When a character reaches a sufficient level of power, she may undergo the Area of Reincarnation to become one of the major, or reincarnate, races. A reincarnate race ("reinc" for short) generally has better attributes, better resistances, and more powers than the lesser races. Of course, they also frequently suffer slightly higher vulnerabilities and may be required to stay within certain roles, but these drawbacks are easily offset by their advantages. You may read about the lesser (i.e. minor) races elsewhere.
One of the earliest towns build by mankind was the proud city of Atlantis. Surrounded by a vast harbour and protected by walls as high as a mountain the city was pronounced indestructible. Trade and commerce developed quickly under the reign of the Atlanteans, a magically adept people which developed a near to invincible technology which rivalled even that of the gods. But as the saying goes: Pride comes before a fall. Upon having gained victory over all personal enemies, the atlantean fleet was striving homeward, celebrating their vigour and the newly gained dominance over the seas of Ayreon. Close were their technicians to deciphering the secrets of life and more and more the star of the city seemed to rise... Would it not have been for a long ignored deity. Having loathed the dark and chaotic god of the seas, the Atlanteans incurred the wrath of the twisted mind. Within a day, it is said, the city sunk under the torments of a storm never to whirl across the oceans again. A group of islands along with a continent sunk into the seas that day consuming all life... Would it not have been for the wise deity Arduna and the love of Celawyn, the race would have been vanquished forever. Seeing the ill Anue had done, the two deities announced that the direct intervention against mortal life would have but one consequence - the punishment of Anue. This however is another tale, but in the end, the gods decided to raise the dead who had been wrongly killed. So they took a part of the oceanic life essence and formed the breath of vitae back into the sunken corpses. Nonetheless, although the water is a part of them, the Atlanteans hate it, as it is the substance and sign of the god who brought about their demise for their glory never reached that point of greatness again.
These creatures are one of the rareliest beings seen in Ayreon. After death it sometimes happens that a soul does not enter neither realms of death nor the realms of darkness. So this soul is wandering between the realms of life and death and returns in seldom cases to the mortal realms as a Banshee.
Until today that happened only to females, and people that have seen a banshee and stayed alive titled them also 'solitary faeries' or better 'death-faeries'. These ghost-like forms of faeries are evil from the root and their final goal is to find a place to rest, to achieve their evil kind of peace. Normally they are on a search for an old-traditioned family which they can terrorize to settle down there, but well this is really hard to find, so the travel of the banshee is a long one. Banshees are evil, fast, dangerous and mostly deadly. They havent the best constitution, cause of their ghostly form but be careful of their charisma and mental abilities. The banshee appeare as a beautiful, naked, fascinated women before you. After influencing you in such a way that you feel save they show their deadly face... By transforming they have dangerously sharp long nails at their fingers which are mostly kill you as fast as you noticed it. Beware also for their mystical Soundwave.
After the victim is dead they consume the body to gain new energy for their travel through the realms....
Elementals consisting of fiery energy the celestials are the sworn defenders of the plane of purity. Their sunlike bodies shift between a humanoid form and one that is comparable to a wisp. They tend to be less strong due to their nebulous forms, but this self same sunbody grants them the ability to act quickly and with an unbelievable precision. Celestials do rarely cross this plane. If they do, they are mostly on the hunt for one of the creatures of night and evil - the Daemons.
They are a twisted form of elvenkin.
Upon punishing their creator, his children were sewn into the torrents of chaos, thus losing any grip to reality and twisting their former peace and discipline loving minds into the mirror of their originators pain. Anue's children paid dearly for the price he had to pay for interfering with the mortals in a time when the gods had already taken from walking the planes.
Crimson Elves nonetheless are the strongest and most deadly elves walking the surface, their speed and dexterity exceeding even that of halflings.
Also their paranoia makes them formidable foes who are to be reckoned with at all times. A saying is: 'Never turn back on a Crimson.' Whether this means ' never run away' or 'always watch out', who knows? Or more to the point - who can tell.
Daemons are minions of the dark, powerful unnatural beings that come from the elemental planes to extend their reigns.
For long years the thread of daemons seemed to have passed by. It was reported, that some brave mages managed to errect a dimensional shield that prevented those creatures of entering the spheres of Ayreon. Only a few daemons were left in mortal realms, most of them perished away with the time.
But the power of the hightower failed, the mages drawn into physical wars against warrior hordes from the south. Some of their oldest loremasters are now only a rumour told at campfires. Thus it became that the forceshield protecting Ayreon from the elemental planes began to fade away and dimensional holes in this shield began to appear. Some lored men even hinted that certain spells who may create dimensional rifts dug too deep into these spheres.
As a consequence, it has been reported that new daemonic creatures arrived at the spheres of Ayreon. Being very week on arrival, pushing their beings only slowly through the dimensional rifts, they are growing in their power and destructive force with every hour of their unholy existance. Books from the time of their last invasion only hint at the terror surrounding any full-grown daemon, reportet of their malevolent influence on people. Being mighty creatures of unnatural origin, the only salvation against their doing seems to be to banish them from the lands forcing them to build up their powers again before creating new havoc.
Please note that the stats listed in the table below do not include the stat boni gained by a daemon through his demonic presence!
High Elves were the first to walk this world. It is their destiny to walk the planes until the beginning of the end. They have had thousands of years to practice their great skills and magics. Now they have come to a point where the younger races threaten their homes. To a degree the elves have grown so old that they are weary of fights, and they despise the barbaric civilisation extending from Midgaard and the other central cities. Nonetheless they see that it would be futile to fight against destiny and to vanquish mankind. Among their kin they are considered kings and no one, be he dark or white elf, would ever dare to openly affront a member of this race.
Khazads are used to staying underground for mining and crafting and only the explorations of the other races forced them to leave their lairs as well, to terminate the annoying people who steal their ore and craftsmanship. They come from the mines, wherever those are, as their kingdom is vast.
The Khazad race is the only race on Ayeron that has mastered the art of smithing.
Please note that the Khazad raceskills are not yet finished and the race as such therefore has to be considered to be in late beta-testing!
Nymphs live in reclusive regions. Be it the nymphs or faeries hiding in the forests of this world, be it the succubal tribes roaming the upper layers of the natural hells. ONLY female forms of this race have been sighted to this day. Their main strength lies in the fact that they can rule the natural domain they have chosen as home. Nymphs can hide to a degree that NO mortal being can spy through. If a mortal creature should dare to invade her territory, it is well advised to leave as quickly as possible. For if the nymph takes that person as enemy, there is little the lost soul can do.
Nymphs are near to unkillable if they are threatened in wooden area. Their healing powers let them spring back from the point of death in notime. But in civilised areas, nymphs loose their power. That is mainly one of the reason why they are rarely seen inside cities.
A mystical race whose origin is known to few people. Even the gods and heroes of the worlds are somewhat suspicious about this race who can mimic pretty much every living and nonliving being. They are truly feared for their intrigue and the fact that they can possess almost any form. Similarly the people are frightened by the fact that these beings do not seem to have a clear purpose; no goal, no aims. Their grey self is as much a representation of the way they act as a mirror of the knowledge the world has on this race. Shapeshifters are rare, noone knows how they multiply, and their skin is well thought after as magical ingredient. Nonetheless it is only seldom that this tricky creature is overcome.
An ancient race from the days when mankind stepped from its cradle. The titans lived in a world where dinosaurs, sabretooth tigers and the like inhabited the planes. Nothing was stable, ever-changing as the avatars of gods walked the world. Titans are known for their strength which can even move mountains. They are the strongest creatures covering the planet and not too many have lived to tell of a fair duel with one of the kingly creatures.
Disadvantageous or not, titans rarely visit the civilised areas for they hate nothing more than being squeezed into the tiny houses of the races who crowd Ayreon at the moment.
For this only few tales are known of the strong predators and they are almost a legend... although a quite vivid one.
Earth elementals consisting of pure stone, their strength and sheer indestructibility makes them fearsome foes. Mostly trolls tend to be of neutral allegiance, but sometimes they have turned their hatred upon the human race and sworn to destroy all surface crawlers. Although they are so slow, and it is very easy to hit them, their immense power lies in the fact that they take near to no damage, and if they do they regenerate it in notime, as their mother earth relieves them with her energy. Elementals of this type have walked the planet frequently upon the bidding of clerics to the nature goddesses. Nonetheless they have a will of their own and sometimes the rocky fellows walk our plane to witness what happens on the quicklings - all those people who take no time in watching the surroundings. A troll can stand near a mountain for a millennium, watching and beholding its majesty, for him the hill is as alive and vivid as we would consider a bird on the wing.
The Temple of Morruin - Got Death? Take a tour of His Holiness's Temple today.
Religion - Always a God choice.
Antheum - Warm your enemies with our special brands. Join today!
Callador - Drink ale! Go clubbing! Kill bloodmages! 'Nuff said!