Creating a demi-human race and society

[Tonguez]

Darkvision is sharply limited in distance viewing. No more seeing travellers from a distance. At least your medieval peasants knew that hostiles would be just as blind as they are at night - with darkvision around, the bandits can get within 60' of the village completely unseen.

So guards are posted in a circle 60 feet from the village or perhaps they just have a circle of bonfires which serve to extend the range (I'm assuming normal vision takes over when light is present). We can also assume that light can be used as a weapon - guards wear dark visors and use bright lanterns and flashbang spells to blind darkvision using bad guys.

I like the idea of smaller 'personal space' being the norm. People are suspicious of those who are stand-offish, and there may develop a societal taboo and superstitious about things which 'appear in the distance'

I can see shiftwork applying to many jobs but farmers can't work 24 hours because plants still have their own growth-rest cycles which need to be accounted for.

So far we have
- increased productivity
- increased nighttime activity
- smaller 'personal space'
- less dependence on light sources
- a rationale for the abundance of dungeons
- a need for guards at the 60' mark
- possibly superstitious about things 'in the distance'

 

[Zaruthustran]

Darkvision is sharply limited in distance viewing. No more seeing travellers from a distance. At least your medieval peasants knew that hostiles would be just as blind as they are at night - with darkvision around, the bandits can get within 60' of the village completely unseen.

Well, the bandits wouldn't be any more successful than they'd be when facing humans.

Regular vision still works on top of darkvision. A dwarf can see just as far as a human during the day or night (there's always moonlight, starlight, etc.). What darkvision does is allow him to see perfectly for exactly 60'. Not only outdoors at night, but also in complete darkness (in other words: indoors/underground).

Given that even a dwarf is just as disadvantaged as a human when outdoors at night looking at something 61' away, I think some activities would still tend to shut down at nightfall.

I agree with those that mentioned a longer workday. This would be particularly useful in winter, when the nights are long (and human peasantry are forced to be idle). And such a race would require fewer resources: no need for candles, oil, and wood for illumination. You'd only need fire for heat, industry, or cooking. Much lower chance of accidental fire from, say, a knocked-over candle. Though the nobles would want candles as a luxury, just so they could see colors.

 

[Zaruthustran]

- possibly superstitious about things 'in the distance'

Maybe they'd view nighttime/darkness/60' view distance as "normal", and daytime/light/horizon view distance as a blessing. Like the sun magically reveals everything, even faraway things, and then after awhile the sun goes down and everything returns to normal: clear, colorless vision for 60'.

 

[Nyeshet]

Removed as no longer relevant to the currant discussion.

 

[Slife]

Prisms would be regarded very highly, and the source of much arcane experimentation. When you can see colors only half the time, and black and white the other half, something that turns "colorless" light into colors is fascinating.

EDIT: Perhaps the prismatic sphere and color spray spells would be staples of their wizardry?

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Ok, great going, folks. Cool stuff. Thanks for the replies!

Let's add another *small* change. (wings are not a small change.)
It could be a minor change in stats, another standard demi-human ability, or something else of that sort.
First reasonable suggestion gets it.

Then, we take the modified society (still the Charlemagne society, but with Darkvision) and we extrapolate further from this new change.

Suggestions? Anyone?

Edena_of_Neith

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(snip)

So far we have
- increased productivity
- increased nighttime activity
- smaller 'personal space'
- less dependence on light sources
- a rationale for the abundance of dungeons
- a need for guards at the 60' mark
- possibly superstitious about things 'in the distance'

Indeed we do. Plus the value of prisms. And some other things.

So far, we have at least all these changes.

 

[Slife]

The race has inherent telekinetic powers, and has mage hand as a 1/two hours SLA

(Unlimited might not be bad either. IIRC, the item only costs 700ish gp, and also gives you a ring slot to replace your neck slot.)

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Fire is a prerequisite. We couldn't grow our brains without shrinking our gut (both tissues have enormous metabolic demands). As our brain got relatively larger our gut got relatively shorter.

Interesting theory. Not sure I agree with it, but I see where you're coming from.

Plus, besides cooking, there are social aspects, predators who avoid fire, and so on which argue heavily in favor of mastering fire before human society can really develop.

We're not talking about human society, here, though. We're talking about demihuman society. The hypothetical is not to look at where mankind is now and how it developed, but how things might have developed differently had certain aspects of physical nature been different than they are.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Telepathy. Being able to communicate without sound.

Could be short-range (up to 100'), could be longer (line of sight), or even global (assuming you know the person, and the better you know someone, the farther he can be contacted).

Could be language-dependant (having a "mind-voice") or not (communicating meanings, not words).

It either allows you to "speak" to more than one person at once or it doesn't.


This could have far-reaching influences on the development of languages. Do they need languages at all? Do they need them to mindspeak to each other? Is language only there to holler if someone's out of range? What of other races? Can you mindspeak to them? Can they talk back?

What of written language?