Something that I wanted to explore in Nexia was the idea of fantastical races co-existing without much hangups. On Earth we divide humans up based on appearance and culture. On Nexia, there are fantastical races like trolls and dragons, but most of the humanoids are actually just genetic variations of one long-standing race.
This is by design, of course. I like elves, but I am tired of the “chosen near-immortals” or “children of nature” vibe they get so often. I really just want long eyes and neat eyes. Same with dwarves, we don’t need “folk of the earth”, just strong types with cool hair (beards).
This is the basis of the humar, elvar and duwar. They are Nexia’s version of humans, elves and dwarves. They are very similar, but at some time in their ancient past, they were separated and evolved certain characteristics, similar to how a people living on a tropical Pacific island would develop differently than a people living in a cold, forest-covered land. The evolutionary differences are exaggerated, of course, but it is easy to understand why: magic and the will of the “gods”.
Humar are like your stock human, except in addition to all of Earth’s colors, shapes and sizes, we allow for a slightly wider range of options. There will be families that are 7-foot tall, green-haired and dark-skinned folk. They will be bald 4-foot tall pale folk. While skin tones will be somewhat normative (only a few tones not found on Earth), hair, eye and nail color will have the entire palette to draw from.
Elvar are essentially identical to humar, they are told apart because of the size of their ears, which tend to spring forward in their teens, and continue to grow well into their 30s, often going out six inches or more. Some very elderly elvar have foot long ears. Besides this they are like humar in every other way, except that occasionally, when certain elvar families have spent generations “purifying” their bloodlines, an elvar is born with solid-colored eyes. They are fully functional, though sometimes trauma will cause vision problems starting from their teens going forward.
Duwar are similar to Elvar; their ears grow out, though not as long, and they normally start and end growing earlier than elvar. Additionally, their hair color is often times dark and metallic, and turns a bright silver or white when they go into their 30s, which in many duwar cultures is the right of passage into adult society. Due to profiling in the old Empire, where the duwar were enslaved for labor, the duwar are physically durable, while culturally they are accepting of others and progressive. Most social justice movements in the last days of Imperial rule were spearheaded by duwar.
That is just a taste of these three sub-racial cultures. I like certain parts of traditional cliché fantasy races, but what I like even more is being able to create a character that looks and acts the way I want, consistent with the history of Nexia, not the preconceived ideas I have about the history of Earth.
Soon I will post some thoughts on class templates in Nexia. 