Elemental Races

[garrowolf]

Ok I'm working on the creatures and races for my Nexus game. I have several races being created by the Fey, sort of as experiments. I am also working on elemental races. This would include Dwarves (Earth benders), Jotunn (masters of various elements), Gnomes (metal workers), Fire Giants, Storm Giants, Salamari (fire and shadow masters), Trolls as children of the Giants, Dragonkin of various types each dedicated to an element, etc.
Basically either a single world or several worlds where the magics are mostly based on Elemental Magic (similar to elemental bending from Avatar the Last Airbender show).
There would also be Summer and Winter court fey on this world. The Dwarves fight with the Winter Court. Some Jotunn and Giants work with the Summer or the Winter Court or act alone. But they all fight against Chaos servants and Demons.

Now the question I have is the place for Dragons in this world. Basically the Dragonkin and Salamari worship them as Gods. I'm trying to figure out how they figure in with the Jotun and Giants. Are they allies, enemies, creations or servants of each other? How do they fit together? I can't remember any myths of them interacting at all in old Norse myths.

Any ideas?

btw: Are my questions to this forum interesting enough?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Dragons...should be independent. Regardless of their origins, their nature would make them chose their own way. They are powerful, egotistical, masters of magic and physical strength. They have cunning. Their long lifespans let them consider deep and lengthy strategies, but their tempers can make them mercurial.

As such dealings with dragons are always fraught with danger...be you demon or demigod.






And yes, your questions tend to be interesting...so keep it up!

 

[garrowolf]

What I am thinking so far is that you have Jotens/Titans that represent primal elemental change, the level of change of the Seasons favored by the Seelie, and then the level of change/order of civilization. Outside of that you have the Chaos Gods. Each one of the different levels of order would be against the Chaos Gods but then they would also be somewhat against each other. The conflict and resolution of the opposition of the primal elements versus civilization are reflected in the Titans versus the Gods in Greek. In the Norse you have all three represented in Jotens/Vanir/Aesir.

(I really need better terms then Chaos/Order. )

Anyway I see the Dragons as coming from the Primal group but functioning in both of the other groups in a way. I see the independence of their nature even coming out of this.

So would the Dragons be a creation of something else?

I've got minor Dragons that can be trained as mounts and Major Dragons that are intelligent and elementally aligned (as opposed to metallic).

I was thinking about the old stories about Dragons being creations of Wizards. Maybe instead of being ancient (or some could be ancient) they started from being natural minor dragons and some ancient and powerful wizards used Transmutation on them to create allies against the Chaos Gods.

Actually I just got a better idea! What if the Major Dragons are actually ancient Wizards! What if they use transmutation in order to create a better body for themselves. Then they transfer their minds and powers into that new body. Basically a positive version of a Lich! That would make each Dragon unique and very skilled to start with. They could have created the various Dragonkin as a part of their Transmutation experiments. Basically they learned it from the Seelie but went in a different direction with it!

 

[jefgorbach]

Always figured dragons were a natural development from the prehistoric archosaurs as an alterative to the crocodile branch. Ancient wizards infused these early non-magical lizards with their characteristic breath weapons, flight, and size; only the rare Familiar was sentient. Initial sterility was eventually overcome to eliminate the need to enchant each base creature independently; with unforeseen results - for the once domesticated base dragon species turned feral and thrived, spreading across the globe once that now long-forgotten empire fell.

Eventually elves arose and re-domesticated these feral dragons in similar fashion, significantly lengthening the lifespan through careful breeding and perhaps even arcane transfusion/transmutations seeking life-long companions; again with only the rare Familiar being truly sentient. History doesn’t record what Archmage Io intended when he began attempts to breed his familiar, but the result was the first line of sentient dragons. Dragons who willingly accepted their role of companion, partner, and centuries later willingly fought alongside their elven companions during the prehistoric Dwarven-Elf War. However as the war’s atrocities grew, so did the Elven need for larger more combat-oriented battlemounts and thus were the first chromatic breeds developed. Afterwards, many survivors (suffering posttraumatic stress disorders?) chafing at domestication and peaceful endeavors, went rogue to carve out their own isolated realms. Breeding true, these rogues gave rise to the scattered draconic settlements which gradually unified into the Draconic Empire that enslaved their ancestral masters for generations until the Draco-Giant War decimated both empires, releasing small groups of survivors to repopulate the wilderness to eventually establish the ancient forerunners to the modern nations.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Actually I just got a better idea! What if the Major Dragons are actually ancient Wizards! What if they use transmutation in order to create a better body for themselves. Then they transfer their minds and powers into that new body. Basically a positive version of a Lich! That would make each Dragon unique and very skilled to start with. They could have created the various Dragonkin as a part of their Transmutation experiments. Basically they learned it from the Seelie but went in a different direction with it!

See Dark Sun- that's essentially parallel to what they did in that setting. The Dragon-Kings were casters who had been transformed by the energies they controlled into the massive reptilian casters that ruled the world.

Also see Frank Herbert's Dune. As I recall, Sandworms- at least certain ones- are the end result of super-consumption of spice and a few other tricks to start the metamorphosis.

 

[garrowolf]

Ok so now I need a Water Race. I am trying to figure out something that would not isolate itself too much, such as Merfolk. I want something that can interact in the cities of others but can master water magic. I don't want them to be just some frog men like Murlocs. I want something interesting. I was thinking about them having a culture like the Phoenicians.

Any Ideas?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Is there a particular reason you don't want them to be isolationist or xenophobic? The reason I ask is that a water race (or races) could be enigmatic and known to exist only by interactions with certain unusual individuals.

As for ideas?

1. A civilization of cetacians, probably nomadic. Beyond their whalesong or clicks & whistles, some of them also speak the languages of the other races. See the dolphins from David Brin's Uplift novels.
2. A race of sentient sea-turtles. Long lived wanderers...with a touch of TMNT, perhaps?
3. Sentient Otters. They're already clever and gregarious- make them sentient and have fun. Aqua-Kender!
4. A race of sentient molluscs: octopi, squids, cuttlefish are all quite smart already...just give them a boost. Bonuses: they can change colors to match their environments and most have a poisonous bite.
5. Aquatic Fey who have attributes from a variety of marine creatures: chromatophores to change colors; nematocysts to deliver venomous stings; actual spines (poisoned or not)- check out the Aquatic database link in my sig.
6. Feed your furry fetish with Selkies, shape-changing seal-men. Or if you want something more dangerous, give them a touch of lycanthropy and make the sea lions into "sea werewolves."

 

[garrowolf]

Well I don't have a problem with a mystery race or two or twenty but I need a basic race for people to play if they want to.
Previous to reading this I had actually figured out the Water Races. You can see what I have so far on my site but I will fill in some more mystery races later on.
The difficulty is that I am trying to get this to work for multiple worlds. While the descriptions will mainly focus on one setting or another, I want a GM to be able to construct a setting or use one of several settings and get started in a game quickly. One race may be the only sentient race in that world or there could be a huge number of sentients in a world. It just depends on what the GM needs. I am trying to come up with interesting races or takes on races that is unique but that can also be used in any one of a hundred different worlds.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ah, you want a playable Water race.

Your best bet is some kind of shapeshifter or hybrid. They're common in mythology- you can find otters, scaly fish, swans, seals, sharks and other aquatic shapeshifter races in standard mythology, not to mention things like merfolk or devotees of certain beings in the Mythos. And most aquatic shapeshifters are not as "tough" as landlubbing lycanthropes. For most, they're as mortal as any other intelligent creature- no need for silver harpoons or anything- and some can't even access their aquatic abilities if they've had their skin stolen, lost an amulet or some such.

 

[garrowolf]

eewww skin stolen brings up all kinds of bad images!