Species Categories
There are two major ways species are categorized by the Census Committee:
1) type — a measure of how magical a species is
- "how did this species come to be" and "how much magic does this species produce"; they're interrelated
- "how did this species come to be" relates to how much magic was used in a species' evolution / creation in the first place
- "how much magic does this species produce" refers to ambient magic / auras; ranges from "almost none" to "enough to power a small city"
- should not be confused with overall capacity for magic; all species can use / cast magic freely
main types
- mundane: almost no ambient magic; came to be through natural evolution with no magic involved (ex: humans)
- magical: some ambient magic; also through natural evolution, but magic played a significant part (ex: elves)
- mythical: a lot of ambient magic; magic was the driving factor in their evolution (ex: fairies)
- created: ambient magic varies; was artificially made by mortals / on the material plane (ex: anifel)
- divine: extreme amounts of ambient magic; was made via divine action or influence (ex: archons)
2) designation — a rough estimate of how plentiful / healthy / stable a species is
- an overall estimate across ALL planets — if [species] is dying off on one planet, but are the dominant species on another, the species on a whole is doing well
- birth / death rates, rate of immigrations, average life spans, etc, are all taken into account
- ratings are updated every 50 years (unless something drastic happens)
- numbers have to be fudged for (near-)immortals because birth / death rates are screwed
main designations (rough equivalents to IUCN Red List categories in parentheses)
- thriving (least concern)
- surviving (near threatened)
- faltering (vulnerable / endangered)
- waning (critically endangered)
- vanishing (extinct in the wild)
- stage i: less than 10 countries / independent territories with significant [species] presence left
- stage ii: less than 10 cities with significant [species] presence left
- stage iii: less than ~15k - 50k members of [species] left
- stage iv: less than ~100 - 1k members of [species] left
- stage v: less than 10 members of [species] left
- extinct
side designations (for special cases; can be used in combination with / instead of the main 6)
- data insufficient — there is a population somewhere but species is in hiding and resistant to being observed / counted
- designation pending — two meanings:
- new species has moved in or has been created / discovered and is getting a designation for the first time OR
- something drastic has happened and [species] is undergoing a recount
- lost to the sevenfold (often shortened to just lost) — species as a whole has withdrawn from life in the sevenfold, either by mass exodus (usually to someplace out of the sevenfold's reach) or by straight-up disappearing (and there's no indication of a mass die-off). once this designation is given, it's only updated if / when they come back
- unknown — there's so little information we can't give them a designation. we don't know what the fuck is up with these bitches. we're not even sure there's an actual species here
◄◄ Back to Species page