Transhuman fantasy?

[Umbran]

ASIDE: I am somewhat disappointed that an argument about terminology has appeared so soon in an "idea sharing" type thread.

Dude, it is difficult to know what ideas would be useful to share, unless you know what the other person is talking about. If I went off on a tangent about things you can include for what I was thinking meant "transhuman" themes, it looks like most of it would have been noise to Hobo, of no use.

Now, having had a little exchange with him on it, I know what to offer that might be useful.

 

[BlackMoria]

I ran a campaign a number of years ago in which there were no elves, dwarves, gnomes or halflings.

Instead, the playable races were re-skinned races from Star Trek, so you could play a Vulcan, Klingon, Cardassian, Bajoran, Ferrengi, or Betazed, though the races names were different and they modded up so that they were not direct crossovers but retained some elements. The races had a common evolutionary root but magical manipulation, environment changes, two near extinction level events and other factors in this world's ancient past accounted for the differences in the races.

So the Klingons were called Krazai - a honor driven warrior culture with elements of Klingon, Viking and Tolkien dwarf cultural elements mixed together, as an example.

The campaign was highly enjoyable

 

[Raven Crowking]

Dude, it is difficult to know what ideas would be useful to share, unless you know what the other person is talking about.

Dude, he defined it in the OP.

 

[Umbran]

Dude, he defined it in the OP.

From where I sat, he looked like he said, "I want mocha," and then went on to talk only of chocolate, and nothing about the coffee. So, I engaged in some conversation on the point, to gain clarity.

At this point, dealing with your objection is a more disruptive threadjack than the thing you're complaining about.

 

[Umbran]

Hobo, there's a book by Dougal Dixon, titled Man After Man, unfortunately no longer in print. It is a sort of speculative biological survey and art book, detailing with a future n which man goes about engineering himself, and then the timescale becomes long enough for evolutionary forces to play a part....

Some of the concept, and much of the art, is disturbing to some folks. However, the book is evocative, and may serve as some inspiration, if you can find a copy or even some selections of the artwork.

 

[Krensky]

This is how I tend to use the standard "demihuman" races in my campaigns. In literature, elves, dwarves, halflings and such are really just forced stereotypes of certain aspects of human culture anyway (usually), so I tend to think of these races as offshoots of humanity or parallel human races, like the Neanderthals in the real world.

Of course, the myths and culture of a race, such as the elves, might claim they are not related to humanity. And, in truth, this bit of evolutionary background doesn't come into play hardly ever. But it makes more sense to my scientific mind.

Actually, in that setting it does.

The three 'original' races - Humans, Dwares, and Hrandi (think Orc, I suppose) go back into pre-history. Dwarves and Hrandi and their deviation from Humans are matters for archeologists (or were before the Wizard War). Elves were created by a spell to resolve a political and legal problem facing the Otovar Empire with Warlocks (like D&D sorcerers) and the White Code (regulating magic use) and are only a milenia or two old. Half Elves (who are generally right bastards) are from interbreeding with humans. Halflings are only a few centuries old. Not evryone knows this, the setting's a bit post apocolyptic, so this sort of history isn't a priority, but Wencit (the last White Wizard) does and explains it all at one point. The Hrandi as angry barbarians is new too, also dating from the Wizard War.

 

[Desdichado]

I've read (and really enjoy) Man After Man, although I think After Man was more my speed.

My conception of transhuman fantasy is only recently and in many ways lightly "transcending" humanity, not radical depictions of a post-human state. There'll be time for that later down the line in the setting, maybe.

 

[Umbran]

I've read (and really enjoy) Man After Man, although I think After Man was more my speed.

Agreed. Man After Man was interesting, but kinda creepy, and left me feeling a bit like I wanted to wash my hands after reading it. I suppose that was the intent.

After Man is just a good inspiration for GMs, in general. He also wrote The New Dinosaurs, which speculates on evolutionary trends should the dinos not have gotten obliterated at the end of the Cretaceous.

My conception of transhuman fantasy is only recently and in many ways lightly "transcending" humanity, not radical depictions of a post-human state.

Gotcha. Are you thinking more along the lines of human adopting traits from other animals (say, creating the moral equivalent of owlbears, but with one of the halves being human), or molding humans into having new traits?

And, another question - are you thinking more "altering humans to fit a societal job/role" or more "altering humans to fit a particular environment or resource need".

 

[Nifft]

There was a thread at RPG.net which seems related.

- - -

I like the ideas of transhumanism, and fantasy can do it pretty well.

For "light" transformation, you could go with something like...

- Humans. The baseline. We know them, we know how they smell.

- Warforged. The idea of a "created" race resonates well (for me) in this setting, especially if you allow them to modify their basic nature ("self-forge"?). Also, they're the replacement Dwarf for people who want to be ultra-stoic and like to spend too much time underground.

- Mohj (from Arcana Evolved). They are humans who used arcane magic to transform themselves into dragon-like beings. They become sterile, but they can bud off weak pygmy clones of themselves called "kobolds". Other self-transformed races could be used as well (Elan), or you could reflavor certain human-based races to be self-transformed (Tieflings, Changelings, Illumians, Shifters).

- Grafts & symbionts, especially undead grafts.

- Liches as the top of the arcane transformation food chain. They are the original sell-yourself-for-power guys, and while they may have frozen their personal evolution in a bid for immortality, the place they stopped at is a pretty darn strong one. They

Cheers, -- N

 

[Desdichado]

Gotcha. Are you thinking more along the lines of human adopting traits from other animals (say, creating the moral equivalent of owlbears, but with one of the halves being human), or molding humans into having new traits?

Moreus, huh? I hadn't really thought that.

And, another question - are you thinking more "altering humans to fit a societal job/role" or more "altering humans to fit a particular environment or resource need".

Actually, I'm not quite sure. My initial idea was that most of the "transhuman" races were specifically bred while humanity languished in slavery to the Old Ones or something, but I've kinda moved away from that idea a bit (I had other races in mind for that concept, too.) Now I'm thinking that transhumans are popping up more and more over many generations, either due to magical corruption in various parts of the world, or something else. I guess that makes it a bit like the mutants popping up all over the Marvel Universe, in a way, except what if Magneto actually had a nation or two where mutants were the dominant social caste? And instead of being random, many of these races have been around long enough to breed true and predictably in at least some populations.

But I'd say that the answer to that question is a bit adrift right now. I could maybe be convinced to do all kinds of different things with it, if I see an idea that I like.