aces of the Savage Earth

Beside normal humans, there are several alternatives for player character races. Most other races were created by some amount of spirit shifting. The other races available to players are; Beasts, Talkers, Animates and the Riven.

Beasts

Beasts are descended from animals that were spirit-invested many generations back. Once a spirit is invested in an animal, that being is now a person, and can reproduce others of their kind, likewise improved. As generations continue, the human morphia asserts itself and each generation is somewhat more man-like, though throwbacks and prodigies are common. Most characters are assumed to be enough generations along to walk upright and have opposable thumbs.

There is a certain amount of complexity necessary for an animal to retain and reproduce a human spirit. Mammals are the most common, followed by birds and, rarely, reptiles and amphibians. Piscine or lower orders are not known to exist, neither are hoofed animals known to achieve Beast status.

Beasts are usually small populations, even if they are of a normally fertile race. Exceptions exist in the Wilderness, where some Beasts have achieved tribes of respectable population. Because the spirit of a Beast is a blend of human and animal, Beasts are roughly humanoid counterparts to their animal analogues. They will tend to have personalities, cultures and values commonly associated with their animal forebear (whether or not the animals actually possess these qualities.)

Therefore:

Rats are typically sneaky vicious scavengers who travel in marauding packs.

Mice are typically timid defenseless, poor and thrifty creatures.

Badgers are large, strong and solitary, with steady personalities.

Cats are vain, comfort-loving folk, but graceful.

Foxes are sly and tricky.

And so forth. It is possible that in exotic lands, there are exotic beasts. They may or may not be living in lands associated with their species, due to tremendous migrations enforced by the changing of the earth's climate.

Beasts can be smaller or larger than humans, but not to a great degree. Mice might be three feet tall, while most other small woodland creatures would be four to five feet in height. Unless strength is a perceived virtue of the animal forebear, they are usually weaker than humans. A Beast elephant or rhinoceros might have exceptional size, strength, or toughness.

The GM has templates for specific animals. Use this as a beginning point. Beasts vary widely in their amount of human-ness, so there is room for customization. In general, the more generations that have passed since the Prometheans, the more human-like the Beasts have become. But there is still tremendous diversity. Some Cat Beasts are little more than Talkers, while others are closer to furry humans with a few secondary characteristics of their animal forebears. Most fall somewhere between.

It is possible to interbreed between species, though fertility is limited. This practice is not a common one.

Beasts rarely have spirit manipulation abilities, and when they do they are usually weaker.

Other names Pookahs, Furries, Spirit Folk, Animen, Humanimals, Beast-men, Woodlanders or Critters

Talkers

It is possible for a normal animal to be possessed by a human spirit. These are rarer than golems and are simply referred to as talking animals or “talkers.” These are not usually player character material, but make good NPCs. There are two things that are normally used to distinguish spirit-animals from mundane. Talkers wear some item of clothing, be it a hat or a vest or what-you-will, in human fashion. Secondly, those without grasping appendages will wear a human-made thumb. This is simply a “wrist” strap and golden peg allowing the paw to have an extra digit to grip against. These are the marks of a “civilized” animal.

To create a talker, start with the basic animal from the Bestiary. Then add up to 25 points in skills, perks and talents. These points must come from Disadvantages. Characteristics may vary by no more than 3 from the baseline "standard" animal. Int and Ego can vary by 5. A character that was a human spirit placed into an animal body can retain all skills based on int or ego. Presence skills receive a –3 penalty (10 pt. Disadvantage) unless the animal is particularly imposing or cute.

Talkers can possess no spirit manipulation ability.

Other names: Talking Animal, Spirit-Wolf / Spirit-Mouse / Spirit-Rat, etc.

Animates

An animate is the rarest form of Spirit-shifted character. Animates are basically sentient Golems. They are people who have had their entire spirit: morphia, anima and psyche transferred to an otherwise inanimate vessel. In most cases, these vessels are human shaped. Examples of vessels might be a rag doll, a scarecrow, a metal armature or mannequin, even a bunch of wooden sticks tied into man shape. It merely has to be articulated or bendable. The anima will provide the needed motive force. The Morphia ties it closely to the body and enables ease and comfort of movement. The Psyche provides direction and thought.

Animates can normally only be created by a very powerful Master. Such a procedure is extremely tiring and not undertaken lightly.

An animate cannot be killed, only destroyed. They do not need to breathe or eat. They are immune to pain and do not tire naturally, though their bodies might require regular maintenance. The materials of their bodies are normal materials, and subject to damage. The morphia tends to keep the body together under normal usage and does strengthen their resistance somewhat.

The spirit's anchoring to the vessel is psychosomatic. An animate rag doll for instance, can have her clothing, stuffing, and even head replaced over time and still remain the same being, even though she possesses none of the original material of which she was comprised. Only the overall destruction or dispersal of the entire body for a significant time can truly destroy an animate.

They are bought using the spirit rules. Each animate is a special case, but they all work off of the same template. They should have strengths and weaknesses commensurate with their construction material.

Animates have a few unique requirements. Much of their energy and spirit is dedicated to maintaining their body. Very little is left over for growth or improvement. Animates characters often buy the Limitation Limited Experience. Likewise, every animate should have a fairly common weakness that is catastrophically impairing to their body. A living scarecrow, for instance might take 2x body from fire. A man of tin could easily rust. A rag doll might become sodden and unmoving if immersed in water. Likewise, all animates have the danger of being disassembled while helpless. If the pieces are not too small, or separated for too long, they can be reassembled and be none the worse for the wear. An animate cannot remotely control a body piece. Also, moving an entire psyche is difficult and usually results in some loss. Animates have spotty recollection of former life and can even lose entire skills. In an y case, their new existence is so radically different from before, that many adopt a new name or nickname to differentiate themselves from the person they used to be.

Finally, just because they are artificial does not mean they are unnaturally strong. An animate made of metal might have normal to moderately high strength (STR 10-16), but a rag doll would probably be STR 5-8.

Animates can possess no spirit manipulation ability.

Other names: Animae, Manikin, Marionette, Android

Variation: Zombie

In theory, a spirit can be reattached to a dead body, but this only animates the corpse, it does not return it to life. Most Masters would be loathe to do this. Though the morphia would tend to keep the body intact, even so far as to provide rudimentary healing, it would do nothing to prevent the smell of decay or the slow degradation of appearance. Limbs would not magically reattach. Also, the person would bear the social stigma of the walking dead.

Mutants and The Riven

During ages past, the Rex Infernae did many strange things to human-kind. Many people were experimented upon for inscrutable reasons, perhaps for use as living weapons or spies. Strange alterations were made to the human form, or blendings of the animate and inanimate. Most of these pathetic creatures are long dead, but some survived and bred true. These are mutants.

Mutants usually live in small communities of less than 100 individuals whose members share the same mutation. Mutant tribes are not very common. They are usually isolated or shunned. They may have a hideous or exotically beautiful appearance. They may have physical or mental enhancements. For game balance they must have a serious disadvantage commensurate to whatever exceptional abilities they might have. A player may design their own mutant tribe, but the GM will be the final arbiter of what fits the campaign or does not disturb play balance.

Examples:

A tribe of half human/half goats with extremely limited intelligence.
Humans with natural claws that appear from hidden sheathes but are subject to uncontrolled killing sprees.
A tribe that can speak with animals but have no ability to speak with humans.
People with glow-in-the-dark skin, with no other abilities.
Normal humans with octopus heads, but no other abilities.
A tribe with perfect night vision, but extremely sensitive to sunlight.

If a tribe of mutants have spiritual mutations that cause them to resemble traditional creatures of myth or legend, they are often called by that name. The tribes in the above examples might be referred to respectively as: satyrs, wolverines, beastmasters, specters, cthulhus, and ghouls.

Since individual mutants are generally indistinguishable from the Riven (see below), they are often shunned or avoided by city folk.

Mutants should not be thought of as powerhouse superheroes. Though they may have an unusual ability or two, these abilities must lie within the context of the game world (i.e. spirit-based or biologically enhanced powers are okay, telekinetic flight, energy blasts or invisibility are not.)

Mutants theoretically are capable of the same spirit-shifting abilities as humans, though the farther they deviate from the human norm, the less likely this is.

The Riven are another matter entirely. Somewhere in the wilderness exist horrifying things known as Reavers. No one is sure of their origin, but their effects are legendary. Reavers are balls of unknown energy, about 3-6 feet across. They usually appear during storms, but this is not always the case. They travel through the wilderness in erratic unpredictable patterns. When they intersect the path of a living being, they shift its spirit around. Most creatures die from this. Those unfortunates that survive are called the riven.

A Typical Reaver

The riven are people whose spirit, either morphia, anima, psyche or some combination of the three have been altered, enhanced, shifted or merged somehow. Riven are usually grotesquely disfigured and quite mad. Humans, beasts, animals and plants can be riven. Some of the more intelligent and sane form small communities, like the leper colonies of bygone days, where they can live their lives in a modicum of peace. Others wander the wilderness as ravening monsters killing or eating anything in their path.

Some particularly skilled adepts can reverse the effects of a Reaver, but generally, the worse the transfiguration, the harder it is to undo.

Sometimes an individual riven's mutation is minor enough to hide or disguise. Some prefer amputation of the affected part. Sometimes the mutation of the spirit is only the psyche, and the person is permanently maddened. The combinations are horrifyingly unlimited.

Examples of riven in order of increasing deviation from the normal:

A four-armed gorilla
An ant the size of a bear
Half-human/half lobster Tentacled horror

Other names: Freaks, Strangers, Muties, Oddities, Weirdlings.

Golems

Golems are not true characters, nor are they a race, but they are included in this section because they share many similarities with living beings.

Golems are much like animates, but are far more limited. A golem has no psyche, only anima and a morphia. Thus, they cannot think, but they are tireless workers. They can only perform tasks set for them by their creator. While these tasks can be fairly complex, they cannot be tasks that require a high amount of decision-making capability. They could pull a plow or a carriage, assemble parts, fetch and carry, even copy a book. But they would be stuck and unable to move if something goes wrong. Obstacles in the above instances might be an unexpected stone or detour in the way, ill-fitting parts, or an illegible word.

It might seem like these tasks require a certain amount of psyche to accomplish, and this is true. As stated before, no spirit transferal is absolutely pure. Just as animals invested with human psyche and anima gradually assume a bit of human morphia, so the opposite is true with golems. They are vested with anima, usually from the earth and patterned after human anima and morphia. They resemble humans in other aspects closely enough to cause them to develop enough psyche to perform simple tasks. They are not self-aware, however, anymore than is a plant.

Golems are used primarily for brute labor, or mindless repetitive tasks. They are much like animates in their physical characteristics, with the exception that they can be stronger or heavier. They do not have to support a psyche, and can thus expend more energy towards moving their bodies. Most golems are limited to proximity to their creator in order to keep functioning. True Masters might be able to make Golems that can last in the wilderness for a limited time, but this is a very difficult task.

Golems, of course, possess no spirit manipulation ability.

Other names: Robot, Worker, Automaton, Drone, Puppet