Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

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ABC
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by ABC »

The people of my conworld are descendants of human colonists who reverted to barbarism after an alien invasion and then developed civilization again, some 30-40k years in the future.

There are also the sharnakhs (probably descended from results of an "animal upgrade" biotechnological experiment), who look like a cross between Tolkienian orcs and Doctor Who catkind. They are not exactly popular, because some sharnakh societies enslave humans.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Torco »

xD i guess I'm not that original either. my main conplanet, Suenu, is just that: the product of a terraforming endeavor that was, at one point or another in its history, abandoned after being deemed economically inviable after the terraforming had begun. So it has terran organisms and biota, even humans [which are not exactly human, they are monkeys which the autoterraformer computer evolved to the point or replicating humans as closely as possible, which leaves me room to have them be exactly human except when I wish them not to be exactly human for whatever reason].
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Numinex »

Well, as of the conworld I'm developing at the moment, humans are a large minority, as far as the world is concerned, but only inferior in number to a rather short-lived, chipmunk/squirrel-like species. (They make, what, about 40 years tops? Even with the low technology here, most humans make 60.) They, in turn, are followed by some sort of humanoid, amphibian creature - think a hobbit mixed with an Acanthostega. Finally comes some sort of humanoid lichen, in terms of main species.

Elves, gnomes and dwarves appear in some fashion (and by other names), but simply as subspecies of human living in different environments. As to how they came about:

Elves - I honestly have no idea how this will have come about.

Dwarves - What I do have planned is that they descend from a people akin to Neanderthals.

Gnomes - In this case, they are an offshoot from the proto-dwarves who found a new niche out on the plains.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by kiwikami »

Culphecc Glyw has a conworld of sorts that kind of came along for the ride. Most of its inhabitants are not human. At all. You know the flying spaghetti monster? They generally look something like that. That's a generalization, of course. There are quite a lot of mutated fish monsters. And gargoyle creatures. And other various eldritch abominations. But then, they're all basically aliens, so what can you do?

Possibly the most humanoid of them all.
Some less-humanoid ones.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Squidward's big brother.

And so on and so forth. None of them are mine - not even close. And thank God for that.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Nemesis »

The conpeople I've created came to Earth from a planet that exploded because of an impact with a asteroid. They are small sized animals (from 5 to 25 cm) from all the species of animals we can find on earth as well. They are rational and have normal societies just like humans, they can reproduce between them no matter what species they are, because they are after all one sole species, even that they have a fenotipically different appearence. For example, a lion is the same size as an elephant, and they can reproduce together. There are, though, some peculiarities, some of these animals belonging to the biadrenze ethnic group have very aberrent skin or hair colors, but biadrenzes have spread and interbred with other major ethnic groups, so now all societies have some biadrenze miscigenation. For example, a zebra instead of having black and white stripes can have green and red stripes or other color combinations! These animals of 5 to 25 cm belong all to the votod species, bu there are bigger sizes forming different species: from 25 to 50 cm we have the norma's species, from 50 to 100 cm we have the grandi's species, and above 100cm until 170 we have the giga's species. These species cannot breed between them, i.e. a norma cannot breed with a giga. Most of my conworld countries have votods, and only about 5% of the countries have normas, grandis or gigas. The gigas are on its way to extinction because of large consanguinity and small number of idividuals.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by sqéxe »

Mine are human, mostly First Nations/Inuit decent before the other settlers came. So extremely nomadic..

Original, I know. I haven't thought of it through a lot.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Khemehekis »

sqéxe wrote:Mine are human, mostly First Nations/Inuit decent before the other settlers came. So extremely nomadic..

Original, I know. I haven't thought of it through a lot.
Even if the idea of early North Americans has been done before with MONOBA's Siu,a, the idea is still a lot more original than "My conworld has humans, elves, dwarves and orcs, and the elves are like humans, only awesomer!!!111"
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by cybrxkhan »

Khemehekis wrote: Even if the idea of early North Americans has been done before with MONOBA's Siu,a, the idea is still a lot more original than "My conworld has humans, elves, dwarves and orcs, and the elves are like humans, only awesomer!!!111"
"... and orcs are evil!!!!!!111!!!! OR are brute warriors!!!!!11111!!!!111 and dwarves are fat Scottish drunkard miners!!!!!!!!1111111!!!!!!!!!11111"


Hmm. Thinking of it, the elves I have decided to put in my conworld-that-came-before-my-conworld are basically Mongol nomads. Then I realized that means they still have the archery thing going on. But then I figured Mongol elves is cool enough it overrides the archery cliche. I'm thinking of having the dwarves in that world be steampunk Southeast Asians (so imagine... Angkor Wat with smokestacks and giant steam cannons or something). And the Orcs... well, I don't have Orcs. But there's plenty of other weird stuff in that conworld-that-came-before-my-conworld.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Micamo »

You know, one thing that's always bothered me: Why build fantasy worlds with "elves" and "dwarves" that have zero properties in common with the prototypical elves and dwarves? Why not just give them an original name?
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by cybrxkhan »

Micamo wrote:You know, one thing that's always bothered me: Why build fantasy worlds with "elves" and "dwarves" that have zero properties in common with the prototypical elves and dwarves? Why not just give them an original name?
In my opinion it's because "elves" and "dwarves" are already established archetypical humanoids, even outside the fantasy context, so it's easier for an audience to get it rather than the "Xoijafoaijsfoisjfians" or something.

Granted, in my case, I'm only using "elves" and "dwarves" for convenience. The Mongol elves above consider themselves part of the Dulmanhur Khanate, calling themsleves the Dulmanhur (or somethingl ike that); the SE Asian steampunk dwarves above are from the Puangkrah Kingdoms, calling themselves he Puangkrah. So in this case "elves" and "dwarves" is just a really convenient - albeit vague - label so people get where the original inspiration/idea originated from or something or somewhat.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Ànradh »

cybrxkhan wrote:"... and orcs are evil!!!!!!111!!!! OR are brute warriors!!!!!11111!!!!111 and dwarves are fat Scottish drunkard miners!!!!!!!!1111111!!!!!!!!!11111"
One of my more casual (and abandoned) conworlds had orcs that ended up very much as the Charr currently are in Guild Wars 2. As such, I think they're the coolest race I've ever designed. (Yes, I very much wish I could afford a copy of GW2...)
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by ol bofosh »

Speakers of Gnoughish are predominantly human. In a kingdom in the south there are pigpeople, in the North-West there are giants, and also skin-shifters. There are the brinkleginks, a species of very hairy sea-faring dwarf type thing. To the west there are dragonpeople. Or something like that. There are several kingdoms that I haven't really figured out the details of, so it could always throw up surprises.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Archwood »

Micamo wrote:You know, one thing that's always bothered me: Why build fantasy worlds with "elves" and "dwarves" that have zero properties in common with the prototypical elves and dwarves? Why not just give them an original name?
This. I've battled this tendency ever since I started conworlding years ago. In fact, I ended up scrapping my project because it felt like I was going to great lengths JUST to have elves. Eventually I had to be honest with myself and realize that I putting too much work into making them "unique," and as a result I was focusing too much on comparing them to other varietes of elves. I came to the conclusion that all I really wanted was some of those "elven" or "dwarvish" qualities, so I just created a more or less human species and gave them those cultural qualities that I was after all along. The result is the Innosannon, a regular human-ish species with a particular affinity for nature, sans the snooty attitude, pointy ears and British accents. :-P
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by TeutonicMice »

My Conworld is mostly human (60-65%) but the race I conlang for right now is a different species entirely.
Beljuns, militaristic bat humanoids with early second world war technology technology, their culture is like Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union, except with a Monarchy.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by eldin raigmore »

cybrxkhan wrote:... the "Xoijafoaijsfoisjfians" ...
That's a way cool ethnonym! [B)]
Can you post a sound-recording of you saying it ten times quickly?
Also give an etymology of that name in their conlang.
And give us three physical and three cultural traits the Xoijafoaijsfoisjfians share with one another but not with any outsider.
Edit: (I'm not sure whether or not "they can say their ethnonym ten consecutive times quickly" counts.)
Last edited by eldin raigmore on 15 Feb 2013 21:59, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by vampireshark »

Most of the conworlding I've done uses humans; my main conpeople are, indeed, humans. There are some other "species" I've tossed in, though:
·Avetolian: Caused by an X-linked recessive genetic trait, Avetolians are known for being practically identical to humans if not for the fact that they have large sets of wings, a somewhat spongier bone texture, and other minor cosmetic differences. The other major difference is their lifespans, which tend to be about 10-20 years less than human lifespans due to the additional stress on the body.
·Thyngh: Embodiment of evil and servants of dark gods and the like, these are anthropomorphic great white sharks with horns, forked tails, and insatiable appetites for destruction and carnage. Lifespans are unknown, but generally fairly short.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by eldin raigmore »

valiums wrote:
Cordoma wrote:The most fun I ever had with a conculture was my race of sticks. Yes, that's right: sticks. I shit you not.
I want to know more about this.
[+1] So do I! What valiums said! [tick]
Can you tell us more, Cordoma?
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by qwed117 »

eldin raigmore wrote:
valiums wrote:
Cordoma wrote:The most fun I ever had with a conculture was my race of sticks. Yes, that's right: sticks. I shit you not.
I want to know more about this.
[+1] So do I! What valiums said! [tick]
Can you tell us more, Cordoma?
No offense, but Cordoma last came to the cbb, 5 years ago, in 2012. I don't think we'll ever now the story (also this is like a mega-hyper-super necro)
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by Pabappa »

My planet, Teppala, has several sapient species, and humans are confined to specific habitats just like each of the others. The other sapient species vary between hostile to humans and unreliable allies, depending on the situation. All of the other sapient species are traditional claws-and-teeth predators, putting unarmed humans in a very delicate position in mixed combat. However, due to differences in diet and tolerance of difficult climates, humans achieve safety by sticking to their own habitats: lakes and rivers in temperate or tropical climates, and limited areas of the coasts.

----------------------

A lot of fantasy and science fiction seems to fall into the trope that all other species are complete monoliths ... for example, humans will be invaded by "the Crab Empire", and 100% of the crabs are on the same side. I rose above this pretty early on, but I also think that so long as I'm aware that it's a trope, I can use it in some situations where 100% of a given species really is on the same side, so long as they have a good reason to be such.

See http://www.frathwiki.com/Teppalan_wildlife for basic info.

But I can summarize quickly the general stance on war for each of the species:
  • Humans: constantly at war with each other, but with wars generally smaller scale than on Earth, and less willing to risk the lives of both soldiers and civilians. Many wars begin and end with a single battle in which one city is occupied and quickly surrenders.
  • Dolphins: The only all-aquatic species, dolphins often fight wars against other dolphins but do not have cities or natural borders. Dolphins readily involve humans in their wars, since humans can hurry over land to reach dolphin settlements otherwise difficult to reach, and have the ability to hold weapons that dolphins cannot. In return, the dolphins offer the humans safe passage to islands, which affords them safety, since enemy humans, whenever recognized, would be quickly attacked by the dolphins.
  • Firebirds: Generally do not fight wars against other firebirds, nor join in the wars of other species. However they also have weak loyalty to other flocks of firebirds, and will often refuse to intervene when another nest of firebirds is attacked. Firebirds are the most efficient predators of all but are restricted to temperate climates, unable to tolerate extremes of cold or heat.
  • Penguins: Readily fight wars against other penguins, but only of other "tribes" who are physically different in appearance. Intra-tribal loyalty is nearly absolute. Penguins consider themselves allies of those humans who live in cold climates, and at the present time all humans living in areas inhabited by penguins are strongly pacifistic, and therefore work together with the penguins to repel any potential invaders.
  • Crabs: lives entirely in the water but hunts on land for food, and thus encounters humans and sometimes firebirds. Crabs readily fight wars against each other, but never participate in the wars of other species either as allies or enemies; to them, all other animals, including the predators, are prey.
  • Hedgehogs: a species of low intelligence which I dont always consider to be sapient, and is not a predator, but nevertheless participates in human politics whenever their habitats overlap. Hedgehogs on Teppala are larger than humans, and quick on their feet, and can rush into a crowd of humans and poke their spines through the humans' armor and clothing, but have little to gain from this and therefore are not often called upon unless an invader threatens both humans and hedgehogs alike.

    -----
    Humans on Teppala have some slight anatomical differences from those on Earth. Men and women are about the same height, and this is variable from one tribe to another, with some tribes having women be taller and others having men be taller. No tribe has a mix of these two traits, but many societies have a mix of different tribes, such that one will see both types of couples side by side.
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Re: Are your main conpeople human or of a different species?

Post by fruityloops »

in my world of Verra, it's inhabitants are anthropomorphic bug people. the reason for that is there's not much love for bugs all that much with some exceptions like hollow knight. even then, i thought it was pretty cool to explore this idea with some races I've made like wandering scholars who are jumping spiders, desert tribe of warriors who are scorpions, spiritual people who are butterflies, or proud tribe who values honor in combat who are rhino beetles. eventually i'll flesh out their cultures more so they won't come off as one dimensional.
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