Masters of Carcosa: Part 3
The 13 Races of Carcosa
This post follows up from my Masters of Carcosa part 2 post.
The Carcosa book by Geoffrey McKinney that I was using to base my setting on has 13 races of humans of various colours. Each race was created as a bio-engineered slave race by a long dead civilization. The colours encompassed things like red and blue, but also three additional colours that don’t exist in our world. They are Dolm, Jale, and Ulfire. They can only be hinted at by analogy.
Just as blue is delicate and mysterious, yellow clear and unsubtle, and red sanguine and passionate, so he felt ulfire to be wild and painful, and jale dreamlike, feverish, and voluptuous.” (David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus, chapter 6: “Joiwind”). Dolm “stand[s] in the same relation to jale as green to red.” It is “a compound of ulfire and blue.” (David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus, chapter 18: “Haunte”).
The skin colour of these races is pronounced and vivid. A Green Man’s skin, for example, is as green as grass. None of the thirteen races can interbreed with the others and typically each village in my setting is comprised of people of one colour except for the starting village of escaped slaves who have formed a more benevolent multi-racial society.
Overall the 13 races of Carcosa was an aspect of the setting that I thought was really interesting and kind of took it one step further. Instead of just having them all kind of be the same except for different coloured skin, I thought if they were bio-engineered slave races, they’d probably be bio-engineered towards different tasks or inclinations.
I ended up writing a detailed breakdown for each race to this end.
Black
Tallest of all the races with broad shoulders. Skinny with a craven look. Natural long distance runners. Naturally patient and observant with very keen eyesight.
Blue
Delicate and mysterious with webbing between the toes and fingers. Small build but both genders have quickly growing very long hair. Are naturally predisposed towards languages and linguistics. Know a secret language they speak among themselves. Natural travelers.
Bone
Due to their transparent flesh look like living skeletons. Excel at mathematics and logical thinking. Predisposed towards introversion and do not often talk.
Brown
Stocky with thick corded muscles and thick wiry body hair. Often grow unkempt beards. Mentally slow, but contain a high degree of kinesthetic intelligence.
Dolm
Birdlike in stature and features. Contain fine Dolm coloured vestigal feathers down the back and arms. Contain a natural dexterity, gifted gymnasts, but also quick to startle.
Green
Most average build and features of all the races. Calm and observant in temperament. Contain an interpersonal intelligence that lends towards close knit stable communities. Predisposed to an observant naturalism.
Jale
Average build, often unkempt and absentminded. Seem to be predisposed towards a feverish madness. Impulsive in an intuitive way, like an untrained outsider or folk artist. Have natural affinity for magic.
Orange
Short, often with a paunchy or plump figure. Have a pleasant demeanor, naturally social and observant. Naturally organized and socially suave.
Purple
Members of both genders are voluptuous and beautiful. Contain an alluring beauty and attenuation towards the pleasurable things in life. Are charismatic and hedonistic in nature.
Red
Men and women of this race are tall with statuesque body-builder/amazon builds. Naturally athletic, positive and passionate in temperament.
Ulfire
Both genders are very androgynous both in appearance and mannerisms. Are distant socially and come across dreamlike. Prone to both wild mania and pained depression.
White
Lithe with no body hair. Have a sallow complexion with delicate features and are said to be beautiful despite unnaturally long and slender limbs and fingers. Naturally gifted at music.
Yellow
Short, often with hunched diminutive figures. Naturally submissive, unsubtle, and unfaltering. Contain a keen social intelligence and small vestigal tails.
I also created four leaders of the village of Refuge, the starting village, that summons the players. They were the main NPCs the party interacted with.
Leela – Blue Leader
Physical Features: Delicate and mysterious with webbing between the toes and fingers. Small build but both genders have quickly growing very long hair. Are naturally predisposed towards languages and linguistics. Know a secret language they speak among themselves. Natural travelers.
Personality: Passionate, diplomatic, and personable. Truly wants to build a better society. Idealistic and inspiring.
Role: is the leader of the village. Deals with organizing tasks and making sure everything is running smoothly. The other leaders seem to ultimately defer to her, but she rarely dictates things and tends to rule by consensus, often seeking their council.
Thorak – Red man warrior
Physical Features: Men and women of this race tall with statuesque body-builder/amazon builds. Naturally athletic, positive and passionate in temperament.
Personality: Brawny but dumb. Good natured. Often drawn into contests of manhood.
Role: In charge of village defense. Leela’s right hand man. Seems to have an affection for her, you are unsure of their history.
Zoth – Black Man hunter
Physical Features: Tallest of all the races with broad shoulders. Skinny with a craven look. Natural long distance runners. Naturally patient and observant with very keen eyesight.
Personality: Distrustful. Doesn’t talk much. Only respects those who have gone on vision quest.
Role: In charge of hunters and rangers who roam the plains around Refuge keeping it safe and finding food.
Omelia – Bone woman lore keeper
Physical Features: Due to their transparent flesh they look like living skeletons. Excel at mathematics and logical thinking. Predisposed towards introversion and tend to talk in a halting abstracted manner.
Personality: Always carries spectacles and book-bag. Seems a bit outcast and a loner. Keeps to herself. Seems to have trouble understanding others.
Role: Lore keeper and historian of the village. Knowledgeable about a great many topics.