An Ethnographic Primer by the Collegium of Natural Lore
All peoples of the Estes Sea trace their ancestry to a single human stock.
What changed humanity forever was not time, nor climate, nor divine meddling—
but pearls.
Centuries of exposure to pearl resonance reshaped bodies, minds, and survival strategies across the sea. Children born in pearl-rich regions often express mutations that, in time, have become full racial lineages.
Three races dominate the modern era:
Baseline Humans – adaptable, variable, wildly shaped by pearl resonance
Tidemarked – people whose bodies have fused with bestial or aquatic traits
Colossians – gigantic, asymmetrical, or hyper-specialized forms created by resonance saturation
All three are considered “human” by law, though not always by culture.
“Normal” only on paper.
Baseline Humans are the majority population of the Estes Sea—but the term baseline is misleading. Pearl exposure has caused such dramatic diversity in physique that two humans from opposite regions may share almost nothing in appearance.
The key feature of Baselines is adaptability. Their bodies respond rapidly to environmental resonance, resulting in:
exaggerated limbs
unusual proportions
brightly colored hair or skin
rubbery or hardened tissues
comedic or uncanny silhouettes
extreme facial features
bizarre growth patterns
These mutations are not hereditary curses but cultural and environmental shaping. Ports with dense pearl traffic produce stranger-looking generations.
A human raised far from pearls may look “normal.”
A child raised near an active pearl vein may resemble a caricature of a person.
Wild physical variety
Strong adaptability to new biomes
Resistant to minor pearl sickness
The broadest range of classes and professions
Highly expressive emotional resonance
Most of the world’s pirates, bounty hunters, and navigators are Baseline.
Their unpredictability—physically and mentally—makes them ideal for dangerous professions.
In some cities, the more unusual your silhouette, the greater your social prestige.
Beast-blooded, sea-touched, evolution’s improvisations.
The Tidemarked are humans whose ancestors lived so close to pearl-saturated waters, wildlife, or monster territory that their bodies adapted into bestial hybrids over generations.
This is not lycanthropy or magic.
It is accelerated evolution driven by resonance.
Tidemarked tribes emerged wherever pearl beasts were common:
shark-headed sailors in the Sunlit Archipelago
birdlike navigators in the Gale Belt
reptilian warriors along volcanic rifts
mammalian nomads across cold waters
amphibious scouts from the Mid-Sea Labyrinth
Tidemarked exhibit:
animal-like ears, tails, or snouts
scaled, furred, or feathered patches
nonhuman eyes or claws
enhanced smell, sound, or night vision
improved swimming or jumping
instinctive fear or attraction to certain pearl types
Important:
Tidemarked are not shapeshifters.
Their forms are stable, inherited species-level evolutions.
While incredibly diverse, Tidemarked are generally grouped into:
Wolves, cats, deer, elk, rodents, etc.
Known for stamina, strength, and emotional expressiveness.
Lizard, serpent, crocodile variants.
Hardy, cold-minded, often resistant to heat or pressure.
Hawks, owls, seabirds, starlings.
Lightweight, sharp-eyed, often serve as navigators.
Shark, eel, octopus, dolphin.
Adapted for diving and abyssal hunting.
Tidemarked villages often revolve around pearl beast ecosystems.
Many serve as trackers, scouts, monster hunters, or pearl gatherers.
Some ports discriminate against them.
Others treat them as lucky.
Giants born of resonance saturation.
Colossians are the rarest racial lineage—born from families who lived near:
Giant Pearl fallout zones
deep Abyssal vents
pearl-gorged ruins
resonance disasters
Titan-level beasts
Their bodies do not simply “grow”—they scale.
They are not Titans or Powder Kegs.
They are a natural race formed over centuries.
Colossians vary widely:
Height ranges from 8 ft to 20+ ft
Proportions may be humanoid or asymmetrical
Some have stone-like skin, glowing veins, or abnormally dense bones
Others have flexible, elongated limbs
Some appear majestic
Some appear comedic
Some appear monstrous
Their silhouettes can be gentle giants, living statues, or rubber-limbed contortionists.
Incredible strength and durability
Slow stamina regeneration
Vulnerability to pearl sickness (their bodies "pull" resonance naturally)
Lower slot compatibility—their slots are bigger but not more numerous
Natural affinity for heavy weapons and ship work
Colossians often live near ports as:
shipwrights
harbor guards
pearl haulers
mercenaries
Few become sailors; their size burns too much rations and ship space.
But many become pirate captains, respected or feared.
Colossians are often the comedic or terrifying centerpiece of any crew.
Frequently intermix.
Children usually inherit dominant Tidemarked traits if raised in high-resonance zones.
Possible, but rare.
Children tend to be large, but not full Colossians.
Extremely uncommon and unpredictable—these children often have unstable resonance affinity or unique pearl sensitivities.
Pearl evolution follows four rules:
The closer a region is to pearls or biomes, the stranger the people born there.
Within 3–5 generations, entire communities can shift phenotype.
Meito zones produce element-touched mutations
Kokuto hotspots create darker, harder, blood-rich adaptations
Yoto regions produce spiritually attuned bodies
Cursed regions… twist unpredictably
Communities living near pearl beasts evolve traits resembling those beasts.