First one must define what we mean by “race”. We will be talking about the “Greater” races in this section of the guide, monsters who are little more than animals will be described later in this work. We here will be talking about the intelligent races.

But not all “intelligent” races are the same. There are many capable of speech and that create simple, often tribal societies. These “Lesser” races often excel at simple trades and crafts, even some as advanced as metalworking. But even the most advanced of the Lesser races will never advance beyond a certain point because they CAN’T. Although they seem like people, in reality they are little more than intelligent monsters.

What we’ll be talking about here are the Greater races, the ones we think of as “people”.

Humans

One has no choice but to start with Humans. They are by far the most numerous race in Alaria (although texts from before The Great Collapse suggest it wasn’t always this way, while not an insignificant number of texts suggest it was the increase of the Human population that somehow led to the Great Collapse).

I’ve rarely encountered even rumors of lands where there aren’t at least some Humans present and from my travels I would say that nearly sixty percent of all Greater race members are Humans. About of third of the places I’ve visited are a mix of races where Humans are most numerous, a third of places are almost entirely Human, and the final third are places dominated by one of the other races.

It is said (although I’ve never seen any real proof) that Humans are the youngest of the races. They are almost certainly one of the shortest-lived. Like all Greater races, Humans can be subdivided into smaller sub-races whose culture or breeding can give the impression they are part of an entirely different race. As varied as Human physical appearance and cultures might be there is a very consistent baseline to work from.

The average Human life span is about eighty years. Many live past this, especially if they have dedicated their lives to magic or worship of the divine, but in most cases it is rare to find a normal Human who lives past one hundred years of age. And if one is looking at Humans who live in less forgiving environments, be it caused by poverty, war, or hostile climate, the average life span will be much shorter.

Their race as a whole does not seem particularly naturally attuned to any kind of magic, with the average Human struggling, or even unable, to use even simple magic. But the individual Humans who ARE naturally skilled when it comes to magic are incredibly so, especially those considered to have the “Hero’s Spark”.

The place the race excels is when it comes to divine magic. “The brightest flame burns the fastest,” is an old saying many claim to have originally been an allusion referencing Humans’ faith. Humans live short lives compared to most but the faith they give off is intense. The gods seem more likely to respond to a Human’s faith as it seems to be the most nourishing to them.

Although it is widely believed by most learned scholars that they are one of the youngest races in Alaria one must at least wonder if the opposite is true. When compared to all the other Greater races (and many of the Lesser ones) they seem almost like the “base” all others were built from. This is so much a truth that I have found when writing this section of my guide it is easiest to compare other races to Humans.

Regardless of their origins, they are an incredibly physically diverse race. The average grown Humans range in height from just under five feet to as tall as just over six feet, with slightly smaller statures for women on average. Their skin tones can be incredibly varied, although they seem limited to a range that runs from near black in tone through various tones of browns to pale white. There are none of the brighter tones (reds, greens, blues) found in many other races except on VERY rare occasions.

Their hair color is more varied: black, blond, brown, and red are the most common colors with rarer colors common among many sub-races and nationalities. Men almost uniformly can grow beards while Human women are almost universally unable to. Interestingly, the amount of hair on the rest of their bodies can vary wildly. Some have very little hair below the neck like the Elven races while others (especially the men) can be nearly as hairy as a beast. All, though, have hair that grows in their pubic region.

Physically their size is diverse but has its limits without the aid of magic. Some can be rail thin and others hugely fat. And this isn’t just dependent on diet, some seem naturally thin while others are born bulky with no change in diet seeming able to affect their size. Strength wise they tend to be fairly weak, although any Human can bulk up to become impressively strong with enough exercise and training. The rest of their natural attributes such as intelligence, dexterity, speed, endurance, are all incredibly diverse to the point that there is no “average” although when taken as a whole and compared to other races any one trait tends to fall in the middle of a comparison chart.

Culturally they are the most diverse of the races to the point that there isn’t anything “common” for the majority of their people.

Humans’ sexuality is much like everything else about them: diverse. Their tastes, and what is culturally acceptable, are incredibly varied and changes from culture to culture. Male genitalia is notably varied in sizes, from almost too small to be useful to naturally large enough to make intercourse with a woman of their race uncomfortable. Women’s natural breast sizes are even more varied, from nearly nonexistent to bigger than their heads. Amongst women of a specific region or nationality there will tend to be a common size but overall as a race there is no average breast size.

When it comes to fertility one finds Humans to be one of the most fertile in Alaria, which could easily be argued is the reason for them vastly outnumbering other races. Once of age, Human women are able to conceive during a small period once a month. They give birth in less than a year and are almost instantly able to conceive again.

Once sexual maturity is reached Humans will always have a biological interest in sex. Many will not actively pursue sexual relationships because of personal choices, but the desire for sexual pleasure remains a strong driving force in their lives whether they admit it or not. And it is a desire for pleasure that drives them as a race, not procreation. In fact, on a biological level procreation seems almost like something they are unaware of when lusting after others as if their bodies are tricking them into reproducing.

What makes their fertility stand out is how easily they can interbreed with other races, even ones drastically different than them biologically. Even races for who conceiving is a challenging and rare thing, breeding with a Human is always easier. Although both genders find interbreeding comes with little effort, Human women will find it far easier to become impregnated with the child of another race than it is for a Human male to impregnate a woman of another race.

And in most cases any mixed-race child will be born seeming more Human than the race of the other parent. And if that child grows to breed with another Human, even another with mixed blood like them, their child will seem even more Human. Although some traits of the other races may remain for many generations generally these mixed-race Humans will have children who most recognize as fully Human.

This is one of the things many scholars point to when looking for explanations of this race’s diverse social and physical characteristics. Humans can so easily breed with other races that they seem to be a brewing stew of nearly all of Alaria’s races. Some suggest that’s exactly what the Human race is: the combination of all other races having been bred together into a new one. Whether this is true or not will probably never be known, but it is a conclusion that seems logical even if it lacks evidence.

High Elves

The defining difference between the Elven races and the other Greater races is the raw magic coursing through their blood. A Human, Orc, or Dwarve can tap into the various magics of Alaria and channel it through their minds and bodies but for Elves some of that that magic already exists inside of them. When one speaks of the “purity” of Elven blood what they are talking about is how free from dilution that blood is from breeding with non-magical races.

Legends say that there was once a single Elven race, its blood more magic than flesh. Only over the long ages of Alaria’s history has that single race broken apart into separate races. If these legends are true then the High Elves (or True Elves as they are sometimes called) are what remains of the first Elven race.

They are as magic as they are flesh and blood. This comes across in countless ways, the most obvious of which is their seeming agelessness. Once reaching maturity a High Elve will not appear to age further, at least not in a way members of non-Elven races can easily tell. To the eyes of nearly every other race they will seem both eternally youthful and mature.

This agelessness can be very disorienting for other races. Pure blooded High Elves can easily live thousands of years and many are reported to have no natural life span at all. Most High Elves are not willing to share their true age with people who are not members of their race.

Aside from their agelessness, High Elves have other aspects of their biology rooted in their magical nature. Most female High Elves have thicker, soft builds with curves most other races view as exaggerated or even unnatural. Yet they will never seem “fat” and their breasts will be unnatural firm, often seeming to defy the laws of nature. And this apparent softness will have little tie to their physical strength. It is the same in men who tend to be unnaturally slender and often look weak but are often as strong as a muscle-covered Orc or Dwarve.

From the neck down High Elves are hairless. Most find the hair other races have below the neck, especially in the pubic region, high disgusting. A full-blooded High Elven man will have no facial hair and show no sign of ever needing to shave.

The size of Dwarven men’s sexual organs varies more than any other race. The most common explanation for this is that over their long lives and with an easy connection to magic many Elven men will permanently “enhance” their size. Although this undoubtedly is very common I believe there is another explanation.

By default most Elves are disconnected from their sexuality. They can go decades or even longer without giving much thought to sexual attraction, viewing such matters as a distraction they can easily live without. Aside from ensuring a low birth rate in a race that already finds conception hard, this has a pronounced effect on insular Elven cultures.

But there is a flip side to this suppressed and ignored sexuality many Elves are unwilling to acknowledge or are wholly ignorant of. A High Elve’s sexuality can be “awoken” and when this happens the length of time they have spent ignoring it will catch up. The longer an Elve has ignored and suppressed their sexuality the more it will begin to consume them once they begin to give in to it.

I believe for the men this influences the size of their manhoods. Those that have spent much of their long lives suppressing their sexual appetites will have smaller members, but those that indulge in their sexuality will over time see their size increase.

Along with a buildup of sexual “energy”, Elven men also build up reserves of semen. Those that abstain from sex for even a short time will have unnaturally large volumes of ejaculate and will often need to climax many times before they are no longer “backed up”. Intense and prolonged arousal can also create this unnatural amount of semen production, allowing even a sexually active Elven man to have a volume of ejaculate that will seem impossible to the members of other races.

A High Elve’s natural magical talents will often be far above even the most skilled masters of other races. Magic for High Elves is a mundane aspect of life, not something that requires years of training to master. They can wield magic and craft enchanted items far beyond what even the most skilled members of other races can.

Due to their long lives High Elves tend to have insular cultures and often live in cities mostly cut off from the outside world. Many of these small enclaves will have existed since not long after the Great Collapse and will do all they can to keep their interaction with those outside their home to a minimum.

Those that leave or are driven from these secluded communities tend to not wander as much as members of other races do. There are plenty of High Elve adventurers but more often you will find members of this race choose a new home and try to stick to it after leaving their former communities. Many kingdoms and organizations will have High Elves in prominent positions, their natural skills and long lives helping maintain an institutional regularity over generations.

Whether due to ambition, raw talent, or simply through the length of their lives many kingdoms large and small are ruled by High Elves who long ago parted ways with the other members of their races. Even when a kingdom is not ruled by a High Elve most royal families will be eager to bring one into their blood line, knowing even a single infusion of High Elven blood will drastically increase the length of the lives of their children for generations.

Common Elves

The race known nearly everywhere in Alaria as “Common Elve” is something that is not a race at all. Rather, it is a category to place those who do not belong within the confines of other Elven races. A Common Elve is an individual whose blood is not just diluted by the blood of another race, but often mixed through multiple racial lines (although almost certainly with a heavy helping of Human blood). It is a mixing pot, but one that has such common features they are recognized as their own race.

Physically the average Common Elve will be slightly more slender and taller than the average Human. Their features always have some of the qualities found in other Elven races, the eternal youthfulness that makes their age so hard to tell primary amongst them. Although the extent these qualities appear is incredibly varied and sometimes mixes with the features of their other racial heritages in distinct ways. For example, there are many Common Elves who, to most races’ eyes, never seem to age past late adolescence.

Common Elves all have elongated ears but just how long varies. Some are as long as their pure-blooded Elven cousins and can be the length of their hands. Most, though, have much shorter ears closer to what you see in a Human only slightly elongated and pointed.

Skin tone and such things as eye and hair color can include any found in their mixed heritage but often these qualities end up closer to what is found in Humans. One thing you seldom see in a Common Elve are skin colors of vibrant hues such as blues, purples, and pinks like a Night Elve. If the blood of the race is still strong enough for such skin colors to show through they’ll still be thought of as a member of their race by nearly all.

Many are so Human in appearance they could pass as one if they hid their ears. What they would not be able to hide is the alien way Elven races express, or do not express, many emotions.

How long any one Common Elve will live is something almost none can say other than, “Much longer than a Human.” It depends on how much Elven blood they have and how far back a fresh infusion of it into their bloodline is. There are Common Elves who can live thousands of years, although hundreds are more common.

Their extreme life span when viewed from the perspective of a Human leaves them as outsiders, while their short life span from the perspective of full Elven races leaves them outsiders there as well. Common Elves rarely find homes amongst any of the people they are tied to through blood, and when they do it often isn’t for very long. They tend to be forced out or simply drift away.

This state of being an outsider with no true home is why so many Common Elves wander Alaria as adventurers, traders, or mercenaries. The communities or kingdoms in lands only recently resettled where there is a mixing of all races are the only places Common Elves will ever be able to feel any real sense of belonging, so they are disproportionally represented amongst those populations. This often gives the false impression to the people inhabiting these lands that there are far more Common Elves in the world than there are.

For a race defined by how mixed their bloodline is they are surprisingly unfertile. Most find conception as rare and difficult as the Elven race their blood is closest tied to. Because most have spent a life as an outsider because of their blood, few will be eager to have children. But when one’s life is so long such intimate connections often happen eventually.

Like all Elven races, Common Elves will find mastering nearly any kind of magic easier than the members of most other races. Even the least talented Common Elve will find magic that is nearly impossible for a Human to master to be something they can learn with ease. This connection to the magic of Alaria extends to enchanted items. A Common Elve will be able to attune to powerful items and weapons infused with arcane energy with ease.

As for common cultural expectations, there are none. Some try harder to cling to the Elven culture they feel closest to while others will try hard to assimilate into the local culture of wherever they presently call home. The only commonality between them is no matter where they are and how hard they try they will end up feeling like outsiders. It is this wanderlust that defines them above all others.

Night Elves

The Night Elves stand out amongst the Elven races for a variety of reasons. The most obvious of which is their striking and often vibrant skin colors. Night Elves most frequently have skin colored blue, purple, and pink with a vast spectrum of shades within those colors. Like all Elves, they tend to be taller than most other races and have elongated ears about the length of a Human’s hand.

They also tend to be much slenderer than the other Elven races and most have athletic bodies made for silent speed. Because of this more slender build the average breast size among this race tends to be smaller but like Humans there is a large variety in Night Elven woman’s breast sizes outside of the average.

Night Elves are named so not because of their skin tones but because of the way the members of their race find it easy to blend into the shadows, especially at night. It is a very subtle thing that partially comes from a shifting of skin coloration but is mostly magical in nature. This leads to Night Elves making natural thieves and assassins.

That, however, often produces distrust of Night Elves, especially amongst other Elves. Many High Elves claim the distrust of the Night Elves was earned long ago and that their race exists because they were cursed for some great evil. There are many legends and historical documents that support this claim, and it does seem that Night Elves are far more easily susceptible to vices and the seductive allure of what most would call “evil”. This distrust leaves many Night Elves outcasts, becoming a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy where those pushed to the edges of acceptable society find homes in its seedy underworlds.

Yet for every Night Elve that falls into a life of crime or outright evil there are just as many who strive to prove they are better, both as individuals and as a race. Often the most devoted Priests or scholars will be Night Elves and organizations dedicated to fighting evil, such as the Sisterhood of Righteousness, have a disproportionate amount of Night Elves within its ranks.

Finally, their age must be addressed. Even the purest blooded Night Elve will have a life span that pales when compared to a High Elve. Their life spans are inconsistent like the Common Elves and many Night Elves with diluted blood will live only a couple of hundred years longer than a Human, some even less so. Those who believe their race exists because of a curse point to this lack of “Elven perfection” as evidence and often use it as an excuse to distrust and mistreat Night Elves.

Silver Elves

Whether Silver Elves should be considered a “race” is something much debated amongst scholars. Since most outside academia considers them one I have decided to treat them as such for this entry. It must also be noted that Silver Elves consider themselves a race separate from other Elven races, something I also took into consideration.

The first thing that must be said about Silver Elves is that there are only female members of their race. Even when conceiving a child with a non-elven man (which all evidence suggests is very rare but not impossible) the child will be female.

This is not unheard of in Alaria but in those other cases there are legends, or even proof, that those mono-gendered races were created through some form of magic or divine curse. I’ve encountered no such legends or rumors about Silver Elves. I’ve encountered nothing about their race’s origin and as far as my research has revealed the Silver Elves themselves do not know where they came from.

Some Silver Elves are mistaken for High Elves, but to any who has spent even a small time around members of the Elven races the differences will be obvious. Silver Elves are all thick and curvy, even more so than High Elven women while their oversized breasts are their most obvious feature. Their hair is always some shade of blond, white, or gray which is where their moniker comes from.

We must double back to the size of their breasts, for it is the most inescapable fact of Silver Elve’s biology. Every Silver Elve has huge breasts the like of which are rarely seen in other races without the aid of magic or divine blessings (or curses). Their bulk seems to be a weight the Silver Elves do not feel and often they are so firm as to defy the natural laws of nature.

It is not well known, but the firmness and density of their breasts will shift in response to a Silver Elve’s desires and needs. When clothing and armor need their breasts to be firm they will be, with little to no need for supportive garments while in moments of sensuality they will grow as soft and supple as their owner or partner wants them to be.

They are also incredibly sensitive to all kinds of stimuli. As most Silver Elves are driven to accomplish some great purpose they will, like most High Elves, work to ignore and suppress their sexuality. This fact, combined with the sensitivity of their breasts, leads most to view them as a weakness that needs to at best be protected and at worst hidden from the world.

Yet it is not their massive, overly sensitive breasts that make these women different from other Elves. Compared to a Human, a High Elve is more magic than flesh and blood. The same comparison is often made between Silver Elves and High Elves.

They have natural talents in all kinds of magic and can wield spells and artifacts no others can. The fabled Ebony Blades, weapons so powerful and deadly that few members of other races can wield them for more than a few minutes at a time, are something a Silver Elve can use as though it was nothing more than a common training sword.

Because of this great inherent power Silver Elves always lead lives of importance. Some argue this is a result of the culture surrounding them from birth as they are taught from an early age that they must use their power to make Alaria a better place but I think it is in their nature to strive to make the world a better place regardless of upbringing.

Never once have I encountered a Silver Elve that could in any way be considered “evil”. The majority I’ve known of have been members of the Sisterhood of Righteousness and often have senior positions within that organization. The others have all been women who refuse to sit idly by and enjoy life and are always on some grand quest to rid the world of some evil.

As powerful women who strive to fight against the darkest forces in Alaria they end up drawing a great deal of evil to them. Even if a Silver Elve wished to retire to a life of leisure the world would not allow them to. There is always another foe to vanquish and another threat to fend off.

Dwarves

Overall the Dwarven race is more uniform than Humans or Elves in both physical appearance and culture.

The Average Dwarve stands a bit above five feet tall give or taking five inches in either direction, with the female members of their race tending to be a bit shorter. This leaves them noticeably shorter than most Humans and nearly all Elves but not significantly so.

What makes them immediately recognizable as a race is not their height but their width. Even the thinnest of Dwarves is going to be far wider and bulkier than a Human. Much of this will be dense muscle but there is often a layer of fat atop that muscle even on the fittest of Dwarves.

The wide stoutness in them is not just a thing found in their short thick limbs or barrel-like torsos but in their facial features as well. Although few of the other races look at Dwarves and think them ugly, there is a plump hardness and compressed wideness to their features not found in any other of the Greater races save perhaps the Halflings.

Dwarves are hairier than Humans, although not to the point of seeming “beastly”. Their chest, pubic, and armpit hair is almost always dense. The men find it easy to grow long, thick beards. While there are a few localized nationalities of Dwarves where facial hair on women is common to see, as a whole it is a rather rare thing for the race. What one DOES see in Dwarven women is a fuzzy patch of hair running down the sides of their faces much like the sideburns some Human men are fond of.

Even the fittest of Dwarven women tend to have large, wide, plump asses and large, dense, heavy breasts are near-universal for the females of their race. Even those Dwarven women considered “small breasted” have breasts that dwarf those of nearly any Human woman.

The average size of a Dwarven male’s penis is something most other races find shocking when first discovered. Long and thick compared to the average Human’s, it often appears even bigger than it is as part of their squat bodies. Many scholars believe this lengthy endowment is a result of the Dwarven race’s plumpness. Their thick bodies leave many sexual positions requiring penetration difficult without the “added” length.

Dwarves tend to be as promiscuous as Humans, perhaps at times even more so. But they are far less fertile. Although conception is not as difficult as it is for the Elven races they have nowhere near the same number of children as Humans do. If they did the world would be overrun with Dwarves as they far outlive Humans.

Any Dwarve can easily live hundreds of years, with Dwarves living to see thousands of years of age far from unheard of. Although they age much slower than a Human their aging process is much the same. Their childhood and adolescence are nearly identical to Humans in length. It is only after they reach adulthood that their aging seems to “slow”. A Dwarve who is sixty will look much like a man who is in his early twenties.

Whereas the near-immortality of some Elven races seems tied to a natural connection with the magic of Alaria, Dwarves’ long lives seem to be a far more physical thing. As a whole, members of the Dwarven race are strong and hearty people. They are tough and can stand more pain and harm than most others. This is not just a physical thing as most Dwarves find themselves more resistant to magic than members of other races.

This has its drawbacks. Learning and using the same kinds of magic the other races use can, for many Dwarves, be not just challenging but impossible. Although there are plenty of Dwarven wizards and bards, these are usually the individuals who have the “hero’s spark”. To deal with this disconnect from the normal magic of Alaria many Dwarven societies have developed a unique form of magic centered on runes infused with arcane energy. The Dwarven Runic magic is something unique to this race and the secrets of its craft are jealously guarded.

My extensive travels have also shown me that behind Humans they may be Alaria’s most populous race, although I believe few to be aware of this. Unlike Humans, their populations tend to be concentrated in secluded in culturally insular kingdoms or towns, often hidden away inside mountains. It is also less rare to find Dwarves among the “wanderers” of the world, as their close-knit clan-based societies often help keep even those shunned internally from feeling like an outsider.

Dwarven culture is far from monolith, with the secluded kingdoms and towns spread through Alaria often not having had meaningful contact with one another in ages. Yet even those communities who have shunned the world and remained near hidden since the time of the Great Collapse often have common themes running through their cultures.

Family is a near-universal driving force for all Dwarves, with wrongs against families often remembered for generations. But for a Dwarve “family” is not the thing it is to most other races, where only the closest of relatives (parents and offspring within two generations) are considered paramount. For Dwarves family is a larger thing, viewed in the scope of extended “clans” rather than the more immediate “families” of other races. In almost all Dwarven cultures having your clan name taken from you is the worst humiliation and shame thinkable.

Orcs

Although clouded by the mysteries of the Great Collapse, it seems the Orcish race is one of the youngest in Alaria and did not exist long before that cataclysmic event. During the dark times after the Great Collapse, when much of Alaria was abandoned and the survivors pulled into small, insular, protected communities, the Orcs were one of the few races that flourished.

Yet that period was perhaps even more brutal for the Orcish race than it was for the others that barely survived. The societies they developed centered around extreme tribal violence, both internally and externally. Some texts from the time suggest these brutal Orcs had perhaps not yet become one of the Greater races and were then little more than intelligent monsters.

There are countless legends detailing how and why the Orcish race changed, almost all of them contradicting each other. What is undeniable is that today the Orcs are a Greater race. Members of their race are as intelligent and emotionally developed as any other Greater race.

The average Orc stands about half a foot taller than the average Human, although many of their race stand significantly taller. But even those who stand at about the same height as a Human will seem much larger as the average Orc is build is FAR stronger than nearly any other race. Males tend to have thick, wide muscular bodies while females tend to be nearly as strong, although their muscles will tend to be slenderer and more feminine in appearance. Very few Orcs are “fat” and even the heavyset ones will still be naturally well muscled.

All Orcs have green skin, but the shade of green can vary vastly. Hair color is almost universally dark. How hairy an Orc is varies heavily between regions of origin. Some Orcish people are hairy to the point of seeming bestial while others are as hairless as an Elve below the neck.

Male Orcs have large sexual organs compared to Humans, but in most cases it is proportional to how much larger they are in general. The average Orc women’s breast size varies greatly between regions of origin, but a common trait between them all is their breasts tend to be “softer” and have a more natural sag than many other races. Some say this is only an illusion because of how “hard” and muscular an Orcish woman is, but although this does add to the sense of “softness” to their breasts it is not an illusion.

An Orc’s lifespan is in most cases equivalent to a Humans, and like Humans individuals who deep deeply into master certain kinds of magic can have much longer lives. Yet it is far from unheard of for certain Orcs to far outlive their expected lifespan without the aid of magic. Some Orcs just seem to have a special spark that gives them supernatural longevity. Whether this is what leads these individuals to end up in positions of authority or respect, or whether those positions cause this longevity, cannot be said.

Culturally it was not long ago that Orcish societies were universally brutish. That is not the case anymore and although there are still many tribes of Orcs who cling to violent, primitive societal structures most Orcs now work to integrate fully within the larger societies of mixed races.

Yet nearly all Orcs find themselves at times struggling with their “Orcish” nature. Even the kindest and most peaceful Orc will be quick to anger and struggle not to act brashly while Orcs who seem to be serenely gentle can become aggressive and domineering at the drop of a hat, ESPECIALLY when it comes to sexual things.

Orcs can interbreed with other races, but how easy this is varies drastically depending on the race. As with nearly every race, they find interbreeding with Humans easy, but those children almost always end up mostly Orc. Whereas Orcs have an even harder time than other races breeding with Elves.

Kittarans

Kittarans are instantly recognizable by their cat-like ears and tails, although beyond that most members of this all-female race tend to look entirely Human.

Their furry ears vary in size, although the average has ears a little smaller than the palm of a hand. The placement on their heads also varies, with some Kittarans having ears closer to the top of their heads while others have them lower down closer to where most other races’ ears are located.

Kittaran hair is almost always thick and most Kittarans find shorter hairstyles uncomfortable. The hair around their ears will blend slowly from the fur of their ears to more “normal” hair. Some (but not all) Kittarans are far hairier than the average human while others are as hairless as an Elve anywhere but on their head and tails. The amount and kind of fur on Kittarans’ tails are astoundingly varied, ranging from short hair that barely covers their tails to huge bushy puffs of thick fur.

The range of hair colors found in Kittarans is something that seems to have no limit. I’ve seen or heard of nearly every color and color combination imaginable. Some Kittarans have hair and fur that is as mundane as the average Human’s, with it being the same color all over. Many have hair and fur that resembles specific breeds of cats while an even greater number have bright colors not found in natural feline creatures.

A Kittaran’s tail is normally so large it is impossible to hide, especially the ones with thicker fluffier fur. Most have a length about equal to their arms. Even if a Kittaran has a tail they can hide few ever will. They do not enjoy having their tails constrained in any way and most, except when in heat, do not enjoy having their tails touched by others. The base of their tail is particularly sensitive and tugging on their tails will result in them feeling intense pain when not in heat or intense arousal when they are in heat comparable to erotic spanking.

The rest of their bodies tend to be for the most part like a Human’s, with a generally matching diversity in shape and form. One difference is in weight: nearly all Kittarans are naturally slender and slight of build. There are many that would be described as “thick” with plump curves, but none are fat. Another difference is that Kittarans can have much larger naturally sized breasts than Human women, although the diversity in breast size amongst Kittarans is equivalent to that found in Human women.

As one of Alaria’s mono-gendered races, there are only female Kittarans and regardless of the race of a father any children they have will be a full-blooded Kittaran. As with other mono-gendered races legends say Kittarans were created by magical means and the nature of their single-gender race’s inability to mix blood with other races supports these legends, but more on those legends later.

Kittarans are one of the “animalistic” Greater races that can enter “heat”. Some would say they suffer a version of this more extreme than any other race, a claim I tend to agree with.

When a Kittaran is not in heat they not only have no desire for sexual activity but are biologically and mentally unable to understand sexual attraction and arousal. Something as simple as seeing someone kiss intimately will confuse them. Even if they have been in heat and been sexually active the moment they leave that physical and mental state of being nearly all understanding of sexuality escapes their minds even if the memories remain.

They CAN be forced to feel arousal when not in heat and their bodies will respond to sexual stimulation, but this is a very uncomfortable and even painful thing for a Kittaran. Even something as simple as seeing an erect penis can cause them to feel great uneasiness and having to watch others interact sexually will often make them sick to the stomach. If forced to take direct part in sexual activity they will tend to begin to dissociate from their bodies and the world around them.

When a Kittaran goes into heat all of this is reversed. They go from being unable to think about sex to struggling to think about anything other than it. They will be in a near-constant state of sexual arousal and will only be able to remain sated for a short time. The sexual drive will lead to a desire for intercourse that can lead to impregnation (which can only happen while they are in heat) but their drive is not just for this. Any kind of sexual activity with any gender will be something they will feel driven to do.

Generally, Kittarans become very submissive when in heat, often willing to endure any humiliation, do anything demanded of them, and make any promise if it leads to them getting fucked. But if they are denied sexual release this will begin to change. As their frustrations build their submissiveness will turn into aggressiveness. Often once a Kittaran reaches this sexually aggressive state they will remain there till they are no longer in heat.

There is also a spectrum of intensities for what a Kittaran experiences when in heat, often determined by what causes them to go into the state.

They can enter the state naturally through a few different means. If a Kittaran grows close enough to another that person that shows them enough emotional affection over a long enough time they will begin to slip into heat around them to return that affection. Those episodes tend to be short and on the lower scale of intensity, often lasting for less than a few hours. A Kittaran can also will themselves into a slightly more intense level of that kind of heat, but doing so requires a very strong bond with another individual.

Most Kittarans, however, do not enter heat this way. There are a wide variety of spices and herbs that will put Kittarans into heat. Some need to be consumed while others the scent alone will be enough. Many of these are so common that they are difficult to avoid. Different means of forcing them into heat create different levels, as does the amount of the substance given to them. Because of this Kittarans can choose to enter heat whenever they want or, more darkly, can be easily forced into heat.

This brings us to the legends of their race’s origins. Most of those legends (although not all) tell some variation of their race being created to serve as some kind of sex slave. The ease at which Kittarans, with the right activating ingredient, can be put into uncontrolled and often highly submissive sexual states, gives a lot of support to these legends. It is common to find many Kittarans living as sex workers in some way, be they enslaved or not.

In many parts of Alaria Kittarans are incredibly rare or even unheard of. Even in places where their populations are more concentrated they will almost always be greatly outnumbered by the members of nearly every other race. Most who interact with Kittarans outside somewhere like a brothel will never encounter a Kittaran in heat. This leaves most to assume that although their ears and tails give them a look reminiscent of an animal there is no “animal nature” to them aside from purring when happy.

Anyone who has interacted with a Kittaran in heat knows this is far from the truth. When in heat they will begin to act more cat-like, and this will increase the deeper they go into heat especially if they become sexually aggressive. And if a Kittaran spends enough time in heat these cat-like habits will begin to remain even after they return to “normal”.

Fauns

There are two major “breeds” of Faun, one more deer-like and one more goat-like. Both are, for the most part, Human-looking but when one spends time with a Faun you begin to pick up on all the little places the animal subtly comes out in them.

The goat-like Fauns tend to be shorter and have more muscular or stocky builds. Their horns look like those of goats and rams and are often curved or circular. These Fauns have large, floppy, furry ears that resemble a goat’s and tend to be positioned on the sides of their head under their horns. The deer-like Fauns tend to be taller and slenderer while their antlers will resemble those of a deer. These Fauns tend to have rigid, furry deer-like ears that stand up straight positioned above their antlers near the top of their heads. Regardless of breed, all Fauns have stubby, furry deer-like tails.

Their noses are shaped nearly the same as a Human’s, with the same difference in size and shape found within that race. However, the black markings that run from their upper lip and cover the bottom of their nose make them look much different. Many Fauns will also have white or black speckling on their cheeks.

Aside from the fur on their ears and tails the rest of their hair is normal, although the hair on their head tends to be thicker than the average Human’s. Fauns almost all have dense arm, leg, and genital hair while men will most often have hairy chests. The goat-like Fauns body hair will be coarse and thick while the deer-like Faun’s body hair, especially their genital hair, will be soft and thin and down-like.

Faun women have a similar range in breast size to Human women, although it seems much less tied to the thickness of the rest of their bodies. Slender deer-like Fauns are as likely to be well endowed in the chest as a stocky, plump goat-like Faun woman. Penis size in men is also similar to that found in Human men.

Their sexual appetites are equivalent to Humans, although nearly all Fauns are more open with their sexuality than the average Human. All Fauns seem at least a little bisexual regardless of their primary sexual preference and although monogamy is the norm in most Faun cultures their understanding of what that means is more about emotional connection and their sexual relationships are not as limited. Fauns easily find themselves attracted to members of other races but they are much, MUCH less likely to be able to breed with them.

Fauns have a heightened sense of smell which is something that often plays heavily into their sexual lives. The scent of a potential partner is often as important as any other factor in attraction and Fauns can pick up on hormonal scents most other races are unaware of. The smell of arousal in women is something all Fauns are particularly attuned to.

Although they do not enter heat like some of Alaria’s more animalistic races Fauns can exude a strong musk that will attract others. It is something that is produced in moments of great sexual craving and can be consciously produced but often happens instinctively. At times it can be subtle and something only other Fauns will be affected by but if engaged hard enough this musk can easily affect the members of any race. Female Fauns are far more able to produce this musk than males, a sign of how that gender tends to be the dominant one within their race.

Although members of other races will struggle to understand the nuances that scent plays in a Faun’s sexuality it will be generally understood. What some find impossible to understand, and most even miss completely, is what an important erogenous zone a Faun’s tail is. Their tails are highly sensitive, especially when aroused. Tugging, stroking, and even slapping a Faun’s tail is something they consider very intimate. In nearly all Faun societies open displays of their tails is something viewed as at worse completely indecent or at best slightly slutty, although Fauns who have grown up amongst communities where their race is not the majority will have much less of a cultural sense of this tail-shame.

All Fauns have an animalistic skittish nature that will be more pronounced when startled or agitated. The deer-like Fauns lean into this skittishness and will frequently adopt quick sudden movements in all parts of their lives. The goat-like Fauns mostly try to overcompensate for the skittishness, trying to cover it up with tough personas.

Faun women are the more aggressive and dominant gender, although members of other races may get this backward. Faun women may seem more skittish than the men but there is a careful, predatory caution at play that will often catch the members of other races off guard. This predatory nature is also more pronounced in the deer-like Fauns, something most do not expect.

Nearly all Fauns are vegetarians, although they are capable of surviving on an omnivorous diet. Even after extensive interviews with Fauns from many regions this researcher was unable to establish whether this dietary preference was primarily cultural in nature or not. This seems to be an example of the kind softness that runs through even the most ferocious warrior of this race.

The most interesting and mysterious aspect of the Faun race is the strange “herd connection” they seem to have. It is a shifting and ephemeral thing not well understood by anyone, including the Fauns themselves. They will often be able to feel when other Fauns are close and frequently have dreams drawing them to one another. The more time groups of Fauns spend together the more connected they will become, able to predict each other’s wants and needs on an instinctive level. This can make groups of Fauns very deadly warriors even when they are vastly outnumbered and out-armed.

Fauns also have a natural affinity for music as well as a strong connection to nature. Music is a major part of Faun society and their connection to nature leads many Faun cultures to adopt a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Fauns who have the “hero’s spark” will also find wielding Druidic and Bardic magic easier than most.