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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elfdart" data-source="post: 3007387" data-attributes="member: 31475">One problem with this discussion is the fact that many things we consider uniquely "human" aren't. Other animals experience love, hate, fear, awe, greed and even empathy. So the notion that made-up creatures that are closer to humans than to say, cockroaches should be that much different from us is silly. In (A)D&D elves, orcs and ogres are close enough to humans that they can interbreed and produce live young. So why should their mentality be much different? Even for creatures that aren't hominids, like troglodytes, lizard men, kuo-toa, et al, we should keep in mind that they live in one form of civilization or another. They build homes, forge weapons, worship gods and so on. In other words, they live like humans so trying to empathize with such creatures shouldn't be a stretch. Even normal animals aren't such a great stretch. Anyone who watches wildlife documentaries or movies like the one with the two bears has no problem figuring out the creatures' motives. In Raptor Red the author puts you inside the head of a dinosaur. All it takes is a little imagination, which adhering to "archetypes" (a euphemism for cliches) has a way of smothering.</blockquote>