In the process of rebuilding our civilization, we must at some point contact other intelligent beings and tribes in the world. In the past, diplomats, soldiers, traders, and anyone else who would interact with the outside world would learn about the cultures, thoughts, and anatomy of the other intelligent beings in the world. We will maintain this tradition, and recover as much as we can of our history and knowledge of other intelligent beings.
The Five Common Beings
While our world is full of intelligent beings, must are confined to small areas, or like the dragons, exist in small numbers. Before the ground vine invasions, only 5 intelligent beings, us, humans, tentacled, djinn, and cultists, filled much of the world, and as we rebuild, it is almost certain that we will see the other 4 again, as well as other hives of chitinous.
Humans
Every society that encounters these beings notices the strong connection between humans have to animals and plants. It is the humans that first farmed and herded, who supplied the best products of farming and livestock, even hunting and fishing, and who used their connection and skill with wild areas to dominate the forests and open plains. The humans even seem to act like other animals much of the time, dividing themselves into tribes and groups, and leaders fighting for riches, status, and the chance to breed.
Taller than us, the humans walk like clawbirds, but have smooth, tan to brown skin, with no tail, and patches of hair rather than feathers. Our breeders have created some soldiers or workers with strength and endurance to match humans, but this takes time and effort to achieve how humans grow naturally. The creator clearly wished to create a being that could understand and master the beasts of the world, and manipulate other facets of nature, such as the plants, wood, and soil.
For much of our history, humans lived either in small villages or traveling shepherds, but they did not always live this way. It was several groups of humans who invented farming, and our earliest records describe us and humans living together in many cities, with human farming and physical strength necessary to build the first walls and temples. But the humans reverted to tribalism over time, as some rebelled, and some lost their territory to our own hives. While we established great civilizations, they remained in their forests and steppes, raiding, fighting, and exchanging their goods with us. Some established some petty kingdoms, and a few of these helped defeat our own great empires, but that was when the overgrowth attacked.
When we lost contact with the other beings during the overgrowth invasions, humans were being attacked and pushed back as much as we have, and it is likely that they have retreated to forests, although some of the horse tribes may remain on steppes. They may well be more civilized this time around, needing to organize to defeat the overgrowth. It is likely that the humans have maintained their skill with farming, herding, and hunting.
One of the strangest, and most frightening to one not used to humans, is the variety of animals found amongst them, some of these animals far larger and stronger than we are. The most common include tamed wolves, which the humans call "dogs", used for almost all tasks, tamed aurochs, called "cows" and "bulls", tamed horses, sometimes called "donkeys" or "mules" used for work and travel, wildcats, to hunt smaller animals, and fowl, called "chickens" used for food and eggs. Many more such animals exist, including clawbirds, rodents, wingbirds, feeder plants, and wisps, and one should make sure to ask the tribe or group one is spending time with about any such animals found.
Although bigger and stronger, humans are not generally as disciplined as we are, and in an organized foot battle, are usually at a disadvantage. Most humans understand this, and instead use their strength, speed, and skill with horses to gain advantages of speed and distance, using skirmishers and raiders to weaken us, than attacking with fast marching soldiers to fight where and when they wish. When humans join close battle, they are fearsome, bellowing and screaming at enemies, and entering a battle frenzy, smashing and striking even harder than one might expect seeing them outside of battle. Skilled commanders must read other archives to understand how to protect supplies, choose where to fight, avoid fear in their own soldiers, and defeat a frustrating enemy.
When understanding humans politics and organization, one must learn quickly how the tribe one of working with understands status. Almost all have more influential or less influential people, but some see themselves more as equals, some form leaders based on family history or gifts from higher ranking groups. In most human groups, even those where people are born into a status, ambitious beings can take status away from others, or loose status to others in a war or political fight. This fighting and politics can often
Humans forms hundreds to thousands of tribes, with little clear organization, but most follow one of 5 patterns
The first, and most well known, are horse lords and herders from the steppes. More than anyone, these groups understand beasts, using their skill with horses for fighting and trade, and their skill at herding for food. These groups are dispersed, fiercely independent, and the politics and status of members are hard to follow. In the past, they served as mercenaries and traders, if groups have survived the overgrowth, they are probably righting for territory.
The second well known groups are farmers, living near fertile fields or irrigated rivers. They are experts at understanding soil, and are expert farmers. These are the most status based societies, with groups of "nobles", acting like our commanders and leaders, separated from "commoners", acting like our laborers and soldiers. These humans are the most like us, but one must still be mindful of status fights, and complex politics. It is these tribes that sell us exotic fruits, food, clothing, and other such creations. Today, these groups are probably at the edge of steppes or forests, building up their farmland and irrigation systems.
From deeper forests come the third group, who have an affinity for plants. They are forest dwellers, living in small villages supplied by small farms, orchards, and hunting. They are fiercely independent like the horsemen, and almost as disorganized, but are more settled, and known for ambush rather than raiding. From these tribes come fruits, wood, and forest creatures. It is these tribes who are happiest in forests, and today, that is where they will be, fighting the overgrowth using the techniques they best know.
Along rivers, lakes, and coasts from the water dwellers. They are sea and river traders, and fishers. Sometimes raiders, they prefer to trade, and become wealthy through controlling seaways. Though less prone to fighting than others, the sea traders are still strong, and a few have used their boats to outmaneuver us and strike weak coastal hives. Today, these are probably in forests, carving out a space near the rivers, there they can beat back to overgrowth and make contact with others.
The final group are the rockworkers. It is these tribes who often served as miners, quarry workers, and stone haulers. These tribes assisted us in building projects, and throughout history have lives in rougher forest areas or near rivers, getting food however they could. They have learned to live in rougher, rockier soils, turning them with hard work into something workable, while extracting stones, minerals, and jewels from the ground. Though less violent than other humans, the stoneworkers are perhaps the strongest of already strong beings, and they make tough fighters when called into action. Today, they are most likely found at the edges of forests and rocky areas, waiting to capture back useful land.
Showing posts with label humans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humans. Show all posts
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Quick guide for Zithir Interactions
This quick reading covers basic interactions with the Repali zithir that inhabit our colonies. It is intended that this guide be used to smooth interactions, or as a source of basic information, and it should not be taken as a full source of information for individual interactions.
Body Language and Communication
All Zithir, unless a victim of accidents or birth defects, are able to sense emotions, but are unable to sense factual thoughts, plans, or similar information as easily. In first encounters, some people find it disconcerting how easily Zithir can sense and react to moods, and sometimes react differently than expected to attempts to conceal emotions (for example, hiding disappointment or annoyance almost always leads to a different reaction than expected.) Thankfully, most Zithir, and Repali in particular, respond to this disconcertment, and adjust their interactions accordingly, so concistent interactions should become smoother over time.
On the flip side, Repali show very little body language compared to most humans of any origin, so can often prove hard to read. Most other types of zithir compensate by exagerrating movements somewhat, but Repali are said, by themselves and other Zithir groups, to be less expressive than most, so even the exaggerations can be difficult to read. It is recommended that people as for advice from the Repali themselves and others with more experience at reading the language. Repali body language among themselves is quite different than what thwey use around us; it seems body language among most Zithir exists instinctively, but is far less important than directly reading emotions, and most who interact with humans or Quental instinctively switch to the body language of the human culture they are interacting with.
Most Zithir who have lived with us a long time have learned a basic version of English or Arabic, however, the grammar and certain meanings of words are often confused. Classes and practice time for the Repali, twineg, and Rtingle language are also available. Most Zithir language, these three included, are much more sloopy than ours in exact grammar and word meanings. In mixed communication, human languages are generally preferred, as they can communicate more exact meanings and details, while Zithir emotion reading works whatever the language used, but adjustments can be made as the situation allows.
Physical Appearence/Physical Interaction
Almost all Zithir are shorter and smaller than most humans, the average Zithir is about 1/3 of a meter shorter, and 2/3 the weight, of an average person. Some sample pictures of Zithir are shown in the top of the above picture, and some Repali are shown in the picture below. Like in humans, Zithir can be told apart through faces and voices, in addition, the patterns and sizes, and sometimes the number, of brain antlers, stalks, and tentacles changes from person to person. Friction has occured at times as people have looked down at and/or acted dismissve of the shorter Zithir, do not be surprised, i this is your first time working with a zithir, if he or she stands on a deck or box to reach a similar height as you. As much as possible, you should get used to the height difference, as it can some times lead to more difficult interactions with Zithir.
Zithir bodies are far more fragile than human bodies. If a Zithir receives and injury that could be ignored or quickly treated in humans, such as a small cut or scrape, they should be given full attention to ensure more serious dam,age hasn't occurred. Injuries such as bruises or sprained ankles should be medically treated immediately, any broken bones, banged heads, or other conditions described below should be treated as a life threatening emergency. Zithir are also more sensitive to chemicals than huamns, although temperature changes are less severe. For this reason, Zithir do not take part in rough sports, and will avoid ack slaps or painful punches, or similar interactions. Avoid these is possible, and ensure that others avoid them as well, the Zithirs usually sense that no harm is intended, but will sense resenment, and be annoyed themselves, at having this problem ignored.
In most large colonies, medical workers specially trained to work with Zithir will treat them. In smaller colonies, some veterinary or human medical workers will be taught techniques for Zithir, and should be contacted instead. Information and emergency systems should be made as available as possible if emergencies occur.
Zithir biochemistry works in a number of different ways to humans, and therefore food for one species is often indigestible to another, and neither humans nor Zithir can survive on a diet of the other's food. Most Zithir food is not poisonous beyond this to humans, although eating large amounts of it can cause gas, bloating, and in extremely cases, problems with bowel movements. However, the foods witreg and Trareer contain toxins that are deadly in large amounts, and in smaller amounts cause various sicknesses, and Phentlu contains disease causing bacteria like organisms, that can cause dangerous infections all over a human body. Most Zithir food tastes quite poor, often with unexpected mistures of tastes, due to the different uses for chemicals in most Zithir organisms, although a couple of foods (Phentyo and Lalyaw) have extremely good tastes, which are not found in most food we have brought with us.
Zithir have a much harder time handling human foods, their own digestion having equivalent problems as the human system, but more severe to the more fragile Zithir, and more humans types of food are poisonous in some way. Sugary foods, such as honey or concentrated fruit, should in particular be avoided, as some types of sugars are used rarely by Zithir, high doses are toxic as a result.
Tasks and Learning
Species wide, Zithir have great difficulty seeing patterns, using skills in new combination or new ways, or understanding how and why certain things occur. However, they are naturally able to sense the future, through a process we don't yet understand, and sense the results of making certain decisions. Though we cannot explain all the different ways Zithir and humans can work together, a few common patterns are:
1. For longer term projects (farming, building, research), Zithir will describe whether an accident will occur, or whether a goal will be reached, while humans will determine how and why a result will occur, and what to change.
2. In situations requiring fast reactions, Zithir instinctively sense the results of fast decisions with little information, and make the fast decisions, while humans are more involved in preparation and learning.
3. In areas where the Zithir have accumulated lots of information in their archives, these archives are a far better source of information than what our own data can provide, allowing a great deal of learning when the information is analyzed. Medical and agricultural knoweldge for nearby Zithir has greatly advanced due to this type of analysis.
In mixed colonies, Zithir are most likely to work in areas with a lot of risk, where their sense of the future is of great assistance, while they work least in low risk, but highly structured, roles. For almost all tasks, some mixture of humans and zithir is best, and Zithir experienced in some sort of work are highly sought after..
Reproduction and Child Care
Zithir have males and females, just as humans do, but instead of being split equally, about 2 males are alive for every 5 females. Zithir tend to live in extended families, with males and females in about this ration, although richer or larger groups usually have a larger fraction of females. Almost no Zithir cultures have an equivalent of marriage, and trouble has occurred with humans groups (In our colonies, mostly religious groups) attempting to enforce a more marriage like arrangement on the Zithir, or encouraging boycotts and other attacks on the aliens for their arrangements. Conversely, several Zithir have tried to get people to agree to a more mixed arrangement after sensing problems in marriages, without knowing the full history and reasons for arranging things the way we do.
Zithir reproduce using eggs. When females are fertilized, a small egg grows for a few weeks inside the female. When the egg is laid, the Zithir mother usually places it in a pouch she has, similar to a pouch on Kangaroos on Earth. The Egg does not need to stay in the pouch all the time, it can spend hours or days outside and still be fine under most conditions, but must spend a certain amount of time at a particular temperature that a mother Zithir provides, and most also prefer to keep their eggs protected.
Zithir who are generating or carrying eggs should, if in doubt, be treated similar to pregnant human women. While generating an egg, they will eat a great deal more than usual, and often be far more tired. Particularly demanding or dangerous situations should be avoided if possible. After the egg is laid, the mother Zithir's life largely goes back to normal, however, carrying a developing egg is tiring, and it is considered polite to help Zithir egg carriers, as carrying an egg can be physically tiring.
When doing something demanding or dangerous, Zithir mothers will typically remove eggs. Repali tend to give eggs to relatives to watch, who will store the egg in their own pouches for a time, however, they will sometimes leave eggs with us to watch, or simply place them in an area. If you are asked ot watch an egg, or keep track of an egg:
1. When carrying or moving an egg, never drop it, or hit it in any way. Unlike bird eggs, Zithir shells are leathery and softer, but the developing Zithir inside is still sensitive to injury. Younger Zithir can be disabled in a a number of ways if their egg is dropped, older developing Zithir easily die if an egg is dropped. If an egg is to be stored somewhere, make sure it is well supported, and will not roll around or fall.
2. For short periods of time, eggs can tolerate most conditions in our colonies with little harm, so can be left in any suitable location, however, potentially dangerous fumes should be avoided. For larger lengths of time (more than about 4 hours is a rule of thumb), they should be stored at the right temperature, in an area with good airflow and some protection. In larger colonies, we have produced incubation rooms to store Zithir eggs, in smaller colonies, living areas equipped with air filters and the right temperature usually do the job, although the Zithir who's eggs will be watched should be checked first before storing an egg somewhere for a long time.
3. In the rare cases where a Zithir mother dies, or is injured in a way where she can't watch the egg, it should be given to a close relative or family group as soon as possible. In Repali family groups, the usual tendency is to contact the family group to report the death or injury, and the family member who wishes to watch the egg will come to take it, other Zithir groups have different tendencies.
Zithir and human children should both be raised by their own species, but early exposure among both humans and Zithir to the other is helpful for learning. Zithir children learn to communicate quickly, but are far more fragile then adults, requiring constant exercise to build up toughness as they grow. For this reason, human and Zithir children should not be left along together until several months of interaction, as our own children can be quite physical when trying to play with Zithir.
Social Activities
Finding way to spend free time together has proven difficult with both types of aliens amongst all colonies, and Repali are no exception.
Sports: Zithir as a rule have great difficulty with most human sports, either due to the physical nature of the sports, or the complex rules which can be difficult to understand and frustrating. In competitive human sports that the Zithir have been able to play, they usually have a huge advantage from their future reading and emotion reading abilities. Zithir physical sports usually are groups doing something, the Repali in particular are known for group lifting, and group throwing. Contests, and Zithir group fun, are areas where we can spend time with Zithir and both enjoy it.
Meals: As mentioned, Zithir and Humans cannot eat each other's foods, however, with food separated meals are a good time for both species to interact.
Games: Zithir in general take poorly to human card or board games, as they often have difficulty understanding the rules. A few can play simple, more cooperative games, but most are too difficult to be enjoyable for the Zithir.
Art: As many of you have heard from other colonies, several Zithir have become famous as comedians, actors, and dancers. Zithir themselves do not enjoy movies or pictures as much, although do perform well when asked to.
Events; Large gatherings are an important part of most Zithir societies, and most enjoy and are enjoyed at events such as weddings, birthdays, parties, or other large gatherings. However, care should be taken in more formal events, Zithir attending should be told rules beforehand, and some acceptance of their difficulty understanding and remembering should be given. Humans at Zithir events have more trouble; in larger groups Zithir will respond to members of their own group more and loose track of humans, while mcuh Zithir communication simply is inaccessible to us.
Religious events may seem a good time to involve Zithir, but this is not recommended. Due to biological differences, some religious rules or expectations cannot be filled, or do not make sense for either alien species. both species also have trouble understanding mentally the rules, and the divisions, amongst most human religions (Zithir, in particular, often confuse Christians, Muslims, and Jews with each other. as well as confusing divisions within the religions). Zithir in particular place a high cultural important on contacting ancestors; this is a main source of information for their archives, and often make failed attempts to contact prophets. We are not sure why the Zithir constantly fail, the most common suggestion is that even the most blessed humans do not have the right biology to communicate across time with Zithir, although scientists and religious authorities disagree on this. Until religious leaders agree on a way for Zithir to join religions, and explain these differences, it is safer to avoid too much deep interaction.
Body Language and Communication
All Zithir, unless a victim of accidents or birth defects, are able to sense emotions, but are unable to sense factual thoughts, plans, or similar information as easily. In first encounters, some people find it disconcerting how easily Zithir can sense and react to moods, and sometimes react differently than expected to attempts to conceal emotions (for example, hiding disappointment or annoyance almost always leads to a different reaction than expected.) Thankfully, most Zithir, and Repali in particular, respond to this disconcertment, and adjust their interactions accordingly, so concistent interactions should become smoother over time.
On the flip side, Repali show very little body language compared to most humans of any origin, so can often prove hard to read. Most other types of zithir compensate by exagerrating movements somewhat, but Repali are said, by themselves and other Zithir groups, to be less expressive than most, so even the exaggerations can be difficult to read. It is recommended that people as for advice from the Repali themselves and others with more experience at reading the language. Repali body language among themselves is quite different than what thwey use around us; it seems body language among most Zithir exists instinctively, but is far less important than directly reading emotions, and most who interact with humans or Quental instinctively switch to the body language of the human culture they are interacting with.
Most Zithir who have lived with us a long time have learned a basic version of English or Arabic, however, the grammar and certain meanings of words are often confused. Classes and practice time for the Repali, twineg, and Rtingle language are also available. Most Zithir language, these three included, are much more sloopy than ours in exact grammar and word meanings. In mixed communication, human languages are generally preferred, as they can communicate more exact meanings and details, while Zithir emotion reading works whatever the language used, but adjustments can be made as the situation allows.
Physical Appearence/Physical Interaction
Almost all Zithir are shorter and smaller than most humans, the average Zithir is about 1/3 of a meter shorter, and 2/3 the weight, of an average person. Some sample pictures of Zithir are shown in the top of the above picture, and some Repali are shown in the picture below. Like in humans, Zithir can be told apart through faces and voices, in addition, the patterns and sizes, and sometimes the number, of brain antlers, stalks, and tentacles changes from person to person. Friction has occured at times as people have looked down at and/or acted dismissve of the shorter Zithir, do not be surprised, i this is your first time working with a zithir, if he or she stands on a deck or box to reach a similar height as you. As much as possible, you should get used to the height difference, as it can some times lead to more difficult interactions with Zithir.
Zithir bodies are far more fragile than human bodies. If a Zithir receives and injury that could be ignored or quickly treated in humans, such as a small cut or scrape, they should be given full attention to ensure more serious dam,age hasn't occurred. Injuries such as bruises or sprained ankles should be medically treated immediately, any broken bones, banged heads, or other conditions described below should be treated as a life threatening emergency. Zithir are also more sensitive to chemicals than huamns, although temperature changes are less severe. For this reason, Zithir do not take part in rough sports, and will avoid ack slaps or painful punches, or similar interactions. Avoid these is possible, and ensure that others avoid them as well, the Zithirs usually sense that no harm is intended, but will sense resenment, and be annoyed themselves, at having this problem ignored.
In most large colonies, medical workers specially trained to work with Zithir will treat them. In smaller colonies, some veterinary or human medical workers will be taught techniques for Zithir, and should be contacted instead. Information and emergency systems should be made as available as possible if emergencies occur.
Zithir biochemistry works in a number of different ways to humans, and therefore food for one species is often indigestible to another, and neither humans nor Zithir can survive on a diet of the other's food. Most Zithir food is not poisonous beyond this to humans, although eating large amounts of it can cause gas, bloating, and in extremely cases, problems with bowel movements. However, the foods witreg and Trareer contain toxins that are deadly in large amounts, and in smaller amounts cause various sicknesses, and Phentlu contains disease causing bacteria like organisms, that can cause dangerous infections all over a human body. Most Zithir food tastes quite poor, often with unexpected mistures of tastes, due to the different uses for chemicals in most Zithir organisms, although a couple of foods (Phentyo and Lalyaw) have extremely good tastes, which are not found in most food we have brought with us.
Zithir have a much harder time handling human foods, their own digestion having equivalent problems as the human system, but more severe to the more fragile Zithir, and more humans types of food are poisonous in some way. Sugary foods, such as honey or concentrated fruit, should in particular be avoided, as some types of sugars are used rarely by Zithir, high doses are toxic as a result.
Tasks and Learning
Species wide, Zithir have great difficulty seeing patterns, using skills in new combination or new ways, or understanding how and why certain things occur. However, they are naturally able to sense the future, through a process we don't yet understand, and sense the results of making certain decisions. Though we cannot explain all the different ways Zithir and humans can work together, a few common patterns are:
1. For longer term projects (farming, building, research), Zithir will describe whether an accident will occur, or whether a goal will be reached, while humans will determine how and why a result will occur, and what to change.
2. In situations requiring fast reactions, Zithir instinctively sense the results of fast decisions with little information, and make the fast decisions, while humans are more involved in preparation and learning.
3. In areas where the Zithir have accumulated lots of information in their archives, these archives are a far better source of information than what our own data can provide, allowing a great deal of learning when the information is analyzed. Medical and agricultural knoweldge for nearby Zithir has greatly advanced due to this type of analysis.
In mixed colonies, Zithir are most likely to work in areas with a lot of risk, where their sense of the future is of great assistance, while they work least in low risk, but highly structured, roles. For almost all tasks, some mixture of humans and zithir is best, and Zithir experienced in some sort of work are highly sought after..
Reproduction and Child Care
Zithir have males and females, just as humans do, but instead of being split equally, about 2 males are alive for every 5 females. Zithir tend to live in extended families, with males and females in about this ration, although richer or larger groups usually have a larger fraction of females. Almost no Zithir cultures have an equivalent of marriage, and trouble has occurred with humans groups (In our colonies, mostly religious groups) attempting to enforce a more marriage like arrangement on the Zithir, or encouraging boycotts and other attacks on the aliens for their arrangements. Conversely, several Zithir have tried to get people to agree to a more mixed arrangement after sensing problems in marriages, without knowing the full history and reasons for arranging things the way we do.
Zithir reproduce using eggs. When females are fertilized, a small egg grows for a few weeks inside the female. When the egg is laid, the Zithir mother usually places it in a pouch she has, similar to a pouch on Kangaroos on Earth. The Egg does not need to stay in the pouch all the time, it can spend hours or days outside and still be fine under most conditions, but must spend a certain amount of time at a particular temperature that a mother Zithir provides, and most also prefer to keep their eggs protected.
Zithir who are generating or carrying eggs should, if in doubt, be treated similar to pregnant human women. While generating an egg, they will eat a great deal more than usual, and often be far more tired. Particularly demanding or dangerous situations should be avoided if possible. After the egg is laid, the mother Zithir's life largely goes back to normal, however, carrying a developing egg is tiring, and it is considered polite to help Zithir egg carriers, as carrying an egg can be physically tiring.
When doing something demanding or dangerous, Zithir mothers will typically remove eggs. Repali tend to give eggs to relatives to watch, who will store the egg in their own pouches for a time, however, they will sometimes leave eggs with us to watch, or simply place them in an area. If you are asked ot watch an egg, or keep track of an egg:
1. When carrying or moving an egg, never drop it, or hit it in any way. Unlike bird eggs, Zithir shells are leathery and softer, but the developing Zithir inside is still sensitive to injury. Younger Zithir can be disabled in a a number of ways if their egg is dropped, older developing Zithir easily die if an egg is dropped. If an egg is to be stored somewhere, make sure it is well supported, and will not roll around or fall.
2. For short periods of time, eggs can tolerate most conditions in our colonies with little harm, so can be left in any suitable location, however, potentially dangerous fumes should be avoided. For larger lengths of time (more than about 4 hours is a rule of thumb), they should be stored at the right temperature, in an area with good airflow and some protection. In larger colonies, we have produced incubation rooms to store Zithir eggs, in smaller colonies, living areas equipped with air filters and the right temperature usually do the job, although the Zithir who's eggs will be watched should be checked first before storing an egg somewhere for a long time.
3. In the rare cases where a Zithir mother dies, or is injured in a way where she can't watch the egg, it should be given to a close relative or family group as soon as possible. In Repali family groups, the usual tendency is to contact the family group to report the death or injury, and the family member who wishes to watch the egg will come to take it, other Zithir groups have different tendencies.
Zithir and human children should both be raised by their own species, but early exposure among both humans and Zithir to the other is helpful for learning. Zithir children learn to communicate quickly, but are far more fragile then adults, requiring constant exercise to build up toughness as they grow. For this reason, human and Zithir children should not be left along together until several months of interaction, as our own children can be quite physical when trying to play with Zithir.
Social Activities
Finding way to spend free time together has proven difficult with both types of aliens amongst all colonies, and Repali are no exception.
Sports: Zithir as a rule have great difficulty with most human sports, either due to the physical nature of the sports, or the complex rules which can be difficult to understand and frustrating. In competitive human sports that the Zithir have been able to play, they usually have a huge advantage from their future reading and emotion reading abilities. Zithir physical sports usually are groups doing something, the Repali in particular are known for group lifting, and group throwing. Contests, and Zithir group fun, are areas where we can spend time with Zithir and both enjoy it.
Meals: As mentioned, Zithir and Humans cannot eat each other's foods, however, with food separated meals are a good time for both species to interact.
Games: Zithir in general take poorly to human card or board games, as they often have difficulty understanding the rules. A few can play simple, more cooperative games, but most are too difficult to be enjoyable for the Zithir.
Art: As many of you have heard from other colonies, several Zithir have become famous as comedians, actors, and dancers. Zithir themselves do not enjoy movies or pictures as much, although do perform well when asked to.
Events; Large gatherings are an important part of most Zithir societies, and most enjoy and are enjoyed at events such as weddings, birthdays, parties, or other large gatherings. However, care should be taken in more formal events, Zithir attending should be told rules beforehand, and some acceptance of their difficulty understanding and remembering should be given. Humans at Zithir events have more trouble; in larger groups Zithir will respond to members of their own group more and loose track of humans, while mcuh Zithir communication simply is inaccessible to us.
Religious events may seem a good time to involve Zithir, but this is not recommended. Due to biological differences, some religious rules or expectations cannot be filled, or do not make sense for either alien species. both species also have trouble understanding mentally the rules, and the divisions, amongst most human religions (Zithir, in particular, often confuse Christians, Muslims, and Jews with each other. as well as confusing divisions within the religions). Zithir in particular place a high cultural important on contacting ancestors; this is a main source of information for their archives, and often make failed attempts to contact prophets. We are not sure why the Zithir constantly fail, the most common suggestion is that even the most blessed humans do not have the right biology to communicate across time with Zithir, although scientists and religious authorities disagree on this. Until religious leaders agree on a way for Zithir to join religions, and explain these differences, it is safer to avoid too much deep interaction.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Human (Zithir View)
(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets Cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod. To make
things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species
involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human"
perspective will be the most basic.)
Discovery
When our first scouts met the humans, they sensed emotions much like our own colonists; fear, confusion, determination, alertness. On Phobis Terra, we could sense the differences from other animals, on Cauldron and Cryolith, any creature is a unique sight. The sight of our scouts appeared to unnerve the humans, but they quickly learned to shape and present themselves in a way that calmed the human scouts down, and most chose not to attack us.
As we contacted the humans more and more, they became confusing to us. On the one hand, they were clearly highly intelligent, making numerous tools that we found difficult or impossible to make, and seemed to be well organized. On the other hand, they ever seemed able to sense emotions, much like an unconnected or a simpler creature, and yet were not frightened by this.
Human communication was learned first as body language to communicate emotions, than as spoken tones, and finally as words. Without the ability to sense emotions, humans need a great variety of body movements and spoken language to communicate, and a great deal of effort is needed by one of us to use these techniques successfully.
Body
Humans are shaped much as we are, but with simple, rounded heads, and most are larger than we are. The human body is stronger and more resistant to damage as well, even slothful humans can start physical activity and only suffer small injuries, and large wounds or broken bones that to us are life threatening are survived and healed in almost all humans. Their entire brain is kept inside a bony structure, with no lobes coming out as ours do, and as a result survives much greater strikes with only small personality changes, if any.
Mind
Anyone who interacts with humans, in any way, quickly picks up on the human mind's tendency towards organization, rules, or systematic thinking. They are comfortable with patterns, or fixed rules, and use these ways of thinking to make decisions. Even individuals the humans cal "rule breaking", "flighty", "unpredictable", and many other terms, use patterns from past experience as expectations, or to make decisions. When confronted with new situations, humans attempt to adapt old knowledge to determine what to do, but with varying amounts of flexibility. some rapidly learn the rules of whatever they find themselves in, but less successful ones often cling to old techniques.
Although humans cannot directly sense others, most can work out emotions or thoughts from watching body position, movement, and other activities. Humans who have interacted with us for enough time have learned to read us in this way.
Society
All human societies, whatever their organization, are based on having some set of rules that most within it are expected to follow. All societies have rules for large scale organization, and many have rules or expectations for single person interactions as well. Many humans are highly attached to these rules, and punishments are routinely used to force obedience. Wars have even been fought over disagreements in rules.
Within human societies, a bewildering collection of organizations exists, some highly specialized for a small number of tasks. Humans themselves may be a part of several of these organizations, but in most societies, family, political, and/or production organizations are the most important. Most organizations create rules for their own members to follow, but rules for an entire society are mostly created by political organizations. These political organizations are often a site of much strife, as different groups within a society attempt to decide who will have more power, or who's preferred rules will be used.
Despite these issues, human society can be extremely efficient at getting things done. Humans do not need to consult prophets for decisions that we might need to, and instead focus on getting the task done. They can organize extremely complex tasks, breaking the tasks down to simple parts for smaller groups to focus on.
Religion
Human religion confused us the first time we encountered it. We had learned, by this point, that humans could not sense the future or the past, or sense emotions or thoughts, and yet most of their religions appeared to be based on just that. Even today, human religion confuses us. Though it has changed over time to become more like our own religion, that our own society has successfully used for all of our history, suggesting that the humans have some ability to sense the world, the humans themselves we meet show none of this ability.
Human religion is divided to several large groups, many that seem opposed to each other. Most of the larger religions seem based on individual people, a few are based on long traditions, while many humans claim to have no religion at all. We have attempted to contact some of these prophets, such as the people called "Jeezes", "Boota", and "Mohamid", but have not been able to. Some humans who follow the religions of these prophets have been angered by these failures, some calling us "agents of Satan", while others suggest that, being in human, these people lack some ability we have that allows us to be contacted through time.
Human religion mostly acts as another group in society, and is a source of rules for personal interactions. As with any other groups in human society, humans in certain religious groups often disagree about which rules to follow, to the point where even similar groups (Such as the ones called "Joos", "kristins", and "Muzlims"), despite appearing to be factions of one group, consider themselves to be separate, and often opposing, groups.Religion is a source of great emotional attachment for humans, and it is recommended that challenges be avoided to a humans religion as much as possible.
Science and Technology
The human focus on patterns and rules shows itself most obviously in their craftsmanship, and their understanding of how the world works. Human craftsmen routinely adapt their tools, and make small experimentation and improvement to their designs. They are good at spotting small details, that we would miss, that will interfere with or improve a device, and as a result consistently produce high quality tools with far less effort than we could. In larger scale industry, the humans apply these same abilities, and their plants and machine shops produce enormous amounts of higher quality materials and devices, which are always being improved on.
Contributing to this success are human scientists. Without any skill at sensing the future, the scietists instead find rules and patterns in the world by testing it. Contact with human scientists has almost always proven useful for understanding how some aspect of our new world works, and they have even helped us understand how our own bodies and society works.
Combat
Warfare is far more common amongst human societies than it is in our society. Human groups fight each other for a variety of reasons, from control of resources, to disagreements over how society is to be run, to disputes between different groups in other matters. Human wars are approached with varying levels of organization, from tightly controlled large scale armies, to weakly controlled collections of small groups. Humans seem to use violence much more commonly to settle disputes, perhaps because they cannot communicate or trust as easily as we can, and must settle disputes in other ways.
Hearing about all the wars in human history, many of us were surprised that the species was not extinct a long time ago, but humans seem surprisingly willing to stop wars after only a small number of people can be killed. How the humans can callously ignore the violence of their enemies, and accepts surrenders of treaties, and even work with former enemies, without restarting the war is something we will never understand. Even more surprisingly, human veterans of wars are strangely able to form friendships with former enemies, with no regard to the violence those enemies attempts toward the human's own friends and themselves during the war. Perhaps the callousness towards friendships and their own society is caused as well by their lack of sensation of emotions, although human friendships and social bonds are still quite strong even without these.
Human armies must spend a great deal of time learning to work together, and much of the training of more organized armies is in teaching human soldiers to work together and feel a part of a group. Humans also cannot sense the future, and communicate as easily, reducing their fighting ability in a number of ways. However, human also bring their technical skill into combat, equipping themselves with extremely deadly weapons, such as fast and accurate guns, artillery, and missiles, and being highly skilled in their use. Although we can often avoid the weapons by sensing where they will hit, the weapons can overwhelm our ability to sense all of them, and any hit is usually crippling or deadly. Humans are also exceptional at supplying their forces, and moving rapidly, due to their ability to organize supply use, and maintain fast moving transport equipment.
Discovery
When our first scouts met the humans, they sensed emotions much like our own colonists; fear, confusion, determination, alertness. On Phobis Terra, we could sense the differences from other animals, on Cauldron and Cryolith, any creature is a unique sight. The sight of our scouts appeared to unnerve the humans, but they quickly learned to shape and present themselves in a way that calmed the human scouts down, and most chose not to attack us.
As we contacted the humans more and more, they became confusing to us. On the one hand, they were clearly highly intelligent, making numerous tools that we found difficult or impossible to make, and seemed to be well organized. On the other hand, they ever seemed able to sense emotions, much like an unconnected or a simpler creature, and yet were not frightened by this.
Human communication was learned first as body language to communicate emotions, than as spoken tones, and finally as words. Without the ability to sense emotions, humans need a great variety of body movements and spoken language to communicate, and a great deal of effort is needed by one of us to use these techniques successfully.
Body
Humans are shaped much as we are, but with simple, rounded heads, and most are larger than we are. The human body is stronger and more resistant to damage as well, even slothful humans can start physical activity and only suffer small injuries, and large wounds or broken bones that to us are life threatening are survived and healed in almost all humans. Their entire brain is kept inside a bony structure, with no lobes coming out as ours do, and as a result survives much greater strikes with only small personality changes, if any.
Mind
Anyone who interacts with humans, in any way, quickly picks up on the human mind's tendency towards organization, rules, or systematic thinking. They are comfortable with patterns, or fixed rules, and use these ways of thinking to make decisions. Even individuals the humans cal "rule breaking", "flighty", "unpredictable", and many other terms, use patterns from past experience as expectations, or to make decisions. When confronted with new situations, humans attempt to adapt old knowledge to determine what to do, but with varying amounts of flexibility. some rapidly learn the rules of whatever they find themselves in, but less successful ones often cling to old techniques.
Although humans cannot directly sense others, most can work out emotions or thoughts from watching body position, movement, and other activities. Humans who have interacted with us for enough time have learned to read us in this way.
Society
All human societies, whatever their organization, are based on having some set of rules that most within it are expected to follow. All societies have rules for large scale organization, and many have rules or expectations for single person interactions as well. Many humans are highly attached to these rules, and punishments are routinely used to force obedience. Wars have even been fought over disagreements in rules.
Within human societies, a bewildering collection of organizations exists, some highly specialized for a small number of tasks. Humans themselves may be a part of several of these organizations, but in most societies, family, political, and/or production organizations are the most important. Most organizations create rules for their own members to follow, but rules for an entire society are mostly created by political organizations. These political organizations are often a site of much strife, as different groups within a society attempt to decide who will have more power, or who's preferred rules will be used.
Despite these issues, human society can be extremely efficient at getting things done. Humans do not need to consult prophets for decisions that we might need to, and instead focus on getting the task done. They can organize extremely complex tasks, breaking the tasks down to simple parts for smaller groups to focus on.
Religion
Human religion confused us the first time we encountered it. We had learned, by this point, that humans could not sense the future or the past, or sense emotions or thoughts, and yet most of their religions appeared to be based on just that. Even today, human religion confuses us. Though it has changed over time to become more like our own religion, that our own society has successfully used for all of our history, suggesting that the humans have some ability to sense the world, the humans themselves we meet show none of this ability.
Human religion is divided to several large groups, many that seem opposed to each other. Most of the larger religions seem based on individual people, a few are based on long traditions, while many humans claim to have no religion at all. We have attempted to contact some of these prophets, such as the people called "Jeezes", "Boota", and "Mohamid", but have not been able to. Some humans who follow the religions of these prophets have been angered by these failures, some calling us "agents of Satan", while others suggest that, being in human, these people lack some ability we have that allows us to be contacted through time.
Human religion mostly acts as another group in society, and is a source of rules for personal interactions. As with any other groups in human society, humans in certain religious groups often disagree about which rules to follow, to the point where even similar groups (Such as the ones called "Joos", "kristins", and "Muzlims"), despite appearing to be factions of one group, consider themselves to be separate, and often opposing, groups.Religion is a source of great emotional attachment for humans, and it is recommended that challenges be avoided to a humans religion as much as possible.
Science and Technology
The human focus on patterns and rules shows itself most obviously in their craftsmanship, and their understanding of how the world works. Human craftsmen routinely adapt their tools, and make small experimentation and improvement to their designs. They are good at spotting small details, that we would miss, that will interfere with or improve a device, and as a result consistently produce high quality tools with far less effort than we could. In larger scale industry, the humans apply these same abilities, and their plants and machine shops produce enormous amounts of higher quality materials and devices, which are always being improved on.
Contributing to this success are human scientists. Without any skill at sensing the future, the scietists instead find rules and patterns in the world by testing it. Contact with human scientists has almost always proven useful for understanding how some aspect of our new world works, and they have even helped us understand how our own bodies and society works.
Combat
Warfare is far more common amongst human societies than it is in our society. Human groups fight each other for a variety of reasons, from control of resources, to disagreements over how society is to be run, to disputes between different groups in other matters. Human wars are approached with varying levels of organization, from tightly controlled large scale armies, to weakly controlled collections of small groups. Humans seem to use violence much more commonly to settle disputes, perhaps because they cannot communicate or trust as easily as we can, and must settle disputes in other ways.
Hearing about all the wars in human history, many of us were surprised that the species was not extinct a long time ago, but humans seem surprisingly willing to stop wars after only a small number of people can be killed. How the humans can callously ignore the violence of their enemies, and accepts surrenders of treaties, and even work with former enemies, without restarting the war is something we will never understand. Even more surprisingly, human veterans of wars are strangely able to form friendships with former enemies, with no regard to the violence those enemies attempts toward the human's own friends and themselves during the war. Perhaps the callousness towards friendships and their own society is caused as well by their lack of sensation of emotions, although human friendships and social bonds are still quite strong even without these.
Human armies must spend a great deal of time learning to work together, and much of the training of more organized armies is in teaching human soldiers to work together and feel a part of a group. Humans also cannot sense the future, and communicate as easily, reducing their fighting ability in a number of ways. However, human also bring their technical skill into combat, equipping themselves with extremely deadly weapons, such as fast and accurate guns, artillery, and missiles, and being highly skilled in their use. Although we can often avoid the weapons by sensing where they will hit, the weapons can overwhelm our ability to sense all of them, and any hit is usually crippling or deadly. Humans are also exceptional at supplying their forces, and moving rapidly, due to their ability to organize supply use, and maintain fast moving transport equipment.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Human (Quental view)
(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets
cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod. To make
things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species
involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human"
perspective will be the most basic.)
First Sights
When our scouting groups first met, the humans at first appeared to be one of the many large creatures found throughout the system. On Cauldron and Cryolith, our hunters attempted to capture them, while on Phobis Terra they were ignored in favor of other targets. The humans appeared to be easy targets, with brown or grey clothing, and brown to tan skin, that never matched surroundings, and not very good senses. However, the hunters soon discovered that the humans were dangerous enemies, with many weapons and traps to use against us. Later, the humans found ways to blend into the landscape as well, using special clothing, and proved a dangerous target for our soldiers as well, and human scouting groups were a favorite target for soldiers trying to prove themselves.
A few groups of scouts did not attack humans, and found most humans willing to avoid fights as well. Eventually, sounders and thinkers found ways to communicate, and other forms of contact were established.
Shape
While many creatures on our world cannot adapt themselves as we do, we were greatly surprised to find that almost no creatures on the worlds of this system could do so either, including humans. Almost all humans are between the size of a laborer and a scout, and are shaped in a similar way. Human skin is colored different shades of brown or tan, usually slightly red, and cannot be changed to match surroundings. This human body is quite flexible and humans train themselves to increase physical abilities when needed, but it cannot be adjusted beyond this to fill the roles needed of it.
Technology
While humans cannot adapt their own bodies to fill roles nearly as well as we can, they can adapt to roles through tool use and practice, and in tool use they far outshine us. While we mostly use simple, carefully crafted devices, humans build enormous collections of complex, finely developed tools for any tasks they may encounter. A single human, with some training and the correct tools, is capable of filling almost any physical work or combat role needed, and multiple humans working together are even more flexible, with large scale machines allowing astounding feats.
Even human construction of technology that we use is usually of higher quality, and the humans learn to create much more of it. Human builders seem able to build knowledge very effectively, and spot connections and patterns that our builders would miss, and this knowledge allows the humans ot refine their building processes.
The humans also show a surprising ability to understand how the world works, with science being an important part of all human societies we have encountered. The human scientists are constantly testing the world, recording information, and spotting new connections, providing much knowledge that the humans can turn to their advantage. Human scientists have even been able to tell us things about ourselves that we did not know.
Dominance
Unlike many creatures, humans cannot directly sense status, leading to a lot of frictions within their societies. They do not have any strong pheromones as signals, instead releasing a large number of weaker smells that the humans do not sense directly. Humans themselves say that some of the more dominant among them create "testosterone", we have not been able ot smell this apart from some scientific samples or human waste. Body language among humans is similarly confused, with more dominant ones using certain gestures and poses more than others, but most humans are still unaware of this.
Human dominance confusion allows for numerous conflicts in human society when other systems break down. Unorganized humans will waste time and resources, and in some groups injure or kill each other, to determine who will be in charge. These divisions are often encouraged or supported by outsiders to gain advantages within a particular society or group; when done with a society, simple determinations of dominance become deadly wars.
Fortunately for human societies, humans themselves have invented a number of outside systems to avoid these problems, based on large collections of rules that most agree or are forced to follow. As with technology, human legal system allow societies to react much more easily than simple dominance hierarchies would, and these system allow strong organization among the people included.
Human systems are not all alike: some use a lot of central control, similar to a hive, while some disperse control into smaller groups. Humans also seem to switch between permanent control by a few dominant officials, and allowing less dominant members to rotate high level ones. Most difficult to understand about human systems is the tendency for different types of control, and different amounts of central control, to be used for different areas of society, often leaving some function of society to be run by a bewildering amount of smaller units, with very specific and almost impossible to understand divisions between functions. Trade and production, in particular, are commonly left to subunits the humans call "businesses", apart from some roles that central rulers wish to control.
Humans themselves disagree on how exactly on how to arrange societies, using reasons that only make sense to other humans. Despite all these complications, often lamented as "red tape" or "disorganization", human societies have proven highly adaptable and effective at organization.
Conflict
Wars among humans are almost all over either dominance and/or resources. Humans themselves recognize a greater variety of reasons for wars, usually involving different subgroups within human society, but as when not at war, we have great difficulty understanding the differences.
Wars for domination between humans are sometimes far more deadly than equivalent wars among us. Because any human can become a soldier with the right tools, and some teaching or practice, human groups that wish to fight can raise large armies. Human wars also seem to arouse strong emotions that make it even harder to recognize dominance between groups, so human groups often fight even when they have little chance of winning, and sometimes extra violence is used to to terrorize non-fighting enemies to try and encourage acceptance of a loss, although the target humans often continue fighting afterwards. However, the actual intensity of human conflict varies greatly, based on expectations and rules that only some of the humans involved can understand.
Wars between humans and us are also far more deadly than wars within our species. Humans themselves are often quite violent in wars, attacking non-soldiers during invasions. Our own soldiers must be more deadly than usual, watching out for apparent non-fighters who may be hiding weapons or hunting groups the humans call "guerillas". Humans, despite their tendencies to kill non-fighters, often maintain distinctions between "combatants" and "civilians" that we do not notice, and get extremely angry at the killing of "civilians", further stretching out wars. The lack of ability to sense dominance also stretches out wars, as humans will often try to end wars when victory has not yet been established, or keep fighting after they have little chance of winning.
When humans fight, they bring their full technological and building skills to the war. Though humans cannot mutate their bodies for war, they can build tools that compete on even terms with almost any adaptation we invent. Human soldiers are not as tough or strong as our soldiers, but build body armor, camouflage clothing, and powerful weapons. As we have developed adaptation for larger soldier types, such as diggers and spit throwers, humans have responded with cars, tanks, and even farther shooting, large guns. Less well equipped humans are still dangerous, through their abilities to improvise ambushes and traps. Humans seem to have more trouble in unfamiliar or rough terrain, where they cannot use their technologies as effectively, and require some time to gain an understanding of the environment they will be in.
First Sights
When our scouting groups first met, the humans at first appeared to be one of the many large creatures found throughout the system. On Cauldron and Cryolith, our hunters attempted to capture them, while on Phobis Terra they were ignored in favor of other targets. The humans appeared to be easy targets, with brown or grey clothing, and brown to tan skin, that never matched surroundings, and not very good senses. However, the hunters soon discovered that the humans were dangerous enemies, with many weapons and traps to use against us. Later, the humans found ways to blend into the landscape as well, using special clothing, and proved a dangerous target for our soldiers as well, and human scouting groups were a favorite target for soldiers trying to prove themselves.
A few groups of scouts did not attack humans, and found most humans willing to avoid fights as well. Eventually, sounders and thinkers found ways to communicate, and other forms of contact were established.
Shape
While many creatures on our world cannot adapt themselves as we do, we were greatly surprised to find that almost no creatures on the worlds of this system could do so either, including humans. Almost all humans are between the size of a laborer and a scout, and are shaped in a similar way. Human skin is colored different shades of brown or tan, usually slightly red, and cannot be changed to match surroundings. This human body is quite flexible and humans train themselves to increase physical abilities when needed, but it cannot be adjusted beyond this to fill the roles needed of it.
Technology
While humans cannot adapt their own bodies to fill roles nearly as well as we can, they can adapt to roles through tool use and practice, and in tool use they far outshine us. While we mostly use simple, carefully crafted devices, humans build enormous collections of complex, finely developed tools for any tasks they may encounter. A single human, with some training and the correct tools, is capable of filling almost any physical work or combat role needed, and multiple humans working together are even more flexible, with large scale machines allowing astounding feats.
Even human construction of technology that we use is usually of higher quality, and the humans learn to create much more of it. Human builders seem able to build knowledge very effectively, and spot connections and patterns that our builders would miss, and this knowledge allows the humans ot refine their building processes.
The humans also show a surprising ability to understand how the world works, with science being an important part of all human societies we have encountered. The human scientists are constantly testing the world, recording information, and spotting new connections, providing much knowledge that the humans can turn to their advantage. Human scientists have even been able to tell us things about ourselves that we did not know.
Dominance
Unlike many creatures, humans cannot directly sense status, leading to a lot of frictions within their societies. They do not have any strong pheromones as signals, instead releasing a large number of weaker smells that the humans do not sense directly. Humans themselves say that some of the more dominant among them create "testosterone", we have not been able ot smell this apart from some scientific samples or human waste. Body language among humans is similarly confused, with more dominant ones using certain gestures and poses more than others, but most humans are still unaware of this.
Human dominance confusion allows for numerous conflicts in human society when other systems break down. Unorganized humans will waste time and resources, and in some groups injure or kill each other, to determine who will be in charge. These divisions are often encouraged or supported by outsiders to gain advantages within a particular society or group; when done with a society, simple determinations of dominance become deadly wars.
Fortunately for human societies, humans themselves have invented a number of outside systems to avoid these problems, based on large collections of rules that most agree or are forced to follow. As with technology, human legal system allow societies to react much more easily than simple dominance hierarchies would, and these system allow strong organization among the people included.
Human systems are not all alike: some use a lot of central control, similar to a hive, while some disperse control into smaller groups. Humans also seem to switch between permanent control by a few dominant officials, and allowing less dominant members to rotate high level ones. Most difficult to understand about human systems is the tendency for different types of control, and different amounts of central control, to be used for different areas of society, often leaving some function of society to be run by a bewildering amount of smaller units, with very specific and almost impossible to understand divisions between functions. Trade and production, in particular, are commonly left to subunits the humans call "businesses", apart from some roles that central rulers wish to control.
Humans themselves disagree on how exactly on how to arrange societies, using reasons that only make sense to other humans. Despite all these complications, often lamented as "red tape" or "disorganization", human societies have proven highly adaptable and effective at organization.
Conflict
Wars among humans are almost all over either dominance and/or resources. Humans themselves recognize a greater variety of reasons for wars, usually involving different subgroups within human society, but as when not at war, we have great difficulty understanding the differences.
Wars for domination between humans are sometimes far more deadly than equivalent wars among us. Because any human can become a soldier with the right tools, and some teaching or practice, human groups that wish to fight can raise large armies. Human wars also seem to arouse strong emotions that make it even harder to recognize dominance between groups, so human groups often fight even when they have little chance of winning, and sometimes extra violence is used to to terrorize non-fighting enemies to try and encourage acceptance of a loss, although the target humans often continue fighting afterwards. However, the actual intensity of human conflict varies greatly, based on expectations and rules that only some of the humans involved can understand.
Wars between humans and us are also far more deadly than wars within our species. Humans themselves are often quite violent in wars, attacking non-soldiers during invasions. Our own soldiers must be more deadly than usual, watching out for apparent non-fighters who may be hiding weapons or hunting groups the humans call "guerillas". Humans, despite their tendencies to kill non-fighters, often maintain distinctions between "combatants" and "civilians" that we do not notice, and get extremely angry at the killing of "civilians", further stretching out wars. The lack of ability to sense dominance also stretches out wars, as humans will often try to end wars when victory has not yet been established, or keep fighting after they have little chance of winning.
When humans fight, they bring their full technological and building skills to the war. Though humans cannot mutate their bodies for war, they can build tools that compete on even terms with almost any adaptation we invent. Human soldiers are not as tough or strong as our soldiers, but build body armor, camouflage clothing, and powerful weapons. As we have developed adaptation for larger soldier types, such as diggers and spit throwers, humans have responded with cars, tanks, and even farther shooting, large guns. Less well equipped humans are still dangerous, through their abilities to improvise ambushes and traps. Humans seem to have more trouble in unfamiliar or rough terrain, where they cannot use their technologies as effectively, and require some time to gain an understanding of the environment they will be in.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Human History
(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets
cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod. To make
things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species
involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human"
perspective will be the most basic. For individual histories, I'll write from the specie's own point of view)
For human "history" I'm only writing about the period after current time, since simply going over human history would be nothing new, and probably kind of boring in short writing like this.
Second Space Race
After the first race to the moon between the U.S. and Russia, space exploration slowed down for about a century. Unmanned probes continued exploring other planets, Activity continued in Earth orbit, and a few newer programs (China, India, Japan) performed moon landings, but space exploration moved little beyond these activities. Space research did continue, but largely out of the view of much of the world.
Developments on Earth, however, led to the restarting of the space race in 2065. Global warming had been an increasing concern throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, and new sources of energy had been constantly developed, while increasing regulations and taxes pushed against fossil fuel use. Starting around 2020, several events greatly accelerated these processes. Throughout the 2020s, concentrated solar power became competitive with other sources of electricity over wide areas of the world, and initiatives for dispersed solar power also greatly increased its use. Around 2030, electric vehicles became competitive with gasoline vehicles, and infrastructure changes followed quickly to support these. In 2045, rising temperatures pushed most large economies to institute harsh carbon taxes, further encouraging a switch away from fossil fuels.
Most regions of the world adapted well to these adjustments, but oil producing countries did not adapt nearly as well. The "great oil crash" as it would later be known, led to significant political upheavals in most oil exporting countries, with several countries experiencing large crime increases, highly contested elections, or even government changes. Most effected were countries along the Persian Gulf, where many countries had been almost totally dependent on oil. Over time, most of the countries, apart from Iran and Oman, almost completely disintegrated, with extreme violence for several years.
The middle East had always been an area with numerous conflicts, and the disintegration of these countries further aggravated these trends. As a series of wars and disruptions radiated outward from the oil crash countries, most governments not effected focused heavily on new weapons research and purchases. Among these new developments was the first successful orbital bombardment technology in 2065, developed by Egypt, but copied soon after by most surrounding countries.
The potential of this weapon frightened most of the previous main space powers. Worried about being outclassed by these weapons, most governments with existing space programs rapidly increased their size and research budgets, and worked on new launch systems and technology, to avoid loosing out on weapons capabilities. Out of this research came the technology for better control in space, robotics, new propulsion systems, and, most importantly, cheaper launch technologies. With the development of the jet assisted Rocket booster in the US, the Airplane launched rocket in Russia, and Spaceplanes in Japan, all soon copied by other space powers, and by other interested groups.
Lunar Colonies
In 2070, following soon after these developments, Space programs and businesses organized a flurry of moon landings to test new technology. While only 45 people had walked on the moon before this year, almost 38 people visited the moon in 2070 alone, and the number doubled soon into 2071. The spread of technology, and ability to take advantage of previous knowledge and experience, allowed missions to be prepared and launched much faster than before, allowing this great increase in moon missions. Lunar explorers collected large amounts of geological information, set of robotic observatories, and set of devices to watch the Earth from a more stable position.
It was not long before permanent human colonies were established on the moon. The first was a U.S. mining colony, to collect rare minerals that had been recently found on the moon, and could now be mined cost effectively due to cheaper space travel. The second was a multinational observatory. Other lunar colonies, for various purposes, soon followed. At first, lunar colonists only expected to stay a few months, at most, but medical and psychological space research developed techniques to allow far longer stays. Lunar colonies became permanent residences to many, and the first children were born on such a colony in 2078.
At the time humans arrived in the current system, Earth's moon was highly populated, with representatives from almost all over the globe found somewhere on it. Lunar colonies had become mostly self sufficient, with only occasional high tech materials or basic materials needing to be imported from another world.
Mars Settlement
At the time the first lunar colonies were being established, plans for journeys to Mars were being dusted off and put into practice. Because Mars was a more challenging destination than the moon, only well established space programs made the first attempts, and progress was slower than moon exploration. The first human landing on Mars took place in 2078, followed by three more in 2079. Landings at this stage involved a 2-4 month stay, and allowed extensive geological knowledge to be gained about the planet.
With lunar colonies fast developing, learning techniques for surviving off world, and Martian landings already involving long stays, it wasn't long before Martian colonies were founded. The first was started in 2080, and soon after, 5 more were prepared. Due to the greater distance, Martian colonies were less useful for raw materials, but could support themselves better due to the greater availability of necessary materials on Mars. Martian colonies supplied minerals to Earth, some food and basic material to lunar colonies, and provided locations for some research stations. Mars also became known as a destination for political opposition in more repressive regions, or for people in areas with low economic opportunity.
The success of lunar and martian colonies soon spread to just about any country or group that could afford a space program, with most setting up colonies for various purposes. Mars, at the time of arrival in the new system, was the most populated world outside the earth, with close to 150 million people living there.
Venus
An exception to the general success of Mars colonies was the Russian space program. While Russia was one of the first countries to achieve a Mars landing, attempts at founding colonies have hit long streaks of bad luck. The first such attempt was victim to an accident, forcing the crew to turn back before reaching Mars. The second attempt reached the surface, but machinery malfunctions forced the colonists to return to Earth. A third attempt failed a year in, and the colonists needed to be rescued by nearby martian settlements.
However, experiments on Venus had led to the development of balloon and flight systems to allow longer lasting probes on Venus. The Russian space agency was the first to take the balloon concept and use it for manned exploration of Venus. From a floating probe, Cosmonauts were able to greatly improve data collection and exploration from robotic Venus probes, and discover some unusual details of the planet.
After several of these landings, Russia established permanent balloon colonies over several locations on Venus. The colonies themselves acted as observatories, and were able to direct some robotic mining of unusual materials on Venus's surface. Attempts to keep the colony self sufficient also led to the development of new types of crops, able to take advantage of the unique conditions of Venusian colonies.
Although other space faring groups developed plans for Venusian colonies, the difficulty of starting such colonies compared to the costs of lunar and martian settlements meant that only Russia has built any.
Asteroid Mining
Martian settlements led the way to Asteroid and cometary mining projects. Robotic mining operations supplied some minerals to more populated worlds, and supplied some ice and organic material to lunar colonies. The three largest asteroids, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas, were settled permanently, though only by small numbers of people, and direct and supply nearby mining operations. Life on asteroids is tougher than life on Mars or Earth, as diminished solar power makes farming and energy production difficult, but the rewards are good for those willing ot take the risks.
Callisto
The last of the solar system colonies to be settled before the colonization of this system was the small colonist on Callisto. Settled in 2093 by American scientists and maintenance personnel , the Callisto colony was originally intended as a long lasting scientific expedition to study Jupiter, and would finance itself by sending various materials to the inner planets and asteroid belt. However, plans to retrieve the Callisto colonists continually fell through, and the colony itself became a permanent fixture of the moon.
The Callisto colony leads probably the toughest existence of all solar system colonies. Solar power is thin in Jupiter's orbit, stretching energy budgets to the limit, and the lack of quick transport to the colony from populated areas leads to an isolated existence. Callisto also lacks easily mined metal deposits, so must rely on the less rewarding ice and organic deposits for trade. The colony, since its founding, has been the scene of numerous attempts to improve its position, including taking part in Controlled Fusion research, attempts to mine Io or capture the energy of the Io flux current, and other attempts to capture Jupiter's magnetospheric power.
The Titan Project
In the year 2120, the experiments on Callisto finally allowed it to tap large amounts of Jupiter Magnetospheric power. At the same time, Improvements in solar power also helped the colony expand significantly. These advances were enough to encourage most colonies to prepare a settlement of the Saturn moon system. Unlike the Callisto colony, this project would involve people from many different colonies and countries on Earth, in a much more coordinated way. Colonists traveled to the staging point at Callisto, and than started the journey to Saturn.
While the Jupiter system's radiation belts made settling most moons difficult, the Saturn system is much more hospitable to colonists, and a few tens of thousands joined to form the initial colonies. The colony ships were also packed with supplies and assorted machinery, spare parts, and other materials needed to prepare colonies. The original plans were to settle some of the smaller moons of Saturn, organize an economy, and than start settling titan. The colonies would be a mix of scientific and mining based.
However, while on the way to Saturn, the colonization fleet flew near a strange object. At it was approached, we determined that the object was not in the path to hit anything. We recorded the location and path of the object, than continued floating by. As we did so, the object activated, and all the ships in the colonizing fleet found ourselves disoriented. Once we counted up all colonists, reoriented the ships, and tried to figure out what had happened, our navigators determined that we did not appear to be in the solar system anymore. Instead , we appeared to be in a different system, with a similar sun, but vastly different planets, and a different appearance to the sky. At this point, we had little choice but to find a place to settle, than figure out where we were, and either settle into this new system, or make contact with Earth if possible.
Explanation
The final description of the titan project is based on the Test of Time sci-fi game setup. The success of some of the colonies is based on current day histories of various space programs (Russian lack of success at Mars is based on the Great Galactic Ghoul idea, the Venusian colonies are based on the Venera probes. U.S. starting the only outer solar system colony until the titan attempt is based on the fact that most outer solar system work so far has been from the U.S.)
For human "history" I'm only writing about the period after current time, since simply going over human history would be nothing new, and probably kind of boring in short writing like this.
Second Space Race
After the first race to the moon between the U.S. and Russia, space exploration slowed down for about a century. Unmanned probes continued exploring other planets, Activity continued in Earth orbit, and a few newer programs (China, India, Japan) performed moon landings, but space exploration moved little beyond these activities. Space research did continue, but largely out of the view of much of the world.
Developments on Earth, however, led to the restarting of the space race in 2065. Global warming had been an increasing concern throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, and new sources of energy had been constantly developed, while increasing regulations and taxes pushed against fossil fuel use. Starting around 2020, several events greatly accelerated these processes. Throughout the 2020s, concentrated solar power became competitive with other sources of electricity over wide areas of the world, and initiatives for dispersed solar power also greatly increased its use. Around 2030, electric vehicles became competitive with gasoline vehicles, and infrastructure changes followed quickly to support these. In 2045, rising temperatures pushed most large economies to institute harsh carbon taxes, further encouraging a switch away from fossil fuels.
Most regions of the world adapted well to these adjustments, but oil producing countries did not adapt nearly as well. The "great oil crash" as it would later be known, led to significant political upheavals in most oil exporting countries, with several countries experiencing large crime increases, highly contested elections, or even government changes. Most effected were countries along the Persian Gulf, where many countries had been almost totally dependent on oil. Over time, most of the countries, apart from Iran and Oman, almost completely disintegrated, with extreme violence for several years.
The middle East had always been an area with numerous conflicts, and the disintegration of these countries further aggravated these trends. As a series of wars and disruptions radiated outward from the oil crash countries, most governments not effected focused heavily on new weapons research and purchases. Among these new developments was the first successful orbital bombardment technology in 2065, developed by Egypt, but copied soon after by most surrounding countries.
The potential of this weapon frightened most of the previous main space powers. Worried about being outclassed by these weapons, most governments with existing space programs rapidly increased their size and research budgets, and worked on new launch systems and technology, to avoid loosing out on weapons capabilities. Out of this research came the technology for better control in space, robotics, new propulsion systems, and, most importantly, cheaper launch technologies. With the development of the jet assisted Rocket booster in the US, the Airplane launched rocket in Russia, and Spaceplanes in Japan, all soon copied by other space powers, and by other interested groups.
Lunar Colonies
In 2070, following soon after these developments, Space programs and businesses organized a flurry of moon landings to test new technology. While only 45 people had walked on the moon before this year, almost 38 people visited the moon in 2070 alone, and the number doubled soon into 2071. The spread of technology, and ability to take advantage of previous knowledge and experience, allowed missions to be prepared and launched much faster than before, allowing this great increase in moon missions. Lunar explorers collected large amounts of geological information, set of robotic observatories, and set of devices to watch the Earth from a more stable position.
It was not long before permanent human colonies were established on the moon. The first was a U.S. mining colony, to collect rare minerals that had been recently found on the moon, and could now be mined cost effectively due to cheaper space travel. The second was a multinational observatory. Other lunar colonies, for various purposes, soon followed. At first, lunar colonists only expected to stay a few months, at most, but medical and psychological space research developed techniques to allow far longer stays. Lunar colonies became permanent residences to many, and the first children were born on such a colony in 2078.
At the time humans arrived in the current system, Earth's moon was highly populated, with representatives from almost all over the globe found somewhere on it. Lunar colonies had become mostly self sufficient, with only occasional high tech materials or basic materials needing to be imported from another world.
Mars Settlement
At the time the first lunar colonies were being established, plans for journeys to Mars were being dusted off and put into practice. Because Mars was a more challenging destination than the moon, only well established space programs made the first attempts, and progress was slower than moon exploration. The first human landing on Mars took place in 2078, followed by three more in 2079. Landings at this stage involved a 2-4 month stay, and allowed extensive geological knowledge to be gained about the planet.
With lunar colonies fast developing, learning techniques for surviving off world, and Martian landings already involving long stays, it wasn't long before Martian colonies were founded. The first was started in 2080, and soon after, 5 more were prepared. Due to the greater distance, Martian colonies were less useful for raw materials, but could support themselves better due to the greater availability of necessary materials on Mars. Martian colonies supplied minerals to Earth, some food and basic material to lunar colonies, and provided locations for some research stations. Mars also became known as a destination for political opposition in more repressive regions, or for people in areas with low economic opportunity.
The success of lunar and martian colonies soon spread to just about any country or group that could afford a space program, with most setting up colonies for various purposes. Mars, at the time of arrival in the new system, was the most populated world outside the earth, with close to 150 million people living there.
Venus
An exception to the general success of Mars colonies was the Russian space program. While Russia was one of the first countries to achieve a Mars landing, attempts at founding colonies have hit long streaks of bad luck. The first such attempt was victim to an accident, forcing the crew to turn back before reaching Mars. The second attempt reached the surface, but machinery malfunctions forced the colonists to return to Earth. A third attempt failed a year in, and the colonists needed to be rescued by nearby martian settlements.
However, experiments on Venus had led to the development of balloon and flight systems to allow longer lasting probes on Venus. The Russian space agency was the first to take the balloon concept and use it for manned exploration of Venus. From a floating probe, Cosmonauts were able to greatly improve data collection and exploration from robotic Venus probes, and discover some unusual details of the planet.
After several of these landings, Russia established permanent balloon colonies over several locations on Venus. The colonies themselves acted as observatories, and were able to direct some robotic mining of unusual materials on Venus's surface. Attempts to keep the colony self sufficient also led to the development of new types of crops, able to take advantage of the unique conditions of Venusian colonies.
Although other space faring groups developed plans for Venusian colonies, the difficulty of starting such colonies compared to the costs of lunar and martian settlements meant that only Russia has built any.
Asteroid Mining
Martian settlements led the way to Asteroid and cometary mining projects. Robotic mining operations supplied some minerals to more populated worlds, and supplied some ice and organic material to lunar colonies. The three largest asteroids, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas, were settled permanently, though only by small numbers of people, and direct and supply nearby mining operations. Life on asteroids is tougher than life on Mars or Earth, as diminished solar power makes farming and energy production difficult, but the rewards are good for those willing ot take the risks.
Callisto
The last of the solar system colonies to be settled before the colonization of this system was the small colonist on Callisto. Settled in 2093 by American scientists and maintenance personnel , the Callisto colony was originally intended as a long lasting scientific expedition to study Jupiter, and would finance itself by sending various materials to the inner planets and asteroid belt. However, plans to retrieve the Callisto colonists continually fell through, and the colony itself became a permanent fixture of the moon.
The Callisto colony leads probably the toughest existence of all solar system colonies. Solar power is thin in Jupiter's orbit, stretching energy budgets to the limit, and the lack of quick transport to the colony from populated areas leads to an isolated existence. Callisto also lacks easily mined metal deposits, so must rely on the less rewarding ice and organic deposits for trade. The colony, since its founding, has been the scene of numerous attempts to improve its position, including taking part in Controlled Fusion research, attempts to mine Io or capture the energy of the Io flux current, and other attempts to capture Jupiter's magnetospheric power.
The Titan Project
In the year 2120, the experiments on Callisto finally allowed it to tap large amounts of Jupiter Magnetospheric power. At the same time, Improvements in solar power also helped the colony expand significantly. These advances were enough to encourage most colonies to prepare a settlement of the Saturn moon system. Unlike the Callisto colony, this project would involve people from many different colonies and countries on Earth, in a much more coordinated way. Colonists traveled to the staging point at Callisto, and than started the journey to Saturn.
While the Jupiter system's radiation belts made settling most moons difficult, the Saturn system is much more hospitable to colonists, and a few tens of thousands joined to form the initial colonies. The colony ships were also packed with supplies and assorted machinery, spare parts, and other materials needed to prepare colonies. The original plans were to settle some of the smaller moons of Saturn, organize an economy, and than start settling titan. The colonies would be a mix of scientific and mining based.
However, while on the way to Saturn, the colonization fleet flew near a strange object. At it was approached, we determined that the object was not in the path to hit anything. We recorded the location and path of the object, than continued floating by. As we did so, the object activated, and all the ships in the colonizing fleet found ourselves disoriented. Once we counted up all colonists, reoriented the ships, and tried to figure out what had happened, our navigators determined that we did not appear to be in the solar system anymore. Instead , we appeared to be in a different system, with a similar sun, but vastly different planets, and a different appearance to the sky. At this point, we had little choice but to find a place to settle, than figure out where we were, and either settle into this new system, or make contact with Earth if possible.
Explanation
The final description of the titan project is based on the Test of Time sci-fi game setup. The success of some of the colonies is based on current day histories of various space programs (Russian lack of success at Mars is based on the Great Galactic Ghoul idea, the Venusian colonies are based on the Venera probes. U.S. starting the only outer solar system colony until the titan attempt is based on the fact that most outer solar system work so far has been from the U.S.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)