Beastpeople... Non-human, but often humanoid sapient races. Also known occassionally as "beastfolk" (in reference to the terms for the two human species). Their appearance often reflects various species of smaller vertebrate and even invertebrate animals.
An important thing to bear in mind, is that even with some of the
beastfolk species being more numerous and mundane, the vast majority of
sapient individuals you'd encounter in my setting would still be humans.
Particularly those of regular height. It is still a human-dominated
world, in pure numerical terms alone, but the beastfolk exist there to
add some otherworldliness, differing and more non-human perspectives,
and some tension and intrigue derived from that.
You'll notice that there are no elves, orcs or trolls in this setting,
and even the "halflings" and dwarves" are quite different and actually
fall under humans. The beastfolk also don't fall into entirely easy and
predictable "fantasy race" stereotypes. I want to use this final post to
adress this topic, as well as the topic of the beastfolk's differing
psychologies, and the roles they play in society and in interactions
with humans.
As much as I like the archetype of halflings and particularly dwarves in
fantasy, I felt that if the non-human species of my setting are clearly
separate from humans, making people who look outwardly like humans into
entirely separate species would seem confusing.
The fact that the smallfolk are merely a variety or offshoot of regular
humans goes back to Tolkien's own conception of his hobbits, as merely a
physically shorter, only slightly different offshoot of Men. That the
permons are culturally and socially distinct, but not at all
biologically, is also rooted in the fact that central European miner
dwarves of legend somewhat blurred the line between "tiny humans",
"gnomes/fairies of the mines", etc. Making them all essentially human,
with only two clearly distinct variations in terms of biology, felt like
the most natural and simplest route to me. At least for what I was
trying to achieve in terms of the society's dynamics and relations.
The beastmen humanoids also tend to come in several phenotype
variations, so that underscores the fact that humans also come in two
varieties (and a hybridisation of the two), and it makes that variation
in my setting's humans seem more mundane and plausible.
While the Smallfolk usually escape racist notions of other humans, and
humans in general tend to get along well with each other, beastpeople
often get the short end of the stick when it comes to social prejudices.
Popular legends about the origins of beastpeoples don't help, as both
Bigfolk and Smallfolk humans use them to argue the notion that beastfolk
are just humans who were cursed into animalistic forms in ancient
times, now long forgotten.
On the somewhat opposite side of this opinions spectrum, there are
romantically-inclined writers and thinkers who prefer to portray these
species as noble savages, often arguing that they deserve extra praise
for carrying on as thinking beings despite their possible curse. As of
late, with the spread of the scientific method and the current
scientific revolution, some naturalists have started gathering evidence
and forging hypotheses in support of more mundane origins of the various
beastpeoples. Whether their assumptions prove correct though, and help
to undermine the old legends and superstitions, remains an open question
for now. Passionate debates between supporters of the mythical/curse
argument and the supporters of some sort of yet-unexplained
antropomorphic evolution are already starting to rage...
Unless you count the petty local chiefdoms and barely governed statelets
of the wolverinemen, none of the beastpeoples of Aporue have their own
polity. They're minorities everywhere (aside from parts of the northern
wilderness), because humans have a clear numerical advantage in
absolutely every country. Even in Melza, some beastpeoples are quite
rare in the city itself and tend to be rural dwellers, some are rural
and live in towns as well, and some of the sapient species from the
continent don't even occur there that often (e.g. the gulomen are mostly
visiting traders).
One more important thing is that, though the various beastpeoples might
share elements from human cultures they coexist with on a daily basis,
they are not meant to be stand-ins for any existing human culture. I'm
not one for allegory, especially ham-fisted ones, so the non-human
sapients are meant to stand on their own as a storytelling device,
rather than a cheap allegory for any nation or group of people. Though,
tellingly, I have some species get along better with certain groups of
humans than others, due to more of an overlap in what they value most,
what lifestyle and goals they prefer, and so on and so forth. Permons
get along well with "Stonies", a mountain-dwelling variety of martenmen,
rarachs get along very well with hedgehogmen families, due to very
similar urban and rural lifestyles, etc. Everyone in the setting is an
individual, though, and I approach characters not through lazier fantasy
lit templates, but more from the perspective of a historical fiction
writer.
Speaking as an author, I myself am tired of the lazy
analogies/allegories made by making some fictional species a stand-in
for some real world culture or group, including a marginalized one.
Aside from this adding an unnecessary victim complex to the
worldbuilding - which might even be seen as counterproductive and
insulting - there is also the fact that I write characters as
individuals, not as chess pieces beholden to a certain stereotype.
There's also the fact that humans as a whole are not one big happy
family at all. There's as much racism and prejudice, or almost as much,
as in real history. Some of it related to skin colour and appearance
(though a bit less so than in real history), some of its prejudice from
coming from this offshoot of humanity or the other, or having ancestry
in both. There's plenty of prejudice towards beastpeoples, especially
some species, and it's also a two-way street. Finally, the beastpeoples
have plenty of prejudices of their own, even towards members of their
own species. This is a very morally grey setting, and the "good guys"
are defined purely by what they do and what values they hold, not by
what they look like or what group they belong to. Things like good
friendships are not an absolute given, they depend on particular
individuals, rather than simple allegiance to some group.
Things are all the more morally greyer because my setting generally
focuses on... well, criminals. Nicer criminals, but they are still
thieves, operating outside of the law. Even among the most professional
thieves, there's always a degree of rivalry and cutthroatery, whether
it's between freelancers-individuals, fellowships or guilds.
Professional freelancers are quite rare in Melza, regardless of species
and origin. Most thieves work alone as petty thieves, or in small
impromptu gangs. Some form more professional fellowships, and those that
bother to cooperate like a proper long-term organization with common
goals form proper thieving guilds. Guilds are rarer than fellowships,
fellowships rarer than gangs, petty gangs and thieves are the most
common, and professional freelance thieves are the rarest of all.
The beastpeoples have several subversions of their own. The hedgefolk
have a reputation for being endearing, pacifist pushovers, but they're
actually very skillful with plenty of different weapons and have a few
favourites. Even if they are a defensive-minded species, they will open
up a can of whupass on anyone in a man-to-man fight, especially if that
someone threatens or insults them. I didn't mention that Mürtli, besides
being into mechanical stuff and knowing how to drive early motor
wagons, is also a bombmaker for the Ditchers. Do not underestimate the
mild-mannered hedger nerds, that could prove deadly... Do you like
otters ? Do you think otters are cute ? Sure they are. But if you look
at some of the otterfolk, several of them are still haughty, dangerous
river and sea pirates and criminals. Some of the more conservative
otrins are also de facto bomb-throwing luddites who despise modern
industry, and particularly modern ships, or the fact that society has
turned its back against the old otrin practice of enslaving hapless
people. The "fundie" otrins despise those fellow ottermen who are not
antagonistic towards technological progress and get along well with
humans and other beastpeople. My setting has no elves, but if there's an
equivalent of the "arsehole, haughty elves with a massive superiority
complex towards everyone" cliché in fantasy, then some of the less
reasonable otterfolk come close...
The beastmen species might seem gimmicky on the surface, but the way I
use them as characters in my narratives, and in the missions and
campaigns of my RPG, is anything but. I've always felt that, regardless
of what character I'm writing, male or female, human or non-human, I
write them as an individual first, and they have to feel like a distinct
and believable individual to a reader. I think it's telling that even
my holiday story included two skillful and ethically complex but
positive non-human characters in the main cast. The humans feel like
secondary characters at times, and it's ironic that the two beastmen
thieves were helping an orphanage that contains mostly human children.
I like writing the beastfolk characters with an equal degree of
seriousness and humour as the human ones. I've often been disappointed
that people think animal-like humanoids in fantasy can only fall under
"brutish", "animalistic" character stereotypes, or portrayals where
they're simpletons, etc. At the same time, people always harp on about
everyone still lazily copying Tolkien's paradigm on non-humans. So, part
of my use of the beastmen species is to show they can be equally
fully-fledged and compelling, human-like characters (in terms of
personality, emotions, intelligence, personal ethics, ambitions, values,
etc.), while staying non-human in more ways than one.
The height varieties among humans is what you'd expect from normal
humans, typical fantasy halflings and typical fantasy dwarves. Bigfolk
and newtmen are the tallest of all the playable species (though
individual lobstermen can occassionally be quite a bit taller than
either of the two). The rest are less tall than the bigfolk and newtmen.
The hedgefolk and stoatfolk are essentially the beastpeoples' loose
equivalent of the smallfolk humans - the hedgehogmen being the more
slow, calm and cautious example and the stoatmen the more jumpy, lively,
jovial types. The martenfolk, wolverfolk and otterfolk are in the
middle, essentially the beastpeoples' analogue of bigfolk humans. You
could also say they fill in the typical "civilised
man"/"barbarian"/"haughty elf" archetype niches, much like how the
hedgers and stoaties are the "beastfolk halflings". Hedgefolk and
stoatfolk are roughly of the same general height, similar to that of the
smallfolk humans. The otterfolk are the tallest "furry" species on
average, though even their tallest members are rarely as tall as a
slightly-taller-than-average adult bigfolk human or adult newtman. The
slimmer martenfolk and the more muscular wolverfolk are generally of a
similar height, just like stoatfolk and hedgefolk individuals, or rarach
and permon individuals. Both martenmen and gulomen are about as tall as
a shorter-to-averagely-tall adult human or adult newtman.
You can also notice the in-joke in the heights of the "mustelid" people.
Martenfolk are equivalents to ordinary humans, just better at climbing,
stoatmen are equivalents to the short humans, and have a reputation for
being rogues who love swashbuckling, the gulomen are slightly shorter
and more rough-and-buff than the martenmen and are a nod at the "tough
northern barbarian" stock characters from fantasy lit (wolverines being
just buffer martens even in the real world), and finally, the otterfolk
are the tallest, have the highest opinion of themselves, and when they
use their pride not for good and friendship, but for the sake of power,
they are a bit of an elf analogy (of both the elven highs and lows).
Outside of the mustelids, the hedgefolk are fairly halfling-ish or
gnome-ish, in various aspects, on top of the setting also having human
halfling/gnome variations.
There's also the fact that the animal counterparts of these beings still
exist in this world. Yes. No one can explain why there are humanoids
with features of hedgehogs, mustelids, and other creatures, but they
exist for some reason, and there are plenty of theories about their
origins...
I think it's telling that I explicitly mention rarachs and permons in
particular having their own "beastfolk allies", a preferred species of
beastfolk they consider non-human brothers and sisters, particularly due
to similarities in lifestyle. Rarachs get along best with the
hedgehogmen, due to a similar worldview and approach to life, Permons
respect the variety of martenmen that likes dwelling in the mountains
and dabbling in mining and crafting, much like them. Humans of northern
Aporue also have trade ties and even friendships with the sablemen and
wolverinemen. I'd say the theme of all this complex symbiosis between
the various sapient species - sometimes more successful, sometimes
barely successful - is as important to my setting's social fabric as the
theme of mutual tensions and misunderstandings.
We personally don't like orc-style or "edgy" races in fantasy, including
in tabletop RPGs. Part of why my own setting has nothing of the sort.
A matter of tone, but it's also just more interesting (in my book) to
have beings with an outward appearance considered neutral (rather than
deeply feared and hated), while keeping the moral ambiguity firmly in
place. Including the obvious reversal potential of
nice-seeming/charismatic characters demasking themselves as calculating
and evil, and bitter-seeming and grumpy characters might turn out to be
principled and good-natured, etc.
Overviews of the Thick as Thieves (Orbis Furum) sapient species
- Humans (Manfolk) overview
- Newtmen (Newtfolk) overview
- Hedgehogmen (Hedgefolk) overview
- Martenmen (Martenfolk) overview
- Wolverinemen (Wolverfolk) overview
- Ottermen (Otterfolk) overview
- Stoatmen (Stoatfolk) overview
- Lobstermen and Crabmen (Crustfolk) overview
- Ravenmen (Ravenfolk) overview (apocryphal species)
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