Welcome to Essin! Home to many different peoples. From the small, humble Bumpkins, to the towering, powerful Orcs. We hope you find them all interesting!
My Husband and I have been brainstorming the fantasy world of Essin for over 2 years now and are so excited to bring this world to life (as much as two people reasonably can, that is), but feel free to ask all about them! We have a bunch of lore we're happy to share!
Oh, and make sure to peep the alt text on each pic, as there's much lore tucked away in there!
I've been thinking about the common "Humans are Mario" framework in fantasy.
It's pretty common for settings with multiple humanoid and fully sapient species to have each species (and/or its culture) represent a particular aspect of RL humanity or combination of RL qualities. But the in-story humans don't represent much of anything in particular, or are just sort of average and normal amidst all these other, more specialized, peoples, like the Mario option in MarioKart.
There's a related variant where humans are not all middle of the road but rather are, like actual humans, all over the place in terms of cultures and attitudes where other species tend to be more restricted or defined. This strain of fictional humanity is often characterized by things like versatility, diversity, adaptability, and ambition, which are cool in theory, but basically allow them to be anything. They still average out to kind of Mario-ish because they aren't as clearly defined/restricted as other humanoid species in their settings, but this comes from the huge variety across the species without distinctive trends compared to the others.
In short, they're actual humans transplanted into the fantastic or otherwise speculative setting.
Personally, I tend to gravitate towards human characters and cultures. At the same time, I find both forms of the Mario humans rather boring, especially in games. I prefer fantastic humans to be as culturally distinct as any other sapient humanoids.
This is one of the reasons I'm really fond of GW2 humans, who have some very distinct traits, especially in the core game. In general, they are devoutly religious, and they tend to have an affinity for the elegant and glamorous when they can manage it, and the attractively functional when they can't. Their politics are involved and typically involve numerous factions and lots of internal dissent. They're proud and nostalgic, often holding on to old loyalties and old grudges, and grimly resilient in the face of overwhelming threats.
I've always thought that they're rather like traditional Elves with human appearance and lifespan, actually. But they still sometimes fall into the Mario trap—where PCs of the other playable species tend to lean into their cultures, the human PC is not particularly nostalgic, not invested in ancestral grudges, not super devout, but just sort of human-shaped and blandly reasonable. My theory is that the game's creators assumed a human PC who was messy in the way that humans are messy in GW2 (grim, religious, resentful) would be off-putting for players, and so the human PC just became kind of boringly inoffensive.
Swerving away from my game, though, I think we do see a lot of this trope of in-story humans as the most average or least distinctive sapient fantasy (or sometimes sci-fi) species, in settings with multiple sapient species representing aspects of RL humanity. And I can see why people are ambivalent about making the species who look like real human beings more defined than just "people" or "average." But I do wish in-story humans were more often as lovingly developed and defined as other species tend to be in these settings.
And in games in particular, I also wish human characters could lean more into the characteristics of the setting's humans and less into that inoffensive Mario role.
This is the first part of my latest project-i'll-probably abandon!
This project is: "Remaking Fantasy Races"
And for the first post, it's... humans..!
A "common" race
Other remakes:
Halflings
Elves
Picture TBA
Race: Basically species, in this case.
Variants: What we call "races." Black, White, Brown, Asian... so on.
Magical aptitude: How well a race can manipulate and be manipulated by magic. A race with low aptitude is not immune to magic, but they are usually not mages, and are certainly resistant to magic.
"Common" Races: Races whose species does not inhibit living in a variety of areas. As such, they can be found across the whole world.
"Uncommon" Races: Races either born of very specific circumstances, like with Dragonborn, or very limited in places they can easily inhabit, such as Drow. Can still be found anywhere, but generally rarer.
Humans // Mountain-Folk // "Rage-Hearted ones"
Homo Sapien
Humans are round-eared bipeds with plain skin that has a very thin layer of hair, mostly around the legs, armpits, and lower navel. Their skin colours range from a pale-peach, to shades of brown, to almost-black. They have a thicker layer of hair on their scalps and, for the males, chins.
Humans live in almost all places in the world, from the coldest poles to the hottest deserts and rainforests, but tend to prefer high-up, rocky areas like mountains and cliffs. They are average in aptitude towards magic, and are usually >6ft tall, though on occasion they can be taller, being the second-tallest of the "common" races, beaten by elves and orcs.
Human settlements are often built of stone and straw, and their kingdoms are one of the few structures to rival the palaces of Dwarves.
Humans are unique in that they produce a substance called "Adrenaline," which is released in times of high stress or - with training - on will.
Adrenaline causes humans to enter a state of increased focus, increased strength, and unbreakable will, turning even the lowliest farmhand into a rage-fuelled terror. They are, as such, often considered talented guardsmen, and terrifying barbarians.
They are also rather talented at growing vegetables, and fishing.
Due to the production of adrenaline, humans have unfortunately low lifespans, maxxing out around ~120 years, but usually only going as far as 90.
Despite their formidable rage, any species can feel safe in the walls of a human's castle.
