Humans are the founders and de facto leaders of the Terran Confederacy. They are one of the youngest races in the known galaxy, only developing spaceflight around eight thousand years ago. They have fought against Precursor War Machines multiple times, and emerged victorious. They are allied with multiple species within the Confederacy, including the Mantid and Treana'ad. Their homeworld, Earth, was glassed by the Mantid in an event that has had significant consequences for the galaxy
Description[]
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Appearance[]
Pure strain humans are bipedal apes that range between one to two meters in height. However, many humans undergo cybernetic enhancements and can vary drastically in appearance. Many humans are full conversion cyborgs, standing around three meters tall and clad in Warsteel armor. Others take on stranger enhancements, becoming ships or piloting mechs the size of skyscrapers. Still others forgo their original bodies for custom grown bodies to better suit their fantasies or from psychosis, the variations are endless.
Rage[]
Human eyes gain a slight amber glow in 'the back' of the pupil when humans begin to feel slightly angry. As the anger grows it crosses from amber to red. Humans are unable to see this, although pictures do exist humans claim it's "a trick of the flash/light" and do not believe it actually happens. Evidence of this occurring even Pre-Glassing is present in photographs and videos.
Other races know that "Red eyes at night, enemies take fright" is a very real thing when dealing with humans.
Biology[]
Barring accidents or violence, by the time of the 6th precursor war, most humans live up to five centuries before mental degradation begins and they die.[citation needed] Humans are the only species that can easily change their body or swap bodies all together. Their DNA consists of three strands instead of the original two, allowing for greater redundancies and more defense against mutation and aging. Genetic alterations have eliminated most birth defects and disorders, along with enhancing even Pure Strain humans.[citation needed] An unaltered human is able to run in a vacuum with minimal protective equipment.[1]
For some reason, humans react poorly to Lanaktallan gentling methods, likely due to their inherent aggression. Most alterations are ineffective, result in death, or have unpredictable consequences.[2]
All humans are equipped with a SUDS, a device that transfers one's consciousness to a backup server in the event of death, adding another layer of security to a human's life.[citation needed]
Some humans are psychically active, but this has largely vanished from the population since the glassing of Earth. Psychically active humans 'scream' in a frequency that is very notable to psychically receptive species.
Clinical Immortals[]
Main article: Clinical Immortal
Clinical Immortals are humans who have become completely immortal, or at least practically unkillable. The most famous clinical immortal is Daxin Freeborn.
History[]
Prehistory and Initial Space age[]
The first FTL expedition to Alpha Centauri accidentally brought back a plague that specifically targeted canines and felines, killing all dogs and cats, and their close relatives. Attempts to clone new copies failed, as the plague somehow managed to infiltrate even stored DNA samples.
Terran Combine and Mantid War[]
The Terran Combine was a Military Dictatorship that existed during the Terran-Mantid war. It was formed by Humanities' interplanetary colonies immediately after the glassing of Terrasol.
Terran Imperium[]
Republic of Beings[]
Terran Confederacy[]
The Confederacy was established after the collapse of the Republic of Beings.
Culture[]
Humans as a culture value freedom above all else. Their law code can be summarized as "do what you want as long as you don't hurt others."[citation needed] The Confederacy as a whole cares little about what its citizens do with their lives so long as their actions do not bring harm to others. Often, the Confederacy does not interfere in planetary rebellions, considering them internal affairs. This freedom extends to almost any action a citizen takes, and there are very few requirements for any being to do anything. A new colony could be started simply by dropping the colonists on a barren planet and wishing them luck with no supplies. What happened to the colonists would be their responsibility.[3]
Humans are also relatively cynical and paranoid. They have learned through experience that the universe doesn't care about them and will try to kill them at any turn, leading to a paradoxical optimism.[3] This paranoia is most evident in how conscious humanity is of its genome. There are multiple sites in Terran space containing their genome, and genetic warfare is illegal in the Confederacy. Humans are also more aggressive than any race within the Unified Council of Systems, which grants them more leeway in Confederate laws when it comes to violence. There is less discouragement of violence within the Confederacy, and humans often express friendship through violence.[2]
A lot of their cultural history was lost in the Great Glassing. While most of this has been retrieved, it has been distorted and confabulated, leading to odd revisions of history. Much of this cultural dissonance can be summarized with the very human quote, "It's obviously bullshit but it's cool, so I choose to believe it."[1]
After the loss of cats and dogs, an intense effort was put forth to create 'clean' genetic material for bringing them back. This has so far been unsuccessful (as far as the public knows). Goodbois (Fidos) and purrbois (kittykitties), cloned dog and cat brains in cybernetic chassis, are as far as anyone has gotten.
The loss of the dogs and cats (Known as The Friend Plague) led to a deep desire to prevent other species from going extinct. Rather than engaging in wars of extinction as so many other species in the galaxy do, humans attempt negotiated settlements (Peace Treaties) at the end of wars, falling back on the 1% Line if the war has been too egregious or too often. Humans attempt to avoid wars of extinction, although they have shown they are more than willing to go to extreme lengths to attain victory, including xenocide (as in the case of the Margite) and 'nova-sparking' entire stellar systems.
Terrans are a great believer in the philosophy of "Leave None Behind".
Human culture prizes individualism, group effort, overcoming obstacles, leisure, and many other things that seem quite contradictory. Interestingly enough Terrans have a problem maintaining happiness due to a static status quo, seeking to change things to gain emotional pleasure again. This is characterized by something as simple as rearranging the furniture or as expansive as relocating hundreds of light years to live in a highly stressful environment. This is due to risk/reward and ongoing contentment neural structures being wired in such way as to have the human brain 'push' a human in to constantly seeking happiness.
Trivia[]
- Humans are the only known feral intelligence to be introduced.