Humans are the most populous species on the surface of
Irion , especially in the
Sleeping Lands. Conversely, they are extremely rare in the
Depths and cannot survive in
The Mer without magical assistance.
Unique Traits
Most humans are born with a small but instinctive knack for magic that many sapient species require months or years of training to replicate. This generally manifests as a couple of minor magical effects that a child can produce by the age of seven, developing into something comparable to an apprentice
Magus's early efforts by adulthood. Sometimes it's something more nebulous, like a child being oddly fortunate.
Those who are born without this skill may find themselves the victim of pranks from their peers. Because of this, or simply in hopes of distinguishing themselves, these children often focus on some particular skill, and often become exceptionally talented through their dedication and hours of work.
Lifespan
Humans have a relatively modest lifespan, with only the exceptionally old reaching a century of life. While this short lifespan does somewhat limit their capacity to develop individual skills as much as longer lived species, many are driven to make the most of what time they have. Additionally, most intellectuals take great pride in advancing the collective knowledge of humanity, encouraging collaborative research and allowing generations to build on each other more rapidly than more individualistic peoples.
Communities
Humans communities can be as small as a dozen nomads living and dying as brothers and sisters all the way up to cities that house hundreds of thousands of strangers. Most humans form long term relationships with a single partner and have four children with that partner, meaning the population nearly doubles with each generation in good times.
Tolerance
Humans have the capacity to be quite tolerant of other peoples and other cultures, but are more prone to making assumptions to fill in gaps in their knowledge; this is often not malicious, but regularly leads to misunderstandings. Elven scholars have suggested that this is another concession to their short lifespan.
Environment
Humans are highly adaptive, and can subsist in most surface conditions that support plant and animal life - indeed, the limiting factor is usually the lack of food sources in such environments - if such a supply can be secured, only the tallest of peaks is truly impossible to inhabit.
Subsurface environments prove more challenging.
The Mer is outright impossible to survive without magic - the lack of air and particularly the intense water pressure combined would kill a human in a matter of minutes, crushing their lungs and drowning them.
The Depths are more viable, but here a human's remarkable adaptability works against them. Humans get their sense of the length of a day purely from the cycle of day and night, which they lose track of within days of entering the Depths, leading them to stay up for up to 2 full days at a time. This, combined with an innate unease with the mass of rock suspended above them, makes an extended stay in the Depths incredibly uncomfortable and makes permanent human habitation in the Depths all but impossible.
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