Human
The people chosen by the moons
Basic Information
Anatomy
- Biped, two arms, two legs
- Possess a short tailbone, but no external tail
- Covered in soft, generally thin hair
Sexual Dimorphism
- Taller
- More muscular
- Thicker and darker body hair
- Facial hair
- More round and curvy
- Softer, thinner head hair
- Lack facial hair
- Much more pronounced breasts
Growth Rate & Stages
Human females are pregnant for approximately 9 months before giving birth. Humans typically give birth to only one baby at a time.
Humans reach sexual maturity in their teenage years, during which their fluctuating hormones may result in disproportionate growth, acne, or other troubles. Most human teens find this stage embarassing and awkward. During this stage, human females develop breasts, which remain full whether she is pregnant or not.
Humans can live upwards of 80 to 100 years in good conditions, though their body generally starts to decline around the age of 60.
Biological Cycle
Humans are semi-nocturnal, meaning that they are awake for part of the day and a large portion of the night. They typically start their day a few hours after noon, when the brightness of the suns are starting to weaken. They will spend the majority of the night out and about, usually going to sleep a few hours before dawn.
Humans likely evolved to prefer the night due to their Celestial Core being linked to the moons. While the moons are sometimes present during the day, they are more powerful at night, without the suns' energies stifling them.
"Why Do You Sleep So Much?"
Since their sleep cycle is offset from lilthians, human and lilthian interactions often occur in the evening hours, when both parties are awake.
Sometimes lilthians may wrongly believe that humans are sluggish or lazy, due to their affinity to "sleep late." Humans, on the other hand, tend to find the daytime overwhelming, and might have trouble understanding why lilthians seem to like it so much.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Such strange, pale, human eyes. The pupils were so clear and distinct, it felt like they pierced right to my center. I couldn't understand how humans could stand living with such eyes. Was it not awkward, knowing so easily when someone was looking at you?
Humans eyes come in a vast range of colors. Blue and copper brown are the most common, but human eyes can be green, gray, hazel, violet, amber yellow, or even crimson red. Humans are known for having light eyes, where their pupils can be easily visible against their irises, unlike lilthians, who always have dark eyes.
Human hair also comes in a range of colors, though not quite as vast as their eyes. Their hair encompasses any shade of brown imaginable, as well as various forms of blond, black, red, and gray. Rarely, humans may have blue hair, that usually manifests as a dull, grayish tone. The notable exception to this rule is the Nylaha, a human ethnicity who are characterised by their vibrant blue hair.
Human hair ranges in thickness, curliness, and softness. Other than color, it is very similar to lilthian hair.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Nocturnal Senses
Due to their semi-nocturnal lifestyle, humans can see in the dark much clearer than lilthians can. Unlike lilthians, humans possess a tapetum lucidum, which is a light-reflecting surface within their eyes that allows them to pick up more light from the surrounding environment. This surface also gives human eyes an uncanny glow when exposed to light sources.
As a consequence to their night vision, humans are extremely sensitive to bright lights, and can even be blinded if they expose their eyes to the noonday suns.
While human night vision is far superior to lilthians, it isn't perfect. Where human senses excel is in their hearing. Human hearing is exceptionally precise. They are known for not only being able to hear well, but being able to isolate and focus on very specific sounds, even in a noisy environment. Therefore, humans are shockingly talented at holding conversation even within absurd amounts of background noise.
Celestial Powers
Most humans possess a Celestial Core that links them to the moons, Cyra and/or Nox. A human can be linked to one moon in its entirety, both moons' dark or light sides, or a single moon's dark or light side. The vocabulary used to refer to these different types of links are as follows:
| Light linked | linked to one or both of the moons' light sides |
| Shade linked | linked to one or both of the moons' dark sides |
| Pure linked | linked to both the dark and light side of a single moon |
| Dual linked | linked to both of the moons in some way, could be either dual light-linked or dual shade-linked |
| Dual pure link | linked to the entirety of both moons |
Dual Pure Linking is exceptionally rare and usually results in premature death, due to overloading on Celestial energies.
The majority of humans are light-linked to a single moon. Dual light-links are also fairly common, and are more powerful than those who are linked to a single moon. Shade-linking is less common, and is sometimes the target of various superstitious beliefs.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Humans names tend to have softer, gentler sounds than lilthian names. Harsh syllables, such as hard K, T, J, and G sounds are less common. As such, human names tend to have a sort of "fluid" or "liquid" quality to them. They are often names that could easily be voiced at a whisper.
| Male names | Amadou, Blaise, Hugo, Lou, Milo |
|---|---|
| Female names | Aida, Florian, Lea, Marina, Sasha |
| Unisex names | Auden, Emil, Florence, Lee, Micah, Pierre |
More complex naming conventions are present within specific cultures, and exceptions are common. For example, Auzeran humans tend to have "harder" sounding names than humans from Sanoris.
Beauty Ideals
Feminine Ideals
- Long eyelashes
- Longer hair
- Full lips
Masculine Ideals
- Stronger body type
- Straight, clean facial features
- Short, clean, well-groomed hair
Clear, bright eyes are a common preference for both genders. Humans tend to find eye contact a sign of attraction or respect, and often view the eyes as the most attractive part of an individual. Humans also place value on body type and shape, though which body types are favored depend entirely on region and culture.
Unlike lilthians, humans do not often mind skin markings, and may even find them more attractive than "blank" skin. Skin tone also does not hold as much importance to humans as it does to lilthians, though exceptions do exist in some regions.
Common Dress Code
Females
Women are expected to wear a shirt to cover their chest at all times. Wearing a top that is low cut or otherwise revealing is considered provocative. Similar rules apply to the length of women's skirts or pants, as revealing more of the legs can also be seen as provocative.
Well-shaped breasts are often desirable in females. Females may wear clothing cut or fitted to accent, draw attention to, or shape their breasts. The more obvious this attention-drawing is, however, the more provocative it is considered.
Males
It is not a taboo for a man to go without a shirt, if the situation is very casual, but in most common settings it would be considered inappropriate. Wearing shorter cut pants is not seen as provocative in men, rather, it is generally seen as untidy and informal. Men are typically expected to wear long pants that cover the majority of their legs. They are also expected to wear shirts that are not especially low cut in the front, as showing off too much of their chest is also seen as untidy and sometimes provocative.
Since a strong body type is seen as attractive in men, they may wear tight-fitting shirts to make their muscles appear bigger. Short sleeves are also more commonly worn by men (sometimes in spite of the weather).
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Humans unfamiliar with lilthians are often awe-struck by their sparkling skin. It is not uncommon for a human to stare a little too long and a little too much when they first encounter a lilthian. Humans also tend to be fascinated by lilthian tails. This can prove to be problematic, as lilthians (especially women) view their tails in a similar way that humans view breasts: sexually attractive. It is quite easy for lilthians to draw the wrong conclusion from the prolonged stares of an overly fascinated human.
Humans also tend to be puzzled by the lilthian sleep cycle. While lilthians wonder how humans managed to stay up so late into the night, humans wonder how lilthians manage to stay up so late into the day! Clashes occur when lilthians are "too loud" around noonday hours and disturb any local humans' sleep.
Human hearing is better than lilthian, but not by as much as either party seems to think. Regardless, the common stereotype states that lilthians are always too loud and obnoxious while humans are always too soft spoken.
Human skin tones tend to be some variance of the color brown. Certain groups of humans may have especially pale, dark, or vibrant skin tones, such as snow white, coal black, or brick red. Generally, humans from Sanoris have lighter skin than humans from Auzera.
Human skin is matte, and is known to have more obvious variance in tone and clearer markings than in Lilthian skin. Humans may have freckles, spots, splotches, or even stripes. Their markings tend to be primarily localized on their faces and extremites. Rarely, a human may have larger spots or splotches over their whole body. A human's skin markings can be lighter or darker than their primary skin tone. It is not uncommon for a human's markings to become more prevelant after sun exposure.
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