Terminology

Awakened Humans—These humans have no powers but have had the supernatural world revealed to them through accident or purposefully to help them. This is often the case when a Supernatural must sacrifice their secret for the human's life.

Fae—This includes Dryads, Pixies, Sprites, Fairies, Gnomes, Elves, Nymphs, and Selkies. These are rather rare in the city of St. Louis but can be found in surrounding forested areas and parks to some degree. They are generally peaceful unless provoked by someone. They hold powerful magic but rarely use it. Most of them have invisibility capabilities and are more likely to hide than to confront someone. They will reveal themselves to other creatures and have strict rules against revealing themselves to powerless humans.

Fallen Angels—These angelic creatures have given up their grace for one reason or another to live on earth. They hail from the outer positive planes that surround the world. Their natural enemies are demons, and they often fight with them. However, there are rules to these encounters, established thousands of years ago. The biggest rule is that powerless humans cannot be harmed in any way. They have remaining natural abilities from their time in the outer planes, which include the ability to regenerate rapidly, heal others, invisibly, shield themselves or others, create divine energy blasts, and teleportation. They have lost the ability to fly as they have lost their “wings” by coming to Earth.

Fear Walkers—An incorporeal species that can form themselves into a corporeal state when they have sated their need to feed on fear from humans. These creatures are born of fear and become a part of “family” groups that teach new Fear Walkers how to feed without draining a human to the point of death. If a Fear Walker completely drains a human, they, in turn, become a Fear Walker. These Fear Walkers are sought out by Unit Zero or the Order of the Day.

Gaia—literally, the earth. Legend says the earth lives and breathes as a being, and some supernaturals worship Gaia as a deity.

Healing House—The Order of Asclepius bases its operations here. There is one in every major city and some smaller areas, depending on the population of supernaturals. Sometimes, they are hidden in human medical facilities, and sometimes, they are in rundown warehouses. They are always warded with powerful alchemical magic called life warding.

Human Alchemist—A person who has been initiated into the alchemical arts uses a form of “magic” that allows them to fuse, combine, and mix different elements together to form new ones. The basic premise of alchemy is that from what you take, you will give. Alchemists are often orphans adopted into various families of alchemists or raised in family units by their parents.

Human Witch—An ancient bloodline of witches that is passed from mother to child. Male witches can be born but will not pass the witch’s curse to the next generation.

Life Ward—In a life ward, an alchemist sacrifices their life energy to create a symbol they have etched into a wall, stone, or piece of paper. Once empowered, the symbol disappears. Each symbol takes some time off the alchemist’s life. No one knows how much of their life has been sacrificed each time they infuse a ward, and most will only do one or two in their lifetimes.

Mirage—This is what the secret of supernaturals in the world is called. To keep up the Mirage, supernaturals live human lives and do not reveal themselves unless necessary.

Mystic Ring—These are the highest-ranking members of each supernatural race in the world. They make decisions about what to do and have resolved to work together despite their differences.

Non-Humanoid Supernaturals—There are a variety of non-humanoid creatures. The Phoenix, unicorns, centaurs, minotaurs, sphynx, griffins, satyrs, mercreatures, sirens, dragons, lamias, and others. The fae often protects these creatures in some way or another, and they all have human-level intelligence. Those incapable of speech have telepathic abilities, and most have either the ability to alter their shape or make themselves invisible. Occasionally, they agree to work with the other groups to reach a goal, but they are more concerned with staying safe and off the radar of powerless humans. They live in wooded areas and can be found in forests, parks, and other places where there are places to hide.

Powerless Human—Any human who has no connection to the Supernatural world. They do not know of it, nor are they exposed to it that they can ever remember. This is your average human going about their daily lives. Sometimes called “unawakened humans.”

The Red District—This is a twelve-block area in St. Louis, Missouri, where drug dens, brothels, and gambling locations cater to the Supernatural. Powerless humans are kept out, mostly by rumors of danger but also by magical wards that dissuade unawakened humans from entering the area.

Risen Demons—Demons hail from the lower planes and are often aggressive to almost every other creature in the world. They have strict rules that limit their ability to act in the presence of powerless humans. They can often be found in positions of power or where they manipulate others for profit. They are concerned with accumulating material wealth and will do very unethical things to get it. They do not reveal their true face unless absolutely necessary. These can be demons, devils, succubi, incubi, harpies, and other demonic creatures. They grew tired of the infighting and constant strife of the lower planes and chose to live among humans, suppressing their powers. They can use them if necessary.

Silver Tramps—Weres addicted to Silver Dragon, who are willing to do anything to continue getting the drug.

Supernaturals—This is a general term for any creature of supernatural origin. No matter what they are, they can be placed in this category.

Ten Commandments of Gaia—The ten rules are laid out before even the oldest vampires can remember. They are as follows:

You shall not involve a powerless human in creatures' affairs.
You shall not intentionally harm a powerless human.
You shall not interbreed with powerless humans.
You shall not turn on your own kind.
You shall not intentionally harm any creature's young.
You shall not deny a request for another creature to have their injuries cared for.
You shall not create scenes of violence in view of powerless humans.
You shall not murder or maim anyone who has vowed not to harm you.
You shall not reveal the location of creatures to any powerless humans.
You shall not assist powerless humans in the destruction of creatures.

The Tower—The place where the Order of the Day keeps captured supernaturals, who are often experimented with and tortured until they die.

Tramps—Sex workers who are not affiliated with a brothel in the Red District.

Vampires—Vampires have infiltrated almost all areas of the world. With the ability to “daywalk” that they can do by using a special potion that was created about a hundred years ago by a famous alchemist whose name later became profane. The vampires are the only ones who still use this potion, using their own thrall alchemists to create it. Vampires will turn humans into either thralls (humans that willingly allow themselves to be fed on) or young vampires. This turning of humans has rules that must be strictly followed, and it is rare for a master vampire to turn someone new in modern times. The process of how to turn a human is a carefully guarded secret among Vampires, and thus far, none have revealed it to anyone else.

Weres—Sometimes called Lycans, lycanthropes, or other names, these creatures have three forms. They have an animal form that is indistinguishable from other animals of their type, a hybrid form that combines their animal attributes with human ones, and a human form that is the same as a regular human. They have strict rules in clans of turning no one outside their bloodlines, which can lead to some problems when it comes to genetics. They intermarry between clans to avoid this. Alliances between clans come and go, and there is a possibility of being excommunicated from a clan for violating clan specific rules. There are werewolves, werecats, were corvids, and other lesser-known werecreatures from other parts of the world.