Humans

Humans are an ape-like sentient species prevalent in all continents of the world. They have four extremities, a pair of arms and a pair of legs, used to walk upright. Their arms end up in hands, with digits very adept in manipulating the environment around them. Their legs end up in feet, and due to their metabolism they are capable of resisting long periods of walking. They are a sexually dimorphic species, with males being slightly bulkier and taller than the females. Their average size is between 1.55m-1.65m in women, and between 1.65m-1.85 m in males. Most of their sensory organs are located in the head, with a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, a single nose and a single mouth with only one tongue. The only sensory organ outside of the head is the skin, used for their sense of touch to detect temperature and pressure. Their skin can be covered in a thin layer of hair, denser in certain points such as the top of the head or the genital areas, but never as dense as many beastfolk species. Their senses are considered average in comparison to many other sentient species: their eyesight and hearing are not as good as those from elven races, their touch is not as good as that from dwarves, and so on. However, their good range of sensory organs allows humans to adapt to many different environments that could be daunting to other species.
Human reproduce sexually, with the females giving live birth after around 9 months of gestation. Human infants are particularly vulnerable during the early stages of their lives, reaching sexual maturity around the age of 16. During the early stages of their lives, the physical and intellectual growth of humans is extremely fast, allowing them to gain knowledge and experience at an accelerated rate, capability that goes down overtime. Humans have a wide variety of forms of organization, ranging from familiar groups in small tribes to complex civilizations that encompass multiple ethnic groups. The sheer diversity of human societies make trying to establish an average a rather difficult task. In general, though, humans tend to center around in family units, with monogamous marriages being the norm for most human cultures. Human reproduction is also notable due to their capability of reproducing with a limited number of non-human species, though the result of this union is overwhelmingly sterile.
Humans do not have a natural affinity to magic. However, they are capable of considerable feats of magic once trained in the arts. Many human societies have studied magical arts and have become quite adept to them. They are also one of the species better suited for undeath, with the gnolls being the only species easier to bring into undeath.
Modern estimations point to humans numbering more than half of the total sentient individuals in the world (these estimations usually do not take into account the gnoll, due to their massively swaying populations, and the difficulty of estimating their total numbers, or some obscure species of fey that barely have any contact with the rest of the world). This enormous prevalence can be explained for a number of factors, mostly due to their general physiology and omnivory. The human body tends to be extremely resilient, capable of healing from grievous wounds and still work effectively. Their stamina regeneration is also remarkable, being able to resist heavy physical activity for very long periods of time. If we compare them to dwarves, humans have a less bulky and potent physique, but they will be able to work for much longer than dwarves, especially where walking is concerned. Likewise, elven speed and reflexes are usually superior to that of humans, but their frailer bodies take exhaustion much worse, easily hurting themselves if they do not rest. The ability to sweat also allows them to resist higher temperatures and to balance their body temperatures, something only a couple of other species can do. Their dexterity is one of the highest of the known species, only struggling when working with items much smaller than their hands. Their bodies also allow them plenty forms of traverse different environments, being capable of becoming great swimmers and climbers. These characteristics allow humans to become great survivors, which is why they have occupied near all environments in the step. However, humans tend to prefer plains where to practice agriculture, herding and to build their cities. They do have problems inhabiting dense jungle and high mountains, and are completely unable to live in deep underground (due to breathing problems and their senses not being adjusted to the darkness) and under the sea (humans cannot breathe underwater).
Humans are also incredibly omnivorous, capable of surviving on very diverse diets when other species have much more limited options for food. While the human ability to properly digest certain foods is discussed, they are capable of obtaining nutrition from most organic elements. Their ability to eat is surpassed by species such as ogres and snoloths. Cannibalism is not only frowned upon in human society, but it is actively detrimental to the human organism, whereas species like ogres and snoloths can eat their own without issue (social taboo notwithstanding). They cannot process certain plant-based products, as well as those that contain certain levels of poisonous defenses.
The origins of humanity are discussed. Each of the different human societies have develop their own tales of how humanity came to be. Most non-humans, however, particularly the fey, share a similar story. They believe that the first sentient species were a result of the gods trying to create the perfect race to populate the world. Using bits of different creatures and parts of themselves, each of the gods created a perfect species for each of the areas of the world, throwing away the unused parts as waste. However, once the gods left the world, the unused parts of creation joined together and resulted in humanity. With bits of all gods combined, and with the gods’ view far from the mortal realm at the time, they were able to spread quickly throughout the world, becoming the dominant species. The only areas they could not live in were undersea and underground, due to the gods having used up all of those parts.
Category:Species
Category:Humans