The Non-Humanish
Across Sigma, humanish are the dominant species, generally speaking. Only in new Gamma, Lambda (arguably), and Omega is this not true, and both new Gamma and Lambda have unique reasons why. In every other universe, the humanish are the ones in charge. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything smart enough to resent that fact.
In fact, races that can be described as on the same level as the humanish are very widespread. Alpha has many non-humanish that live in secrecy, Zeta has a few, Lambda had a few develop after the Last War, Nu has quite a few, and Rho has some in the Skylands. However, these do not compare to new Gamma and Lambda, where the humanish are in a small minority, compared to the huge number of other races that live in their respective worlds.
The non-human races of Sigma tend to differ wildly, although there are a few races that resemble others from other universes, due to inter-universal trends at work. Some are friendly to the humanish, some are hostile, but many are apathetic. Some possess giant empires, others are interspersed with other races. It’s not possible to blanket every one of the non-humanish races as you can with the humanish; after all, the humanish are essentially just one single species, with a bunch of subspecies spread across Sigma.
It took a loud outpouring of indignation from these races, as well as the appointment of non-humanish representatives by Zeta and Psi, for the Sigma Council to begin considering them when talking about the beings of Sigma. However, even then, the Council has been dragging its feet as far as representation for the non-humanish aspects of Sigma.
When talking about non-humanish as a whole, they are often separated into different Class designations. Each Class signals the level of development each non-humanish race is at, intellectually, culturally, and socially. However, the Class designation system is often decried by those of non-humanish races, as it’s seen as needlessly segregating, as well as too simplistic and too ‘humanish-centric’, as it is based off humanish metrics. Nonetheless, though, it is the system most frequently used by those in Sigma.
The Class designations are as follows.
Class I “Reaching” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that are of notable sentience, although do not seem to meet the humanish’. These are species such as chimpanzees, where, while particularly intelligent, are nowhere near humanish levels. Often, basic tool use is observed, as well as basic socialization and organization.
Class II “Loner” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, although are deficient in either culture, intellect, and/or socialization’. In a sense, you can meaningfully communicate with a Class II, and it is possible to integrate Class IIs into humanish society, but they do not really have a society or cultural history otherwise. Class IIs are seen as the baseline for ‘humanish-level sentience’, and it signifies that a member of its race is roughly on-par with a member of the humanish.
Class III “Tribal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience and possess a basic social structure’. Essentially, a Class III is similar to a combination between Class I and II, where a race at the sentience level of a Class II forms basic groups, such as a tribe. Here, more advanced tool use can be seen, as well as a shared culture between members of the race.
Class IV “Kingdom” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and form larger, more governed societies’. A Class IV race is one that is considered to be one where a group of them are on par with a sovereign state of humanish. At this point, Class designations become less about how intelligent a race is, and more how far their reach is. Class IV races often possess intricate cultural, sociological, and scientific histories.
Class V “Imperial” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess large amounts of cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence of not only their territory, but that of other species as well’. Effectively, Class V races are more than regional powers, but global ones as well.
Class VI “Galactic” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the planet of their origin’. Class VI races are spacefaring ones, and there are several non-humanish races that meet this designation. However, none of them live on any of the Earth-likes.
Class VII “Universal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the universe of their origin’. Class VII is a tricky class, as, in theory, this would represent the current level that the humanish are at now, but the humanish in the different universes were the products of inter-universal trends and alternate timelines. They only found out the existence of one another after the Great Unification. There are no known races that meet this designation, and this one serves as more of a hypothetical class.










