#askhuman

[loominggaia]

Looming Gaia Trivia: The human Gildfolken were the first peoples to master long-rage sea voyaging. Some believe that the Gildfolken were driven by some innate wanderlust or thirst for adventure...

In reality, their motherland of Halostira was such a cold, dreary hell-hole that they just couldn't get away from it fast enough.

Ancient Gildfolken be like:

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[purpoon15]

Feel free to ask questions, I'll be waiting for you ;)

[loominggaia]

Ancient Balxee: A tornado destroyed my crops and killed my livestock.

Ancient Moorenock: I lost my arm to a flesh-eating bacteria from the swamp.

Ancient Westlanders: The wildlife is so hostile I was driven to a life of darkness underground.

Ancient Grisa: A single tree fell and my entire neighborhood was ripped apart.

Ancient Skylind: Giant fire-breathing dragons burned down my village.

Ancient Odazi: My children died in a heatwave.

Ancient Gildfolken: I lost my fingers and toes to frostbite.

Ancient Solra: A tsunami killed my entire tribe.

Ancient Lagaal: Oh yeah?? Well one time I had to eat a banana with a brown spot on it! 😭

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[loominggaia]

What are some myth regarding humans

There are many myths and stereotypes about humans from all over Looming Gaia. These beliefs may be the result of ignorance or deliberate misinformation, and some of them may even contradict eachother.

Here are some of the more popular ones...

Myth: Humans Worship Dogs

It's true that most human cultures utilize dogs, both for utility and companionship. The humans' early domestication of dogs (and other animals) are a major reason why humans have remained such a successful and prolific species throughout history, despite all their apparent weaknesses. Some humans center dogs as a major part of their culture, and it may appear that they even worship them. Maybe some humans do worship dogs, but this is not universal. Many human cultures don't keep dogs at all, and some even detest them.

Myth: Humans are Inherently Deceitful

Humans are a commoner species, meaning they can tell lies. But humans happen to be particularly good at lying compared to all other species, even other commoners like dworfs and roshava. Some say that lying is part of human nature, it's in their blood and so they lie as often as possible. It's believed that humans are driven to deceive others, but this isn't true. There are many honest humans in the world who are disgusted by lies and deceit.

Myth: Humans Can Adapt to Any Environment

While humans are an exceptionally adaptable species, even they have their limits to what kind of environment they can endure. You can find humans living in strange, seemingly inhospitable corners of the world with their ingenious use of technology. But this doesn't mean this is healthy or comfortable for them. Some people believe that humans can just be pushed into literally any kind of environment--even places like landfills or barren tundras--and they'll survive just fine, like dandelions growing in cement.

In some cases humans can survive these conditions, but many times they cannot, and if they can it is not ideal for them. This myth has led to cruel treatment towards humans throughout history, as they have been forcefully relocated to awful environments under the reasoning of "They'll be okay because they're humans, and humans can survive anywhere!"

That's all I can think of at the moment!

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[loominggaia]

I had a thought I'm pretty sure you said something Is about men being oppressed in Gorgon culture If that is true I'm just imagining like A men's rights activist group getting shut down by a bunch of humans who don't realize that cultures are different from each other

That's an interesting thought! I think things like that probably do happen from time to time. In Lamai Nation, humans don't really have enough power to sway the Lamaish government or the culture of its native gorgons. There aren't enough humans living here to make big changes, and the humans that do live here are even more oppressed than male gorgons.

Gorgons make up the vast majority of this kingdom's population. But what about human foreigners? Many Matuzans take great offense to the concept of sex-based oppression (or any type of oppression), so I could imagine small activist groups in Matuzu Kingdom protesting Lamai's matriarchal culture. These protesters likely have Lamaish ancestry or maybe family still living there. Maybe they are humans or gorgons who left Lamai Nation because of this oppression, and now in Matuzan land they are finally free to speak out about what they faced.

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[loominggaia]

Can nymphs marry humans

This may be legal or illegal, depending on local laws. In Evangeline Kingdom, for instance, humans cannot legally marry outside their species. But in Matuzu Kingdom they can.

The main problem with human/nymph relationships is their differences in lifespan. Humans have a natural lifespan of 70-100 years, but nymphs are immortal, meaning they can theoretically live forever.

Young nymphs (as in, under a century old) are more likely to date and marry humans. But older, more experienced nymphs have a totally different perception of time, and they understand that such a relationship will end in heartbreak in what they percieve as the blink of an eye.

Older nymphs tend to avoid serious romances with mortals, or choose mortal species like cecaelia which have much longer lifespans. Mostly they stay single or marry other nymphs.

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[loominggaia]

Why would a business hire humans when it can just hire ogres or roshava which are stronger/faster? Do humans have a hard time getting jobs?

There are many reasons to hire humans over other species. Some may be political. In Evangeline Kingdom, for example, humans have more rights than other species, so they may be the first choice for many higher-level jobs.

Another reason is bigotry. Maybe the boss just doesn't like other species and prefers to hire humans instead.

There is also logistics. Maybe the area in question simply has more humans living in it, and other species aren't available to hire in sufficient numbers. Or maybe because humans have more rights in that area, they have a better education and are therefore more qualified for the job.

Different species have their own strengths and weaknesses. Ogres, for example, boast high physical strength but they are also considered very intimidating by most other species, so they are never the first pick for customer-service type jobs. In fact, you will find that a lot of species have that intimidation factor that makes them a poor choice for any public-facing job. Ogres, trolls, minotaurs, centaurs, roshava, cecaelia, gorgons, goblins, satyrs, and even dworfs are considered "too intimidating" or "too ugly" for certain professions.

Likewise, there are species which are considered naturally "charming" or "cute". This includes humans, but also elves, fauns, gnomes, and sirenes. These species are physically weaker, but that turns out to be a boon in this case because it makes them less threatening. The public responds more positively to them by default.

TL;DR: What humans lack in strength, they make up for in charisma. In other words, if Looming Gaia were an RPG, humans would be the only commoner species with decent charisma points. This gives them a solid niche which ensures that no other species can replace them. Therefore, there will always be jobs that are best suited to humans.

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[loominggaia]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming Odazi = Arab. Skylind = Western European. Moornock = Asian. Westlander = Latino. Gildfolken = Nordic. Lagaal = African. What do the Balxee, Solra and Grisa represent IRL?

I actually get assumptions like these a lot! I know people like to make comparisons between fictional cultures/peoples and real-world ones, but in Looming Gaia's case, the effort is in vain.

Looming Gaia is a bit of an alternate universe Earth, but the way all its peoples were created is very whimsical and not comparable to the real world. The humans of Looming Gaia didn't really evolve from bacteria, they were deliberately crafted by a sapient "god".

In Looming Gaia, there are no Asians because there is no Asia. There are no South Americans because there is no South America. There are no Africans because there is no Africa. There are no Europeans because there is no Europe, and so on.

When I designed the original human races of LG, I wanted them to look racially ambiguous enough that they couldn't be strictly compared to real-world ethnicities, but also familiar enough that readers could see themselves in them, or at least aspects of them. I tried to give every LG human race a mish-mash of different features from various real-world peoples across many ethnic groups.

The process wasn't totally random though, because I also tried to give these humans features that would make logical sense given their locations. Groups in colder climates have fairer features while those in warmer climates have darker features. Those in harsher environments carry fat and muscle differently than those in more abundant environments. And so on...

I know people get really touchy about this subject and it's become a bit of meme because of how badly so many worldbuilders handle it. Accusations of racism, bigotry, etc. get thrown around the worldbuilding community a lot when dealing with fictional human races and the way they're depicted, whether it's deserved or not, or intentional or not. Some people are more attuned to finding that stuff than others. I know there's no way to escape this kind of criticism completely (and I don't want to! PLEASE give me feedback whether it's positive or negative, it can only make me a better writer!) but I did try my best to handle the development of LG humans using as much tact as I could. I really tried hard to straddle those lines between whimsical and logical, and ambiguous and familiar.

Did I succeed? I don't know. I hope so. I just try to avoid the comparisons to real-world peoples because it's really not accurate beyond a small handful of physical features. The humans of Looming Gaia are pretty much a whole separate species from humans on Earth. Their races/ethnicities/cultures are entirely fictional, and any resemblance to real-world peoples is incidental.

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