Supernatural Species
Meet the creatures of the night
From fierce shifters to ancient vampires, explore the diverse supernatural beings that inhabit the worlds of urban fantasy. Each species brings their own powers, cultures, and mysteries.
Auramancers
Auramancers, also known as sensates, are rare supernatural beings with the ability to sense and categorize all forms of magic—from enchantments and glamors to ley lines and spiritual energy. Possessing a heightened sixth sense attuned to the subtle vibrations of the supernatural, they can perceive the true nature of creatures hidden behind sigil tattoos or concealment spells. Some auramancers develop their abilities further, learning to see souls, sense ley lines, or even detect ghosts and spirits. Nearly immune to most magic, they are invaluable as investigators, healers, or hunters, offering a glimpse into a hidden world others can only imagine.
Bennu shifters
Bennu shifters are supernatural beings rooted in ancient Egyptian mythology, believed to be descended from the bennu—the soul of the sun god Ra made flesh in the form of a heron. Often considered the origin of the Greek and Roman phoenix myths, bennu shifters possess the power of fiery regeneration, rising reborn from flame with their wounds healed and strength restored. They are stronger and faster than typical humans, immune to fire and heat, and can sprout fire wings capable of carrying them short distances. When they unleash their full power, they can burn with a touch. True to their namesake, bennu shifters can also transform into a heron.
Fae
The Fae are a proud and often haughty species whose history stretches back long before recorded human memory. They dwell primarily in their own realm, separate from the mortal world, ruled by the powerful Queen Maeve. Though they look entirely human and share a similar lifespan, many possess specific and formidable magical abilities—command over water, lightning, precognition, healing, and more. They operate by rules that seem nonsensical to mortals.
Humans
Humans are the most numerous but often the most underestimated beings in the supernatural world. Without fangs, claws, or magic, they nevertheless persist, adapt, and sometimes thrive alongside creatures that could crush them without effort.
Hyvas
The hyva is a massive, serpentine creature with glossy indigo-black scales, six tree-trunk-thick legs ending in curved sickle-like talons, and a snake-like head crowned with a ring of sharp spikes. It has luminous golden eyes, an elongated maw filled with dagger-like fangs, a ridge of spines running down its back, and a long thorny whip-tail strong enough to shatter stone. Before attacking, its throat pouch balloons grotesquely while it produces a signature accelerating clicking sound followed by a warbling roar.
Numerai
A type of Mythical with an innate magical ability to perceive patterns, anomalies, and connections within data. They can sift through large amounts of information—financial records, death certificates, statistics—and instinctively detect irregularities that would escape ordinary analysis. Very little is known about the Numerai - they are reclusive and secretive.
Ogres
Ogres are massive, formidable supernatural beings often misunderstood due to their imposing appearance. Standing taller and broader than most humans, ogres possess incredible strength and durability. Those living in the human realm bear sigil tattoos that cloak them in human appearances, allowing them to move through human realm without detection.
Satyr
Satyrs are ancient supernatural beings rooted in wild magic and primal revelry. Often mistaken for mere figures of Greek myth, satyrs are very much alive in the modern world—blending into society while maintaining deep ties to nature, music, and chaos. Beneath their charming exteriors lies an untamed spirit connected to the earth itself. Though they've adapted to urban life, satyrs remain creatures of instinct and impulse, drawn to celebration, creative expression, and the wild places that still exist at the edges of civilization. Their presence tends to stir emotions in those around them, making them natural entertainers, provocateurs, and occasionally, trouble.
Shifters
Shifters are supernatural beings with the ability to transform between human and animal forms. In the urban fantasy world of San Francisco, they live among humans, often hiding their true nature while navigating both the mundane and supernatural communities.
Truth Seekers
Truth Seekers are Mythicals with the rare ability to sense lies and compel honesty. Their power works through eye contact and voice — once a truth seeker locks eyes with their target and begins speaking in that low, soothing tone, resistance becomes difficult. The magic feels like hypnosis: quiet, subtle, and creeping. To an auramancer, a truth seeker's power manifests as gentle tendrils of persuasion that wrap around the mind, washing over thoughts in waves of ease and trust. It feels like a comforting hand guiding you to reveal your deepest secrets — and even bystanders can get caught in the pull if they're not careful. Targets often slip into a trance-like state, their voices going sleepy and robotic, their will bending to answer whatever questions are asked. Truth seekers are invaluable for interrogations, able to cut through deception and pull confessions from even the most reluctant subjects. The Conclave uses them to question suspects, verify alibis, and determine whether someone is an accomplice or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Vampires
Vampires are the aristocrats of the supernatural world—ancient, powerful, and wrapped in centuries of mystery and intrigue. These undead beings sustain themselves on blood and have walked the shadows of human civilization for millennia.
Völvas
Völvas are Norse seers — powerful women who can walk the threads of time itself. Rooted in ancient Scandinavian magical traditions, they possess the ability to perceive the branching pathways of past, present, and future simultaneously, navigating a web of possible timelines that most minds could never comprehend. Their gift is as dangerous as it is powerful. Many Völvas lose themselves in their visions — overwhelmed by too many branching timelines and too many possible futures, they gradually lose their grip on the present. What begins as extraordinary foresight can deteriorate into a fractured existence caught between what is, what was, and what might be, leaving outsiders unable to distinguish genuine prophecy from madness. Völvas are exceptionally rare. Even among the most well-connected members of the supernatural community, few have encountered more than one in a lifetime.
Warlocks
In this world, a warlock is a human magic user — distinct from Fae, who are born with innate magical abilities. Warlocks practice learned or acquired magic through spells, incantations, and rituals. They occupy a recognized place in the Mythical community and can work officially for organizations like the Conclave or the police's Mythical division, though some operate as freelance contractors willing to work for anyone with the right price. Warlock abilities include casting protective wards (magical barriers that repel unwanted visitors or alert residents to intruders), performing tracing spells to locate people, conducting magical research, and creating spells using chalk symbols, spoken incantations like "Finio," and hand gestures. More advanced or specialized warlocks can develop proprietary spells they guard jealously from competitors. The magic appears to have a visual component — Larry's ward manifests as a shimmering blue forcefield that absorbs into the building. Voodoo practitioners are described as "a variation of a warlock" — human magic users with a specific cultural tradition, like Henri Boudreaux, who practices rituals involving Latin incantations and items like goat skulls. Warlocks can also work with potions, spell books, and grimoires. The profession has a spectrum of ethics: Larry is a legitimate detective who won't share his proprietary work with untrustworthy colleagues, while Boudreaux is described as "brilliant" but the type who "will work for anyone given the right price" and is "not exactly the ethical type." Spells can backfire dangerously — Murias sees regular cases of magic users whose spells "fried their brain" while practicing in the redwood forest near the ley line.
Witches
Witch magic is linked to the life force of the world itself, inherited from mother to daughter through bloodlines as ancient as humanity. It is a divine gift that allows women to manipulate the elemental energies around them. All witches share a fundamental spark — the connection to the life force that flows through every living thing. Beyond that universal spark, each witch possesses a unique elemental affinity that resonates with her soul. This affinity cannot be forced or chosen, only discovered.
Wizards
Wizards are among the most versatile and powerful spellcasters in the Mythical world. Unlike witches, whose magic is tied to specific elemental affinities inherited through bloodlines, wizards practice learned magic — a broad discipline of spellwork that can be studied, mastered, and expanded over a lifetime. Their power comes not from an innate connection to a single element, but from their knowledge of incantations, rituals, and the fundamental forces that underpin all magic. A skilled wizard can cast an impressive range of spells: containment barriers that trap enemies in invisible bubbles of force, knockout spells that drop a target into immediate unconsciousness, location spells that track missing persons across vast distances, and memory modifications that wipe away what someone has seen. The most powerful wizards are capable of devastating offensive magic — some could level a city block if they chose to unleash their full strength. Wizard magic requires spoken incantations, often in ancient or arcane languages that sound like nonsense to untrained ears. The complexity of a spell typically determines how long the incantation takes to complete — simple spells can be cast in moments, while powerful workings require time and concentration, leaving the wizard vulnerable if interrupted. To an auramancer's senses, wizard magic often has a bright, active quality — bubbling, sparkling, or crackling with contained energy.
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