Lucian

The racial name for the "humanoid" natives of the Astral Plane. They have two major divisions--angels and devils, based on their primary source of energy. All of the elven races are (distantly) related; the lightborn were those lucians who gave up their immortality to settle in the mortal plane after the Dawn War.

Unlike mortals, lucians don't have sparks. Instead, their core is one or more True Words that form a true name, surrounded by a nimbus and body of relatively diffuse anima. Made of fragments of the True Words of creation, these words describe and constrain the lucian. The name can change based on experiences, but lucians (like all true immortals) are unable to create fundamentally new things themselves. As a result, there is an intense hunger for creative acts of mortals. They all depend on anima produced by mortals for their existence.

The true names, however, also give them a semblance of eternal life--even when discorporated, the words persist unless captured (eg by a demon). After a time, the words will reform a nimbus and the person will be reborn with a very similar personality; how much of the memory survives depends on how much there was originally (effectively on the "rank" of the lucian). However, having a true name means one can be predicted and bound by that name.

Angels

Angels are those who have dedicated themselves to the Great Mechanism, serving as a sort of immune system for the universe. For this they gain endless rebirth and eternal youth with a steady stream of anima from the Great Mechanism itself; they pay with their (eternal) lives. Angels live for nothing but the exercise of their duty; even when relaxing they do so that they may be ready to return to the battlefields.

Their true names tend to reflect concepts such as duty, honor, service, obedience, order, guardianship, stoicism, etc.

Devils

Devils are those who have chosen (or been forced) to join one of the Diabolical Families. They chose not to devote themselves such; instead they receive payments for services rendered to the Congregation or other ascendants or for services to mortals as part of contracts.

Their true names tend to reflect the contracts they've made; one who can read the words can tell most of the history of an individual from their name. More powerful devils have longer, more elaborate names.

The forms that devils take on while in the Mortal plane are set by tradition--when acting on the orders of the gods, they tend to take on "angelic" (winged humanoid, emphasis on light and majesty) shapes; when summoned by mortals they take the shape set by the spell. In principle it is possible to summon a high-ranking devil in the form of an imp...but highly not advised. It is difficult and constraining to pour one's essence into such a tiny container. Since devils are frequently summoned for combat, most of their traditional summoned forms are rather martial in nature, designed to frighten and tear apart their foes.

Chosen

The vast majority of the humanoid population of lucians are neither angels nor devils; they are simply lucians. Vaguely elf-like in appearance (to mortal eyes, anyway), they tend to the angels and devils and get paid their necessary energy for that service.

Non-humanoid

Most lucians aggregate into non-humanoid shapes ranging all over the spectrum from small "rabbits" and even plants to the colossal Astral Dragons (which aren't really dragons) that dominate the skies of Naga Padoha. These consume each other, tearing apart the nimbus for the stored energy within. When they die, they reform in a different shape. Rarely, one will decide to leave this life and swear to a infernal family or to an angelic host or even to an ascendant or member of the Congregation. In doing so, they gain a measure of stability and often a humanoid shape, becoming Chosen.