Ancestries

The world of Ruin is home to many beings from many places. Once upon a time, the steam metropolises were integrated between them all, much of the world coming together in the name of progress. While the broken cities of the modern day are bastions only for the cursed, the survivors come from all of these walks of life, and all manner of places.

## Humanoids

Humanoids were the most common people of Ruin, and consisted of Humans, Halflings, Dwarves, Gnomes, and many others. Due to their abundance and the world's integration, Humanoids often mingled with many other ancestries, and produced a great number of half-breeds, such as Half-Orcs, Half-Elves, Hobgoblins (Half-Goblins), and so on.

When Humanoids die, their spirits are either reincarnated or become Ghosts.

## Giants

Giants, despite the name, were not the giants of other places, and were not massive. Giants of Ruin are much smaller, where most other worlds would call them Goliaths. Many related creatures exist, including Orcs, Goblins, and others.

When Giants die, their spirits are either reincarnated or become Totems.

## Dragons

Dragons of Ruin are not the dragons of myth and tale, nor the dragons of other worlds. The Dragons of Ruin exist with traits from all beings, not merely the scaly lizardly presence of other worlds. Further, they fall much closer to being the Dragonborn of other realms, and related creatures include Gnolls, Minotaur, and similar creatures, each bearing traits of a single specific creature. Dragonborn proper, usually just called Dragons, bear the traits of many creatures, rather than just one; This is why they are called Dragonborn, because they are the epitome of the Dragons' existence.

When Dragons die, their spirits are either reincarnated or become Watchers, which is where their name comes from.

## Elementals

Ruin lacks an equivalent of the Elemental Chaos, and as such their Elementals are much more human. The Elementals of Ruin are the equivalent of Genasi, Aasimar, Tiefling, Elves, and similar entities. Genasi are typically tied only to the Primal and First-Order Elements, but most others are tied only to a single one; Elves are tied to Spiritus, the element of nature and the source of Druidic magic, Aasimar are tied to Deus, the element of divinity and the source of Clerical magic, etc.

When Elementals die, their spirits are either reincarnated or become Primals (Which are much closer to the Celestials, Fiends, Elementals, Fey, etc. of other realms).

## Constructs

The magic and technology of Ruin have led to the creation of artificial beings. These are often created for a specific purpose, like Golems, though some, such as the Anvilwrought and Forgeborn, simply live as their own entities.

When the Plague was originally spreading, the Collective created small armies of constructs to fight the Cursed. Many fell, but many survive, and there are whispers of construct-camps which hold against both the living and the dead.

When Constructs die, their spirits have no natural process they adhere to, and will dissipate without a manner of collection or processing. Most Constructs are made with this in mind, though with the collapse of Ruin's populace their spirit simply remains within their corpse, aware of the world but with nothing to help them. Their immunity to The Cursed Plague is a cold comfort to those who know this fate.

## Undead

An ancient people whose existence is often mistaken as early-stage Cursed. Unlike the dead of many other worlds, the Undead, also called Eternals, of Ruin are very sentient and far from strictly evil. They are common especially in swamps, bogs, primordial forests, and other places of darkness, like Sewers. Of course, they are reanimated corpses, and do not procreate except through more corpses and magic.

Because Eternals did not have a society of their own, the Collective largely ignored their existence, treating them just like the living members of their ancestry. The problem is that the presence of Eternals around the world delayed early efforts against the Cursed Plague; Early victims of this plague closely resemble Zombies and Skeletons, so many thought they were just Eternals until it was too late.

When Eternals die, their undead elemental energies reenter the environment, though if an Eternal's spirit was bound to their body in life, it behaves normally.