Your personal takes on already existing creatures

(Edit here because I don't want to make that post any longer) I also use other species like witches and ghosts so I'll probably come back later to write a bit about them too.

@Caine Thanks! Fishes turning into dragons also represent determination and perseverance (not all can swim up the waterfall), which is a trait I admire a lot and hope my characters can demonstrate eventually too. 

And I love your interpretation on vampires and dragons too! Especially on dragons being good and how you link your vampires to their conventional association with bats, and how some of their reactions are relatable from a human's pespective.

Love this thread! It's great seeing how different individuals link to different aspects of already established myths and which parts they choose to reference and which to deviate. Mythology overall is a great base to build stories and character designs off, especially since there's lots of creatures to take inspiration from and how the lore can be easily  twisted, so there's so many ways to tell a story! There's a lot of mythology from other cultures that can be learned here too. Thanks to everyone who shared so far! I myself got pretty excited and went to study more types of yokai. 

Basically I have only humans or demons. Vampires? Werewolves? Anything else? yea it's a demon I'm too lazy to work on another species lmao. Though human species still have weird things like pointy elf like ears and such. Angels were a thing for like a week as a generic good counterpart to demons who are seen as bad but I don't have enough energy to work on a third species and scrapped them. Maybe I'll add them back later

Pretty much anyhing can pass a demon from a design point. I made no rules there expect 'don't make it look like a irl human' lmao. The difference besides some wild appearances is that they can use any type of magic and are immortal. Mentioning werewolves, some of them also have a different form they can transform into. What gives them all this power their core, a crystal on their chest and separating the body from the crystal is the only way to fully kill them. Demon hunters like to make jewelry out of those to flex on others or turn it into a glorified power generator because it still holds energy even after the demon is killed. The demon still lives on from a few days to months depending on their own power so it's possible to still hunt down the killer and get the core back before they die for good.

Demon possessing a human body is a thing though really rare. The demon basically just switches bodies, destroying the human soul in the process as the core grows in the human body and in the what you get is basically immortal human with some of the strength of a demon but it's very limited. But also humans can't hold the power demons have very well and it eventually destroys the body either physically or mentally. Or both. 

Then there are witches who originally were just a shady cult of humans who got the excellent idea of stealing magic knowledge from demons who were rightfully pissed at them and cursed them with immortality. At least there is one way to make demon dead, witch is stuck here literally forever. They are the usual witch you'd expect, brewing potions and shit

This makes probably no sense and it's a mess because I always fail to explain myself well and I'm in a hurry lmao rip

I take the basics for a lot of creatures, and tweak them a bit to fit into my own world setting? Sometimes they end up being pretty much the original creature I used as the "base" and other times they end up having traits or added stuff and hardly resemble their base besides the bare brick layout. I only do this because I rather not have, like, an issue of anything being innacurate or of not knowing 100% about the creature because while I do find folk lore and mythical creatures interesting, a lot of things vary by region or there simply isn't a lot of info to search into! And I am only one, very pea-brained, individual. Plus, my world setting isn't... Real Earth, so I think it's better to have a bunch of species that differ but slightly resemble/take insp from their real world counterparts (or the actual mythical creatures). Hopefully that makes sense.
Basically, I just want them to have my own flair to them, and I don't want them to be exactly accurate. I use real existing creatures as a loose base and go from there to mold them into whatever. I don't have a 1:1 Earth setting so there's no point in keeping Earth lore fully in tact and accurate.

wait a sec I totally forgot my angels/divines were a thing zhzhz

I went with the hivemind thing as well; angels are all just parts of the same god, and gods are all just parts of the same... whatever term you'd use to describe everything divine. Each individual angel is more like a cell in the body of a huge organism-- they don't really have unique thoughts or minds of their own but they do link together and do their jobs and contribute to keeping everything chugging along. When everythings going as it should be, angels have no sense of self and they're totally incapable of comprehending anything outside their inbuilt purpose. They have varying degrees of autonomy and there is a kind of hierarchy among them, but they're all connected to the same thing.

The tasks that angels have vary drastically depending on their rank & which god they're a part of. Some make sure physics is working properly. Some deal with magic. Some are responsible for abstract concepts, emotions, etc... The collective nature of angels makes it hard to pinpoint where they are or even where they begin & end, but they're literally everywhere all the time; higher planes of existence are utterly swarming with them, there's probably hundreds to each human. They pretty much all just make sure everything keeps running how it's expected to. Angels are unable to be perceived by any human means, and there's no way of even concretely proving they even exist, except when you get a bad one...

An unfortunate thing about divines is that there's no easy way to really destroy or change their inherent essence when things go wrong with them. If you got an angel that's not doing it's job right, nothing will be able to fix it. you do have to decommission it, and the only way you can do that is to cut it out of the hivemind & quarunteen it in the cosmic bin where all the whoopsies go (hell, in other words) so it doesn't cause trouble on the earthly plane. Most of them either remain mindless or go fully insane from how traumatic this process is & end up as big feral nasty mistakes doomed to keep existing forever. Some are lucky enough to hit the ground running and start trying to figure out their situations. These ones will eventually develop some kind of self-awareness, and some kind of sense of self as they try to relate to the world around them from their new, limited vantagepoint. All divinity exists as a kind of reflection of humanity, not the other way around, so even angels do sort of tend toward "human" ideas of personhood when they're left to proliferate their own minds like this. All of them are kind of miserable because they were never supposed to exist and they know it. I'd feel sorry for them but they're almost invariably massive bastards because of this.

When they're a part of divinity, an angel can't die. When they're in the hellzone they can't either. Neither of these places are "real" enough for them to stop being divine. The only way they get killable is by having them spend a good century or two on the earthly plane-- they're not simply exiled here because a renegade angel's gonna be bad news for Earth, and earth is the only thing divinity cares about.

I really really need sleep now & idk how comprehensive this actually is but yea. angels, man

My kitsune characters (such as Kanna here) start with one tail and grow more as they age. I dunno if that’s really how such a creature might work but it’s how I do it. (Same goes for the related Ninetales evolutionary line of Pokémon, although I have no such characters.)

From a lore standpoint I...actually don’t really have any I use in particular? I just have that they’re some sort of magical creature that takes a humanoid form. *shrug*

Anthros usually are the only sentient being in their world from what I've seen anywhere else. Where as I have them as an offshoot of humanity, and the two exist together. Same with orcs and elves an shit, but those usually co-exist with humans :p

But awhile back I had vampires that fed off of something that wasn't blood, but they didn't really vary too much past that, but yeah you'd have some who fed off despair, others who fed off of happiness or pride, and just anything was really. I like that concept and might come back to it, but yeah the characters I had about it I've since moved away from.

Elementals are not just... throwaway masses of the elements. There are those kinds still, of course, but the real cool ones are living beings made out of magic, with elements involved, and are their own person. They're immortal, and quick to learn and are skilled. Or you get one that just naps. But she's skilled at napping. Can have multiple elements in one, or just one.

Ghosts are kinda the same, except that there's a distinction between Spirits and Ghosts. And Ghosts are very capable of essentially living a normal life. If a ghost doesn't want the world to see them as a ghost, they easily can. They can lift stuff, walk, eat, and just be normal. Or, they can make use of some ghost powers. Meanwhile spirits are more typical, they can't really handle stuff, they can haunt places, are hard to see, stuff like that. And then yeah a spirit can be made into a ghost with any of the various methods of magic.

So my world has a lot of different takes on typical fantasy races and such, but I have a hard time writing it all out properly...hopefully this will help gsdfgfh

Vampires are actually officially called dhampirs in my world, and vampire is seen as a slur (as well as vamp). Dhampirism is a curse, caused by an initial invasion of corrupted demons as a way to start invading the Amestrian realm. It affects most humanoid races, such as elves/fae, humans, and even half-animal creatures called Felian (they're basically kemonomimi but with actual lore). Humans have a harder time hiding their curse, since most humans don't have fangs -- but elves can get away with rebranding themselves as fae, and Felian tend to have fangs based on their breed. Dhampirism makes a person immortal, greatly enhances their strength and senses, as well as their magic. They are virtually unkillable, outside of strong purification magic (which can literally obliterate hundreds of dhampirs if weaponized) and magical stones that weaken their power. When dhampirs were unchecked, they caused great death and destruction, leading to a war that ended with dhampirs either being turned to dust, or being given a chance to continue living, but under the rule of the Arcadian Empire. All dhampirs are required to do various types of work for the Empire, ranging from desk work to assassinations, but more commonly being stationed in various cities and provinces to protect the citizens. All dhampirs are required to wear at least one turquoise gemstone to ensure their powers are kept in check. They cannot remove the gemstone or destroy it in any way. 

Similarly, werewolves have been cursed by corrupted demons. They're also called Wereians because...I haven't thought of a better name yet, quite frankly. These curses come through the form of biting, which is why it is so easy for the curses to spread, if gone unchecked. The curse only occurs when an Anima (the father species to Felians, they're basically fully functioning people but...animals.) is corrupted by dark magic and bites a non-anima being. The anima that bites may or may not die shortly after, and the bitten is cursed to change during the next full moon. The Wereian turns into whichever animal the anima was, but has no control over their transformations until they learn to master it. Wereians can also curse others, often during an uncontrolled transformation. There is no cure, but Wereians are often brought into the Anima community to learn their species and hone their skills.

Demons are all part of a lower realm, called Hellas. I'm sure you're wowed by my unique names, just wait until I get to angels. But demons are a diverse race of people, just as Amestrians are. They are not the same as the corrupted demons that have been attacking the Amestrian world for centuries, but they are often lumped together simply for being demons. Hellas is a diverse world with dragons, goblins, trolls, succubi/incubi, etc. There are seven main races/locations, however, that are based on the seven deadly sins. Slothian, Wrathian, etc. Many do have traits of the sins in their culture and personalities, but they are capable of being multi-faceted people outside of Hellas. Corrupted demons are lower-level beings that were created to be mindless drones that follow the rule of the darker deities. 

Angels come from Hevanas (hah) and are essentially the 'evolved' form of humans, who they watch over in the realm above Amestris. Angels have different 'ranks' as opposed to races, although seraphims are in a class of their own. They do not follow a God, but they do serve all types of deities of the lighter realms. Angels tend to believe that they are the superior race to all below them, though many have forgotten that demons were once angelic beings -- history has just been rewritten by the angels on top to ensure that the innocent angels they cursed and threw to the void were never able to rise again. The curses that were placed on those fallen angels ended up creating the beauty in the diverse races of Hellas. Hevanas remains largely monolithic (as far as wings go) and angels appear as the age they are mentally. They are the proponents of holy magic, and only work with humans. 

As for elves and fae...they are one subset of races that came from the Ostaran universe, as Zodai, but were transformed into a race called Elnin when they went through the Door of Helios. Elnin are essentially elves, but the name was dropped after a split in the race; elves called themselves pure, shunning the new race of fae, who emerged after centuries of mating with the Anima. Humans and angels actually come from the Zodai's sister race, Asteri, and were transformed through Helios as well. Angels watch over humans, because they were part of the same race. 

And that's all my brain has for this right now dfgadfsg I hope that was interesting, at least?? My takes on these species'.

I don't have a take on vampires, werewolves, demons or that stuff (yet) but boy do I have so many different takes on classic fantasy things like mermaids, elves, goblins, and gnomes (and sphinxes, but those aren't too common sadly)! I really like speculative biology, but I'm a bit new to it, so most of this is like... haphazard anatomy stuff and equally haphazard cultural ramblings ^^'

For mermaids, they're amphibious humanoids! They have two hearts, one in their humanoid torso, and one in their tail. Depending on the size of the individual, the tail heart ranges from a random unusable clump of muscle to a fully functional heart that beats in tandem with the primary heart. They have several sets of gills along their bodies, as well as a pair of lungs that can also function as a swim bladder. They have a lot of modified barbels (think catfish whiskers) that constitute their hair and in some subspecies is even strong enough to act as prehensile limbs. A lot also have actual catfish whiskers along their chin that function close to a platypus's electroreception. Additionally, they have a lot of superficial barbels and fin-like skin flaps that function mostly for aesthetic and different types of these are considered conventionally attractive/unattractive, depending on what subculture you're looking at. Most mermaids opt for a whole tail, but with practice, the merfolk from the sunlight and twilight zones (the top layers of the ocean) can separate their tail into legs + a tail, its a very difficult process, but those who are gifted for it aren't necessarily revered, but have a higher social standing. These legs are also more digitigrade (think like a dog's legs) than plantigrade (human legs), and combined with the long tail usually leads to a bit of a hunched posture and a loping walk (also knuckle-walking isn't uncommon). Also, their concept of gender is basically "whats gender" and they're able to alter their gametes, not really consciously, but in response to environmental factors.

Culturally, merfolk are mostly smaller nomadic family groups that answer to a more dominant family, kinda like a medieval lord and his vassals. Each of the groups leans towards a dynastic rule, but those who show promise aren't forbidden from rising in society. The smaller groups usually have a strong sense of tradition. They function as hunter gatherers for the most part, but some farm aquatic flora and fauna. Most groups are peaceful towards each other, and large and intricate trade routes are common in merfolk territory. The larger, more dominant, groups usually control a central resource- sometimes herds of animals, swathes of farmland, or access to ocean floor vents and their minerals. Outside of that, some have monopolies on luxury items, like items from landbound societies. However, the most powerful dynasty holds a monopoly on a type of naturally enchanted rock that's buoyant and used to construct giant cities that float just beneath the waves.

As for elves, I have a jumble of half-baked ideas. My take on drow are more lemur like nocturnal humanoids. They live mostly on mountain slopes and high elevation areas like the Himalayas, but some sects live in places like Madagascar's tsingy de bemaraha. They also inhabit cave systems and have their beasts of burden carve and expand these systems (more on them later). Their hands have two thumbs with three regular fingers, and they have intense upper arm, back, and neck strength. They also have digitigrade legs, with feet that are basically elongated hands, two thumbs and all. They also have a long tail that helps balance them and aids in a loping, monkey-like run. Their skin is tough and covered in a coarse layer of fur that ranges from white to dark grays. Purple dyes, usually made from mineral deposits, are common. One of their beasts of burden are large, subterranean worms that carve out cave tunnels and have about an octopus level of intelligence. Most family groups usually have one of these worms in their care, as they're used for transport, architecture, protection, and in death as food, material. Their other beast of burden are large bat-like creatures that are used the equivalent of both horses and guard dogs. Both of these creatures are almost revered, as the primary religion focuses on twin bat and worm gods. That's all I have on that so far, though. Culturally, they're extremely magically advanced, and anyone who can make something new out of magic is welcomed. However, they tend to switch focuses quickly, and what is novel one day is old hat the next.

Wow thats a lot of words. I'm sorry about like... this essay. I have more? Somehow? about wood/high elves and elves in general, as well as goblins and gnomes (and sphinxes, and dryads) but like... wow this is already a lot, huh?

everyone is so creative!! @ op i really like the way you changed around vampires - i hadn't even thought about how unsustainable most vampire children would be but you solved that issue excellently!!

i've had to boil down some concepts to be more clear (and to not give a 4-hour lecture on the chemistry-based magic system), but here's some stuff i've tweaked:

ghosts

demons & seraphs (tw cannibalism?)

zombies

i can't think of too many other things i've done my own take on, but! if i think of any more i'll come back here

ETA 1 oh yeah and i have centaurs and mermaids as sentient races!
ETA 2 zombies added! forgot about em initially

hold up while I go off for a second;

Fairies

Robots (injury/pain mention)

Eldrich Monster Gods & Demons???