The Twelve Races
The Twelve Races are a species of humanoids that were created at the start of “The Game” by the Game Masters. Each of the races was created according to the rules of “The Game” by three of the Game Masters. The names of each of the twelve races are as follows: Adelphos, Xiongdi, Biradar, Sorores, Achowth, Syestra, Compleo, Ren, Chelovek, Gune, Yaldah, Emra’a.
The Twelve Races have a lot in common with most mammals. They hunger, bleed, lust, and have the various emotions that you would associate with a mammal. And just as various breeds of monkeys are different, there are also physical differences between the various races. But as creations made according to the rules of the “The Game” they have distinct differences from all other known biological creatures. It is these differences that we will review first.
General Characteristics Of All Twelve Races
“The Game” has rules. The rules of “The Game” are not like the rules found in nature. It stands to reasons then that any groups of beings created in accordance with the rules of “The Game” would not be like normal animals. And this is what we find with the twelve races. They look and act like biological creatures in many respects, but in other respects it is very clear that they operate by different rules. Some of the key things that set them apart are as follows.
The Twelve Races are Klived: The Twelve Races come into the world via chrysalis that form on stone beds called kliving beds. The first of the Twelve Races to come in to the world (called the First Klived) came into the world as adults able to break out of their own chrysalis. Every member of the Twelve Races who came after them has come into the world as helpless babies who were unable to break free of their chrysalis on their own.
The Twelve Races can become Immortal: The Rules of the “The Game” dictate that the twelve races can become immortal under the right circumstances. An immortal member of The Twelve Races can still be killed. But if they die, they will be reklived on a kliving bed as a fully formed adult whose body has all of characteristics of the healthy body that they lost. Because the kliving beds found in the Klving Caves are considered indestructible and unmovable, members of the twelve races who can come back are considered to be immortal for as long as The Dominion lasts.
Mortal Members of the Twelve Races are Sterile: Mortal Members of the Twelve Races will grow into sexually mature adults. But even though they have sexual desires and the ability to fornicate like any other rutting animal, they can never produce any young. Only immortals can have children via the kliving process. This means that all members of the Twelve Races have immortal parents save for the first klived.
How The Twelve Races Are Distinguished From One Another
As one would expect, the twelve races are very different from one another. Some of these differences are obvious like size and body type just as how one would expect normal biological breeds to be differentiated from one another. But in other ways the differences between the twelve races have no analogous counterpart to common differences between normal biological breeds. The key thing to remember the distinguishing characteristics of one of the twelve races derives from the nature of the Game Masters who made them and not from any biological process like breeding.
The races that make up the Twelve Races are divided by gender: The Twelve Races are divided by gender according to the nature of the Game Masters who made that race. Those races made by two “female” Game Masters and one “male” Game Master are female. Conversely, those races made by two “male” Game Masters and one “female” Game Masters are male. As one might expect, there are six female races and six male races. These divisions are absolute. There are no male members of a female race and there are no female members of a male race.
The races that make up the Twelve Races are divided into Alpha/Beta classes: The Twelve Races are divided into the six Alpha and six Beta races according to the relationship of the Game Masters that made them. All other things being equal, the Alpha’s races are superior to the Beta races but the Beta races have an easier time becoming immortal. But this rule of thumb only scratches the surface of the importance of the “Alpha” and “Beta” distinction in “The Game” but a full exploration is outside the scope of this overview.
The races that make up the Twelve Races are distinguished by their ethical predisposition: Each of the races is inclined towards the ethics of the Game Masters who created that race. This dispositions is not absolutely binding as a mortal can choose their ethics but it does have a big influence over the lives of the twelve races.
The races that make up the Twelve Races are distinguished by skin color, body structure, intelligence, strength of character, and many other things: The skin color of a race is determined by the primary color of middle (or neutral) Game Master who made that race. The race’s other characteristics are influenced by all of the Game Masters who made that race. As you might expect, some of the races are big and strong. Others are short and small. Some of the races are really smart, others not so much. Some of the races have mild temperaments and others are prone to fits of rage.
Other Peculiarities of the Twelve Races
When you have a collection of races that don’t reproduce like normal biological creatures you have a whole lot of oddities that don’t fit with normal intuitions about how things should work. Most of the oddities are related to how mortal members of the twelve races are klived and the nature of their immortal parents. The following is an overview of some of those things.
The Twelve Races reproduce according to their ethics not according to their kind: Amongst the Twelve Races the race of the parent does not dictate the race of the child. In fact, for some immortals it is just about impossible for them to klive children who are the same race as themselves. A full discussion of why and how this happens is better left for a discussion of the process of kliving. For the purposes of this overview it is sufficient to note that a member of one of the twelve races never shares the same races as a sibling of the opposite gender, often will not share the same race even with a sibling from the same gender, and may not even share a race with the parent of the same gender.
Every member of the Twelve Races has sibling of the opposite gender who was klived at the same time: Mortal children of the Twelve Races are klived two at time. One child will always be male and klived on the father’s kliving bed and one child will always be female and klived on the mother’s kliving bed. The term klive brother or sister is used to denote this relationship. Its actual significance depends in part on how they are raised. If allowed to grow up together a klive brother and klive sister are often quite close in similar manner to how twins are often close.
No member of the Twelve Races has half brother or half sisters: A male and female immortal can only reproduce with their consort. And even though they can have many lovers, they can have only one consort. What this means in practices is that the concept of a half brother or half sister is unknown amongst the Twelve Races. Members of the same father/mother will share common pheromones that enable siblings to identify each other in the absence of any information.
Not all members of same race are equal: All members of a given race have the same general strengths and weakness. But they are by no means the all the same. Even members of a given race who share the same parents have differences between them. But the most significant differences occur between members of a race who have different parents. However, these differences have nothing to do with reasons that most would find biologically intuitive. Instead these differences largely revolve around the concepts of degeneration and growth. A full overview of these concepts is beyond the scope of this overview.
It is sufficient to note that in “The Game” children are always inferior to their parents overall. This means that as a general rule the further you get from the First Klived on the generational tree, the lower the overall quality of the various races. But this is not an absolute rule because as a immortal gains in power the overall quality of their children goes up. Since immortals don’t all gain power at the same rate and since the First Klived don’t start off equal, a generational chart is not a surefire way to measure the overall quality of the children. This is further confused by the fact that the First Klived keep producing their children right alongside their immortal great great grandchildren and since the First Klived keep growing in power themselves, the overall quality of their children is not static.
The bottom line is that you should not assume that two members of the same race are comparable in the same way that two members of a biological breed would be.