Howdy all, this is DawnBringer, coming at you from my computer somewhere in a Texas suburb. For those of you who are not yet familiar with my little project (That would probably be most everyone reading these words) Ska'Lah'Seh is a Christian alternative table top rpg scenario I'm working on in order to publish it for free on the internet, God willing. I'm currently looking for anyone who might be interested in this project. Whether you want to help lore the world, or translate its many monsters and peoples into popular gaming systems such as GURPS, D and D, And True D20. I'll take any help I can get.

Ska'Lah'Seh, or Sky, Land, and Sea, comes from an ancient and mystical language that can be traced back to the first men to walk on two legs. The Hum'an or clay-man as this language translates. This is the first language spoken by any civilization, and has thus been termed Wild tongue or Whil'Teng. Why do I tell you this? Because this is the tongue used to name the beast men of Ska'Lah'Seh.

Long ago, God's first children, the Hum'an, created in His image, created a great empire which forced every man, woman, child, and beast under its unholy and unquestioned rain. And so all men begged God to send a great flood to wipe the empire from the face of the earth; but God looked down, and saw that not all the men off the earth had become wicked and evil. So with great kindness and wisdom He took up the righteous men and women of the empire and placed them on a great mountaintop above the clouds so as they would not have to witness the great flood He wrote upon the land. After all the empire was wiped away, the Lord allowed his children to walk down from the mountaintop and build anew. There they found that the trees and beasts had all been unharmed. As they began to build anew one man asked "What shall we do if we build yet another great and wicked empire?" Another man piped up "We shall ask God to wipe it clean again and build anew once more." Hearing this, God's heart sank, and called out, "No more shall I aid any man who does not rise up to aid himself, and as for the beasts, I shall grant them this blessing: whenever man oversteps HIS bounds and forgets HIS STEWARDSHIP over MY DOMAIN another steward made into My image shall rise up and rival him to remind him of his duty to ALL HIS GOD'S CREATIONS!

Whew! That was a bit long winded. LOL, Here is a list of the other races so far.

Wolv'An (Wolf-Men)- The Wolv'An Appear to be humans with wolves' eyes, ears, and tails. (Their hair colors are those of wolves, so white and grey are common in young as well as old.) They are capable of taking on the form of a wolf as well as almost any animal, though they gain and loose no mass. (Small Bear, Big Dog) Wolv'AN love freedom and respect the alpha of the pack who acts as a spiritual as well as political leader. Fiercely loyal, yet free-spirited, the Wolv'An make great friends and terrible foes. They are the youngest of the beast races.

Kit'An (Cat-Men)- The Kit'An appear to be humans covered in a thin coat of hair with cat ears, eyes, and tails. They can range from lion-like, linx-like, and even panther-like. Kit are often very spiritual, but can be very prideful. Due to seeing the massive destruction wrote by the enchanted weapons of the second Great Empire, the Kit believe that placing enchantments on items is a wicked and evil act. The Kit are the oldest of the beast races.

That's it! I did want to do a dragon race, but they kept looking too much like demons so I gave up. If anyone wants to suggest races or give critiques to my idea feel free. I need to work out all the kinks as soon as possible. I don't plan on using any traditional races like Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs.

This is interesting, DawnBringer. So, what do the various races eat? Do they eat normal human food, or not?

Well the Kit'An don't cook their meat, since they believe that all energy is sacred and should not be wasted; in other words because cooking burns away fat (energy); it is a wast of a holy gift. This is why they boast a hardy constitution. That's just Kit'An though; they are a little weird like that. They eat mostly sea food, because they live on giant turtle-like creatures called Kna'Rr in the middle sea.

Wolv'An pretty much eat like people though they are nomadic so they don't eat alot of domesticated stuff unless they can buy it from farmers. They are hunter gatherers for the most part though. About the only thing they will eat that we can't is grass, (like real wolves) though that's mostly medicinal. Street Dogs (slur for Wolv'An who abandon their nomadic life to go live in Imperial cities) have been known to hunt and eat pigeons, rats, and stray cats when they can't find work, though.

Mostly they eat like us, or like the animal their based on. I have debated making all beast men eat their food raw, but I decided against it.

On a side note, despite being vary similar in their belief and cultural systems, Kit'An and Wolv'An cannot stand one another. Mostly due to Kit'An pride and Wolv'An vindictiveness. They have an entire cast referred to as Vindicates)

I'm not trying to make shining examples of how humans should be here. I'm creating creatures with vices and virtues like everyone else in order to show how culture can be very different in some ways, and how the same beliefs can differ due to culture, and how all people live under grace despite our differences etc. plus I'm trying to make fun races for players and DM's to play with.

That's interesting, DawnBringer. So are there specific territories where the different Beast Men live, or do the all just roam around?

The kit'an live in the middle sea (it's kinda like the Mediterranean, only a little bigger) on large turtle-like creatures, as well as a small number of islands for cats; they really do like water. The wolv'an live in the north west traveling all around that region; the only wolv,an city lies north of the alliance (a coalition of barbarian tribes) which is also in the north west. Some wolv'an tribes (called packs) travel all over the world so they can be found migrating just about anywhere, though it is uncommon that they be found outside of the north west, and the westwood most call home. Politically, wolv'an are part of the alliance. While the kit'an are considered neutral. There are also a fairly good number of oddballs who can be found all over the world. Many adventuring groups have a token wolv'an. The emporer's royal guard is almost always made up entirely of wolv'an loyal to the empire.

I'm sorry about the mess-ups and stuff, but I did this one on my phone.

Ah, I see. Neat!

Oh, and don't worry about the mess-ups. I got 'em.

I really need to find a third beast race, since the kit'an came to be when the second empire grew too large. The wolv'an came to be when the alliance grew too large and began to industrialize. (The alliance reformed after years of conflict with the wolv'an; now they're close chums.) The third empire reformed during the creation of the faith. So that doesn't leave much room for more than one more. What animal should I do? I've thought about apes and even dragons, but I'm not sure. Though I do know I want something that will fit in as a warrior race. Any ideas?

Well, let's see, you have Humans, Wolf-men, and Cat-men, right? What if you had a race of Whale-men? (Okay, that would be interesting...) Or maybe a race of Bear-men?

I have thought of bear men, I'm not sure, it just seems too similar to wolf and cat men. Whale-men sounds like an interesting idea, though I'm not sure I can pull it off.

This sounds a lot like my race! viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3679
You could do mouse men it would complete the dog-cat triangle! (and provide some funny dialogue)
"Are you a man or a mouse?"
"Umm..."

Haha, I like that, Daniel!

You know, I kinda like that too... I mean seriously, that's not a bad idea! (I'm assuming it was meant to be a joke.) I could really use this though! I said I wanted to make a race that kinda fit into the warrior role and really I think this could be a nice little piece of allegory. The Rat'An (Probably named something else) Had to adapt to being hunted by Kat'An (this was before Wolv'An even showed up) as pests. They developed a warrior culture despite being the smallest (some 3 to 4 foot tall) race on Ska'Lah'Seh more than earning there place by producing a number of well known heroes. Dude, I love this but before I do this, I want to get your permission since it was your idea.

These are cool ideas. Really cool.