Hriston
Dungeon Master of Middle-earth (He/him)
Hi and Merry Christmas, if that's your thing,
The recent discussions about the possibility of using species for the game-term currently known as race got me thinking about what nomenclature I would use to describe the various speaking peoples of my homebrew setting as I imagine them and as if I was a zoologist given the task of naming them. What I've come up with in addition to an existing subspecies are two imaginary subspecies and two imaginary species:
The recent discussions about the possibility of using species for the game-term currently known as race got me thinking about what nomenclature I would use to describe the various speaking peoples of my homebrew setting as I imagine them and as if I was a zoologist given the task of naming them. What I've come up with in addition to an existing subspecies are two imaginary subspecies and two imaginary species:
- Homo sapiens sapiens or alternatively Homo sapiens donatus (transl.: gifted wise man) - This familiar subspecies (modern humans) would include not only humans, but also elves and halflings. Elves I imagine as physically identical to modern humans in pretty much every way, their primary differences being a separate spiritual destiny and a distinct culture derived from tutelage under various Archfey. Half-elves would of course also fall into this subspecies, taking after either parent. Halflings I conceive of as miniature versions of modern humans with only superficial physical differences such as having slightly pointed ears and, of course, thick hair on the tops of their feet.
- Homo sapiens durus (transl.: wise and hard man) - The dwarves and gnomes would make up this subspecies. Their primary physical difference would be a greater muscular density giving them more strength for their size as well as resistance to extremes of heat and cold. They are analogous to the real-world neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).
- Homo sapiens odio (transl.: wise man of hate) - This subspecies would comprise orcs, goblinoids, and kobolds. Their physical forms are adapted to operating in the darkness as soldiers and servants, both underground and at night, and are influenced by the blood of fiends in goblin form which runs through them.
- Paranthropus dendroides (transl.: tree-like para-man) - I imagine treants as a species of robust australopithecines adapted to resemble the trees they "shepherd" that grow in the forests in which they dwell.
- Paranthropus immanis (tranl.: monstrous para-man) - Ogres, ettins, and trolls would form another species closely related to treants but infused with fiendish magic to give them immense size and strength.
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