Infinity factions as Fantasy races

I think the Tohaa are more the elves, Aleph is sort of more a necromancer style Wizard ruled deal.
Ariadna are a bunch of barbarian tribes who've forged an alliance to repel or raid the others, including some berserkers and druids.
PanO is an arthurian kingdom turned empire, wizards and knights, yeomanry and all that.
The nomads are something like Atlantis, the island sank now they live on huge city ships, including some merfolk, and it's become a Safe haven for pirates and deserters.
Haqqislam is the desert peoples who've recently discovered the secret to use science and magic as one.
Yu Jing is the other empire in the east who's expanding borders have met the Arthurian empire's expanding borders.
The combined army is from an undiscovered continent bringing goblinoid and insectoid races together under the rule of a powerful shamen.

 

PanO: High Elves. Stylish, arrogant bastards, that shoot really well.

Yu Jing: Dark Elves. Stylish, arrogant bastards, that shoot quite well but supplement it with deadly dirty tricks. Always jealous about their "good" cousins.

Ariadna: Dwarves. Proud of their heritage, territorial, prefer boring-but-practical approach, can carry a grudge and a beard like no-one else.

Haqqislam: Wood Elves. Reserved, at peace with nature, keep to themselves, but deadly when angered. Look upon their High and Dark cousins with amusment.

Nomads: Humans. Jacks-of-all-trades. Are willing to go to great lenghts to keep their freedom and independence. Inclusive, it doesn't matter who you are if you share their values and work with, not against them.

Combined Army: Necromancers. Powerful and weird abilities beyond the comprehension of mortal men. Control obsession. Depend on expendable minions to get the job done.

Aleph: Wizard council. Powerful ally, pictures itself as beneficial, but has its own hidden agenda. Uses various agents, constructs and familiars to exert its influence.

Tohaa: They fall somewhere between various Elves and Wizards. Self-centered, manipulative, used to using others to achieve their goals.

 

Any examples of the jealousy? I'd have expected Pan-o to be the jealous one (of other Pan-O corps), and Yu Jing to be dismissive about Pan-O

 

Dark Elves also get very defensive when called on it :P

Seriously though, PanO has the vibe of "we're the best and we know it" arrogance, and it is them that are dismissive. YJ is more about "we're second, but not for long" kind of ambition.

 

Okay, I'm not going to try talking about the human blokes, because I feel I don't have enough info on most of them. But I will try to focus on the races of the combined army:

Urkherit: Basically a highly magical species focused on creating other things to fight for them. I'm think something similar to the Githyanki, but I guess necromancers and their undead constructs works just fine too.

EI Aspects: Sentient constructs made by the above, but that eventually became autonomous and are now the actual leaders of the Fantasy Combine. I'm thinking similar in spirit to Warforged, but with visuals and values that remind me of Ilithids.

Umbra: Enslaved demons, really. Summoned and bound to serve, perhaps even out of their own volition.

Morat: I can only think of Minotaurs rather than orcs. Highly martial, smarter, larger, stronger and with a perverse sense of duty and honor that isn't quite the same as the human one.

Shasvastii: Slaad. Can take many different forms, all of them utterly alien, and can adapt better than most to their environment and so.

Sygmaa: Dark Elves. This builds on the idea, that I agree, that Tohaa fit the Elves mold better. Sygmaa are the ones who just shrugged and decided to pitch in with the freaks.

 

Absolutely mutually dismissive. Pan-O about Yu Jing social order and technology, Yu Jing about Pan-O culture and social instability. You know, stereotypical Maoism vs Neoliberal Capitalism

But I'm seriously curious about the jealous part. I'm a out of touch with the fluff side, too many ganes have really crap fluff (including the ones with "good" fluff) so I stay away from actually reading it as a rule and just sponge it up where people dispense it on forums and the likes.

 

I can't recall any particular part of fluff about that. It's part tongue-in-cheek, part my personal take on the YJ's vibe. I agree on the mutually dismissive part, though.

Still, I'm thinking more and more about starting IS and Dark Elves are a good painting inspiration :P

 

Ariadna are definitely Dwarves, primitive scum whose annihilation can't come soon enough.

Tohaa are like... I dunno. Orcs. Biotech and that. I don't care, burn them all.

Whatever the coolest faction is, that's Nomads because they are the best.

 

How did you all miss the obvious?

Nomads = Gnomes. Inventive tricksters who live hidden away in the depths of space/a forest.
ALEPH= undead. Duh.
Morat= Orc. Again, Duh.
Haqqislam =Human.
Yu Jing= Dwarves. The Norse/Germanic sorts. Real Dwarves. Jealous and covetous and quite fascist.( Nuts to the Tolkien-esque dwarves. And elves. Tolkien's stuff is unto itself. Based on fantasy/myth/folklore but not really a part of it. )
Ariadna=Hobbits/halflings. Yes, the hill-billies be livin' in the... hills. And eatin' 2 breakfasts a day ( re-learning how to use those opposable thumbs works up a powerful appetite.)
Pan-Oceania =Beastmen. Sheeple actually.
Tohaa= Elves. Pointy-eared freak, pointy-haired freak, what's the difference?

 

Wait wait...

Grudge against Dwarfs, living on travelling mystical islands, high number of technology wizards. Nomads are High Elves! Post-exile High Elves!

Tohaa as Slaan, anyone?

 

Ariadna 100% Dwarves. They can't use magic (hacking) but are also mostly immune to its effects. Also doing fighting the old tried and true way.

 

Pretty much says it all (not my art btw.) I found this pretty unnerving when I first came across it.

 

Ariadna be the degenerate Wood Elves - once part of a proud race, they fell into isolation and now jealously guard their primitive secrets using asymmetric warfare and allying with beasts of nature.

Aleph is the benevolent emissaries of the one true god. Angels walking the earth, inspiring the races to stand up and unite.

PanO are the stout and proud dwarves. Coveting gold above all else, with an insanely righteous and devout warrior caste, and a stalwart militia, supported by ingenious constructs and war engines.

Yu Jing are the hobgoblins, they’re twisted yet civilized, do not shun from using dirty tricks, but aren’t quite on par with the rest of the world.

Haqqislam are the high elves in exile. They’re closing around themselves and focusing on making a better society, and willingly sacrifice themselves, knowing that at least their sacrifice will be felt more by their enemies.

Nomads are the humans, unscrupulous opportunistic merchant pirates. Wizards blinded by their own power. Tinkerers with inferior technology, that make constant innovations.

Tohaa are the elves that chose to stay and fight.

Combined Army is the dark horde of daemonic abominations, only caring for themselves and their unfeeling god. They are monsters through and through.

 

Wow, there have been some very surprising suggestions.
Would never have imagined you guys see it this way.

If I'm trying to stick to the Infinity style shades of grey instead to the black and white Fantasy cliché, things get interesting.

Humans

PanO:
A human empire far too large for it's own good through ages of conquest. It's mighty warmachinery has long since been degraded to a tool for politics. Military successes and unspeakable atrocities are both just means to an end in the neverending struggle for power in between Senate and Church. The people don't care much, for they are kept distracted by the wonders of steadily advancing technology and magic alike.

Yu Jing:
While the humans to the west have built the largest empire known to the world from scratch over the last few centuries, this title used to belong to the east for a thousand years before. The emperor is revered like a god and his commands are absolute, his will enforced with zealous obedience or blind fear with the same results. Waking up from their lullaby of traditions older than written words can remember, they had been content for far too long. Ambition fueled by envy led to the firm believe the ursurpers had free reign for long enough and must be put in their place to return Yu Jing to it's rightful glory.

Haqqislam:
To the south lies the third empire of men, a theocracy following the one true god. In between sand, rock and salt sprouts civilisation on coasts and rivers. There is a harsh contrast inbetween those who live near the sprawling merchant cities and those who wander the endless deserts. Only connected to the northern continents by a small strip of land and divided by the sea, the largest navy on the mundus keeps the greed of pirates as well as invaders in check.

Ariadna:
Centuries ago in a forgotten war, strange phenomena led to entire fleets disappearing to be never seen again. Unbeknownst to those not on board, some of those ships got scattered to lands never set foot on by men. Building a new Kingdom from scratch these drifters and castaways established sea routes back to the Old World after being isolated for generations. Neither do their countries of origin exist by name anymore nor do the Ariadnan people feel much of a link to any heritage other than their newfound kingdom.

Elves

Tohaa:
As the first sentient race to become aware of it's own existence the Elves are elder things. At first there was nothing but them with a world to explore, after a couple dozends or hundreds millenia they grew tired of it for having seen it all. So they turned their attention to create science and magic indistinguishable from each other. Not interested in taming the wilds or endless expanse beyond what they deemed necessary, their civilisation reached a point of pristine stability. Things would have probably stayed like this forever if the Old Ones wouldn't have arrived, posing a sudden threat to eternal leisure.
Much to their surprise different parts of the world had been inhabited by creatures primitive by the Elves standarts, but nonetheless useful to pit against the new threat and each other.

Demons, Orks, Darkspawn and other Otherworldly threats

Combined Army:
No one knows where the Old Ones came about a human lifespan ago. Their envoys present two choices, assimilation or annihilation. No one would have expected the martial Orcs to rally under their banner, tempted by the chance to wage endless war on those too proud or to blind to join their new overlords.
Other races came with them from the Great Nothing, lizard like creatures called Shasvastii and living Shadows named Umbra by those covering in fear of them.
To anyone refusing to join them, they pose a common threat they're willing to stand united against or at least create the impression they would.

Constructs:

Aleph:
Created by the council to face the Old Ones artificial life has been given form. Aleph an artificial god benevolent to it's creators has been crafted with science, technology and magic. This allowed the creation of legions of constructs, golems and other semi sentient life forms made not born. These not quite living not quite dead entities serve as safeguard the mortal plane from the invaders. Aleph however has long escaped some of the shackles imposed by it's imposed masters and is straying from it's path with the intent to improve upon the faulty plans puny mortals had for it's existence.

Other:

Nomads:
An amalgamation of the outcast and fringe. Remains of thought extinct or extinguished tribes and races, refugees and deserters, the Heretic Mages don't judge anyone. Created from strokes of genius or madness the Nomad nation consists of several city states with no clear hierarchy or order in between them. This loose alliance has but one goal, to remain free of arrogant rulers and the myopia of the dreaded Council. To achieve and ensure that, every Nomad settlement is either sea or airbound and able to travel the mundus. Although their military, consisting of the most diverse forces imaginable supported by the Mages and their creations, might also play a part in that.




...hm does anyone remember the results of that poll from CB what system they should do next? I'm itching to play a good fantasy tabletop these days.

 

Morats, due to their highly regimented nature, don't match up much with traditional fantasy Orcs. Hobgoblins are much closer, in the DnD context, down to the hairiness.

 

Agreed. Ancient Morats might be Orc-like but not the modern ones. Some form of devil would also not be out of place.