Sentient races of the Caligoi

(c) 1989-2001 by Ynza Morgan Star and Jim Henry

(This document dates in its overall form from about 1995. Ynza wrote the introduction about that year with an audience of role-players in mind. Some of the material, especially for the Toaliralolo, Yith, and Jhray, is from as late as 1998-2001. HTMLized mid-1999.)

Introduction

There are 16 sentient races, all available for the PC's to play (depending on the setting).

The Blirthibo - <Blur-theee-bow>
A race of aquatic crustaceans with the ability to assume other forms. They have six manipulatory tentacles and six sensory tentacles extending from a turtle-like shell.
The Briacite - <Bree-ah-site>
A race of canine nature worshipers. They stand about 1.2m tall and have fur ranging from short to long, white to black.
The Glaethryn - <Glayth-rin>
A race of Ursinoids who have an affinity for fauna and magic. They stand about 2m tall and can live in almost any climate
The Guerrothak - <Gwair-oh-thak>
A race of "were"-reptiles. In huminoid form, they are very similar to the Guerrothon, and share some of the same humours. In reptile form they are slightly larger than man-sized winged reptiles, basically small dragons.
The Guerrothon - <Gwair-oh-thonn>
A race of "were"-equines. In humanoid form, they are very similar to the Guerrothak, and share some of the same humours. In equine form they resemble large eight legged horses.
The Jhotha - <Zhaw-thah>
A race of symbiotic, psionic insects, resembling six-legged spiders. They often will attach themselves to the nervous sytem of an animal and ride around on it, controlling it.
The Jhray - <Zhray>
A race of deciduous nut-bearing trees. They have telepathy and telekenisis, and their leaves and wood are the components of many spells.
The Krinth - <Krinth>
Songbirds of prey. They have small hands at the end of their wing tips, but otherwise look like grey falcons.
The Llegisia - <Yeh-gay-see-uh>
A race of humanoids with light green or light brown skin standing about 1.8m tall. They are very rooted in tradition and nature.
The Pliv - <Pliv>
A race of rodent cavern-dwellers. They resemble 1.5m tall mice, and are very similar to the Narnian mice, such as Reepicheep from "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis. Sonar rather than vision is their primary sense.
The Slithu - <Slith - oo>
A race of canine humanoids. They are primarily hunters, warriors and farmers, though some of their humours make them excellent thieves.
The Toaliralolo - <Toe-ah-lir-ah-low-low>
A race of mammilian millipede-like creatures. They can absorb memories from others of their race.
The TTambroc - <Tam-brock>
A race of humanoid "cat-monkeys". They have tails resembling prehensile monkey tails (with gripping and lifting abilities), but are otherwise look more similar to the great cats of our world. They have an afinity for nature and the four elements.
The Wexivinov - <Wex-iv-eh-nahv>
A race of humanoid magicians and psionicists. They have grey skin, four fingers and two opposable thumbs on each hand, stand about 2m tall, and have little body hair.
The Yith - <YYthth>
Long-lived asexual snake-people. From their torso up they resemble humanoids, with four arms and a head with two eyes and a convex jaw. From the torso down they have snake tails, which they can use to move, attack, and crush their prey.
The Zun - <zun, rhymes with sun>
Reptillian masters of magic. They stand about 1.6m tall, have short tails, usually no longer than 1/4th their height. Their scales come in a multitude of colors, but the most common are white, blue and yellow-green.

Languages

Some of the languages I've designed in some depth, others are as yet scanty collections of root words for naming purposes, others are only vaguely and impressionistically described. Take them as you find them.

Religion

As you'll see looking over the different races' myths, not all of these can be true at the same time. However, the same is true when comparing Terran mythology, so get off our backs!

Game-masters may wish to take one of them as true in each campaign, especially if all the player characters are of the same race. On the other hand, you may not.

This main Caligo2 document describes the old, orthodox religion of each race, common to every Caligo. In the local Caligo documents, other religions, which have emerged since the Sundering, are described, e.g., Vistralism in Torodoth, Mebliond in Triyk, etc.

Where the races are found 

Race         Rectek Kreis Triyk Torodoth Mar Dreik Skargard Qualtos  Psamnif 
===============================================================================
Glaethryn    x      x                    x                  x         
Guerrothak          x                    x         x        x         
Jhray        _      x     x     x        x   x     x                  
Toaliralolo         x     x              x                  x         
Briacite            x     x     x                                     x        
Guerrothon          x           x            x                        x        
Llegesia            x     x                  x              x         
Pliv         x      x     _     x                                     
Yith         _      x                        x              x         
Blirthibo           _     x     x                  x                  x        
Wexivanov    _      _           x            x     x        x         
Jhotha                          x        x   x                        x        
Zun          x                           x   x                        x        
TTambroc     x            x              _         x                  x        
Krinth       x                  x                  x        x         
Slithu       x            x     x                           x

key to "Where the races are found"

x - Full, known, sentient presence.

_ - Imperfect presence of some sort:

The Yith and Jhray are cursed to nonsentience in Rectek.

The Wexivanov have lost their physical bodies, and borrow those of other races, in Rectek and Kreis.

The Pliv in Triyk, and the TTambroc in Mar, remain only as unusually persistent ghosts.

The Blirthibo in Kreis escaped a plague by transforming themselves into members of various land-dwelling races. A few of their descendants (mainly Toaliralolo and Yith) retain their religious traditions, and even fewer have weakened forms of the old Blirthibo humours.

Biological comparison chart 

Race         Avg. Life-span    Max. known age  Birth   Number of young -vorous  Main sense   
=============================================================================================
Blirthibo                   50              81 egg                     Omni     hearing      
Briacite                    30                 live                  1 Omni(carn) smell        
Glaethryn                   45                 live                  1 Omni     sight        
Guerrothak                  90             123 egg/live                Omni/carn sight/sight  
Guerrothon                  90                 live                  1 Omni/herb sight/hearing
Jhotha                      35                 egg                 500 Omni     psi          
Jhray                Indefinite            463 seed    one per nut     Photo    psi          
Krinth                      25                 egg                   4 Carni    sight        
Llegesia                   120             340 live                  2 Herbi    sight        
Pliv                        80             124 live                  5 Omni     hearing      
Slithu                      40              76 live                  4 Omni     smell        
TTambroc                    35              68 live                  4 Omni     sight        
Toaliralolo                 15              23 live    one per womb    Omni     sight        
Wexivanov                  100             146 live                  1 Omni     sight        
Yith                 Indefinite           1000 fission think about it  Omni     smell        
Zun                        150             203 egg                     Omni     sight        
Briathu                     30              47 none    none            Omni     smell        
Thakathon                   45              66 none    none            Omni     sight

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