Zhen Liu Guide: Humanity ain't alone in the Universe (Hallelujah)
As far as I can tell there are technically three main line races on Valresta: Humans, Bloodliners and Aetherii. That last one gets a little weird, but they all share a similar trait, which will be explained later.
For whatever reason, all three still look vaguely human, not sure if that's by choice or just nature being nature, regardless, it's weird.
There are very few if any barriers between the races when it comes to offspring. They can either look like one specific parent, or they might end up inheriting traits from both.
If Earth human biology works off a punnet square, Valrestan interspecies breeding work off a pair of dice.
Regardless, let's take a look at the races that call Valresta home.
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Humans: You know them, they're everywhere
....
What?
You want me to explain humans?
Alright, real fast: Look at a mirror, look up the word "people" on a computer and then look up a picture of JLO and realize you may never get a girl like her unless you make some major life choices.
Humans on Valresta are like Humans on Earth, simple as that...well okay there are two things.
Firstly, for whatever reason, humans and those who are the descendants of humans are able to produce and make use of Anima.
No idea why, but some historians and myths on Valresta suggest that humanity did not develop naturally on the planet, so maybe there's something there.
Secondly, humans have weirdly flexible genetics.
As in the other two races of Valresta can intermingle with humans like...really easily.
Shenanigans abound.
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Bloodliners: Furries and Kemonomimis, everywhere
It is a fact that when a naturally occurring aether beast reaches a high enough level of strength, they can take on humanoid forms at will.
It is also an unfortunate fact of life that those in power have a tendency to produce a lot of offspring with a lot of people, willing or not.
When you combine these two facts together, you end up with a group of quasirelated ultra powerful ancestral warlords simply called the Progenitors, who intermingled with humanity enough times to produce a lot of offspring, who then intermingle with each other, to produce an entirely new race of people. Like Genghis Khan, except with animalistic traits and maybe magical powers.
Depending on how prevalent a specific bloodline is in a Bloodliner, the traits they develop physically can vary. It can be as simple as some strange looking eye colors, horns and possibly a tail on an overall human frame, or they're just straight up animal-human hybrids.
Fuzziness/scaliness aside, Bloodliners get the added bonus of being able to tap into their ancestral power to either physically, mentally or energetically boost themselves.
For example, the Stampeding Bison continent was once home to a Demigod Grade Bison beast known simply as the "Unbreakable Nomad". He ended up conceiving an entire nomadic culture and people known as the "Unbroken Nomads".
They're incredibly tall, muscular, have horns like bison and can basically pull with the strength of at least ten normal oxen on the average. Some warriors of the Unbroken Nomads are able to tap into their ancestry to amplify this strength by a factor of ten, twenty, and in rare cases a thousand, as well as call upon a shadow of their ancestor in order to strengthen art usage.
It should also be noted that Bloodliners can't produce offspring with one another, if they have incompatible Progenitors, and I don't mean genetically or in terms of species.
Going back to the Unbroken Nomad, he apparently had a hatred for a rabbit Progenitor who went by "Snowblind King", so much so that his descendants are unable to produce offspring with the Snowblind King's descendants, despite the two groups having long buried the hatchet themselves.
The nomads are able to mix with the descendants of the "Blood Ocean Lion Tyrant" though...
Weirder still, if a bloodliner and a human have a kid, that kid can intermingle with any bloodliner regardless of Progenitor as well.
Regardless, that are bloodliners in a nutshell...magic furries.
It should also be noted that I have asked the following question before: "Hey wait, if there are basically magical beast people running around, why can't I just lie and say my kaijin are basically those?"
Tl; Dr: Uncanny Valley is a bitch.
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Aetherii: Elemental my dear minmaxed little shit.
Technically speaking, there are six different races that make up this category, one for each of the continents and elemental expression of aether.
The Stampeding Bison continent is home to the dwarves.
Roaring Tide is home to the undine.
Dozing Salamander is home to the orcs, who have red skin by default in this world.
Soaring Gryphon have the djinn.
Radiant Feather has the high elves, while Umbral Spider has dark elves.
Please note, these guys have proper names: Terraquorm, Aquarums, Ignorums, Aerorum, Luxarum and the Caligorum, but they looked like the aforementioned mythical creatures back home, so I've been labelling them as such in my head.
Now you're probably wondering why I have them grouped up in one category if they should all technically be distinct, and there's are three good reasons for that.
First, all aetherii have the highest purity possible in terms of aether expression by default. In practical terms, this means that they're able to perform aether arts of a specific element at double the power at max efficiency, while being unable to perform an art of an opposing element at all. I.e., gillmen can't use fire arts, duh.
Second and more importantly, their souls and formulas are physically and visually part of them, as a crystal embedded in their flesh.
Now solidifying one's aether into a core of sorts isn't that unheard of, aether beasts are able to do so in a crude manner, while rumor has it that Aether Emperors have to do in order to progress, but the weird thing is that the aetherii are just...born with it.
Needless to say, this born-in aether core give the aetherii the ability to cultivate quite easily, provided they have the appropriate formulas that fit their cores to a T.
For all intents and purposes, it should be logical to assume that with all of these advantages, one of the aetherii races should have taken over the world by now.
Unfortunately, the third reason why they're grouped together is also why they haven't: the aetherii are highly dependent on dense environmental aether.
Due to their souls being exposed to the outside world, environmental aether has an even greater effect on them.
In places where an aetherii have compatible aether, their power is essentially doubled...in places where it's not, they're swinging at half or a quarter of their strength. This is actually why I called them minmaxed little shits.
There are supposedly rare medicines and treasures that can help with this issue, but only heaven knows where those things are.
This restriction also prevents the aetherii from being able to crossbreed with each other, the same cannot be said when humans get involved.
While fundamentally rare as hell for half bloods to exist, they're usually an aetherii or a human, the ones that do get born have a shit ton of power and potential inside of them, due to essentially having two souls.
I don't get how it works, I know biology not...magic biology.
Now you're probably wondering: "Wait a second, shouldn't there be an aetherii for the Omni attribute of aether if there's one for each contient?"
The answer to that question is as follows: There were, then they got uppity...now there aren't any.
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And that's all of the races found on Valresta...I think.
I have read that maybe there were/are more races, but they could only be found in the wandering ruins...
Starting to think Valresta is some kind of crossroads...
Regardless, I hope you found this little pamphlet on the people of Valresta somewhat helpful. If you'd like to know more on my insights of the place, feel free to either read the pamphlets or suck my ass for stealing this.
Zhen Liu, out.