Chaondic Races

[ZhaunTheScribe]

Chaondic Races
Author: Zhaun, scribe of Celestian

Despite the apparent contradiction of the terms chaondic and taxonomic, what follows is a treatise on taxonomic terminology pertaining to the various chaondic races I (Zhaun) have encountered across various multiverses.

chaond: The term chaond effectively translates as “Chaos-blooded humanoid”, and so it is the broadest and therefore most inclusive term in this list; every member of the races in this list can be referred to as a chaond. Only a tiny percent of locales have a less-than-inclusive definition of the term chaond. Chaonds [other than elves] frequently have one or more features which naturally shift colors; chaonds whose hair naturally shifts among vibrant colors are the most visually memorable to non-chaond populations, so those are the iconic chaonds in the eyes of non-chaonds. This of course ignores the fact that elves are the most numerous type of chaond, though to be fair most elfin populations themselves had forgotten that they are chaonds millennia ago. Not surprisingly, the majority of the Xaositects faction is composed of various types of chaonds.

changeling: Changelings are albinoid elfin chaonds distantly descended from shapeshifting batrachi (batrachi are a manner of cousin race to the batrachosuchoid slaadi). The batrachi Bazimgorag ascended as a deity of Chaos, and sees worship among changelings. Changelings have the innate ability to polymorph to resemble other humanoids. Analogues to changelings encountered in some multiverses include doppelgangers and shallar.

Chaosite: In contrast to the eladrin of the Seelie Court, the term Chaosite is typically used in place of the word eladrin when referencing members of the Unseelie Court.

cansin: The term cansin [or cansinoid chaond] designates a chaond whose recent ancestry includes a Chaotic outsider such as a Protean. Most cansin come from elfin stock.

celadrin: A celadrin is a cansinoid chaond of elfin stock whose recent Chaotic outsider ancestor is a fairy-type Eladrin.

eladrin: In some multiverses the term Eladrin designates a category of Chaotic fairy outsiders analogous to Lawful angel outsiders and Thanatotic daemon outsiders, whereas in other multiverses the term eladrin simply designates a sub-race of elves. This confusion of terminology appears to come from the fact that the former type of eladrin are the ancestors of the latter type.

elf: All elves descend distantly from Chaotic eladrin outsiders, though for most elfin populations this eladrin outsider ancestry is distant enough to have been forgotten. The word elf translates as “albino”, and effectively means “albino chaond”, but over millennia mutations etc. have resulted in non-albino elves in many multiverses. The distinguishing feature of elves then is their pointed ears. Elves are the most commonly encountered chaonds across the various multiverses. In most multiverses the fact that the Protean language mutates more rapidly than other languages and the fact that not all would-be speakers can utilize Protean’s quasi-telepathic component prevents Protean from acquiring wide adoption; the Elvish language descends from the spoken portion of the Auld Protean language but Elvish acquired greater stability from its primary speaking population’s time on the material plane. Elvish’s descent from Auld Protean combined with Elvish’s relative stability is why it is encountered as the primary trade language across Chaotic planes in most multiverses. Elvish as the Chaotic planar trade language in turn influences and somewhat stabilizes the mutating Protean language, maintaining a minimum of mutual intelligibility between Protean and Elvish. Elvish as the Chaotic planar trade language means that it is the most commonly spoken language between members of the Xaositects faction, and it is the closest that that faction comes to having an “official” language.

elfborn: Elfborn (or aelfborn), also known as "half-elves" (with the other half being human), are the true-breeding chaond population with the most diluted of chaondic blood, though they retain enough chaondic blood that an elfborn sorcerer or elfborn cleric [of a sufficiently Chaotic deity] can still successfully essay a Logrus geoglyph if such exists in their multiverse’s Chaotic Neutral plane. (Attempting to essay a Logrus is lethal to a non-chaond, as well as chaonds of insufficient ability.) The word elfborn is the human term for these half-breeds; the Elvish word is pheraeldar ("half-elf"). In some elfborn the Chaos from the elfin half of their blood mixes adversely with the neurological structures from the human half of their genes, and this adverse admixture manifests as various forms of insanity; the greater manifestation of Chaos can also manifest as an increase in one or more abilities. Despite as-of-yet unsubstantiated rumors of infertility in some locales, the vast majority of elfborn are clearly capable of producing progeny.

ganzi: A ganzi is a type of chaond who became such via exposure to Chaotic essence. Though a human sufficiently exposed to Chaotic essence [especially during their conception] could become a ganzi, most ganzi started as elves or elfborn who either reside in a Chaotic gate-town such as Adedaaga or who migrated through such a gate to a settlement such as Galisemni within their multiverse’s Chaotic Neutral plane, which in most multiverses is called something like Tirildathach, meaning “Land of Colors”. A humanoid who becomes a ganzi typically acquires the iconic chaondic trait of one or more features which shift colors naturally. Humanoids with rounded ears who become ganzi typically have their ears mutate into a pointed shape. The Thanatotic essence within tieflings and the Lawful essence within axani counters Chaotic essence such that those two race categories never mutate into ganzi at any time other than possibly their own conception; in other words, a tiefling or axani will not mutate into a ganzi, but a tiefling or axani living in a Chaotic Neutral plane could produce a ganzi progeny there. Githzerai living in their multiverse's Chaotic Neutral plane are in denial about the ganzi births among their population, which have been transforming the githzerai into a unique race of ganzi.

lythari: Lythari are albinoid lycanthropic chaonds whose humanoid forms resemble elves. Most lythari have only an elfin form and a dire lupine form, but some lythari develop a bipedal monstrous werewolf form, and some lythari then go on to develop additional chimerical transformations.

Protean-blooded: A Protean-blooded sorcerer is technically a chaond whose distant Chaotic outsider ancestor is a… (wait for it)… Protean. Largely due to the predominance of elves across the various multiverses, Protean-blooded sorcerers occur most frequently in elf and elfborn populations.

slaadtouched: The Protean batrachosuchoid (“frog-crocodile”) outsiders known as slaadi have a reproductive strategy in which they infect humanoids with a retrovirus which attempts to transform the humanoid into a slaad. The first symptoms of slaadic infection are fever rapidly followed by hallucinations. If the infected humanoid succeeds in overcoming the infection, there is still a chance that a remnant of partial slaadic transformation will leave the humanoid as a slaadtouched chaond. Though it is possible for a slaadic infection to render a tiefling or axani severely ill, possibly fatally so, those two race categories never become chaonds, and almost never become slaadi. In some locales slaadtouched chaonds are the only race which the other races know to be Chaotic planetouched, so in those locales those other races erroneously believe all chaonds to be slaadtouched chaonds; this belief leads to a variant definition in those locales of the term chaond which erroneously excludes the other chaondic races.

wereslaad: The Protean batrachosuchoid (“frog-crocodile”) outsiders known as slaadi have a reproductive strategy in which they infect humanoids with a retrovirus which attempts to transform the humanoid into a slaad; the first symptoms of slaadic infection are fever rapidly followed by hallucinations. Exceptional individuals however have a chance to emerge from the infection not as a mind-wiped neonate slaad, but as a wereslaad with their own mind fully intact; a wereslaad’s true form is their humanoid form. Note however that slaadic infection sometimes results in death. Being a psionicist, Protean-blooded sorcerer, or cleric of a Chaotic deity with knowledge of powers/spells related to mind control and/or polymorphism increases the chance that the infected humanoid will emerge from the infection as a wereslaad instead of a mind-wiped slaad. Some wereslaadi also have infectious bites such that a humanoid bitten by a wereslaad might transform into a wereslaad; tieflings and axani however never become wereslaadi or chaonds, and almost never become slaadi. A wereslaadic infection also begins with a fever followed rapidly by hallucinations. Some Xaositects consider the mutated wereslaadic retrovirus as a means of growing the ranks of their faction, with mixed results so far.