WORLDEATER: races

i wrote this on my phone when i was working in a warehouse, because while loading trucks my brain had nothing to do while by body was active, so i occupied the chittering monkey with daydreaming about games that don't exist, but might one day. this is all straight off my phone with no real editing.

Dwarves (Thororim)
kinda like paladins they get special earth/holy powers when they act in line with their clans morals. if they betray the clan they can be cast out or forced to pay penance.
near dwarven settlements can call cha*100 dwarves together to accomplish a goal if theyre in good standing w clan

oldest race consider themselves watchers of the earth live in mountains high above tree line in deep fortresses. skin greyblue with hard rocky outcroppings/crystal shards/nodules slate or white hair eyes icy stoney look. neither gender ever cut their hair, men grow long beards. thick heavy sturdy strong. enormous arms 5ft 300ibs no necks round bodies flat noses. dour cheerless but not mean, dont speak much, stoic practice a religion of deep personal connection to allfather, follow strict code of conduct diet, emotion, very conservative, spartan, almost ascetic, overly ostentatious displays of wealth are frowned upon as is crime and drug use. very strict society. every member maintains their own weapons and armor made of orichalcum a special metal that only dwarves known how to mine alloy smith if done improperly it is weak and shatters. using equipment made/maintained by another is weakness which is embarassing. ruled by king. members can recite hours of tales and songs of their forefathers this isnt that fun and is mostly deep dirges full of names.
traditional dwarves are extremely against lying cheating underhandedness they are straightforward and steadfast a little pushy, tend to view others with a paternal severity. halfling saying; "to make a dwarf laugh". very solitary but open up in thr company of other dwarves, will gleefully talk about who their related to and always seem to have somrone in common no matter how far spart theyre from.
dwarves born outside of dwarven society are considered "not really dwarves" because their familial relations are such an integral part of their society. if you have no family youre nothing.
such dwarves will often develop surrogate familys with other races, or else live in complete solitude.
dwarves never die from old age, but when theyve had enough of life they march into the lava pits, or build a pyre to throw themselves on, or throw their lives away in combat, all other deaths are dishonorable.
dwarves are amazing smiths, and while they keep orichalcum for themselves (it degrades rapidly without maintainance) they smith other metals for sale.
their allfather is Numranthúl
traveling dwarves bring microforges with them which can burn twigs hot enough to maintain equipment, during downtime a dwarf can repair damaged equipment, if he has access to metal of the same type, at a rate of 1 point per 3 hours.
dwarf food is famously strong & filling. meat cheese bread thick black beer pickles (pretty much everything is pickled)
dwarvish meals can last for hours with lots of food tales songs not being able to keep up is considered either hilariously wimpy or rude depending on temperment.
dwarves routinely explore the world but rarely toleratr outsiders without credentials or an invitation. even kings, they respect no authority outside their own. a dwarf will sooner face execution than bow to someone who doesnt deserve it. they live forever, who are these children?

abilities
dungeon sense
rockspeak

Elves (star-touched)
strange planeswalkers stranded on planet thousands of years ago. live in enclaves in harsh landscapes,
elves are ethereal dreamy space elemental. they dont sleep but trance out absorbing rays from star sky, can be sustained on darkness alone indefinately, but they cant `dreamwalk` without the sky
have darkvision 60ft. when activated their eyes use light collected from other sources to fill the pupil, it gives off a slight reflective green light.
can see in larger color spectrum than humans
first gendermolt around 20. 50 is prime age. 87-125 is middle age. most live to 200 easily. some get to 300, 400 is rare. Bal`skarr the Starcrosser (the warchief during the Scourge) made it to over 800. ancient legends speak of elves over 4000 years old, say they dont live that long because they miss the light from their homeworld.

olive to black skin, hair white black sky blue dark blue or purple, eyes red (common) blue (uncommon) or golden (rare/treated with suspicion), practice complex ritualized tattooing w ink made from different insect shells that shows up against their skin, continue to slowly tattoo themselves throughout life using bone or wood needles. skin carries secrets. old elves tattooed head to foot in arabesque designs geometric patterns also practice piercing, neck stretching, tongue splitting, scarrification implanting symbiotic moss fungus parasites that give them powers. eat fish snakes spiders frogs eggs birds rodents and gross slimey arthropods that grow in colonies in swamp mud, thus disparaging name mudrakers. practice ancestor worship "all return to the swamp" display ancestors bones in shrines managed by mediums whove had their eyes removed. their magic revolves around necromancy divination tapping into spirits and pulling in/manipulating things from spirit realm & planewalking.
natural psionics: all elves develop at least some psychic ability.
have a related mysterious ethnic minority of nomads that live in noxious miasma filled radioactive shithole treated with scorn by brethren. they wear masks and special suits that allow them to survive and have special boats they live in, follow sludge porpoise migrations.
live 200-250 years change genders a few times over their lives usually 1-4x, pretty androgynous but when female thet grow breasts, have both sets of genitals but they change shape (retract/open) depending on uncontrollable hormonal fluctuations. society has no gender roles. lay eggs in mud which sprout into pods on stalks. nursery cared for by wet nurses who eat nothing but the sap that comes from stalks which cause them to produce milk. sometimes mothers become nurses while their stalks grow but not that common. children considered their own property cared for by nurses until reaching maturity when they molt into first gender. live on stilt houses or boats
in the spirit realm their honorable diefied ancestors become crystalline aspects of perfection "high elves" which grant their magicks power depending on how theyve been honored.
half elves happen when hatchlings mysteriously die, mothers go crazy and sneak out to kidnap a human child. sometimes they leave a changeling in its place (psychic parasite that feeds on maternal fears) and implant the embryo in the eggstalk.
also elf babies are sometimes given/stolen by humans. without the mothermilk of elves they become humanesque (domesticated, like animals raised in captivity)

dead elves can be contacted in the spirit realm once theyve been properly dealt with & the soul has moved on. high elves are usually of a totally alien consciousness and godlike and hate nonelves. elves whos remains arent laid to rest or arent honored with the proper ceremonies become spiteful wights driven mad by their inability to move on.

it takes 2d6+4 weeks before an elf soul 'moves on' once this happens revivification without divine intervention is generally considered repulsive and dangerous.

abilities:
mystic elves can mindflay 1d6+1hp 1 per day per 3 lvls


Halflings
childlike cheerful curious tinkering full of wonder 3 to 4 feet females taller live in forest treehouse colonies, wild/free, practice cannabalism to honor dead, anarchic/communal, no gods dont comprehend religion or work but love to tinker and build things of great complexity, like to take things apart (but not necessarily put it back together). always learning, moving, gathering great with slings bows darts knives. great bushcrafters live in harmony with nature love song and dance. "whos your friend? a dwarf! have you made her laugh yet? keep trying!"


Humans
boring mostly brown or black skin some say a trickster god made them using bits from all the other races. loads and loads of different ethnic groups and languages. make up the culture your character came from or dont, run it by the GM. clash a bunch of disparate real world cultures together or just let GM ask questions, or they/other players ask you questions or everybody just spitball shit and it all gets written down and lots are drawn or make some random tables.

theres a big godking empire of lawful assholes that worship sun god appollyon like egyptian plus christian plus babyllonian whatevers lots of marble and bronze and gold priests wield fire/domination magicks spend long hours staring at the sun til they go blind. leaders wanna rule everything with iron fist. godking is demigod son of appollyon 7 feet tall black skin tough dude with silver eagle helmet and burning eyes
favored weapons are spears. they pray one day the sun will explode and engulf creation and all will return to appollyon. all that isnt appollyon is sin and must burn before him.
most common religion. doesnt like other religions or magicks like christianity they wanna replace evrrything with their monoculture inspiration white cards mtg

orks
came from the underground. -1 in daylight. big flabby froggy hairy apeish dudes with mouths full of teeth big bulbous nose large luminous eyes and horns. worship ancient heathen piggy god zathuggua mortal enemy of appollyon (so says followers of app a relative newcomer)and ride enormous boars. totally carnivorous. love sentient flesh. never stop growing as long as they live always getting bigger and bigger but only live like 40 yrs usually. their society loves tests of strength and combat
a few hundred years ago orks nearly took over everything banding together and torching shit like genghis khan
lots of ork tribes. most dont get along unless theyre in a federation and even then they fight. some less violent friendly orks worship goddess of moon and water shabshab-ur the glittering skywhale.
orks are scattered thru human society but are considered stupid filthy only good for backbreaking labor.
some elves also worship zathuggua and mate with orks to create something horrible.
sometimes humans mate with orks to make half-orks. ork blood is really mutagenic and makes all kinds of defects. half-orks cant breed. they usually end up bandits sorcerers freakshows slaves mercenaries pawnbrokers wanderers but sometimes bankers lawyers and alchemists.
ork welplings open their eyes and learn to scamper within a couple weeks and grow really fast, reaching human size in 7 years.
ork packs are organized by toughness and guile with the leaders at the top.
more beastial orks live nomadically following their boar heards but return to ancient spawning grounds every so often, cyclopian fortresses deep in the mountains or underground.
they like armor and weapons made from metal of the rust belt, crudely welded together jagged bits and spikes wounds from orkish weapons cause nasty infections if not treated immediately.

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dwarves are tangible focused and earth elemental. planetary sentinals, all answer to a central authority, all within a unified, democratic whole a la star trek. unique but for a common matteroffactness and a general lack of humor. apparently have no gender. reproduce by budding: 4 dwarves unite to plan, design, and construct another dwarf by carving a perfectly sculpted one from living stone. once finished it springs to life with a full personality and purpose, embued with a piece of each maker's personality. this is done out of necessity.
immune to first 3 points of all ice & fire damage
+2 CON, stonesense, repair 3, rebuke undead

humans are neutral and can be both/either, mixture of all elements. their race=loud conflict unnowness
halflings are fun joy laughter here-ness buddhist zen metaphor pre-humans
orks are inhumanness. dog instincts turn sentient. pack/domination mentality. what dumb mordern humans think "human nature" is