Fantasy writers - what fantasy creatures or races might you find in your world?

[blakestackman]

In my world of Qwé, the main fantastical races you would find there are Elysian, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins and Giants.

Other fantastical races you may find (To name only a few) - Cervitaurs, fairies, Minotaurs, mermaids.

Fantastical creature (To name only a few) -Dragons, Griffins, Bannogs, Pegisides and much more!

What variety of races and creatures would I find in your world?

[CarltonIsaac]

I've documented all of that in my book here -

STORM SOWN | Tapas

Fantasy/Action/Romance Novel.

Come over and have a look if you please.

[aarujarv]

I tried to avoid the more standard dwarf-elf-orc combination. You can still see they are somewhat recognisable or similar to those stereotypes but I've made the attempt at making them more inhuman. The Alyar, the D'yer and the Ereko.

The Alyar are introduced early on and are described as having skin with a fine stone texture, they are very tall and lithe and their eyes have no pupils. They have no almost no noses, instead a smooth lump with two slits and all of their features are somewhat round and smooth with no sharp lines.

Beyond the Void | Tapas

[thedude3445]

I'm obsessed with the idea of a "sociologically accurate" fantasy world, as in a world where all these countless sentient species exist and intermingle across a vast and diverse world. It would be so much different than Earth that it'd just be, well, a fantasy to live in it.

So, while I don't have any stories like this released just yet, I'm certainly aiming for a world with all the elves and dwarves and gnolls and gnomes, all the witches and liches and intelligent crows, living apart and together across a big timeline. A world with fifty different fantasy races seems pretty low, honestly. I'd rather it go even further.

For a better answer, Hands Held in the Snow (currently on the front page of Tapas!) only features humans, and then fairies are mentioned a few times. Someone finds a wood carving of a centaur from a distant land, but nobody's ever seen one in person. The continent of this story isn't very diverse for a fantasy world, is it...

Hands Held in the Snow | Tapas

[skicoak]

Squirrels, philosophical squirrels.

https://tapas.io/episode/1522725

[lomcia]

In mine you got:
1. elfs
2. dragons
3. centaurs
4. fairys
5. mermaids
6. driads
7. monsters (which i made xd)
8. dwarfs
9. unicorns
10. werecat

probably got more but forgot xd

[blakestackman]

It is wonderful to see what lay within your worlds. To me, I find these sort of topics most fascinating. Especially hearing fresh approaches to your classic fantasy races that we have all become familiar with

Thanks everyone for sharing.

[HippieGhost]

Aphing's Races are many, but of note is one of my own design: The Undarians!

Undarians are a race of seafolk with a salamander-like skin that are amphibious in nature. There are both saltwater and freshwater varieties, and subvarieties within. Undarians are genetically compatible with any of the other races of Aphing, with dominant traits that lead most offspring to be birthed as members of their own kind.

Notes about undarians:

• All Undarians are hermaphroditic, changing their gender at will

• Undarians view gender as something deeply personal, and sacred. When an Undarian changes their gender, a celebration is held in their honor. This is the Undarian version of a gender reveal party.

• Saltwater undarians have dorsal fins, round heads with 4 curved tendrils each, and carapaces on the bottoms of their feet, which are round and flat. They don't do well on land, but can survive.

• Freshwater undarians are more amphibious but are slower in water. Their tendrils are more like hair.

• Rarely an undarian and a harpy can give birth to a penguin undarian. Syra Ti'Dori is one such creature!

Aphing is also home to Harpys, Goblins, Wood Elves, and Drow, but I wanted to focus on undarians in particular.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

In the country of Forsara of particular note you might find two endemic species of dragon. The seadraon is about the size of a medium-large dog and like nesting on clifftops, diving for fish or hunting slower seabirds. Though territorial, they're more of a nuisance than any real threat to sailors. Comparatively, the mountain dragon is much larger and have been known to frequently carry away fully-grown sheep!

Since The End, however, the most dangerous creature is the Frekir, hulking predators from another plane with a particular taste for human flesh. Though not impossible to kill, it usually takes teamwork and not everyone will get out alive.

Also worth mentioning are the elf tribes, hunters and obligate carnivores that diverged from a common ancestor of humans back in the mists of time, who have limited trading contact with humans and a mutual understanding to generally stay out of each others' way (excluding the occasional curious person from either species, of course!).

There's a few more, things of course, but they haven't turned up in the story yet

The End of All Things | Tapas

[FafasMcMelt]

There's humans and the fey. But the fey bred with everything under the sun and created a whole bunch of monsters. They rely on a different set of senses to percieve the world, so communication with the fey or the creatures created by their breeding is impossible, so humans just have to duke it out instead of talking.

Technically there are elves, orcs, etc, but they are all treated as monsters in the story.

Classic Fantasy | Tapas

[vinoff]

Since it's an urban fantasy, the races are pretty common:

• Fairfolks
• Merfolks
• Witches & warlocks
• Shamans
• Werewolves
• Werecats
• Vampires
• Ghouls
• Incubi & succubi
• Shapeshifters
• Aliens

[KhanSpring]

Besides witches and mages, you have
- samodivi
- rusalki
- talasumi
- zmei
- upiri/vampiri
- winged horses, which I choose to summarise under the name sharkoliya
and many more.

Dennica (Daystar) | Tapas

[Neverseen]

I came up with some deer lizard things and guillotine worms

[Kittyfox]

In the world of Dreamcatcher, there are forest spirits, ocean spirits (merfolk), various types of human-animal hybrids, malicious/fallen spirits, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the listed species are the ones that have been introduced in canon (except for the ocean spirits).

[Kaydreamer]

Oooh, let's see. So far in the broader Dragonfeathers/Blue Star Rebellion universe, we have;

• Humans
• Elves
• Harpies
• Fauns
• Muila (Merpeople)
• Naga
• Arirri
• Kovlins
• Vampires (A race of Elves semi-severed from the Leystream.)

There will be more in time, as well. Those are just the ones I have so far.

[surenlicious]

Mine has original species. XD An example would be the Vritra, they are the pieces of the Dragon Vritra becoming his new incarnation and descendants. Taking on the nearly extinct humanity as their template, the Vritra now are draconic humanoids walking the world looking after the Sentient Mind in their progenitor's place. Like the dragon, they live for millennia and are only finding death by having thier minds eroding over time by the manifestation of their Jade Construct.

They can assume their original forms of Light and Time once they step back or project themselves in their dimension of origin, the Noesis Dictata. As they rule the Mind, everybody can assume a form they feel most comfortable in.

Jade Kingdoms | Tapas

[DaphnePanda]

As far as races go mine is pretty bland - just humans. But creatures. Oh boy, do I have a lot of original creatures for you.

• Saerin - part spirit, part elemental, part god. There are countless versions of these, each with their own form and personality. The individual types of saerin are attracted to certain physical objects, and even concepts. Ex: Tree saerin like trees. Battle saerin love the adrenaline rush that comes with an intense battle.
• Onhuda, or "Dream Demon" - a magical beast that goes through your mind and shows you the thing you fear the most. The more afraid you are, the better you taste.
• Mori-lin - a shapeshifting guardian beast formed of plants.

And a couple non-magical beasts:

• Hisun/emberjay - so named because they chirp like songbirds but look like a phoenix in the right lighting
• Cloudskimmers - four-winged amphiptere used for travel

I have a lot more, but I'll just leave it there

[EncryptedWriting]

Literally everything and anything. You think it, I have it. Werewolves? Yep. Vampires? Yep. Demons? Yep. Zombies, fairies, pixies, angels? Yep, yep, yep, and yep!

I have so many different, made-up races/species within my story, and they are applied to all different animals, giving them different properties. For example, the first animal we get is the Yehenma Hog. It is obviously a species of hog/pig, but there are a few differences varying with their fur, tusks, and living availability. The hog lives in the Yenhema swamp, and it is accustomed to strong foe, thus, it has built up a venom in its tusks that is rather potent to lots of stronger foe.

Edit: I completely skimmed over the main fantasy creatures that my MAIN CHARACTER IS TURNED INTO! A strigoi! Gosh, my mind is jumbled. Now I know lots of folks don't know what a strigoi is, well, they are a Romanian monster that is a mixture of a vampire and werewolf. I find them, in my story, similar to a ghoul. These creatures are incredibly rare, and they are simply that of being heard through fairytales. The few characteristics about the MC as she isn't completely transformed is that: a.) when angry or hungry their eyes turn bright red, such as that of a dragons. b.) their fangs elongate outwards to be about an inch in length. c.) black veins travel up their limbs, these limbs soon start to turn black the longer they are in blood lust. It is noticeable in the arms and legs. d.) their nails elongate to be able six inches in length per nail. They are sharp, deadly, and 10/10 wouldn't want to piss off.

However, the full form is even scarier. It is closer to that of a dragon & vampire monster, where their size varies from eight feet to ten feet. They have glorious velvet wings that they used to fly. Their skin is darkened and, some even describe it as, a bit scaly. Their muzzles are large, teeth sharp, and their eyesight is so on-point that they can catch the slightest movement of a spec of dust.

[Toastbuster]

As far as creatures go, the two big ones are ghouls and zaros. Where race is concerned, one might categorize the Hotbloods here, but that may depend on how you define ‘race’. A little about each of these:

Ghouls - The driving force behind the story’s central plot. Not a lot is known about how these things came to be or how they function, but they’ve basically taken over the world and kill everything for seemingly no reason. They are the reanimated corpses of deceased people and animals that slowly mutate and claw off their own skin until all that remains is a black leathery hellspawn with glowing red eyes that ooze purple blood. They cannot be killed, but do seem to feel pain and don’t respond well to light. There are ways to prevent a body from becoming a ghoul, including cremation and swift death. The quicker you die, the less likely you are to turn. That’s all I’m going to say about them here. If you want to know more, check out the story below.

Zaros - Enormous genetically engineered horse hybrids bred for fighting ghouls. They can only be owned by high ranking military personnel and are extremely unpredictable and aggressive. Sizes can range between small horse and elephant. They have the physique of a horse mixed with a large carnivorous animal such as a lion, bear, or wolf, and are saber toothed. Their fangs can grow to be as long as a person’s forearm.

Hotbloods - These guys are humans, but with a few key differences. They have heightened senses, strength, speed, and stamina, as well as a higher body temperature, hence the name. Their injuries heal much quicker than a regular person’s, and some even wield a special supernatural power called Paragon. Like the ghouls, how they came to be isn’t entirely clear, but what IS known is that they all share one common ancestor and must contain a certain amount of that person’s DNA in order for these abilities to manifest. Because of this, they must be inbred in order for Paragon to survive, and often have shorter lifespans and health problems as a result.

There will be more fantastical creatures/beings/races introduced as the story moves forward, and if you’ve read this far and are interested in finding out more, I invite you to check out my novel here:

Gederah | Tapas

[joannekwan]

I define the historical fantasy world of Secunda as one where cryptids exist.
Though still rare, many have been captured before and scientists are on the cusp of truly studying some.
While I make nods to some more traditional cryptids like Bigfoot in the upcoming sequel, I mostly focus on species that I've invented myself. This is largely in part to avoid treading into appropriation territory with Native American folklore.

I do also include legendary/mythological creatures like sirens (also appearing in the sequel) and mermaids (in the sequel sequel). But I avoid really prominent mythological creatures like dragons, unicorns, and griffins and say they've gone extinct. Those feel a bit too fantastical for my current setting of a more grounded 1900's.