Reskinning old ideas.

[SirenSon117]

Ok so way back when I first started world building it was more sci-fi than fantasy. I had this race of human "variants" called Homo Umbra and their whole schtick was that they lived on a planet that was mostly nighttime, hence Umbra in the name. There is dim light on this planet from the world's moon(s) and the other lifeforms were mostly fish, bugs, and mushrooms that the Homo Umbra ate. I have since purged the sci-fi aspects of my setting(s) so the Homo Umbra don't really work. The only place I can think of to put them is in Galfreeze/Apocalypse which is Space Fantasy with Punk elements. I really like the idea of a race optimized for the night. What that look like, how would the culture develop, on what ways are Homo Umbra different from Homo Sapiens, what's the difference between these guys and Dark Elves(known in my setting as Cavernbound Elves and they're based on snakes rather than spiders like traditional Drow are), or are these just Dark Humans and nothing more? Thank you in advance for helping me brainstorm. If you guys need context just ask.

 

[skip.knox]

Seems like energy would be at a premium in such a world. Your culture might think little of light and dark and think more about other forms, such as geothermal, tidal, volcanic.Those who controlled such resources, and who could manipulate the forces, would be powerful or revered or both. Artificial buildings would, I should think, be difficult to construct and therefore rare. Cities would either be few or would be more grown than built. Maybe carved out. You might put some thought to how long-distance transport would work.

 

[SirenSon117]

Seems like energy would be at a premium in such a world. Your culture might think little of light and dark and think more about other forms, such as geothermal, tidal, volcanic.Those who controlled such resources, and who could manipulate the forces, would be powerful or revered or both. Artificial buildings would, I should think, be difficult to construct and therefore rare. Cities would either be few or would be more grown than built. Maybe carved out. You might put some thought to how long-distance transport would work.

Thanks for the food for thought. The volcanic energy idea is getting me thinking about a capital city. Maybe in the absence of light the Homo Umbra would worship fire similar to the Sulatar Drow in Eberron. Growing a city is a good idea but there is little plantlife in a world where the sun only shines for a couple hours. I think carving a city out of stone would be better and fits well with the reliance on volcanos.

 

[Ruru]

How large are your mushrooms? Fungi can grow or be trained to grow into many different shapes, if you wanted to go with the “grown” building idea.

 

[Saigonnus]

I agree with Oberon. I think "growing" homes from mushrooms is interesting, but there would have to be a lot of food for them to evolve large enough to serve as a home. With magical growth, it could work; you could use it to fortify the mushrooms so they don't fall apart or rot. I think stone is probably the better way to go. Maybe the residents of such a world are elementalists that specialize in working the stone; so they can "grow" their homes rather than build them. I also don't think energy would be at a premium, imagine if the sunlight only hits the planet indirectly most places, but there would likely be an area of the planet, like a stripe around the planet near the poles where the sun is at full strength. Maybe it's so strong that life cannot thrive there; like a desert, but worse. At the other end of the planet would be a lightless, seemingly endless glacier or tundra.

 

[SirenSon117]

I agree with Oberon. I think "growing" homes from mushrooms is interesting, but there would have to be a lot of food for them to evolve large enough to serve as a home. With magical growth, it could work; you could use it to fortify the mushrooms so they don't fall apart or rot. I think stone is probably the better way to go. Maybe the residents of such a world are elementalists that specialize in working the stone; so they can "grow" their homes rather than build them. I also don't think energy would be at a premium, imagine if the sunlight only hits the planet indirectly most places, but there would likely be an area of the planet, like a stripe around the planet near the poles where the sun is at full strength. Maybe it's so strong that life cannot thrive there; like a desert, but worse. At the other end of the planet would be a lightless, seemingly endless glacier or tundra.

Thanks for the brain food!