Drake

Drakes were the household guardians of the wealthy. They often have fantastic, terrifying, bestial shapes and formidable weaponry and armor. They are alert and mean-tempered, but can form bonds to a strong-willed individual.

However it is decorated, the body of a drake is made of extremely tough material, and so does not decay easily over time. Their internal repair and energy generation systems are also extremely advanced, requiring only a weekly meal of water and stone to keep the creature in good working order. They enjoy basking in intense heat as well.

A drake's purpose is to guard. While mankind was in disarray, most lacked anything of merit to be guarded. So, they created their own hordes. Trained by their owners to know what is valuable, they collected precious metals and gems, works of art, weapons, and sometimes information. A few of these caches have been recovered, after being protected and tended for hundreds of years, and the effects have been dramatic each time.

Beguiler

The creatures now known as incubi and succubi originated as the manufactured escorts of the most powerful leaders of the old world. They were gorgeous, charming, and passionate.

After civilization fell, they were forced to adapt quickly to repair damage and wear. Unlike most other quonhae, many escorts had some capacity for violence, either due to their owner's taste or to serve as unassuming bodyguards. Some learned to use these talents to procure raw materials their internal systems could use for upkeep.

Mostly, they needed skin.

Now, the few remaining beguilers live again in humanity's biggest cities. They lust after their old way of life, and seek out wealth and glamour and sex. Their new-found survival method, however, has made them animalistic at their core, and many fine evenings with their kind end in blood.

A succubus or incubus who cannot procure human victims is forced to resort to hunting animals, and takes on aspects of their appearance.

Gnome

Each gnome was created for a particular task, which they pursue monomaniacally. Every conversation with a cobbler gnome comes back to shoes; every request from a silversmith gnome regards the garnering of more silver. Long centuries of frequent isolation and forced time away from their given pursuits have left most gnomes with a rambling speech peppered with anachronisms and misremembered words. Only when talking shop are they eloquent and direct, and gnomes are unparalleled masters of their respective crafts.

They vary in size and appearance, generally hunched and genderless. Their bodies are seemingly composed of materials they work with - stone, leather, cloth, silver, tin. Small additional limbs for holding tools and doing delicate work are quite common. Inside their bodies are small fray factories which can break down most matter when consumed. This is used for power or repairs, or as raw crafting material when extruded from their hands or skin.

Because they will work joyfully at

Fey

The fey of the world are constructs tasked with singular purposes. Some mystics and students of lore refer to the fey as "quonhae", a name whose origins are lost in time. Most fey are old beyond memory, even their own. They belong to an age when such things as themselves were commonplace, and are consigned to an age when they find themselves to be mysteries and monsters, shadows of a time gone by wearing cloaks of myth and dreaming of what was.

The fey do not reproduce, but are remarkably resilient and able to repair themselves and sometimes each other using all manner of materials. Deep under these trappings though, and woven through them, are ancient cores of fantastic technologies. A fey corpse is of great value to those who know how to harvest and re-purpose such things, a fact any fey who has survived so long are keenly aware of. They are often reclusive or work to conceal their true natures if possible.

Jorvik

A well-pastured land, Jorvik is a republic divided into six states, which prides itself on being a center of commerce. Its complex electoral and state system has generated a thriving bureaucracy, while the abundance of paper and roads allow news and ideas to flow freely. Of all the Lands, Jorvik is the loudest, the brightest, the hungriest. Others believe in gods or kings or history, but Jorvik's people believe in Jorvik.

Each state, Lakester, Worses, Damsfield, Hendam, Havajo, and Grensheir, holds staggered elections for three junior, two senior, and one head senator, generally chosen from one of the three major parties.

The junior senators move about a great deal, meeting people, seeing the land, campaigning, and acting as go-betweens for the senior and head senators. Senior senators stay in the states themselves, tending to business and keeping in touch with the populace. To become a senior senator, one must spend at least a term as a junior senator.

The head senators reside in

Imp

Some protean-blooded can create imps. These little creatures can help analyze ailments that would be too dangerous to bring into a protean's own body, but are used only when a doctor's knowledge and tests have failed, since they sometimes die in the experiment. Imps are valued as assistants, guardians, and companions. Less principled masters have also trained them as spies, thieves, and assassins.

Creating an imp takes about a week, depending on the maker's familiarity with the process. To begin, the protean gorges on raw meat, viscera, powdered bones; all parts of an animal are needed. This gory feast is coupled with several potent herbal concoctions.

Following a long rest, the protean begins carefully weaving strands of their extruded blood into a tiny humanoid shape. This is an exhausting process which cannot be interrupted or the nascent creature quickly withers.

Land of Still Waters

Four burgeoning nations signed the Treaty of Still Waters 300 years ago. This pact of non-aggression allowed them to face their defenses against the threats pushing in from the wilderness instead of against each other and turn their attentions towards prosperity.

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