Classifications of Creatures

The multiverse of the Argent is a complicated and diverse place, filled with strange and bizarre creatures and locales. However, when there are things that exist, there will be people who try to categorize them, to bring order to the perceived chaos. Classifying such a broad range of creatures is a daunting task, and many scholars have different opinions on how best to distinguish between them all.
The majority of scholars agree that creatures fall into one of a handful of divisions: Aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, humanoids, monstrosities, oozes, plants, and undead. However, what distinguishes one group from another, and what traits are common to all creatures of a particular type is a subject of hot debate. Below is just one model, and it has many critics and supporters alike.

Creature Classifications

Aberrations

Aberrations are beings from the outside; utterly alien and often paradoxical to the likes of humanoids. Though not all Aberrations exhibit magical abilities, those that do (according to many sages and priests of Icae) don’t draw on the same reservoir of magic that all other creatures do, instead using the mutated, discarded magic present in the excess.

Beasts

Beasts are creatures born on the Material reality. Unlike humanoids, giants, dragons, and other beings of the Material reality, beasts lack sapience. While some point to creatures like giant eagles as exceptions to this rule, this model sees such creatures as blessed by KikAkoOnuKas, and as such are exempt to any attempts at consistent classifications.

Celestials

Celestials are creatures with a sufficiently large spark of divinity within them. They are, by their nature, altruistic, as they were forged by the gods in order to serve the will of the gods. A celestial that begins to act in self interest is a celestial that begins its fall from celestial-hood, though such cases have never been confirmed, with the exception of a few acts of divine decree.

Constructs

Constructs are creatures created without a soul. Constructs, like beasts, lack sapience, though their internal mechanisms may be so advanced that they can react to and evaluate circumstances with alarming degrees of proficiency. Constructs are not born, unlike beasts, and the vast majority of constructs are made by artificers and other magi-technicians.

Dragons

Dragons are one of the least debated classifications. Though they appear to be monstrosities at surface level, dragons sport a massive inner well of energy, blessing them with various wonderous or magical effects, such as their famous breath weapon, or uncanny vision. Dragons are universally reptilian, though whether this is a universal law, or simply a trend of currently known dragons is impossible to know.

Elementals

Elementals are creatures native to some of the endless planes in the Excess. Often made purely of a specific element, such as fire or water, elementals are in many respects like beasts or humanoids, however their biology is so fundamentally different that some forms of magic – such as protection from good and evil or hold person affect them differently.

Fey

Fey are comparable to humanoids, but are native to the Surreal. Fey are one of the least controversial classifications, as any fey creature is beholden to the laws of the Surreal to an extent. Like elementals, they have fundamentally different biology from humanoids, due to being made of creative energy rather than protective energy.

Fiends

Fiends are creatures native to the Wretched. Unlike fey, humanoids, and the other “civilized” classifications, fiends are bound to certain forms of thought just as celestials are. Why this is the case is a subject of much disagreement, some believing that fiends hold a tainted spark of divinity, while others believe the destructive energy of the Wretched causes this. Regardless, just as Celestials are fundamentally altruistic, fiends are fundamentally selfish.

Giants

Giants are the most contested classification, though its existence is undeniable thanks to spells such as faerie ward and magic aura. This model defines giants as creatures with enough protective energy in their bodies to support their otherwise physically impossible frame; where most creatures would collapse under their own weight, Giants are able to stand tall.

Humanoids

Most scholars agree which creatures constitute humanoids, though they disagree on what it is that defines the classification. Commonalities between humanoids include sapience, Material reality heritage, bipedalism, and a dearth of innate abilities, at least in comparison to a storm giant, or adult dragon. Why these traits are what unifies the classification is a mystery, though some scholars believe humanoids are the ‘blank slate’ of all creatures, and that whatever divine process leads to the creation of a species starts first as a humanoid.

Monstrosities

Monstrosities are the catch-all classification. There are no ubiquitous traits of a monstrosity, except that they aren’t other classifications. They appear on every reality, can be sapient or not, come in every shape and size, and are not beholden to any unique natural law like fey are. Some scholars theorize this is why spells that specifically affect monstrosities are so rare; there simply isn’t enough in common to effect monstrosities but not other creatures.

Oozes

Oozes are a very precise categorization; typically (but not necessarily) only capable of base thought, oozes are universally gelatinous in consistency, and have a unique form of vision that allows them to detect their surroundings without the use of audible or visual cues – a necessary adaption, as they lack eyes.

Plants

Plants are simply fibrous beings that display some level of sentience. Creatures on the Surreal sometimes blur the distinction between fey, plant, and beast, however in other planes the classification is quite clear cut.

Undead

The typical undead are similar in many respects to constructs – creatures who lack a soul, and use magic as a substitute. However, other undead creatures such as vampires and liches are completely sapient, and possess souls. Thus, this model defines undead as creatures so suffused with necromantic magic that it fundamentally changes their biology, much like an elemental. In fact, some models refer to undead as ‘necromantic elementals’.