Races
Players of Aetolia may select one of 13 races to play as. Much as humans in real life come from all manner of places and backgrounds, these races comprise a diverse and flexible series of personalities, origins, and traits, allowing players to create a character that is exactly right for them.
Choosing A Race
In Aetolia's inception, each race came with its own set of statistics (Grook had high intelligence, Rajamala had low strength, etc.), requiring players to choose their species according to their desired class. This often made changing class difficult - a Rajamalan would have made an ideal 
[Syssin] with their balance recovery and high Dexterity, but with little Strength to speak of, a poor 
[Monk].
With the advent of statpacks, a player's stats are now divorced from their race, allowing any race/class combination to perform equally well, and allowing the choice of race to be a roleplaying decision. The races themselves possess four special racial skills, which are unlocked at levels 1, 25, 50, and 75. Though some (
[Scent] or [Leap], for instance) are considered dramatically better than others, these racial skills do not significantly affect your play experience.
Things to Consider
When choosing a race for your character, consider the following:
- Where do I come from?
- Naturally, each race has its own homeland(s), favored haunts, or other places of import to their culture. Rajamala hail from the Itzatl and other rainforests, Grook come from Ulangi, and Mhun are often born in Moghedu. However, in much the same way that no one would find a person of Pakistani or Thai descent growing up in America to be strange, your character's origin need not follow a strict set of rules. Your Kelki could have been adopted by a clan of Dwarves living in Khauskin, for instance; your Horkval could belong to a family who long ago moved to Djeir.
You should refrain from inventing a made-up location for your character to come from, however. Aetolia is an entirely charted world, and its greatest explorers would likely consider you insane, if you claimed you came from "Arcadia" or "a hidden village in the Liruma Scrubland."
- What do I look like?
- Consider your race's physical characteristics carefully. If you want your character to be six feet tall, an Imp would be a poor choice. If you wanted to have blue skin, you would consider a Kelki or a Grook, but certainly not a Human! When beginning the game, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Explore and look at other players, other NPCs. You can generally get a great idea of how your race is constructed by observing and reading its help files.
- What do I want to do?
- That's entirely up to you. The playable races of Aetolia have had many centuries to expand and build their cultures. Dwarves do not have to drink ale and strike anvils; Tsol'aa are just as comfortable living in an apartment or a mansion as they are in a homemade tree dwelling.
List of Races
| Atavian | Dwarf |
|---|---|
| Racial Skills: Flight, Hover, Air Stability, Blood Regen | Racial Skills: Alcohol Resist, Improved Forging, Endurance Regen, Rock Harvest |
| Winged humans, a mixed breed descended from the peoples of Aerie. | Hardy, hirsute beings nearly identical to humans, only much shorter and much stouter. Dwarves make their homes in a wide variety of mountains and hills. |
| Grecht | Grook |
| Racial Skills: Soaring, Air Stability, Nightsight, Lunar Regen | Racial Skills: Swimming, Underwater Breath, Water Regen, Fire Retardant |
| A race of bat people from the Northern Tundra, night-based hunters who soar on the air. | Amphibious "frog men" from the distant island paradise of Ulangi. Known for their love of intellectual pursuits. |
| Human | Horkval |
| Racial Skills: Imp. Meditation, Imp. Sleep, Selfishness, Blood Reserves | Racial Skills: Clicking, Leap, Health Regen, Listening |
| Among the oldest races of Sapience, humans call no single place home. They come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. | Evolved insectoid beings originating from the island Ulangi. They are one of the least-understood races, and are rumored to share a like consciousness, called a "hive mind". |
| Imp | Kelki |
| Racial Skills: Tumble, Willpower Regen, Stalking, Heatsight | Racial Skills: Swimming, Underwater Breath, Water Regen, Fast Swimmer |
| The favorite race of the late goddess Khepri, imps are very short humanoids, often bearing wings, tails, and horns. They are nearly as ubiquitous as humans. | Created by Slyphe from a combination of various aquatic beings, the kelki are the masters of the oceans, rivers, and other watery bodies of Aetolia. Most of them once lived in the city of Kelsys, before it was destroyed. |
| Mhun | Rajamala |
| Racial Skills: Dig, Underground Regen, Blood Regen, Rock Crush | Racial Skills: Grooming, Imp. Sleep, Dash, Scent |
| The mhun originated from the underground civilization of Moghedu. They are nearly identical to humans, but tend to be a bit shorter, with bodies adapted to dark, subterranean environments. | A race of feline peoples from the Itzatl Rainforest. Resembling the great hunting cats of the wilds, they are considered the quickest race of Aetolia. |
| Troll | Tsol'aa |
| Racial Skills: Satiation, Gripping, Health Regen, Natural Clotting | Racial Skills: Forage, Imp. Harvesting, Hide, Forest Regen |
| Massive, musclebound humanoids who originate from the ruined city of Hashan. | Slender and beautiful, tsol'aa serve as the analog for elves in Aetolia. Their race chiefly originates from the forests and woodlands of Sapience. |
| Xoran | |
| Racial Skills: Nightsight, Endurance Regen, Fire Breathing, Chameleon | |
| Massive lizardmen who spawned from their human ancestors. They have an affinity for flame, and rival humans as one of the most diverse races in the world. | |
Special/Unplayable Races
Though the above listed races represent the most successful and propagated species in Sapience, they are by no means the only sort of denizens you can see in Aetolia.
NPC-only Races
| Atav | Djeirani |
|---|---|
| The ancestors of the Atavian race, the atav are birdlike people who live in Aerie. When their population began to dwindle, a number of atav left the Vashnar Mountains, and mixed with the humans of Sapience. | The natives of the underground city of Djeir. They are much like tsol'aa, but with dark skin ranging from grey to blue to black, white hair, and slender figures. They are an analog to the popular mythical race known as "drow". |
| Seyda | Xorali |
| A very rare species of humanoid foxes. Seyda are not very often seen, and have perhaps been retconned out of the game, or forgotten altogether. When the Sentaari monastery was being rebuilt in Enorian, there were Seyda construction workers near the site. | A race of lizardfolk very similar to Xorani, who formerly lived in Hashan, but fled when the trolls there instigated a racially-inspired mass killing of their people. The only known xorali live in the town of Xoral, on the border of the Mhojave Desert. |
Endgame Races
At level 99, the transition to the endgame state begins. When a being grows to rare levels of astounding strength and will, they undergo a bizarre physical and psychological transformation, becoming a being referred to as a "Tekal". These Tekal feel an overbearing need to absorb Divine essence, which for players, means acquiring the experience needed to advance to level 100. Once there, they have two options: harness this collected essence to become an embodiment of life or death, or reshape the essence within them to transform into an otherworldly being called an Idreth.
All endgame races lose their former racial skills, and instead have:
- Health Regeneration
- Endurance Regeneration
- Willpower Regeneration
- Blood Regeneration
- Natural Clotting
Further racial skills may be acquired by spending haven points.
| Azudim | Idreth |
|---|---|
| Azudim embody the aspects of death and destruction, taking on the essence sought after by the more violent and cruel Gods. | Idreth are not very well understood. These strange and secular creatures use their own essence, not shared by any God. |
| Tekal | Yeleni |
| Empty, hollow beings who possess much physical strength, but a pervasive sense of emptiness. Theirs is a preparatory form, ready to change. | Yeleni represent the aspects of life and preservation. Their bodies are filled with the same essence of those Gods closely aligned with life. |
Note: Tekal does not appear to be limited to the races of Sapience or even player characters, as the Nazedha Emperor Baelak Shipbreaker was able to become one, though he never progressed past that.
The Races of Albedos
The beings who call Albedos home are as varied as those of their brother country of Sapience. With a considerably larger landmass, nature has had ample time and resources to sculpt these beings with far greater diversity.
| Ursal | Caentoi |
|---|---|
| Ursine humanoids covered in light, shaggy fur; natives of the colder environs of Albedos. | With canine muzzles and bristly fur, the Caentoi resemble man-sized and -shaped terriers. This hedonistic race tends to dominate the merchantry of the continent. |
| Utari | Golba |
| Ritually tattooed amphibious beings who inhabit the Albedi waters, worshipping the ocean as its own deity. | Massive, avaristic and rocklike, the Golba are amongst the biggest of the Albedi natives. In their older age, they tend to calcify, their body solidifying like stone. |
| Tarpen | Praexi |
| Small, built in a similar vein to marsupials, the Tarpen mirror Kelki in their love of tinkering, yearning to take things apart to see how they might be better fit together. No matter how new their clothing is, their top hats are always crooked. | Extremely small, implike creatures with draconic features. They range from the crocodilian to the humanlike, with long ears and heavily textured bodies. A disreputable species, scorned by much of the peoples of Albedos. |
| Aslinn | Vierkathi |
| Collaborating with the Dreikathi, the Aslinn are a fearsome race, ghoullike and ugly. | Close cousins of the Dreikathi; agile humanoids with beautiful, streamlined bodies and deadly quills. |
| Dreikathi | |
| The undisputed master race of Albedos: a race of beautiful humans, tall, sculpted, and reminiscent of dragons. They rule the entirety of the continent with an iron fist. | |