un: theball | text

[stresstokens]

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! ]

Comments

un: deku

[wannasmash]

no one told me they weren't human, so i just assumed everyone i met was. my mistake. there aren't any other kinds of people in my world. however, there is now a greater variation among humans due to our quirks appearing. sometimes we have scales or cat ears or wings or whatever.

he looks very charming. is this you?

un: sandalphon

[prevail]

Humans are far from the only sentient life in the Sky Realm.

"Human" also encompasses various diverse races. Others are humanoid, as is that well-dressed goblin in the image.

[stresstokens]

Some non-humans do look pretty human, but it's not such a bad thing to assume. I doubt anyone will actually get offended. Where I'm from, it's pretty obvious what species you are, so long as you look at people's ears.

No, that's not me. That's my Dad. Do you see anyone else in the photo? The person his arm is around?

[ Probably not. But he has to specify. The Quirk thing -- well, he can circle back to that in a second. ]

[stresstokens]

Do you see who he's got his arm around in the photo?

But yeah, that sounds a lot more like what I'm used to. When it comes to sentient life where you're from, are they mainly 'humanoid', or are there others? And are you human too, or are you one of those humanoid species?

[prevail]

I don't. Is that a form of visual test?

There are many others. Though humanoid species are common, they are far from the only ones to possess sentience. My own kind are known as primal beings. Primarchs such as myself are always humanoid, though we can manifest other forms. Primal beasts may be humanoid or something entirely different. Ikelos, for instance, resembles a tapir, if your realm has such a creature.

text — un: willa

[infirmiere]

[ do not tell the boy that the man who is probably his dad is hot as hell, bitch don't do it, don't do it! ]

Wow, what a DILF

un: blackhat | text

[equivo]

Humans are the only original sentient species on my world. There's some debate on if they're the only ones that still qualify on the 'sentient' and 'species' fronts. It depends on where you land on mutations and the validity of being grown in a lab.

I see a green guy in a tuxedo.

( text | un: kent )

[anewhope]

Do you mean world as in "universe"? Or galaxy?

private; @everybodysoracle

[furiousfists]

I ought to start charging people a dollar every time they ask me why my ears are pointed.

Did you know there are worlds out there where elves only exist in fantasy novels and fairy tales?

[wannasmash]

ah, someone i know has an invisibility quirk too. it's working really well, i couldn't tell there was anyone there at all.

[ Wait... is the person technically naked??? Hagakure only does that when she needs maximum stealth. Or maybe the person in the photo has found a way to include their clothes in the invisibility field... ]

un: Panacea | text

[ontologically]

Technically we had another species living with us but it was less sapient species and much more like... an alien virus that started immitating humanity so hard that it started having feelings. Beyond that there's just been mutations off of humanity.

[She's not going to bring up Nilbog given that this kid is probably an actual real life goblin? But she's also not sure it's relevant.]

You're a goblin, I'm guessing?

un: finaltara

[spinoff]

Nothing but humans where I'm from. If there's aliens around, it's still science fiction.

And that looks...straight out a fantasy book.

[stresstokens]

[ Willa... oh no, he recognizes that name. Tragedy: that nice girl you met is just as horny as the rest of your friends. ]

I really wish people would stop saying that

[ When he shows the picture? There's about a 50/50 chance someone will say that. ]

[infirmiere]

I meant he's a Dad I'd Like to be Friends with because he looks super cool like a secret agent but DILBFWBHLSCLSA is a mouthful

Was that a good recovery? Did I come back from that?

text; un: Storm

[agoddessonce]

I do not strictly identify as human, but I suppose that would also depend on how we define human, genetically speaking.

May I ask for what you are basing this "human-bias" on? I'm interested in the numbers myself.

un: e. thawne

[projected]

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?

[stresstokens]

That's a tick for the 'humans-only' box. Which I'm starting to see is surprisingly common with you guys, but not vice versa. Weird.

So you don't have any non-humans around, but you do have stories about non-humans? Is that right?

[stresstokens]

Okay, the alien virus thing has me thinking of like thirty more questions. But I guess the most pertinent one is the 'alien' part. Do you mean that the other species came from another plane or world entirely? How does a virus manage to imitate humanity?

[ And... huh. ]

Not me in the picture, by the way, but I am a Goblin. Which seems weird that you're able to guess that much if my species doesn't even exist where you're from.

[stresstokens]

More like a magical phenomenon. I wouldn't expect anyone not from my world to be able to see it, so it's a decent litmus test. It's not like I know everyone from my world, you know?

Okay, so you're a primal being, which is different from just being a human and comes in several variations. Cool. I think I'm following along with all that. So if your people are humanoids, what distinguishes you from humans, physiologically speaking? Is it just the ability to manifest different forms?

[stresstokens]

That's not quite what's going on here, but that's okay. Just call it a little academic test of mine.

But I was curious what you were talking about, when you mentioned quirks. I don't think we have anything like that where I'm from. It's some sort of genetic mutation in humans? That also give you guys powers?

[stresstokens]

I've gotten the opposite! Nobody's asked me anything, so I figured everyone just knew what I was until everyone spilled that they had no idea. Maybe they're more worried about looking impolite because it's more obvious with me???

I'm starting to learn that. Which I hate, for the record. I'd rather our species just not exist at all than be some human's fantasy. There's gotta be some planar bleed or something happening there.

[stresstokens]

Honestly, I'm a little stuck on what terminology is best here. World seemed like the simplest shorthand. I think the more accurate word might be 'realm' to account for interplanar differences as well as interplanetary differences?

Aliens have gotten a few mentions already. I'm guessing that's where you're going with this?

[prevail]

We're created artificially using the natural elements which exist in our world. Primarchs, specifically, are intended to oversee the balance of these elements in the world, as an imbalance would be ruinous.

Though I have manifested in this form, I am made of elemental energy.

[ He says it so frankly, but it's simple fact to him. ]

[stresstokens]

But nobody beside him, right? Cool. I kind of knew you wouldn't, but it's nice to get some verification.

I can't emphasize enough how weird it is to me that so many of you have humans as the only representative species where you're from, but at least that's making this place's population make a little more sense. Maybe people like me really are the minority.

[ One of the only Goblins in Elmville, now the only Goblin in this place. It's fine. He's used to it. ]

So what you're saying is that there are only humans where you're from, but people have been fucking around with cloning and that opened up a bunch of philosophical debates?

[stresstokens]

Unfortunately, being in high school apparently means I'm legally obligated to retain the knowledge that it actually means "Dad I'd Like to Fuck".

Which as an acronym is already weird enough without it being said about my Dad, specifically.