(3) Special Race Subtypes

Races may have their own magical characteristics, or lack thereof, but sometimes special conditions on an individual will affect how they behave with magic, sometimes in a major way. Below are the most significant features. These race sub-types can exist in all character races and species, with a few exceptions.
It is strongly recommended that you read about magic forms and types before proceeding!

Ghosts are the most unique of the subtype races; they cannot be made by any direct spell.
Most of them have an affinity to a magic type which is decided by the way they died, their feelings at death and sometimes those of others involved too.
When an ghost is near, many mortals will simply feel the ghost's magic type a little more. A fire type ghost may very slightly make an area warmer, a wind type might bring a small breeze with them.  

Ghost behaviour is completely unpredictable from one to the next; some are aggressive, others are shy, some can recall facts from their lives, others still believe they are alive. This is because a ghost is a result of the individual's circumstances at death.

They will always bear some resemblance to the body they were in at death and will appear as a vague and misty looking figure; most ghosts can only be seen at night, however their presence (for the observant) can be felt at any hour. Only powerful and/or terrible ghosts are visible in daylight. Fortunately, harmful ghosts are very rare and require an unusual and 'provocative' death to be created.

Ghosts have varying "Lifespans"; the least harmful (and happiest) can last a matter of months whereas the very worst and most upset may take beyond a century to dissipate.
Some 'must' fulfill a mission of sorts before they will disappear and this is often as simple as journeying to a specific place. Most will simply linger around an area of significance for a period of time before disappearing.
How long they stay around will be dependent on the attachment to said area of significance, such as a particular home or person.

Do remember: ghosts are sensitive about how you treat whatever they are attached to. Even an ordinary and benign ghost can be turned into a longer-lasting pest through disrespect to their grave or loved ones, on a more positive note, this usually can be reverted through repentance or good acts in line with their own feelings.

Why does a ghost appear? Ghosts have a chance of coming into existence following the death of any sentient creature, however, it is still a rare event. So what can increase the chance of one appearing after death? - High magic potential in the area of death may result in a ghost (but not always) - Stressful situation at death may result in a ghost (but not always) - A combination of the two vastly increases the chance of a ghost appearing, and probably a very unhappy one.   - In the extreme of these two factors, malevolent ghosts that can hurt mortals are created. Types of ghosts: How they're made and how they (usually) affect others Please note, these are guidelines. Surely, there's very many ways to die and they do not always fall neatly into one type or the other. You will have to decide for yourself. Fire: Death by fever, burns, in anger. - A higher level of heat will surround it. Earth: During sleep, contented. (A common ghost) - Often an earthy smell follows these ghosts. Water: Drowning, many diseases, melancholic state. (A common ghost) - A more humid feeling can be felt in the air. Wind: In flight/falling, accidents, generally happy state of mind. (A common ghost) - A small breeze will accompany this sort of ghost Lightning: Being struck by lightning, sudden death, unexplained circumstances. - Can create a mildly tense and high-strung sensation in those nearby. Toxic: Food poisoning/other poisons, being vindictively killed. - Can create a mildly nauseous feeling, slightly spoil food and taint water. Ice: Freezing/frostbite, some types of exposure, killed callously. - The area will feel slightly cooler than usual. Magma: Extended time of dying, chronic illnesses. - Liquids may thicken, metallic objects may very slightly soften or become blunt. Blood: Cuts, wounds, severe diseases, hysterical state/berserk state. (A very rare ghost) - Can create a mild feeling of a racing or slowing heart rate. Dark: Complex feelings surrounding death or prior loss of emotion, self destruction. (A very rare ghost) - Will often negatively, though subtly, change the mood of others. Lights may appear dimmer than usual. Light: Death with prior loss of thought/speech. (A very rare ghost) - Causes sudden minor clarity or confusion of thought in others, lights may appear brighter than usual.

Found anywhere in Dragons' Cove, albeit still being rare, Spirits are an expression of life force through magic. Quite often they will be seeking to take on a body that fits them nicely. This is because in their natural state they seldom last very long at all, as their magic requires a constant and high presence of magic potential around them to keep them alive.
Once a spirit finds a body or object (though it must not have life within it) it can make a home there and usually become a normal being. When a spirit takes a body, the spirit essentially vanishes, and the body comes "alive"; the being will not have any extra or new magical abilities.
E.g If a spirit takes possession of a dead human, the human will not become innately magical or skilled in any new magic types than they already were before they died.

Spirits do not learn magic and are extremely sensitive to changes in all things magic-related around them; they can be easily snuffed out and just as easily empowered.

What they are A "spirit" is a combination of magics that make a purely magically dependent life form. Spirits are not just innately magical, they are 100% magical, and not one part of a spirit is truly physical. By default, a spirit has the appearance of the magic types it is made up of, in a ball-like cluster. Entirely depending on the magics used, spirits can take on the abilities of magic types and this too will affect their appearance. For example, a spirit containing blood magic might look like a floating mass of blood, or it might appear to have a physical body, as blood magic can create tissues. At the bare minimum, spirits are made up of light magic, regardless of where the spirit has come from. As such, all spirits can "think" and "remember". How to become one? It is possible, by a highly skilled mage, to use the triad magic types in a ritual to convert any sentient life, magical or not, into the small cluster of magics that make up a spirit. Depending on what the makeup of the subject is like, these characteristics will show through in the resulting magics that make up the spirit. Here are the rules: + Light magic will always show up + If the being showed personality/emotion, dark magic will show up + All other magics only will only show up if they were innately used. So, what happens if we try and turn an ice dragon into a spirit? By default, light will show up in the spirit because light is the magic of sentience and ice dragons are sentient. Ice dragons do have personalities and emotions; dark magic will be present. Ice dragons, owing to their name, innately use ice magic; ice magic will show up in the spirit. The spirit of an ice dragon will be made up of light, dark and ice magics.

A lich is the result of a spirit only partially possessing a body. The body can be moved and somewhat operated by use of the spirit, however the body itself is not considered "alive"; liches do not need to eat, breathe, sleep etc.
Note: Even if the spirit contained other magic types besides light/dark, these are not considered to have any additional effects on the lich.

The cost of all this is that they are only able to stay "alive" by maintaining a high level of magic potential around them to be used, and by preserving their host body; both must be kept up through a periodically used regeneration spell.

About Liches Liches live precarious lives. For all the numerous benefits that not having to eat, drink, breathe or sleep has, and the fact they cannot be killed directly through any physical attacks, there are high costs to pay. + Liches are extremely sensitive to magical changes around them. Although this does grant any lich a wonderful affinity to using magic and sensing magic at play around them, it also means they are very vulnerable to unfriendly changes in magic around them. For liches, it takes significant skill to survive even direct moderately powerful magical attacks. + Powerful magically, pathetic physically. Whatever their physical ability when a creature is mortal, in lich form this is largely lowered. Speed, strength, agility and dexterity are all lessened a great deal, however on the plus side, stamina is not. It is worth noting that new muscle/tissues cannot be formed naturally on liches. If a lich were to wish to increase their physical skills, they could always use even more magic continually with neutral magic-type spells, but this might be a bad idea because... + Lich life is on a lease. Due to the nature of spirits tearing through so much magic potential about them, just to sustain their 'life', over the course of usually a couple of months, liches become physically weaker and weaker and after this time, will eventually die. To prevent a complete death occurring, a ritual/spell casting must be performed every so often (again, often once every couple of months) to keep them alive - this is known as the "regeneration spell". Hence, the more magic that is needed to sustain a lich, or the more magic a lich uses in general, the more frequently they will need to perform these spells. The end result is that, in theory, liches can live forever, but just as easily can die in the space of a few months or with a hit of sudden and direct magic. Let's make a lich The first part is to create a spirit using triad magics, the second part is to make it only partly possess a dead body. This is done by interrupting the spirit as it tries to take on a body by using a large amount of neutral magic on the body. This results in part of the spirit occupying the body, and the rest is left "loose" around it, but this loose magic of the spirit will be invisible. Staying alive A lich can get the effects of a regeneration spell by any method; it can be through an arcanic, through direct control or through a ritual. The important part is that the magic must be a blend of the typical "life triad". - Neutral to restore the physical body (after all, decay occurs between these 'maintenance' spells) - Light to maintain the mind/memory/knowledge of the being - Sometimes dark magic, which depends on if the lich's spirit had dark magic as a part of it. If done correctly, this combination will also act as an attractor for magic-potential, to help the spirit stay alive and maintain the body until the regeneration must be done again. How to kill them + You can't directly kill them with the sword... But if you prevent them from performing the regeneration spells that keep them from dying, then that is good enough. Note however, for the particularly skilled lich, magic can be directly used to mend their bodies without using any movement of their bodies to do the casting; even if they are in pieces! For most however, this will not be the case and so cutting a lich into many pieces is likely to kill them indirectly when their spirit is starved of magical potential to use. + Magic is their strength and weakness As the spirit has only partially possessed the body, it is still vulnerable to damage and being a magical entity, this means that it will only be affected in anyway by magic. If a spirit in addition to light magic has any basic magic type included, then it will be even more vulnerable to a certain other basic type, although empowered by another basic type as well. + Anti-arcanics Even though liches need high magic potential around them, and anti-arcanics do convert magic to magic-potential...the problem is that they keep it that way. If the spirit is not able to make use of the MP around them and turn it into magic, they might as well have none at all! This is the very fastest way to kill a lich, a direct attack from Charkoras -and particularly the kind that cannot be used up - can kill a lich in anywhere from minutes to moments.

Summoners/Creators create life forms from scratch and the two words mean exactly the same thing. These life forms they make will often have specific roles and can live either for moments or for extremely lengthy periods of time. They are most often connected to the magic of their maker, and will die when cut away from it. The most advanced creations however can act almost identically to any regular innately magical creatures.
Anyone could be a summoner, provided they are able to use light magic in combination with another magic type of any kind as a minimum, with the focus of creating something that is "alive".

Attached beings. The most common kind of summon/creation, these are the kind that feed off of the creator's magic. If the creator is innately magic, they will notice their own capability lessen as the summon takes some of their innate MP from them for as long as the being is alive. If the creator is of an adapted race, then they will have to periodically cast spells to keep the attached being alive. These beings can be most easily be made through controlled form magic. Remember, the more magic types used to make a summon and the higher in difficulty these magics are, the greater the drain on the creator. If you were a summoner, you could make a fully-fledged being, complete with personality, working body and free-will from light, blood and dark magics (again, triad magics), but this is extremely taxing on your own body. If you only wish for a summon to do a simple task, consider what else you could use instead. For example - why include all three triad magics for a summon to do a simple task of hauling logs, when you can simply have a light-earth being do it for you instead, with far less energy required. Once an attached being has served its purpose, many creators will choose to dismiss it. This is done simply by refusing magical sustenance to the creature. Independent beings. These beings maintain MP in their bodies and use it like innately magical races. The initial cost of making these creatures is huge; light and any other magic is required, but then a huge, huge, amount of neutral magic is needed to seal the power into the "body" of the creature. It is no surprise that using free form magic makes this task "easier". Once they have been created, no further magic is needed to sustain them and if made by powerful creators, they can live for hundreds of years (though most will not reach anywhere near such an age; most summons in general are created to serve for very short periods of time days or months and occasionally some years.). It's worth noting that by the power of the five stones on Dragons' Cove, the Arch Magician created the most powerful summons of all time; the Guardian Dragons - dragons which have surpassed all others in capability. Such a feat is considered impossible to replicate, however, due to the sheer size of power needed. It is estimated that the Guardian dragons needed all magic types, with the exception of the complex types, to create them. It is more difficult to get rid of an independent creature once it is made, and this can make independent creatures especially dangerous, as they are harder to control if they are given a nasty disposition. To get rid of them, creators will need to kill them as per the beings weaknesses which vary greatly from creature to creature. As such, this is where summoners can gain a dubious reputation, as their creations are almost exactly like any other "natural" life form.