races of the afterlife

[SAGIISA]

The races of the afterlife are what many would deem fantastical, the rebirth of a person into another 'species' or 'race' other than the general human model that was once their own upon earth manifesting in the Kingdom of Purgatory, located someplace between The Holy Kingdom of Eden; Heaven, and The Abyssal Kingdom of Hell.

All races of Purgatory is referred to as Souls, as they are the deceased humans of the once flourishing planet known as Earth. However, after the apocalypse - many Humans perished, leaving a very few on the old planet, scavenging and living in small fortified communities, reverted from being populace and technological to poor, ignorant, and a warrior race to defend themselves from not only the evils of Satan, but the angels known as 'death gods'.

[SAGIISA]

Angels
The Lord’s children and the supposed archetype of all things good, the angels are just that, they are the heralds and metaphorical eyes and ears of the new God and they act as such. They maintain an innate sense of duty to the new God and are best known for their high morality and charitable ways; or at least in stories of them. In reality, there is very little stricture to how an angel of God is to behave—as shown by the influx of falling specimens appearing in their relatively few years of existence—aside from having an unwavering loyalty to Him and the supposed greater good. As to be expected, most of His angels are adverse to the existence of the ‘lesser’ gods of old.

[SAGIISA]

Demons
Those who did not lead honest lives generally become demons after death; a cursed and feared race that has existed for as long as an established line between the figurative right and wrong has. Demons are the monsters of old that have, according to lore, plagued mankind and its protectors for all of their existence. They are, however, not the hideous beasts they are made out to be and, if one didn’t know their nature, they would be almost indiscernible from anything else currently walking this world. Demons range anywhere from mere pests to sociopathic maniacs in terms of personality, though they all seem to share the desire to wreak havoc to impede the progress of the supposed good and whichever god is leading the effort, spreading dissent and fear as they go.

Fallen Angels
Those angels who have either lost the new God’s blessing or have purposely become dissenters are the fallen, the creatures in the median between the demoniac and the divine. Their morality is askew and it is occasionally difficult to distinguish a fallen angel from a demon in terms of the atrocious deeds both have been accredited with over the years; though not every fallen angel is inherently evil, as they have been portrayed by religious officials and their followers. Some may even side with the forgotten gods that came before them following their fall, which has begun to lead some to believe that the new God is, indeed, fallible in some way that has caused his flock to scatter.

Vampires
Considered to be mere superstition by the rational and something monstrous by those inclined to believe, vampires are, as to be expected, a parasitic race that subsists off of the blood of the evangelical as well as mortals. Much of what has been speculated about them is true; they cannot step into direct sunlight, they cannot survive without a consistent food supply, and they seem particularly uncomfortable around garlic—a wooden stake to the heart will not kill them, however, and so most don’t attempt to do so any longer. Branded as demons and monsters by the new God and His followers, vampires live a life filled with social stigma that has often driven them into the arms of the lesser gods or to no one at all, stuck in between a holy war that they are not a part of.

[SAGIISA]

Werewolves
Alongside their vampiric brothers-in-arms, werewolves are a population of lycanthropes believed to be capable of transitioning between human form and that of massive, virulent canines thought to have plagued mankind since the Dark Ages. They have faced opposition from the religious crowd and are denounced as foul monsters and cannibalistic demons despite being a fairly peaceful race that, like its animal kin, tend to avoid what they perceive to be a threat to their existence; which in recent years has become much of the human population. Known for establishing packs, werewolves are rather sociable amidst those they feel a connection with, often becoming fiercely loyal to those connections soon after.

Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters are a versatile race that, as expected, bear no true form of their own and are thus blessed with the ability to shift into whatever form they wish to take so long as they know what it is and can visualize what it looks like. They tend to take the form of whatever will allow them to blend into current society and have been notably rather flighty when it comes to remaining consistent, be it in form or personality. Shapeshifters have been occasionally documented to inherit the traits of the forms they take on, and while many have come to accept the group as something that may have been blessed by their new God rather than cursed, they are still considered a potential threat and are harangued for ‘abusing’ their ability by shifting without the approval of a church official.

Half-Dragon
As their name suggests, half-dragons are a race of semi-reptilian creatures bearing both human and dragonoid traits. These traits tend to vary specimen to specimen, ranging from a human-like appearance with abnormal skin coloration or claws to something bestial in nature, though the entire race shares characteristically abnormal eye or hair colors and sparse scales along the spinal column and on the ankles. There have been documented cases of half-dragons who have possessed wings capable of flight or the ability to conjure flames and the like, though such abilities are rare now that the species has been diluted through interbreeding and human-influenced population loss. This race, like several others, remains harangued by mankind.

Anthros
Anthropomorphs are a group of creatures that, despite being inhuman, possess human characteristics. At one point, the most widely known group consisted of a population of animals with the ability to speak and switch between quadrupedal and bipedal movement, but overtime the anthropomorphic race has dwindled down to hominid creatures who bear animal characteristics, such as ears, tails, feathers, etcetera. Like werewolves, they possess animalistic character traits that make them fairly easy to recognize even without the external features. In recent years, those who are not particularly adamant believers in the new God and His laws have taken to adopting the more feral of the species as pets.

Elves
Regardless of their disposition, be they good or malevolent, the elven race is rarely seen and if so, elves only seem to appear at certain times and are particularly drawn to only places of beauty. During the course of time, elves have been forced to move from their original homes to other places in the world and in many ways their spiritual shape has been lost completely, leaving the creatures to become beings consisting of flesh and blood, almost human save for their ears and exotic appearances in general. The elves generally live as a peaceful, nature-loving race who love beautiful things and often try themselves in the arts of drawing and music. This does not, however, does not mean that there aren’t those who are inclined toward the darker forces currently at work, in which case the creatures are known as drow. In comparison to humans elves are stronger and have an exceptional constitution and endurance.

[SAGIISA]

Humans
Humans are credited as the original, indigenous species on earth and, as thus, they take up a certain level of superiority over their fellow creatures, despite being fairly powerless when compared to the paranormal that surrounds them. And while they do not seem to possess any particularly advantageous powers, they do hold an immense capacity for improvisation and adaptation that has allowed them to survive and even dominate the world they live on, with the help of their faith in this new God. Humans tend to learn fairly quickly and their emotional range has endeared them to the divine, giving them some form of protection against forces that might otherwise wish to harm them. Humankind can only be found on Ruined Earth as the remaining survivors.

Ghosts
People who have died untimely deaths or retain emotional attachments to the mortal realm are often subjected to walking it for an eternity as spirits, be they benevolent phantasms or malicious poltergeists; though in lieu of the recent holy wars, these spirits have become trapped in on Earth due to their inability to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell. Ghosts tend to blend in fairly well as they usually only become visible in the presence of people who believe in their existence, otherwise, they manifest as the disembodied sounds or moving furniture ghosts are notorious for. Occasionally, ghosts will possess corpses or stuffed animals to communicate with those around them, though they are expelled from these vessels after a certain amount of time.