Humans

"Only a human could make this up."

Common Dwarven and Elven phrase

In many ways, the origins of humanity draw parallels to those of Elves. While the elves trace their magical origins to the Fey and the natural magic of Essence, humans come from its opposing force. Illusion, the magic of the mind, imagination, and deceit, and the Changelings, faceless shapeshifters that roam The Eye unnoticed.
The connection is not as strong as with with elves, however, perhaps because humanity came later, perhaps because the power of Illusion cannot resonate so strongly with a being of flesh, bound to nature by necessity. But its echoes clearly exist, in the drastically varied appearance of humanity that seems vaguely between the other races, in their creativity and resourcefulness, and in the strange gift they hold that only the Changelings share.
Before they came into their own, mankind competed with the Orcs for hunting with little success, as they had few natural gifts of particular note compared to the other mortal races. Since then, however, their creativity and resourcefulness have given them a presence across multiple continents, and many of their inventions are picked up even by their longer-lived neighbors.

Racial Modifiers

• Characteristics: Humans gain a +1 bonus to two characteristics of the player's choice. No Human is good at everything, but varied and ambitious as they are, nearly every Human strives to be good at something.
• Imaginative: Humans are good at imagining the perspectives of others, thinking outside the box, or at least faking things and playing along with confidence. They may take a +20 to up to five Social and/or Creative abilities of the player's choice upon creation.
• Aptitude: In addition to the above, if a Human character takes a class that pays 3 DP per point to Intellectual or Subterfuge abilities, they may reduce the cost of up to three of these abilities to 2 DP per point. If no such abilities apply, they may instead reduce the cost of any single secondary ability by one point, as the Aptitude in a Subject Advantage.
• Talented: Humans are highly adaptable, and quickly learn to make use of their natural strengths. Human characters may select one extra Natural Bonus (physical or mental) to a single Secondary Ability per level. This may not be put in an ability that has already acquired this bonus on the same level, nor may it exceed the limit of +100 from Natural Bonuses.
• Psychic Disposition: Thanks to their connections to imagination and mental ability, Humans are uniquely capable at wielding psychic powers. If they acquire Access to One Psychic Discipline or Free Access to Any Psychic Discipline, they gain 3 additional Psychic Points at first level. If their starting class is of the Psychic archetype, this increases to 5 additional Psychic Points. If they instead acquire Access to Natural Psychic Powers, its potency is boosted as if they had spent one additional Creation Point on it (to the limit of 3).
• Denial: Even humans that never acquire supernatural capabilities seem to have a small influence on fate and chance. Those that acquire no benefits from Psychic Disposition may instead acquire Good Luck, Fortunate, or Touched by Destiny without paying their 1 CP cost. If Unrestricted Creation Point rules are used and they later acquire these capabilities, they lose this benefit as their previously subconscious sway upon reality becomes conscious and directed.

Basic Information

Anatomy

In being bipedal with two arms and two legs and lacking many ubiquitous noteworthy traits beyond this, humans tend to be a standard for comparison even among other races, hence the term 'humanoid'. They have relatively rounded ears and faces, tend to be more heavy-set than elves but not as much as orcs, and taller than dwarves but shorter than the average orc, though exceptions exist.

Genetics and Reproduction

The most overtly supernatural gift that humans hold alongside Changelings is their uncanny capabilities in the category of reproduction. In short, humans can mate successfully with almost any sentient being of flesh. Unlike their shapeshifting cousins, however, these offspring tend to be a distinct mix of both parents rather than a mirror of the non-Changeling parent. Half-elves, half-orcs, even half-dragons, half-fey, or half-demons are not unheard of.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

The most distinctly human-ruled states of note include the Golden Empire of Arrboth and the Kingdom of Chal, both with distinctly religious backgrounds, but coming into their own as advanced centers of commerce, invention, and military might.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

With their vivid imaginations and distant supernatural ties, humans are some of the most ambitious beings to walk The Eye. Even their lowliest farmers have fears and dreams and ideas. At the same time, however, humans are distinctly grounded in reality and shaped by their environments - albeit on a purely mental level, rather than the physical degree the Elves take this to. Their cultures vary wildly depending on these factors.
Perhaps the only real constant of human culture is that it is always changing, far more quickly than the cultures of other races, due to their inventiveness and mental adaptability. For example, in the Kingdom of Chal, the farming class is progressively dwindling due to various recent advances in agricultural technology, leading to a greater portion of the population seeking other professions.
Some humans let themselves be defined by their strengths in contrast with other races as a mark of pride, focusing on invention, breaking new ground in philosophy, or even acting. Many of the world's greatest alchemists, for instance, are humans who uphold this racial pride. Still others find solace in obedience to a higher power or cause, relegating their imaginative whims to pastimes and recreation.
This is not to say that there are no commonalities, however. As other races will tell you, mankind is quick to seek benefits for themselves when they see the opportunity, barring the most insurmountable physical, moral, or political obstacles in their way. Stories of farmers who saw the opportunity to get rich and seized it or men without ties striking out seeking fame are common among their ranks.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Elves

Most human experience with elves is with wanderers who quietly integrate themselves into their settlements, and these rarely cause trouble. However, it is a well-known fact that all elves can use magic, which immediately means they must be treated with caution. Along with this, knowing the sheer potential age of elves also leaves them being treated as mysterious others and kept at a distance.
Simultaneously, elves tend to be the best at integrating into human societies, as they, as men put it, know how to keep from overstaying their welcome. Many villages welcome elves coming to stay just as they would any other travelers settling down, and some openly welcome the benefits of magic, which they find that elves often fail to use to its fullest potential.

Dwarves

Dwarves are practical and down to earth, and men tend to liken them to their own laboring class. They tend to find the short folk's modesty refreshing and their work ethic uncanny (though not nigh-unthinkable, as the elves do). To many humans, dwarves are almost synonymous with their exports, which are always of the finest quality, whether they be tools or food and drink.
At the same time, humans tend to think of dwarves as being as dense and stubborn as the rock they are frequently likened to. All too often, a human tries to offer a faster, less laborious alternative to a dwarf and only gets a raised eyebrow or a laugh in response. Dwarves, they say, will walk a mile to avoid jumping a two-foot gap to a conclusion.

Orcs

What humans think of orcs depends a great deal on where and when one asks. Some only experience orcs as terrifying, screaming raiders that want nothing more than to murder them and take their livestock, while others work with them on a regular basis. In some places, bias runs deep, while in others there is more room for communication.
One thing that almost no human will call an orc is polite. People with orcish friends develop a habit of having to jump to get them to stop from speaking their minds in places where they might anger a noble or hurt others' feelings. Still, many a man has come to admire the orcish sense of honor, and some stories tell of human knights befriending orcs who refused to kill them when doing so would be taking advantage of a time of weakness.

Goblins

If you asked the average human to list out the other sentient races, goblins are unlikely to make the list. That said, in some cases this may be true of orcs as well. Goblins do not feature well in the societies where humans tend to live out their entire lives, typically being raiders, thieves, or arsonists. Worse yet, goblins have a reputation among humans for being a bad omen that should be driven away before it takes root.
At the same time, this reputation as weak, unintelligent savages results in an abusive relationship between humans and goblins in many cases, and goblin tribes are often directed towards rivals, their inventions and stories taken and repurposed, or their numbers even enslaved for labor (though dwarves, of course, make this practice rare).

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Changelings

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Elves
• Half-Orcs
• Tieflings