TRUE FORM - RACE

"This is my favorite part, so don't Zone out on me: Even if most people prefer to be a neutral it's fun to see what other option or two a person might have. Lets see... Oh, oh, oooh..."

The witch shudders with quite the enthusiasm, and continues: "This is ten times the most options I've seen in another witch. You have so many possibilities! Let's explore them... I haven't even seen some of these before, in person or in an awakening ritual. I'm a fan of #7 in particular, they're so cute."

This is the physical expression of your True Form, what you would revert to if any effect were to reveal the true nature of a shapechanger for example. Your old body was just a temporary vessel for this true form. In your change, you can totally remake your body within human limits. However, witches are female by default, but you can take the perk Elephant Trunk to be male if you wish, or the Transformation Sequence perk to transform into your past human vessel and back. Note with the options presented you can become another non-human species as a Witch of that species, ie: A witch can be a naiad but not all naiads are witches. Every different race of witch has a different source of Mana as well as some unique benefits and base abilities. All witches except Neutral and partially Daeva share some degree of inherent life extension, though there are many other methods any witch can learn or obtain later on regardless of their race.

The blue potion icon represents Mana, the yellow bolt icon represents Charge Rate. This uses a Relative system and not absolute value, don't overthink it, it's a representation of what you can expect in comparing your witch race to an average of other witches of your same general power level. High mana represents high storage, & charge represents the time it takes your method to fill your mana stores though it can often scale with overexposure, and stack. This is very simply just to give you a suggestion for perspective on how much magic you could expect to use. High Mana means a bigger tank, but charge is how fast it is filled. So high tank might be good for going all in while a low tank but high charge might have the endurance to go for longer. This is roughly balanced by how easy the charge source is to come by and how well it can stack up on itself.

Races

Neutral

Soul - Body
Mana: MED | Charge: MED

The overwhelming majority of witches are Neutrals. There is nothing visually abnormal about them (by default). Even some witches who have the option to awaken as another race may want to choose to be Neutral for its baseline casual existence, no new dependencies or anything abnormal to consider. They're effectively the "Human" witch, but witches refer to them as neutral rather than human to distinguish them from the mundane. They age slower than humans, at half the rate, and do so very gracefully, and they tend to be more attractive than the average human, and are harder to kill, with more efficient biology to reduce inconveniences with less biological requirements than normal by 25%, and prevent dying from a papercut, or from a tiny airbubble in the wrong place.

Neutrals draw Mana from Sleep, recovering around 1% of their Mana per hour of sleep, doubling per hour. 2 hours is more impactful than two 1 hour naps for example, regaining 16% for their 5th hour for a total of 31%, then 63% total for 6hrs.

Daeva

Body - Life
Mana: HIGH | Charge: MED

Daeva are to humans what humans are to monkeys. They're peak evolution and represent the perfection of body and overflowing spark of life. Unlike the other witch types, they're unnatural for the excess humanity, not the addition of anything new. Where the others may have scales or feathers, you take normal human traits and take them further, with a body like a comic book heroine, a goddess in the flesh, free of any imperfections and basic inconveniences of mortality. They flatly don't age, forever maintaining a mature but youthful physique. The average daeva height sits around 6ft 6inches up to 8ft, but short daeva can happen. They're physically around twice a strong as a human male bodybuilder, without an obvious change in their body tone, and seem to have endless stamina. They feel emotions more strongly, while being in better control of them.

Daeva draw Mana from Emotions, either the presence of high emotions in others, or singular high emotions directed at them. ie: An excited crowd vs a lover are both high.

Ifrit

Fire - Necro
Mana: HIGH | Charge: LOW

Ifriti are beings native to the elemental plane of fire. Their connection manifests in the most obvious manner of the witches, as their bodies are burned away in their awakening, their body becoming a living conflagration of flame made flesh anchored and governed by a core skull. They bleed plasma and smoke while limbs severed from their core flicker away like dying flames. The fire of their bodies is slightly above room temp and does not burn, and is tangible enough to touch, feeling like normal flesh, though their hair is more gaseous and warmer. Their body is only a little transparent, enough to see the skull but not all the way through them. They inherently do not age, but can 'eat' flammable fuel sources along with traditionally edible materials. Damage to the body is superficial and mended by absorbing flames, though damage to the skull must be healed by traditional means.

Ifriti draw Mana from Burning, the release of energy released by matter through burning caused by the witch.

Siren

Wind - Beast
Mana: HIGH | Charge: HIGH

Sirens are beings of wind and music, melodies carried by the wind, and have a connection to birds. Their bodies grow feathers in a similar pattern as Nymphs grow scales, though some go further with feather plumage sufficient to be relatively modest without clothing, and are able to transfigure themselves into the form of a specific bird they're associated with and hybrid states between the two. Whatever the bird type, Sirens are all well known for melodic voices that are deeply pleasant to outright hypnotically attractive. Sirens age at half human rates, and reverse their age through nesting in cocoons of feathers that reverses a year per day. A dead siren who is still intact enough can be nursed back to life by breathing into them a few times a day for 1-3 days depending on severity.

Sirens draw Mana from Breath, whenever they take someone's breath away, when someone forgets to take a breath, when otherwise unable to breathe, or when the Siren overtly draws the breath from their lungs, within a few inches of their lips.

Naiad

Water - Beast
Mana: MED | Charge: LOW

Naiads are essentially mermaids. Their bodies have very fine scales that range from barely perceptible or providing a scant shimmer when hit by the light, to larger scales, typically concentrated around the back and surfaces facing away, leaving soft exposed skin facing forward fading with a gradient into scales at their shoulders and back, that glitter like precious metal or crystal coins. Naiads age normally outside of water, but when submerged in water they age backwards three times as fast, to their prime, equivalent to human at 20. A dead Naiad with a mostly intact body can be submerged in water to slowly bring them back over a few days to a few weeks depending on severity. All naiads can focus to transfigure their legs into a long scaled tail with a fan-like fin for rapid swimming, exceeding 60mph, or 52.1 knots, on average. They absorb oxygen from water through their skin.

Naiads draw Mana from Submersion, recharging while emersed in water or rain, based on coverage and quantity.

Dryad

Nature - Earth
Mana: HIGH | Charge: LOW

Dryads have plantlike bodies given human form, from which leaves or bark can grow. Many have branches or twigs forming horns or crowns, tiaras, and diadems, that can include berries or fruits. Dryads age normally but are able to assume the form of a tree, in which they can gain any nutrients from light and soil, and de-age at 10x the rate they'd age. The presence of a dryad prevents the growth of infectious diseases and enhances the growth of plants and creatures by 200%, growing with added vitality. Fruits are sweeter and larger, animals are larger and healthier, etc. All dryads additionally have an internal seed the size of avocado pit. If they die, this pit will grow into a large underground pod with a radiant flower, that will regrow the dryad's body over 3 months to roughly the equivalent of an 8 year old human. They'll regain their memories over a week.

Dryads draw Mana from Nurture, from the growth of other living things directly contributable to the Dryad's effort, whether it's tending to plants, or feeding a person.

Oread

Earth - Beast
Mana: HIGH | Charge: HIGH

Oreads have hair that is more fur-like, and they can have a fine layer of fur over their skin in a similar pattern to the Naiad's scales or Siren's fur. Like the Siren, they have an associated animal, a land mammal, from foxes or cats to deer or cow. They can morph between this and their true form on a sliding scale. Earth easily gives way for them, allowing them to burrow with ease to the extent they can 'swim' through sand, dirt- or bedrock, choosing to leave a tunnel or not. Worked earth does not respond to this effect, such as concrete, or shaped stone. They age at half rate and regress to 20ish when they sleep buried in the ground. A dead oread sufficiently intact will return to life over a month if buried, based on severity. Both satyrs and foxgirls are examples.

Oreads draw Mana from Bonds, physical closeness to individuals with a close emotional bond with the witch, whether it's family, close friends, lovers, even a pet. relaxing together in contact isolated from urgency or stress, only the warmth of cuddles. A long warm hug could fill 20%.

Lamia

Fire - Beast
Mana: HIGH | Charge: MED

Lamiae are like twin counterparts to the Naiad with a bit of an inversion; Lamiae by default have the lower body of a snake comparable to the Naiad's tail but around a third+ longer, being 5-7 times the length of their human upper body. Their body itself may or may not have scales, but they usually have slitted irises and retractile fangs with a venom that induces sleep. Lamiae can lay an egg that grows a young new body, catching their soul to hatch if later slain.

Lamiae draw Mana from Consumption, the swallowing of live creatures up to the size of an adult man, which depending on the potency of a Lamia's distortion, leaves no visible stretching past the throat. Creatures inside passively charge the Lamia's mana based on the strength of its soul, making most animals non-viable and mortal humans the baseline. A human will charge the Lamia to full over 8 hours, at which point they'd die after growing weaker. They can be released before then. A witch would charge in 1 hour while surviving up to 24hr.

Aurai

Wind - Necro
Mana: MED | Charge: HIGH

Aurae are closely associated with the faewilds. Their irises are like kalidescopic gemstones, and have slender claw-like nails. Their voice innately carries with it a withering drain that steals a year of life per half second of exposure, which restores the Aurai's own age to around age 20, banking excess drain. Their screams can induce a horrific vision where the listener is displaced to a random point in time at least 100 years in the past, for anywhere from 1 week to the rest of their life, remaining until they find a glowing butterfly never more than 1 mile away that serves as an anchor, only to return to the moment after they heard the scream, then drop dead if slain in the past at any point. This never effects the existing timeline. When slain, they experience this vision themself and finding the butterfly resurrects them.

Aurae draw Mana from Displacement, gaining power through the corrective measures involved in covering up paradoxes in the timeline as it mends itself from disruptions caused by sending a being backward in time.

Nymph

Water - Life
Mana: LOW | Charge: HIGH

Nymphs have very fine scales similar to the Naiad, but without the larger scales, only the fine scales that cause a slight glitter in the light, and counter-intuitively make their skin feel a little more silky in the spots where they're present. The obvious difference would be the presence of slender fin-like horns that give them an intuition towards what a person desires. Nymphs age 10x faster than humans, but water washes away age on contact to roughly the equivalent of a human's 18, more youthful than most witch types get. They do not require any nutrition to sustain themselves, instead relying only on an inherent ability to imbue water with mana to instill it with arcane nutrients, giving it a milky look. A dead nymph can be restored to life through physical intimacy based on the desire, like True Love's Kiss for example, among others.

Nymphs draw Mana from Desire, whenever desire is directed at them, or instigated by them, whether it's flirting or a good sales pitch for a new car, proportional to intensity and distance.