Arkians

**Arkians** are a species of sentient primates and the modern descendants of humanity in the Arkverse. Though Arkians could trace their evolutionary past to Eard, many billions of humans were born on other worlds after humanity spread through the cosmos. Arkians became so widespread that they eventually came to emphasise their relationship to worlds other than Eard, choosing to think of themselves not as Eardlings, but as Venusians and Martians. In the age when Arkians established colonies on other planets, Earthborn was used to refer to humans who were born on the home world. Their genetics gradually altered as they "mingled" with other species. Late and short-lived in comparison to other species, they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given, to perhaps prove something to the other races/species and are now one of the most powerful and populous species spread across the globe due partly to this. Whatever drives them, Humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the world.

## Overview

Considered to be the “most common” of the human descended races, Arkians inhabit the great citadel of Ark City. They are very interested in and driven by scientific discovery and find magic to be “unsettling”. The Arkian people staged an uprising against the last reigning oligarchy and overthrew the rulers. Since the fall of the world a century ago, many Arkians believe magic and metahumanism to be nothing more than myth or a swindlers trick. Most Arkians of the current age do not remember real magic. Their features are generally sharper than other races, especially their facial features, and they tend to have natural hair and eye colours. Most Arkians hold some form of prejudice toward any race that isn’t their own, though they have a bountiful alliance with the Orcs and Dwarves. These biases may be more environmentally based and taught rather than any deep rooted personal grudge.

Humans, due to their penchant for migration, conquest, and a genetic ability of abhorrently high adaption (basically cheating natural selection). The result of this is that there is no ‘know-all’ human, or a Typical Human. As they can vary from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet, weighing from 125 to 250 pounds. The skin changes coloration depending on the sun’s availability (darker skin near the equator and lighter the further away). Hair colours can range from black to blond (curly, poufy, or straight); males might sport facial hair that is sparse or thick. A lot of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood, revealing hints of other lineages. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live even a single century, *unless presumably enhanced by Magic or Elven Blood.*

They have widely varying tastes, morals, and customs in the many different lands where they have settled. When they settle, though, they stay: they build cities to last for the ages, and great kingdoms that can persist for long centuries. An individual human might have a relatively short life span, but a human nation or culture preserves traditions with origins far beyond the reach of any single human’s memory. They live fully in the present—making them well suited to the adventuring life—but also plan for the future, striving to leave a lasting legacy. Individually and as a group, humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay alert to changing political and social dynamics.

Men are one of the chief devotees of the trinity of light gods, as well as one of the primary opponent of Chaos' continued incursions into the World. In a severe grip of irony however, Mankind is also amongst the Dark Gods' greatest and most numerous servants. It is a very common knowledge that the race of Men is known to be highly susceptible to the influences of Chaos. Unlike the High Elves, Mankind has only just begun the transition into a race that can fully utilise the Winds of Magic. As yet, very few humans are able to cast spells, though this number is slowly increasing as the centuries pass. However, most human wizards lack the mental discipline or inner strength to prevent themselves from causing arcane mishaps or the capability to access all of Magic simultaneously, like the greatest of the Elven mages.

## Characteristics

### Traits and Abilities

Arkians an instinctive need to protect their own genetic line. This could make some individuals resistant to mind control. Innate psychic abilities were rare but not unheard of. Some humans had telepathic powers, though in almost all cases it was weak or suppressed. Due to this, Arkians had little in the way of telepathic emissions, and are difficult to track telepathically. Individual Arkians have displayed psychic powers such as psychometry, telepathy, empathy, or time-sensitivity.

The Arkian body generated electricity; although a single body could not generate much electricity, a population of humans numbering in the billions could function as a viable power source.

### Unusual traits of humanity

Arkians are observed to possess a tendency to move on and forget after being faced with bizarre incidents such as alien invasions, with the Men Down Under describing it as the "most amazing capacity for self-deception".

### Perceptions by other species

Early in their history, the Vana declared "the all-out war on all Arkians... everywhere." Such was this animosity that, during the Second Vana War, the Vana pursued mastery of time travel, which they saw as beginning with the destruction of the Vektan-Noverians and ending with the subjugation of humanity. Many Vanas after mentally merging with Arkians noted that the Arkian emotions he felt included ambition, hatred, aggression and "a genius for war"; he considered the species "so very Vana" at heart Historians who studied the Vana race suspected that the Vana's fascination with Arkians was derived either from Eard and Arkians reminding the Vanas of pre-War Vanas or simply seeing a use for Eard's resources and deeming humanity's propensity for expansion as a threat to Dalek supremacy.

Some aliens were dismissive of arkians; the Drakoni considered them "primitive bipeds of no value". Others saw them as a potential threat or, in the case of the Shroomers, as "pests" that deserved to be wiped out. The Embeds, who referred to arkiansas "fleshy bipeds" and fought a war with them on Eard, considered them dangerous but also amusingly stupid.

The Vektan-Noverians thought of Arkians as primitive apes, though some were more open-minded and willing to at least consider the idea of co-existing with them. They also considered Arkians the most aggressive and war-like species in all of the milky way and hoped to use them to conquer the galaxy. The Titans thought arkianswere a stubborn species, but very vicious. They also knew of their trait of banding together against common enemies. The Elves greatly admired Arkian's thirst for exploration, believing that Arkians had touched every star in the universe.

### Hunters

Just because arkians have no innate powers, does not mean that they are helpless. Some fight back and hunt the supernatural beings that walk among them. The capabilities of these hunters (not to be mistaken with the Imbued) depend entirely upon their training, skills, and experience. While individual mortal hunters (or even small, loosely organized groups) are a minor threat to a supernatural community, there are large organizations that can be a major threat.

Two known governmental agencies that fight supernaturals are Ancient societies can be far more dangerous though, as they actually have knowledge about supernatural beings passed down through the generations. The two primary reasons the ancient societies are so dangerous is: they know all about supernaturals AND they can be trained to use very powerful supernatural abilities and/or ancient weapons.

## Behaviour

Humans can have wildly varied behaviour. The typical human can be seen scavenging, harvesting, looting or otherwise running amok in any area of Eard. Known to tame ferocious beasts to do their bidding, humans can accomplish physical feats and acts of violence far beyond what their meagre frames should be capable of. Humans also carry the distinction of being one of the only creatures on Eard capable of crafting and utilizing tools, and should be regarded as an extreme threat due to this feat- whether it be a simple stone hatchet or an array of autonomous turrets guarding an impenetrable steel fortress, odds have it any human you encounter is a significant and wildly unpredictable threat and should be approached as such.

## Combat

This section describes how to fight against Humans.

### General

It is difficult to pinpoint an exact strategy for fighting Humans, because each one has different attack patterns and level of technology. Any given Human encountered may also belong to a Tribe or have nearby tamed creatures, which only adds to the potential danger of attacking them. In the event that two humans are alone and on foot with no backup, whoever has the biggest gun is generally the one who survives.

### Strategy

It's generally better to try to knock out Humans first instead of going for the kill right away. Humans can be very easily knocked unconscious by shooting them with Tranquilizer Darts. Using fliers, a Human could be lifted up and dropped from high altitudes or dropped into a hostile environment. Though frowned upon, one may lure large predatorsinto a human tribe's village, or use infected animals as biological weapons.

### Dangers

Humans can pose a potentially very large threat, depending on said human's temperament.

### Weaknesses

Once knocked out, Humans are helpless to defend themselves, assuming that there aren't any allied tamed creatures or tribe members nearby. It is fairly easy to render a defeated and unconscious Human docile by removing their Weapons and Armor, putting them in Handcuffs, and moving their body into a Cage. Once locked inside, they no longer have any capacity to cause damage. Another weakness is whips, as at close range a whip can disarm any weapon, then allowing the combatant to quickly pick up the weapon. Additionally, while unorthodox, if a player is shot with a Grappling Hook, they can be dragged towards you to force them into melee range.

## Game and Story Use

* Since humans are for obvious reasons the species best known to players and game masters alike, they are the easiest to role-play convincingly.
* Many, if not most science fiction and fantasy settings have non-human species. In settings where this is not the case, game masters have to work harder to distinguish the different cultures, nations, and factions from each other, and explain their nature to the players.
	+ This can be made easier by basing these societies on real world nations and cultures. However, care should be taken not to stereotype them too much, or else you will end up with a caricature, rather than a believable society.
	+ This will also make it harder (though not impossible) to present one side as "pure evil" and the other as "pure good" - in general, human morality is too muddled to allow such distinction on a large scale.
		- Slaughtering hordes of orcs or demons will not generally trigger any moral qualms in the player characters. Slaughtering large numbers of humans is generally harder to justify.
		- But if in doubt, Nazis make fairly good mooks for this purpose.
	+ In some settings, different human cultures can be distinguished further through genetic engineering - see Transhumanism for details.