Human

Excerpts from Professor Gargax Wirmstein's book "Gargax's Guide to Humans Vol. 1"

The baseline human. The original terran hominid species from which all the other neo hominid sub-species originate from. They stand upright and walk on two legs while they use their arms to grab hold of things or use tools. Lacking any natural advantage such as fangs or claws, they make up for it for their ingenuity and drive to explore and expand. Today they are overshadowed by their descendant races. Though seemingly bland, flawed and obsolete, their kind still linger on to this day and pockets of pureblood human settlements can still be found scattered across the known expanse.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Humans of this era are relatively no different from 21st century humans though humans who live in low gravity habitats tend to be lankier while those who live on high gravity planets tend to be stockier.

Biological Traits

Unlike most terran mammals, humans have little to no fur leaving their skin exposed to the environment. Males of the species tend to grow more hair, especially on their faces.
Though lacking any other natural weaponry and armor other than their intelligence, Humans have above average stamina compared to most terran animals. A trait that they have obtained due to an ability of their exterior skin; sweating. Their skin would secret a watery substance as they exert their bodies which in turn cools their body temperatures off as the substance evaporates away. Due to this, ancient human hunter gatherers often implement a hunting method known as persistence hunting where a group of humans would chase and track their prey until it tires out.
Humans seem to have an unusual ability to breed with most sentients. How such a thing is even possible or if this is even a natural trait, an artificial one or a recent adaptation is still being debated among scientists to this day. If one is physically compatible with human reproduction a hybrid offspring will usually result. Due to this nonhuman colonies who find themselves intermingling with humans tend to result in a population of hybrids within just a few generations. This is why most civilizations who value species purity view humans (or nonhumans if its a human civilization in question) as a massive threat to their way of life and would often times bannish humans out of their territories if not outright exterminating them along with their "mongrel" offsprings.

Genetics and Reproduction

Human reproduction remains the same as with 21st century humans; After impregnation by the male, a new human will start to develop inside the female's womb. This will usually last for 9 months during which her abdominal region will visibly start to swell in size until the newborn is birthed. Humans usually gives birth to a single offspring per birth though twin births or more do happen occasionally.
The resulting offspring bares the genetics or DNA of their parent human meaning that they may inherit certain qualities that one or both parent possess.

Growth Rate & Stages

During the initial months, the newborn human is vulnerable and incapable of fending for themselves and thus require a guardian of caretaker to protect and feed them. Afterwards the human toddler begins to learn how to walk upright and speak its family's local dialect. Having grown even bigger the human spends a decade or so as a child. Playing with others and learning of the world around them. Afterwards a process known as "puberty" sets in where in the human's immature form transitions into a fully grown adult. After years of adulthood the human's body will start to degrade. This is usually indicated by their hair turning gray, their skin begins to wrinkle and sag, their sense dull, their stance becoming more hunch and their movement slows down. They will spend the rest of their days like this until their body cannot take it anymore and a fault manifests itself which in turn kills the human.

Ecology and Habitats

Without access to technology, a human can live practically on any climate besides underwater and extreme climates. Ample amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, stable enough food source and fresh water to drink are also a requirement.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Humans are omnivorous and are capable of consuming animal flesh and plant matter without suffering any biological repercussions. Though records of humans eating non organic materials such as rocks have been documented, they do not receive any nutrition from them.

Biological Cycle

Human biological cycle remains the same as with 21st century humans. Humans tend to sleep during the night and spend the red of the day when the sun is up. Humans don't hibernate and are awake during the winter seasons. Adult humans also don't have mating seasons and instead are always sexually active until they reach old age.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Humans tend to form hierarchies, usually with a leader or a group of them leading a tribe. How these leaders are chosen vary from one form to another. Larger groups of humans tend to form a chain of command where leaders who lead smaller bands of humans are subordinate to another leader who in turn leads a group of sub-leaders.

Domestication

Human domestication have been practiced by various sentient species throughout the ages. The humans themselves have even done it to their own kind. Some have even managed to breed, genetically modify, conditioned new types of humans bred as pets, manual labor, livestock and even beasts of war. Most human populations who come in contact with civilizations who have utilized human domestication tend to turn hostile towards the them and will attempt to free their brethren from captivity and slavery, especially to those breeds whole still closely resemble their ancestor species. Other times they will even kill them to put them out of their miseries. Usually these problems are mitigated by tricking them into thinking that they're not under subjugation from another race either through words, or, in some cases, external means such as mind altering devices and drugs.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Human manure, though not as good as manure from other animals, can be used as ingredients for plant fertilizer. Human skin can also be used to make leather though showing these off to humans will usually be met with utter disgust and even outright hostility. Human skulls, despite their relatively small size compared to other game, are most sought after by poachers. It's not uncommon for a seasoned galactic hunter to be seen with a few human skulls displayed on their trophy rooms.

Facial characteristics

Each human face vary from one another though common recurring features can be observed between close relatives and ethnic groups.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Human populations tend to settle near bodies of water forming tribes reaching from the hundreds to even millions for more developed settlements.

Average Intelligence

Humans are intelligent enough to develop into a space faring on their own. (or with minimal help from other space faring species based on rumors and theories.)

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Humans still possess their old sensory organs which makes them suited for well lit environments poorly suited in low light areas.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Humans are known to carry various parasitic species within or on their bodies. The most common ones are small arthropods living between their hairs and various types of worms living inside their digestive tracts.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Their naming traditions vary from culture to culture, though most of their names are limited to their language and vocalization capabilities as it is their primary means of communication.

Major Organizations

Humans are perhaps the most divided species among their fellow sapients. There is no one dominant organization that leads their race as a whole. Though rumors of a so called "Illuminati" secretly guides them from behind the scenes, so far no substantial evidence of their existence have been found as of yet.

Beauty Ideals

Humans tend to favor those with minimal deformities, abnormalities, healthy bodies and a relatively symmetrical figure. As such humans tend to go to great lengths correcting their perceived flaws to make them more attractive towards others. From covering their exterior with warpaint that they call "makeup", masking their pheromones with "perfume", adorning their bodies with various object, trinkets and fibers known as a whole as "fashion" to either enhance or hide their body features. Each individual human groups vary in ideals. Some may prefer more body fat while others desire ample amounts of muscle mass. Each culture has their own unique take on what constitutes as "Beautiful".

Gender Ideals

In ancient times traditionally females are expected to have long hair and a skirt while males are expected to have short hair and pants. Males are expected do all the work while the females takes care of the homestead and offspring(s). Today both males and females experience great freedom and are free to choose their path and role in life though remnants of the old ways still linger among some human colonies even to this age.

Courtship Ideals

Humans have a complex courtship ritual called "dating" in which each test each other's compatibility by doing all sorts of activity that the other party might find enjoyable or strengthen the bond for one another. Labels such "boyfriend" for males and "girlfriend" for females are given to each other by themselves to indicate to other humans that they are "taken". This is repeated for several sessions until a certain point is reach where each party have concluded that they are a match for each other. In which case another ritual takes place where the proactive party presents the the other with a small circular ring and asks them to marry them. If the other one accepts they take the ring and where it on of their grasper tendrils. At that point they both don the new label of "fiance".

Relationship Ideals

Most human couples strive to be monogamous in which each partner would abstain from seeking new mates while also refusing the advances of other would-be suitors for a lifetime. In other cultures multiple partnered life long relationships are practiced. These are usually known as a "harems". Others are involved in an "open relationship" with each partner allows the other to commit adultery.

Average Technological Level

Humans, despite sufficiently technologically advanced enough to move on to more advanced weapon systems, still favor the use of mass drivers as their primary ranged weapons. They are one of the few space faring races in the universe to still deploy such primitive weaponry into the battlefield though they make up for it for their unusual proficiency in both utilizing and developing mass driver tech. Most space faring civilizations have discarded development of their anti-mass driver technology such as bulky reinforced armor in favor of anti-metaphysical defenses such as reflector shields. As such civilizations more advanced than them tend to get off guard when they suddenly discover that their shields prove useless against a barrage of high velocity solid projectiles. As such fringe human colonies, especially those located near alien territories, tend to favor reflector while others located in the near of other human colonies tend to favor bulkier armor.
Humans are a relatively nomadic and pretty expansionist race and as such, fleets of colony ships tend to appear from developed colonies, ready to expand their faction's reach.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The majority of humans speak the dialect known as "Neo English" and its various offshoot dialects. There's also "Terranese" which is an amalgam of various ancient oriental dialects from Earth's past.

Common Etiquette Rules

When greeting a human, it is customary to extend one your graspers to them as a sign of non-hostility. When a human grabs a hold of your grasper and they shakes it about a few times, do not be afraid. It is merely a sign that the human accepts your offer of non-hostility.

Common Dress Code

Humans tend to favor clothing that covers their reproductive organs and milk glands, if the human in question is female. How much they cover their bodies depends on their culture and the immediate atmospheric temperature of the area. Humans tend to wear less clothing in hotter climates and more in colders ones.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

As with their inherent disunity, humans have wildly different cultures. Often times the more isolated a human population is, the more it deviates from its parent nation and eventually develops their own cultures and traditions.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Humans, instead of recycling their dead, tend to encase their departed ones in fully enclosed boxes called "coffins" and bury them exactly 6 terran feet beneath the soil, sealed inside an even bigger container called a "tomb" or jettisoned out of torpedo shoots specialized for expelling human corpses if they reside inside a space vessel. At times they also disintegrate their dead into dust and put said dust into small ornate jars they call "urns". From time to time they will be often seen visiting these sites, offer them things and even talking to them as if they were still alive.

Common Taboos

Despite their propensity for killing one another, killing is still considered a serious crime, especially if one kills someone from their own human group. Such acts are usually punishable by death to life imprisonment.

History

Humans originate from a planet they call "Earth" or "Terra"; The third planet of the Sol System. From merely a few millenia span they've managed to quickly advance from a primative people to a spacing faring race. Years of expansion and colonization inevitably led to divergence. Eventually human sub-species began to develop on each of their worlds. The massive expanse of space and their, at the time, primitive space faring technology meant that pockets of humanity become isolated with one another for several years on end. The different environments of each planetary bodies each human population inhabit meant each human colonies have evolved differently from one another. Another factor was the widespread use of genetic modification; Something that is often provided to each of their arcships to give the passengers a fighting chance to survive on their new homes. Soon there were aquatic humans, humans with wings, humans that swing from tree to tree like primates of old and other such variations of the human species began to appear. Other sentients have also began to intermingle or tamper with the human populations which has eventually led to hybrids, further splintering the already diverse human family branch.

Common Myths and Legends

Humans believe in various creatures and beings which they often depict in their literatures, visual devices and other forms of media. One of the most recurring mythological creatures is the "dragon"; A giant flying reptilian creature that breathes fire, steals treasure and eats humans. It is so prolific within the human societies that oftentimes one would even find human colonies utilizing dragon iconography in their flags, insignias and banners.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Humans are wild cards when it comes to interspecies relations. You'll never truly predict how a human colony would react to other sentients. Though, some have noticed that humans tend to go well with sentients who resemble aspects of themselves or of their homeworld. Sentients who resemble them or terran, especially mammalian, animals tend to have an easier time forming diplomatic relations with them compared to others. As an example most human factions have become close allies with the Felinoids who they even allow to live among their society.
Sentients who they perceive resemble their homeworld's pests and other creatures they find detestable tend to be met with utter disgust, fear and, at times, outright hostility though some have somehow managed to form a bond of sorts with the humans. As such it is highly advised to wear concealing clothing or holo-disguises if one wishes to make their first contact with the humans less hostile.

Genetic Descendants

• Exosapien

Scientific Name

Homo Sapiens Sapiens

Lifespan

100 Terran Years

Conservation Status

Whole communities of pure baseline humans are now a rare sight as humanity as a whole have been drastically altered due to environmental pressures, extensive genetic and cybernetic modifications and hybridization due to generations of intermingling with other compatible alien races.

Average Height

1.8m

Average Weight

62kg

Average Physique

Humans vary in physique depending on their level of physical activity and diet.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Human skin come in a varying differing shades of browns. Eyes are also usually some shade of brown though blue or green eye colors are also present. Their hair comes in black, brown, yellow and red.

Related Materials

• Vermillium