Humanity

Written by Heart

Though we claim much of the world, many humans maintain the foolish belief that we are its dominant species. An idiotic sentiment, and one need only come face to face with a great beast, let alone a Giant or Fae to realize how inferior we truly are. Despite this, there is one weapon we hold that makes us incredibly deadly, and that is our potential for malice.
— Grand Scholar of Conlis, Magnus Everlight

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Humans are the most simple and familiar of races. Though there is great variety based on ethnicities, countries of origin, and ancestry they all hold the same general template. The same "humanoid" template that all descendants of the Firstborn have. Though their features are more refined and their inclusion of limited body hair due to their creation being from the combination of Apes with the Firstborn blood during their ancient creation. Skin can vary from pale to pitch, hair can be so blonde it appears white, to matching coal in hue, or even differentiate to a brown or ginger. Eyes can be blues, browns, greens, or rarely even greys. Though the average height is five-foot six-inches, there is no limitation to such. As some humans have even been known to reach over seven feet in height. By far the most unique trait that Humanity holds biologically is its ability to learn and mimic from others. This, combined with heightened stamina and a high social intelligence has been their greatest weapon since their creation. However, their greatest potential lies in their ability to procreate. Whereas theoretically, all races that descend from the Firstborn can breed. The likelihood of success becomes increasingly impossible the further away genetically the two races become. However, Humanity has changed the least from its creation. They hold the same blank template as their genetic ancestors, and as such are able to breed regularly with any other humanoid. This has caused the blossoming of hybrids among the other races, and often hybrids of Giant-kin or Faedra are now more common than their true "root" races.

Civilization and Culture

History

Humanity was originally created by the Firstborn during the First Age. The Firstborn needed slaves for their rapidly expanding lands and numbers, between their numbers and each individual Firstborn's appetite they lacked the manpower needed. Golems could only do so much, and extended energy from them to create and use as well. The solution to this problem was designed, to create a slave-race that they could utilize for manual labor. By drawing their own blood out and using it as a basis, the Firstborn combined True Magic, their knowledge of True Names and Primordial Magic with an alchemical experiment. The end result was a Homonculus, the first human that would one day come to claim the name of Escanor. From this first success came the rapid explosion of Homonculus, this artificial life was granted a few limited traits of their Firstborn ancestry. Primarily their base intellect, hunger for knowledge, power, and ability to rapidly procreate. However, this intellect for many years held no effect for the slave race that was left uneducated. Instead forced to grow the Firstborn's food, guard their lands, clean, and perform general labor so that the Firstborn could focus on pursuits of knowledge and magic. The first Homonculus were notably stronger physically than modern humans due to holding more Firstborn genetics. However, they were still far weaker than their Firstborn masters. As such, for thousands of years, primitive humanity had little in their own culture. They were granted limited freedom to allow for song, dance, limited contests of skill and music. However, they weren't allowed to learn to read or write, and their language was restricted to the slave-tongue that the Firstborn had created for them. Forbidden from using the Primordial tongue that their masters used casually. However, as the world began to change so to did this. The Firstborn were the mightiest of races, but there had been much differentiation over the millennia. Giant-kin and Faedran had evolved from their descendants. Others had delved into the darkness of the Labyrinth or explored the greatest of mountains to become Daevata, or Daeva. Yet Humanity remained slaves. None stepped forward to assist them, free them. But they had watched for all these years of generations, and generations of their people being abused by their golden-eyed Masters. Humans began to seek out freedom en-masse. What was the occasional runaway slave became hundreds, then thousands. They formed clans, they formed their own cultures, they attacked wandering Firstborn and were slaughtered. Or, rarely, killed the Firstborn in question. Cultures evolved, humanity evolved, and with it came greed for power. With power came a desire for vengeance, and freedom for the others still bound in chains by the Firstborn. The desire for freedom lead them to the Daemon, and the offering of his blood to many of these clans. These clans are what eventually became the Pale, and others that became great and mightly clans such as the Blackmore Family's ancestors. Humanity finally bared its fangs, and from this came the collisions of wars that raged across the world. Eventually leading to the Great Rupture, and the end of the First Age, the fall of the Firstborn, and the death of one of the Awakened of the world. After the Great Rupture, the world had changed completely. The great races had been weakened, the continents separated, the Daemon sealed away. As all the races fell back to lick their wounds many others were forced to become simple wanderers. Suddenly, the power-vacuum manifested itself. All the other races held slow birth rates. But not humanity, no. The only weapon that they had, that lingered from their Firstborn ancestry, was their ability to rapidly procreate. Within a hundred years the clans of humans had founded together across the various continents. Within a thousand, towns had been erected, cities rising into the sky as they studied the ruins of other races to discover their technology, their magic, their secrets. Within a few thousand years, the continents were ruled by the humans that had now formed into hundreds of generations. Compared to the other species that had only managed a handful of generations at best. They had overthrown their Firstborn oppressors, and become the largest species of the world. Yet, they still lived in fear of the others. For it was a fragile dominance at best, and a simple tolerance by the greater races at worst.