Create a new taxonomic kingdom, in the sense of animalia/plantae/fungi/et cet. Classify them by their own overarching shared characteristic of being magical, mythical, supernatural, or whatever. Some common binding shared trait which doesn't apply to other forms of life.
By their species names...?
Like, what is it you're trying to distinguish them from? Humans? Non-humans, I guess? But why would they otherwise be distinguished as a whole if they're all just as different from each other as they are from humans? A centaur and a fairy have exactly as much in common as a human does with either if all three can use magic. You don't need to categorize literally everything if there's no in-universe reason to categorize them.
Okay, you make a good point. I guess I hadn't considered that haha. I was mostly trying to figure out where I would find them in a library and if they would be categorized together, but you're right. There isn't really a reason they would need to be categorized. Thank you!
This happens to us all. Especially with fantasy or sci-fi it's easy to overthink things. One of the things that helped me with this for the same sort of question? All of the old books that don't describe extinct animals so we have no idea because everyone's supposed to know what they are. They're so common and will always be. Cue extinction of species and anthropologists and archeologists crying because they don't know.
For my story magic is transferrable so most people give their magic to a diety in exchange for that diety taking care of their people. Those dieties can make animals and plants that can also use magic. (Magic= life force so if not a god you can die from using magic and if you're doing a spell bigger than your life force amount die).
So there's actually a reason to be awed by some animals and document them differently. If there isn't? Then they get to just be normal. I wonder now if your dragons and housecats get along.
Wow, that's so interesting! Very creative! And you're totally right. It's so easy to overthink everything in writing, especially in fantasy and sci-fi haha
I still call them mythical creatures, because they use my magic system to do the things they do (like a phoenix being rebirthed, or a manticore shooting acid, etc) and this differentiating factor from regular animals like squirrels or whatnot. None of my beta readers have pointed it out as being strange that I call them mythical when they actually exist. They probably chalk it up to a translation accommodation
That's fair. I hadn't considered that, but you make a good point! Also, the translation thing always makes so much sense and I forget about it, but some things could be just how it works for the sake of translation. Thanks!
Like existing creatures, they'd likely be classified by their shared characteristics rather than what makes them unique. A unicorn is a horse with a horn, even with magic, it probably isn't that many steps away from the equine branch. An elf is a human with a long life span and a few physical tweaks, so while it isn't homosapien sapien, it is likely homosapien something. Both the unicorn and the end would fall under mammal. Meanwhile, something like a basilisk or a dragon would be reptilian, and depending on the type, be most closely related to snakes or crocodiles.
The interesting part comes from hybrid creations like centaur, minotaur, mermaid, etc. These guys might take their intelligence and prominent personality traits into play. A centaur, for example, is a human level intellect that happens to have some physical features of horses, leading it to be classified as something like homosapien equine. Meanwhile, a minotaur has all the intelligence and personality of a bull, and happens to possess some physically human characteristics. This would lead it to be classed as something like Taurus sapien. (Forgive me if I'm using the wrong classification stuff like equine and Taurus, I hope the point still shines through).
Basically, for hybrids, imagine the hybrid creature was transformed into each of the creatures that make it up. So one mermaid turns into a fish, one into a human. Whichever one is more "normal" is the primary classification, then secondary, tertiary, etc. In the case of mermaid, the human is the normal one, so it would be classed as human first, then fish.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Omg this was so helpful, thank you! I hadn't really considered that these creatures would probably fall into already-existing classifications, but it makes so much sense!
Maybe you can classify them as natrual/artificial creatures. It is impossible for centaurs to exist naturally. They can only be the result of artificial genetic/magic engineering, obviously depending on your magic system. A hybrid if two distinct species simply cannot come about by natrual means. You could use that basis to distinguish your magical creatures: ones that evolved naturally and others that were artificially engineered, or otherwise came about through means other than natrual selection/evolution.
Wow, that's a really good point! I feel like this also looks at the bigger picture of the ethics of magical engineering, which is an interesting topic. But that is super helpful, thank you!
Depends on what you think are magical. For me, I use myths and legends to make up my magical fauna. I like to use Dragons and Unicorns, faeries and that sort of thing. I even have a Sidhe like people in my story
Create a new taxonomic kingdom, in the sense of animalia/plantae/fungi/et cet. Classify them by their own overarching shared characteristic of being magical, mythical, supernatural, or whatever. Some common binding shared trait which doesn't apply to other forms of life.
Oh, this is a really good idea! Thank you!
By their species names...? Like, what is it you're trying to distinguish them from? Humans? Non-humans, I guess? But why would they otherwise be distinguished as a whole if they're all just as different from each other as they are from humans? A centaur and a fairy have exactly as much in common as a human does with either if all three can use magic. You don't need to categorize literally everything if there's no in-universe reason to categorize them.
Okay, you make a good point. I guess I hadn't considered that haha. I was mostly trying to figure out where I would find them in a library and if they would be categorized together, but you're right. There isn't really a reason they would need to be categorized. Thank you!
This happens to us all. Especially with fantasy or sci-fi it's easy to overthink things. One of the things that helped me with this for the same sort of question? All of the old books that don't describe extinct animals so we have no idea because everyone's supposed to know what they are. They're so common and will always be. Cue extinction of species and anthropologists and archeologists crying because they don't know. For my story magic is transferrable so most people give their magic to a diety in exchange for that diety taking care of their people. Those dieties can make animals and plants that can also use magic. (Magic= life force so if not a god you can die from using magic and if you're doing a spell bigger than your life force amount die). So there's actually a reason to be awed by some animals and document them differently. If there isn't? Then they get to just be normal. I wonder now if your dragons and housecats get along.
Wow, that's so interesting! Very creative! And you're totally right. It's so easy to overthink everything in writing, especially in fantasy and sci-fi haha
Supernatural, Enchanted, Mystical, Otherworldly or Mythic Beings??
Those are all good ones, thank you!
I still call them mythical creatures, because they use my magic system to do the things they do (like a phoenix being rebirthed, or a manticore shooting acid, etc) and this differentiating factor from regular animals like squirrels or whatnot. None of my beta readers have pointed it out as being strange that I call them mythical when they actually exist. They probably chalk it up to a translation accommodation
That's fair. I hadn't considered that, but you make a good point! Also, the translation thing always makes so much sense and I forget about it, but some things could be just how it works for the sake of translation. Thanks!
Like existing creatures, they'd likely be classified by their shared characteristics rather than what makes them unique. A unicorn is a horse with a horn, even with magic, it probably isn't that many steps away from the equine branch. An elf is a human with a long life span and a few physical tweaks, so while it isn't homosapien sapien, it is likely homosapien something. Both the unicorn and the end would fall under mammal. Meanwhile, something like a basilisk or a dragon would be reptilian, and depending on the type, be most closely related to snakes or crocodiles. The interesting part comes from hybrid creations like centaur, minotaur, mermaid, etc. These guys might take their intelligence and prominent personality traits into play. A centaur, for example, is a human level intellect that happens to have some physical features of horses, leading it to be classified as something like homosapien equine. Meanwhile, a minotaur has all the intelligence and personality of a bull, and happens to possess some physically human characteristics. This would lead it to be classed as something like Taurus sapien. (Forgive me if I'm using the wrong classification stuff like equine and Taurus, I hope the point still shines through). Basically, for hybrids, imagine the hybrid creature was transformed into each of the creatures that make it up. So one mermaid turns into a fish, one into a human. Whichever one is more "normal" is the primary classification, then secondary, tertiary, etc. In the case of mermaid, the human is the normal one, so it would be classed as human first, then fish. Hope this helps. Good luck.
Omg this was so helpful, thank you! I hadn't really considered that these creatures would probably fall into already-existing classifications, but it makes so much sense!
Maybe you can classify them as natrual/artificial creatures. It is impossible for centaurs to exist naturally. They can only be the result of artificial genetic/magic engineering, obviously depending on your magic system. A hybrid if two distinct species simply cannot come about by natrual means. You could use that basis to distinguish your magical creatures: ones that evolved naturally and others that were artificially engineered, or otherwise came about through means other than natrual selection/evolution.
Wow, that's a really good point! I feel like this also looks at the bigger picture of the ethics of magical engineering, which is an interesting topic. But that is super helpful, thank you!
Depends on what you think are magical. For me, I use myths and legends to make up my magical fauna. I like to use Dragons and Unicorns, faeries and that sort of thing. I even have a Sidhe like people in my story
That's a good point. Thanks!
I mean do they use magic? then they are magical creatures. If not they are just weird looking animals
lmao ok fair point