Humans are the baseline humanoids, the most common of all races in the galaxy. Despite this, humans have no racial abilities of their own. They fit in with all other races, and can learn to emulate their abilities to a degree, but never master them.
Attributes: Body 5, Chi 5, Mind 5, Ref 5.
Schticks
By living along with some other race and assimilating their knowledge, a human can adapt to their racial abilities, purchasing the appropriate racial schtick at a cost of +5 experience points beyond what such a schtick would normally cost. This ability also makes humans able to breed with other species - thus the common Half Orc and Half Elf cross-breeds. These half-breeds, along with specialized humans adapted to various phenomena or environment, form separate subgroups of their own.
Cyborg
Certain humans can adapt to technology rather than to racial abilities. These people become known as cyborgs, and can stand a degree of physical enhancement beyond that of other creatures - almost at the level of SoulMechs. This is not a sub-race of humanity, this is a subgroup defined by their attitude to technology. Any human who has not learned any racial schticks and does not belong to one of the other sub-groups can turn out to be a cyborg.
Cyborgs pay only 1 xp for Cyber schticks, but are unable to bye racial schticks.
Elem
Elem are another sub-variety of humans - this time with elemental influences. There is one type of Elem for each of the four prime elements. They get their respective elemental sorcery schtick for free - even if they use DragonMagic and normally unable to use sorcery schticks - but are unable to learn other elemental magic or blast effects based on other elements. They do not have access too human versatility.
| Element | Attributes | Bonus Schtick | Alignment Tendency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Elem | Body 5, Chi 4, Mind 6, Ref 5 | Air | Chaotic |
| Earth Elem | Body 6, Chi 5, Mind 5, Ref 4 | Earth | Lawful |
| Fire Elem | Body 4, Chi 5, Mind 5, Ref 6 | Fire | Chaotic |
| Water Elem | Body 5, Chi 6, Mind 4, Ref 5 | Water | Lawful |
Pevishian
A sub-race of humans who have specialized in a school of magic instead of being versatile on racial abilities. Bearing runes indicating their magical affiliation on their faces and bodies, Pevishian live the magic - it is the center of their being. Each Pervishan starts out knowing a certain field of magic, and can use this schtick along with any variant of the sorcery skill including DragonMagic, which is what most Pevishan's use. They are unable to learn to use sorcery schticks related to their opposing school - but they can learn all forms of DragonMagic if that is what they practice.
The skin runes and eyes of a Pervishan have a distinct color depending on their birth-school.
Attributes: Body 4, Chi 6, Mind 5, Ref 5.
| Birth School | Color Theme | Bonus Schtick | Alignment Tendency | Prohibited Schticks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abjuration | Silver | Metamagic | Lawful | Divination, Illusion, Polymorphism |
| Conjuration | Gold | Conjuration | Neutral | Divination, Polymorphism, Blast |
| Divination | White | Divination | Lawful | Conjuration, Metamagic, Influence |
| Enchantment | Blue | Influence | Neutral | Blast, Divination, Death |
| Evocation | Red | Blast | Chaotic | Influence, Illusion, Conjuration |
| Illusion | Purple | Illusion | Chaotic | Death, Blast, Metamagic |
| Necromancy | Gray and Black | Death | Lawful | Illusion, Polymorphism, Influence |
| Transmutation | Green | Polymorphism | Chaotic | Metamagic, Conjuration, Necromancy |
Planetouched
Humans infused with the energy of the outer planes. Like Elem, they can manifest one sorcery schtick for free - but lack human versatility. They are unable to learn the schticks associated with the other types of planetouched.
| Type | Attributes | Bonus Schtick | Alignment Tendency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agroon | Body 6, Chi 5, Mind 4, Ref 5 | Flux | Chaotic |
| Asimaar | Body 5, Chi 5, Mind 6, Ref 4 | Light | Good |
| Echtaar | Body 5, Chi 6, Mind 4, Ref 5 | Law | Lawful |
| Thiefling | Body 4, Chi 5, Mind 5, Ref 6 | Darkness | Evil |
There are many planets in the DS:DragonEmpire that have, at one time or another, been dominated by forces of the outer planes. The blood war rages eternal among the lower planes, and sometimes spills over into real space. Various messianic cults open the gates of heaven or limbo, and techno-cultures manage to embody perfect order in this world. Such incursions generally do not last very long; either the DS:DragonEmpire intervenes to chase the outsiders away, or most life on the planet is absorbed into the outer plane, ascending or descending as the case may be.
However, even small incursions do leave traces in the physical world - creatures a forever altered by their contact with the supernatural. Others acquire their supernatural traits through more regular traffic among the planes - a planar artifact or being born under unusual circumstances may be enough.
Such creatures are called Planetouched, and generally have low status within the DS:DragonEmpire. Planar incursions are fought tooth and claw by the dragon overlords, and their living aftermath carries a stigma because of their origin. Still, many of them manage to prosper and advance to high positions.