FIELD GUIDE TO THE BEANUT LANDS
SPECIES
A person’s Species determines their biological capabilities and limitations related to the circumstances of their birth. Thanks to the evolution of their ancestors’ environmental adaptations, lifestyles, and cultural influences, their own physical body and mental development will be affected by three or four major Strengths, Features, and Flaws. Their species also determines size classification, base speed(s), and life span.
Each species of the Beanut Lands belongs to one of three main evolutionary supergroups: the Tok, Sylvan, and Varian people. You can read more about these at the bottom of this page.
Additionally, within each individual species there are Heritage groups. These are similar to ethnicity, which represent more specific groups of that species all around the world. Heritage represents a person’s predisposition to notable physical characteristics, such as body types, complexion, hair and eye color, and other hereditary traits.
Torgali
These imposing people have persevered in the eastern tropics since the beginning of time, evolving them into strong and crafty folks who have a great respect for tradition.
Tok Supergroup
While in modern times, the four distinct peoples of the Tok species are not quite as physically similar as they once were, scholars and historians have agreed that these people have all descended from a single ancestor, known as the Primal Tok.
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Canzian
Thriving in the sweltering southern portion of the Beanut Lands, these feline peopleare great natural hunters, herders, and all-around survivalists with unique connections to the esoteric.
Tok Supergroup
While in modern times, the four distinct peoples of the Tok species are not quite as physically similar as they once were, scholars and historians have agreed that these people have all descended from a single ancestor, known as the Primal Tok.
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Lovalian
The Lovalians created the first written records and boasted the first formally recognized monarchy in the world, but these towering northern folk have become much less involved in the warmer world’s events in recent centuries.
Tok Supergroup
While in modern times, the four distinct peoples of the Tok species are not quite as physically similar as they once were, scholars and historians have agreed that these people have all descended from a single ancestor, known as the Primal Tok.
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Dawi
The bestial Dawi of the sky islands are stocky and odd-natured, but they have historically cemented their influence on the world by carefully balancing their pursuit of both physical and intellectual abilities.
Tok Supergroup
While in modern times, the four distinct peoples of the Tok species are not quite as physically similar as they once were, scholars and historians have agreed that these people have all descended from a single ancestor, known as the Primal Tok.
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Faekin
The majority of these long-lived flying people still reside in their ancestral Glen, but those who have integrated with greater societies are often a sight to behold.
Sylvan Supergroup
Today, the Sylvan people all differ dramatically in outward appearance, and though they don’t all share as many outward physical similarities, they are all connected in a way that supports their label as descendants of the same Primal Sylvan species.
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Bodren
The aquatic Bodren have deep ties to the natural world, seeing and influencing the potential of the threads of magic sewn throughout all of nature, influencing it in their own way.
Sylvan Supergroup
Today, the Sylvan people all differ dramatically in outward appearance, and though they don’t all share as many outward physical similarities, they are all connected in a way that supports their label as descendants of the same Primal Sylvan species.
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Fangren
The Fangren have not sought out success through fame, fortune, or even glory; instead, most of them are happiest when left to their own devices, enjoying the beauty of nature just the way it is.
Sylvan Supergroup
Today, the Sylvan people all differ dramatically in outward appearance, and though they don’t all share as many outward physical similarities, they are all connected in a way that supports their label as descendants of the same Primal Sylvan species.
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Willonian
Though they are historically the newest people recorded to establish settlements in the Beanut Lands, the Willonians are mostly renown for their immense ambition, ingenuity, and industrial proficiency.
Varian Supergroup
In the present day, Varian people are extremely varied as the name suggests. This is due to their highly-adaptive bodies, rather than generations of hardship or magical influence.
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Hinfolk
The Hinfolk are a social species who thrive on fellowship and communication, and while many of them have set down deep roots in their communities, others have a wanderlust that will never be satisfied.
Varian Supergroup
In the present day, Varian people are extremely varied as the name suggests. This is due to their highly-adaptive bodies, rather than generations of hardship or magical influence.
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Grimkin
The passionate and lively Grimkin have spread out deep into the caves and tunnels inside the Frostlands of the north, pursuing their love of life, and following their passions.
Varian Supergroup
In the present day, Varian people are extremely varied as the name suggests. This is due to their highly-adaptive bodies, rather than generations of hardship or magical influence.
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BASIC
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Supergroups
Tok Supergroup
General
While in modern times, the four distinct peoples of the Tok species are not quite as physically similar as they once were, scholars and historians have agreed that the Torgali, Canzians, Lovalians, and Dawi have all descended from a single ancestor, known as the Primal Tok
Biology
The Primal Tok people have always been predisposed to endure in harsher conditions than other species, thriving in some of the most extreme environments known to the Beanut Lands. All people of the Tok species share a similar integumentary system, which contain unique layers of tissue. Some have thicker outer hides, while some have developed unique types of fatty tissue, but the overall composition remains the same. Their musculoskeletal systems are distinctly adaptive. This has allowed them an advantage in their respective homelands.
Cultures
Since Tok people’s lifestyles have been influenced heavily by their millennia of physical tenacity and hardship, they have all fostered a persistent, mental determination that has propelled them onward. Most Tok cultures share a deep respect for discipline in some way or another.
History
Growing out of the ‘Old World’ in the East, the Tok people now inhabit a majority of the continent and their cultures have significant influence across the lands. The Torgali, the oldest surviving branch of the Tok people, have resided in the densely thicketed Torgali Jungle for many centuries and have built civilizations around ancient structures still in use today. During historical times of trouble, many Torgali clans took to adventuring outside of their presumed world, far into the deserts and tundras of the continent. After centuries of adapting to their new homelands, these people diverged from the greater Torgali into the Canzian people of the deserts and the Lovalians of the northern mountains. The strangest of the Tok people are the Dawi, their origin story is convoluted and shrouded in mystery but they come from a clan of Tok people who discovered the ruins of a great civilization and committed fully to adopting the culture and ways of these long lost people.
Sylvan Supergroup
General
Today, the Sylvan people all differ dramatically in outward appearance, and though they don’t all share as many outward physical similarities, they are all connected in a way that supports their label as descendants of the same Primal Sylvan species.
Biology
The major factor that links all Sylvan descendants is a connection with a unique set of natural abilities, which are commonly referred to as “Sylvan Native Magic,” as well as a unique version of reproduction known as “Aurogenesis,” which allows a Sylvan person to produce offspring with only a single parent and a great deal of magic. This Sylvan connection to natural magic has allowed its people to alter their bodies to a minor extent, which, over time, has made it difficult to link each of the three Sylvan races to each other using scientific methods of classification based on physicality alone, but thanks to the incredibly long lifespans of the Sylvan people, their ancestry has not been lost to time. Only three distinct species of Sylvan people exist in the present day.
Cultures
All Sylvan people share an intrinsic bond to the natural world. It is this bond that has created a heavy influence on the potential and preservation of nature in all of the Sylvan cultures. As a group, the Sylvan species have historically endeavored to thrive with nature, rather than conquer it. They all share a deep desire for freedom, which drives them to pursue their heart’s desires at their own pace, which is often considered very slow to the rest of the world.
History
Originating in the Western lands, the Sylvan people had a long period of hardship in which their population sharply declined. Thought to be the result of a great war between the Primal Sylvan and Tok people. To this day, the Faekin, who remain the most similar to their ancestors, continue to reside in the Harmonious Glen, although it is a fraction of the size of its historical borders. The original arbiters of Sylvan heritage though they are, the Faekin now only make up a small population of the greater Sylvan species, which now includes their evolutionary sistren: the Bodren and Fangren, both Sylvan people who returned to the Lands many centuries later. The Bodren, who settled in the fertile and vibrant boglands, embrace their centralized position on the continent, fusing and celebrating their culture with all those around who will share. The Fangren are a much more stoic and traditionalist people, secreted away in the wilds of the forest. They maintain small, tightly knit communities where they practice their ancient and complex magics.
Varian Supergroup
General
In the present day, Varian people are, as the group name implies, extremely varied. This is due to their highly-adaptive bodies, their affinity for pursuing personal goals and achievement, and their group’s undeniable instinct to center their lifestyles around fellowship and community progress.
Biology
All Varian people share an anatomical structure that is unmistakably the same. However, while the other species have changed over thousands of years based on their cultural and physical surroundings, Varian people have always been individually malleable, each one changing based on their own lived experience. A Varian person’s body can change based on their own lifestyle, causing many of them to look dramatically different as they age.
Cultures
The people of the Varian species have been defined by their unstoppable desire for connection. Without this need for fellowship, it’s likely that their entire species would have been wiped out long ago, as the Primal Værian ancestral Land of Willory was once the most deadly place the world has ever seen. Thanks to their societal structures, their willingness to rely on their communities, and their historically-proven ability to organize and create, the Varian people have endured against all odds.
History
The Primal Varian were cheery and pacifistic smallfolk who lived in the central, fertile woodlands of Willory. While they thrived in this Land, so did much of the native wildlife, many of whom grew much larger and stronger than the Varian. Over time, they were forced out of most of their homelands by fearsome competition. Those that lived in the northern regions suffered the greatest and were forced to abandon their ancient lands entirely; some forced underground, some forced to the wrathful seas in hopes of finding a more suitable place to call home. The Varian in the southern lands retained much of their ancestral ways but adapted by becoming predatory nomads, migrating seasonally to avoid any threatening competition. Over time, they would become the jovial masters of trade known as the Hinfolk. Those that fled to the underground in search of safety would become the industrious and quick-witted Grim Kinfolk, and later the Grimkin. Some took to the waves, spending ages away from home in distant foreign lands, each generation growing stronger and more capable of physically handling large threats. These Willonians, as they became known, returned several centuries prior to the present day, and they retook their lands from the wild beasts that once preyed upon the people of old Willory.