Chapter 2: The Three Great Pillars
Living creatures come in all shapes and sizes, and classification has remained a complex task when life itself is a poorly understood concept. The old Dragonist priests of the past believed life could be put into three categories: the natural, the unnatural, and those who are neither here nor there. As our kingdom moves away from Dragonism, the system has begun to feel unnecessarily complicated, so a new simplified system has been proposed:
| Natural | Creatures that are born and decay in a manner adhering to logic. |
| Spells | Creatures born from magic (Unnatural) by another creature. |
| Magical Beasts | Creatures that possess inherent magical abilities, but of unknown origin. Not hostile to humans unless provoked. |
| Monsters | Creatures whose only observable purpose is to kill humans. |
In this system each of the above categories are called Archetypes, which are split into broad categories known as Classes. All members of a Class share similar properties and origins. If needed, Classes can be further split into Subclasses, and specific creatures can be singled out as Instances.
In addition to this, creatures may also be classified by their souls.
| Soulless | A creature that has no soul. In the Dragonist system these were not considered alive; however, to make monster classifications easier they have been added. |
| Soulful | Beings with a pure soul. All Natural creatures and Magical Beasts possess one. |
| Twisted | A once Soulful creature that has had its soul twisted. |
Note that monsters can only be Twisted or Soulless.
Unsurprisingly, monsters have been studied the most by scholars, and below is a quick summary of some of their works. In future chapters we will delve deeper into the specifics of each claim.
It is completely unknown where monsters come from or how they reproduce, but by observing populations a general cycle can be observed:
- A settlement starts with a low population of monsters.
- As the population of the settlement increases, so does the number of monsters, either created (such as zombies from the dead) or lured in (such as a sorcerer).
- The monster population becomes high enough, or a specific instance becomes strong enough, to tip the balance, causing the settlement to be abandoned.
- Monsters either stay to make the area uninhabitable or move on to another settlement, perpetuating the cycle.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding their origins, several observations are considered well established:
- They become significantly weaker during the day, to the point where they conceal themselves until night.
- They struggle to identify sleeping targets, making sleeping humans effectively invisible to weaker monsters.
- They do not need to sleep, eat, or drink.
- Their bodies are heavily simplified, with missing or illogical organs compared to a natural creature.
- They are hostile only to humans, extending that hostility to animals only when they recognise them as acting in humanity's interest.
- The fractu....