Sympatic Lineages

The sympatic lineages are the dominant mortal species of Galath. There is a never-ending debate over which of their common traits are definitive of the group, symptomatic of their underlying connection, or purely coincidental. The following is the closest there is to a consensus on the matter, in descending order of importance:  

Trait	Description	Exceptions
Communion	Sympatic creatures are capable of forming both collective and individual bonds with divine beings, in order to create cults and churches, and to forge the sacred marriages from which kingdoms are made.	None.
Divinity	All sympatic creatures were created by an act of divine genesis, and as such have a spark of divinity, a soul, within them. This distinguishes them specifically from True Gauthics.	Halflings have no mythology to associate them with a particular deity.
Mortality	The sympatic lineages are mortal, although their life expectancies vary greatly.	None.
Sentience and Sapience	All sympatic creatures possess emotional and cognitive self-awareness and self-identity, and the capacity for rational thought. This is commonly considered an inevitable, but not unique, consequence of possessing a soul.
Form	All sympatics share the same basic body plan: Upright posture, two arms and two legs, and roughly similar arrangements of the same organs. Their faces have similar arrangements of two eyes, two ears a nose and a mouth. Most have skin and many have hair, although a few have scales or fur.	The structure of the eye varies greatly. Dwarfs have various redundant organs.
Scale	All sympatics are roughly the same size, averaging between four and seven feet tall.	Kobolds and Giant-Kin exceed the usual bounds.
Nature	The sympatic lineages are all creatures of flesh, blood and bone, and native to the Shadow.	Dwarfs have bones of stone.

  There are twelve commonly recognised sympatic lineages on Galath, divided between the Tethic, the Aean, the Nocate and the Akun, and between the Firstborn, Secondborn and Adopted.   The Tethic lineages are born primarily of the earth and belong to it. The Aean are, conversely, of the sky. The Nocate are the children of the night; and the Akun of fire.   The Firstborn were created, according to myth, by the Foundational Divinities in response to Rin's Challenge. They were intended as an unimpeachable rebuke to the arrogance of Rin and the other gods of the Second Ennead, but ultimately proved that no divinity was perfect. They were established in the Eorldoms of Boriya, and remain the dominant lineages there.   The Secondborn owe their existence to Teb the Strifebringer and the outrage of the Foundationals. Teb mocked the work of their parents in the creation of the Firstborn, prompting the creation of a second generation of sympatic lineages. For the Firstborn, this part of the story is about the spite of Teb and the folly of even a god attempting to improve on perfection; for the Secondborn, it proves the superiority of the new. A handful of radical theologists argue that it shows the folly of seeking perfection in the eyes of others, while many dragonborn contend that it teaches the clear lesson that gods are idiots. The Secondborn were awarded a place in the territories of the Dragons in Erask.   The Adopted were pre-existing races granted patronage after the fall of their own divine creators in the War of Earth. Many members of these races rather resent the imposition.   In addition, members of any lineage may be touched with powerful planar energy, and be born as one of the Planate lineages.   There is, finally, an outlier. The Sea People are strikingly different in form, but their great and sacred submarine kingdoms establish them as sympatic.  

Tethic

Progenitor: Tet, the Father Earth
Physicality: Strong
Mentality: Analytical
Spirituality: Pragmatic  

• Dwarfs
• Bugbears
• Giant-Kin

 

Aean

Progenitor: Aea, the Mother Sky
Physicality: Enduring
Mentality: Poetic
Spirituality: Aspiring  

• Elves
• Orcs
• Dragonborn

 

Nocate

Progenitor: Noc, the Nightbringer
Physicality: Unobtrusive
Mentality: Inventive
Spirituality: Avoidant  

• Gnomes
• Goblins
• Halflings

 

Akun

Progenitor: Akun, the Stonefire
Physicality: Energetic
Mentality: Relational
Spirituality: Adaptive  

• Humans
• Hobgoblins
• Kobolds

 

Planate

• Aasimar
• Ingeni
• Tieflings