs from Dungeon Crawl.  They have yak bodies instead of horse bodies. 
Leotaur - Lion bodies instead of horse bodies. 
Dracotaur - Reptilian or draconian bodies instead of horses. 
Beartaur - In Soviet Russia, bear taurs you!
Arachnetaur - Spider bodies, like a Dryder, although not necessarily related to Drow. 
Horsetaur - A centaur but with a horse's head instead of a person.  Or in other words, a horse with a human torso instead of a neck.  Look it up, there are pictures. 
X-taur - You get the idea, anything can be a centaur.  Although this is etymologically incorrect, as mentioned earlier, the Greek word for Centaur, Kentavros, probably comes from Indian Kinnara, it's nonsensical in Greek.  (as opposed to Mino-Taur the bull (tavros) of Minos) 

Wulver - Wolf people.  They do not transform like a werewolf. 
Salamander - Lizard people or dragon people.  I've sometimes used the name Dracosapien, but Salamander or Salaman sounds more fantasy. 
Maniraptor - A straight up dinosaur, preserved from primordial times.  As intelligent as any humanoid, they speak to each other in a kind of bird song, but can mimic sounds and voices like a parrot.  Because I thought lizard-men were boring. 
Myrmidon - Ant people, or rather intelligent ants.  I would typically have them standing on 4 legs with 2 arms, like a centaur, rather than 2 legs and 4 arms as they are often depicted.  Size could be anything, though I usually think of them as being as tall as humans or even larger, as this makes them scarier. 
Psychovore - A non-trademark infringing version of Mind Flayers, also thought about Brain Eaters or Brain Suckers.  Squid-like people from deep underground or underwater or wherever that eat brainwaves or brain tissues.  More intelligent brains are more nutritious, thus they prefer to hunt humans and dwarves and the like. 
Neko-jin - Cat people.
Bug-Bear - A big burly bug-person.  An actual insectoid, unlike the D&D version.  Would probably have an intelligence level akin to a DF Troll.  These ones I imagine with 4 arms and 2 legs. 
Scissorian/Scythian - An insectoid people with pincers or mantis scythes on their hands, so I guess 2 weapon hands, 2 grasper hands and 2 legs.  Inspired by D&D's swordwings, and the pokemon, Scyther and Scissor. 

Molemen - For worlds where I don't want dwarves, or if I don't want the underground race to be dwarfy, there's molemen, who can be anything I want.  Usually with big shovelly hands, sometimes looking like Magi-Nation's Underneath magi. 
Dragoon - Humanoids with dragonic horns, wings, tails, and sometimes claws, but still humanoid face and body shape. 
Darkling - A race like He-Man's Orko or Final Fantasy's Black Mages.  I would usually cast them as an underground race, possibly dwarfoid, possibly as a more monstrous version with a mouth full of shark teeth. 
Devilin - Like a little devil, horns, hooves, pointy tail, red skin, pitchforks.  Could also be more like WoW's Dranei or D&D's Tiefling. 
Mekka-Jin/Cyberoi - A race of cyborgs with power cables for tails. 
Puck/Brownie - A race of tiny people with super-human strength.  Kinda like the Nac Mac Feegle.  I think technically, Puck is a single entity, where as Brownies are a type of creature, but Brownie sounds offensive. 
Pixie - A tiny people with wings and a gift for magic. 
Undine - Mermaids with legs, or if I need it, a race of mermaids with no rules.  Possibly with both legs and a tail. 
Tendrillite - A race of humanoids or elfoids that were corrupted by Cthulu-like beings (or possibly vice-versa).  They have slit-pupils and hands with tentacles instead of fingers.  They are from GURPS' fantasy settings. 
Nymph - An all female race of plant people, possibly like an alraune, or an elf-that's-not-an-elf if needed. 
Dhampir - Half-vampires, or a race of humanoids descended from vampires with whatever's the right balance between cool vampire powers and civilized behavior. 
Raijin - A race of thundergods or people descended from thundergods.  Raijin actually is the name of a specific thundergod, though it's also just the words Rai (thunder) and Jin (person) so there might be something better out there.  Thorians, Jovians, Shangomen, Vajrashura, Nimboss, etc. 
Ogresaur - Another race of lizard people for if Salamanders or Maniraptors aren't quite right.  I usually give them red skin and horns, like an Oni. 
Asuran - A goblinoid race with 4 arms.  Possibly not a specific race, but a mutation of goblins or rakshasas.  Like instead of a certain percentage being bald or colorblind, they are born with 4 arms. 

Sometimes I think of doing something special with the Alchemical elemental beings, Genoma (earth), Sylph (air), Salamander (fire), Undine (water).  For an exotic variation, there are the Chinese/Japanese celestial beasts, Genbu-jin (turtle, earth), Byakko-jin (tiger, air), Suzaku-jin (bird, fire), Seiryu (dragon, water).  (Jin means person, so Genbu-jin is just saying a celestial turtle-person)  Chinese version has 5 elements, which I think is Turtle = Water, Dragon = Wood, Tiger = Metal, Bird = Fire, Qilin = Earth.  The Japanese equivalent of Quilin is Kirin, if you wanted to use that. 

Eric Blank:
A lot of these are quite interesting takes on modern fantasy and ancient mythology, really. I like it.

AceSV:
I was just thinking, I've done extensive enough world building for some campaigns that I've got systems of government and backstories for some of the major races.  There was a big campaign I started to build set in space, it might not make the most sense for DF, but here it is anyways.  In general, I follow a theme that the governments and empires are mostly pretty dark and antagonistic, a reason for factions to be constantly at war and for adventurers to go seeking their fortune in the frontier. 

Dwarven Conglomerate & Clan System
The materialistic dwarves have fashioned their empire like a business.  Every dwarf is an employee, every family a subsidiary, tasked with the duty of bringing wealth to the Conglomerate.  The leader of the Conglomerate is the Chairman, elected by the Directors.  The Conglomerate is a collection of various dwarven businesses, with each busincess leader vying for power within the Conglomerate government, often taking any opportunity to do damage to their competitors. 

At an individual levels, Dwarves are organized into family clans.  Dwarves have 4 names, their given name, earned name, family name, and clan name.  So a dwarven name might look like Katy Ken"The Dagger" FraStonestein DurGravel, meaning she was given the name Urist at birth, earned the name "The Dagger", was born of the Stonestein family and serves the Gravel clan.  Since dwarven names can be arduous, they are rarely given in full, so the prefixes Ken, Fra and Dur denote an earned, family or clan name.  A dwarf saying 'I am Ken"The Hammer"' or 'I am DurGravel"' is telling you all you need to know.  Noble dwarves have the same family name as their clan name, so the name FraGraniteer DurGraniteer tells you that this dwarf is part of the ruling member of their clan, the Graniteers. 

Harming another dwarf is unthinkable to most dwarves, so violent crime is rare, but thievery and sabotage are rampant, making spies a valued asset to every Dwarven clan.  The most feared punishment is excommunication.  An excommunicated dwarf cannot do business with any member of the Conglomerate, forcing them to live in poverty.  Even in non-dwarven communities, a dwarf who has earned excommunication from the Conglomerate may not be welcome. 

Genoman Secret Society
The fragile Genoma (gnomes) are a race that protects themselves with secrets.  Whole genoman cities are hidden by illusions (in a space campaign, entire planets).  Over time, the rulers of the Genoma also shrouded themselves in secrecy.  Nobody knows the true rulers of the Genoma, but their edicts appear by magic when a new law or decision must be made known.  The authenticity of the Secret Society's messages are made by a special magical symbol.  Allegedly, the Secret Society employs a group of equally secret agents and assassins who strike down any Genoma who opposes the Society.  Political dissidents simply disappear, or are the victims of seemingly impossible murders, with a Secret Society notice of extermination left.  Minor crimes are handled by more mundane law enforcement agencies, but these agencies are still commanded by the Secret Society. 

Sylvan Biarchy
The enigmatic Sylvan Kingdom is ruled by a pair of monarchs, the Sylvan King and Queen.  Unlike human kingdoms, where the King and Queen are married and passed down by birth, the Sylvan King and Queen have no relation to each other, and are appointed to their positions by a council of all men or all women respectively.  The Sylvan King and Queen each represent the wishes of male and female sylves, and are there to balance themselves against misconduct in leading the Sylvan state.  Like most monarchs, the words of the Sylvan King and Queen are law, and should those words contradict each other, the King and Queen must appoint a 3rd person to break the tie. 

Conservative Sylves view their forest as sacred and everything outside of it rubbish, even sentient lifeforms.  Thus a human or dwarf from the outside has less rights in Sylvan society than a squirrel or tree from the forest.  However, some sylves see the value of cooperating with outsiders, and see themselves in others. 

A common sylvan military tactic during the Age of Warfare was to use their plant magic to expand their forest, and thus, to their minds, their own borders as well.  Bringing their home terrain to the farthest battlegrounds also gives them a great advantage.  In the space campaign, sylves would aggressively "Yggdraform" planets.  Like terraforming, but making planets more like their homeworld of Yggdros, a planet wildly overgrown with plantlife, a great shock to dwarves who tend to see planets in terms of mineral value rather than biological value.   

Alfar Council and CyberMind
Following the backstory presented earlier that Gold Elves once enslaved the Grey Elves.  When the Grey Elves liberated themselves, they made it their rule that no aelf should have the power to command another, and so devised the Council of Advisers to decide on important decisions for the alfar state.  Constitutionally, the Council of Advisers could only advise fellow alfar on what to do, not command them, but as the fervor of revolution wore thin, the alfar saw the need for law, and devised a plan to build an all-knowing CyberMind which could make all decisions for them.  In order for the CyberMind to reflect the wishes of the alfar, each aelf would temporarily link their mind to the CyberMind once in a few years.  At first, the Council would interpret the conclusions of the CyberMind, but as their invention matured, the Council's usefulness waned. 

After centuries of enslavement, the alfar decided that death was more merciful than servitude.  While it sounds noble at first, it means that the alfar made a point of exterminating their opponents, rather than conquering them. 

Vanara Great Sage King
(These vanara are based on the trickster Sun Wukong, rather than the more friendly Ramayana vanara)
The strongest, smartest and most devious vanara had the right to rule as the Great Sage King, and whoever was strong enough, smart enough or devious enough to kill the current Great Sage King would be made the new Great Sage King.  This, naturally, caused chaos for the vanara kingdom.  The Great Sage King would have to spend all energy on defending their life from constant assassination attempts leaving little time for affairs of state, so they began to appoint Overseers to do these jobs on their behalf.  Thus the Great Sage King did not rule so much as decide who should rule.  The position of Great Sage King also lost some desirability due to the constant threat of assassination, so there were actually very few vanara who really wanted the position, eventually decreasing the rate of assassinations to once every year or so. 

Still, this caused constant chaos for the vanara state, and as they began to face competition from better organized empires, the Great Sage King and his Overseers passed a decree that there should be a tournament held every 5 years, the winner of which would have a chance to fight the Great Sage King and claim his throne, and only during this time would the assassination of the Great Sage King be considered lawful.  As the vanara value wit and guile more than honor, the tournament battles were not held in arenas, but could instead begin anytime, anywhere, so that every manner of cunning could be exploited. 

Despite the title Great Sage King, female vanari were perfectly eligible for the title. 

Centaur Khagan
(This is meant for the space campaign, which has an entire planet of centaurs and in which the centaur space empire is one of the major powers in the galaxy)
The centaurs are divided into two major philosophical groups, Ixionites, who believe that enjoying the primitive passions, food, adrenaline, sex, etc, are the point of living, and Chironites, who believe that passions are best controlled, locked away for the sake of calm tranquility, higher thought and learning.  These groups once fought bitterly, but eventually came to an uneasy peace for the sake of their world.  One cannot say that they have put aside their differences, but they have turned down their tensions from warring factions to political parties. 

The centaur homeworld is divided into several districts, each ruled by a Khan.  The appointment of the Khan differs by district, some are elected, some are passed down through families, some decided by tests of strength or wit, and so on.  Every few years, the many Khans meat for the kurultai, where they vote on laws that govern the centaur empire.  When necessary, the Khans vote for a Khagan, the Khan of Khans, a position somewhat like the USA's president.  It is a lifetime appointment, however, the Khans can vote that the Khagan is in dereliction of duty and depose him or her if necessary.  Ixionite and Chironite centaurs compete for votes and especially try to vote for a Khagan that follows their own philosophy. 

(thought there might be room for a third faction of Sagittarians, but I'm not sure what they would represent.  The point of the factions is a reflection of their allegorical meaning in Greek mythology, half human, half animal, a dichotomy creature with a dichotomy society) 

Centaur Mercenary Companies
(This is meant for the fantasy campaign, in which centaurs are more obscure)
Centaur populations are lower than other races, and had never collected into the huge kingdoms known to humans, dwarves or elves.  As powerful creatures, they were quickly sought after as allies or mercenaries by these foreign kingdoms, and as the kingdoms began to cement themselves as empires and dynasties, the centaurs saw mercenary work as a way to preserve their small and fragile communities.  Centaurs would generally adopt the fighting styles of their neighbors, forest centaurs would master the elven bow and saber, plains centaurs would play their part in human cavalry and pike formations, mountain centaurs would don the peerless armor of the dwarves, and so on. 

It would not be uncommon for centaur mercenaries to fight other centaur mercenaries on the field of battle.  They would be quite keen to face one another.  A fight between centaurs would be a true test of their mettle.  And every centaur feared that if they seemed useless or unloyal, the larger empires would attempt to eradicate them. 

The Maw of the Goblins
The Maw is a confederacy made up of goblin tribes.  Each tribe is referred to as a "Fang" and rules itself with almost complete independence, with the important caveat that no Fang of the Maw should make war with or raid another Fang of the Maw.  Or in the poetic terms of the Maw's charter, "the Maw shall not bite down upon itself".  As the goblin civilization grew more and more powerful, other races joined as Fangs of the Maw, such as Ogres, Gremlins, Rakshasa, Drow, Zwergs, Maniraptors and Barbarians. 

In the Great War, non-Maw races grew worried of their ever expanding adversary, and created the Seeley Coalition to destroy them, consisting primarily of Dwarves, Sylves, Alfar, Vanara and Centaurs.  The Seeley Coalition would eventually force the Maw into an uneasy cease-fire, and brought together many empires that once been bitter rivals. 

In the space campaign, the goblins destroyed their home planet in internal wars before founding the Maw. 

Ogre Thaumatocracy
Very rarely, ogres are born with the gift of magic, becoming the so called Ogre-Mage.  As they retain all the usual strength of an ogre, the ogre-mages made incredibly dangerous opponents, and had a definite advantage over other ogres.  Thus it became customary for ogre-mages to become leaders, as elders or kings of other ogres. 

In the space campaign, one ogre-mage eventually gained enough magical power to become king of the entire ogre homeworld, and even prolonged his life with magic to become effectively immortal.  Though this magic involved the sacrifice of ogre lives to work, the brutal race was quite tolerant of it.  Eventually, ogre dissidents would leave the homeworld to join the Maw or to seek a free life on the frontier. 

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