Metatype is part of a character’s High Concept aspect. The main metatypes occur in all human populations; there are also subtypes that are traceable to particular ethnic groups. Melting pots like North America manage to get all the metatypes, though some are rarer than others. There are occasional surprises, like the oni
subtype normally found in Japanese orks cropping up in Europeans, traceable to a single Japanese ancestor.
All metatypes can be invoked when dealing socially with members of the same metatype and compelled for bigotry.
Dwarfs
Dwarfs comprise 14% of the world population in 2076. Average height 120cm (4’) and weight 54kg (119lb). Projected lifespan over 100 years. The nose tends to be large and long, and ears slightly pointed; body hair is well-developed and head hair profuse, with extensive facial hair on males. Gestation period is 284 days; birth weight is 5.6% of the mother’s weight; suckling time is over 15 months; almost always one child.
- Invoke: hardiness, resistance to disease and poisons, thermographic vision, upper body strength, strong will, fitting into tight spaces.
- Compel: poor runners, shorter reach, slower reaction time, and a world generally built for taller people.
Dwarfs infected with HMHVV become goblins, and, with HMHVV II, gnawers.
Variants
- Dwarfs show up more often among people of German, Austrian, and Swiss descent. (Germany p24 Shadows of Europe p60)
- Gnomes occur in people of ancestry from Asia Minor and Central Europe. (Shadowrun Companion p39, Runner’s Companion p54, 71)
- Harumen occur in people of Indian descent. (Runner’s Companion p55, 71)
- Koborokuru occur in people of Japanese descent; 85% of Japanese dwarfs are koborokuru. (Shadowrun Companion p38, Runner’s Companion p53, 71) Like other metahumans in Japan, dwarfs are not welcome in mainstream society, and koborokuru are usually found in the countryside.
- Menehune occur in people of Polynesian descent. (Shadowrun Companion p39, Runner’s Companion p54, 711111)
Elves
Elves comprise 15% of the world population in 2076. Average height 190cm (6’3”), weight 80kg (176lb). Projected lifespan over 200 years. Body hair is sparse to non-existent and head hair is fine; eyes are almond-shaped and ears come to a definite point. Gestation period is 360 days; birth weight is 5.2% of the mother’s weight; suckling time is over 25 months; usually one child, but twins are common. Elves has a popular image as vegetarian, and a majority are, but they can digest meat as easily as a human.
The elven nation of Tir Tairngire has been promoting the language Sperethiel, perhaps the most complex language on earth, using protocol modes (rising and falling), levels of emotional subtlety far beyond any other language, plus very efficient information transfer. Conveying a short phrase of Sperethiel in English often take several complex sentences. Even in Tir Tairngire, though, only the upper crust have complete command of the language, due to its difficulty. (Electronic training programs and linguasofts are globally available, though they aren’t good enough to grant the command possessed by a Tir noble.)
- Invoke: agility, charisma, low-light vision.
Elves infected with HMHVV become banshees, and, with HMHVV II, harvesters.
Variants
- Ethnic variation: 41% of births in Ireland were elves in 2011–2020. (4.1% were dwarfs.) This is somewhat lower in Irish expatriates.
- Dalakiton
- Dryads occur in all populations, and only among females. (Shadowrun Companion p43, Runner’s Companion p51, 71)
- Nocturnae occur among people of European descent. (Shadowrun Companion p43, Runner’s Companion p52, 71)
- Wakyambi (Shadowrun Companion p41, Runner’s Companion p52, 71)
- Xapiri Thëpë occur in people of native South and Central American descent. (Runner’s Companion p53, 72)
Humans
Humans comprise 39% of the world population in 2076. Average height 175cm (5’9”), weight 78kg (172lb). Average lifespan 55–64 years. Gestation period is 266.5 days; birth weight is 5.5% of the mother’s weight; suckling time is over 12 months; usually one child, twins uncommon, more even rarer.
Human can be invoked for adaptability in adverse circumstances.
Humans infected with HMHVV become vampires, and, with HMHVV II, loup-garou. HMHVV III afflicts all panhumans the same, creating ghouls. (Shadowrun Companion p32)
Orks
Orks comprise 22% of the world population in 2076. Average height 190cm (6’3”), weight 128kg (282lb). Onset of puberty at age 10. Average lifespan 35–45 years, though 1% have a mutation that gives them human lifespans and there are some indications (The Complete Trog p38, 105) that all orks in healthy mana-rich environments can have human lifespans. Body hair is usually well-developed, but may sometimes be absent altogether; head hair is usually more prominent than the sapiens ethnic group from which they descend. The orkish nose tends to be broad and the lips thin, and they have greatly enlarged lower canines. Gestation period is 187 days; birth weight is 4.2% of the mother’s weight; suckling time is over 7 months; usually 4 children, but 6–8 not uncommon. Offspring may be born as human; 95% of these will goblinize at puberty. Orks can be born to human parents.
Orks tend to be hands-on learners and underperform on traditional IQ tests in the Stanford-Binet tradition, and this problem is exacerbated by economic disadvantage, as the task of surviving poverty occupies considerable cognitive resources. They perform as well as humans on the more modern computer-based interactive Naam-Chiang tests, but this has done little to undermine their popular image as brutes.
- Invoke: strength and fortitude, low-light vision.
- Compel: poor charisma.
Orks infected with HMHVV become wendigo, and, with HMHVV II, grendels.
Variants
- Hobgoblins occur in people of Middle Eastern descent. (Shadowrun Companion p39, Runner’s Companion p49, 72)
- Ogres occur in people of European descent. (Shadowrun Companion p41, Runner’s Companion p50, 72)
- Oni occur in people of Japanese and Chinese descent. (Shadowrun Companion p41, Runner’s Companion p51, 72) In 2050, mainstream Japanese society is not kind to orks and trolls, and those that did not flee to join the burakumin or Ainu have been deported to a prison camp on a Philippine island (formerly known as Lagu-Lagu, but redubbed
Yomi
). - Satyrs occur in people of Mediterranean descent. (Shadowrun Companion p42, Runner’s Companion p51, 72)
Trolls
Trolls comprise 5% of the world population in 2076. Average height 250cm (8’2”), weight 335kg (739lb). Average lifespan 45–55 years, though there are some indications (The Complete Trog p38, 105) that trolls in healthy mana-rich environments can have dwarven lifespans. The ratio of arm to leg length in trolls is longer than in humans, and trolls who need to enter human-ceilinged rooms can move quite quickly while knuckle-walking like a gorilla; this is seen as demeaning. Body hair is usually well-developed, but may be absent altogether; head hair is usually more prominent than the sapiens ethnic group from which they descend. Gestation period is 259 days; birth weight is 2.5% of the mother’s weight; suckling time is over 7 months; usually 1 child. Trolls are capable of vocalizing and hearing infrasound (The Complete Trog p187), which is capable of transmitting simple codes (or humming tunes) that cannot be heard by most other species. (It does make them superb at working with elephants, which also use infrasound and have close to 70 documented messages; while elephant infrasound can travel 10km at dawn or dusk, trolls have a more limited range.)
Like orks, trolls are hands-on learners who usually underperform on traditional intelligence tests.
- Invoke: size, strength, fortitude, and reach; thermographic vision.
- Compel: the world is seldom built for trolls; few places have building codes that require accessibility for people who are three meters tall. Less charismatic than other metatypes, and not as agile.
Trolls infected with HMHVV become dzoo-noo-qua, and, with HMHVV II, fomóraig.
Variants
- Trolls show up more often among people of German descent.
- Cyclopes occur among people of Mediterranean descent. (Shadowrun Companion p38, Runner’s Companion p55, 72)
- Fomori occur among people of Celtic descent. (Shadowrun Companion p39, Runner’s Companion p55, 72)
- Giants occur among people of Scandinavian descent. (Shadowrun Companion p39, Runner’s Companion p56, 72)
- Minotaurs occur among people of Mediterranean descent. (Shadowrun Companion p42, Runner’s Companion p57, 72)
Nonhumans
Centaurs
Centaurs are genus Equus, occurring in horses with the Eurasian wild horse in their ancestry. It is likely that the first centaurs born after the Awakening were raised in secret by humans who saw the general freakout over UGE and goblinization and were determined not to subject their charges to such a circus. Whoever these people were, they aren’t talking, and horse breeders presented with the hypothesis just nod and say makes sense
. Runner’s Companion p63, 84
Merrow
Merrow are aquatic tool-using mammals, three meters long and massing about 500kg; some are magically active. While paranaturalists are arguing over whether they can be considered sapient, many are trading their underwater expertise for goods that can be manufactured on land. They are behind the curve on tech use relative to other nonhuman sentients, since they have had less opportunity to live closely with panhumans. They are not playable characters at the start of the campaign, as full communication has not yet been established with them.
Naga
Naga, interestingly, belong to multiple snake species, as if a common template had been applied to pythons, anacondas, cobras, vipers, and krait. (If you want colorful, check out the African bush viper or the piebald ball python.) Runner’s Companion p64, 84 The venom of cobra, viper, and krait naga is neurotoxic, with no known antivenin. Arsenal p84
Naga have their own language that’s very different from any human language; it’s as alien as the Sasquatch native language. Naga raised on different continents with no contact speak the same language; the hints they’ve dropped indicate that they have some sort of tutelary spirit who contacts their best spellcasters when they gain enough experience for initiation, and they pass on the language to the rest.
Human emotions such as greed and power-hunger don’t occur in naga; their ambitions tend to be satiable once they their hierarchy of needs (including security and respect) are met.
They also have a capability of producing naga emeralds
, whose crystalline structure shifts within the stone and produces a unique swirling effect. There are rumors that naga can use the stones to control their wearers, though that doesn’t stop some people from sporting them as prizes. Naga emeralds are never produced by those in captivity, and they are undoubtedly a ritual link to the creating naga.
Some naga spellcasters have spells to shapeshift into various different panhuman forms.
Pixies
Pixies have similar features to their local elven types; they are found as infants and raised by panhumans or other pixies, and their bodies vanish on death. Pixies are extremely rare in 2050, and have yet to develop a society of their own. Runner’s Companion p65, 84
Sasquatches
Sasquatches (as the brown-furred ones in North America are called; the white-furred ones in the Himalayas are called Yeti) managed to hide out during the Fifth World and have re-emerged in the Sixth. Average height is 280cm, weight 475kg; they were recognize as sentient in 2042. They are unable to comprehend spoken language or phonetic written language; they can communicate using sign language, with Perkins-Athabaskan being the one that is most idiomatic to them. (A script
abstracted from the motions of Perkins-Athabaskan allows sasquatch to get subtitles on their Links when communicating with non-signers.) They are primates, more closely related to humans than gorillas or chimpanzees. Runner’s Companion p65, 84
One of the most prominent sasquatches is Rex
, a member of
the Council of Princes of Tir Tairngire.
Sasquatches infected with HMHVV II become bandersnatchii.
Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters are Awakened animals that can take on human form. Their perspective is that of an intelligent animal trying to figure out an alien culture. Shadowrun Companion p34, Runner’s Companion p66. (3 refresh to play one, 5 if they’re a full magician?)
- Bovine
- Canine
- Crocodilian (Dragons of the Sixth World p87)
- Equine
- Falconine (Dragons of the Sixth World p87 mentions eagle shifters)
- Leonine
- Lupine
- Ophidian (Dragons of the Sixth World p87)
- Pantherine
- Tigrine
- Ursine
- Vulpine