Small Running Title
Taxonomy
Species & Taxonomy
The Archive's biological and metaphysical classification of Cardorbis's peoples, species, magical creatures, and other inherited forms of life.
Classification in Cardorbis
Cardorbian taxonomy begins with what a being is rather than where it lives, what culture it belongs to, or what role it plays. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastfolk, natural animals, magical creatures, and the many beings commonly called monsters can therefore be discussed in one broad Archive without pretending that they share a single origin or biology.
Appearance is useful evidence, but it does not establish classification by itself. Inheritance, reproductive relationships, characteristic body plans, and metaphysical structure carry greater weight. A creature may resemble a wolf without being Lupine Beastfolk, just as a person may live underwater without belonging to an aquatic taxonomic group.
A Taxonomy That Can Discover
The Archive does not invent missing peoples merely to make its classifications symmetrical. Some categories contain several well-documented populations; others describe a biological possibility for which no stable sapient people is presently known. Newly awakened Wildfolk and newly encountered species can therefore expand or revise the tree without making older scholarship meaningless.
Culture, nationality, profession, magical condition, Court affiliation, and Ascension remain separate from ancestry. They may shape a life profoundly, but none of them changes what a person inherited at birth.