Classification of Creatures

The world and it's surrounding planes of existence are home to many creatures, both natural and unnatural. Thinking or unthinking, magical or mundane, their origins known or unknown. Despite the daunting nature of the task, the scholars of the world have attempted to come up with ways to categorize and understand the rich variety of life around them. Some creatures defy easy classification, but for most, it can at least be attempted.

Folk

Termed as folk are those creatures that think, speak, use tools, and form communities that can be understood as civilization. From halflings and humans to orcs and even the lizard people of the southern jungles, the folk of the world form tribes and kingdoms, build villages and cities, and speak and write. Far from a straightforward categorization, many creatures straddle the line between beast and folk. For example, ogres and trolls are sometimes considered folk and other times beasts.

Beasts

Natural creatures that do not build societies, common animals are considered beasts, as are insects and the like. However, many creatures that do have some intelligence are also regarded as beasts, if they do not build complex societies. Generally not magical in nature, the border between beasts and primordials can be murky due to the limited scholarship into many of these creatures.

Borderworld Demons

The borderworld is a strange place beyond the understanding of most folk, and inhabited by strange creatures that are usually only known when summoned by practitioners of Göetia. Creatures from beyond the mortal world, Borderworld demons are considered dangerous and unknowable, and not limited by any of the things that restrict mortals. Ageless, magical, and often immortal in some way, Borderworld demons are looked upon as mostly malevolent entities that only consort with mortals to spread their corruption.

Primordials

Magical creatures native to the world of mortals, Primordial creatures are believed to hearken back to a bygone age, possessing powers dating back to the creation of the world. Though often confused with Borderworld demons or beasts, what separates primordials is their terrestrial origin and undeniable power. Dragons are an example of primordials.

Fae

Somewhere in between Borderworld demon and primordial, Fae are entities that manifests in wildlands not just in the world of mortals but also across the planes. Relationships between fae and folk tend to vary, for the fae are inextricably tied to nature and generally hostile to any attempt by folk to exploit it. However, sometimes rapport can be found between communities of fae and folk. In most cases, fae avoid civilization, wanting nothing to do with it.

Shaft Abominations

Often considered their own kind of monster, the creatures found primarily in shaftbuilder sites are not known as beasts or primordials because of their extremely unsettling forms, their invariable hostility to folk, and some sort of innately understood sense that their very existence is wrong.

The Cursed

A cursed creature is one transformed by magical powers, often by Borderworld demons or the Göetia gifted to mortals by them. Vampires and Werevolves are examples of cursed creatures, originating in the well known races of the world but turned by greater powers into something else.