Humans

The most populous species in T'sara and the most adaptable, the Humans are a principal part of global politics. With the Intransican Empire at the forefront, Humans hold the brunt of military power and sway, and use it to their benefit; often at the cost of their neighbors.

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

Human children are born after a nine month pregnancy, and like most sentient children are helpless without their mother or father for the first few years of its life. Humans constantly grow until their late teens, where they are considered to be an adult. Young adult humans are often the most dangerous of their species, as their minds have not caught up to their bodies, and are likely to engage in rash, impuslive, and emotional decision making.

Ecology and Habitats

Humans have the odd distinction of making any climate in T'sara adapt suitable. Whereas the Elves were blessed with the ability to adapt their bodies to the land over time, and the orcs were built hardy enough to withstand and survive any harsh or dangerous territory, humans were not granted with either. Instead, their ingenuity has allowed them to spread, using the resources of the environment around them to create habitable spaces where they can thrive. Though they could live anywhere, given the right tools and resources, they are most content in and suited for gentle grasslands, hills, and plains.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Humans are omnivores, and have probably the most varied diets. Their consistent curiousity and search for new resources to use has created a wide pallete to choose from. They are also the most likely to domesticate animals, leading to the use of milk and eggs that most in other societies don't use. In areas where grain is plentiful or there is extensive arable farmland, Humans are prone to developing ales and similar forms of alcohol.

Behaviour

While humans tend to think of themselves as the most varied in personality and behavior of the sentient residents of T'sara, there is much that the species has in common. Their comparitively short lives affects their decision making; most of them are not truly 'long term planners'. They also rival orcs in their ability to be stubborn and overly emotional, with grudges being common. This also leads to humans, even those who would describe themselves as introverts, as being social creatures. Family and community is valued highly, even if only for the past few generations.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Humans are curious in that they are the most negatively affected species by the shifting of day, in that they have the poorest night vision of the group.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Humans contain a given name and an inherited family name. Humans value their family lines, though not as obsessive as the Dwarvish tendencies. There is a wide variety in names within this framing. Some noble and wealthy humans will give their children musical sounding names to seem more Elvish and sophisticated, though this is not always received well. Family names alluding to occupations or skills are more common, though far from the norm.

Major Organizations

The Intransican Empire is not only the largest and most important organization among humans, but one of the most impactful groups in all of T'sara. Smaller, informal alliances exert some regional influence. A northern human nation, having been greatly influenced by their Elvish neighbors, has recently shifted from monarchy to a Republic government and strongly encouraged other human societies to do the same.
Linthalia, a small monarchy in the South has outsized influence as a global trading center, transporting the globally sought commodity, Maiden Tea.

Beauty Ideals

Being a species that survies on adapting and leveraging the landscape, humans have the most developed understanding of cosmetics and aromatics. Those that are capable of affording makeup or perfume are expected to do so, with the cost of these goods varying greatly from one region to the next. How much to use and in what way is largely a matter of regional culture, but lipsticks are common among women in most parts of the human world. In most parts of human society, women who wear their hair long are preferred over those who do not, while men are expected to hold their hair short, especially among those in the lower and working classes.

History

Humans were created after the Elves, in the height of the Lost Age, after the elder species had already spread to all corners of ancient T'sara. Relations with them, and the dwarves that follow after them, was loving and strong in this utopian time. Humans quickly outpaced the Elves in population, until the Crisis. While elves suffered the worst of the species during the Crisis, the humans were the most affected by the results. As the land of T'sara was permanently changed from it's perpetual abundancy to a land of harshness and limited resources, and as humans were not gifted the ability for their biology to adapt to climate as Elves had, they struggled to survive in the new world. Adaptations were frequent, finding how to use the land, plants, and animals to their benefit. Within the span of a few human generations, the humans had found ways to thrive in all corners of the new world. Struggles over this territory became common as humans quarrelled with elves, dwarves, orcs, and more for the land with the best resources and a shared ancestral claim. Focused on the civil war with their own kind that would lead to the creation of The Drow, elves abdicated most of these fueds with little challenge. The human domains were a scattered, unorganized collection of independant kingdoms, and would remain until the end of the Second Age. With the dawn of the Triumverate, an unholy alliance that sought to claim T'sara for itself, humans were quickly overwhelmed and conquered. While the Drow had explicitly targeted the Elves as their nemesis, humans largely had to contend principally with the Orcs, who fought with greater ferocity and planning than any thought possible. The war was nearly lost and almost all of humanity was under Orcish rule before a meaningful rebellion formed. From the remnants of the minor human land of Intransica, a former palladin from The Watch of the Eternal Flame coalesced a resistance movement that grew successful. Being the victory that the rest of humanity coalesced around, this sole soldier would grow to lead a nation, and than lead most of humanity. Taking back lands from the Triumverate, this formerly disjointed landscape of kingdoms became united under the new Intransican Empire, and it's leader became a God among Men: The Immortal Emperor.
The Triumverate defeated and the Empire standing tall, the Third Age dawned. Refusing to be so conquered and defeated, The Empire took proactive steps that hadn't been seen before, and remain controversial in other parts of the world. The Empire began by "consolidating" human lands, by conquering and claiming territories of human Kingdoms that refused to abdicate to the Immortal Emperor. The effort is not complete, as there are a number of lands that are technically independant, but Imperial influence is too strong for them to ignore, such as the pervasiveness of their currency. More nefarious is the position taken towards the Orcs. The Empire is still technically at war with the Orcs, as a species rather than as a nation. The Orcs turned the tide in the crisis and nearly changed the political landscape forever: If they were allowed to regain their strength, it would only be a matter of time before they tried it again. While not all human kingdoms are openly hostile and even genocidal towards the Orcs, most have to play along with Imperial rhetoric. The stalemate in this war, and the lack of appearance by the Emperor in over a generation is leading to a decrease of morale and faith in the Empire. The infallibility is being more openly questioned, and it's possible that a splinter movement may lead to a shattering of human alliances, a shift as severe as the Elvish Civil War of the First Age.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Humans are the most likely to engage in relationships with other species, for a number of reasons. Human territory borders and touches all other species to one degree or another, in a way that is the case that has not been the case for Elves and the like. They are also the most likely places to hold the various diaspora's of the world, such as Tieflings, Orcs, Drow, and the like. By being the most likely to cohabitate with these other species, it would be logical that they be most likely to copulate with them. There's other theories to explain human proclivity for such relationships. Some suggest that humans find some part of themselves in each of the other species, such as beards among the dwarves, the fair skin and hair among elves, and so on. While a decent theory, it doesn't necessarily explain fascination and desire for species like the Drow or Tieflings.
On a more macro level, humans have amiable relationships with two of the other species. Dwarves are a consistent trading partner for resources and superior finished goods like weapons. Elves on the whole have been the oldest friend and ally of the Humans, fighting side by side in all of the conflicts that threatened T'sara. Though Orcs were the most important to the global survival of The Crisis, most humans don't give them credit for this. Humans fear their kind almost as much as they do the Drow, for much the same reason. That is, except for the humans who are most likely to interact with them. Human socities and settlements with orc communities have found that they can be reasoned with and have even found a tenuous peaceful existance. These communities quickly discover that the orcs of today are on a fight solely for survival and defense; a narrative the Intransican Empire is dead set on suppressing.

Genetic Descendants

• Tiefling

Lifespan

90+

Geographic Distribution

• Drez
• Linthalia
• The Bastard Isles

Related Organizations

• Dual Khanate of Hlysa
• Khartoum
• Shogunate of Cygia
• Stormfall
• Traxian League
• Vilory
• Vrishkan Mystics
• Yokono