The Mortals
The corporeal beings of the world of Planarist.
Humans
Regarded by many creation myths as the first true creations of the Materium, Humans have long been a dominant species of their plane. According to Etrurian sacred texts, mankind’s physical form was shaped from the matter of the Materium, animated by the universal energy of The Vortex, and finally granted a soul from the eternal plane of Elysium.
Their souls, forged in Elysium, combined with the agency of the Materium and their natural intelligence, make Humans a uniquely adaptable mortal race capable of great good and great evil alike. The duality of Elysium’s light and the shadow of Perdition grants humanity the freedom to choose its cosmic alignment. As such, Humans are known to follow countless creeds, faiths, and philosophies.
Across the world, Human civilizations have risen as kingdoms, theocracies, democracies, and confederated unions. Their diverse political orders, paired with short lifespans, drive them to seek extraplanar power in pursuit of ambitious goals.
In so magical a realm, those who wield the greatest power often rule the world. To command a wizard, or become one, is often necessary to secure a throne, though the planes make such a path perilous and unpredictable.
Humans are central to cosmic destiny, that much is spoken by oracles across the realm. How, and to what extent, remains yet to be fully understood.
Aelves
Older than Humanity by millennia, the Aelves are immortal pseudo planar beings whose origins predate mortal civilization itself. Formed from the essence of Elysium, The Vortex, and Perdition, they are believed to have been crafted by gods or born spontaneously from the ancient powers of the cosmos.
In the age before recorded history, the Aelves existed as spirits until the Great Forming, a mysterious event that granted them flawless physical bodies within the Materium. Unlike angels and demons summoned imperfectly into the world by mortal wizards, whose forms require constant power to remain stable, the first generation of Aelves were made whole, ageless, and enduring. They neither withered nor decayed with time.
Yet that perfection did not fully pass to their descendants. Later generations born through natural means inherited gradual flaws, slower aging, and mortal weakness. Many Aelves devote their long lives to mastering magic and discipline in pursuit of restoring the purity of their ancestors.
Each Aelf soul is a unique blend of the outer planes, shaped by the nature and alignments of its bloodline. Most are drawn inexorably toward one destined realm, and as that bond deepens, both body and mind begin to change. Skin may shift in hue, eyes may burn with inner light, and some become vessels for powers beyond the mortal world. Others abandon flesh entirely and ascend into the plane that calls to them.
Across the Materium, Aelven realms are most often ancient theocracies ruled by first generation lords whose wisdom is treated as law. Though their numbers are few, their power is immense, and they remain among the greatest rivals of Humanity in the struggle to shape the fate of the world.
Toadkin
The Toadkin are among the most resilient and territorial creatures of the Materium, ruling vast wetlands that many armies cannot cross. Frog like in form and formidable in war, they are famed for powerful leaps, brutal close combat, and an instinctive mastery of marshland warfare. Though often underestimated by outsiders, the Toadkin have secured one of the most strategically vital realms in the mortal world.
Their greatest domain, the Great Marshes, lies across the central passage between the northern and southern continents. There the Toadkin raised swamp castles, flooded plains, and layered defenses that turned fertile land into near impassable territory. Though Humanity brought invention and the Aelves wielded greater magic, neither could easily break the Toadkin hold over their homeland. Through control of this critical corridor, the Toadkin became wealthy, sovereign, and deeply influential in the conflicts of the age.
Their origins remain fiercely disputed. The most common Human theory claims they descended from isolated hybrid bloodlines that gradually formed a true people over generations. This view is deeply resented by the Toadkin themselves, who reject any claim that they are a malformed offshoot of other races.
Many scholars instead point to The Beyond, the vast collection of parallel worlds whose hidden doors and unseen mediums bleed into the Materium. Where water meets earth, the veil is thought to weaken, and swamps are among the most common places for its influence to emerge. Whether shaped by ancient migration, planar corruption, or some forgotten design, the Toadkin remain one of the great powers of the mortal realms.
Undead
Humanity is often regarded as the purest example of a mortal being: a material shell joined with living energy and soul. Undead are the crude, mortal made imitation of that design. Through necromancy, death itself is bent into false life, giving rise to two primary forms of undead creation: Hallows and Revenants.
Hallows
The simplest expression of necromancy, a Hallow is a corpse reanimated by external magic, most commonly as a skeleton or zombie. Necromancers awaken these bodies by drawing upon the fading remnants of Vortexian energy once used to sustain life, then supplementing what remains with power of their own.
The longer a body has lain dead, the less energy is needed to move it, though time leaves the vessel brittle and diminished. Such creatures retain only the faintest echo of what they once were, a hollow shadow rather than a true soul. A Hallow does not think or choose. It is an extension of the necromancer’s will, a borrowed body made to obey.
Revenants
Far more complex and dangerous, Revenants are among the greatest achievements of dark magic. Unlike Hallows, a Revenant is sustained by a fully integrated mortal soul bound once more to dead flesh.
The process resembles planar possession. In demonic rites, a living host has its soul displaced and replaced by that of an outside entity. Necromancers, through ages of forbidden study, learned to imitate this principle for the dead. Rather than using a living vessel, they force the soul of a deceased mortal back into an empty corpse, creating a being that moves, remembers, and endures beyond its rightful death.
Many forms of Revenant exist, each with its own powers and methods of preservation. Liches bind their souls through black sorcery into planar relics, ensuring that destruction of the body does not mean true death. Vampires instead enter dark covenants with demonic powers, gaining flawless physical immortality under severe ritual obligations that must be constantly maintained. Other lesser Revenants exist in countless forms, shaped by the ambition and ingenuity of their creators.
For ages, Revenants lived in the shadows of mortal society, driven back by fear, hatred, and holy persecution. In time, they founded realms of their own in distant and accursed lands. Vampire kingdoms have risen as major powers, ruling over willing human servant castes beneath immortal nobility. Mountain citadels built by Liches conceal soul bound relics and arcane knowledge gathered across endless lifetimes. Though widely feared, mortal kings have been known to bargain with such beings when it serves their political ambitions.
Wendigo
Where Humans are beings with souls forged from Elysium, the Wendigo are mythic manlike beasts bearing the shadow souls of Perdition. Perdition, the dark reflection of Elysium’s light, exists as a mirrored realm where each angel has its demonic opposite. Reflected there as well are the countless souls yet to be born, or yet to be received again after Death.
Filled with boastful arrogance, the demons of Perdition deemed themselves equal or superior creators to the celestials of the heavens. They sought to fashion a mortal race of their own, one built not for mercy or wisdom, but for strength, ferocity, and cruel cunning. Thus the Wendigo were their first great attempt.
Crafted in the image of predators, the Wendigo embodied raw fury and physical power. Yet in the Materium, balance governs all form. To give, one must take. For the Wendigo, the price of such might was insatiable hunger, an endless appetite mirroring the demonic thirst for souls found in their creators.
Overwhelmed by instinct and surging inner power, the Wendigo never organized as Humanity did. Most were driven into solitary lives, stalking lonely roads, frozen wastes, and dark forests where travelers vanish without trace. Yet a rare few, cunning beyond their kin, discovered magical means to stabilize themselves and harness the infernal force within. These exceptional Wendigo have founded savage warbands, moon cults, and hidden domains deep in the wilds.
Rumors persist that the demons of Perdition labor still upon a second mortal creation, a perfected race destined to bring about the fall of the light. Across the world, holy orders watch the shadows and prepare for an age they pray will never come.