Human
In the reckonings of most worlds, Eurra included, Humans are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to Dwarves, Elves, and dragons. Perhaps it is because of their shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that’s why they build their mighty empires on the foundation of conquest and trade. Whatever drives them, Humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
With their penchant for migration and conquest, humans are more physically diverse than other common races. There is no typical human. An individual can stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds. Human skin shades range from nearly black to very pale, and hair colors from black to blond (curly, kinky, 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 Elf, Orc, or other lineages. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live even a single century.
Growth Rate & Stages
Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and can live, though rarely, up to a century.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Hierarchical society based on class systems is thought to be the most common means of organizing societies across the planes, Humans being no different from Devils or Modrons in that respect. Some Humans aspire to lead and countless others will follow those few that somehow distinguish themselves as being capable of doing so. It's also common for those that lead to try to pass on their positions to direct descendants, giving rise to tribal chiefs transitioning into powerful monarchies that have guided the lives of millions to present day.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Humans may be found on nearly every landmass of Eurra.
Average Intelligence
The Human level of reasoning, problem solving, and learning are crucial facets of intelligence by which other humanoid races are measured. Humans themselves can reason about virtually any issue, given time, and many problems may be solved. Simple and highly complex behavioral repertoires can be learned throughout a lifespan of experiences.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Having so much more variety than other cultures, humans as a whole have no typical names. Some human parents give their children names from other languages, such as Dwarvish or Elvish (pronounced more or less correctly), but most parents give names that are linked to their region’s culture or to the naming traditions of their ancestors.
Major Organizations
Humans are the backbone of many kingdoms, past and present, as they are the most adaptable and ambitious people among the common races. Currently, Humans are part of the ruling factions on both sides of the Great War, the Brovian Imperium and Glayswen Confederacy.
Beauty Ideals
As the most diverse and far-reaching race, Human perceptions surrounding body types and beauty standards vary across cultures and are constantly changing.
Gender Ideals
Among Humans, males are traditionally expected to take leading roles in most situations. To be strong, hard-working, and assertive. Human females are commonly expected to be passive, obedient, and visually attractive. Of course, these ideals are not always possible or even realistic. Humans, as in all their other regards, are so incredibly diverse that gender ideals are increasingly changing on Eurra to reflect the more nuanced natures they present.
Relationship Ideals
Humans largely tend to favor monogamous, long-term relationships. While outdated gender ideals may come into play, it has been noted that relationships grow stronger and last based on honest communication and equal respect. There are also minute numbers of humans that secretly, or openly, favor open and/or polygamous relationships. Still others seem to prefer little to no romantic cohabitation with others at all and keep relations to only the most superficial levels.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Humans are the driving force behind the proliferation of the Common tongue across Eurra, which essentially all of them can speak, read, and write. Being so widely spread and adventurous, many Humans also eventually learn at least one extra language. Humans learn the languages of other peoples they typically deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.
Common Dress Code
Humans wear a wide variety of clothing styles depending on the local fashions and environment. To cover all areas would take too long, so suffice to say that he one essential and constant of Human dress is, at minimum, to have one's genitalia and secondary sexual organs, where applicable, covered. Tattoos, scarifications, and body paints or modifications are common practices across all Human cultures.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Humans are the most adaptable and ambitious people among the common races. 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.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Humans found sacred orders and institutions where a single Elf or Dwarf might take on the responsibility of guarding a special location or a powerful secret for such purposes. While Dwarf clans and Halfling elders pass on the ancient oral traditions to each new generation, Human temples, governments, libraries, and codes of law fix their traditions in the bedrock of history. Humans dream of immortality, but (except for those few who seek undeath or divine ascension to escape death’s clutches) they achieve it by ensuring that they will be remembered when they are gone.
Humans who seek adventure are the most daring and ambitious members of a daring and ambitious race. They seek to earn glory in the eyes of their fellows by amassing power, wealth, and fame. More than other people, Humans champion causes rather than territories or groups.
Common Taboos
Humans have spread across the world, taking in the superstitions of other races as they ventured out and rejoined each other for millennia. But even with all their advancements, there are countless actions and occurrences that are seen as taboos, whether justifiable or not. On the former half's side of things, some common Human taboos involve restrictions or ritual regulation of killing and hunting. Sex, sexual relationships, and reproduction are also topics usually avoided by the more puritanical elements in Human society. Humans also have an aversion to the dead and their graves.
On the lesser scale, even routine practices like food and dining have their little superstitions attached, such as the Brovian idea that it is bad luck to place an emptied drinking glass on a table or completely clear one's plate during a meal. Some modern philosophers now postulate that taboos are used in religion and mythology merely to test a person's ability to withhold from violating a prohibition given to them. In short, such things are too numerous to be adequately compiled.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Although some Humans can be xenophobic, in general their societies are inclusive. Human lands welcome large numbers of nonhumans compared to the proportion of Humans who live in nonhuman lands.
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