The Three Races of Sheol'gotha
Sheol’gotha has three peoples, and the realm treats them as hungers given flesh. Where humans are said to be driven by three vices: passion, money, and power, the three races of Sheol’gotha seem to embody one each.
- Grigori: The race of Incubi and Succubi is the embodiment of passion: sex, indulgences, appetites, and all the politics of desire. Though an underclass in the realm now, there was a time they ruled it all.
- Vampires: The Vampiric species embody the love of money. Ownership, accumulation, debts, legacies… no other race plays the long game with such vigor and intensity.
- Shifters: Power and strength are the lust of shifters, and they seek it through dominance, survival and strength, using those to ensure their right to take and keep what they call their own.
Vampires at a Glance
Vampires are old money, they are not undead, and they feed but also eat normal food.
What Others Misunderstand:
- Vampires are not the living undead. They are just living. There is nothing dead about them.
- They can be very patient, but that patience is not passive, it's calculative.
In dealings with Vampires:
- Speak Plainly. Clarity is valued more than flattery.
- Do not confuse manners for gentleness.
- If a vampire offers you a 'favor', assume it comes with a price.
Vampires
Vampires are the 'old' money of the realm, complete with old power and long memories. They are not undead creatures turned by happenstance and bad luck. They are a living race; anciety arcane, and terrifyingly refined. Though all three races do take sustenance from other living creatures, they rarely do so to the point of death. And there a number of advantages to vampirism in Sheol'gotha: Blood vampires can cure blood maladies, energy vampires are more effective at boosting energy than a B12 shot, and a soul vampire can heal parts of your soul you didn't even know were missing or damaged.
Vampires in Sheol'gotha are found in three 'races':
Blood Vampires: These vampires feed on blood both of animals (if they can find nothing else), and the living around them. They rarely feed until someone is dead unless they are feeding in combat.
Energy Vampires: These vampires feed on the living energy of those around them: life force, stamina, arcana, emotion. The transference of energy can work both ways but energy taken in excess must be released in some form or it will cause harm.
Soul Vampires: The rares of the vampires and growing ever rarer, soul vampires feed on souls. The nature of their evolution can make keeping young soul vampires healthy and well-fed challenging and many do not make it to adulthood. Because of this, they will often feed on a single soul over time rather than all at once knowing it may be a while before they can feed again.
Across the Realm:
Vampires have been the only race able to push back against the shifter dominance established during the fall of the First Empire. Though rare, over the past 500,000 years there have been real, documented instances of vampiric Abaddons who have proved the shifters' hold on power in the realm is not as absolute as some would like you to believe.
Shifters at a Glance
Shifters are the proof that nothing in life is ever absolute. After all, everything about them can change at will, and if they wish to remake the realm in their image as Aranicus remakes them in his? Well, who is strong enough to stop them?
What Others Misunderstand:
- Shifting is not a disguise, it is not a curse. It is a gift from Aranicus and a great blessing.
- Though they may lack the intelligence of vampires, shifters are not stupid, nor known for their patience.
In dealings with Shifters:
- Watch their posture and distance; many shifters will speak with body before words.
- It is rude to stare.
- Expect that response to any perceived threat will be immediate and physical.
Where vampires lean toward the arcana and grigori lean toward beauty and hunger, the shifters lean into survival and the brutality of it. Survival requires adaptation, instinct, change, and violence brutal in its honesty. They are a race that reveres a god who is known for giving blessings 'of the flesh': extra arms, lumps and bumps, and with testing his followers by releasing new beasts never seen before that they must survive against.
Shifters in Sheol'gotha come in two 'races':
Mutation Shifters: Mutation shifters can transform parts of their bodies into weapons or shields. Their shifting is more deliberate and controlled than that of feral shifters and can be optimized more specifically in combat.
Feral Shifters: Feral shifters, such as Abaddon Tynan or Maire Q'tai-Txu, are able to take on the form and characteristics of animals they have observed and interacted with. The more contact they have with the animal, the better their mimicry. They tend to be more instinct-driven with their shifting focused on the best application of teeth, claws, mass, and speed.
Across the Realm:
Shifters build power the same way they build bodies: by taking what works and discarding what doesn’t. They organize around families and noble lines like everyone else—just rougher, louder, and less interested in pretending their violence is polite. In the courts, shifters are often treated as new money: dominant, undeniable, and resented for it.
Grigori at a Glance
Grigori are like a velvet knife – beautiful, dangerous, and underestimated by everyone else.
What Others Misunderstand:
- Grigori are more than 'sex demons'. They are driven by passion, hunger, and endurance.
- Beauty is not frivolity; it is both evolution and survival.
In dealings with Grigori:
- Do not assume consent. Ever.
- Do not mistake charm for invitation.
- If a grigori is overly-pleasant ask yourself what it may have cost them.
Grigori are known for being beautiful and seductive with a physiology that feeds off sexual energy as well as regular food. Though they would be considered more 'traditionally' attractive by human standards, this is an evolutionary necessity. They must be able to appeal to the widest spectrum of people across all the races not just to feed, but to achieve safety.
The history of the Grigori is one of excess and ultimately tragedy. While they once ruled the realm, after the fall of the First Empire, Tezirin the first of the Abaddons (often called the Terrible or the Tyrant by the Grigori) nearly wiped out the entire race. Their numbers have struggled to recover, and prejudice has calcified against them turning them into an underclass that is expected to be pleasing, submissive, and quiet.
Grigor in Sheol'gotha come in two 'genders':
Incubi: Metabolize sexual energy generated by desire directed toward masculine presentation - voice, build, manner, & presence.
Succubi: Metabolize sexual enegy generated by desire directed towards feminine presetation.
In both cases, the admirer's sex is irrelevant.
What matters is how they object of desire is being perceived in the moment and the shape of the desire being drawn from.
Across the Realm:
For millennia, vampires and grigori held power in the realm. After the fall of the First Empire, shifters rose and have ruled for an age so long it has become the realm’s default memory.
The result is a world where every race carries a different kind of hunger—and every hunger leaves a mark.