Worldbuilding - Aquas: Red

Once again, nothing to change from previous entries and no art to add (Come on, people, I know some artsy people read this!) so hit the jump!

Red is the color of freedom, individuality and emotion. On Aquas, most red mana is derived from submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents.

For our small-medium creatures we have a few options. Traditionally, goblins have been the small red creatures, prone to mindless violence and self destruction. However, Aquas is a relatively peaceful plane, and I consider this an opportunity to explore a more peaceful interpretation of Red. Everyone knows that Red has mighty berserkers willing to kill someone at the drop of a hat, but we rarely get a chance to see its artistic side.

With that in mind, I propose that we use Octopi for the small Red species. In fact, why not have the Cephalids (who are modeled after octopi) be part Red in addition to Black. This will change their overall aesthetic, but it will give us a unique feel for them. Some types of octopi can change the color of their skin, so why not our Cephalids? This gives them a strange feel, and it would effect how they self-identify. For the Red side of their culture, it could influence them into have a tradition of dance – imagine a dancer that could change the color of their skin during the dance to accentuate certain moves.

So, the Red Cephalids are performance artists; what about the Red Merfolk? I would interpret them as more traditional artists. However, as painting isn't really an option, they would be focused on sculpture. Perhaps they manipulate the lava that comes out of the volcanoes?

Cephalids fit well as the small race, but I don't think they scale up to medium sized very well. In addition, we should have some of the barbarians that are traditionally Red. With that in mind, I propose we use sharks. As apex predators, they wouldn't adapt to the polite society as well as some others do. In addition, anthropomorphic sharks are badass. I intend to also use them in Green – I'll expand on them there, as the Red sharks are mostly a one-note race – they're ANGRY. I'll use Rokea (from the weresharks in the oWoD) as their name.

Now, about Red magic. Elemental magic needs the biggest change, as fire is useless underwater. However, boiling water is dangerous, as is lava, so those will be the focus of the Red Elemental magic on Aquas. Lavamancers are common among the merfolk, while the Rokea use more of the boiling school. Emotion magic is vital to the Cephalids' skills, and the rage aspects of it are common among the Rokea. Chaos magic is similar to the core school, and is found among all the races, though most commonly among the Cephalids.