etraya | un: theball

Hey. Hope everyone's recovering from that stupid maze okay.

I'll just get right down to my point of inquiry. For a place that claims that we're meant to save the universe, I've noticed a pretty dramatic human-bias around here that strikes me as kind of odd, considering how diverse the universe actually is.

So I'd like to get a show of hands. Who here is from a world where humans are the only sentient species around, and who here is from a world with more than just humans kicking around? What other sorts of species are around? I'd like to know how much of it is selection-bias based on who's running this place and how much of it is them drawing from places that just don't have any non-human populations. I wouldn't mind hearing about what sorts of non-humans you have around either, but that's probably less important, statistically speaking.

Lastly... what do you see when you look at this picture?

[ Inserted is a photograph of a suave looking goblin man in a tuxedo with a pencil-thin moustache. He's holding a champagne flute towards the camera with his arm around -- something. If you've been infected by the curse, you'll see the goblin man's arm is around a black tabaxi woman, but if not, his arm looks as though it's simply hanging in mid-air. ]

[ OOC NOTE: due to the extremely low likelihood we'll ever get kalina in-game, the picture is just for flavour! if you'd like your character to be infected by the shadowcat and thus able to see her image in the photo, it would be due to any circumstance in which any of riz's bodily fluids were absorbed into their own body in some way, i.e. blood or saliva. feel free to handwave a circumstance in which that could happen, even if it's riz's blood lingering on one of the labyrinth's traps that then got into an open cut of theirs, a glass in the labyrinth he drank from that they then used, etc., etc.! Please see this comment for more information! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. My universe houses sentient life beyond humans. Earth is largely human populated, in the same way many other planets are dominated by sentient beings that aren't human. There are also cases where humans mutated into non-human beings, to such an extent that they can no longer be considered human.

2. I only see a man with his arm hanging in the air. Was this photo taken with a vampire?

1. Okay, this whole 'what defines a human' part wound up being a bigger philosophical debate than I expected. But that's good to know. So, your planet is mostly, but not entirely, human-dominated or at least human-derived. Even if they're the minority, what non-humans do you have around on your planet? Are you a human, or are you one of the mutated humans and/or non-humans?

2. Not a vampire. More like a local curse. I just wanted to see if anyone was from my plane without my knowing, since the likelihood of anyone else being able to see it is pretty low.

You stepped on a proverbial landmine! People love talking about the parameters of humanity and what it means to be a human at all.

But yes, I am human. We have Kryptonians, Martians, Thanagarians, Tamaraneans - they can largely pass as human to some degree but are not human.

Then we have mutated gorillas, sharks, essentially animals that have gained a level of intelligence that they can communicate their thoughts cross species. And there are humans who have powers because of a chemical alteration in their body, scientific or even cosmic. When those people have children they could end up passing on a meta-human gene genetically.

[ He's not going to bring up technically being a meta-human himself though. Trying to be a little covert here for his own sanity if nothing else. ]

I will say, a curse that can impact a person's perception even through photography is fascinating. Though I'm a man of science, so such things are out of my wheelhouse.

Edited 2024-06-01 16:28 (UTC)

I guess having no other species to compete with means that you guys just get to think really, really, really hard about being human.

[ But -- finally! A list! He loves it! ]

Okay, let me get this straight. That first list of species, those are all sentient species that are native to your world, but rare? Or are they extraterrestrial species that came to Earth? If they're aliens, then why did they come to Earth? A couple people have mentioned invasions of a kind. And then these meta-humans of yours, do they self-define as human or non-human? That point's been a mixed bag.

It's a pretty potent curse. [ It's not technically a curse, but he's not sure how safe he feels elaborating. ] It's theologically-based, I guess I'd say. You don't get much stronger on the material plane.

Extraterrestrial. As to why they came to Earth, it's a range. Some are refugees, others were invaders at one point or another. There aren't a lot of them, not even enough to establish communities on Earth. Meta-humans are considered humans, but some individuals may not identify as human anymore for their own reasons. Sometimes superiority, other times inferiority.

Sounds lonely.

[ Says one in about roughly three whole Goblin families in his hometown -- but at least he has the option to go to his grandparents' homeland. ]

Are you one of them? A metahuman? Sorry if it's considered rude to ask. Someone else said it was. [ Then why'd you ask anyway, buddy? ] I don't really see why having powers is anything to feel ashamed of, though. That's just kind of normal where I'm from.

un: theball | text

un: e. thawne

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