Arguments for and against nonhuman peoples

[Yora]

I guess in the end it always comes down to what the author feels to be thematically appropriate for the setting. And that really is much more of an intuitive feeling than a reasoned evaluation.

However, in the realm of fantasy, we always have the option to include human-like characters and populations that are very different from humans, and I think outside of urban and gothic fantasy (is there actually a difference?) this is something every creator considers at some point.

The impression I got is that most writers go with yes and have some kinds of nonhuman peoples inabiting the world alongside humans. But I very regularly have conflicted feelings about the results. Because in the end, you most often end up with 90% of characters and apparently also the population being human, and all the other peoples combined making up the rest.

How do you handle this and what were your considerations that went into your ultimate decisions? Right now my setting is populated by six types of almost-humans, but I am also reconsidering adding some kind of beastmen and goblins to it. If I just tag them on, I feel that they would literally feel tagged on. If I were to add them in greater numbers, it would need a considerable addition of places where they live to the world and rewrite the relationships between states. Both situations seem unappealing to me.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I think the standard response is that if you include other races they do have other places etc. Really it becomes about focus. So I'm a kiwi. If I write a story set in New Zealand ninety plus percent of my characters will be kiwi's and the other peoples of the world will make up the balance.

But if you change the focus - have your hero travel to another land full of non-human people - Australia - you can do a whole fish out of water narrative which is awesome.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[skip.knox]

I began with our world, so all humans. In the late 4th century, goblins invaded. They were followed by waves of kobolds, trolls, dwarves, gnomes, elves, various flavors of fae folk, ogres, giants, and beasties from the bestiary. In some cases, these peoples either occupied sparsely populated areas of Europe, or they conquered and drove out humans. Sorting out physical locatoins and geo-politics is an ongoing project, but it does explain why humans are the most populous, continent-wide.

 

[elemtilas]

My own World is one where the human-analogues are not the majority by numbers. So for me, the option is to add or focus on the human characters, rather than characters belonging to one of the majority races.

It gets handled by recognising that the human-analogues are not the majority, and that even in a story which focuses on human doings, others are still very likely to be prominently sitting on the back burner & are quite active behind the scenes. These others have been around a lot longer and have had a considerable influence on the culture, history, literature, religion & technology inherited & invented by the human-analogues. Also, that each race has its history, its place within the broader ecology, its rise its lifespan and its death. Often at the hands of one of the other races.

 

[Vvashjr]

My world is populated with a huge variety of non humans. The major races are,

1) Humans
2) Elves
3) Dwarves
4) Mer
5) Nagas
6) Aves
7) Centaurs
8) Dracolytes
9) Orcs
10) Gargolyes

I only focus on a FEW as some of my main characters have non human parentage/ancestry, and the rest I introduce sporadically as a means of filling the world and making the environment alive.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

None of my 'verses have humans. I'm probably a rarity in that regard.

 

[WooHooMan]

I think it all depends on the aesthetics of your setting. Low fantasy sword-and-sorcery would have a different set of races than a wuxia story.

With my main setting right now, there's a blur between human and non-human.
To elaborate: the traditional fantasy people (elves, goblins, etc.) are basically mutations of humans. But then there are odd sub-races of humans such as the blue humans with three eyes and the quad-armed humans. So, on a gradient between average Earth-like human, multi-armed human and mutated human that resembles a goblin - where would you draw the line?
And then there's the blur between people and non-people as a handful of prominent characters are things like angels, elementals, homunculi, highly intelligent magical fungi and computer AIs.

These blurs and the "people" within them are, of course, intentional and part of the overall themes of the story.

So, I don't know. As long as it fits the setting, it's all good.

 

[Mythopoet]

With my main setting right now, there's a blur between human and non-human.
To elaborate: the traditional fantasy people (elves, goblins, etc.) are basically mutations of humans. But then there are odd sub-races of humans such as the blue humans with three eyes and the quad-armed humans. So, on a gradient between average Earth-like human, multi-armed human and mutated human that resembles a goblin - where would you draw the line?
And then there's the blur between people and non-people as a handful of prominent characters are things like angels, elementals, homunculi, highly intelligent magical fungi and computer AIs.

These blurs and the "people" within them are, of course, intentional and part of the overall themes of the story.

This sounds remarkably like my own world. Though I would guess we probably have such evolutions for different reasons.

 

[Orc Knight]

I appear to have gone for all or nothing on my main Fantasy worlds. Mostly seems to be all and in the direction of non-humans. And I push humans to the back and try not to have the non-humans as just humans with really pointy and flexible ears. Though it is touched on from time to time as they can relate to human's. Kind of. On Eld, it's Elves and Trolls (and their offshoot species/races) that rule pretty much everything and are the most populous. At least physically. Otherwise there's spirits all the hell over that are fully capable of taking on elemental natures from tree's to fungoid people or the like. Then there's sentient/sapient animals and their like. Got fairy tale's in the world, it happens.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Actually one of the ideas I've worked with is that humans are the bastard offshoot race that arose from elves and dwarves having kids!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[WooHooMan]

This sounds remarkably like my own world. Though I would guess we probably have such evolutions for different reasons.

That's likely but I wouldn't say there's anything there that hasn't been done before. Really, the only thing I mentioned that I haven't seen elsewhere is maybe having an elemental as a major character.

 

[Miles Lacey]

In my WIP the fantasy world I've created has the political systems and technologies of the 1930s so humans, elves and neanderthals travel widely and often live and work together. However the relationship between them isn't always harmonious. My main character is an elf, her sidekick is a human and the mentor figure is a neanderthal. In some parts of the Empire in which they live Jim Crow / Nuremburg Laws type laws exist and this causes major problems for the characters but in other parts they face little or no legal discrimination.

Non-human people can sometimes have one benefit that people often don't consider: you can do things with them that would be highly controversial if you use humans. After all if a creature isn't human why should they be restrained by human morality and ethics?

I don't care if people use non-human people or not. What matters is that the same rules that should apply to the creation of human characters should also be applied to non-human characters. Evangelyne in the Wakfu TV series is an elf (which the in-universe world call a Cra) and she is one of the most popular characters because her character was so well done. Other non-humans in that series were definitely non-human but they had unique personalities and characteristics that made them very entertaining and engaging characters.