Playable Races
How the Races Are Sorted
Firstborn races are the foundational peoples of Essentia, each with their own base statistics, culture, and place in the world. Every race listed at the top level is a Firstborn. Kinborn are variant populations descended from a Firstborn race, carrying the same cultural heritage but with different base statistics that reflect their unique ancestry and adaptation to different environments or circumstances. Bloodlines
Culture begins at Level 4 when a character chooses a Path, and is determined by the Path they select, not by their race. Every Path carries its own cultural traditions, forbidden armaments, and Higher Power. A character's race provides their innate traits and physical nature; their culture comes from the calling they choose.
Example, Bloodlines: The Imperials are a Firstborn race. Crimson, Onyx, Citrine, Violet, Azure, and Verdant Imperials share the same base statistics, Traits, and Innate Abilities. Their Bloodlines are cultural lineages: each carries different customs, histories, armament traditions, and relationships to class and Higher Power culture, but no Bloodline changes the Imperial racial rules.
Example, Kinborn: The Dwarf is a Standard Size Firstborn. The Ash Dwarf is a Kinborn, descended from Dwarves but adapted to different stone and terrain, carrying different base stats than their Firstborn cousins.
Example, neither: The Glimmerstone Dwarf is a Small Size Firstborn in its own right. It has no relation to the Standard Size Dwarf, carries no Bloodlines and no Kinborn. It is entirely independent.
Choosing a Race, Overview
Whether a Player wants to embody a mighty Ogre, a graceful Elf, a resilient Dwarf, or a clever Ratkin, SORC provides a rich tapestry of races to explore. Race diversity is just the first array of different ways of playing SORC that makes every journey Unique in developing a character.
The selection of playable races in SORC offer a vast and diverse array of options for adventurers, ranging from towering Goliaths to tiny, yet cunning, Small folk. Each race has its own Traits that they are either strong in, weak in or balanced to, its own cultural backgrounds, often shared with others, and physical characteristics, allowing Players to craft characters that fit their preferred playstyle and story. Each race individually has the same Statistics and Traits and cultures do not change this. Culture is determined by the background the Player chooses for their race.
For instance, every human, regardless of whether or not they're †Omnè or Nordian, begins with the same exact Traits and Stats. The only thing different here is their culture and that doesn't mean a Nordian cannot develop into an Omnè culture, and that is said for Omnè embracing Nordian cultures as well. The world of Essentia is not only diverse in culture, but globally communicates amongst its planets. However, that isn't to say items first developed on Omnè aren't more rare on Zail, they are and that rule applies both ways. A secret Nordian Recipe for "Nord Feast", would be less likely to be found on Omnè than it would Zailister (or even continents on Zailister other than the Nordian's native Glaciera). At the same time, Omnè Technologically Advanced Weapons (TAW) would be less likely to be found on Zailister than Omnè but the Characters Background allows them to choose TAW, unless the GM opposes this rule.
†The Omnè are further advanced in technology than any other human culture, not because they are the most inherently intelligent, but because they are the most ancient of all human cultures and their development further away from the main sun Adoria, hadn't allowed them to rely on magic.
The Fae predate every other race in Essentia, the oldest people in the world's history, present in the earliest myths of every culture that came after them. Their true homeworld is Tenue, a planet riding a similar orbital path to Zailister, just a bit closer to Adoria, shielded from that closeness by the same dense magical overgrowth that keeps its surface temperate. Fae are also native to Zailister itself, through the Veilwood, a hidden plane within Zailister's own forests that opens directly onto Tenue, grown from that same overgrowth. Veilwood is the heart of all magical and enchanted forest on Zailister, every enchanted grove and Fae-touched wood on the planet traces back to it, however distant, and Veilwood itself holds a direct magical path straight to Tenue. Fae are not yet available as a playable race in these rules. More on Tenue, and every other world, can be found in its own planetary volume and in Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia.
The Primal of Ignis are the only other people whose lineage reaches back nearly as far as the Fae's, though theirs is the oldest continuously practiced way of life rather than the oldest race outright, see Primal, Playable Races from Afar below. Despite their close physical resemblance to humans, Primal are their own distinct race.
Ignis is home to two playable races so far: the Emberscale and the Primal (see Playable Races from Afar below).
Planet Two: Tenue
Tenue sits only barely closer to Adoria than Zailister, sharing a similar orbital path just nearer to the source, and that nearness is exactly where its magic comes from. By every measure of distance alone, Tenue should run hotter than Zailister. It doesn't. Tenue is cooler, its landscapes held temperate by the dense magical overgrowth blanketing the surface, foliage grown thick and old, fed by Adoria's raw magic at close range, and strong enough to turn back the sun's heat on its own.
Despite the cooler air, Tenue is never dim, unless underground, home of the Drow. It experiences blinding light during the day, and at night the skies stay bright, held that way by its neighboring third planet, which reflects Adoria's light back across Tenue's surface even after dark. Tenue has no moon of its own.
Tenue is the true homeworld of all Fae, and the source of the same magical overgrowth that protects it, overgrowth that reaches all the way to Zailister as the Veilwood, an enchanted forest holding a direct path between the two worlds.
Tenue isn't as hot as Zailister, even sitting closer to Adoria, because of the magical overgrowth protecting it.
- Excerpt from: Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia
Also see Species below (A link taking readers back to Goliath Races is at bottom of a description of all Species throughout Essentia).
Culture
Geographic order: SORC records locations in this order: Universe, Planet, Continent, Island, Territory, Region, Area. A local entry always names its Planet first, followed by its Region and then its Area (city, village, camp, or other local site).
Race Base and age: A Race Base cannot be lower than 23. A Character may begin up to 5 years younger or 5 years older than the Race Base, and retires 40 years after the chosen starting age.
Culture in SORC is not one thing, it is a set of them. A Character's Race sets their body; their Culture sets what that body was raised into, and it is drawn from several sources at once. None of them change a Character's Traits or Stats, two Humans have identical numbers whether one was raised Omnè and the other Nordian, what differs is what each was taught, what each has access to, and what each is expected to refuse.
The culture types recognised so far:
- Race Culture - the people a Character is born to, and the homeworld or region behind them (Omnè and Nordian Humans, Bridge and Mountain Trolls, the Primal of Ignis, the Fae of Tenue). See each race's own entry below.
- Background Culture - the upbringing chosen at creation, which can override birth entirely. Any Culture in Essentia may be taken by any race through Background, race sets no limit on it. A Dwarf raised among the Omnè counts as Omnè for cultural purposes, an Orcus raised Nordian counts as Nordian, and a Human raised among the Fae counts as Fae (see Backgrounds, above).
- Class Culture - a Path or Branch is itself a culture, with its own training, rites, tools, and taboos. This is the culture that decides which weapons a Character's Abilities are performed with, and which their tradition refuses outright (see below).
- Higher Power Culture - the patron a Character devotes to at LVL 4, which carries its own observances, its own foes, and its own list of traditions it will not share a Character with (see Higher Power, below).
- Regional Culture - where the campaign is set, which governs what is common to find, buy, or craft versus what is rare (see Cultural Armaments & Rarity, Appendix).
Human Cultures. Humans carry no bloodlines and no kinborns, every Human holds the same base stats, and what separates one from another is the culture they were raised in. The named Human cultures so far are the Nordian, the Eldrim, the Tanu'la, and the Xo'kajal, alongside the Humans raised among the Omnè. More are on the way.
Favored and Averse Classes. Every Race carries a list of Favored Classes, granting +5, and Averse Classes, taking -5 (see Favored and Averse Class Bonuses, below, and each Class's own entry, Basic Rules pg. 3). These are cultural, not biological: they reflect which traditions a people have long practiced and which sit at odds with how they live, not any limit on what a Character may become. A Race averse to a Class may still take it and excel, they simply start further back than someone raised to it.
Culture begins at LVL 4 and carries through. A Main Class Tier (Levels 1-3) carries no Culture of its own. A Class's three Paths have no cultural common ground to share, an Avenger's Cleric, Monk, and Priest hold only faith in common and nothing of how it is practiced, so nothing cultural can be stated at the Tier at all. Culture begins at LVL 4, when a Path is chosen, and that Path's Culture governs from there: its weapons, its armor, its forbidden armaments, its Higher Power. It carries through the Branch unchanged. A Branch is aligned to its own Path, not a fresh tradition, so it inherits that Path's Culture whole rather than starting one of its own. What a Branch may do is state exceptions, specific armaments its own practice permits or refuses where the Path does not, and those can loosen the Path's Culture as readily as tighten it. Anything a Branch does not name as an exception stays exactly as its Path set it (see each Class's Paths and Branches, Basic Rules pg. 3).
Background feeds Culture too. The Background chosen at creation is itself a cultural source and can override birth entirely. Any race may hold any Culture this way, there is no pairing a race is barred from: a Dwarf raised among the Omnè counts as Omnè for every cultural purpose, rarity and availability included, and the same holds for every other race and Culture in Essentia (see Backgrounds, above). Where a Background and a Path's Culture disagree, both apply, a Character raised to one tradition and trained into another carries the restrictions of each.
Class Culture and Armaments. Because a Class is a culture, its Abilities carry cultural restrictions on what performs them. Every Tier, Path, and Branch lists the weapons its Abilities are used with, and one must be readied to perform any Ability from that tree; weapons the tradition refuses are listed as Weapons Forbidden under that tree's Culture (see Required Weapons, Appendix). An Avenger is fully capable of swinging a TAW mace, their faith simply does not channel through manufactured technology, so no Avenger Ability comes of it. Basic ATTKs are never restricted this way, any Character may wield any weapon they can carry and attack with it normally (see Basic ATTKs and Ability ATTKs, Basic Rules pg. 5).
What a Culture governs. A Path's Culture speaks to four things, and a weapon or piece of armor has to clear all four to carry that Path's Abilities:
- Weapon Type and Style - what the tradition fights with, and which Types it refuses outright (see Required Weapons, Appendix).
- Material - what the thing is made of. Some traditions care more about this than about shape: an order that will touch nothing but wood refuses a steel mace and a bone club alike, however well either matches its Style.
- Variant - which Variants the tradition works with, and which it refuses outright (see Armament Variants, Basic Rules pg. 4).
- Armor - what may be worn while its Abilities are used. This is separate from the Armor Grade threshold and works differently, see below.
Armor: two rules, not one. A Path's Armor Grade threshold is about weight and mobility. Wearing heavier than the threshold never blocks an Ability, it costs a scaling Armament Penalty, and a high enough Trait score reduces that Penalty (see Armament Penalty, Appendix). A Path's Armor Forbidden list is about Culture instead, and no Trait touches it: armor a tradition refuses blocks its Abilities outright, the same way a forbidden weapon does, however light the piece happens to be. An order forbidden metal is barred from a light mail shirt as surely as from plate.
Building a Set. An Ability is performed with what is actually in hand and on the body. Both the weapon and the armor must be readied, and both must satisfy the Culture of whichever Path the Ability is drawn from, before that Ability can be performed at all. Characters therefore assemble Sets, a weapon and an armor loadout chosen together to keep one Path's Abilities available. A Character readies up to three weapons and one armor piece per game day (see Weapons Carried, Basic Rules pg. 4), so a Character drawing on more than one Path should build a Set that clears every Culture they intend to use that day. Where two Paths' Cultures cannot be satisfied at once, one tradition refusing metal while another requires it, that Character carries only one of them into the day and swaps at the next opportunity to change their Armament Set. Basic ATTKs are never part of this, they work with anything (see Basic ATTKs and Ability ATTKs, Basic Rules pg. 5).
Cultural Armaments. Every playable Race has Armaments tied to its own people, a Weapon Type, armor style, or technique unique to them. TAW (Technologically Advanced Weapons) and Chthonic are the two best known, but Troll-make weaponry and Ignis's Primal Armaments are equally cultural, and every Race carries its own whether written up yet or not. Each is rare outside that culture's reach and common only when the campaign sits within or near that culture's territory, or the Character belongs to it by Race or Background (see Cultural Armaments & Rarity, Appendix).
Why Omnè and Tredeki run oldest. The first cognitive, civilization-capable life in Essentia arose on Omnè Malum and Tredeki, before any other world, Zailister included (see the Age of Creation, Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia). That head start, not any innate edge, is why Omnè and Tredeki carry the oldest continuous manufacturing traditions on record, TAA and Techmat both trace back to it, and why every younger culture that copies them is doing exactly that, copying.
More to come... Culture is an expanding system. Religion, language, trade, kinship structures, and cultural Prestige are all planned to hang from this section in a later release, along with the full per-Race culture write-ups.
Aptitude and Inaptitude
Aptitude and Inaptitude are Race and Kinborn Gifts or Burdens innately inherited by characters of that race. A Drow's darkvision is an Aptitude, as is a Gnome's ability to speak with burrowing Flora (like some fungi) and Fauna (like small animals). Each race carries innate passive Aptitudes and Inaptitudes, non-combat traits baked into their biology, heritage, and upbringing. These are always active and require no action to use. They cannot be removed, suppressed, or replaced by class choices, though some may be developed further through Talent Trees. Inaptitudes work the same way in reverse: they are permanent frictions that no amount of training fully eliminates, though their penalties can sometimes be offset by other bonuses. Aptitudes and Inaptitudes are separate from Trait scores and ATTR bonuses, they represent what a race simply is, not what a character has learned to do.
Neither side stays frozen at character creation. Every year of age lived, a character's Aptitude advances on its own, following a fixed progression set per race, either deepening an Aptitude they already carry or manifesting an entirely new one at that stage, capped so no single Aptitude scales without limit. This advancement is tied directly to Growth progression. It isn't a choice the Player makes and it isn't random, every character of that race advances through the same set sequence, it just happens as a natural part of aging. Inaptitude eases the same way but far more slowly: once every ten years of age lived, its penalty softens by a small, fixed amount, also following that race's set progression. It never fully disappears, a lifetime of living around it only takes the edge off.
Example, Drow:
- Dark Vision (Improved) - an early stage of natural growth deepens the Drow's existing Aptitude: sight in total darkness sharpens to pick out fine detail and faint color, and a sudden flare of bright light no longer briefly blinds and disorients them.
- Earth Mastery - a later stage of growth manifests an entirely new Aptitude instead: tunnels through loose earth or soil at 5 feet per turn; cannot burrow through solid stone or worked structures, and cannot attack while burrowing.
- Earth Mastery (Improved) - later still, Earth Mastery itself deepens further: burrow speed increases to 10 feet per turn, and while burrowing the Drow can sense footsteps and movement through the earth around them within 15 feet. This is as far as Earth Mastery grows.
Each starter race lists Favored affinities for Class Trees, Professions, Talent Trees, and Companions. Favored Professions grant bonus Experience (XP) toward Expertise Tiers (Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, Grandmaster). Favored Talent Trees grant +1 to Talent rolls in those trees. Favored Companion types bond in half the normal time at 25% reduced upkeep. Note: Innate Abilities can be developed further through Talent Trees; if a Talent supersedes an innate inability, the Talent takes precedence.
Favored Class Tree Bonuses
A race lists Favored Class Trees, and across its entire Favored list, only one Path may carry a deeper bonus, and only one Branch nested under that same Path may carry the deepest bonus. Every other Main Class Tree, Path, or Branch listed gets the flat bonus only.
A Favored Main Class Tree grants +5 to all Ability rolls made in that Class Tree. The single chosen Favored Path instead grants +7, total, replacing the flat +5 for that Path, and the single chosen Favored Branch instead grants +9, total, replacing the flat +5 for that Branch.
This bonus does not apply to Aptitude or Miracles.
Each race's Innate Trait bonuses and penalties are listed below.
Innate Trait Alignment with Attributes
The Innate Trait bonus or penalty reflects the same score as its aligned ATTR. In the case there are more than one trait aligned with the same attribute, it is the highest score for bonuses or lowest score for penalties respectively. For instance, if a Race has Innate Trait bonus of STR +2 and AGI +1, both aligned with the ATTR Physique, that race's base ATTR SCR is +2 (the highest of the two). If the same Race has a Penalty of -3 in Wit and -2 in Intuition, both aligned to Vigilance (VIG), that Race's base ATTR SCR in VIG is -3 (the lower of the two).
Native Abilities and Favorites
Each race has its own Native Abilities, determined by the lands and environments where its people developed. These include the race's Aptitudes and Inaptitudes, along with its Innate Traits and Innate Abilities. Native Abilities describe what a race naturally brings to a Character before training, Class, or equipment.
Races also have Favorites, such as Favored Classes, Professions, Talent Trees, and Companions. Favorites identify the traditions a race most naturally supports and help guide the alignments and armaments associated with those traditions. The chosen Path's Culture determines the exact alignment and armament restrictions; a Favorite provides an affinity and bonus, not a prohibition against choosing something else.
Favorite Variants
Each Favorite may name one or more Variants, showing the specific form of that affinity. A Favored Class may identify a Main Class, Path, or Branch; a Favored Profession may identify a discipline or specialty; a Favored Talent Tree may identify a branch or talent line; a Favored Companion may identify a type, size, or role; and a Favored Armament may identify a weapon family, material, or armament Variant.
A Kinborn or Bloodline inherits its parent race's Favorites and Favorite Variants unless its own entry changes them. When a Variant entry adds, replaces, or narrows a Favorite, that entry takes precedence for the Character. Favorite Variants carry the same alignment and armament affinity as the Favorite they refine, unless the entry states an exception.
Favorite Main Classes Tree Abilities
Favorite Main Classes Tree Abilities identify the specific Main Class Tree, Path, or Branch a race favors. They use the established Favored Class Tree bonus: +5 for a Favored Main Class Tree, +7 for the one selected Favored Path, and +9 for the one selected Favored Branch nested under that Path. The Character must still meet the Path's alignment requirement and the Path's Culture still governs its exact armament restrictions.
Playable races are grouped below by size, the Zailister sizes first and the races from other planets after them. A race sets the body a character starts with: its Innate Trait adjustments, its starting ATTR floor, its Aptitude and Inaptitude, its lifespan, and the Classes and Companions it favors. Size decides reach and fit at the table, what a Goliath can put a hand on and where a Small race can go.
How the Races Are Sorted
Races are listed by Size first, Goliath, Standard, then Small. Within a Size they are listed by Firstborn, and a Firstborn may carry Bloodlines, Kinborn, or neither.
- Firstborn, the race itself. Every race has one.
- Bloodlines are their Firstborn in a different hue, each carrying bonuses that set it apart from the others. A Firstborn with Bloodlines has no default, and one is chosen at creation.
- Kinborn are sub races of their Firstborn, carrying different base stats. Not every Firstborn has them.
Example, Bloodlines. The Imperials are a Firstborn. Crimson, Onyx, Violet, Azure and Verdant are its Bloodlines, the same Imperial in a different hue, each with bonuses of its own. There is no plain Imperial to play, so a character is one of them. Drāco Blood runs the same way, six hues over the one Firstborn.
Example, Kinborn. The Dwarf is a Standard Size Firstborn. The Ash Dwarf is its Kinborn, carrying different base stats.
Example, neither. The Glimmerstone Dwarf is a Small Size Firstborn in its own right. It has no relation to the Standard Size Dwarf, and it carries no Bloodlines and no Kinborn.
Goliath Size Races
Goliaths are towering beings, typically standing between 7 to 9 feet tall, known for their impressive strength, endurance, and commanding presence.
Base Life: 60 | Base Mana: 24 | Base Stamina: 40 | Base Endurance: 35 | Base Speed: 40 ft. | Base Carry: 200 lbs | Size Bonus: +1 Strength, +1 Toughness | Size Penalty: -1 Agility, -1 Defense
Goliaths have the highest Stamina, Strength and Speed of any size tier, built for sustained physical dominance. Their Mana pool is lower than Standard and Small, while their mass favors physical strength and vigor over magical capacity.
Bast
Bast are tall and agile felines that treat most encounters like a game they've already decided to win. Quick tongues and a knack for always landing on top, figuratively and otherwise, have earned them a reputation as charming liars and worse cardsharps. They're easy to underestimate and that's exactly how they prefer it; a Bast caught in a straight fight has usually already lost, but a Bast given an opening rarely needs a second one. Best are not extraordinarily large Goliats, though they appear so when they stretch.
Bugbear
Bugbears are tall, broad-shouldered predators covered in coarse, bristled fur, built for both raw strength and the patience of a hunter. Despite their size, they move with surprising quiet through dense brush and rocky terrain, relying on ambush as often as brute force to bring down prey twice their size.
Centyr
Centyr are chimeric beings - with a human head and torso along with distinctive horns and ears of the animal repeating them. The lower body; the rear, tail, legs and hooves, matching their horn and ear type. Each Centyr embodies a unique fusion of human intellect and animal nature, their dual physiology reflected in their culture and combat style. They are natural riders without need of mounts, perfectly balanced between humanoid dexterity and bestial power. Although Centaur are Goliath in size, they typically stand around the upper 6 foot ranges in height.
Firbolg
Gentle giants entwined with the natural world, Firbolgs carry distant Fae lineage and commune with animals and plants through silent thought - a continuous conversation at the edge of consciousness that never truly ceases. They are slow to anger but nearly immovable once rooted, drawing strength from soil and stone with the patience of ancient trees. Their instinct is to step back from conflict, to absorb rather than strike, making them the guardians of wilderness rather than its conquerors. A Firbolg's size belies their grace - they move through forests with surprising silence, their massive frames seeming to slide between trees rather than displace them. They build no permanent settlements, instead moving seasonally with the rhythms of the land. Firbolgs measure time not in years but in growth cycles of the forests they tend, and they understand themselves not as separate from nature but as expressions of it, no more individual than a single leaf on a tree that spans centuries. To harm nature around a Firbolg is to invite a response that is both measured and implacable - they do not rage, they simply remove the threat with the certainty of erosion wearing down stone.
Hawkbear
Hawkbears are imposing hybrids and tropical-forest inhabitants, commonly found in dense jungles. They have a bear's dense frame and head, with a hawk's hooked beak and piercing, predatory eyes. Loose folds of skin stretch from wrist to ankle, allowing them to glide from tree to tree, across open air, and even through outer space. They are also great jumpers, able to launch themselves from the forest floor or a high branch with startling force.
Ogre
Towering and muscular, Ogres channel their immense strength through direct action and brutal efficiency in combat. They are not subtle, preferring to meet challenges head-on with the same straightforward clarity they bring to all aspects of life. Ogres build societies around strength, respect, and honor earned through deeds rather than words - a culture where what you do matters far more than what you claim.
Troll
The Common Troll is a highly adaptable and versatile race, known for their exceptional resilience and resourcefulness. They possess a sturdy build with thick, leathery skin that provides natural protection.
| Bridge Troll - Kinborn | Riddle-wise Traits +2 Wit +1 Deceit Aka City Troll. Prefers cramped dark; edgy in open spaces. Full Kin Card |
| Mountain Troll - Kinborn | Sure-footed climber Traits +2 Toughness +1 Warded. Scales cliffs with ease; poor at diplomacy. Full Kin Card |
| Sand Troll - Kinborn | Dune walker Traits +2 Constitution, +1 Deceit Desert master; sluggish in cold. Full Kin Card |
| Village Troll - Kinborn | Community guardian chose civilization over solitary instincts; protective and dedicated. Full Kin Card |
Standard Sized Races
Standard-sized races stand between 5 to 7 feet tall, offering a versatile and balanced physique suitable for a wide range of roles and Abilities.
Base Life: 50 | Base Mana: 32 | Base Stamina: 32 | Base Endurance: 35 | Base Speed: 30 ft. | Base Carry: 100 lbs | Size Bonus: None | Size Penalty: None
Standard races are the most balanced of the three size tiers, equal Mana and Stamina pools with no size-LVL strengths or weaknesses. What they lack in extremes they make up for in flexibility. Endurance is shared across all sizes at 30 and resets daily. Each race within this tier has its own Innate Traits, Aptitude and Inaptitude, Favored Class Trees, companion affinities, Profession bonuses, Talent Tree preferences, and lifespan. These stack on top of the size base above.
Caelen
Remade by Omnè Astral experimentation, Caelen are cyborg beings of precision and calculation. They run on machine logic where flesh once guided them, and do not tire or forget. The Caelen were taken prisoner by the Omné Astral from their home planet, Corpus Caeleste. Large in comparison to other standard sized races, and although intelligent , the Astral in sheer numbers was too much for them to bear. Used as experiments, the Astral grafted their bodies with sockets they later added attachments to. The Omné didn't want to practice this technique on their own people, but “criminals” of Omnè descent also underwent these experiments. The project, called “Bioforge Phase I: Commencing” never made it to Phase 2 because the Caelen became too strong, revolted and made their way back home where they themselves continued, not grafting, but engineering powerful attachments as their weapons and armor. Count in another strong enemy for the Omné Astral.
Drâco Blood
Dragon-blooded humans carrying lineage from one of six ancient bloodlines, chosen at character creation. Draco Blood characters bear innate charisma and draconic resilience, capable of wielding powerful draconic magic. Their bloodline determines their Elemental Aptitude and Favored Classes.
| Red Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Fire-blooded Weak to ice. Full Line Card |
| Blue Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Ice-blooded Weak to fire. Full Line Card |
| Black Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Shadow-blooded Weak to lightning. Full Line Card |
| White Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Arcane-blooded Weak to shadow. Full Line Card |
| Green Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Poison-blooded Weak to Nature. Full Line Card |
| Gold Draco - Bloodline | Bloodline Magic Nature-blooded Weak to poison. Full Line Card |
Dwarf
Sturdy and resilient, Common Dwarves are known for their craftsmanship, endurance, and hearty nature. They thrive in mountain halls and underground cities, with a mastery of forging, stonework, and deep-earth navigation. Their tough physiques and unwavering determination make them formidable allies and resilient foes.
| Arctic Dwarf - Kinborn | Frost-hardened; Trait +2 Constitution, +1 Warded | Immune to frostbite; wilt in heat. Full Kin Card |
| Ash Dwarf - Kinborn | Forge-born; Trait +2 Warded, +1 Strength | Heat resistant; sluggish in cold and damp. Full Kin Card |
| Red Dwarf - Kinborn | Fire alchemist; Fire magic and jewel crafting master; manipulates fire and its elements. Full Kin Card |
Elf
Graceful and long-lived forest dwellers skilled in archery and nature magic, Elves dwell in harmony with their woodland homes. The Firstborn Elves carry the First Tongue, the oldest form of Elven speech, and the knowledge bound into ancient work and magic. Of distant Fae lineage, descended from Tenue through the Veilwood into Zailister, they carry magic in their blood and immortality in their souls. Elves measure time differently than shorter-lived races, viewing centuries as chapters in an endless story.
| Arch Elf - Kinborn | Eldest line of Elves; Trait +2 Wit, +1 Piety | First Tongue; reads ancient work and magic; distrusts recent methods. Full Kin Card |
| High Elf - Kinborn | Descendants of Arch Elves; versatile spellcasters with deep memory. Trait +2 Agility, +1 Wit | Unfading Memory. Full Kin Card |
| Drow - Kinborn | Dark-dweller; Trait +2 Agility, +1 Wit | Dark Vision, immortal Full Kin Card |
| Vila - Kinborn | Wind-dancer of high meadows; Trait +3 Agility, +1 Intuition | Windstep, immortal. Full Kin Card |
| Haugfolk - Kinborn | Mound-dweller; Trait +2 Toughness, +1 Knowledge | Mound-Hidden, immortal. Full Kin Card |
Gnoll
Gnolls live and fight as a pack first, individual second - a lone Gnoll is rare and a melancholy one is rarer still. Tribal hierarchy is settled through strength and is rarely questioned once decided; advancement means proving yourself capable in front of witnesses. Gnolls bond fiercely with their pack kin, and loyalty to the group overrides most personal considerations.
Human
The most versatile of all races, humans are natural communicators, traders, and survivors. Their adaptability has allowed them to establish cultures across every corner of Essentia, with no separate sub-races - every human shares the same base Traits and Stats. Humans are found in every corner of the world, from the frozen wastes of Glaciera to the sun-baked deserts of distant lands. Their greatest strength lies not in any single trait, but in their capacity to learn, adapt, and thrive in conditions that would break other races. A human raised among the Omnè commands technology; a human raised Nordian masters cold and endurance; a human raised among the Fae learns magic as if born to it. Culture makes the human, and humans have proven capable of mastering any culture they choose.
Imperial
Humans carrying the lineage of six ancient Bloodlines. Frail and charismatic, Imperials shift their natural coloring at will, a tell-tale sign of their psychic nature. They weave mind-magic where martial combat fails, bending thought and will rather than steel and strength, making them masters of intrigue and mental discipline. Every Bloodline shares the same Imperial Traits, base statistics, and Innate Abilities; the difference is cultural.
| Crimson Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient Maya-inspired calendar cities Rain, maize, astronomy, civic duty Culture |
| Onyx Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient Mesopotamian omen and threshold rites Night observatories, ancestor tablets Culture |
| Citrine Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient steppe-inspired horse clans Sky, ancestors, mobility, oath alliances Culture |
| Violet Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient Greek and Hellenistic civic culture Rhetoric, theater, geometry, philosophy Culture |
| Azure Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient Egyptian scribal and temple culture Order, records, surveying, medicine Culture |
| Verdant Imperial - Bloodline | Ancient Persian garden and road culture Waterworks, healing, stewardship, reciprocity Culture |
Neandereti
Arctic cryptids of standard size but unusual height, Neandereti average 6'5" to 7' and carry white fur across their bodies. The fur grows back rapidly when cut, thickest along the back and very short on the front. Their unusually large heads bear scurs that barely push through the skin, and their human-like teeth hide a bite strong enough to crush bone.
Orcus
Subterranean dwellers of the Tantalizing Mountains cursed by broken oaths ages past. Pale and sunken-skinned, they navigate pitch-black caverns by stone-sense and carry an ancient hatred for bards and false-speakers. The curse that marks them is woven into their very being - an Orcus cannot lie without suffering physical agony, and they extend this same truth-hunger to all around them, despising deception in any form. This ancient curse transformed them from surface-dwelling people into stone-masters and deep-dwellers, adapted over generations to thrive in darkness where no other race can see. An Orcus speaks with deliberate slowness, each word weighted, and they build their societies on codes of honor and binding oath. To break an oath as an Orcus is to invite ruin, not just socially but spiritually - the curse deepens.
Sylvan
Sylvan Elves live deep in the wild, conversing with the forest itself and sensing animal moods and warnings, though they grow restless and duller away from open sky. A Sylvan's connection to nature runs deeper than speech. They communicate with the forest through what amounts to a continuous conversation at the edge of consciousness. They read the world through the trembling of leaves, the movement of earth, and the chemical language of pollen and spore. A Sylvan removed from natural settings begins to fade, becoming listless and disconnected, their senses growing dull without the constant input of the wild. They build no permanent homes, moving with the seasons and the rhythms of the forest, understanding themselves as expressions of the forest.
Small Size Races
Small races are typically between 3 to 5 feet tall, characterized by their agility, stealth, and dexterity, making them excellent at sneaking and navigating tight spaces.
Base Life: 40 | Base Mana: 40 | Base Stamina: 24 | Base Endurance: 35 | Base Speed: 25 ft. | Base Carry: 50 lbs | Size Bonus: +1 Agility, +1 Defense | Size Penalty: -1 Strength, -1 Toughness
Quicker Feet: Small races move at 25 ft. base speed and can change direction at every 5 ft. square without penalty, cutting corners, reversing course mid-stride, and slipping through gaps in ways larger bodies simply can't follow. When a Small race is on the move, predicting where they're going is half the problem.
Small races have the highest Mana pool of any size tier and are the quickest on their feet thanks to Quicker Feet. Their Stamina is lower than Goliath and Standard, and their Life is the lowest, they are not built for prolonged physical punishment. Each race within this tier has its own Innate Traits, Aptitude and Inaptitude, Favored Class Trees, companion affinities, Profession bonuses, Talent Tree preferences, and lifespan. These stack on top of the size base above.
Brownling
Charming smallfolk descended from Halfling and Brownie Fae bloodlines, bearing pointed ears and a subtle luminescence to their skin. They master the magic of home and hearth, moving silently through domestic spaces with an artist's touch. Brownlings are naturally reclusive, building hidden homes among human settlements where few notice their presence or their craft.
Dwarf (Glimmerstone)
Master treasure-hunters of mixed dwarf and Fae descent, blessed with keen senses that lead them to gems and enchanted materials others miss. Naturally charming and calculating, they are driven by insatiable greed tempered with silver-tongued cunning and an unexpected flair for diplomacy. A Glimmerstone dwarf talks their way out of as much trouble as they talk themselves into.
Gnome
Mole-like burrowers with wrinkled faces and light-sensitive eyes, driven by an almost obsessive need to tinker with locks, contraptions, and broken mechanisms. They are masters of engineering and can converse with plants and animals through patient observation and careful attention. Gnomes are rarely subtle in conversation, preferring direct speech and quick laughter to social grace.
Goblorc
Goblorcs blend goblin cunning with Orcus physicality, creating a culture where intelligence rivals strength. They build war camps and settlements around collective strategy, where the cleverest individual holds authority. In a goblorc warband, a quick mind opens more doors than a thick skull, and tactical brilliance earns the highest respect.
Goblorc accounts open at a camp neither parent line will claim. Nothing before that camp is kept, and every Goblorc camp since has been raised as a rebuttal to the two lines that produced it.
A Goblorc can read a battlefield or building layout in moments, instinctively spotting where a trap, ambush, or shortcut would work best. That cleverness rarely earns trust from either side of their bloodline, leaving most Goblorcs without a clear place in either society's hierarchy.
Native Planet
Zailister
Cultural Armaments
Goblorc war-camp armament shows both sides of the bloodline: Orcus bulk assembled to a goblin's plan, scavenged, cleverly refitted, and better than it has any right to be. Telluric by salvage, whatever Variant the parts began as.
Spirit & Apex
Spirit Start 3 (+1 growth) | Apex Start 7 (+1 growth)
Innate Traits
+2 Deceit, +1 Knowledge | -2 Courage, -2 Charisma
ATTR Floor
ART 2, WIS 1
Aptitude
Tactical Eye: reads a battlefield or building layout in moments, spotting where a trap, ambush, or shortcut would work best; +2 to Tactician-style planning rolls.
Inaptitude
-2 to social rolls with both Goblins and Orcus; a Goblorc's cleverness rarely earns trust from either side of their bloodline.
Lifespan: ~80 years (Mortal)
Starting Age: 20 | Retirement Age: 60 (see Time, pg. 4)
Favorite Main Classes Tree Abilities
Strategist +4; Witch +5.
Favored Companions and Variants
Guardian, a Small companion that fights alongside a Goblorc in the war camp; Pet, a Tiny companion that scouts layouts before a raid. Both bond in half the time with 25% reduced upkeep.
Halfling
Halflings build communities around comfort, craft, and careful living, their burrows and villages designed to remain unseen by those who pass by. They carry an uncanny luck, a knack for finding advantage in small moments, and they value hearth, hospitality, and long tables laden with food. Halflings rarely seek danger, but when drawn into it, they prove surprisingly resilient.
Helf
Adaptable hybrids inheriting traits from both human and elf bloodlines, Helfs read people and cultures with uncanny skill, straddling two worlds. They carry human versatility and elf grace in equal measure, often finding themselves caught between two identities. This displacement breeds perspective and empathy. Helfs understand both the urgency of humans and the patience of elves.
Hobbling
Hobblings are a distinct Firstborn race shaped by two strong traditions: the close community, nerve, and practical cunning associated with Halflings, and the discipline, formation training, and martial coordination associated with Hobgoblins. They are not a Halfling Kinborn or a Hobgoblin offshoot; their body, Native Abilities, and culture are their own.
Hobblings train from childhood to fight in perfect coordination with allies. They move with practiced economy and strike with calculated precision, building communities around collective strategy and mutual defense. A Hobbling warband operates like a single organism, with each member anticipating the others' moves before they happen.
Hobbling accounts are drills before they are stories, kept as movements rather than names and passed on by being performed until they hold. Their forebears concluded that people too small to be feared and too few to be spared had one remaining option: move as one thing.
A Hobbling moves and strikes with economy other races spend years drilling for, slipping past a guard's reach and landing a hit in the same motion before vanishing back out of range. Without allies to fight alongside, or when facing a problem that is not solved by combat, a Hobbling is often at a genuine loss.
Native Planet
Zailister
Cultural Armaments
Hobbling gear is issued rather than chosen, matched across the unit and made for fighting shoulder to shoulder: hobgoblin discipline in a Halfling frame. Telluric and issued to pattern, matched across the unit rather than to the wearer.
Innate Traits
+2 Agility, +1 Dexterity | -2 Strength, -2 Charisma, -1 Intuition
ATTR Floor
ART 1, PHY 2
Aptitude
Drilled Coordination: strikes and withdraws in a single fluid motion alongside allies; +2 to combat rolls made while fighting in coordination with at least one ally.
Inaptitude
-2 to all rolls made when fighting alone or facing a problem that is not solved by combat.
Lifespan: ~80 years (Mortal)
Starting Age: 20 | Retirement Age: 60 (see Time, pg. 4)
Favorite Main Classes Tree Abilities
Fighter +4.
Favored Companions and Variants
Fellowship, a Small humanoid companion that fights in coordination alongside a Hobbling; Pet, a Tiny companion that keeps a Hobbling steady between fights. Both bond in half the time with 25% reduced upkeep.
Miceling
Micelings are natural contortionists, their small frames capable of folding through gaps and crawlspaces no bigger than a fist, moving through spaces where even other Small races cannot follow. With sharp senses underground and an uncanny knack for finding their way through mazes and ruins, Micelings are masters of navigation in tight spaces. They build networks of tunnels and hidden passages beneath settlements, observing the world from gaps between walls and floorboards. Though small and unassuming, Micelings possess fierce courage when cornered, and they form tight communities in underground networks. They move silently and leave no trace of their passage - a Miceling is less an invader of spaces and more an additional inhabitant no one notices until they want to be found.
Pinkling
Pinklings are unmistakable for their distinctive dusty-rose skin tone and their reputation for trickery and con artistry that has made them simultaneously famous and infamous across multiple continents. Quick with silver tongues and quicker with excuses, Pinklings excel at deceiving their marks convincingly. But word travels fast when caught, and a Pinkling's reputation precedes them - some doors close the moment their distinctive hue is recognized. They carry no shame in this, viewing life as a series of schemes to be enjoyed, refined, and shared. Pinklings are despised by Halflings for their mannerisms, but don't pay much thought of it as a reclusive face that keeps to themselves. They're great rogues and thieves, intelligent, dexterous and have extremely keen senses and intuition.
They build loose communities held together by gossip and shared humor rather than loyalty, laughing at the rules others take seriously.
Ratkin
Ratkin are back-stabbers both literal and figurative - a reputation earned through centuries of theft, sabotage, and midnight betrayals that have become legendary across every culture. With eyes that see clearly in absolute darkness and the ability to move through sewers and crypts with practiced ease, Ratkin navigate the underbelly of civilization like fish through water. They earn deep distrust everywhere they go, and they wear that distrust like armor, trusting no one and expecting loyalty from no one but their own immediate family. Ratkin societies operate through complex networks of debt, obligation, and carefully tracked betrayals; they remember every slight and plan revenge with the patience of creatures who can wait decades for the perfect moment. A Ratkin speaks quick and thinks quicker, always plotting several moves ahead. They build no permanent cities, instead moving constantly through underground networks, leaving traps and false trails to confuse pursuers. To a Ratkin, survival means staying ahead of everyone else's blade.
Snow Dwarf
Snow Dwarves carved their halls into icy peaks in the world's frozen reaches, their culture built on raw endurance and survival rather than refinement. Built lean and sinewy despite their dwarven heritage, Snow Dwarves are able to march through blizzard conditions that would exhaust other races, their bodies adapted over generations to thrive where permanence seems impossible. They are capable of tracking prey across blank ice fields by reading infinitesimal marks and temperature shifts others cannot detect. Magic and fine craft never took root among them as they did with their mountain cousins; instead, Snow Dwarves focus on bone-craft, hide-work, and the arts of survival - practical knowledge that keeps a people alive when the world itself turns hostile. They build their settlements in caves within glaciers, structures that flow and reform with the ice, treating the glaciers themselves as living architecture. A Snow Dwarf measures status not by gold or craft but by the number of seasons survived and the wisdom earned through hardship.
Wood Elf
Wood Elves keep to the deep canopy and undergrowth, moving silently through brush and vanishing seamlessly into foliage. They are creatures of the forest - its rhythms, its movements, its hidden paths - making them nearly invisible in wild terrain. However, their mastery falters in open ground and cities where there is nowhere to hide and no forest to speak through.
Yawnie
Yawnies move and speak slowly but settle into absolute stillness for hours, becoming nearly impossible to spot, though they cannot move faster than a walk under any circumstance. A Yawnie's body operates at a different temporal frequency than the rest of the world - they experience time as something fluid and negotiable. What feels like hours to a Yawnie passes as moments to others, and they see the hurried rushing of faster races as a form of frantic desperation. When a Yawnie goes still, they become part of the landscape itself, not through magic but through a kind of profound patience that transcends ordinary hiding. They build no permanent settlements because they view permanence as an illusion; a Yawnie simply waits in one place until they decide to move to another, their needs minimal, their schedule tied to seasons and celestial cycles rather than clocks.
Races from Afar
The following playable races originate from worlds beyond Zailister, each bringing their own unique traditions, physiology, and culture shaped by alien environments and distant histories.
From Ignis
Emberscale
Cold-blooded reptilian humanoids native to Ignis, their scaled hide drinks heat for strength and resilience. Tall and broad-shouldered with amber eyes, they live scattered among Ignis's fire elementals and golems. Emberscales are born to fire and cannot truly thrive away from it; prolonged exposure to cold weakens them, dulls their senses, and eventually puts them into a hibernative torpor. But in the presence of heat and flame, they become something else entirely - faster, sharper, more alive than any other race. They build no permanent cities as other races do; instead they follow the volcanic activity across Ignis, treating the planet's constant geological activity as both home and sustenance. An Emberscale speaks few words but with absolute certainty, their culture built on observation and patience rather than quick speech.
Primal
A prehistoric tribal people from Ignis who never adopted metal tools or written language, relying on stone, bone, and instinct. Tall and lean with ash-grayed hair and sacred tattoos, they read omens in fire elemental movements. The Primal are the oldest continuous culture on Ignis, predating even the Emberscales, and they have deliberately chosen to remain unchanged through countless ages. They live in complete harmony with Ignis's volatile climate, reading the movements of lava flows and fire elementals as other races read written words. A Primal knows their place in the world through ritual and song, through ancestral memory passed down on unbroken chain since the world's beginning. They view civilization and written language not as progress but as forgetting - a loss of the direct communion with fire and stone that their ancestors mastered. To meet a Primal is to meet someone who belongs to a world far older than your own.
From Tredeki
Leshy
Massive, emerald-eyed beings from Tredeki's frontiers with bark-textured hide and vine-entwined hair-crests. They govern themselves under a strict tribal code of wilderness supremacy, measuring status by survival rather than lineage. Leshy are slow to move but nearly immovable once rooted; they draw sustenance directly from soil and can remain still for seasons if necessary. They see themselves as extensions of Tredeki's wilderness rather than inhabitants of it, and they respond to threats against nature with violence that is both methodical and overwhelming. A Leshy speaks rarely and only with purpose, viewing unnecessary words as a form of wastefulness. They build no structures of stone or metal, only woven shelters that dissolve back into the forest when abandoned, leaving no scar on the land they protect.
Skrath
Wiry reptilian pack-hunters native to Tredeki's frontiers, with rapid cellular regeneration that closes wounds in minutes. They live fast and violent lives with no formal hierarchy, leadership earned and lost in moments of combat. Skrath think in packs, not individuals - a lone Skrath is incomplete, restless, dangerous. They communicate through a combination of hisses, clicks, and pheromones that no other race can fully decode, and they have no written language because they see no need for what can be felt and lived. A Skrath's lifespan is shorter than most races, but they burn brighter - they experience passion, hunger, and joy with an intensity that exhausts outsiders. Their regeneration means wounds that would cripple another race are merely inconveniences, and they build a culture where risk-taking and combat prowess define worth. Skrath has no concept of holding grudges; once a conflict is decided, it is finished.
From Omné
Drevane
Original inhabitants of Omné, adapted over generations to thrive in its toxic atmosphere. Thick-skinned watchers and keepers, they sense environmental hazards without rolling and distrust both machinery and artificial structures. A Drevane's physiology is attuned to poisons and toxins that would kill other races; they have learned to read the chemical composition of air and water through senses others lack entirely. They view the Omnè technological ascendance with philosophical resignation - understanding that not all peoples must follow the same path, that some cultures choose different roads. Drevane have a natural affinity for stone and earth, and they often serve as guides through Omné's most hazardous regions, their presence alone proof that survival is possible where others see only death.
Omnè
Ancient human civilization from planet Omné, developed entirely through technology without magic, now driven to Zailister by their dying star Tawdry Dwarf. Omnè solve problems with hard data and advanced engineering, requiring sealed pressure suits outside their habitats. The Omnè were the first civilization to achieve interplanetary travel, the first to unlock the secrets of atomic structure, and they remain the masters of technological innovation across multiple worlds. But their mastery of technology came at a cost - they abandoned magic entirely, viewing it as a regression rather than a different path. To an Omnè, magic is statistical noise, probability made manifest through will rather than through understood physical law. An Omnè outside their pressure suit is vulnerable in ways they find deeply uncomfortable; they prefer the clarity of sealed environments where variables can be controlled and predicted.
From Hexagonum
Ossein
The Ossein died and kept going, and they will tell you the second part is the only part that matters. From Hexagonum, they are not wraiths but undead beings with skin drawn tight to bone that never rotted, drawing power from their unending existence. An Ossein does not age, does not sicken, does not tire - but neither do they feel warmth or taste food or experience pleasure in the ways the living do. They are locked in perfect remembrance of the moment of their death, able to access memories with crystalline clarity but forever isolated from the living by the simple fact of their undeath. Ossein culture revolves around mastery and persistence; they measure worth in centuries of unbroken focus. They view the living with something between pity and envy, understanding that mortality forces meaning but also forces an ending they will never experience.
Forbidden Races
Essentia is walked by a great deal more than the playable roster. Forbidden races are peoples, war bodies, or powers that hold ground somewhere in the thirteen planets and are closed to Players. A Character is never built from one. They are listed here so a GM knows what is out there, and so a Player recognises what has just come over the ridge. These races do not receive full race cards - brief descriptions only. The following is drawn from the Tomes of Essentia book; Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia.
A people that marshals for war fields, and are participants of the ongoing war between the Noble Forces and Lorge. These races are usually Crown bearing and must fight to not only keep their Crowns, but destroy those of their adversaries. Hell Orcs, Elite Ogres, and Burrowing Gnomes, Fiendish Undead are just a few of these Legions at war.
Notable Races - Forbidden
1. Forsworn
…
2. Nefertari
3. Legendary Scions
Mythical and neutral powers of Zailister, standing outside the crowns.
4. Dragons. Their blood runs in the Draco Blood. They themselves are not played.
5. Necrotic Wraiths. Undead of Zailister, counted among the mythical rather than the risen.
6. Darklings Part Drow and part Halfling.
7. Burrowing Gnomes…
8. Hell Orcs…
9. Arctic Orcs…
10. Elite Ogres…
11. Fiendish Undead…
12. Fire Golems. Native to Glacies et Ignis, wandering its ash fields alongside the Emberscale and the Primal.
13. Aberrations
Ghosts and spiritual entities. The population of Corpus Caeleste that the Caelen share their world with.
14. Vanwa…
15. Varanis. This race shares the name of the larger of two moons rotating Omnè Mallum. They share their native moon with other wild life native to the moon and the Omné Cabal militia (a militia that escaped the torment of the Omnè Astral) holding what ground the Astral hasn't built on.
16. Krakus. Natives of Omnè’s second moon, also trying to hold off the Omnè Astral mining excavation forces.
17. Futurem. The Futurem are technocratic people of the eleventh planet, Undeximus. Allied with the Tredeki (below) and at war with the Omné. Although part Human, they are a distinct race with their own governance.
18. Tredeki. These people are the most formidable of all others inhabiting the thirteenth planet, Tredeki. Tredeki are tech masterminds and exceptional hunters. Although part Human, they are a distinct race with their own governance.
19. Ancient Drow
More races will be revealed as campaigns delve deeper into Essentia's histories, uncovered through Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia, The Book of Zailister, The Book of Ignis, The Book of Omnè, Tawdry Dwarf & Beyond, and other chronicles that can be browsed online at: