Races in Alkebulan
Race Adaptations for Alkebulan
A comprehensive guide to integrating official and 3rd party races into the post-Cataclysm world
The races of Alkebulan bear the scars and adaptations of survival. Three centuries after the Cataclysm shattered two mighty empires, every community tells stories of how they endured when the world burned with chaotic magic. Some adapted through cunning, others through strength, and many through the simple determination to protect their families when everything familiar turned to ash.
How to Use This Guide
Each race entry includes:
- Mechanical Changes: Any alterations to stats or abilities
- Survival Integration: How they survived the Cataclysm and adapted to the new world
- Social Standing: Their place in post-Cataclysm society and current struggles
- Regional Variations: How different environments shaped their communities
Integration Legend:
- ✅ No Changes - Fits the setting without modification
- 🔄 Lore Adaptation - Mechanics unchanged, background adjusted
- ⚙️ Mechanical Adjustment - Some abilities modified for setting consistency
- ❌ Major Rework - Significant changes required for thematic fit
Core PHB Races
Humans ✅
Survival Story: When empires fell and magic turned wild, humans endured through adaptability and stubbornness. Different regions produced distinct survival cultures.
Current Status: The dominant population across most of Alkebulan, though deeply fractured into competing communities. Human settlements range from the rigid hierarchy of the expanding Amunrai Imperium to the merchant republics of Port Zephyr and scattered tribal confederations in the wastes.
Regional Variants:
- Northern Humans: Descendants of Solarian citizens who’ve maintained some pre-Cataclysm knowledge
- Southern Humans: Former Umbral territories where shadow magic left subtle marks on bloodlines
- Coastal Humans: Maritime cultures that survived on islands during the worst of the magical storms
- Waste Humans: Hardy survivors who adapted to life in the contaminated interior
DM Note: Human communities are where you’ll see the most political complexity. Each settlement has its own survival story that shapes current attitudes toward magic, outsiders, and cooperation.
Elves 🔄
Survival Story: Their long lives made elves witnesses to both the Cataclysm and the slow, painful rebuilding. Many carry trauma from watching their ancient homes burn, but their perfect memory makes them invaluable keepers of pre-Cataclysm knowledge.
Current Status: Elven communities often serve as reluctant historians and magical consultants, though many prefer isolation. The weight of remembering the old world creates internal conflicts between preserving the past and adapting to harsh realities.
Subrace Adaptations:
- High Elves: Former Solarian court advisors who guard dangerous solar magic knowledge
- Wood Elves: Protectors of uncorrupted forests, skilled at detecting remnant contamination in nature
- Dark Elves: Descendants of Umbral nobility, comfortable with shadow magic but often mistrusted
Trauma Elements: Many elves suffer from what would be recognized as PTSD from witnessing the Cataclysm. This can manifest as paranoia about magic use, obsessive preservation of knowledge, or complete withdrawal from society.
Dwarves 🔄
Survival Story: Deep mountain halls and underground cities became lifelines during the magical catastrophe. Dwarven engineering and metallurgy adapted to work with remnant-touched materials, making them essential for rebuilding.
Current Status: Highly valued as craftspeople and engineers, but their traditional clan structures sometimes clash with the desperate pragmatism of post-Cataclysm society. Many dwarven communities struggle with isolationist instincts versus the need for trade and cooperation.
Subrace Adaptations:
- Mountain Dwarves: Masters of working with dangerous remnant metals and crystal technology
- Hill Dwarves: More integrated with surface communities, often serving as engineers and artificers
Social Tension: Dwarven communities often hoard technical knowledge, creating friction with other groups who desperately need engineering expertise. This creates opportunities for political drama around technology sharing.
Halflings ✅
Survival Story: When empires collapsed, halfling communities survived through cooperation, resource sharing, and the wisdom to stay small and unnoticed. Their optimistic outlook and practical skills proved invaluable during the darkest years.
Current Status: Welcomed in most settlements as traders, diplomats, and community organizers. Halfling merchants form crucial trade networks that keep isolated communities connected, though their cheerful demeanor sometimes seems inappropriate to those still deeply traumatized by loss.
Dragonborn 🔄
Survival Story: Ancient draconic pacts shattered during the Cataclysm, leaving dragonborn communities to survive on their own strength. Many served as protectors during the chaos, earning respect through sacrifice.
Current Status: Rare and often found in leadership positions due to their natural presence and draconic heritage. However, their connection to powerful magic makes some communities wary of potential corruption.
Breath Weapon Consideration: In areas with high remnant magic concentration, dragonborn breath weapons may occasionally trigger unstable magical surges (DM discretion).
Gnomes 🔄
Survival Story: Gnomish curiosity and technical expertise became lifelines when trying to understand and safely use remnant magic technology. Their tinkering kept essential systems functioning during the rebuilding.
Current Status: Highly sought after as artificers and magical consultants, but their experimental nature sometimes clashes with communities that prefer proven, safe solutions. Gnome workshops are often both essential to and slightly feared by their neighbors.
Subrace Focus:
- Forest Gnomes: Specialists in natural magic that resists corruption
- Rock Gnomes: Masters of salvage engineering and remnant-tech integration
Half-Elves ✅
Survival Story: Their mixed heritage made them natural bridge-builders between communities that might otherwise remain isolated. During the chaos, cultural cooperation often meant survival.
Current Status: Serve as diplomats, translators, and cultural intermediaries in the fragmented post-Cataclysm world. Their ability to understand multiple perspectives makes them valuable but sometimes leaves them without a clear community identity.
Half-Orcs ✅
Survival Story: Physical strength and resilience proved essential when the world became dangerous and resources scarce. Half-orc communities provided security and labor during the desperate rebuilding years.
Current Status: Valued members of most communities, though often expected to serve in dangerous roles like guards, laborers, or scouts. Some struggle with being seen primarily for their physical capabilities rather than other talents.
Tieflings ⚙️
Mechanical Change: Replace fiendish heritage with Umbral Bloodline
Survival Story: During the Cataclysm, concentrated exposure to Umbral Sovereignty’s void magic left lasting marks on some human bloodlines. These “Umbral-touched” inherited strange abilities but also the burden of visible difference.
Current Status: Viewed with suspicion and often blamed for local misfortunes, despite having no more connection to dangerous magic than anyone else. Many face discrimination while trying to prove their value to communities that fear what they represent.
Mechanical Adjustments:
- Fiendish Resistance becomes Umbral Resistance (cold damage instead of fire)
- Hellish Rebuke becomes Void Lash (cold/necrotic damage with shadow effects)
- Darkness remains appropriate as shadow manipulation
Prejudice Opportunities: Tiefling characters face real discrimination that can create meaningful roleplay around prejudice, scapegoating, and proving one’s worth to suspicious communities.
Expanded Official Races
Aasimar ⚙️
Mechanical Change: Replace celestial heritage with Solar Inheritance
Survival Story: Some bloodlines carry echoes of the Solarian Dominion’s solar magic, manifesting as natural leadership abilities and resistance to corruption. These individuals often become community leaders or champions.
Current Status: Often seen as natural leaders destined for greatness, which can be both a blessing and a burden. Communities may place unrealistic expectations on them while other groups view their abilities with suspicion.
Mechanical Adjustments:
- Healing Hands becomes Solar Restoration (same mechanics)
- Light cantrip reflects their solar nature
- Transformation abilities reskinned as manifestations of solar energy rather than celestial power
Genasi 🔄
Survival Story: Born from the intersection of elemental devastation and human survival instincts. Each subrace represents a different type of magical catastrophe their ancestors endured.
Current Status: Living reminders of the Cataclysm’s power, both respected for their elemental abilities and feared as symbols of magical instability.
Subrace Origins:
- Fire Genasi: Descendants of those caught in solar weapon detonations
- Water Genasi: Bloodlines adapted to the massive floods that followed the collapse
- Air Genasi: Born from those who survived in floating cities during the chaos
- Earth Genasi: Connected to the crystal magic that reshaped the landscape
Goliaths ✅
Survival Story: Mountain tribes that weathered the Cataclysm in high refuges, maintaining their traditions while adapting to a more dangerous world.
Current Status: Respected as guides and protectors, though their tribal customs sometimes conflict with the pragmatic needs of settled communities.
Firbolgs 🔄
Survival Story: Appointed themselves guardians of natural places that survived uncorrupted, developing techniques to cleanse magical contamination from forests and grasslands.
Current Status: Work closely with druids and rangers to maintain the balance between magical corruption and natural healing. Often serve as intermediaries between civilized settlements and the dangerous wilderness.
Later Official Releases
Tritons → Depth Wardens 🔄
Rework: Coastal communities that adapted to life in flooded ruins
Survival Story: When Umbral cities flooded during the Cataclysm, some communities developed water-breathing and aquatic abilities through desperate magical adaptation.
Current Status: Explore sunken ruins for salvage and technology while protecting coastal settlements from threats that emerge from the deep waters.
Tortle ✅
Survival Story: Their remote, peaceful communities were largely untouched by imperial conflicts. They focused on spiritual development and community harmony during the chaos.
Current Status: Valued as wise counselors and neutral mediators, though their contemplative approach sometimes seems impractical to communities focused on immediate survival.
Centaurs 🔄
Survival Story: Plains tribes that survived through mobility and strong oral traditions, becoming messengers and scouts for scattered settlements.
Current Status: Roam the grasslands and savannas, maintaining communication networks between distant communities while preserving stories from before the fall.
Leonin 🔄
Survival Story: Pride-based social structures proved effective for organizing defense and resource sharing during the catastrophe.
Current Status: Natural leaders in the post-Cataclysm world, though their sense of honor sometimes conflicts with the moral compromises survival requires.
Loxodon ✅
Survival Story: Patient, community-focused approach to rebuilding proved essential for long-term recovery. Their wisdom and memory helped preserve crucial knowledge.
Current Status: Highly respected as advisors and community leaders, often serving as the conscience of settlements forced to make difficult survival choices.
Harengon 🔄
Survival Story: Speed, agility, and luck helped rabbit-folk communities survive by staying ahead of danger and disaster.
Current Status: Valued as scouts and messengers, though their sometimes flippant attitude toward danger can clash with communities that have lost too much to take risks lightly.
Remnant Sprites (adapted from Fairy) ⚙️
Survival Story: Tiny humanoids spontaneously created by chaotic remnant energies in areas of high magical concentration, living crystallizations of unstable magic.
Current Status: Viewed with curiosity and caution - clearly magical beings but not necessarily threatening. Often serve as guides in dangerous magical terrain.
Mechanical Adjustments:
- Fairy Magic → Remnant Resonance: Same spells powered by unstable magical energy
- Flight → Energy Suspension: Wings are pure magical force
- Fey Passage → Phase Shift: Brief incorporeality through magical destabilization
Goblinoid Races
Goblins ✅
Survival Story: Actually thrived during the chaos, adapting quickly to scavenging and surviving in ruins. Their natural cunning and adaptability served them well in the post-apocalyptic environment.
Current Status: Often serve as traders, scavengers, and guides through dangerous areas. While still viewed with some suspicion, many communities recognize their value.
Hobgoblins 🔄
Survival Story: Military discipline and tactical thinking helped hobgoblin units survive when everything else collapsed. They maintained order when other structures failed.
Current Status: Highly valued for strategic expertise and military leadership, often found commanding guard units or mercenary companies in larger settlements.
Bugbears 🔄
Survival Story: Size and reach advantages proved crucial during the violent years following the Cataclysm, when physical intimidation often prevented conflicts.
Current Status: Often work as guards, enforcers, or wilderness scouts. Despite their fearsome appearance, most are simply trying to make an honest living in a harsh world.
Magical Heritage Races
Remnant Constructs (adapted from Warforged) ⚙️
Survival Story: Conscious beings accidentally created when the Cataclysm’s massive magical energies bound awareness to crystalline and metallic matrices. Each is unique - a one-time accident of magical catastrophe.
Current Status: Extremely rare and viewed with mixture of awe and unease. Most people have never encountered one and may assume they’re cursed individuals or blessed artifacts come to life.
Physical Form: Bodies of crystal, metal, and flowing energy patterns rather than constructed armor. Each appears completely unique.
Abilities Reskinned:
- Constructed Resilience → Magical Stability: Non-biological immunity to disease/poison
- Sentry’s Rest → Energy Meditation: Magical energies stabilize during rest
- Integrated Protection → Adaptive Matrix: Crystal structure can shift slightly
Additional: Remnant Resonance - Can sense high magical activity within 60 feet (flavor only)
Dream Touched (adapted from Kalashtar) ⚙️
Survival Story: Descendants of humans caught in temporal magic experiments during the empire’s final days. Experience vivid dreams that may be glimpses of alternate timelines or possible futures.
Current Status: Often sought as oracles or advisors, but their “unnatural” perceptions make many people uncomfortable.
Abilities Reskinned:
- Dual Mind → Temporal Awareness: Multiple timeline perception grants Wisdom save advantage
- Mental Discipline → Reality Anchor: Experience with multiple realities provides psychic resistance
- Mind Link → Vision Sharing: Can share temporal dreams/visions telepathically
Prophecy Mechanics: Dream Touched visions can provide cryptic guidance about future events, but should remain vague and subject to interpretation rather than definitive predictions.
Alkebulan-Specific Races
New peoples forged by the Cataclysm’s aftermath
The magical catastrophe that shattered the ancient empires didn’t just destroy civilizations - it created new forms of life. Over three centuries, some communities adapted to survive in environments that would kill unmodified humans, while others emerged from the chaotic interaction of remnant magic with existing bloodlines. These new races represent both the horror and the resilience of post-Cataclysm survival.
Sandshapers ✅
Survival Story: When the Cataclysm poisoned vast desert regions with remnant magic, some human communities chose adaptation over flight. Over three centuries, exposure to crystalline radiation and earth-based magical energy gradually changed their bloodlines, granting them abilities to survive in contaminated wastelands.
Current Status: Valued as essential guides and salvage specialists but often kept at social distance due to their association with dangerous contaminated regions. Their nomadic traditions and independence from settled authority create both respect and political tension.
Racial Traits:
- ASI: Constitution +2, Wisdom +1
- Desert Resilience: Fire resistance, heat advantage, reduced water needs
- Sandshaping: Mold earth cantrip, earth tremor spell at 3rd level
- Shifting Skin: Camouflage ability with hour duration
- Sand Camouflage: Stealth advantage in desert environments
Cultural Elements:
- Adaptive Philosophy: Value flexibility and resourcefulness over rigid planning
- Impermanent Art: Create temporary beauty that honors the transient nature of life
- Collective Survival: Strong community bonds essential for wasteland survival
- Earth Spirituality: View the desert as a living, wounded entity learning to heal
Social Dynamics:
- Economic Necessity: Communities need their expertise but maintain social distance
- Cultural Bridge: Often serve as intermediaries between nomadic and settled peoples
- Imperial Tension: Their independence conflicts with Amunrai Imperium expansion
- Contamination Tolerance: Can access areas too dangerous for others
Integration Notes: Sandshapers work well as guides, cultural interpreters, and specialists in contaminated environments. Their earth magic provides utility solutions while their cultural emphasis on adaptation creates interesting character development around change and loss.
Crystalborn 🔄
Survival Story: [Content to be developed] - Individuals whose bloodlines were altered by direct exposure to crystalline remnant formations, developing mineral-based abilities and crystalline physical features.
Current Status: Even rarer than Sandshapers, often viewed as living artifacts or cursed individuals. Their crystal growths make them valuable for certain magical tasks but also mark them as obviously touched by dangerous magic.
Development Note: This race needs full mechanical and cultural development to match the detail level of Sandshapers.
Sunchild 🔄
Survival Story: [Content to be developed] - Descendants of those exposed to concentrated solar magic from Solarian weapons, bearing marks of radiant energy and natural leadership abilities.
Current Status: Often found in positions of authority within Amunrai Imperium territory, viewed as blessed by solar deities but sometimes feared for their connection to destructive forces.
Development Note: This race should complement Aasimar adaptations while maintaining distinct identity tied to imperial solar magic.
Mistwalkers 🔄
Cultural Note:
Development Note: Some relation to spectral whisps. temporal instability? Hiroshima shadows?
Setting-Inappropriate Races
Banned Completely
- Githyanki/Githzerai: Planar focus contradicts continental scope
- Astral Elves: Breaks grounded post-apocalyptic theme
- Plasmoids: Ooze sapience doesn’t fit setting tone
- Autognomes: High-tech constructs don’t match tech level
Requires Major Rework
- Changelings: Shapeshifting might destabilize in high remnant magic areas
- Yuan-ti: Evil snake empire background completely inappropriate
- Grung: Poison frog hierarchy doesn’t match setting themes
Regional Integration Notes
Port Zephyr Area
More accepting of unusual races due to mercantile cosmopolitan culture. Magical heritage races find easier acceptance here than in rural areas.
Amunrai Imperium Territory
Hierarchical society with strong preference for solar-touched bloodlines (Aasimar, Fire Genasi). Umbral-touched races face systematic discrimination.
Wasteland Communities
Practical survival concerns outweigh racial prejudice. If you can contribute to community survival, your heritage matters less than your skills.
Remote Settlements
Traditional attitudes persist, with suspicion toward obviously magical races. However, desperate need for specialized skills can overcome prejudice.
Social Dynamics in Play
Mechanical Racism
Some communities may charge higher prices, refuse service, or provide lower quality goods to races they distrust. This creates real mechanical consequences for character choices.
Reputation Systems
Player actions can change how communities view specific races. A heroic tiefling might reduce anti-Umbral prejudice in a particular settlement.
Cultural Conflicts
Different races may have incompatible approaches to problems (dwarven tradition vs. gnomish experimentation vs. human pragmatism), creating roleplay opportunities.
Prejudice Guidelines: Use discrimination as a meaningful obstacle that can be overcome through player action, not as arbitrary punishment. Communities should have logical reasons for their attitudes, and player heroism should be able to change minds over time.