Talk:Race

Werewolves?

Since Golems and such were added to this page, do you think werewolves should also be added? WhiteClaudia (talk) 19:01, December 24, 2013 (UTC)

Maybe I was wrong by adding golems, because they are creatures.FirstDrellSpectre (talk) 19:13, December 24, 2013 (UTC)

Valid entries in this page

I think there should be some criteria on what we should consider on this fantasy universe as race. I think we could use wikipedia's interpretation:

Many fantasy stories and worlds refer to their main sapient humanoid species as "races" rather than species.

As such, darkspawn can be described as sapient since they are able to craft various things as well as some of them possess advanced thinking and speech (the Architect, The Disciples). On the contrary, ghasts should be consider as "animals" since according to their codex entry "they show no signs of true intelligence".

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Furthermore, as humanoid is another condition, spirits and demons should be excluded.
12:58, December 28, 2013 (UTC)

But Desire demons are humanoid.FirstDrellSpectre (talk) 13:15, December 28, 2013 (UTC)

In the ever-changing environment of the Fade, its dwellers (be it spirits or demons) may take up whichever form they wish. Desire demons, assume attractive humanoid forms when interacting with mortals, for obvious reasons. 13:20, December 28, 2013 (UTC)

I think the criteria should be whether they have a significant effect on the game world that goes beyond instinct. That they form some sort of faction, and if this was a more open role-playing game, would be among a selection of races that a player could choose from, knowing that they had enough agency to be a viable choice. Human, Dwarf, Elf, Qunari, Fex (particularly if they're fleshed out more in DA:I), and Darkspawn would count. I think Darkspawn is pushing it, but would include them because Bioware do (with the Darkspawn Chronicles). Everything else would fall into an appropriate creature category. -Sophia (talk) 13:33, December 28, 2013 (UTC)

This is just giving some information from the toolset, in case it helps. In it, "Races" are categorised as:

• Dwarf
• Elf
• Human
• Qunari
• Animal
• Beast
• Darkspawn
• Dragon
• Golem
• Spirit
• Undead

It also lists and categorises specific "Core Creatures":

• Ambient (Chicken, Deer, Dog, Goat, Halla, Cat, Nug, Owl, Ox, Pig, Ram, Rat, Raven, Squirrel, Wisp)
• Animals (Alpha Wolf, Black Bear, Great Bear, Bronto, Black Bear, Mabari, Giant Rat, Wolf)
• Beasts (Deep Stalker, Deep Stalker Leader, Giant Spider, Poisonous Spider, Werewolf, Rabid Werewolf, Shadow Wolf, Wild Sylvan, Witherfang)
• Darkspawn:

• Corrupted Creatures (Bereskarn, Broodmother, Tentacle, Corrupted Spider, Blight Wolf)
• Genlocks (Genlock, Genlock Alpha, Genlock Emissary)
• Hurlocks (Hurlock, Hurlock Alpha, Hurlock Emissary)
• Ogres (Ogre, Ogre Alpha)
• Shrieks (Shriek, Shriek Alpha)
• (Archdemon)

• Demons:

• Fade (Ash Wraith, Greater Pride Demon, Lesser Pride Demon, Lesser Shade, Greater Rage Demon, Lesser Rage Demon, Greater Shade, Desire Demon)
• Possessed (Desire Abomination, Hunger Abomination, Rage Abomination, Sloth Abomination, Arcane Horror, Devouring Corpse, Enraged Corpse, Shambling Corpse, Revenant, Skeleton Archer, Fanged Skeleton, Devouring Skeleton, Shambling Skeleton)

• Dragons (Dragon, Dragonling, Drake, High Dragon)
• Golems (Steel Golem, Stone Golem)
• Humanoid (Bandit, Mercenary Archer, Mercenary Captain, Mercenary, Qunari Mercenary, Rogue)
• pets (Animated Dead) -Sophia (talk) 17:25, December 29, 2013 (UTC)

I appreciate your work Sophie, but I'm uncertain if this could be of any use. This is more likely for gameplay reasons. Eg. "beast" being a race or the core creatures having a category named "pets". By the way I am adding the "Unresolved" tag to the topic. 17:49, December 29, 2013 (UTC)

My apologies for coming in late to this topic, but here are my thoughts on the classification. From a science standpoint, the humanoid groups of the game (elves, dwarves, human, Qunari) would be considered various races within a single specie because they can interbreed. Therefore, to my mind, using "race" to describe elves, dwarves, human and Qunari makes sense. Darkspawn also makes sense to me in that they are treated as a separate race in the game, scientific definitions notwithstanding, and they were once members of these aforementioned races. By those terms, I think "races" should consist of elves, dwarves, humans, Qunari and darkspawn--we don't know enough about the Fex yet to add them. The other creatures considered races--beasts, dragons, golems, etc.--should perhaps be categorized in some separate fashion. Not as races but as descriptive categories. For example, Animals or Beasts, Spirits or Supernatural Creatures, Constructs (golems), etc. This is a weighty topic indeed but for the sake of simplicity, I think narrowing the definition of race might make categorization easier. LadyAeducan (talk) 01:33, January 28, 2014 (UTC)

Dredging the above topic back up, I think Viktoria's definition regarding races being sapient, humanoid beings is accurate. I think it would be beneficial to have some kind of description on the disamb page to avoid continual confusion as to what should and shouldn't be added. Kelcat (talk) 17:57, March 4, 2014 (UTC)

Based on a positive consensus on my proposition, the unresolved matter lingering since December and the unlikeliness of more replies, I have moved ahead and applied the changes with Kelcat's definition proposition as well. 22:06, March 4, 2014 (UTC)

What about ghasts? They make and use weapons, they make own totems and jewlery, their magical barriers aren't accidental spells. Description says they show no sign of intelligentce, but totems and complex spells contradict that.FirstDrellSpectre (talk) 05:49, April 30, 2014 (UTC)

The codex says they are not intelligent and even handwaves their magic as either mimicking or animal instinct. They also don't seem to make anything complex, one of their armors is a gauntlet strapped to the head which implies they just collect various junk and use it. – mostlyautumn • talk • contribs • 06:59, April 30, 2014 (UTC)

Interestingly enough, while the codex says "It is unknown if velghastrials risk possession when casting spells, as other humanoid mages do.", the WoT says "... as mages of other races do." – mostlyautumn • talk • contribs • 07:07, April 30, 2014 (UTC)