Bubbalicious
First Post
I think there's one way to do what I think you are trying to do. Let me see if I have this straight.
1) You want these to be actual species occuring naturally.
2) You don't want them to be the product of long-ago acts of bestiality by Humans.
As you have put it, it's impossible. But you're thinking about it wrong. Don't think in terms of half-Human half-animal, but think in terms of Human-like animals.
We have a race in our homebrew world that is not a hybrid, but extra-planar in origin. Basically, on another plane of existence, panthers (in this case) evolved in a way parallel to the evolution of apes to man in our world. They are not part Human, but entirely separate.
If you want ape-like "sort-of-humans", the evolution could be slightly different physically from our own world, so that your races retain a little more of their animal appearance than we have retained from our ape ancestors.
Have a world where several animals evolved to walk upright, harness fire, use tools, develop language, etc. You could even (in a sort of nod to "Planet Of The Apes", have one species be stronger (like Half-Orcs), one species be more agile (like Elves) and so on. Even better, have one species be better scientists, another be master traders, another be artistically gifted, etc.
Basically, have fun with it. But remember... if you're going to make a new world, then MAKE A NEW WORLD!!! Removing it a little further from our reality gives you the flexibility to set WHATEVER RULES YOU WANT!!! After all, you are the GM!
1) You want these to be actual species occuring naturally.
2) You don't want them to be the product of long-ago acts of bestiality by Humans.
As you have put it, it's impossible. But you're thinking about it wrong. Don't think in terms of half-Human half-animal, but think in terms of Human-like animals.
We have a race in our homebrew world that is not a hybrid, but extra-planar in origin. Basically, on another plane of existence, panthers (in this case) evolved in a way parallel to the evolution of apes to man in our world. They are not part Human, but entirely separate.
If you want ape-like "sort-of-humans", the evolution could be slightly different physically from our own world, so that your races retain a little more of their animal appearance than we have retained from our ape ancestors.
Have a world where several animals evolved to walk upright, harness fire, use tools, develop language, etc. You could even (in a sort of nod to "Planet Of The Apes", have one species be stronger (like Half-Orcs), one species be more agile (like Elves) and so on. Even better, have one species be better scientists, another be master traders, another be artistically gifted, etc.
Basically, have fun with it. But remember... if you're going to make a new world, then MAKE A NEW WORLD!!! Removing it a little further from our reality gives you the flexibility to set WHATEVER RULES YOU WANT!!! After all, you are the GM!