Vote 2 races.

[Snake_Storm]

probably so, although it always brings to mind elves for me. Though they were products of norse mythology and faeries were typically irish.

[Tycho]

I was under the idea that, rather than demihumans being the result of fae-human breeding, that fae in this world -are- terrifying, and their presence and meddling are what cause rogue strains of mortals to crop up.

You know, like some woman in some forgotten village somewhere once gave birth without a horseshoe and the village druid present, and the fae made her child grow stunted and surly. Thus, a dwarf. Different fae/spirits make different demihumans, and demihumans might or might not have human parents. Actual settlements of demihumans would be rare.

[Luís]

The problem with that idea is that we lose dwarves and other races as... well, races. I think people want to be able to interact with a whole race once in a while even if to relive LOTR, going to the Rivendell and Moria equivalents. If races are actually rare scattered members you won't get to do that.

You do have a great idea in that we can use that as an excuse. Oh, we only covered elves, halflings, dwarves, fae and humans? No, no, you can still play any other race, it's just that they were created by the fae creating specific individuals.

For instance, dwarves were the result of a few nearby villages, towns and a major city being messed with. MAybe the fae shifted themselves into humans or did something to the women and all babies became dwarves. Maybe there was something in the water. Maybe the fae changed everyone and erased their memories.

But let's say you want something like a drow. Well, that is just a regular human (or maybe already elf) spawn that has been tampered with by the fae. That way you can explain any race in game without having to resort to massive societies where players might not need them (unlike the major races). Of course, if you need a quick society you just say the beings we know as drow were cast out into caves as soon as they could fend for themselves and eventually banded together in a series of underground tunnels.

I do like the idea of fae being scarry but I propose they aren't evil. Maybe they just have an agenda that doesn't really fit in the whole good and evil dichotomy as we see it. Think of it like Xelloss from Slayers. Sure, he's evil to the core as far as humans see him but he usually helps out in ways that are  ultimatly for the greater good even if it's just in his own interest (and fear of Lina and Filia).

[SethDrebitko]

Would you like to leave them at spirit folk? Vague name but notably classical evil fae to those who no them.

[ravensron]

As Seth points out, traditional European mythology supports the way we're contemplating using the fae.  That people unversed in history and mythology think "fairy" is some little tiny girl who hangs out with Peter Pan or Santa Claus is of no importance; they're not the sort of folks who are going to play M20 anyway.

[Luís]

I think fae is just right but that's a personal preference as I rarely see it used which kind of dovetails with what Ravensron is saying, we're playing it. I'm just thinking a bit ahead.

I short. I like the name, I believe we should use them for race generation backstory (as I previously wrote) and we might get some jokes which we should just roll with.

All of this assumes a proper flavour text where everything is explained, presenting a clear image of our concepts.

[SethDrebitko]

Sorry closing this poll out a little late; Fairies win!