Ethnicity and The Nine Clans
Each of the Vaskharr clans are considered to be distinct ethnic groups, despite the interconnected nature of their societies via the trawl. When speaking about the greater population, Vaskharr refer to "the Nine Clans"-- the nine named clans that live within various realities. The voidclaws are a mysterious and not well known tenth clan who tend to be out of contact with the others, so are generally not included within this main group.
Red-Sands
Red-Sands is the oldest and largest clan; the majority of its members live on Terra in either the north-western part of Australia, or scattered throughout Terra's giant underground cities. Many wanderers and immigrants from Red-Sands can be found in other worlds as well, as they are especially given to exploring due to Terra's unique situation of being riddled with interdimensional rifts. Red-Sands riftclaws are often quite comfortable with their Terran neighbours, as likely to live among them in anthropomorphic or human forms as they are to simply wander around in their natural forms. Red-Sands is one of the most visually striking clans, with its members coming in every colour of the rainbow and a wide variety of custom gene-modded mutations.
Ashen-Walkers
The Ashen-Walkers are a clan known for inhabiting human-dominated worlds, and are most commonly found on the alternate Earth known as Solai. They usually take on human forms and create human identities for themselves, and are one of the most sedentary clans, often building small towns to live in rather than choosing a migratory route. The clan is dominated by grey, black and brown riftclaws with slightly "muddy" palettes, their calico hair in human form better disguised than that of most other clans. They're also better at hiding their teeth and claws, and can be almost indistinguishable from a regular human aside from their eyes.
Painted-Rocks
Painted-Rocks is the "toon" clan, and largely inhabit worlds populated by artuni, "toony" humans and animals. The clan is particularly well known for having a large population of non-riftclaw members, the majority of whom are artuni of some variant or another. Most Painted-Rocks riftclaws have recent artuni heritage, and they've inherited "hammerspace" powers and other chaotic magic from them. Unlike riftclaws from the other clans, Painted-Rocks riftclaws can sleep in shapeshift form, and can't be knocked out of shift if rendered unconscious or killed.
Treasure-Scales
The Treasure-Scales inhabit more fantasy-based worlds, and they tend to take on dragonborn or lizardfolk forms to blend in with the locals. The largest Treasure-Scales settlement can be found on the fantasy world of Veross. Treasure-Scale riftclaws unfailingly have one of a handful of special scale embellishments-- metallic, opalescent, or crystalline-- and their colouration generally mimics that of local draconic species. They tend to be more magically gifted than members of other clans, and can branch out into multiple different schools instead of being restricted to void magic.
Broken-Sticks
Broken-Sticks is a significantly more nomadic clan than most, travelling multiple worlds over the course of a "year" instead of settling territory in one. They're not quite the most far-roaming, but they're a close second to the Riftfarers in terms of distance travelled per year. Broken-Sticks riftclaws are incredibly accomplished shapeshifters, able to change forms faster and more accurately than riftclaws from other clans.
Ruin-Walkers
The Ruin-Walkers are are a clan that prefers to live in worlds that have been largely reclaimed by nature after the inhabitants have left or died off. While they still inhabit areas with hot climates, their typical habitat is rainforest rather than desert and savanna. The riftclaw population tends to be smaller than average, and scale patterns are almost always camouflaging patterns, from various spots and stripes to more vague mottled patterns.
Taliminal
The Taliminal are a clan that inhabit monster-collector themed worlds, often pretending to be a rare species of the local flavour. It’s not uncommon to find them working beside tamers and playing up their “helpful monster friend” image. Taliminal riftclaws are more gifted with elemental magic, and often have stronger, more controlled regeneration abilities. Taliminal riftclaws go by three different "species names" over their three life stages, Riftyke for the baby stage, Draklaw for the child/teen stage, and Taliminal for the adults.
Riftfarers
Riftfarers are a more technologically inclined clan; like Broken-Sticks, they also migrate through multiple worlds, but they do so on a fleet of ships powered by rift magic and solar power. While they split from the Treasure-Scales clan and left the planet of Veross for the wide-ranging space beyond, they soon discovered the ability to warp between universes and began an interdimensional route instead. Most commonly take anthropomorphic or human forms to take advantage of bipedalism.
Moon-Fangs
The Moon-Fangs clan consists of riftclaws who’ve developed an almost lycanthropic condition, their natural form gradually shifting with the phases of whatever moon(s) may be present in the skies of the worlds they inhabit. During a new moon they’re indistinguishable from riftclaws of other clans; during a full moon they have a bulky, werewolf-like form, bipedal with powerful forearms and larger, more vicious claws. The major Moon-Fangs settlement is in a world known as Feyritch, although they're at home in most worlds that include supernatural elements.
Voidclaws
Voidclaws are riftclaws who choose to live in the void, living in small groups in a loose clan affiliation in order to survive the harsh conditions of the dimension. Unlike the other clans, there are no non-riftclaw Voidclaws. Their origin as a clan is somewhat mysterious-- some riftclaws say they were exiled from the other clans, while others believe they never left the void in the first place-- but they remain at least tolerant of their brethren. Voidclaws are notably more monstrous than their reality-dwelling counterparts, but their mastery of void magic is second-to-none.