Today is another class about demon races. The people in the school have been asking for a class about some of the demon races that Lucas mentioned. Most of the people who have asked about them are students who have read about them from the book Lucas gave them and some other sources.
So Lucas went to a class that was almost full. He started his lecture with "Greetings, I hope you have had a great day. Now that that's out of the way, let's start with a simple question, which demon race do you want me to go through." Tora raises his hand and says "How about oni?" Lucas says "Ah yes. Oni, those demons from your homeland. Sure we can talk about them. But before fully start, does anyone know what oni look like?"
Tora raises his hand again, but Lucas picks Fiona, who was also raising her hand, and lets her speak. She said "They usually are bigger than your average human with quite a muscle mass. They have a varying number of horns, but most commonly they have two." Lucas says "That is the general understanding of oni, but there are some things I want to point out. First is that oni aren't necessarily bigger than your average human. Sure, they do tend to lean on that side, but that is because they are from the bloodline of oni that grow to be bigger. To further explain this, while you will usually see big red skinned oni if you ever actually see an oni, there are three more variants of them, or at least there was. There are also blue oni, green oni and yellow oni. All of them aren't necessarily big and muscular, but most of the red and yellow oni are like that. Green oni tend to be more of the same size as humans and blue oni are usually a bit smaller. That is, if the oni in question holds only one oni bloodline inside of them. They can be, and most commonly are, mixed blood. There is also a grey oni, but let's get through the basics first.
The red oni are generally attuned with fire, yellow oni are attuned with lightning, green oni are attuned with wind and blue oni are attuned with water and ice. While this generally dictates what element they can use, it doesn't necessarily mean that they can't use other elements as well. The attunement in this case means that they can use that element more effectively.
And when we talk about grey oni, they are rare oni that is born very rarely from any of the four oni variants. Grey oni don't usually have an attunement for any element, but instead they have much higher physical capabilities that rival the other oni using elements. Grey oni aren't usually wanted variation in oni communities and sometimes are even shunned, but they can live normal lives just like any other of their kind. People believe that grey oni are what oni were originally, but that has not been proven as of yet.
And now let's talk about horns. Generally speaking, the number of horns doesn't mean that much, but in some oni circles, the amount of horns oni has signifies their status. In these circles, having one horn means that you are spiritually close with your ancestors and are often depicted as wise. Two horns means you are either meant for providing food or to protect their home. Three horns usually signifies mischief or the combination of one and two horns qualities. Four regular horns signify that they are born leaders and should be regarded highly. And lastly five or more horns signifies that ill times are up ahead and that you are likely malformed.
The general consensus that all oni abide is that being strong and wise gives you status. There are varying ways each oni tribe tends to work and the color can also affect it.
Red oni tend to be more aggressive and have a more tribal system going on. Red oni usually build human-like villages, usually in an open field where they still can use trees as building blocks. They don't usually like human presence, but they can be convinced by showing sincere will to work along with them.
Yellow oni tend to be sumptuous and are hungry for wealth and honor. They build mostly flashy buildings thanks to their creative and outgoing nature. They build their villages near mountains or high altitude areas where there is still forest nearby. They love to trade with human settlements, should humans act in what they think are proper ways.
The Green oni tend to live in forests and build hidden villages. They tend to act cautiously with outsiders and once you get the brand "outsider" it is hard to get rid of it. Their sense of kinship is usually regarded as the most precious thing with them. Once you are part of the group, you become a person they would die for. This is why being labeled as an outsider is considered something harsh in their eyes. They don't like to reveal where their village is located, but once you build trust, they might let you visit. Out of all the other oni, green oni are the only ones who like to build things on trees.
Blue oni are regarded as the weakest oni variant, but their intelligence is often higher than the other ones. They tend to act calm and collected and show little emotion. This is mostly due to their culture and not what they actually like to do. They are actually quite emotional and like to chat with others, even if it is the most trivial things. But like green oni, they act cautiously around outsiders, but they aren't as bad as green oni. If you talk with blue oni long enough, they usually either build solid trust between you and the village, or you are branded as "rodent" that will tarnish the village's name. They are very perspective of every communication effort you make and that is why the blue oni are both the hardest and the easiest oni to befriend.
Out of all oni, blue oni were the only ones that built places that could be considered towns, often with yellow oni help, but still. I don't know if any of these towns still exist, but they usually are well built and coverned.
Grey oni don't really have a common way in which they act and neither can they build villages by themselves as there are so few of them. It is said that two different colored oni breeding together are more likely to get a grey oni, but that is debatable since the mixing of the variants happens often.
Now I don't know if the blue, green and yellow variants still exist, but I know that there is a incredibly small chance of two red oni getting another variant child, other than red and grey."
Tora raises his hand and says "Does a child of two grey oni make another grey oni?" Lucas says "I can't say for sure, as I haven't seen any of those cases, but I believe that it is more likely for two grey oni to have another grey oni as a child than when two other variants try it."
Then Lucas pauses for a moment and says "I believe that is the general gist about the oni race. Now let's get to another topic, chinshin. They are like a blend between spectral and material. They can naturally turn between a spectral for and a material form without any magical assistance. They usually have grayish to blackish skin color and have many different hair colors. They like to wear as little clothing as possible, so their sense of indecency is way different than most races.
Chinshin hail from desert-like biomes with little to no vegetation and have learned to stay in spectral form in order to not starve or dry out. They usually move in groups that consist of one or two swordsmen, one magician and one support. They build their homes by making a ravine via magic somewhere in the desert and building barriers around said ravine to not let sand. Some chinshin prefer to build towers instead of ravines, but those are often close to the ravine that houses other chinshin.
They say that what hair chinshin has dictates their personality to a degree, but I think that is mostly false since I have seen plenty of cases where the said personality doesn't match the hair. Either the effect of that hair color is so miniscule that it doesn't affect the owner of said hair or that the hair dictates the start of some personality, but can be switched to another via time.
Now let's touch on the subject of how long chinshins can stay in their spectral forms. The amount of time they can spend in their spectral forms is mostly proportional to how much they sleep. They gain energy that they call "yanam energy", which is the source of their ability to become spectral beings. The amount of yanam energy they gain during sleep is not the same for each chinshin and they can gain this energy whilst awake but in much more limited quantity. For some Chinshin, the amount of time they can spend in spectral form is proportional with sleep in 1:1 ratio, but with some it can vary to 3:1 or even 5:1 ratio. It highly depends on their bloodline.
Speaking of bloodlines, the most powerful chinshin bloodline is, or at least was, Aleahil. They are the most purest branch of chinshin, or at least most closely connected to their root of origin.
And now that we touched the origin of chinshin, the truth is that they are technically pseudo demons. They didn't come from the demon realm like most other demons, but instead they are descendants of spirits known only as "mainyu" who chose to become part of the demon race as much as they could without discarding their spirit origin.
But enough about their origin and what they actually are, let's get to the topic of their powers. The magic they use is a variation of Vert theorem that is written and spoken in a different language. The magic also includes the spirits natural ability to control mana in their own unique way, so the magic that chinshin use is inaccessible to non spirit beings. They also have the natural ability to commune with spirits and with it, they can use spirit based magic only accessible to spiritualists and the like.
Downside of being a chinshin is that they are incredibly emotional and sensitive. Their ability to "feel" things is somewhat different from how other races do it. This is likely due to them being spirits originally. I have heard that it is incredibly hard for chinshin to hide their true feelings, have a poker face or lying. They can do it, but it takes more effort from them.
I heard that thanks to them living mostly in deserts, they have kept most of their population out of the conflict of others, especially from the 500 year war. After all, they are generally peace loving beings that only wish to live the best lives they can.
But that doesn't mean that there aren't any fighters among chinshin. Their magic can be devastating and they have developed an unique way of swordsmanship that takes advantage of their natural abilities. I have fought with chinshins before, and trust me when I say that they can be absolute units on the battlefield.
That should do about both of the topics today. If you have any questions, ask them before the bell rings."