Human
Known For: Average size; average build; freaking out about people who don’t meet their averages.
by Jason, street samurai "Maybe you think human equals boring. Maybe it does, in a way. But being boring isn’t the worst disadvantage to have. So we don’t have pointed ears and tons of magic like elves, or a knack for finding our way around engines like dwarfs, or a thousand ork buddies who’ll save our skins just because we look like them, or the massive size and strength of a troll (so useful in dark alleys!). What we do have is a long history of being the only race in town … and the advantages that come with it. Humans are the only race in the world’s recorded history, until about fifty years ago, and there are still more of us than any other race. This makes us the “norm” by which to view other races. For example, dwarfs are shorter than humans, and other races are taller. If trolls were the norm, we’d all be considered short. Humans are the baseline for comparison, which automatically gives us a position of privilege. We’re not actually “better” than any other race, but lots of people— humans and others—think we are. This is a good thing in some ways, and a really bad thing in others. On the good side (at least from a practical point of view), being human means I look like the majority of other people almost everywhere I go. Things are designed for people like me: buildings, clothes, cars, keyboards, cyberware and so on. Unless I spend some time in the Ork Underground or in Tir Tairngire, where humans are a tiny minority, no one much is going to hassle me just because I look different. If I walk down the city streets packing a large gun, authority is likelier to give me a pass than it would if I were a troll. On the bad side, people are more accustomed to seeing human faces than others, and so are better at picking out individual humans—not good, if you’re in a line of biz where you’d rather no one remembered your face. Then there’s the larger issue of prejudice. Too many people say “people” and mean humans only. Other races are called “metahuman” to distinguish them from plain old us; their name is our name with a prefix tacked onto it, which implies that humans are the default model and those other races just cheap knockoffs. If you despise this kind of prejudice and want to distance yourself from it, you may have a real tough time. Lots of metahumans won’t trust you, because they’ve taken too much drek from your fellow humans and they assume you’re the same kind of bigot. Speak out in favor of metahuman rights, and even some humans you thought were friends may turn on you for “betraying your own.” And the people you’re speaking out for won’t necessarily thank you either; they’ll be too busy trying to figure out your ulterior motive. Because the other races were originally born to humans or changed from humans, a lot of humans are related to people of other races. You’d think this would make us more accepting of them, but throughout history we’ve had a hard time being tolerant of those who are different. It’s been that way for centuries, and it probably won’t change any time soon."
Human Culture
Though there is no single human culture, there is a sense of normality for those of the most abundant metatype. Their abundance and their presence during the down-cycle of magic gives them a sense of unity in their humanity that has only grown with the rise of the megacorporations and decline of national governments. Humans have spent thousands of years with other cultures separating themselves from one another along various lines, be they religious, national, or tribal. The rise of megacorporations, along with their individual corporate cultures, only gives humans more ideals with which to drive wedges between themselves. But this mass of humanity is the definition of their culture. They create cultures and sub-cultures, and then seek those that fit them best. Sometimes they even change cultures several times in their lifetime.HOW HUMANS FIT INTO SOCIETY
By setting the ground rules and blending in. It isn’t really a matter of fitting in for them, it’s far more a matter of trying to avoid being blamed when non-humans don’t. Humanity had set the rules of societies for millennia. In fact, many societies rose and fell over the years, and none of those changed in a day. Changes take time and support. Since humans are still around, they still have support for their various sub-cultures. There is not just one culture, and they are all constantly shifting. Increased acceptance of other metatypes, agitation from younger generations (and resistance from older generations), and other forces help keep the changes moving. On the other side of the coin, in places where the other metatypes set the rules, humans try to blend in. Most who have chosen to stay in the places where other metatypes have set up governments or societies were either well aware of their position as a second-class citizen, or they were just too stubborn to move and figured they could live out the rest of their years quietly.CHARACTERS AND HUMAN CULTURE
To be human is to be free to select elements from the myriad of real-world background ideas or to work with the gamemaster and create something entirely new. They can be a part of a majority human society, or they can be integrated into other metatypes’ societies through some twist of fate, feeling acceptance from those close to them but shunning others who don’t know them. They can be raised in a world of hatred by the Humanis Policlub, but then turn to kindness when they realize the destructive nature of that organization and its beliefs. They can be a true patriot, a corporate yes-man, a reclusive shaman, or anything else. Let your imagination run wild! Remember that being human means being looked at by everyone else as the “norm”—for better and for worse. Humans have it all, in the eyes of the other metatypes, and get treated special everywhere but the few nations were the other metahumans were the founding force. Some humans feel this is the way it should be, and that they should be treated a little differently because they are the most abundant. Others feel that everyone should be treated equal and that humans shouldn’t get special treatment, numbers be damned. People have contentious debates about how to best integrate societies, what the pace of integration should be, and how metatypes should get along. These are variants of arguments that have been going on for ages, and they are not likely to end soon. When building a human character, it’s good to decide where they stand in all this and what their exposure to other metatypes has been. Many humans have very limited experience with trolls, while SURGEd people, metavariants, and sapient critters are even more rare. So how will the character react when they run into a three-meter-long talking snake? And how will they move beyond that first impression, and what kind of relationship will they attempt to build?Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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