From the perspective of Douglas Moore, the post-Fall world is split into three different categories.

Unchanged

These beings are unaffected by the System and remain in their natural, pre-Fall, state. The vast majority of animals, both wild and domesticated, fall in this category.

They do not have an “overhead” descriptor or a detailed one.

Changed Beasts

All manner of Changed Beasts exist. The process by which beasts were converted from mundane versions to System-linked versions is unknown but is generally assumed to be the exposure to excessive concentrations of system energies. All Changed Beasts are separate species from their mundane counterparts and completely infertile, even if no visual difference appears (see: Equoids).

Changed Beasts have an overhead descriptor, indicating the level, race, and optionally the number of skills and general flavor of those available to the beast. They have an internal detailed descriptor, but that one is unavailable to Moore, at least through the touch of the persons he has Authority over.

Beasts seem to gain levels slowly and in a limited manner. Immature young are at level 0, independent but not mature are at level 1, then sexually mature individuals start at level 2 and upward depending on age. No baseline Changed Beasts go over level 4. Their stats are 15 all over and a total of 90.

Beasts gain skills by exposure to mana zones rather than XP leveling. The skills gained are not restricted by the baseline stats and levels, instead, they force the beasts’ levels and stats to the minimum required for the skill gained. For example, a beast that gains a skill requiring level 9 and 19 Strength would automatically become at least a level 9 beast, and the stat would grow to the appropriate amount.

Beast designations by the number of skills:

Elite Superior Peak Supreme Paramount Ultimate

Examples: Level 1 Lepus, Level 5 Elite Fire Canid, Level 10 Supreme Unnatural Corvid.

Beasts do not have specializations. Instead, their three highest tier skills have a ×1 multiplier no matter what the skill, the next two skills in decreasing tier level have a ×2 multiplier, and the sixth has a × 3 multiplier. There are no “natural” Beasts with more than six skills.

Changed People

Most of mankind seems to have been converted into Changed following the Fall, although people are unaware of that factoid. Isolated people may have escaped being altered and connected to the System, but, being considered a separate species, they are now extinct as they could not identify any individual with whom they could have offspring. All “humans” born in the 22nd century are, in fact, Changed.

Several groups were subsequently Changed yet again into differing species, sometimes multiple times. No matter how altered from original humans, people remain people and are distinct from Changed Beasts (see above), obeying slightly different rules.

All people have an overhead descriptor, indicating their level, and then, depending on whether or not the individual has a specialization, that specialization or a species default name. All individuals have a detailed descriptor, which is available by touch, provided one can see descriptors, that is.

Note that the species name appears in lowercase, while the specialization names appear in uppercase, at least for Moore.

Examples: Level 1 human, Level 5 dwarf, Level 10 Ash Shaper.

Children remain at level 0 until sometime after puberty, with baseline stats depending on their species. At one point, usually between 15 and 16 years old, they gain a +1 to one to three random stats – depending on species again – and then their stats are subject to a zero to three random fluctuations in which one stat loses 1 point while another gains one. At that point, the former child starts earning experience.

Experience

No matter what type of Changed (beast or person), the experience obtained in combat is identical.

Defeating in a non-lethal manner yields 100XP times the level, or the target’s unused XP pool, whichever is smaller. The defeated loses that XP. This can be earned once per year, per person. Being defeated by other persons on the same day also yields nothing, until the beast/person has slept.

Defeating in a lethal manner yields 500XP plus 25XP per skill, times the level.