Species

Overview
This page pertains to the **sentient species** which inhabit the Infinite Plane in the Counter Calamity era.

For information about wildlife, see [Flora & Fauna].

Ancestries of Old
These species can trace their origins to pre-Calamity times and came into being through natural evolution.

Angler
Anglers are an aquatic species almost as varied in appearance amongst themselves as changelings can be, though a fair bit more recognizable as a unique species. The most common association would probably be merpeople, since many common races have a largely humanoid torso with a long tail, but there also exist vaguely amphibious sorts on occasion. For the most part, anglers are suited to deeper waters than Polyps, and more likely to be adjusted to low-light, cold conditions.

Angler names translate into Latin much like light-eater names do, and the "first" names are actually their family names. Their "given" names come second, and are never capitalized. Occasionally, the "first" name is abbreviated by only the first letter. Basically: the Binomial naming system.

Brujavieja
Brujaviejas are faceless beings with a natural predisposition towards extrospective magic. Born with the ability to empathically and telepathically communicate with others, they find silent joy in one another's company. Brujaviejas do not have faces and can not lie; instead, they have "ink blots" of sorts— in reality the retina of their face-wide, glass-like eyes— which tend to shift in response to emotional stimulus. Underneath the skin, Brujaviejas are full of tentacles. They are, admittedly, occasionally seen as pretty off-putting.

Brujavieja names generally take the form of titles, though they aren't given with the expectation that an individual will take on that title in life.

Cardioid
A trifecta of subspecies who all have "cores" they base their forms around. Amorphs, who have no definitive form, normandies, who are built around "sky" cores, and smokestacks, who are built around "earth" cores. Normandies are born in the clouds, smokestacks are risen from the depths of volcanoes, and amorphs take shape by pure happenstance in the gas giants and clouds which dot the solar systems— though most notably, they take shape near habitable planets, and not in the vacuum of space.

Normandies tend to have names which refer to weather conditions. Smokestacks receive given names which consist of two hyphenated nouns and family names which are just onomatopoeia. Amorph names are randomly generated strings of characters with the occasional apostrophe thrown in.

Changeling
At birth, changelings closely resemble humans, but in youth they undergo a period of rapid evolution in order to adopt qualities suited to their surroundings and diet in unique and sometimes unpredictable ways. Because of their adaptive nature, changelings are among the most diverse species in the solar system, though tradition has led to many families of changelings modeling their forms after certain animals. Changelings, as you may have guessed, have a natural talent for shapeshifting, and it's very common for changelings to have at least 3 forms which they're comfortable cycling through.

Changeling names can be just about anything. Often they're phrases, and they commonly receive nicknames that make absolutely no sense to most people. Within a given family of Changelings, the names sometimes follow a certain theme, though these themes can be nebulous.

Chariot
Chariots are a four-armed, partially exoskeletal with two skulls (one internal, one external) with lower halves that resemble the Tierran scorpions of old and naturally armored hands. Chariots tend to have a natural inclination towards an understanding of the earth— as in, the soil— and movement magic; some chariots are even born with the curious and natural ability to move as though through another state of matter, allowing them to do things like swim through the air or run along water.

Given names for Chariots tend to translate to adjectives. Family names translate to "of the [location/noun]". Family names can occasionally get very long. (See: Joyous of the Red Mountain Where All Fear To Tread.)

Craterhead
"Yes! I will try my best. These craterhead movies, ah .. The passion, the drama, the fighting!"

— Lieutenant Nova Scotia

Craterheads are a species with strong ties to the desert and its heat. Craterheads are so named for the "geysers" along their bodies from which they can expel excess heat in impressive blasts; craterheads are also known for their noticeable heights, impressive statures, gleaming teeth and inborn ability to spit acid. With a culture built around a love for combat and the pursuit of self-improvement, craterheads are some of the most boisterous folk in the systems, keen to find a worthy rival to challenge and build a future with.

Given names for craterheads tend to be nouns, much like their fellow desert-farers the nagas. Family names tend to be verb-based. Names tend to be punchy and impressive, much like craterheads themselves.

Florita
A loosely humanoid species with bodies composed of plant life; somewhat reclusive and occasionally regarded as inherently cowardly due to their instinct to mind their damn business. As you might expect, floritas tend to have a natural knack for life magic. As you might not expect, floritas also tend to have a natural knack for death magic, specifically when it comes to decomposing organic matter. Their heads tend to be chiefly foliage, and many take up sedentary lives, allowing themselves to root into the earth and chill out; floritas who do this tend to have some of the longest natural, non-magically altered lifespans.

For whatever reason, the names of floritas tend to translate into ancient Greek.

Human
You know these!

Human names have gotten somewhat less conventional over time, but they're still human names.

Light-eater
Light-eaters have multiple eyes and, occasionally, curious antennae. More importantly, extra mouths are scattered along these bipeds, and they can arrange their insides in order to choose a certain mouth as their "breathing" or "eating" mouth at any given point in time. Light-eaters can only breathe in an environment which is toxic to almost all other mortal species, barring cardioids, anglers, and polyps; as a result, travelling light-eaters are often seen wearing gas masks— that is, masks which produce toxic gas for them. Moreover, they have the curious ability to consume the light in a given area (which is where that name comes from, anyways).

They are a little scary, to some... And they are nocturnal and subterranean to boot.

Light-eater names tend to translate into simple Latin words.

Livewire
Livewires are a deeply magical species— so deeply magical, in fact, that their souls are partially exposed at all times in the "wires" they are named for. They tend to possess a natural talent for some sort of magic, though the type of magic is never quite consistent, and are one of the only species (alongside brujaviejas) to almost constantly use magic on instinct. As a result, livewires tend to be very noticeable presences, though their magical prowess comes with the drawback of physical vulnerability.

Livewires are also particularly good at undertaking more complex magical acts with as little effort as a mere glance. Also, their eyes are heart-shaped. This was important for you to know.

Livewires tend to have names which translate to the names of minerals. A family of livewires will often appear to have names from the same 'family' of minerals.

Naga
"Man, this is a real perk to being a naga. You can be comfy anywhere."

— Chervil Pacifica

Naga are a snakelike species able to shift between bipedal and serpentine forms at will. Bipedal forms tend to have very specific and instinctive scale patterns, the general shape of which can occasionally fluctuate when a naga is particularly energetic. Nagas are known for their pride, though contrary to popular belief this doesn't always just mean that they're assholes; though occasionally pretentious and often the type of person who will only ever call a movie a "film," the pride of nagas is in their own personal strengths, feelings, and loyalties. They are very passionate.

Naga given names tend to translate to nouns. Family names are a bit more complicated, but usually are related to or allude to adjectives or general feelings. Curiously, some naga have family names which translate to nouns; this is believed to be due to some historical gesture with the craterheads, but such history is long since lost.

Nightwalker
Nightwalkers are a bipedal, subterranean species most known for their bioluminescent patterns and strong, pointed tails. Nightwalkers are usually gifted climbers, and they tend to have eyes that are rather sensitive to light; forced to go out in the sun during the daytime, most nightwalkers will complain and squint and generally look pretty displeased about it all. Nightwalkers have a unique style of casting which involves at the very least the wind and at most a veritable orchestra of wind instruments; this style of casting can produce massive amounts of magical energy.

Nightwalker given names tend to translate to adjectives or words relating to them. Family names tend to be related to colors.

Polyp
Polyps are an aquatic-or-amphibious species. That is to say, most polyps commit to one or the other. A polyp who stays in the shell they were born in eventually grows a lower half which resembles a jellyfish and a "ruff" around the opening of the shell which resembles different growths along a coral reef; they also tend to form their own arms out of sea glass. A polyp who leaves their shell tends to grow an impressive tail, fun legs, and hands of their own, more closely resembling salamanders than their aquatic brethren. They are widely regarded as whimsical people, and tend to be cheerful; some speculate it's because their language is just fun to speak.

Polyps are not named at birth, and instead choose or make up names whenever they feel like it. Sometimes, polyps will receive interim nicknames; often those nicknames will be what they choose to go by anyways.

Torito
Toritos are a wildly varied people, some standing at 8'0" with cloven hoofs and six sets of horns which curl wildly, and some standing at 4'8" with suspiciously human-like legs and the two most harmless horns you ever did see. Most fall somewhere between those two extremes, and height doesn't correlate with the amount of horns a torito has. Constants within the species are their velvety skin, their tails, and their 2+ voice boxes— the latter of which helps them execute vocal magic, a technique they're somewhat famous for. Toritos are a deeply industrious species with some traditions from ancient times that have survived to this day.

Torito names can be very simple— just names people find pretty.

On the other hand, they can also be very complicated. At birth, a torito is usually given a name which translates to an emotion or a word relating to an emotion. When a torito grows older and assumes the lead position of their household— or starts a household of their own— more traditional toritos will take a different name. The name of the head of household becomes the family name for everyone else; this applies even when the head of household is married, since their name becomes indistinguishable from that of their partner when spoken aloud.

Winglighter
Winglighters are a historically laissez-faire species who approach magic as a negotiation more than anything else. Winglighters are most easily distinguished by the feathery "capes" they are born with, which become wings when wrapped around their long, talon-ended arms. Some winglighters— seraphic winglighters, are born with additional wings supplementing their capes, as well as multiple eyes; these winglighters typically have the sharpest teeth of their kind. For whatever reason, winglighters are the only species with an inborn sense of fortune, though not everyone believes in luck these days....

Winglighters tend to have given names which harken back to the mythical angels of Tierra, for some reason. Their family names almost always have something to do with light.

Newfangled Lifeforms
These species largely took shape after the calamity.

Android
Occasionally referred to as "golems", androids are artificially made beings who occasionally gain sentience outside of what their creators intended.

Monarch Dragon
The term "monarch dragon" denotes the sapient dragons of the Infinite Plane, a mysterious, elusive, and rare species which was only encountered after the Calamity. Though certainly capable of higher reasoning, monarch dragons don't tend to venture far into Habitable Space.

This following information is true, but not widely known in-universe. Monarch dragons are the souls corresponding to the bodies of reyes. In the wake of their deaths, many of them lost their memories, gradually reforming their bodies in accordance with a great and powerful hope in the universe— the desire that no one be truly lost.

As an unfortunate result of this, monarch dragons will occasionally go berserk when seeing their rey counterparts.

Hybrid
... Suffice to say, the "ancestries of old" got a bit familiar with each other. Hybrids are those individuals who can trace their genealogy back through two or more different species. Most often, hybrids phenotypically express their ancestries accordingly.

There are many types of hybrids. Okay?

Secondary Species
These aren't necessarily standalone species, but heritages which bring with them unique traits in and of themselves. You can consider these to be sort of 'modifiers.'

Chaos Figure
This information is not common knowledge. Chaos figures are individuals possessed of unique, infinite souls which typically grant them a number of odd traits and dangerous, uncontrollable abilities. They tend to take the shape of a mortal species, having formed naturally as a result of the people's desire to understand calamitous space. All are born unaware of their natures.

Demon
When someone acts against their own morals to such an extreme that they believe themselves monstrous, they become a monster— a demon. Demons tend to fall into either 'Sisyphean' or 'Faustian' categories, and exhibit different traits therein. In any case, the soul loses all luster.

This is more of a mental and spiritual ailment than it is a species, but since it changes people on a biological level, it's listed here.

Rey
Reyes are individuals discovered floating in the Infinite Plane. When awoken, a rey will likely have a smattering of common knowledge typical of their bodies age, but absolutely no memories to their name.

Reyes are known for their spectacular, star-speckled coloration— having adapted to the space they were found in— and their occasionally uncanny muscle memory or 'ghost' sensations. Experiencing a natural wanderlust, many reyes become voyagers or pathfinders.

This following information is true, but not widely known in-universe. Reyes are, in actuality, bodies which were magically preserved but ultimately abandoned during the Calamity. Their souls departed, they were given new life by a great and powerful hope scouring the universe— the desire that those lost be found anew. Those souls would later find life as monarch dragons.

As an unfortunate result of this, reyes will sometimes feel a profound and devastating sadness when looking upon their dragon counterparts.

Vampires
Vampires come into being when a given lifeform allows a benevolent parasite, the vampire bat, into their body. Following the dissolution of the vampire bat into their blood, vampires gain many abilities at the cost of their blood burning continuously. To make up for the blood loss that follows this, regular blood consumption and/or blood transfusions are required.

Certain species have no blood and thus have no straightforward way of attaining vampirism.

Werewolves
Werewolves exist as a consequence of lycanthropy masks, sentient masks which seek out those who live comfortable lives in hopes of amplifying their violent instincts and overrunning their subconscious. As such, werewolves must struggle to maintain control over themselves— but in exchange gain powerful new abilities and newfound resilience.

Identifying a werewolf is relatively simple; while the mask hides itself when successfully suppressed, the pattern of the mask manifests as a tattoo covering the werewolf's torso as well as the werewolf's arms and legs, most often only stopping mid-thigh and in the middle of the forearms.