Cactacae

Description

Tall, bulky humanoids with green skin, jutting spines, and at the right time of the year, flowers. They appear to be a human-cactus hibrid, though no two Cactacae look alike as they each have their own pattern of scars both incidental and decorative, and spines. Many pluck their spines, especially on their hands.

Diet

Omnivorous, though most food is eaten in mulch-like form.

Society

Cactacae are a warrior race, often acting as bodyguards for other races. They are difficult to kill with normal weapons as they have a unified, plantlike internal structure with no bones or organs to speak of. This has given rise to "Reaverbows" which shoot large spinning metal disks. Most catacae live in a neighborhood known as The Glasshouse, a large hemispherical construction of metal and glass covering several city blocks. Cactacae prefer the higher temperatures maintained inside.

There is no direct intercourse between males and females of the species. Instead the females deposit egg-pods in great communal nursery beds which the males then pollinate with ejaculate. There is therefore no atomic family structure, instead a close bond often forms amongst each generation and nursery group.

Cactacae scars can be extremely complex, conveying a number of messages about an individual's generation, group, political affiliation, and so on. They may be stunningly beautiful or, in the case of warriors, grotesque.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Garuda

Description

Humanoid raptors, Garuda stand seven feet tall or more. In addition to their claw-footed legs and dextrous hands, great wings sprout from their shoulders allowing them flight. Coloration extends through most earth-tones, with desert Garuda favoring browns, tans and reds and city Garuda tending to be darker. The males wear kilts and the females shifts, but there is no visible difference between the sexes.

Diet

Garuda are omnivores but famed for their hunting skills.

Society

Garuda are pure anarchists and communists. The only thing forbidden in their society is to deny another sentient being the ability to make choices. The extreme and obvious examples of this include things such as rape and murder, but also includes denying another resources, education or an opinion. There is still a hierarchy, however, and the freedom of the individual is understood to be a function of the society itself - therefore the individual is most free when he or she works to the betterment of the society as a whole.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Handlingers

Description

Handlingers are a parasitic race. They are small creatures who appear similar to human hands, but with a tail. The tail digs into the host's flesh and from that moment the Host bodies are effictively dead.

Diet

As host body.

Society

There are two castes of Handlinger - Dextrier (right hand) warrior caste, who are able to fly and breathe fire, and the Sinistrier (left hand) ruler caste, which has psionic powers. The Sinistrier caste rules them vua a psychic council. Handlingers have been known to maltreat their host bodies.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Khepri (named after the Egyptian god) -

Description

Khepri are effectively an entirely female race. Females are tall, slim, red-skinned humanoids from the neck down, fully sexually compatible (but not fertile) with other humanoids. However, their heads are Scarab beatles - whole beetles about two feet long, attached to the dangling body's neck at the underside of the thorax. Khepri do not have humanoid mouths or vocal cords. Their speach consists of sign-language with their headlegs, and various chemicals signals. All Khepri have enhanced senses.

There are male Khepri, but they are non-sentient scarab beatles about two feet in length, and lack a humanoid body entirely. They are usually kept secluded in large swarms and treated with disdain by the intelligent females.

Diet

Khepri are vegetarians, and prefer fruit. By eating a particular kind of "glue" they are able to exude a substance from the gland at the back of their headbodies called (incongruously) kheprispit which hardens into a smooth chiton from which they can form any object they can think of. These are considered works of art, and are often statues. By mixing and consuming fruits known as colorberries they can add color to the otherwise opalescent kheprispit.

Society

Khepri live in matriarchies, as the males clearly cannot govern, ruled by powerful "Broodmas". There is some religious variety among them, but many worship the Divine Broodma and other female dieties, including the Knitter, and the Tough Sisters. Khepri tend towards academic or artistic occupations, though there are warriors (most often fighting in groups of three to emulate the Tough Sisters). Khepri sex is unpleasant, as the males mate mindlessly with the headbodies of the females, which is endured only to continue the species. Most clans or Hives of Khepri females engage in sex for pleasure amongst each other.

In order to live amongst other races, many of the Khepri have either learned to write or use sign language. By and large, however, the society remains very insular as is perhaps unsurprising given the language barrier.

Book Reference

The main protaganist of Perdido Street Station has a Khepri lover, named Lin - a reknowned artist.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Scabmettlers

Description

A tribal warrior race that lives in the oceans of OtherWorld. Scabmettlers often live at great depths and their blood has developed a magical property in order to withstand a great deal of pressure. Their blood pressure is extremely high, and the blood itself congeals at an incredibly fast rate into an iron hardness. Scabmettlers are covered in ritual scarring in various patterns to denote rank. Their name derives from their ability to shape their blood as it leaves their body, forming a kind of armour. Any weapon or missle which penetrates a Scabmettler's body results in an explosive spray of blood which almost immediately congeals, often trapping whatever made the wound.

Diet

Scabmettler are omnivores.

Society

As warriors they move to where they can fight, often becoming mercenaries or pirates. During their relaxtion time they often drink a special tea that has an anticoagulate effect. This tea is vital to Scabmettlers who live out of the depths of the sea for long periods, as they have been known to suffer from a whole body clotting, turning them into an organic statue.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Vodyanoi

Descrption

Vodyanoi are humanoid frogs and are amphibious, requiring immersion in water at least once a day. They are short and their bodies bulbous with webbed hands and feet.

Diet

Vodyanoi are omivores.

Society

They tend to be impatient, grumpy and cantankerous, though mostly honest workers. In Drumlin, most find employment on the docks where they can take a splash to keep their skin most, and where their water magic is most useful.

Vodyanoi are amongst the most magically-gifted races of Otherworld and are able to shape water as if it were clay, and have it sustain its shape for a period of time. The more powerful the individual the better the hold, though their magic collaborates extremely well - a common fishing technique for the vodyanoi is to shape a great trough in the water and chase schools of fish right out of the walls and onto the exposed ground. Additionally, the great shamans are able to summon Undine - water elementals.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Wyrman

Description

Wyrman are small semi-intelligent gargoyle-like humanoids. They're smarter than monkeys but not as smart as even a slow human, able to process simple speech (though they show a surprising aptitude for foul language). They infest Drumlin much like rats and for all their usefulness as messengers are considered terrible pests. Imagine the mess left behind by a pigeon the size of a six year old.

Diet

Wyrman are omnivores.

Society

None, though if one learns that a particular window belongs to a person who will give them money to do stuff, he or she will keep an eye on it and come back when signalled.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Remade

Description

Remade are beings who were modified or even entirely patched together from other races, though the majority of began as humans. The most common Remades are criminals who have been altered as a punishment, often to achieve a sort of eye-for-an-eye irony to make the results fit the crime. There is little to no recreational Remaking, and not only because of the criminal implications - the process is extremely painful, but all the same some Remade are job specialists that volunteered for the process, though this takes a special sort of dedication. Occasionally animals will be Remade to be more task-specific, such as giving steam powered legs to work horses or enhanced nasal brain tissue for dogs. Nothing is created for a Remade's parts - they are taken from elsewhere, if a Remade has an extra pair of arms, the arms have come from someone else - usually a corpse.

Diet

As original race. And possibly coal if they have steam-powered parts.

Society

The Remade are shunned and opressed because of the immediate criminal implications and often visually grotesque effects of their reshaped forms. Most, even the criminals, are treated little better than indentured servants, employed in menial tasks or as cheaper security than cactacae. They take what jobs they can and are grateful for them, however - the worst slums are full of drunk, dying, rotting and rusted Remade.

There are those who rebel, however: the fReemade. These come in two varieties - rebels and social activists within the city who often hide within the system and try to raise social awareness and sympathy for their brethren, and those who have escaped the city entirely to wander in bandit groups in the suburbs and countryside.

World of Origin

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series.

 

 

Skin-Changer

 

Description

Skin changers, unlike the true xenomorphs, are at most times indistinguishable from normal humans. Each, however, has a trigger

Diet

As humans, omnivorous; shifted, as animal form

Society

Afflicted with

World of Origin

General werewolf and world folklore

 

Vampires

 

Description

Posessed of formidable psychic and magical powers, vampires are by and large utterly indistinguishable from normal humans, save that they do not eat, and only a close inspection of an individual's dentition would reveal anything unusual. They even age, albiet at a slowed rate, and they will not die of it. At night, vampires must be careful to hide their slightly-luminous eyes, and it requires a conscious effort to keep their fangs from descending. As they age, vampires tend to become more physically refined as well, excess flesh fading slowly from their frames. If they don't feed, it fades rather faster.

Diet

Blood.

Society

To the populace, by and large, vampires are rumors, legends and bogeymen. No one is entirely sure if they exist, or if vampirism is passed on if they die of old age. This is because they hide very, very well. Aside from a loose sire-spawn relationship, there is little society to speak of amongst vampires. They may keep a few favorite thralls, but are by and large a solitary species. Still, a vampire owes a fair measure of allegience and servitude to her maker, because the act of making another vampire is a great sacrifice on that individual's part. There is only so much vitality that a vampire has, and in order to create another, he quite literally divides that power and imbues the initiate with half of it. This is extremely risky, as he is then at half his power and has fledgeling equal to deal with, if he survives the experience at all. Lovers suicides, thaumaturgical accidents and duels are not uncommon in Drumlin, but certain wound patterns are troublesome to the Militia. And so the longer a vampire goes without initiating another, the more powerful she grows, but as her power grows so does her hunger. She will find herself needing blood in higher quantities or potency, until only other vampires or powerful sorcerors or rare monsters will slake her thirst.

Vampire lines can be distinguished by the time at which an individual feeds. The phase of the moon and time of night are vital to sparking the thaumaturgical change that allows a vampire's fangs to fully extend . Each vampire has about three hours a night, three days a month, when she may feed or attempt to turn another, and that new vampire will share the same window for the rest of his existence.

 

Fair-kin

 

Description

Fair-kin appear as alien humanoids, though instead of a blend between human and animal features as with most other xenotypes, they are elemental, mineral or vegetable. They may be ent-like, or faintly rippling and always dripping, or glittering and crystalline, or in one infamous case, ringed in a thin nimbus of flame. It is not known how they breed, though Fair-kin young do exist. Unlike their often flamboyant parents kinder are all nut-brown with beady black eyes and too-wide mouths. They wear little clothing and shrug off all but the most extreme weather. Amongst the Fair-kin of the city, kinder have chrysallised into new types: iron, mortar, glass and even brick 'Kin have been reported.

Diet

Milk and honey are universally loved by fair-kin

Society

The Fair-Kin live in small clusters - they are a new presence in Drumlin and have settled in (or begun to create) the parks and small patches of green within the city. They do not close these areas off from the public, though the kinder run through them in small and seemingly lawless packs. There seems to be no parental instinct amongst them, the young do as they please, only occasionally scolded by the nearest adult. The Fair-Kin are amongst the most magical races in OtherWorld, and independant and University scholars, chymists, thaumaturgists and xenobiologists have fallen all over themselves wooing them to come to their various labs. They have also established roving cart-shops that move through the city selling various baubles and charms.

The adolescence of kinder into adult Fair-kin has only been recorded once within the city and remains a mystery - the interested xenobiologits simplly noted that there were suddenly a lot less of them and a fair few more Fair-Kin. They seem take on new names along with their new forms, and truly begin new lives, apparently retaining no memory of their former selves.

 

Golemns

(Earth and/or clockwork, suggest Discworld)

Description

X

Diet

Y

Society

Z

 

Ghouls

 

(Something Cthutonic)

Description

X

Diet

Y

Society

Z

 

Wishlings

Description

Wishlings are abominations of fate.  They exist, for the most part, without being tied to any threads of fate.  This allows them the ability to manipulate other people's fate but at a cost: no fate of their own and thus no will of their own.  Every being has a small control of fate.  Specifically they have control over one single thread of fate.  This small amount of control could be described as their willpower, and it provides them with a degree of control over their own fate.  A person can make their own fate, but often their tiny tread of fate gets tangled and interwoven with a fate thread much greater than their own and they lose this control.  A wishling does not have this pain, but they also lack the privilege of controlling their own fate and thus have no willpower.

 

Wishlings can see fate.  The threads of fate lay out before wishlings like a giant web covering the world, connecting people to other people, places, events, and other fates.  This view of the world provides them with the unique ability to also see all the thoughts, emotions, and motives of others as well as to locate anything that is hidden by tracing its fate.

 

Most importantly wishlings grant wishes.  With no will of their own and the ability to change fate, wishlings have no choice but to grant every wish asked of them.  This is both a curse as well as a path to their own salvation.  By making a wish a person gives up control of their fate to the wishling.  This is the nature of wishes.  One could accomplish something by their own power through their own will or they could make a wish.  Like exorcising a muscle, using one's willpower strengthens their control of their single thread of fate.  By making a wish and taking the easy way they let their will weaken and begin to lose their small control over fate.  If they let the muscle go completely unused it will atrophy and they'll lose their grip on their one thread of fate.  When they finally lose their grip, the wishling can steal the wishers thread of fate and make it their own, effectively stealing the wisher's life.  The wisher, now threadless, becomes a wishling themselves, completely disconnected from fate.  This shift causes both lose their memories of anything before the change over.  The new wishling will vaguely remember their old life whenever they are near the old wishling and their old thread of fate.  The old wishling will since a bizarre familiarity with the new wishling and feel and odd sense of emptiness whenever they are near the creature.  The old wishling will find it difficult to trust the new wishling.

 

A wishling will appear as they did before they became a wishling, except paler and less noticeable.  A wishling does not stand out in a crowd and is easily forgotten unless one notices just how green their eyes are.  Their eyes are a very, very bright green.  At night, they almost seem to glow.  When a wishling steals someone else's fate they actually become that person and take on their appearance.  It's almost as though they were always that person, except they don't remember anything before the moment of capturing their fate.

Diet

Wishlings lack a truly substantial form and therefore don't require to eat.  They'll eat whatever you want the too, though.

Society

To be determined.