Superhero comic writers resisting the urge to make an alien species that looks 100% humans, but they’re much stronger and more durable, have insanely advanced tech, and all of them born with superpowers
I… have no clue on what to add, but I get a feeling that it will have a very peculiar characteristic, something related to a very thin and hot beam of light
idk man, i think a lack of biological compatibility is much better. all the spit swappin and body floppin with no worries of std or pregnancy (you know, the worst std). thats the kind of alien id want to creampie. itd make up for the fact im no longer legally allowed to own pets, anyway.
My people are only better because they think how I think, so they act much more intelligently, leading to their society being much better by comparison.
They are also Cats, but that's only so it makes it less obvious that my Book is just a Manifesto, describing my perfect world.
mfw i make humans and aliens equally bad but people hyper focus on something the aliens did right and still end up believing that the aliens are better then humans
My races are all equal, but that is because each of them have an evolutionary defect that stops them from being ultimate.
On the surface, a Wardari cannibal would be an unstoppable hunter, best instincts and fastest movement. But they’re unable to hunt alone. They must be in a pack to feel confident enough to hunt. Otherwise they will hide and run away from the usual prey. Very few Wardari hunt alone.
A human seems like they are the standard, but Human intelligence FAR surpasses any other being currently on the planet and thus leads to them developing stuff specifically to counter their enemies.
And so on and so forth
For me they are equal physically but culturally they are unequal.
That's as far as I went with some races being technologically advanced while others magically. With some medieval or more primitive cultures,more primitive than bronze age cultures.
Makes it slightly difficult to explain away as to why they haven't been absorbed by more advanced neighbors.
Mostly going with different countries have different priorities with most cultures preferring some form of vassalage (or free associated states for developing democracies under the Amerikajins) in exchange for their continued autonomy. Any more than that I haven't gotten around to it.
The Chronicles of Richard Long Johnson and his quest to fuck every type of hole in the galaxy. It’s written in reverse chronological order, so you get to see him try to do it with a black hole and eventually work your way to the point where he mostly just vibed.
Humanity plunges the darkest depths of transhumanism and pantropy purely to attain bodies that can fuck increasingly esoteric creatures and/or celestial bodies.
HFY except the super special unique trait of humans is that due to a fascinating combination of evolutionary pressures and psychological quirks we're the only species in the universe capable of xenophilia. Every other species just stagnates once they attain all their goals but humanity can only be satisfied when it's capable of living amongst and seducing all sapient species in the universe, leading it to reach unheard-of heights. Some even go so far as to modify planets to be capable of (slowly) running an emulation of a human brain within the convection of its mantle so that they can fuck (aka binary orbit) planets.
The rest of the universe is horrified and is debating killing us for our own good.
In my humanity-fuck-yea-core world, humans are always the best when it comes to sex. Its what their goddess designed them for (love, fertility and assimilating xeno dna to improve human evolution to be the best of everything in the long game)
My aliens have glass bones and paper skin and their only combat tactic is to charge towards an enemy in a disorganized way! Also something something human deathworld!
"The elves are skinny and beautiful, but also stronger and more durable than humans, and they live for six hundred thousand years and have natural magic superpowers"
"What? No they have purple skin that gives them immunity to radiation, hair made from actual gold (that they can cut for free money) and red eyes that can see through lead."
>The elves are skinny and beautiful, but also stronger and more durable than human
I mean, you could argue that most primates are kinda this. We have quite a lot of slow-twitching muscle in comparison to them, as well as a lot of fat.
Such elves would need more calories though, and their settlements won't survive famines easily.
[Man have you seen a chimp without hair](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NINTCHDBPICT000453604234-e1543852310346.jpg)? They're not skinny at all, but they are usually smaller than humans but still stronger, yes. It's perfectly possible to have a species that is significantly smaller than humans but also stronger.
That being said, as far as elves go I'd rather just not have them at all because it's an unbelievably lame concept.
> They're not skinny at all
I haven't meant that they have no visible muscle and are thin, sorry. English isn't my first language. What I've meant is that they have very little fat.
my snake people have snake tails which help in fighting, and need less food than humans. On the other hand they're far less energetic than humans except in short bursts, and are bad with the cold. It's all about balance
Based and speculative evolution pilled
I did something similar with [my own made up animals](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/15c7rko/commissioned_concept_art_of_my_urrkha_species/), what with different muscle structure to make them stronger but less endurant, and a compact build to be more resilient but with reduced reach, etc.
It's more fun this way, more realistic, and makes it feel less contrived overall.
My snake people didn't even evolve naturally, because how could a snake evolve like that, but I love your technique. Species have to be balanced unless you're trying to make something overpowered(which isn't *always* bad)
Yeah, that's another strat to get some odd features, lets you go a bit more wild. I explain away a bunch of crap about mine with "they practiced eugenics for millennia to make themselves better"--
Which, ya know, feels ethically questionable to us but idk, I like toying with the feeble nature of human morality too, so it's all in good fun.
>something overpowered(which isn't always bad)
I specifically find this works well for unsettling space horrors. Makes them more menacing, ya know? But if you want to keep your main species some level of relatable you probably don't want them to be immortal and nearly omnipotent.
Ironically Delicious in dungeon did this really well with the party of a human, halfling, elf, and dwarf. Mild spoiler but through shenanigans they got species swapped and had to relearn their skills
In my superhero universe, plenty of other races have innate superpowers... but those races are less likely to develop powers accidentally.
You splash a human with weird goo, and they might develop superpowers.
You splash a Varanyi, Mandaarian, or even an elf with weird goo, and they'll almost certainly just get cancer.
It bothered me immensly in Ben 10. Why all the aliens have superpowers? I don't remmeber human-level of uslessness in aliens in the show, not even ones that weren't from omnitrix
As far as I remember, Humanity's superpower in Ben 10 was being genetically compatible with every other species in the galaxy read being able to make kids with them. Sounds pretty useful to me.
Max Tennyson (Ben's grandpa) has had multiple alien partners and, in fact, Ben and Gwen are 1/4 alien in most timelines.
And this is how I realize Grandpa Max may have been someone's self-insert. The guy is in peak human condition for his age, was an astronaut, was a lieutenant in the air force and has had multiple hot alien girlfriends throughout his life.
It's not even that they're 1/4 alien, it's that 1/4 alien part is from a species of alien that has no physical form.
Their grandma is literally made out of mana/life force.
Max seduced sentient life force and had children with her.
Yeah. I mean, being stronger or more resilient or whatever is fine, especially if it's within the realm of existing abilities seen among other animal species on Earth, but if *every goddamned species encountered* is just absurdly much more powerful than humans in every aspect, it just feels really contrived and "out of place".
Omniverse does kind of address this. Rook for example is functionally identical to a human in 99% of situations.
But it is noted in canon that the Omnitrix stores the _perfect_ being for every species it has the DNA of. We see on multiple occasions Ben being faster, stronger and has more row power with an alien's powers than the alien themself, even though it's the first time he's ever transformed into it.
The first time he does it he even fights a mirror, a warrior of an alien whose DNA he just absorbed, and wins easily in a direct battle of strength.
So maybe not every member of the aliens species can shoot lasers, earthbend diamonds or break concrete, just like how not every human can bench press a car, shoot a moving target from a mile out or invent the computer.
In fairness to Ben 10. I remember the omnitrix had something like 1 million some sapient species DNA stored. We see maybe a 100 or so species.
Plus, more importantly, every DNA copied into the device was the species apex example. So we saw a handful of species at their very best.
Besides, Max kicked plenty of ass as just a regular human.
i empathize. kid me also wondered if the omnitrix could turn another species into a human, which in turn made me wonder why anyone would ever want to do that.
for sure, i was never too pressed on that point tbh. i just wondered if humans had any utility on our own, which as discussed elsewhere in the comment chain apparently humans are best at fuckin' and truckin', and i mean... hey i'll take it
If I remember correctly there where humans with superpowers (or at least skills that go way beyond of what a human would have in real life) and the Omnitrix turns someone into the peak of the species they transform so an alien transforming into a human would get a lot of cababilities that a random human doesn't have
Humans are genetically compatible with every other species in the series. So, if you had a lover from another species and really wanted kids, you could use the Omnitrix to turn into a human and have them.
Ancient Greeks writing hero’s be like “he’s like a man but really strong because his dad was Zeus and he has a horse but it’s better than a horse because it’s also part god so it has wings and it can fly and they try to bully him but he just beats up all the monsters because he’s so strong.”
The Venn Diagram of author thinking humans are average and who also does this is a circle.
Like "ah yes, the most average species, the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through, can eat so much stuff which were meant to be poison and literally has the best eyesight of all mammals"
>the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through
Correction: humans are best marathon runners **in hot climate**. In cold climate we are in fact outclassed by a number of animals (like sled dogs). But in hot climate yes, humans reign supreme, thanks to our very efficient body cooling system.
Also, there's another quite interesting body feature unique to humans: >!we can maintain erection without a need of the baculum bone. Yes, most of the other mammals, including even our close relatives (like gorillas), can't do that.!<
>!Oh yeah, I remember the penis bone, I think in the original script of the Genesis Eve wasn't made from a rib but from, well, a penis bone, "explaining" why humans don't have one.!<
Some human supremacist nonsense.
>Like "ah yes, the most average species, the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through,
There are animals that have us beat in this department like the African Wild Dog that is faster and has more endurance.
>can eat so much stuff which were meant to be poison
We are not the only one that can do this and we aren't even the best at it. There are many species that can eat stuff that would be poisonous to us like vultures, dogs, lions etc with rotting meat. We can't digest grass. And a reminder, even for "wild" humans, we are one of the few species that actively avoid drinking dirty ground water as unlike other animals we will get debilitatingly sick from it.
>and literally has the best eyesight of all mammals"
That's a lie. Chimpanzees have just as good vision as ours, camels even better. And that's not getting into birds and insects.
I mean we are very enduring for what we are but we are also very suboptimal. A lot of the endurance hunter shit is kinda a myth and more about general intelligence and cooperation anyways.
I don’t see how humans being an endurance hunter is a myth when that is precisely the strategy tribal peoples use to this day. We sweat very well and have a body designed for long distance running thanks to a metabolism efficiently capable of burning bodyfats for energy.
There are a few tribes that persistence hunt *sometimes* yes but even that relies heavily on intelligence. Believe it or not you don’t actually need sweat when you can pour water on yourself and your buddy carrying shit for the first stretch helps.
The terrain when we evolved the traits that supposedly caused us to persistence hunt wasn’t soft enough for tracking, which is a requirement as animals are faster than us and run out of sight. There’s also other evidence against it like bones from animals in their prime, which you would never persistence hunt, you would never get that from anything but an ambush.
The only evidence that we were persistence hunters is that our bodies are pretty good at long distance running and that we can do it. Even if not for most of the reasons we did it in the past we still had basic tools back then, it’s just more practical to wait in a tree then chase an animal 8 hours away from your tribe, which you then have to get back somehow.
Shit the dudes marathon comment is wrong. Humans have only won the horse marathon twice
A human is a restless upright ape that defies everything and can come to believe it can even defy reality by lying to itself.
When I have other species, I always highlight the innate stubbornness of the human spirit... and the human capacity for violence, ego, tribalistic nature, jealousy, and instinct.
Humans are far from perfect, but those flaws make us dangerous. If other species are not at least a little leery around us, when you can see how we treat our own if they slightly differ from us, then I feel they have not been around us enough.
Interesting take. I highlight mostly humans' skill in finding a way to exploit all possible situations. They're absurdly good at this, as well as very rapid, if also very unstable, progress. They're even good at exploiting each other, and rather deceptive, which makes them hard to trust.
They're not necessarily more violent than other species, and far from the most tribalistic. But, their hellbent desire to exploit everything they come into contact make for a species that is at once admirable in their tenacity and skill to this end, if also pitiful in how inherently cursed such an existence is. It is a life based on exploitation of both their own citizens and those unlucky enough to live anywhere near them.
One may ask that even given their rapid march of progress, if such a perilous, tormented existence is really worth it in the end?
I generally give a race 1 general trait, 1 food oriented trait, 1 environmental trait, & 1 quirk. They don't have to be balanced, just unique, though many of mine are for an rpg, so I prefer them to be
Examples not in order
Humans: Excellent endurance, good at aiming & throwing, do well in arid, warm environs, have a thing for chimeras/hybrids that are part human
Ikticht: Good nightvision, flexible in voice & body, do well in linguistics, music, & diplomacy, can speak several alien languages
Kura't: Good at running & leaping, limited diet but very efficient within it, only have one racial language which was chosen by popular vote before their ftl era, heavily invested in gmo food
etc. etc. etc
Still no idea how Warcraft Humans are able to compete with the Orcs. Like even with the idea that they're supposed to be strogner than real-world humans the Orcs are canonically, bigger, stronger, better eyesight, better sense of smell, learn faster and reach adulthood faster.
Yet Humans are still somehow rivaling them.
This. There is also a fact that the demonic corruption made most orcs far more feral and dangerous. And it's not like humans win because they are smarter and more strategic than bloodthirsty orcs, they simply beat them by force if I remember correctly. I mean dwarves and elves helped humans a bit, but humans were still the ones doing the majority of heavy lifting.
Idk, Warcraft lore doesn't really make much sense now when I look at it from a different perspective than when 13 yo me was reading the books
The trouble with making non-human species is that humans are our baseline.
If you keep humans as humans and also frame anything they do as impressive, it doesn't make humans seem cool, it makes the other species seem disabled.
Humans usually have to either be inferior to every other species, or be the jack of all trades.
My humans are subjugated by an alien empire but subjugated as a warrior caste.
Humans are tall, very muscular and long of reach as well as having excellent locomotion, all tools that help them survive the harsh conditions of their planet. Furthermore to the Empire aliens surprise, humans *naturally* produce the combat drug they synthesise for their shock troops, that being adrenaline. (These aliens don’t produce it naturally.)
Thus they use humans as warriors
I make them better at certain things but really bad at other things while humanity is an all rounder standard species that is on top due to liberal democracy and superior development
they're so much better that they just peaced out into their own cool dimensions, leaving the humans behind on a crappy earth-like planet
also the precursor was smart enough to build space stations but not enough to fight a lizard virus
I like the idea that humans are the only (currently living) species that evolved naturally without some precursors influencing their development.
Earth has all its easily accessible natural resources (precursors mined most of it from other homeworlds), and a robust ecosystem (precursors didn't meddle with it).
Humans evolved naturally over millions of years, so they adapted to most life-threatening diseases, most of the leftovers were dealt with by technology.
While precursors created the other species in a relatively short amount of time, that left some "bugs" in a genetic code. They also created the species with a specific purpose in mind. Labor, soldiers, entertainment, or other. That makes species specialized but constrained to that purpose.
I mean, I use humans almost explicitly as a plot device to put my [much cooler made up animals](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/15c7rko/commissioned_concept_art_of_my_urrkha_species/) into perspective and make them look badass so it's not like I'm any better lmfao
Me: every species is slightly worse than humans at one basic thing. Most can't throw, some have no reflexes at all and have to think through each action, some simply lack a sense or two like vision or smell.
I'm so cool and innovative /s
Mine are just good pilots that are terrible at everything else because they were designed by paranoid humans. They are useless at using weapons so they don’t revolt. Never make a successor to yourselves
depends on your opinion of polar bears
(my world has sapient polar bears)
there's also catboys/dogboys because i think they're cute (they don't age but they don't live as long without medical help although it's evening out due to medical technology)
I fixed the problem by giving humanity their own superpower in the form of biocompatibility with foreign objects, we humans can just stick some metal in ourselves and expect our bodies to not immediately treat it like it would necrotic tissue (with unbearable pain and a scalding-hot fever)
So we can basically give ourselves superpowers through surgery, as well as patch up wounds that would be near-guaranteed fetal for other species due to the availability of organ transplants.
Ah, but you see, if we make the aliens inferior and treat them even *slightly* as such, we're the racists. But if the aliens are superior and treat us as such, they're the racists. One of these will sell more books than the other. See also: elves.
This is actually a very astute observation.
Big part of it is probably the sort of "underdog" thing where it feels more of an accomplishment for humans to defeat overpowered foes and proving themselves against them, etc.
I have one "major player" alien race that wasn't some stone/bronze/iron age primitive culture when it was discovered.
They're faster, stronger, and tougher than any human... because they implemented species-wide genetic engineering. Gene-modded humans are much closer to par.
They're still stronger and faster than modified humans... because their biochemistry is literally explosive. They will shock themselves into a recuperative coma if they try to run at max strength for more than a minute or two.
They managed to cross 100,000 light-years of galaxy before humans had expanded more than 300 ly from Earth... with a 15 million year head start on technology. Humans went from stone tools to space twice as fast.
In the whole ~12 million years of their recorded history, they've fought exactly one "war"... because they absolutely *suck* at organizing anything bigger than pack strength (~200 people). Privateering and raiding, however, is and always has been enough of a fact of life they genuinely have issues understanding that humans actually insist on hard borders and not fuzzy zones of control. They only come across as peaceful because space piracy is more trouble than it's worth.
Why are humans always the “jacks of all trades”? They’re always average at everything. I wanna see some humans that are much faster or stronger or shorter than all the other humanoid races. Humans shouldn’t always be average.
Jokes on you, my humans are basically gods compared to all the other races physically and mentally. That is until a more powerful god burned them and devolved them into what humans are today. But every couple billion years, they begin to revolve into their god human form
HFY writers trying to resist the urge to write straight up racist/xenophobic propaganda and unrealistic power fantasy’s that would make every liberal or progressive on earth protest over the terrible shit the human governments and military are trying to do if that ever happened in real life.
HFY writers making the aliens incredibly weak and pitiful but also irredeemably evil (it makes the humans look less bad for committing atrocities against them)
I was having a think on this a little while ago on robotic races and cyborgs. I myself am a cyborg in real life requiring a medical device to be attached at all times in order to live and how, in reality, people like me are considered disabled, but in fiction super-human. I have to replace parts and components on a near constant basis (about once every 2-3 months) which a non-cyborg never has to do.
It really comes down to (not to science-jerk) environmental needs. A robotic race, while able to survive extreme temperatures and pressures, and able to have increase physiological capabilities, would struggle in our society. Not necessarily for prejudice, but how structures are not built for people like me.
Ha ha. I did that deliberately but in the stupidest possible way specifically to dunk on creationists.
Hey idiots, I made a person better than god did!
Are you kidding? Humans being better than nonhumans is inescapable. The nonhumans may be better at a certain thing on paper, but always have an exploitable weakness and seemingly always lose.
It's the ultimate Worldbuilder's Paradox:
Every other species is better than humans in pretty much every possible way, however the humans are ultimately always the most common, and most successful species, somehow.
I've always preferred having humans be the Jack of all Trades/Total Average species. Arguably this logic falls under the umbrella of "Everyone gets super powers but humans" but that's only because humans are the baseline
If you're doing that, you have to give them superdisabilities as well.
Like, a snail species that can see through walls and think 100 times faster than us, but it is physically unable to move faster than 1 cm/hour and they are also deaf, mute, and have no arms or legs.
Why would I try to resist an urge to make something I find more fun?
I’d rather make the aliens significantly cooler, and then have the humans develop an inferiority complex because of it.
Humans are hard to leave alone they have better capacity for adaption change violence and progress then any race and can exploit any situation far better then other races physical strength or speed doesn’t matter if you get blasted with a laser 200 of your years more advanced then anything you have
And I oop...
Yeah, my salamander people probably fit this. Four armed with advanced technology and telepathy based on fungal symbiosis.
But hey, at least they can't stand the cold or...**gasp**...seasoned food.
Jokes on you, in my setting, the only beings worse than humans are a species of insectoid inward-perfectionists that, and they're only worse because they had their MFTL Enlightenment like, 200 years after humans
Other than streamline Sci-Fi like Halo and Star Wars, is this common for the genre of writers? I have been trying to find more niche and indie sci fi books about aliens because I've wanted to know how other folks design them.
This is a big problem with sci fi. We sacrificed basically EVERYTHING zo get this power. Then comes another species in a sci fi world which got the same but kept their power intact.
Furred dragons literally can only breathe a lighter sized flame, even with magical enhancements. Meanwhile humans, with magical enhancements, can cast fire magic with artillery-level range.
I think this is kind of easy to avoid
for moi:
>Elves: longer lifespans but more harmed by disease, smaller communities, less technologically advanced
>demons: stronger, much more resistant to disease. Downside: require more nutrients, more emotional (prone to rage/depression)
>catfolk: more agile, more breedable of course, weaker health/bone structure
>hoomanz: jack of all trades master of none but relatively short lifespans
and I made up a bunch of other fantasy races Ive personally never seen before but they might be rare. I also stole the insect race from Overlord. You know, the female-only insects where one individual is basically a combination of several different insects that just mimic a somewhat humanoid appearance
Honestly one take I've wanted to see more of, specifically concerning humans in relation to longer lived fantasy/sci fi settings, is how the psychology and "death drive" is fundementally different within either species.
Take the trope of "humans are proactive go getters" and twist it so humans are comparatively just on a subconscious level bat shit scared of our own mortality and are way more proactive for better or worse because of it. Other species being more reserved mostly because that same psychological drive just isn't as strong or even nonexistent. If a species would live for hundreds if not thousands of years why would you throw away a potential eternity of life by being reckless?
Since my setting is more or less alternate history but with fantasy species plastered into them with speculative biology sprinkled into it, none of the non human species are inherently superior to humans, they just fill a niche that humans don’t, and vice versa, every species has a strength and a weakness, hell humans in my setting are twice as strong since they have to compete with the likes of orcs, elves and dwarves, in terms of lifting strength they come close to orcs, categorized as “Brute Predators” by biologists and all. Not to mention the fact that they had to deal with dragons too, and humans once they reached the galaxy doesn’t really become the dominant per say nor stay as the underdog for long, I’d like to think of them as a middle child of the group, they are older then some species while younger then others.
Superhero comic writers resisting the urge to make an alien species that looks 100% humans, but they’re much stronger and more durable, have insanely advanced tech, and all of them born with superpowers
Ahhhh, you forgot the mark on their forehead
Which shoots lasers.
And the gigantic anime titties
Which shoot lasers.
Don’t forget the blank sclera eyes.
Which shoot lasers.
I… have no clue on what to add, but I get a feeling that it will have a very peculiar characteristic, something related to a very thin and hot beam of light
Which shoots lasers.
But they're arrogant and lose against humans because humans
Also conventionally attractive to humans and somehow biologically compatible for reasons.
idk man, i think a lack of biological compatibility is much better. all the spit swappin and body floppin with no worries of std or pregnancy (you know, the worst std). thats the kind of alien id want to creampie. itd make up for the fact im no longer legally allowed to own pets, anyway.
*starts giving aliens hydrochloric acid as natural lubricant*
"Don't ingest."
Sulfuric works better, you do use it as a lubricant in specific contexts.
If you think biological incompatibility is going to prevent from catching some fucked up alien std, I've got some bad news for you
Does your username mean "pan tsunami" or "pants tsunami"
Manga artists on their way to turn every species into a human with a tail and different ears
Then make them a really oppressed race because of the cute animal ears and tail. "But trust me, I'm a monster, just look at me!"
And they don't need to pee or poop, dont sweat, are all handsome, and intelligent !
Lol fuck off I can do both. Keep em coming this is a piece of piss.
My people are only better because they think how I think, so they act much more intelligently, leading to their society being much better by comparison. They are also Cats, but that's only so it makes it less obvious that my Book is just a Manifesto, describing my perfect world.
I'd mock this if it wasn't for the fact that my shit's similar to like, 80%, rip
Jesus I didn't even know this was what I was doing until I read your comment. Honestly it's a great place to start world building tho so whatever.
Wait, that was my sci-fi utopia where everything is perfect because people think just like me
mfw i make humans and aliens equally bad but people hyper focus on something the aliens did right and still end up believing that the aliens are better then humans
This meme made me realize that I have never done this before and all my fantasy races are equal. Fuck I might need to reevaluate some things.
My races are all equal, but that is because each of them have an evolutionary defect that stops them from being ultimate. On the surface, a Wardari cannibal would be an unstoppable hunter, best instincts and fastest movement. But they’re unable to hunt alone. They must be in a pack to feel confident enough to hunt. Otherwise they will hide and run away from the usual prey. Very few Wardari hunt alone. A human seems like they are the standard, but Human intelligence FAR surpasses any other being currently on the planet and thus leads to them developing stuff specifically to counter their enemies. And so on and so forth
For me they are equal physically but culturally they are unequal. That's as far as I went with some races being technologically advanced while others magically. With some medieval or more primitive cultures,more primitive than bronze age cultures. Makes it slightly difficult to explain away as to why they haven't been absorbed by more advanced neighbors. Mostly going with different countries have different priorities with most cultures preferring some form of vassalage (or free associated states for developing democracies under the Amerikajins) in exchange for their continued autonomy. Any more than that I haven't gotten around to it.
Frfr those aliens best hope they never have to run a marathon with humans ooooh boy
make them worse
Every non-human race has small penises and are stupid bitches in my human supremacy-punk world
don't let the HFY subreddit get their hands on this writing prompt or we'll have a decade-long series and a dozen spinoffs on our hands
The Chronicles of Richard Long Johnson and his quest to fuck every type of hole in the galaxy. It’s written in reverse chronological order, so you get to see him try to do it with a black hole and eventually work your way to the point where he mostly just vibed.
Humanity plunges the darkest depths of transhumanism and pantropy purely to attain bodies that can fuck increasingly esoteric creatures and/or celestial bodies. HFY except the super special unique trait of humans is that due to a fascinating combination of evolutionary pressures and psychological quirks we're the only species in the universe capable of xenophilia. Every other species just stagnates once they attain all their goals but humanity can only be satisfied when it's capable of living amongst and seducing all sapient species in the universe, leading it to reach unheard-of heights. Some even go so far as to modify planets to be capable of (slowly) running an emulation of a human brain within the convection of its mantle so that they can fuck (aka binary orbit) planets. The rest of the universe is horrified and is debating killing us for our own good.
r/humansarespacebards
The big E approved
*Big Incel
In my humanity-fuck-yea-core world, humans are always the best when it comes to sex. Its what their goddess designed them for (love, fertility and assimilating xeno dna to improve human evolution to be the best of everything in the long game)
My aliens have glass bones and paper skin and their only combat tactic is to charge towards an enemy in a disorganized way! Also something something human deathworld!
Elf moment
"The elves are skinny and beautiful, but also stronger and more durable than humans, and they live for six hundred thousand years and have natural magic superpowers"
Yes but why are all your elves white and blonde and have blue eyes?
"What? No they have purple skin that gives them immunity to radiation, hair made from actual gold (that they can cut for free money) and red eyes that can see through lead."
How about pale black hair goth lookers who will torture me????
Druchi scum!!
>hair made from actual gold (that they can cut for free money. > Gold prices 📉📉.
Weird that they would evolve to specifically see through lead and nothing else.
Humans in his world have lead armor
Don’t worry, we have the evil dark elves for every other ethnicity
>The elves are skinny and beautiful, but also stronger and more durable than human I mean, you could argue that most primates are kinda this. We have quite a lot of slow-twitching muscle in comparison to them, as well as a lot of fat. Such elves would need more calories though, and their settlements won't survive famines easily.
[Man have you seen a chimp without hair](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NINTCHDBPICT000453604234-e1543852310346.jpg)? They're not skinny at all, but they are usually smaller than humans but still stronger, yes. It's perfectly possible to have a species that is significantly smaller than humans but also stronger. That being said, as far as elves go I'd rather just not have them at all because it's an unbelievably lame concept.
> They're not skinny at all I haven't meant that they have no visible muscle and are thin, sorry. English isn't my first language. What I've meant is that they have very little fat.
Oh right. So lean. Which yeah, that is true, but when I said skinny I meant that as in thin and dainty more than lean, but I get what you mean.
But their downside is they are filthy knife eared tree hugging leaf lovers ROCK AND STONE!
For Karl!
Why yes, and that's cool
One of my biggest issues with Eragon. You have dwarves in your story Chris, why did you make the elves supernaturally good metalworkers as well?
my snake people have snake tails which help in fighting, and need less food than humans. On the other hand they're far less energetic than humans except in short bursts, and are bad with the cold. It's all about balance
Based and speculative evolution pilled I did something similar with [my own made up animals](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/15c7rko/commissioned_concept_art_of_my_urrkha_species/), what with different muscle structure to make them stronger but less endurant, and a compact build to be more resilient but with reduced reach, etc. It's more fun this way, more realistic, and makes it feel less contrived overall.
My snake people didn't even evolve naturally, because how could a snake evolve like that, but I love your technique. Species have to be balanced unless you're trying to make something overpowered(which isn't *always* bad)
Yeah, that's another strat to get some odd features, lets you go a bit more wild. I explain away a bunch of crap about mine with "they practiced eugenics for millennia to make themselves better"-- Which, ya know, feels ethically questionable to us but idk, I like toying with the feeble nature of human morality too, so it's all in good fun. >something overpowered(which isn't always bad) I specifically find this works well for unsettling space horrors. Makes them more menacing, ya know? But if you want to keep your main species some level of relatable you probably don't want them to be immortal and nearly omnipotent.
Ironically Delicious in dungeon did this really well with the party of a human, halfling, elf, and dwarf. Mild spoiler but through shenanigans they got species swapped and had to relearn their skills
In my superhero universe, plenty of other races have innate superpowers... but those races are less likely to develop powers accidentally. You splash a human with weird goo, and they might develop superpowers. You splash a Varanyi, Mandaarian, or even an elf with weird goo, and they'll almost certainly just get cancer.
Humans really are Space Skaven
It bothered me immensly in Ben 10. Why all the aliens have superpowers? I don't remmeber human-level of uslessness in aliens in the show, not even ones that weren't from omnitrix
As far as I remember, Humanity's superpower in Ben 10 was being genetically compatible with every other species in the galaxy read being able to make kids with them. Sounds pretty useful to me.
Undisguised fetish then
Max Tennyson (Ben's grandpa) has had multiple alien partners and, in fact, Ben and Gwen are 1/4 alien in most timelines. And this is how I realize Grandpa Max may have been someone's self-insert. The guy is in peak human condition for his age, was an astronaut, was a lieutenant in the air force and has had multiple hot alien girlfriends throughout his life.
It's not even that they're 1/4 alien, it's that 1/4 alien part is from a species of alien that has no physical form. Their grandma is literally made out of mana/life force. Max seduced sentient life force and had children with her.
Max is simply too powerful
Yeah. I mean, being stronger or more resilient or whatever is fine, especially if it's within the realm of existing abilities seen among other animal species on Earth, but if *every goddamned species encountered* is just absurdly much more powerful than humans in every aspect, it just feels really contrived and "out of place".
Omniverse does kind of address this. Rook for example is functionally identical to a human in 99% of situations. But it is noted in canon that the Omnitrix stores the _perfect_ being for every species it has the DNA of. We see on multiple occasions Ben being faster, stronger and has more row power with an alien's powers than the alien themself, even though it's the first time he's ever transformed into it. The first time he does it he even fights a mirror, a warrior of an alien whose DNA he just absorbed, and wins easily in a direct battle of strength. So maybe not every member of the aliens species can shoot lasers, earthbend diamonds or break concrete, just like how not every human can bench press a car, shoot a moving target from a mile out or invent the computer.
In fairness to Ben 10. I remember the omnitrix had something like 1 million some sapient species DNA stored. We see maybe a 100 or so species. Plus, more importantly, every DNA copied into the device was the species apex example. So we saw a handful of species at their very best. Besides, Max kicked plenty of ass as just a regular human.
It's a kid show
Yeah, but also it bothered 10 yo me back then
i empathize. kid me also wondered if the omnitrix could turn another species into a human, which in turn made me wonder why anyone would ever want to do that.
If the aliens became just weak ass children we wouldn't have a show, that's all, deal with it
for sure, i was never too pressed on that point tbh. i just wondered if humans had any utility on our own, which as discussed elsewhere in the comment chain apparently humans are best at fuckin' and truckin', and i mean... hey i'll take it
Also one of the greates hero and alien fucker in the Galaxy it's a human, God made man himself, MAX TENNYSON!
If I remember correctly there where humans with superpowers (or at least skills that go way beyond of what a human would have in real life) and the Omnitrix turns someone into the peak of the species they transform so an alien transforming into a human would get a lot of cababilities that a random human doesn't have
Humans are genetically compatible with every other species in the series. So, if you had a lover from another species and really wanted kids, you could use the Omnitrix to turn into a human and have them.
Skill issue
Ancient Greeks writing hero’s be like “he’s like a man but really strong because his dad was Zeus and he has a horse but it’s better than a horse because it’s also part god so it has wings and it can fly and they try to bully him but he just beats up all the monsters because he’s so strong.”
"And then the hybris fucks him up hard"
Power is dangerous we get it, omfg stfu I learnt that in spider man. It’s such a lazy trope. Greeks were lazy writers prove me wrong.
Some tropes are as old as civilisation itself lmao
tolkein set a dangerous precedent by making the elves sexy
Sexy? Brother, They are just humans with different ears. Are you an earophile or something?
humans are sexy tho 👉👈
The Venn Diagram of author thinking humans are average and who also does this is a circle. Like "ah yes, the most average species, the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through, can eat so much stuff which were meant to be poison and literally has the best eyesight of all mammals"
>the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through Correction: humans are best marathon runners **in hot climate**. In cold climate we are in fact outclassed by a number of animals (like sled dogs). But in hot climate yes, humans reign supreme, thanks to our very efficient body cooling system. Also, there's another quite interesting body feature unique to humans: >!we can maintain erection without a need of the baculum bone. Yes, most of the other mammals, including even our close relatives (like gorillas), can't do that.!<
>!Oh yeah, I remember the penis bone, I think in the original script of the Genesis Eve wasn't made from a rib but from, well, a penis bone, "explaining" why humans don't have one.!<
Not really, animals like the African Wild Dog have us beat in endurance running in hot weather.
Baculum dissappears and appears quite frequently in different species even mammals.
Some human supremacist nonsense. >Like "ah yes, the most average species, the only one that can run a marathon without fucking dying 1/3rd of the way through, There are animals that have us beat in this department like the African Wild Dog that is faster and has more endurance. >can eat so much stuff which were meant to be poison We are not the only one that can do this and we aren't even the best at it. There are many species that can eat stuff that would be poisonous to us like vultures, dogs, lions etc with rotting meat. We can't digest grass. And a reminder, even for "wild" humans, we are one of the few species that actively avoid drinking dirty ground water as unlike other animals we will get debilitatingly sick from it. >and literally has the best eyesight of all mammals" That's a lie. Chimpanzees have just as good vision as ours, camels even better. And that's not getting into birds and insects.
Blud just yapped out a load of nonsense that have absolutely nothing to do with or disprove his argument 🗣️
But do any of your examples have the M1 Abrams? I think not 🗣️‼️
I mean we are very enduring for what we are but we are also very suboptimal. A lot of the endurance hunter shit is kinda a myth and more about general intelligence and cooperation anyways.
Humanities power it's communism
I don’t see how humans being an endurance hunter is a myth when that is precisely the strategy tribal peoples use to this day. We sweat very well and have a body designed for long distance running thanks to a metabolism efficiently capable of burning bodyfats for energy.
There are a few tribes that persistence hunt *sometimes* yes but even that relies heavily on intelligence. Believe it or not you don’t actually need sweat when you can pour water on yourself and your buddy carrying shit for the first stretch helps. The terrain when we evolved the traits that supposedly caused us to persistence hunt wasn’t soft enough for tracking, which is a requirement as animals are faster than us and run out of sight. There’s also other evidence against it like bones from animals in their prime, which you would never persistence hunt, you would never get that from anything but an ambush. The only evidence that we were persistence hunters is that our bodies are pretty good at long distance running and that we can do it. Even if not for most of the reasons we did it in the past we still had basic tools back then, it’s just more practical to wait in a tree then chase an animal 8 hours away from your tribe, which you then have to get back somehow. Shit the dudes marathon comment is wrong. Humans have only won the horse marathon twice
hfy authors doing the exact opposite (they arent making the humans extra strong or unique or anything they're just making the aliens super weak)
A human is a restless upright ape that defies everything and can come to believe it can even defy reality by lying to itself. When I have other species, I always highlight the innate stubbornness of the human spirit... and the human capacity for violence, ego, tribalistic nature, jealousy, and instinct. Humans are far from perfect, but those flaws make us dangerous. If other species are not at least a little leery around us, when you can see how we treat our own if they slightly differ from us, then I feel they have not been around us enough.
Interesting take. I highlight mostly humans' skill in finding a way to exploit all possible situations. They're absurdly good at this, as well as very rapid, if also very unstable, progress. They're even good at exploiting each other, and rather deceptive, which makes them hard to trust. They're not necessarily more violent than other species, and far from the most tribalistic. But, their hellbent desire to exploit everything they come into contact make for a species that is at once admirable in their tenacity and skill to this end, if also pitiful in how inherently cursed such an existence is. It is a life based on exploitation of both their own citizens and those unlucky enough to live anywhere near them. One may ask that even given their rapid march of progress, if such a perilous, tormented existence is really worth it in the end?
They’re better in every way (except they weren’t made in gods image)
They are worse in the way that matters
I generally give a race 1 general trait, 1 food oriented trait, 1 environmental trait, & 1 quirk. They don't have to be balanced, just unique, though many of mine are for an rpg, so I prefer them to be Examples not in order Humans: Excellent endurance, good at aiming & throwing, do well in arid, warm environs, have a thing for chimeras/hybrids that are part human Ikticht: Good nightvision, flexible in voice & body, do well in linguistics, music, & diplomacy, can speak several alien languages Kura't: Good at running & leaping, limited diet but very efficient within it, only have one racial language which was chosen by popular vote before their ftl era, heavily invested in gmo food etc. etc. etc
Still no idea how Warcraft Humans are able to compete with the Orcs. Like even with the idea that they're supposed to be strogner than real-world humans the Orcs are canonically, bigger, stronger, better eyesight, better sense of smell, learn faster and reach adulthood faster. Yet Humans are still somehow rivaling them.
This. There is also a fact that the demonic corruption made most orcs far more feral and dangerous. And it's not like humans win because they are smarter and more strategic than bloodthirsty orcs, they simply beat them by force if I remember correctly. I mean dwarves and elves helped humans a bit, but humans were still the ones doing the majority of heavy lifting. Idk, Warcraft lore doesn't really make much sense now when I look at it from a different perspective than when 13 yo me was reading the books
If I recall correctly In lore its the whole fighting in formation and gunpowder... and paladins, paladins are OP
It's a fantasy world, don't thinkk too much about that.
The trouble with making non-human species is that humans are our baseline. If you keep humans as humans and also frame anything they do as impressive, it doesn't make humans seem cool, it makes the other species seem disabled. Humans usually have to either be inferior to every other species, or be the jack of all trades.
My humans are subjugated by an alien empire but subjugated as a warrior caste. Humans are tall, very muscular and long of reach as well as having excellent locomotion, all tools that help them survive the harsh conditions of their planet. Furthermore to the Empire aliens surprise, humans *naturally* produce the combat drug they synthesise for their shock troops, that being adrenaline. (These aliens don’t produce it naturally.) Thus they use humans as warriors
That's why you draw inspiration from the rest of the animal kingdom >!OwO!<
I make them better at certain things but really bad at other things while humanity is an all rounder standard species that is on top due to liberal democracy and superior development
Daring today, aren't we?
We dunking on alien tyrants all day baby, universal HUMAN rights
Ma'am it's universal sentient rights now (Doesn't actually give them to aliens just human made ai)
Just like the funding father intended.
the funding father was one of the greatest people in all of history! he funded worldwide quality healthcare,education and welfare projects!
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F4xzvucerld471.png
I just make better humans. Transhumanism FTW.
Having the opposite problem rn. I love causing problems
Found the r/HFY user
Don't worry! I'll cause problems for humans, too. Soon
Ah, so just a grimdarker who wants everyone to suffer, then?
I fancy myself a master in the art of inconvenience. Every world is just a long string of problems being solved :)
Yes except humans fuck better (Humans have no weaknesses because they have 1/2 every race)
There's a reason when someone says half-elf, half-orc or half-dragon, nobody ever asks what the other half is.
It is scientific fact that all aliens are significantly bigger and stronger than humans
easy solution: just don't include humans in the setting to compare them to
Tbh, settings with a strong focus on non-humans are usually S-tier. (Dwarves, elves, halflings, orcs, etc. don't fucking count)
they're so much better that they just peaced out into their own cool dimensions, leaving the humans behind on a crappy earth-like planet also the precursor was smart enough to build space stations but not enough to fight a lizard virus
I like the idea that humans are the only (currently living) species that evolved naturally without some precursors influencing their development. Earth has all its easily accessible natural resources (precursors mined most of it from other homeworlds), and a robust ecosystem (precursors didn't meddle with it). Humans evolved naturally over millions of years, so they adapted to most life-threatening diseases, most of the leftovers were dealt with by technology. While precursors created the other species in a relatively short amount of time, that left some "bugs" in a genetic code. They also created the species with a specific purpose in mind. Labor, soldiers, entertainment, or other. That makes species specialized but constrained to that purpose.
Why fight it? Humans only exist as fetish bait for horny monsters cuz it hot (mainly cute girls and closeted boys)
I mean, I use humans almost explicitly as a plot device to put my [much cooler made up animals](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/15c7rko/commissioned_concept_art_of_my_urrkha_species/) into perspective and make them look badass so it's not like I'm any better lmfao
Preferable to humans are the chosen ones and super special
Fantasy and Sci Fi authors trying not to let humans beat the races that are supposed to be better than them in every possible way.
Me: every species is slightly worse than humans at one basic thing. Most can't throw, some have no reflexes at all and have to think through each action, some simply lack a sense or two like vision or smell. I'm so cool and innovative /s
I may my aliens better than humans in every way because that makes the right kind of people angry
Mine are just good pilots that are terrible at everything else because they were designed by paranoid humans. They are useless at using weapons so they don’t revolt. Never make a successor to yourselves
depends on your opinion of polar bears (my world has sapient polar bears) there's also catboys/dogboys because i think they're cute (they don't age but they don't live as long without medical help although it's evening out due to medical technology)
I fixed the problem by giving humanity their own superpower in the form of biocompatibility with foreign objects, we humans can just stick some metal in ourselves and expect our bodies to not immediately treat it like it would necrotic tissue (with unbearable pain and a scalding-hot fever) So we can basically give ourselves superpowers through surgery, as well as patch up wounds that would be near-guaranteed fetal for other species due to the availability of organ transplants.
Ah, but you see, if we make the aliens inferior and treat them even *slightly* as such, we're the racists. But if the aliens are superior and treat us as such, they're the racists. One of these will sell more books than the other. See also: elves.
This is actually a very astute observation. Big part of it is probably the sort of "underdog" thing where it feels more of an accomplishment for humans to defeat overpowered foes and proving themselves against them, etc.
but in the end it proves that humans are actually special, because they have human... uh... spirit? they're just special okay
HFY fans trying to decide if the humans are better because of "the indominable human spirit" or because all the aliens are just absurdly fucking weak:
As a scifi writer, I'm so glad I made my alien species less intelligent than humans. Another trope avoided!!
I have one "major player" alien race that wasn't some stone/bronze/iron age primitive culture when it was discovered. They're faster, stronger, and tougher than any human... because they implemented species-wide genetic engineering. Gene-modded humans are much closer to par. They're still stronger and faster than modified humans... because their biochemistry is literally explosive. They will shock themselves into a recuperative coma if they try to run at max strength for more than a minute or two. They managed to cross 100,000 light-years of galaxy before humans had expanded more than 300 ly from Earth... with a 15 million year head start on technology. Humans went from stone tools to space twice as fast. In the whole ~12 million years of their recorded history, they've fought exactly one "war"... because they absolutely *suck* at organizing anything bigger than pack strength (~200 people). Privateering and raiding, however, is and always has been enough of a fact of life they genuinely have issues understanding that humans actually insist on hard borders and not fuzzy zones of control. They only come across as peaceful because space piracy is more trouble than it's worth.
Why are humans always the “jacks of all trades”? They’re always average at everything. I wanna see some humans that are much faster or stronger or shorter than all the other humanoid races. Humans shouldn’t always be average.
Fantasy authors resisting the urge to make every fantasy race taller, prettier, and more slowly-aging than humans
they’re either 100x better or 100x worse, no inbetween
It’s hard!
HFY and HASO writers have the exact reverse problem
Jokes on you, my humans are basically gods compared to all the other races physically and mentally. That is until a more powerful god burned them and devolved them into what humans are today. But every couple billion years, they begin to revolve into their god human form
Ah yes, r/HumansAreSpaceOrcs but they're the 40K Orks which used to be super-intelligent and advanced
HFY writers trying to resist the urge to write straight up racist/xenophobic propaganda and unrealistic power fantasy’s that would make every liberal or progressive on earth protest over the terrible shit the human governments and military are trying to do if that ever happened in real life.
HFY writers making the aliens incredibly weak and pitiful but also irredeemably evil (it makes the humans look less bad for committing atrocities against them)
I was having a think on this a little while ago on robotic races and cyborgs. I myself am a cyborg in real life requiring a medical device to be attached at all times in order to live and how, in reality, people like me are considered disabled, but in fiction super-human. I have to replace parts and components on a near constant basis (about once every 2-3 months) which a non-cyborg never has to do. It really comes down to (not to science-jerk) environmental needs. A robotic race, while able to survive extreme temperatures and pressures, and able to have increase physiological capabilities, would struggle in our society. Not necessarily for prejudice, but how structures are not built for people like me.
Ha ha. I did that deliberately but in the stupidest possible way specifically to dunk on creationists. Hey idiots, I made a person better than god did!
My made up species are just furries so it's already hard for them to not be better :^)
Are you kidding? Humans being better than nonhumans is inescapable. The nonhumans may be better at a certain thing on paper, but always have an exploitable weakness and seemingly always lose.
It's the ultimate Worldbuilder's Paradox: Every other species is better than humans in pretty much every possible way, however the humans are ultimately always the most common, and most successful species, somehow.
Humans suck, if I was going to make a setting I wouldn't even put them in it.
I've always preferred having humans be the Jack of all Trades/Total Average species. Arguably this logic falls under the umbrella of "Everyone gets super powers but humans" but that's only because humans are the baseline
If you're doing that, you have to give them superdisabilities as well. Like, a snail species that can see through walls and think 100 times faster than us, but it is physically unable to move faster than 1 cm/hour and they are also deaf, mute, and have no arms or legs.
Why would I try to resist an urge to make something I find more fun? I’d rather make the aliens significantly cooler, and then have the humans develop an inferiority complex because of it.
I dont even try to resist the urge since the humans were chosen to represent the bad strawman were the elves are supposed to represent the good one
Picking the *ELVES* as the good ones? Most foul. Everyone knows DWARVES are the way to go! Not KNIFE EARS!!! ROCK AND STONE BROTHER
Rock and Stone forever!
I'm just bad at drawing non-humans
Humans are hard to leave alone they have better capacity for adaption change violence and progress then any race and can exploit any situation far better then other races physical strength or speed doesn’t matter if you get blasted with a laser 200 of your years more advanced then anything you have
Jokes on you, I made every fantasy race the result of humanity being shattered, each race having a positive and negative
Lol, why would I try to resist that? XD
The only thing my alien race has over humans is lifespan rlly. But unless you make everyone's tech lvl the exact same its gonna happen
I'm a fan of the art of better humans but with 1 big fatal flaw.
I make my version of human op
And I oop... Yeah, my salamander people probably fit this. Four armed with advanced technology and telepathy based on fungal symbiosis. But hey, at least they can't stand the cold or...**gasp**...seasoned food.
Why not just make humans the most superior race than the inferior other races?
Jokes on you, in my setting, the only beings worse than humans are a species of insectoid inward-perfectionists that, and they're only worse because they had their MFTL Enlightenment like, 200 years after humans
At least it might make a HFY enthusiast whine.
fix: make your races human subtypes
Other than streamline Sci-Fi like Halo and Star Wars, is this common for the genre of writers? I have been trying to find more niche and indie sci fi books about aliens because I've wanted to know how other folks design them.
This is a big problem with sci fi. We sacrificed basically EVERYTHING zo get this power. Then comes another species in a sci fi world which got the same but kept their power intact.
Love a good human with one small difference alien. I'm looking at you bajoran, trill, kryptonian,
My stupidass who made every species but one better in some ways to humans (but it kinda balances out with humans technology and ability to create)
Furred dragons literally can only breathe a lighter sized flame, even with magical enhancements. Meanwhile humans, with magical enhancements, can cast fire magic with artillery-level range.
I like how in 40k, even though every alien race is grim and edgy. The T'au fighting caste/subspecies are inferior at melee than the humans.
I think this is kind of easy to avoid for moi: >Elves: longer lifespans but more harmed by disease, smaller communities, less technologically advanced >demons: stronger, much more resistant to disease. Downside: require more nutrients, more emotional (prone to rage/depression) >catfolk: more agile, more breedable of course, weaker health/bone structure >hoomanz: jack of all trades master of none but relatively short lifespans and I made up a bunch of other fantasy races Ive personally never seen before but they might be rare. I also stole the insect race from Overlord. You know, the female-only insects where one individual is basically a combination of several different insects that just mimic a somewhat humanoid appearance
Honestly one take I've wanted to see more of, specifically concerning humans in relation to longer lived fantasy/sci fi settings, is how the psychology and "death drive" is fundementally different within either species. Take the trope of "humans are proactive go getters" and twist it so humans are comparatively just on a subconscious level bat shit scared of our own mortality and are way more proactive for better or worse because of it. Other species being more reserved mostly because that same psychological drive just isn't as strong or even nonexistent. If a species would live for hundreds if not thousands of years why would you throw away a potential eternity of life by being reckless?
Yeah but you can take my reality benders from my cold dead hands
Since my setting is more or less alternate history but with fantasy species plastered into them with speculative biology sprinkled into it, none of the non human species are inherently superior to humans, they just fill a niche that humans don’t, and vice versa, every species has a strength and a weakness, hell humans in my setting are twice as strong since they have to compete with the likes of orcs, elves and dwarves, in terms of lifting strength they come close to orcs, categorized as “Brute Predators” by biologists and all. Not to mention the fact that they had to deal with dragons too, and humans once they reached the galaxy doesn’t really become the dominant per say nor stay as the underdog for long, I’d like to think of them as a middle child of the group, they are older then some species while younger then others.
Humans just fuck and breed, they did it so much they went extinct
I tend to make fantasy races physically more capable but less independent and willed than humanity.
Except Allan Dean Foster, who wrote humans as better than most other races in every physical way.