Oni

Oni are a multicolored race with a natural affinity for magic that are native to the Hellspont located in The Wall of the World. Oni are naturally blue or red or similar shades, twins tend to have the opposite color of their sibling. Many oni choose to wear ornamental face masks as markers of status, the gaudier the mask, the richer you are. Illusory magic is often used by those of purer blood to hide their features behind an illusory mask of beauty. The more pure the bloodline the more they share their demonic ancestor's terrible visage. Oni that are born without a twin are seen as degenerate abominations, they are often sold as slaves or simply killed. Hobgoblins are a result of multiple generations of single-birth Oni.

Large amount of tectonic and magical energy in The Wall of the World opened up The Helspont in ancient times. From this Helspont, the Anicent Demons emerged. When ancient Souxi Humans first climbed the Stepped in The First Souxi Expansion, the humans interbred with the demons and shared with them the secrets of agriculture and city building in exchange for knowledge of demonic magic. This original community would eventually be enslaved, becoming a temporary bastion for the demonic creatures. They would interbreed with their slaves forming a hybrid race later known as Hobgoblins. Lacking demonic powers, but versed in Souxi culture and warfare. The Hobgoblins would enact a bloody revolt and flee the region after slaying many of their demonic forebears. What few Oni were left were mainly of mixed blood. Full of demonic power but lacking in the physical stature of their forebears and their immortality.

Those Oni that survived remained a minority in Souxi states for generations, often used for duties considered "too low" for purebred Souxi. This led to Oni subcultures becoming prominent in magic and finance.

When the Kif tribes first left the Celestial Subcontinent, a small group of Oni left with them. A conflict between these Oni and the Naga found at the Kanna knot led the Kif tribes to split into two. One would go with the Oni and eventually colonize Eastralia to found Qifu. The other took the river south to the Nanji Penisula and formed a culture with the Nagas that would become the Ivory Kingdom.

Oni of the modern era are long-lived and breed very slowly, but when they do reproduce, twins are common. Two sets of such Twins have set up Banking cities, Dou-Qian, near the Celestial Empire, and No-Rex and So-Xen, in Qifu. These cities are centers of commerce and mysticism. The cities near the Celestial Empire tend to be treated with cool distance by the Empire proper, while the Oni Twins in Qi-Fu have economically dominated the entire nation. Illusory magic is a common tool utilized by the Oni people for vanity as well as art, exhibitions of skill and intimidation. One might never know they are speaking to an Oni Magi while in their great cities.

Oni often have forced relationships with slaves and underlings, though the low Oni birth rates make hybrids rare. When hybrids with slaves are born, they are treated as full Oni and often are given their non-Oni parents as gifts . Oni slaves are not awarded names, property, identity or even genders. They are titled after their function (Sword for soldiers, Washer for domestic slaves etc.) Slaves of the Oni Banking Clans are given numeric titles to denote rank among their structure.

Slavery is formally outlawed in Qifu, so the Oni there tend to economically dominate others less so than legally. They still share the prejudice against non-Twins , though Qifu Oni fancy themselves "enlightened" for usually not killing them.