There are twelve species in the Phoviverse. Each race is free to live and worship as they please, but they are all individually looked after by the four deities of the Phoviverse.
Kaironian Species – Time-Blessed races of the Whenvern
The races chosen by the Whenvern see themselves as superior than others, as they were chosen by the First God. These species are powerful, and they seem to age slower than other races.
Thraki
Size: approx. 2m tall, average weight approx. 60kg
Colours: Varied, mostly whites, light greys and pale blues, matching their draconic deity. Darker individuals exist, with green and purple being prominent secondary colours. Eyes are always ice blue in colour.
Elemental affinity: Air
Description:
Thraki are tall, lean, muscular reptilian beings similar to wyverns of legend. They have long, slender necks, long tails with fins and spikes on the end, smaller lower legs with three claws and a dew claw each, and their arms are extended into powerful wings, giving the Thraki the ability to fly. Each Thraki has at least three horns on its head, three on their skill behind their eyes and males always have a smaller horn on their nose, the only real way to identify gender in the species. Most Thraki will have rows of spines or spikes running down their backs, as well as sharp scales that cover both their backs and chests. Their hands have five fingers and a thumb, three of those fingers are incredibly long and thick, and make up the large wings that Thraki fly with.
Most Thraki have the ability to breathe fire, and do so by mixing two combustible chemicals and spitting the concoction at enemies, which ignites in the air.
Spasts
Size: approx. 1m to 1.3m tall, average weight approx. 40kg
Colours: Any, including metallics
Elemental affinity: Electricity
Description:
Spasts are small, upright beings with canine-like heads, four eyes and long, pointy ears. They have fur that covers their entire bodies, as well as fluffy collars around their necks, wrists and ankles. A Spast has two fingers and two thumbs on both its hands and feet, and a long, fluffy, fox-like tail. Spasts are born with no colourings, with white eyes and white fur, but at the age of ten, they will choose up to four colours to represent themselves – one eye colour, one main fur colour, a colour for their furry collars and a tertiary colour for stripes or spots, if they so choose. Female Spasts have small, round breasts, which their furry neck collar will settle between, but outside of Spast territories, both genders will change themselves to be flat-chested to hide their genders, mostly due to their imbalance of having an 80% female population.
Spasts have the ability to change both their shape and their colour, often referred to as shapeshifting. While shapeshifting, they can reach any size up to 5m in length or height, although their weight often does not match up to their size, outside from the most talented of shapeshifters. While it is unknown how this works, Spasts appear to have elasticated bones and internal organs, that can be stretched out rather thinly. Unfortunately, Spasts can shapeshift even while unborn, and mothers dying in childbirth is still somewhat common despite their higher levels of medical technology, mostly due to the rupturing of internal organs.
They wear specially-treated white robes, sashes or togas that will stick to the body even while shapeshifting, but Spasts care little about covering anything apart from their private regions, which, most of the time, can’t be seen through their thick fur anyway.
Athrens
Size: approx. 2.2 – 2.7m tall, average weight approx. 150kg
Colours: White skin, grey natural armour plating, ice blue, pale pink, pale blue, aqua, pale green, teal or lilac fur, ear tips, tail tips, fingers and toes.
Elemental affinity: Sound
Description:
Athrens are tall, lithe, thin beings with a thin, armoured plate that runs up their short heads, coupled with very large eyes and ears and small mouths and nostrils. They have small amounts of armoured plating on their chests, forearms and lower legs, with a short mane and a small collar of fur around their necks. They have three fingers and a thumb on their hands, and four claws on their feet. Athrens have long tails that split off into two separate points.
Athrens have three genders. All Athrens are born neutral and lack genitalia until adolescence, where only the strongest will gender male. 10% of all Athrens are male, 40% gender female and the rest remain neutral, until a male or female dies and a new position is opened up. A neutral can turn either male or female, and can return to being neutral if they do not mate for a set period of time. Males can be identified by a horn on their snout, while females and neutrals can only be identified via the scent of the pheromones they produce.
Athrens wear simple clothing, mostly just a pair of shorts that covers their private parts, as well as a bag to carry their personal belongings.
Epanian Species – Space-borne races of the Goddess of the Deep
Like Epani herself, the Epanian races are considered cold and independent, but they are also loyal and helpful if you take the time to get to know them.
Rethavok
Size: approx. 2.2 – 2.7m tall, average weight approx. 150kg
Colours: Light grey to dark grey, nearly black skin. Natural body plating can be any colour, based on the colour of their parents. Most Rethavok have gold, yellow, red or orange eyes, although purple and blue have rarely been seen.
Elemental affinity: Light
Description:
Rethavok are tall, muscular, upright beings with thick arms and legs, armoured skulls and armour plating that covers their chest, groin, parts of their upper legs and forearms, parts of their thighs and almost entirely covers their lower legs. The majority of Rethavok will also have plating that runs down their backs and along their thick, powerful tails. Rethavok have three large claws and a thumb on each hand, and three claws and a dew claw on their feet, all of which need to be trimmed regularly. Despite having armour thick enough to stop small calibre bullets, most Rethavok will wear additional metal or leather armour on top of their organic plating, as well as across the neck and stomach. A cloth wrap is tied around the stomach, and a long loin cloth is also worn to hide the private areas.
Most Rethavok are split between two castes, a more powerful and intelligent ruling caste and the more numerous but slower and less intelligent soldier caste. Members of the ruling cast will have additional pieces of natural armour plating across their head plate, around the back of their head and around their shoulders. All Rethavok are intersex, being both male and female, and show no obvious preferred gender outside of egg-laying, but will start referring to themselves and others as he/him if removed from Rethan society for a long enough period of time.
Lanex
Size: approx. 2m tall, average weight approx. 100kg
Colours: Metallic silver external skin, often painted in a large array of colours using varnishes similar to nail polish, with one base colour and up to two secondary colours. Organic flesh is either dark red, dark green, dark blue or dark purple, and eyes are always either orange, green, lime green, red, purple or ice blue.
Elemental affinity: Gravity
Description:
Lanex are biomechanical entities, with metallic, almost robotic bodies, powered by muscles embedded within the metal. Each Lanex has four fingers and a thumb on each hand, but triangular, flat feet with no obvious toes. They stand completely upright, lacking tails, although some Lanex do have skeletal but non-functional wings. Lanex have flat faces with forward-facing eyes, small mouths and no obvious nose or ears, instead having simple holes where these organs would normally be located. Every Lanex wears a specially designed mask that gives them abilities based on their duties within Lanex society.
While Lanex do seem to have male and female genders, there are no visual ways of determining gender. The only difference seems to be the pitch of a Lanex’s voice, but low speaking females and high speaking males are both somewhat common. While Lanex are mechanical beings, they are born that way, with the organic body parts growing in before the mechanical parts, and the mechanical parts are shed and regrown twice before reaching adulthood.
The mechanical parts of a Lanex make them heavily armoured, but most Lanex will also wear cloaks or capes to disguise their awkward shape.
The Torr
Size: approx. 1.7m tall, average weight approx. 100kg
Colours: Black skin with silver, gunmetal, copper or gold face plates and gem armour appearing in red, blue, green, purple or orange.
Elemental affinity: Earth
Description:
Torr are bipedal entities with long, heavy, muscular arms and thick, stompy feet. They have a heavy, metallic plate across their reptilian snouts, with holes for their eyes, nostrils and a space for their jaws. Scale-like plates cover the backs of their hands, across their kneed and thighs and up their chests, while large gem-like scales cover their shoulders, backs and necks. They have three hoof-like snubs on their feet and three fingers and a thumb on each of their large hands, tipped with hardened claws that are easily capable of digging through terrain. Torr have somewhat short tails which flop uselessly from side to side if a Torr is bored or unoccupied, and remains curled up while they are busy.
Female Torr are larger than their male counterparts, with more body mass, stronger muscles and wider hips designed for live child birth. All Torr, regardless of gender, wear plain overalls, decorated with custom-made patches generally tied to their jobs or hobbies.
Sinian Species – Life-Worshippers of the Allbirther
Yisini loves all the races she has created, but her chosen races are all blessed with enhanced fertility and a little extra protection from the ravages of time.
Temthans
Size: approx. 1.5 – 2.5m tall, average weight approx. 120kg
Colours: Temthans can be almost any colour except white, grey or black.
Elemental affinity: Nature
Description:
The Temthans are a very varied species. They are powerful, reptilian beings with scales that run across their heads, backs, sides, shoulders, upper arms and tails. Female Temthans have a pair of breasts on their chests, which produce a blood/milk mixture used to feed their young after they have hatched from their eggs. Aside from being scaly, bipedal and having three fingers and a thumb on each hand, a Temthan can be all sorts of shapes and sizes, having anything from very long tails, to long, slender limbs, long necks, frills, sails, fins, additional limbs and wings, and a whole array of horns and spikes. Most of these traits can be traced down to a handful of specific original breeds, but all Temthans can breed with other Temthans, and the majority of Temthans these days are considered ‘musses’, similar to how most dogs without a specific breed are considered as mutts. A handful of pure blood lines exist, but even these have been mixed into Temthan society, mostly due to how fertile and sexually active the average Temthan is.
While Temthans have no problems wandering around naked when in secluded areas, they do often cover up their genitalia and breasts with fabric wraps when going out in public. Males will typically wear shorts or kilts, while females will wear dresses, shorts, skirts and vest tops. Underwear is rarely worn, except in places where they mingle with other species.
Vohra
Size: approx. 1m tall, average weight approx. 50kg
Colours: Black, white, brown, blue, red or green skin; green, light blue, green, orange, blue or red eyes, dull grey natural plating
Elemental affinity: Psionics
Description:
Vohra come in three forms, a juvenile stage (what most just refer to as Vohra) and an adult male and female stage, named Vahrga and Vahyra respectively. All three stages have large heads with a heavy armour plate covering most of the head, as well as enlarged lower canines that stick out from the jaw. Their eyes are large and glow lightly, allowing them to see in the dark. Each stage also has a thick stubby tail, two thick claws and a thumb on each hand, and two claws and a rear claw on their feet.
Juvenile Vohra are somewhat upright beings with large heads and bodies but small limbs. Their necks are rather thick and stubby but flexible, giving them the ability to turn their heads approximately 260 degrees. They have small amounts of hard, grey plating across their chests, backs and around their knees, elbows and base of their tail. Vohra are almost never more than 1m tall.
Adult females, Vahyra, look similar to their juvenile form, except heavily bloated, their bodies transformed into baby-making factories. They become unable to move and their jaws open up far wider, in order to lay eggs via the womb that develops above their lungs and heart. Most of their armour plating falls away, and their arms are slightly longer than normal in order to better reach parts of their massively bloated bodies. Vahyra can reach huge sizes, often weighing over 300kg and standing at about 3m tall and wide.
Adult males, Vahrga, take on a more quadruped form with way more armour plating. Again, their jaws open up far wider and their tongues grow incredibly long. Vahrga claws are also longer and sharper, and they are far more muscular in general, reaching a length of about 2.3m long and weighing about 150kg. Vahrga are designed to do two things, to mate with Vahyra and to protect their queens and their children with their lives, and thus are incredibly aggressive, devolving into feral beasts if they can’t do their jobs. There are generally more Vahrga than there are Vahyra in a nest, and they will compete in order to mate with the females.
Vohra do not traditionally wear clothes, but the Vahla, guardian Vohra that defend individual nests and doing work that their queens can’t physically do, will wear a short sash and necklace to indicate their rank to outsiders.
Vrekans
Size: approx. 2m tall, average weight approx. 120kg
Colours: Darker skin tones, generally black, dark grey, brown or blue, with brighter neon patterns across their bodies.
Elemental affinity: Water
Description:
The Vrekans are a race of beings that formerly spent a lot of time in the water before adapting to a more permanent life on land. They are slender beings with slippery skin, but this is in fact a feathery down coated in various oils to keep it smooth. They have five fingers on both their hands and feet, which are webbed to give them better direction while swimming, although most of their movement is accomplished by their muscular tails, which end in a large fin that propels them through the water at high speeds. Vrekans have short, sharp beaks with forward-facing eyes, as well as flaps of skin that cover the ears and nostrils. Across a Vrekan’s back and chest, they have a line of glowing dots, which younglings use to keep track of their parents.
Females are generally smaller and weaker than males, and a male will often have a collection of females that he looks after, feeds and protects. Males also often have additional glowing parts across their arms and legs.
Arkadinian Species – Decay-Bound races of the Thantophor
The Thantophor had little choice with his species, as he was given the races that the other gods didn’t want, but he still aggressively protects them, believing them to be as abandoned as he often is.
Skyavok
Size: 1.5 – 1.7m tall, average weight approx. 60kg
Colours: Grey, dark grey or black skin with bright armour plating.
Elemental affinity: Shadow
Description:
Skyavok are short, upright, reptile-like beings with shortish snouts and an armour plate that protects their head. They have large eyes that allow for good eyesight in the dark, large nostrils, and short, sharp fangs that stick out from their top lips. They have two claws and a thumb on their hands, and two front claws and a prehensile rear claw on their feet, as well as incredibly long, prehensile tails. Similar to their cousins, the Rethavok, they have thick armour plating covering their chest, groin, forearms and lower legs, but lack plating on their upper arms and thighs. They are also intersex, being both male and female, but will happily use any gender term and take little offence if outsiders get it wrong. The colour of a Skyavok’s rubbery skin is always a darker shade of grey, but the colour of their armour plating is always one or two colours. The colour of their armour though is completely random, and has nothing to do with their parents or heritage.
Skyavok wear more clothes than most races, due to their dislike of bright lights. Many Skyavok will wear hoodies or head scarfs, as well as baggy shorts. A wrap around their stomach is also common, and in hotter weather, heavier lower clothes are replaced with a loin cloth.
Banikans
Size: approx. 3m tall, 4+m long, average weight approx. 200kg
Colours: Bright yellow, orange, red, green, blue or purple, with black stripes and markings across their backs. Claws, teeth and horns are always black, as are their bones. All Banikans have red eyes, with black markings around them.
Elemental affinity: Fire
Description:
Banikans are colossal beasts with heavy, muscular bodies, coated in large amounts of sharp fur, with a shape similar to that of a kangaroo. They have 75cm-1m long horns that stick out from the back of their heads, and 5cm long claws on their two fingers and thumbs. They have similar claws on their toes, as well as dew claws, but their feet are long and extended, as they are capable of hopping at great speeds towards their targets. A Banikan’s tail has up to eight sharp spikes on it. Their long jaws are filled with small, sharp, conical teeth that interlock with each other, but Banikans can regrow teeth if they lose them.
Both male and female Banikans have pouches on their stomachs where they keep their very young, although, due to their horns, a Banikan joey will only stay in the pouch for a couple of months, and only females have nipples with which to feed the babies. While females are slightly larger than males, males generally have more spikes on their tails and slightly longer horns, which are used in courtship displays.
Many Banikans will wear heavy leather armour on their arms and legs, decorated with the bones of the beasts they have hunted and killed. On their backs, they’ll wear a blanket or shawl that covers their shoulders, and are known to add metal rings to their horns as extra decoration.
Ksithans
Size: approx. 1.9m tall, average weight approx. 100kg
Colours: White, dark blue, dark green, medium brown, black, dark red, rarely light grey or purple.
Elemental affinity: Ice
Description:
Ksithans appear reptilian at first, similar to Temthans, but are a mammalian race of creatures with medium snouts filled with sharp teeth and sharp claws attached to their fingers. They have furry manes and collars, with two sharp horns on their heads and small, pointed ears tucked underneath. Their manes run from the top of their heads, down their backs and along their long tails, ending in a fuzzy point. Many Ksithans have an array of scale-like plating across their shoulders, elbows, chests and thighs, although this varies between individuals, with some of the plating sometimes being quite thick, other times being incredibly small, like alligator scales. A Ksithan has two fingers and a thumb on each hand, but their thumb is adapted into a raptor-like claw on their feet, which is used for both attacking prey and giving them better grip in snowy terrain.
Male Ksithans are taller and more muscular than female Ksithans, and female Ksithans will have a small pair of breasts on their chest. Both genders have additional fat on their bodies to protect them from the cold, and will often wear multiple layers of clothing, starting with thin vests, specially made socks, gloves and underwear, followed by longer-sleeved tops and leggings, as well as thick jeans and hoodies on top. Despite the layers, Ksithans can regulate their body temperatures incredibly well, and can keep themselves safe and warm even if naked at below freezing.