The Hardhead Genus

"Hardheads" is the colloquial name for a genus of elf-like humanoids. This name refers to the plate of thickened, tough skin covering their foreheads and the bridges of their noses, a trait which is shared by all species of the genus. They also all have digitigrate legs that usually end in paws, thick pointed ears, and tails of some sort. The genus contains three known extant species: the brighthelms, the crownhelms, and the jewelhelms.

Brighthelms

Brighthelms are generally the smallest species of their genus. They are named for the luminescent bulbs on the ends of their antennae. Their eyes are almost entirely taken up by their iris, their ears are hairless, and they have short tails with another luminescent bulb on the end. Their color palettes tend to reflect the environment they grew up in (young brighthelms start off with dark fur, similar to the pups of certain canines such as wolves and foxes.).

Each and every brighthelm has an animal-themed, life-threatening curse, identified by specific visual traits.

• Rabbit - This curse brings generalized bad luck. The bearers of this curse grow longer fur on their hands and feet, and lack paw pads.
• Deer - This curse causes strangers that are frequently exposed to its bearers(without getting to know them better) to eventually, inexplicably, become irritated with and/or resent the individual. This curse is marked by cloven hooves.
• Hagfish - This curse causes its bearers to constantly produce a hagfish-like slime from their skin. This slime threatens to asphixiate the cursed if not kept from airways. It also comes with a line of dots down the side of the neck, that resemble hagfish gills.
• Trilobite - This curse gives its bearers a "death date" on which their lives will be threatened, and (usually) ended. Those with this curse are recognizeable by the line of armored plates down their back.
• Albatross - This curse afflicts its bearers with inexplicable wanderlust for a specific yet random place every once in a while, causing them to recklessly seek it. It also gives them markings that resemble eyeliner.
• Cobra - This curse gives its bearers poisonous saliva. However, the bearers of this curse are not naturally immune to their own poison. The bearers are identifiable by the flaps of skin at the sides of their neck that resemble a cobra's hood.
• Frog - This curse binds its bearers to the water. If those born with the curse of the frog spend more than six hours away from water, they will begin to dessicate. This dessication can kill them in six more hours after it begins to occur. Those with this curse can be identified by their webbed hands and feet.

But if a brighthelm lives to be older than 50 (or, in the case of those with the Trilobite's curse, beyond their death date), something special happens...

Immortals

Every once in a while, an outbreak of Brighthelms will be born with a new, unknown curse.

Crownhelms

Crownhelms are (with a few exceptions) the largest species of their genus. They come in four ranks that vary in height, as well as a variety of suits that dictate their color palette, pupil shape, and magical abilities.
All crownhelms have a set of horns growing from their foreheads, ears covered in fur, a lionlike mane and tail, and colorful sclera.

Most crownhelm communities (generally called colonies or clowders, though specific clowders may have their own names for themselves) are much smaller than the communities of other sophonts. As soon as crownhelm populations reach a certain level/density, this triggers hormonal changes in crownhelms that cause them to stop reproducing altogether. Crownhelms often associate with other sophonts (but usually not other hardhead species, due to cultural animosity between them and brighthelms and jewelhelms being very elusive and isolated in general). This usually goes well, but the times it doesn't go well are well known - stories about crownhelm communities descending to tyranny spread far and wide, making the issue seem more widespread than it usually is.

Suits

The most common four suits are the Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades.

• Clubs favour magic that augment their agility or movement in someway. Club crownhelms are grey or off grey.
• Diamonds are attuned to defensive magic (such as magic barriers), as well as illusions. Diamonds are generally red, but they can skew towards oranges and rarely golds.
• Hearts' magic modifies the body in ways that aren't directly harmful - mending wounds, inducing drowsiness or calm, and occasionally turning people into frogs and the like. Like Diamonds, Hearts are red. Unlike Diamonds, they skew towards pinks, magentas, and rarely warm purples.
• Spades have an affinity for destructive magic - magic constructs with sharp edges, bursts of force, magic that eats away at the flesh. Spade coloration mixes off-whites and near-blacks.

There are suits beyond the most common four, with their own affects on coloration, pupil shape and magic. For example, the Arcane Suits, the Cursed Suits, and... the Business Suit.

Ranks

• Nobles are the most common rank of crownhelm. They have two horns and are comparable to humans in height. They are the everymen of the species.
• Royals are the second most common rank. They're split into three subranks based on how many horns they have (Royals with three horns are Jacks, Royals with four are Queens, and Royals with five are Kings.) and generally tower over humans and their fellow hardheads alike. Royals have less limits on their magic than Nobles - they can either cast more magic, have more powerful magic, or have a natural immunity to the magic of their suit. Jacks have one of these modifiers, Queens have two, and Kings have all three. Their social role varies from colony to colony - some colonies make Royals defacto leaders, other colonies they act as soldiers, guards, or other jobs that utilize their brute strength. Still other colonies are more egalitarian.
• Aces are rare - so rare that they're seen more often in stories and folk tales than in real life. They have one horn, and are as short as brighthelms normally.
  They have a lot of magical power, but it's normally "compressed", weak and difficult to use. To fully access their magical potential, they must first use their magic to enter a form that's roughly as large as a Royal, which "loosens" their magic, allowing them to surpass the power of their peers for as long as they're in this state. However, they can only manage this state for a temporary amount of time.
  Aces are seen as powerful and charismatic... except for Spade Aces, which are seen as omens of misfortune.
• Jokers are roughly as rare as Aces, if not rarer. They are suitless, with irregularly-shaped pupils and patches of many colors. They also have very long ears. Their magic has the potential to be versatile, capable of bridging the gaps and blurring the lines between suits... but it's unpredictable and chaotic. Jokers are frequently scorned and cast out of their home colonies.