These are only the races I will accept characters in. There will likely be more in the story. If you want to be something else unique send me a PM describing it and if i deem it appropriate I'll add it to the available races list.
Living peoples of Nocturna
Imperials
The Holy Empire, devoted to the God of light, Lumos, and his holy sect. Rugged, hearty people of the temperate lands of central Nocturna, they harness the power of the holy light, damaging positive energy that repels the dark forces of the world. Mighty witch hunters and Crusaders, they bring to bear armour, elegant longswords, and crossbows bearing silver tipped bolts against the enemy, as well as bringing the healing warmth of the holy light to their allies. The elite sect of the Holy Empire, the Monster Hunters, forsake armor for speed, wearing leather trenchcoats, hats, and other light clothing, often enchanted to bolster protection, and bring the holiest of relics and weapons to bear against the enemy.
The Holy Empire views the gods of the Nords as heathen, and the ways of the people barbaric. They have been known to make snide remarks to them or to talk behind their back, believing them to be too stupid to take insult. Still, they recognize the value of Nordic berzerkers on the battlefield, and of the quality of a Nordic Axe, or a weapon-enchantment.
The Empire views the Akavashi with a mixture of awe and caution. Viewing them as elegant and mystical, but also mysterious and cryptic, they keep a guarded stance toward them. Never sure where an Akavashi stands, Imperials choose their words carefully around the strangers from the south.
Nords
The Nords of the north, an ancient people of fair skin and mighty build, who harness the power of the natural world around them as they worship the pantheon of gods they call the Vaegirs. Often wearing little in the way of armour, they bring to the battlefield mighty, natural magic and devastating offensive prowess in their berserk warriors. Nords are some of the few who have mastered the art of enchanting weapons that are not made of bane-metals such as silver and gold, and giving them the deadly monster-slaying prowess that these rare metals naturally provide. They specialize in axes, hammers, and throwing weapons such as javelins, throwing axes, and the like. The Nords live in roaming villages and communities, meeting occasionally for a mighty feast in the name of Tempest, the god of gods in the Pantheon, the allfather who watches down from on high.
Aside from Tempest, many of the gods of the Vaegir pantheon's names are disputed from tribe to tribe, but there are three other gods whose names are written in stone. Molnir, the god of war, a vicious and mighty god who strikes down foes with his thunder-bringing hammer, Mjolnir. Avadein, goddess of fertility and war, a buxom, voluptuous woman who wields twin maces to deadly crushing effect on her foes. And finally Lonadan, the god of the forge, who supposedly brought the knowledge of enchantment to the first Nordic enchanters.
The Nords view the Empire as a bunch of pompous inbreds. Their tongues are free with friendly insults around them, challenging them to a good brawl even on the field of battle. The nords truly hold no grudge with anyone, but find that the Imperials need to learn a thing or two about strength and bravery.
The Nords see the Akavashi as great warriors, but fragile. They don't understand why they would go about with all that stealth and trickery when they could simply charge in and hack the enemy to pieces. They'll take any opportunity they can get to get an Akavashi to take part in a fair fight with them, if only to test their mettle against them, especially the warrior monks.
Akavashi
And the Akavashi, the agile warriors of the south. A spiritual people, they balance nature and the spirit world and bring it forward to deadly effect against the monsters. Single-edged Katanas and supple, scaled armour make up their selection of armaments, using longbows and spears to deadly effect as well. They house elite Monster hunting monks as well, who forsake all weapons and armour for the sake of lightning speed and reflexes, and a unique ability called Chi focus. These monks have learned to channel their own natural energy into deadly force that slaughters the monsters of the night.
Akavashi peoples view the Empire as overzealous and prideful. They accede that the Empire houses the greatest tacticians but stresses that they know nothing of elegance, thinking the Imperials simply lack the refinement they could have.
Conversely, they see nords as brutish, yet wise. They are confused as to how a people so rowdy and noisy can be so in tune with natural magic, but they envy them that skill. The druids and wizards of the Nords are viewed with respect among the Akavashi, though the frontline warriors are seen as brutes. Nevertheless, the enchanters and huscarls of the Nordic peoples are frequently given warm welcomes among the southerners whenever they should be visiting the southlands.
Forces of Darkness
Vampire
Ancient, undead creatures, born of another vampire drinking of a virgin of the opposite sex in the moonlight. Vampires gain power through the blood, as the blood is the currency of the soul. The more entities they drain of blood, the more familiars they gain in the shape of their victims, so long as they do not become ghouls or vampires. The greatest of vampires, count Dracula, was reported to have thousands of familiars, making him almost invincible, as each familiar is essentially another life that the vampire has. One must end each life before the Vampire can finally be slain. So long as the Familiars are contained within the vampire, that is. When the familiars are called out from the vampire's form, the castle is essentially emptied, leaving the king alone to be slain. Each familiar held within the body is another life, each without, a vicious minion. Vampires possess a frightening ability to transform themselves into black demon dogs, bats and other similar creatures of the night. They are a dominant creature of the Nocturnan realm, along with werewolves and ghouls.
The weakness of Vampires are numerous, but strange. While the natural magics of the living peoples damage them as everything else, their unique weaknesses are Silver, shared with the Werewolves, and sunlight. The mightiest of vampires are able to overcome their aversion of Sunlight, but never will they stop Silver from being a deadly weapon against them. Sharpened wooden stakes pierce them easily and deal lasting damage, and Holy Icons painfully burn their skin.
Werewolf
A terrible mix between man and wolf, the Werewolf was first created in demonic rituals, but since then has become propagated by the infectious nature of a Werewolf bite. The werewolf's transformation is that of a bipedal, humanoid, vicious wolf. Able to shift between man and beast at will, a Werewolf's prime asset is stealth. Able to pose as a member of everyday society no matter the circumstances. There are only two things that may give away a werewolf in hiding. One, the wild look and nature of the man. They tend to have long, unkempt, tangly hair, and prefer meat, usually on the rare side, as their prime meal. Second, the full moon. During this witching hour the Werewolf is forced into his lupine form and is unable to revert until morning.
The werewolf has a degree of boons from its nature even in human form. They are extremely strong, with heigtened senses and the capability to leap large distances, and they possess an extraordinary level of stamina, and fatigue slowly. In Lupine form these feats are even more enhanced, turning the werewolf into a hunting god, able to pursue a target at insane speeds and hardly ever tire. In human or wolven form, the Werewolf has a natural healing ability, able to regenerate and close wounds at an alarming rate. At the greatest extent of their power they are able to mend nearly-severed limbs, though should the whole thing be removed, it will not regrow. it may however, be sewn back on, and will begin to function again within a few days.
The werewolf's weakness is silver, and holy artifacts. Both of these create a burning sensation, causing immense pain, and haulting the regenerative process of the Werewolf. It is this weakness, shared by vampires, that has pushed many monster hunters to tip their arrows in silver, which, though rare, is in fact stronger than iron, though not as strong as steel.
Ghoul
The victims of Vampires who are not completely drained of blood, ghouls remain alive, but altered. They crave living flesh, finding all dead meat to be tasteless and mute. And each living creature they devour, they assimilate into their life, prolonging their lifespan and putting their traits and forms into their repertoire. When need be, Ghouls can call upon the traits of the creatures they have devoured, or even transform completely into one of them. For instance, a ghoul who has eaten a lizard can call upon their camouflage, or wall scaling ability, or can simply turn completely into a Lizard.
Dullahan
Headless horsemen. Warriors, men and women, who are cursed into a job of reaping souls and a never-ending unlife. Dullahans carry a weapon of their choice and a whip, as well as their head, usually in their hand or on their belt.. They ride undead horses, and bear a deathly appearance, their armor made of blackened metal or bone. The dullahan's whip is actually a human corpse's spine, and the wagons they sometimes use are made of similarly funereal objects (e.g. candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels made from thigh bones, the wagon's covering made from a worm-chewn pall). When the dullahan stops riding, it is where a person is due to die. The dullahan calls out their name, at which point they immediately perish. This is known as the Death Knell, a blasphemous curse native to the Dullahan.
A dullahan's weakness, however, is Gold. Gold is the bane of their existence, and even a gold pin can drive away the deathless riders. Gold blades, though normally useless, drive through the dullahan's armour like butter, rending them limb from limb and finally bringing them death.
Nuckelavee
A creature from Northern folklore, the Nuckelavee is the most horrible of all the ancient beasts. He lives mainly in the sea, but was also held responsible for ruined crops, epidemics, and drought. His breath could wilt the crops and sicken the livestock.
He resembles a centaur whose legs are part fin; he has an enormous gaping mouth and a single giant eye, which burns with a red flame. The most gruesome detail of his appearance is the fact that he has no skin. Black blood courses through yellow veins, and the pale sinews and powerful muscles are visible as a pulsating mass. The Nuckelavee has an aversion to running water, and those who are chased by him have only to cross a stream to be rid of him.
Another phobia that the Nuckelavee suffers from is the burning of seaweed to create kelp. Enraged, he starts on a wild rampage of plague, killing cattle and many other creatures, and bringing bad crops.
Wight
The dead rise again in the form of the Wight. Though once living creatures, the wight is a body possessed by a spirit. More often than not the spirit did not originally belong to the body it possesses, but in fact stole some other poor unfortunate's corpse, walking around in their guise while their spirit is calmly in the afterlife. The wight possesses all the qualities of a human, plus the tenacity of being undead. They are frequent denizens of the dark lands of Nocturna, and make stalwart shock troops in the face of the enemy.
Certain versions of Wights, known as Barrow Wights, are amalgams of multiple souls in one body. This much supernatural energy, as all of these uneasy spirits merge into one consciousness, gives the Barrow Wight magical abilities. Able to raise undead of their own or raise rocks from the landscape to hurl at the enemy, Barrow Wights are a force to be reckoned with, especially when the dominant personality is one of maliciousness and hate.
Monstrosity
Abominable creatures, sewn together from bits of people and animals and animated with dark sorcery, Monstrosities are tough, strong, and tenacious. Monstrosities feel no pain, and can continue on in the fight until they are slain, which takes quite a bit of effort. A Monstrosity will not stop until it has suffered sufficient damage that the necromantic enchantments holding it together break. This is more easily done with magic than physical weaponry, though it is not impossible to simply beat a monstrosity until it stops moving.
That said, the Monstrosity does have some lacking qualities. it is slow, clumsy, and more often than not, lacking in brainpower. Though many of them are sentient, they are incredibly slow-witted, and often need to be told things twice before they understand. Nevertheless, once they set on a task it is hard to get them off of it, and they will pursue enemies doggedly, slowly shambling after any foe they have set their eyes upon. A running monstrosity moves at a pace that can be outrun by most men, but their advantage is that they never tire, while mortal beings will slow and begin to fatigue.
(Wights, ghouls, vampires and Werewolves are the only classes that can also have training in the special forces of the living)
