One race too alien from the others?

[Swordfry]

This is something I have been struggling with for a while. Most of my races are humanoid. One very human-like that dwell on beaches and close to the sea. Another is a small, forest-dwelling humanoid that spends most of its time in trees. Another is simply a race of giant, 15 foot tall humanoids with ape-like features. And then the last race I cam up with is very akin to a heavily armored beetle. They are human sized, have four legs, four arms, thick, heavy exoskeletons. The most alienating thing about them is that they have no vocal chords. Instead, they communicate with vibrations and rattling of different parts of their body. They are also very simplistic, having very few tools, basic buildings, and no weapons. This is because they are built to be walking tanks, and have large, rock melting acid glands in their throats in place of vocal chords.

For the longest time, my other races viewed them as more animalistic and even enslaved them at some point. But this beetle-like race is just as intelligent as humans.

My question is: Does anyone else have a race in their world that doesn't not quite fit in with the others? Also, would you as readers have a hard time believing these beetle guys could be living on the same planet of mostly humanoid dwellers?

 

[AkamaruGames]

Though I have not particularly made intelligent races of non-humanoids, this reminds me of the thri-kreen which are a race of intelligent praying mantises. They communicate similarly which makes them not quite useful as slaves since they can't communicate with their human masters. I am curious how your beetle people are able to communicate with their masters when they are incapable of speech (unless they can somehow mimic it with their body vibrations)?

As for believablity, in a fantasy world where (presumably) magic exists, I don't see any reason why they couldn't exist (assuming you get over the physical issues of giant creatures with exoskeletons). I am just curious why they do not fight back against the other races trying to enslave them. They seem like they are tough enough and, at least unarmed, would probably be more than a match for a typical human.

 

[ChasingSuns]

I have a race called the Quwera. They are definitely not very humanoid, but do have certain humanoid aspects. I wanted to think of my own version of orcs. When I say that, I mean "the generic soldier of a particular villain's army". They are very different from most races that I have in my story, but seem to fit very well

 

[Gurkhal]

I think you should mention this fact and if it comes to the worst, make and info dumb about it, so that the reader gets some info on the situation. With info, I don't think that I would have a problem.

 

[Russ]

This is something I have been struggling with for a while. Most of my races are humanoid. One very human-like that dwell on beaches and close to the sea. Another is a small, forest-dwelling humanoid that spends most of its time in trees. Another is simply a race of giant, 15 foot tall humanoids with ape-like features. And then the last race I cam up with is very akin to a heavily armored beetle. They are human sized, have four legs, four arms, thick, heavy exoskeletons. The most alienating thing about them is that they have no vocal chords. Instead, they communicate with vibrations and rattling of different parts of their body. They are also very simplistic, having very few tools, basic buildings, and no weapons. This is because they are built to be walking tanks, and have large, rock melting acid glands in their throats in place of vocal chords.

For the longest time, my other races viewed them as more animalistic and even enslaved them at some point. But this beetle-like race is just as intelligent as humans.

My question is: Does anyone else have a race in their world that doesn't not quite fit in with the others? Also, would you as readers have a hard time believing these beetle guys could be living on the same planet of mostly humanoid dwellers?

I have no problem believing this species could exist on the same world as the other ones you have described.

Put a mouse or human beside a giant squid or a whale. Huge morphic range even on boring old earth.

 

[Swordfry]

I am just curious why they do not fight back against the other races trying to enslave them. They seem like they are tough enough and, at least unarmed, would probably be more than a match for a typical human

I never said they didn't fight back, lol. The whole slavery thing was very brief because the captors realized that they were more intelligent and civilized than they had thought...and the beetle-like race totally kicked the butts of the captors, lol.

My biggest fear is going to be integrating them into adventures, quests, and just any interactions they have with other more humanoid races. But then again I suppose it is not too uncommon to have one or two members in a party hardly anybody can understand. But I actually want their language that consists of vibrations and rattling of different hard parts of their bodies to be a long study throughout my books by other races.

And I keep calling them beetles, but they are not exactly insectoid. Have not decided if they will have an actual skeleton, or a few hard shells on their bodies, or just have different rattlesnake like appendages and the like that are specifically for communicating. I just call them "beetles" because in my mind, they look like the Garthim from the movie "The Dark Crystal" if anybody knows that, just humanoid in form with how their limbs look. And they spit acid, which was directly inspired from some sort of real beetle that shoots acid out of its butt.

 

[DanJames]

A race in the inital continent for my verse goes by the name Woeharians. They're desert dwellers, and travelling merchants. The humanoid races, have no knowledge (at least recorded) of seeing them outside of their traditional robes, but they are presumed to be humanoid.

In actual fact they're an insect-like race similar to yours, legs twice the length of a standard human leg but capable of bending at a complete 180 degree angle, making them appear human sized under their robe, which is actually plumage that sprouts from their head that they cacoon themselves in.

There is no such thing as too alien in my opinion, as long as there is a plausible explanation, then it works. You never have to explain how they are like they are, but if you create a plausible reason for the race, their culture, their actions, reactions and existence, then regardless of their physical appearance, they'll fit in themselves. Woeharians are completely ridiculous in me and my friends verse, they're not even the most out there design wise, but in terms of the thought process behind a lot of our decisions with them, on their own they're so bizarre and freakish and you can't see them blending in to a humanoid society. it's the little things that make them function.

 

[Ayaka Di'rutia]

Centaurs in my fantasy universe stand out a lot from the others. There are seven main races; six walk on two legs and have very similar organ structure, even if they appear different from the outside.

My centaurs, on the other hand, have two hearts, two pairs of lungs, two stomachs, etc. They can eat tons of food and can be hard to kill because they have duplicate vital organs. They're oddball compared to my other races.

 

[BeigeCerberus]

I like the idea for your race being more alien. Maybe presumptuous, but I'd assume they first came into being far away from the others to explain the differences, where the others would have more of a similar origin to one another. And your race sound like a fun group

but races like that offer a nice change and a chance for an admittedly alien perception, and some good cultural clashes I'd need them to be a bit more established than just popping up one day, and make sure the characters in the series know them and don't play up their differences too much. their part of the world, after all

also, how is their relations and how did they enslave them? make sure to flesh and plan this out

 

[Swordfry]

I like the idea for your race being more alien. Maybe presumptuous, but I'd assume they first came into being far away from the others to explain the differences, where the others would have more of a similar origin to one another. And your race sound like a fun group

but races like that offer a nice change and a chance for an admittedly alien perception, and some good cultural clashes I'd need them to be a bit more established than just popping up one day, and make sure the characters in the series know them and don't play up their differences too much. their part of the world, after all

also, how is their relations and how did they enslave them? make sure to flesh and plan this out

A distant origin really would help explain their alien-ness, but I'm afraid that would not work too well with the way I am setting up my world. I'm doing a much more mythological, almost Creationism take on the beginning of my world and the races. The planet was created and inhabited in very short order, and all my races popped up looking the way they do now, with no previous primitive forms behind them in the evolutionary process. That said, another thing I had in mind was to have all these races start off in the same place, and after a short time they would spread out and go their separate ways.


However, I could make this race show up, literally be created later after all the other races. That was my original idea, to have two waves of races coming into existence and the first wave of races would all hate the newer ones. What would you guys think about that idea? I feel like doing so could really help out the whole mythological feel to my world.

 

[The Stranger]

i came up with one race for my world that are refugees literally from the plane of madness. They are about six feet tall and have large claws instead of feet, strange clusters of tentacles for hands, and a head that resembles a four eyed octopus. Because they're native of the plane of madness, they don't think like normal creatures and perceive the world through their twisted minds, not being evil, but just strange enough to sit comfortably in the uncanny valley. They are one of my more fun races to write for, as their alien appearance often gets them shunned by most common races, but their reputations as excellent scholars and mages often forces humans to interact with them and communicate with them.