So, I took Widigo's original post...
Widigo
What do you think about the plethora of Races found in fiction. Some have a lot others have a little. I personaly don't mind the multitude of races so long as they are well done and aren't too stereotypical. By that I mean that I don't mid it when all Dwarves are a bit rough and to the point, but I do mind when your Dwarves are the same as the guy next to you's. Originality is all I require from a good story, I don't mind the use of Dwarves, of Elves, or Trolls. If you look back far enough you'll find that they're all from some cultures mythology or another's so in all reality there buried somewhere in everyone's subconscious.
Don't hesitate to share your race lists here, and ask questions of other peoples. I finished my list a week ago now that I'm going full steam on world building it was one of the first things done.
One thing everyone asks me as well as in general is why there are only one or two human species when we have so many colors, but there are three or four dwarves, or elves. The simple answer being that we are all the same below the skin. The more complex answer being that we feel obligated to not separate ourselves from one another. Dwarves feel no shame in acknowledging that difference in skin color. They still respect one another, but don't deny their difference with titles. Or in some cases they truly are diffrent, due to their isolated evolution during a time when they hid from humans, and thus traveled very little. For example you have Plains Dwarves the little people you see around, we call them midgets (if your a spineless jackass), or small people. Then you have Bay Dwarves, which have a bluish, greenish skintone, and are usually about a foot shorter, they make good pirates, and make you think of smurfs. They are both dwarves, but there is a clear difference. With humans there is only one type. Unless you have two like me. Of course these are my race, but it's one of my best examples.
What are your opinions or questions about races in general, or about mine.
Don't hesitate to share your race lists here, and ask questions of other peoples. I finished my list a week ago now that I'm going full steam on world building it was one of the first things done.
One thing everyone asks me as well as in general is why there are only one or two human species when we have so many colors, but there are three or four dwarves, or elves. The simple answer being that we are all the same below the skin. The more complex answer being that we feel obligated to not separate ourselves from one another. Dwarves feel no shame in acknowledging that difference in skin color. They still respect one another, but don't deny their difference with titles. Or in some cases they truly are diffrent, due to their isolated evolution during a time when they hid from humans, and thus traveled very little. For example you have Plains Dwarves the little people you see around, we call them midgets (if your a spineless jackass), or small people. Then you have Bay Dwarves, which have a bluish, greenish skintone, and are usually about a foot shorter, they make good pirates, and make you think of smurfs. They are both dwarves, but there is a clear difference. With humans there is only one type. Unless you have two like me. Of course these are my race, but it's one of my best examples.
What are your opinions or questions about races in general, or about mine.
Also, here's the most recent post for the former thread from Marcairn.
Marcairn
I'm so happy people here don't go "Oh my God. Elves. Can't you be a little more original?"
I also like the idea of a diversity of races. I'm currently remaking my world as I discovered it's so full of holes you can see right through it; even so, most of my races will remain the same although I have discovered some new things about my humans just by thinking about what I'm going to adjust. I sort of have two human races; one from our own world and one more recently from another world. Both are humans in every sense of the word; the differences lie in language, adaption and relationship with the other races.
My elves, too, consist of different races - fire elves, ice elves, high elves - but they were all created in the image of the human being, only as supposed perfections. The differences between the three elven races are greater than the ones between the humans, both when it comes to appearance and different attributes. While the humans have settled somewhere and adapted to that place, the elves have settled where they have because of their nature. The attributes of their gods reflect on each their respective creation. Other than that, the elves are mostly like humans - maybe a little more religious since the existence of the gods is absolutely certain and their continued favour is required lest the elves risk, say, the lights going out. All lights. Including the sun.
I also have dwarves but right now I'm not sure if I'll be using your standard short, stocky, beardy, cursing, ale-drinking fellow. In the "old version" I had both that kind of dwarf and an evolved race of Norse dwarves (meaning they can withstand sunlight, which, according to dear old wikipedia, Norse dwarves can't). However, I will still have Norse dwarves in my world - with their own name, of course, so as not to cause confusion and/or misunderstandings.
I also like the idea of a diversity of races. I'm currently remaking my world as I discovered it's so full of holes you can see right through it; even so, most of my races will remain the same although I have discovered some new things about my humans just by thinking about what I'm going to adjust. I sort of have two human races; one from our own world and one more recently from another world. Both are humans in every sense of the word; the differences lie in language, adaption and relationship with the other races.
My elves, too, consist of different races - fire elves, ice elves, high elves - but they were all created in the image of the human being, only as supposed perfections. The differences between the three elven races are greater than the ones between the humans, both when it comes to appearance and different attributes. While the humans have settled somewhere and adapted to that place, the elves have settled where they have because of their nature. The attributes of their gods reflect on each their respective creation. Other than that, the elves are mostly like humans - maybe a little more religious since the existence of the gods is absolutely certain and their continued favour is required lest the elves risk, say, the lights going out. All lights. Including the sun.
I also have dwarves but right now I'm not sure if I'll be using your standard short, stocky, beardy, cursing, ale-drinking fellow. In the "old version" I had both that kind of dwarf and an evolved race of Norse dwarves (meaning they can withstand sunlight, which, according to dear old wikipedia, Norse dwarves can't). However, I will still have Norse dwarves in my world - with their own name, of course, so as not to cause confusion and/or misunderstandings.
Also, here's a quote from me on that particular thread.
It explains a bit about a race I created for my own world.
The question at the end may either be very easy to answer, or very difficult.
DM_Melkhar
I've named my dark elves, but I'm not going to say what, and I am trying to find names for my normal elves, and also another species of elf that I'm not going to say much on either.
I have also created another race that have elven-type temperaments, but have a different kind of appearance. They're not related to elves at all though. They have different shaped ears and look at bit like Dwingvatt on Ninety-Nine Nights.
This is Ninety-Nine Nights' version of goblins. I thought that was an interesting idea and so decided to base a race of my own on them, but obviously making them a lot more original. It's just their appearances that bear a resemblance. I've also given a name to this race.
I have also created another race that have elven-type temperaments, but have a different kind of appearance. They're not related to elves at all though. They have different shaped ears and look at bit like Dwingvatt on Ninety-Nine Nights.
This is Ninety-Nine Nights' version of goblins. I thought that was an interesting idea and so decided to base a race of my own on them, but obviously making them a lot more original. It's just their appearances that bear a resemblance. I've also given a name to this race.
Today, I was trying to write a bit of my new updated version of chapter 2. Then I got stuck.
I thought "how can I add a bit more about this race into my description as they turn up?" and then came the idea of a smell. The most interesting type of smells I could come up with were that of reptiles and plants. I read a bit about how sweat can smell different depending on diet. If you eat a lot of fish and have a particular deficiency, your sweat may end up smelling of rotting fish, or if it smells sweet/fruity it might indicate there's undiagnosed diabetes (that wasn't a factor in my diagnosis of the ailment I can tell you that much).
The thing is, this race are NOT related to reptiles, nor do they have scaly skin. Eating reptiles isn't going to make someone smell of them either really. It's a different type of meat to fish, and because fish have a rather strong smell anyway, it's more logical for people to smell fishy if they have this disorder (that I can't be arsed to find out the name of right now).
Plants on the other hand.....well, I'm not sure that they should be vegetarian. However, if they ate a lot of particular types of plants and had an alternative type of gland (not dissimilar to our sweat glands) which would mean they'd have a particular type of natural scent? They'd smell just as bad as we do when we've worked hard and failed to wash, but their natural scent probably wouldn't be "liked" by other races and could possibly be carried at a distance in some way (all ideas welcome if you have any). I thought of my main character saying "what's that smell?" indicating that these guys are in the vicinity waiting to attack - or something of the likes.
And yes, the particular race in question are the ones mentioned in the quote.
