When Lusternia first opened we knew there were races descended from the Elder Gods:

Subsequently other shard races were discovered to have existed.

Kephera: This hive race has lived deep in the undervault since Keph splintered herself there, and apparently only found out about the surface world when we discovered the undervault. They and the illithoids developed kata (martial arts).

Illithoid: The only souless race - instead of shards of an elder god's soul, they possess shards of a souless god's body. The 'Book' of Illith suggests that this race cam into being long after the Kephera, and presumably all the other races. They were imprisoned in the undervault from their 'birth' until its discovery.

Centaurs: Lived in Gloriana, but seeing a prophecy in the stars left for Serenwilde and Hifarae before the taint. When Lord Charune returned from the void, it was discovered that the centaurs were decended from his brother, Centaubi. It was later stated by Estarra here that they were going to be a playable race until it was decided that six limbs was to difficult to account for in the code.

Gnomes: Although I'm sure some people had suspicions, widespread speculation that the Gnomes might be shards came about when it was discovered that there were far more advanced groups of them than the ones living in Newton, and that they had traversed and explored the aetherways for many, many years. We now even have the name of a god that they may be descended from - Clangorum's brother Agnomenon the Tinkerer.

Finks: For some reason I was under the impression that these were a sort of lizard creature for a while. Fortunatly it was pointed out to me that they are rather more like rats. As a friend of mine commented: 'They are dirty rat finks, kinda like Skaven.' I have found no solid evidence to suggest that they are a shard race, but the fact that they seem intelligent, have speech, can be influenced, and have an aptitude for mechanics (regardless of whether they developed their technology independently or stole it from the Gnomes) suggests that they might be.


Which leads me to some interesting thoughts:

1 - No kephera or illithoid passed through the Portal of Fate and joined a guild until recently, beacuse they lived in the undervault and did not know it existed. However the centaurs have lived in the basin for a very long time, and there have beengnomes in Newton for a while too. And yet no member of either race has entered the Portal (there is one notable exception - the Serenguard's tutor. He is considered a full member of the guild, right?). Even if the centaurs belive they should all just hang around in the hills gazing at stars, it seems strange to me that no teenaged centaur decided to rebel and enter the Portal of Fate. Or that no young gnome got tired of hanging around in the caverns trying to fix the portals there, and decided to visit a bigger one. I am assuming that they can enter the Portal, as descendent's of elder gods, though I know spome people believe that the two races are somehow lesser than the playable races, and that they cannot actually enter the Portal.

2 - If Agnomenon is indeed father of the gnomes, then Clangorum and Agnomenon would be the only two brother gods (gods from the same creche) that I know of who both splintered into races. This puts the dwarves and gnomes in the unique position of being bretheren races. Xyl and Trillilial were partners, and their descendents stayed close, as did Bollikin and Tae's descendents, but the dwarves and gnomes took two different paths (which brothers often do) - one delving the depths of the earth, and the others plumbing the far reaches of aetherspace. I wonder how much the two races know about their relationship to each other, and what they think of each other.

3 - I sense a pattern between the kephera/hifae alliance in the Undervault and the ant/shroomie alliance in Lolliprin. Of course the ants cannot be infuenced, and I think only the queen can speak, so I doubt they are realted to the kephera.Its probably just a conicidence. The shroomies do have speech, on the other hand, might they be another group of fae-like creatures?

4 - Will we one day see hordes of vicious finks pouring over the mountains to invade the basin, or tunneling beneath them to bust out at our feet and spread nasty plagues amongst us? Wait. OMG, the Dread Lord of Contagion is the ruler of the finks! Um, yeah, ok, ignore this last point.

I hadn't thought of the finks in that way. It seems likely though, that they splintered from someone. I wonder if it it would be one of the traitor gods, or just a particularly unkempt elder. Nice thoughts.

I wonder though, if there's anything still alive outside the basin? I know it's wastes, but I wonder if literally every living thing of note was consumed or otherwise destroyed by the Soulless, or the Vernal Wars Kethuru.

Well, the scholars and bards have to come from somewhere.

Scholars come from outside the Basin. I imagine bards are just like RL artists- restless and wanting to see the world. I witnessed the event on an alt. There have been a few others from beyond the mountains that came too I think. Those people from the tiger event when we got hunting?

Adding to that, I want to know how changelings fit into everything.

They can mimic the other shards, but, aren't any of them.

Is a Changeling in Viscanti form tainted? Is a changeling in Illithoid form Soulless?

There are several IC theories about that, and I would prefer it remains with theories and no canon facts.

We changelings must remain mysterious!

That depends on whether the changelings are just mimicking the race or actually becoming them.

A changeling has no race.

Terentia confirmed that Changelings aren't shards in the sense of other mortals.

A Changeling has EVERY power someone of the race they appear as, so, thoughts? Theories?

Edit: If a Changeling Viscanti is tainted, that adds a whole new theory to spontaneously generated taint, and it adds a question about Illithoids. If a changeling illithoid is soulless, where did their soul go?

I'm just curious as to what you all mean by 'canon'. I'm seeing it allover... What's it mean?

Canon means accepted as the cold hard truth, as defined by the admins. For example that Marilynth blew up Old Celest is canon, in that it's written into the established game histories. Me claiming that I'm descended from Marilynth, however, is not.

Ah. That makes sense. Thanks for the reply!

Back on topic here...
To be honest, I think there could be other races from splintered Elder Gods that we just don't know about. We didn't know about Illithoids or Kephara. (Although it seems like the Admin had been planning them for sometime. If you click on the Illithoid or Kephara pictures in their respective pages on the website, you'll see that the year next to the Artist's name is '05, which is the same as the other ones.)

Looking at it from an IC perspective in a way, the races that we can play as are just the ones that have chosen to pass through the Portal. If a few intrepid gnomes decided to do that, who knows, maybe we'd be able to play as gnomes. It seems to me that a mortal race is a fragment of an Elder, or some other higher, more powerful being. IE: Illith for the Illithoid and the Nameless Son of Yudhe for the Humans. So, if that trend follows true, then the Gnomes and the Finks are probably splintered from some other Elder.

Maybe the Ants and Shroomies (and maybe even the Finks and Gnomes) are an awakened creation of the Elders that got a little farther then the regular spirits, but not as far as the Great Spirits. Since they, as Dracnoris puts it "Play Dynara", and you have the Half-formed which are Elder Gods and Goddesses who didn't fully "grow" (for lack of a better term), isn't it probable/possible that the same thing could happen to the Elder's creations? They only achieved partial growth?

Shroomies are Hyfae.

Hyfae have overall rejected Maeve, as far as hints go, so they're a seperate breed of fae entirely that aren't really protected by Wiccan Covens. Lamella responds to the inquiry of 'shroomies', and as far as I remember she basically says that they're related.

Hmm gnomes and dwarves related? Seems very likely. Alot of the races get their names from the elder they splintered (? right word?) from and.. yeah Agnomenon.
Plus they didn't totally go seperate ways. Don't forget about Ironbeard and his Lustmas gnomes.

About the Centaurs: one herd does take an active role in Basin life. Master Eurytus, the Serenguard tutor, is I believe from the herd that lives in the Centaur Hills in the Northern Serenwilde under Tokota Snowmane. Also, the Centaur hunters that the Serenguard can call forth are I believe from that same herd. As far as I'm concerned IC, they are a part of the Serenguard.

And whose to say that they haven't passed through the Portal of Fate? If you kill Tokota, Poloma, or the colts, do they not come back? Or is there another explanation for this?

Adding on to Everiine's bit.

I can remember that one of the Admin admitted that Centaurs were going to be considered a playable race but certain difficulties had decided that it wouldn't be very feasable, with the four legs and all. I don't remember where it was said, somewhere on the Forums. If someone wants to look it up, go ahead.

I got time to search for random things.

I'd prefer not to see Centaur as a playable race. I love the way the Centaur are and act now, and I know that far too many LOLLERcentaurs will arrive if they are playable-- all of the neat aspects of the Centaur will be gone in an instant. Plus, they are just cooler when you can't be them.

Just because most of the centaurs aren't official members of the 19 guilds, it doesn't mean they haven't passed through the portal. I've generally been assuming that named mobs passed through the portal as they respawn, and we know their names just by looking at them. There is a "No guild" option when you pass through the Portal, so they could have done and opted to simply return to their home regions.

And yes, I know my theory of named mobs passing through the portal doesn't fit with things like who lists and honours and such, but I'm gonna lean on Suspension of Disbelief for that one. Information about other players is a necessary not-very-evil, even if it doesn't sit well with some theories.

Indeed you do, I wasn't even going to bother.

Actually I think there are lots of things wrong with saying that named mobs came through the portal of fates.

I think it would make more sense if the named mobs went through some other process, like being weaved by the fates themselves. Those who walk through the portal were normal people born and raised naturally, who then got "chosen" to go through the portal. However, the "named mobs" are creations of the very fates, woven together to serve a special and unique purpose. This is why they don't wander much or change guild , or switch allegiances and the like.