Spiritfolk are a varied race of beings, likened to gods, from the Thrilling Intent universe.
History
The Shrouded Isles
The Shrouded Isles (known by the human settlers as Grieus) has hosted an uneasy peace and occasional all-out war between the spiritfolk and the humans. The human and spiritfolk wardens would each maintain relative peace in the Prison of Lights (and later Azhel) by binding unlawful spiritfolk.
Godslayers were employed to serve as "monster control" in the more recent conflicts.
After the death of the humans of Grieus, wandering spiritfolk and those exiled from their former homes began gathering, creating a sort of refuge.
Physical factors
Classification
A spiritfolk is simply a creature 'outside the bounds of mortality', that is, one that death does not apply to[1]. Upon 'dying', a spiritfolk usually turns into a wisp or, in some cases, does something else than simply dying (see Telvillian's Tear). However, it has been shown there are ways of completely removing a spiritfolk's ability to do this, such as the Iconoclasm spell or being devoured by a spiritfolk of death.
Spritfolk can also be bound to objects either to empower them or as a punishment (see Drum of the Destroyer). Godslayer magic can be used to unbind them. A spiritfolk that was bound for a long time can 'forget' their regular form and stay in a shapeless, wispy form until they remember again. It is possible to bind a spiritfolk to a living creature or object, but it requires either that the host is special in some way, strong magic, a potent artifact or 'some other practiced technique for allowing spirits into living bodies'.[2]
Some spiritfolk are revered as gods by some cultures thanks to having innate abilities of various kinds - such as Kyl'il, who is able to manipulate fire and light.
Pigbats
Spiritfolk also have subspecies, one of the few featured being the pigbats. Many different pigbats were recorded in history, all of them saying they were exiled from their nation. Said nation is difficult to pin down due to every single one of these pigbats remembering their hometown differently; Dont herself said she was exiled from the 'Sea of Clouds'. Ergo, it is difficult to say whether their civilization even truly exists.
At one point, it is mentioned that they led a kingdom of darkness for one thousand years, on the moon.
Pigbats have no defining skills and are just as varied as humans are in this. Most of them are able to shapeshift, however.
Upon dying, a pigbat vanishes when no one is observing it, leaving no corpse behind.
Phobiasts
Phobiasts are also mentioned as a subspecies of spiritfolk, though the only one seen so far is the spiritfolk Lord Pyrethum. They posses the innate ability to transform into a foe's innermost fear, with Pyrethum maintaining a single form for most of its life, and eventually being revered as a god of fear due to this fact.
Description
The physical features of spiritfolk vary incredibly and it is difficult to say whether they have a shared physical trait. Some have the ability to even maintain the illusion of humanity, passing for humans in areas where spiritfolk have a less desired presence.
Pseudo-shapeshifting is extremely common between spiritfolk, and many use it to hide their identity in this way. They usually only have a couple forms they can switch between. The shift in appearance itself is not perfect and may keep some of the features they have in their actual form.[3]
Many are known to transform into wisps upon death, or maintain an alternate form. It is also possible for more powerful spiritfolk to maintain multiple manifestations at once - Charoth existed as both an enormous shrimp-like sea monster, and a bell.
In general, spiritfolk regenerate their wounds about 10x-15x quicker than humans; some even faster than that. There exist spiritfolk who never recover from wounds, however.
It has been mentioned multiple times that spiritfolk can reinacarnate into a different form; such is the case with Charoth's humanoid form. Details about this phenomenon are unknown, though the state of mind of a spiritfolk or their diet might have an influence on this.
Nature
The personality of a spiritfolk seems highly varied, as with humans. Depending on the area they live in, they may hold extreme prejudice against humans; for example, because of the constant wars between the two races on the Shrouded Isles, their resident spiritfolk are most unfond of any humans that visit them, especially wielders of arcane magic.