Thorne's Taxonomy
Thorne's Taxonomy is a scientific treatise created by the famed globetrotting Vale Verdial anthropologist Dr. Cynaro Thorne (also known as Cynaro the Rake for his exploits).
Historical Details
Background
Dr. Cynaro Thorne is a doctor of anthropology at Petalcap Vale University who has spent most of his carreer doing in-depth field research with the goal of cataloguing every culture to ever exist beneath the Manifold Sky. Dr. Thorne's incisive, blunt commentary on the deeper aspects of the societies he studies can be controversial at times, as he lacks any compulsion to sugar-coat uncomfortable or taboo topics. Still, he choses not to filter his words precisely because doing so would inject unwanted bias into what is, ostensibly, an objective, scientific pursuit of knowledge.
Public Reaction
As the Manifold plays host to more than one sentient species, Dr. Thorne also sprinkles his Taxonomy with any relevant biological information about his subjects. He does this because Dr. Thorne tends to take a novel, behaviorist approach to social psychology, assuming that individuals are driven by exposure to environmental stimuli but are constrained by their biological sets. This outlook notably diverges from those of many of his peers - especially those belonging to Epicyclist philosophies - but the falsifiability and predictive power of Dr. Thorne's analyses of cultures means that these peers must acknowledge that what he writes is probably more true than they would like to admit.
While most people outside of the social sciences have not read Thorne's Taxonomy, the many summary vignettes found within often find their ways into travel guides and primary school social studies texts as a way to cover a lot of information about peoples and cultures in a relatively small space. This has been known to lead to nasty assumptions and stereotypes (i.e. the Creeping Lichens Conspiracy) when these snippets are taken out of context.
Example Quotes
Human: Bipedal, dexterous,Rostran-adjacent sentient hominid species of medium build. Apparent progenitors of verdial species. Complexion varies from pink to dark brown with varying tints of yellow, orange, and red based on light exposure. Limited hair coverage in white, yellow, red, brown, and black colors based on familial inheritence. Dieseltech and aerospace technologies. Militaristic, tribe-based sociocultural forms, but varies widely.
Ovinex: Robust, bipedal, sentient ovine species of broadly humanoid form. Apparently descended from horn-bearing sheep with curly wool in colors similar to domesicated cousins. Digitigrade with hooved feet. Two fingers and two thumbs per hand, all digits featuring keratinized protective coatings. Near-hominid intelligence; late neolithic or bronze age technologies. Communal, flock-based sociocultural forms. Mutualistic social relationship with Rostrans.
Rostran: Gracile, bipedal, dexterous, human-adjacent sentient hominid species. Slight facial expressions, long, protruding nose, and pointed ears. Pale, tawny, or red complexion with tints of brown. Limited hair coverage in white, yellow, red, brown, and black colors based on familial inheritence. Slightly enlarged skull with well-defined sinuses which grant a unique sense of barometric pressure. Dieseltech and aerospace technologies. Traditional, family-based sociocultural forms. Mutualistic social relationship with Ovinex.
Verdial: Human-descended hominid species differentiated by the presence of an internal Caudal lichen symbiote. Partially photosynthetic. 'Birch-like' complexion with black striations which increase in density with light exposure. Scalp and all dorsal body surfaces grow foliage-like protrusions in lieu of hair. Foliage is white, green, yellow, orange, or red and of varying darkness; foliage color is defined by inheritence, intimate association, and season. Dieseltech and aerospace technologies. Agrarian, family-based sociocultural forms.
Example Diagram
Type
Guide, Generic
Medium
Paper
Authoring Date
9990 AR
Authors
Signatories (Organizations)
I like when articles start to flow in stream, one connected to the other as cherries!