• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

MY fantasy races.

So after seeing Tom Nimenai's thread on his fantasy races, i decided to plagiarize and do something similar. I would love to hear what you guys think of my world's inhabitants.

I'm just doing this in random order.

First up we've got the Fire Breathers. These people live in the jungle country of nyew near lava flows. They generally have dark skin and black hair. Their ability to breath fire gives them their name. They enjoy hunting dinosaurs and feasting on their meat along side tinder wood and fresh oil.

Next we have the Loogus. These guys *SPOILER* are actually aliens on my world. Why they are there i will not go into at the moment. *SPOILER* They are tall, (eight-ten feet) have four arms, oval shaped heads and only holes for ears. They only way to tell a male from a female (without disrobing one) is by the tone of it's voice.

The Nage are the next. I'm proud of these guys :showoff: though their probably not that original. The Nage are strange. They live in the sea, and while under water, they are all but invisible. When on land they are transparent and have jelly like flesh and clear blue blood, holding no definite form. They can not go far from water, and when they die they turn into water. They and believe that if they die on land they will be forever damned.

Next are the Qwindar. Little is known about them. They do not live on any of the known continents, and when they come it is always from across the sea. They resemble men, but have great wings on their backs like bats. They are raiders, never staying long in one place. When they kill they always gouge the eyes of their victims out.

The Crystalights,which are next, are basically beings made of crystal. They do not look much like men, and do not need to eat. They can range from 1 foot to 20 feet. I don't know much about them other than that. Any ideas? :wavespin

And to end, Secrets. These guys can shape shift into panthers, live in an area known as the "Deep lands" and are loners most of their lives. :eek:fftopic: I need to brainstorm a bit more about them.

Men in my world are pretty much the same, though i do have giants as a division of men. The giants in my world are only about nine feet tall though, not fifteen feet as i have seen in other fantasy.

Gryphons/Griffins (Which way is better?) Okay, so gryphons aren't my own idea but they are a big part of my world. As are...

Cliche elves, (spread out over the whole land, though there are three main factions)
Not so cliche dwarves,(living pretty much in one place)
and hopefully not to cliche centaurs.

So yeah, i think i missed a few races but that's enough for now.
So what did you think? Any sound too familiar? Any you liked?
Thanks for your time. \V/
 
Last edited:

Tom

Istar
I like the Qwindar and the Secrets. I've always been a fan of shapeshifters and dragon-winged people.

The Crystalights are very original--how did you come up with that?

What are your elves, dwarves, and centaurs like?
 
Hi Tom, thanks for the reply. I'm not really sure how i came up with the crystalights. It probably came up when i was working on a city made entirely of crystal call "Prism" I also needed i climax for the end of my first book, so i thought i would have my characters fight i bunch of crystalights (have fun guys!) My elves look pretty much like Tolkien's. *blush* One group live in the far north under the icy Aurora mountains. They are known as the "Azearian elves" they operate on a money-less system and are very religious. The "Elves of the Spire Republic" live in a land of stone spires that reach thousands of feet off the ground. They build their cities on top of these spires and have a close pact with the gryphons. The last group live in the far south. I don't know much about them but their basically pirates.

The dwarves in my world stand around four feet tall and do NOT grow beards. Why not? The dwarves are farmers, butchers, lumberjacks, miners, and everything else. They produce 70% of the world's food and don't want beards to get in their way. (i really just wanted to be different :redface: )

The centaurs live among the dark "Iron wood" trees. They are great metal workers, and grow to be around nine feet tall. They are also great warriors. Oh, and they grow their hair out long.

So there's a bit more about my fantasy races.
Tell me if you have any more thoughts. Thanks!
 

Tom

Istar
When I first started writing my races were a lot like Tolkien's. I think I just needed to get 'fanfiction' out of my system early on, because now I can look back and admire Tolkien's races, but break away from the stereotypes that seem to have grown up around his work. But there's nothing wrong with Tolkien-esque elves. The elves were always my favorite.

How does one fight a crystalight? Being made of crystal, I'd expect them to be vulnerable to shattering, but other than that, not much you can do with a sword against a hunk of living rock...
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
The Crystalights,which are next, are basically beings made of crystal. They do not look much like men, and do not need to eat. They can range from 1 foot to 20 feet. I don't know much about them other than that. Any ideas? :wavespin

They live off of sunlight or heat. Cold temperatures/lack of light induce hibernation. Otherwise, they don't really sleep as we understand it.

Special defence: more of a curse - a crystalight can 'infect' a person with a ailment which over a period of months or years turns them to stone.

They can 'project' their memories with 100% accuracy. Somebody staring into their 'body' can see precise images of events witnessed by the Crystalight in question. Crystalights can pass these 'image'/'memories' between each other. Sought out by wizards and sage types because they are believed to know otherwise forgotten secrets.
 
One does not simply kill a crystalight.

Nah, just kidding. There are a few ways to take down one of these guys. 1. Catch them in a metal net and throw them into a volcano. 2. A druid can kill them with a blast of energy. 3. Someone armed with an ax made of Shleen. (Shleen is a magic metal in my world. It can cut through almost anything.) 4. Set up a pit fall, and throw boulders at them when there in the pit. There are probably a few more ways, but at the moment they elude me. Any ideas?
 

Saigonnus

Auror
Next we have the Loogus. These guys *SPOILER* are actually aliens on my world. Why they are there i will not go into at the moment. *SPOILER* They are tall, (eight-ten feet) have four arms, oval shaped heads and only holes for ears. They only way to tell a male from a female (without disrobing one) is by the tone of it's voice.

The name for me is reminiscent of "LOOGIE" (i.e. a plural form) a slightly watery yet sticky mix of boogers and saliva and best for adhering to walls. As for the description, it seems fine to me, though four arms sounds to be a bit unwieldy and make the creature somewhat top-heavy assuming they stand upright like a bi-pedal creature. Looking at the natural world, only some insects have more than 4 limbs and most are used as legs only or only one set is used as arms. 4 limbs gives a good ratio between movement and ability to manipulate things for a terrestrial animal, not to mention energy efficiency. Just my humble opinion, I am no expert on biology in any stretch of the imagination.
 

shangrila

Inkling
I am open to suggestions. :)
Sure.

The Fire Breathers need a name, assuming they don't already have one. Calling themselves the "Fire Breathers" would be akin to Vikings calling themselves "Sea Raiders" or something. The "Secrets" have the same problem.

Aside from that, it's kind of hard to give in depth feedback without knowing more about these different races. What's their culture like? Are they patriarchal or matriarchal? What are their beliefs? How do they interact with the other races? And etc.
 

Canz

Dreamer
Crystal ones seem way overpowered.
So just like the water ones, fire breathers can't go far away from the fire, can they? Or are they able to breathe air as well?
As someone mentioned above, fire breathers need a name change AND a location change. Maybe they can live underground near rocky mountain areas, near volcanoes, idk, just tossing some ideas out.
 
Woah, I like them a lot, specially the Nage. You got water properties really well without falling on cliche. The fire breathers seems interessant as well.

Actually, I like so much your post that I will made one with my major fantasy races.
 
I find most of them So-so, but that's just my opinion, you have fleshed them out well though :)
I like the Nage and Centaurs though, and the Secrets sound awesome, got the potential to be super awesome if you do it right.
 
Hey, I'm new. Just signed up today, but I thought I would throw my two cents in.

All of the races you have lined out look great, but as others have said, some of them need a little work.

An idea I have had in my notebook for a while now, but have yet to implement, is a race that is a little more on the primitive side. This doesn't mean they have to be dumb or brutish, but they have a simple way of life and usually do not have any meaningful contact with the other intelligent races. For example; the Trollocs in Wheel of Time, or the Urgals in the Inheritance Cycle. Races such as these can play the role of the dumb, brutish, man-eating monsters as seen in the Wheel of Time, or they can be that way in the beginning and become allies and friends in the end like the Urgals. Or anywhere in between.

Just an idea I thought was worth sharing.

Best of luck!
-Vic
 
Thanks for all the thoughts guys. I am using your opinions to better my fantasy races and i just wanted to say thanks for all the posts. :)

P.S. Any names for the fire breathers are welcome.
 
Top