Species taxonomy

In the world of Offetstine, demi-humans are usually able to identify their species, or the way the magic imbued in them affects their nature and identity, through colloquial terms such as "vampire" or "werewolf". However, due to the nature of the Will of the People in creating new species, often from folklore or common ideas prevalent in the human psyche, many colloquial terms do not unambiguously identify single species, and additional nomenclature is needed to disambiguate. Demi-human species taxonomy, often more tersely referred as species taxonomy, is the science and art of understanding demi-humans' particular natures and developing this classification.

Species taxonomy, while a recognized and reputed art and generally favored by magical epistemologists, receives comparatively little attention in the field of magical research. Most demi-humans are simply content to define themselves by colloquial terms, and clarify the specifics of their nature by manually outlining them. However, the classification has is uses in biology and medicine, as well as more concrete magical studies, such as those observed in the Mage's Union in Cedar Crest University. Generally, species taxonomy is viewed primarily as trivia or as an academic curiosity. Most demi-humans cannot name their specific taxon under the modern Émile standard.

Despite this, certain demi-humans regard species taxonomy as important to their personal sense of identity. In some circles, the intricate nomenclature used in species taxonomy is held in a similar merit to nomenclature used to describe gender, sexual and romantic minorities in LGBT communities. The Émile standard, the current predominant schema under which species taxa are allocated, is designed specifically with the goal to prioritize personal identity over precise phylogeny, as very little extant demi-human and magical research hinges on the phylogeny.

History

Early history

While modern schemata for species taxonomy had not been developed until the 1800s, the use of separate terms to identify subspecies which go by the same colloquial name may be observed as early as the 5th century AD in Offetstine, England, after the Masquerade was well-established in the region. As the Masquerade prevented wide knowledge of magical and demi-human affairs in human culture, terms used by demi-humans to discuss themselves were loaned from human folklore, as many demi-humans of the time lived among humans. Due to Offetstine's comparatively high population of demi-humans to neighboring regions, demi-humans of similar subspecies would frequently convene, and would struggle to discuss their differences under the limitations posed by the nomenclature of human folklore.

Multiple vampire subspecies were prevalent at the time, and to distinguish themselves coined a system of "marks", or, in the contemporary Old English, mearca. One prevalent subspecies, perhaps related to the modern Eris vampire, S. Erisi, may have referred to itself at the time as *"þæs fȳres mearce," "of the mark of fire". Another subspecies of vampire, though one whose modern parallel is not known, is recorded having used the term *"þæs seolfres mearce," "of the mark of silver", to refer to itself. The difference was less necessitated in other common species, which could usually be directly termed by a single folkloric name, and because the region at the time was not as diverse in its demi-human population as the modern Greater Offetstine Area, a well-known magical hotspot in demi-human circles.

Certain earlier demi-human isolates usually termed themselves as the people of their respective region. This pattern is observed in human populations as well, such as with the Han people (simp.: 汉人, trad.: 漢人, Pinyin: hànrén), an ethnic group native to China, where the term "hàn" is widely used to refer to all matters pertinent to the people, and which ultimately stems from the name of the Han River (simp.: 汉水, Pinyin: Hànshuǐ). The town name "Offetstine" is suspected to come from one such demi-human endonym, filtered through a now-extinct language spoken in the region, while the city name "Hallingmere" may owe its name to an a priori construction loaned into English. Novel endonyms are used both in languages spoken primarily by demi-human populations, and in human languages complementarily. To date, novel endonyms are occasionally used as common names for species with little resemblance to any folkloric precedent, though formal taxa are still assigned for clarity.

The origin of species taxonomy as an academic study, as well as a categorization tool for demi-humans, may be attributed to the medical field, where often knowing the particular subspecies of a demi-human patient is crucial in their treatment. In addition to the Medical Renaissance, spanning the 1400s to 1700s, in the human world, many European mages and demi-humans sought to improve the living conditions of their kind amidst the Masquerade. Many extant documents are attributed to the Parisian physician and polymath Carole Élise Dupont, a fervent magical epistemologist and firm believer in the combined value of science and mathematics. She is sometimes titled the "Mother of Species Taxonomy", though her works saw narrow enough scope that the claim is frequently disputed.

Records from the era show detailed studies of demi-human anatomy, derived from autopsies and clinical trials, especially using magical implements to examine the function of the living body on a deeper level. However, most documents of the era were private articles limited to a few independent scholars, and the field eventually stagnated as increasingly few doctors knew in any capacity about demi-humans, especially in intellectual and trade centers.

Paris-Warszawski Standard

The first formal standard created for species taxonomy was the Paris-Warszawski Standard, sometimes abbreviated the Paris Standard, developed by half-angel Melville Paris and human Leopold Warszawski in the late 1800s, as a means of "classifying the children of God who must otherwise cower from Their light". Unlike the later Émile Standard, the Paris Standard was primarily phylogenetic, and attempted to trace the roots of magic of each species under its scope.

The standard fell out of use early after its introduction, as the religious undertones turned away many would-be contributors and the research proved broadly unhelpful. Few demi-humans were interested in a taxonomical classification tool at the time, especially one that so desperately lacked diversity in the ranks of its founding members, and the standard was broadly recognized as doomed from the very start.

The nomenclature of the Paris Standard was not standardized across languages. During their first publication cycle, the pair wrote and translated various technical documents between English, Polish and French, maintaining no version to be strictly canonical out of fear of discrimination. In practice, though, the subtle inconsistencies between the documents and necessary liberties of translation harshly impacted the precision of the Paris Standard.

After four years and nine publications, three of which annual journals on the state of demi-human taxonomy authored by Paris and Warszawski themselves, and only three of which authored by third parties, the Paris Standard died a quiet death.

Émile Standard

The Émile Standard was developed by human illustrator Constance Vivas, under the pseudonym Costanza Émile from which the system took its name, in the early 1990s, and spread primarily through online bulletin-board communication over the course of the next few years. Unlike the earlier Paris Standard, the Émile Standard focused on phenotypical traits and aimed to help demi-humans understand themselves better.

Further unlike the Paris Standard, the Émile Standard was nomenclaturally, though not functionally, inspired by Linnean taxonomy. Recognizing that the lack of consistent terminology was a significant component of the downfall of the Paris Standard, Vivas proposed a naming convention based on mock Latin, interspersed with morphology derived from Latinized forms of Greek, English and others.

Rather than attempting to trace the history and origin of various demi-human species, following roots through the willful realization of fiction, the folly of avant-garde mages and the simple natural variation of magic that underpinned and facilitated demi-humanity, the Émile Standard proposed a simpler three-tiered classification that described the kingdom, order and subspecies of a given species based on their existential relation to mundane humans, and the extent to which magic affected their powers and behaviors.

To that extent, even though many species that shared similar characteristics hailed from vastly different magical sources, they were usually classified similarly. For example, most species that roughly mimic the folklore conception of the European vampire are classed Infernalis Sanguis.

To accommodate the possibility of half-breed species, Vivas proposed the prefix Dimidium (abbrev.: Di.) in the same spirit as the real-world prefix Candidatus (abbrev: Ca.) for bacterial phyla that are yet uncultured. Whereas the common Eris vampire is classified Infernalis Sanguis Erisi (abbrev: S. Erisi), the respective dhampir is classed Di. S. Erisi. Classifications are usually derived from folklore, and when a species is best described as a hybrid, especially if members do have hybrid ancestry, the taxon is usually described as a concatenation of prior gena's names.

Other early proponents of the standard included the vampire demon and Coalition member Caterina Alemagna, and human biologist afflicted with sociopathy Cato Umbra. Forums overseeing the allocation of taxa in the Émile standard primarily leverage online bulletin board systems and see contributions from around the world.

Mechanics

The modern Émile standard uses a three-tiered classification modeled after Linnean taxonomy. Following the analogy, the uppermost tier is often referred to as the kingdom, while the lower two tiers are referred to as the genus and subspecies (as opposed to Linnean "species") respectively.

Theory

The Émile standard makes no effort to demonstrate phylogeny, and species' descriptions usually mention their phylogeny, if any, separate from their taxon itself. Frequently, species which share a common origin, such as a given vampire and lamia subspecies, may be related more closely phylogenetically, following the specific histories of their magic, but may consider themselves disparate; where the respective vampires consider themselves generally more affiliated to other vampire subspecies than the respective lamia.

As the goal of the Émile standard is to reify worldviews, umwelt as it exists in the magical world, and demi-humans' sense of identity and of self, these distinctions are not reified in species taxa, and instead may be described in documents about the species as auxiliary information. This is an expected and natural effect within the Émile standard, and is accepted as a necessary concession over prior systems such as the Paris-Warszawski standard. Moreover, the need for phylogenetic classification is comparatively less in demi-human species taxonomy than Linnean taxonomy, since many fields that rely on the study, such as medicine, demand a highly synchronic understanding of a demi-human's nature rather than their history; and the Will of the People enables highly convergent evolution of disparate subspecies' magics.

Despite this, there are cases where the Émile system neither shows the phylogeny nor effectual relationships of species. As the genus designated by the Émile standard makes a significant effort to reify the emic perception of a subspecies, even if that perception is not reflected in either the phylogeny or nature of the magic that enables the subspecies, disparities can occur. Such disparities are referred to as "inversions", and may occur when the same magic develops two separate tribes of subspecies from similar magic yet disparate traits and natural alliances.

Inversions frequently occur with animal-folk, for instance, when the same magic spawns a population of foxfolk and rabbitfolk, which are naturally prone to war with each other. These respective subspecies may be named Mundanus Vulpes Exempli and Mundanus Cuniculus Exempli, despite any enmity between the two populations. While this is occasionally criticized as a shortcoming of the Émile standard, many species taxonomists argue it is a necessary compromise where it is stipulated that the system demonstrates demi-humans' individual senses of reality as influenced by their species.

Hierarchy

Kingdoms

Under the Émile standard, there are a fixed set of four kingdoms which all other taxa inherit from, as follows:

• Mundanus, typically referencing species such as animal-folk which are indisputably demi-human, but usually whose demi-humanity only confers superficial traits. Demi-humans of the Mundanus kingdom are more often mages than regular humans, but are not usually affected by their nature very much.

• Infernalis, species typically associated with the underworld, as if from hell. Such species as demons and vampires are included in this kingdom, who despite their provenance are most often not inherently ideologically biased in any way, but are prone to inherently chaotic natures and who often subsist on humanity.

• Aetherius, species that may be considered ethereal, such as spirits and some species of elves. Aetherius species are more commonly in touch with nature than some other taxa, and more commonly have magical powers extending beyond the superficial traits of their species than any other kingdom.

• Caelestis, species typically associated with gods and deities, as if from heaven or the afterlife. While comparatively rare, species of the Caelestis kingdom are usually among the most powerful and often have a strong connection with nature and humanity.

Gena and subspecies

Further subdivisions are usually designated at the discretion of the researchers initially documenting the species, and subsequently reviewing the document. Occasionally, taxa are modified to accommodate the preferences of the subspecies described. Gena are typically designated based on the common name or source mythology of a species or subspecies, occasionally on the national origins of the species.

Certain gena exist under multiple kingdoms, to clarify their nature with respect to reality, such as whether their form is based on biological matter or magic (i.e. their form is ethereal); for instance, subspecies in the genus Mundanus Vulpes correspond with the colloquial foxfolk, while subspecies in the genus Aetherius Vulpes correspond with the colloquial kitsune. Subspecies are designated on a per-case basis, usually leveraging symbolism that has some level of cultural prevalence in the surveyed subspecies community.

Traditionally, names are derived from Hellenic or Latinate words, the subspecies name usually being set in the Latin genitive. In cases where the subspecies name is loaned from another language and has no precedent in Latin declensions, usually a false genitive form is coined, typically with the suffix -i or -ae and primarily for aesthetic purposes, such as in S. Shakuii.

Nativized terms are increasingly common in modern species taxonomy, as with the exhaustion of many generic symbolistic words and phrases to lend from Latin, and with the increasing importance of direct correspondence with members of a subspecies, many subspecies are named after correspondents who provided information about their nature to researchers and aided in their documentation. Highly contemporary subspecies such as V. Sequoiae are frequently named after correspondents.

Affixes

Certain elements are occasionally affixed to a subspecies's taxon to clarify the nature of the taxon. Some elements are used to clarify the nature of a taxon in general, while others are used to narrow how it refers to a specific demi-human in particular.

Typically, affixes which define the nature of a taxon itself are prefixed, while affixes which prescribe additional information are suffixed, with their parameters following thereafter. Prefixes are typically capitalized, while suffixes are typically lowercased. Grammatically, this formatting reflects the head-directionality syntax of English, where adjectives precede nouns and determiner phrases, headed by their determiners, follow nouns. This is contrary to the nominal Latin origins of the Émile System, where adjectives typically follow nouns.

The convention, while not proposed by Émile herself, gained popularity mainly among English-speaking species taxonomists, as English, while not the most common language used in discussions about species taxonomy, is the primary auxiliary language used in asynchronous communication about the study. Other communities where species taxonomy is commonplace, prominently including certain Japanese speaking audiences, generally defer to English conventions for international consistency.

• Tent. (prefix; from English "tentative" or, through backformation, Latin "tentativus") in reference to a taxon which has not been formally ratified, or, through analogy, which has been supplanted, such as Tent. S. Nymphalis as a former name for the modern subspecies S. Shakuii.

• Di. (prefix; from Latin "dīmidius", "halved") to refer to a demi-human hybrid who is, in part, human, by a taxon attributed to their whole form, such as a half-elf by their respective taxon of elf, in much the same way as a hybrid of two demi-humans may be formed through the concatenation of their respective taxa.
  • While members of these subspecies are commonly and collectively referred to as "half-breeds" (as distinct from "hybrids", demi-humans who carry traits from two parents of disparate demi-human nature) the term is sometimes considered pejorative and as such avoided. In certain communication, especially in the study of species taxonomy, the term dimidia is used instead, though the term is chiefly neologistic.

• af. (suffix; from Latin "affīnis", "allied to", or through backformation from English "affinity") to denote a subspecies' magical affinity, where it is significant enough to define the nature of a given demi-human and how their magic influences their perception of and interface with the world.

• na. (suffix; from Latin "nātus", "born", or through backformation from English "née" via French) to refer to a demi-human born as a particular nonhuman species, and henceforth turned into another, such as S. Erisi, na. Di. D. Sartori to refer to an Eris vampire born as a D. Sartori half-dragon, and later turned.

Affinities

Sometimes, an additional "affinity" is affixed to the end of a species name, to denote the specific magical affinity of a demi-human where it is not prescribed by higher-level classifications in the Émile standard. Typically, the suffix af. (from Latin "affīnis", "allied to", or through backformation from English "affinity") is used to denote a species' affinity. Similar to other elements of species taxonomy, affinities are typically denoted in a Latinate vocabulary, though not grammar.

For instance, the spirit subspecies P. Lapideum, is defined by its ability to possess the recently deceased of most animal species, to shapeshift into people and animals and thereby lend their powers and, in certain cases, physical forms, and genetic and magical fingerprints. Despite this, P. Lapideum spirits typically have an innate magical affinity, such as fire or ice, defining the elemental magic which they are naturally empowered to use. A fire spirit may be denoted, as such, as P. Lapideum (af. ignis) while an ice spirit may be denoted as P. Lapideum (af. glacies).

Common affinities include:

• Those which are named for the classical elements:
  • terra, earth
  • ignis, fire
  • aqua, water
  • aer, air or wind
• Those which are named for related concepts:
  • glacies, ice
  • fulgor, electricity or lightning
  • machina, mechanics or clockwork
  • atomos, molecular or subatomic physics
• Those pertaining to some conception of the ethereal realm
  • aether, some conception of ether itself
  • umbra, dark magic, as in the manipulation of the human soul
  • lux, healing magic, or, more rarely, the manipulation of light

None of these terms are formally reified in the Émile standard.

Birth species

TODO

Real life

The art of demi-human species taxonomy is not to be confused with real-life taxonomy schemes for identifying real-world species, neither does species taxonomy in the world of Offetstine displace the in-universe study of real-life taxonomy.