Here's an interesting exercise. At least, it was for me.
I was writing some background material: About Dwarves, About Elves. It occurred to me that I did not have an essay entitled About Humans. The full essay is too long for a forum, but here's the short version.
Politics: humans are city builders. They like kingdoms, but the also like republics, but regardless of the general political form, they build cities.
Economics: humans love money. They invent new kinds, they hoard it, and seem somehow always to spend more than they actually have.
Society: humans are fundamentally social creatures. Hermits can be found, as can isolated family units, but for the most part humans will band together whenever they can. See above, Cities.
Culture: the stereotype of humans is that they are violent, greedy and aggressive, and all this is true enough. At the same time, they revere art more than either elves or dwarves. They are also great philosophers, dedicating vast resources to the study of arcane subjects. Perhaps for this reason, though not this reason alone, they are relentless inventors.
Religion: where other peoples are content with a single pantheon, or even a single deity, humans are religious omnivores. They collect gods as if they were collecting berries. They have a score of pantheons, not to mention various gods almighty. Not content with this, they happily appropriate gods from other peoples. Some humans even endeavor to prove that all gods are in fact the same.
Magic: some humans are the most powerful magicians in the world. Most of the rest range from inept to outright dangerous. They dabble in every craft, but master none of them. Perhaps because there was a time in their past when they knew not magic, humans are frequently obsessed with it.
OK, it's sketchy and superficial, but it was for me interesting to see if I could sum up my species in as few words as I was spending on other species.
I was writing some background material: About Dwarves, About Elves. It occurred to me that I did not have an essay entitled About Humans. The full essay is too long for a forum, but here's the short version.
Politics: humans are city builders. They like kingdoms, but the also like republics, but regardless of the general political form, they build cities.
Economics: humans love money. They invent new kinds, they hoard it, and seem somehow always to spend more than they actually have.
Society: humans are fundamentally social creatures. Hermits can be found, as can isolated family units, but for the most part humans will band together whenever they can. See above, Cities.
Culture: the stereotype of humans is that they are violent, greedy and aggressive, and all this is true enough. At the same time, they revere art more than either elves or dwarves. They are also great philosophers, dedicating vast resources to the study of arcane subjects. Perhaps for this reason, though not this reason alone, they are relentless inventors.
Religion: where other peoples are content with a single pantheon, or even a single deity, humans are religious omnivores. They collect gods as if they were collecting berries. They have a score of pantheons, not to mention various gods almighty. Not content with this, they happily appropriate gods from other peoples. Some humans even endeavor to prove that all gods are in fact the same.
Magic: some humans are the most powerful magicians in the world. Most of the rest range from inept to outright dangerous. They dabble in every craft, but master none of them. Perhaps because there was a time in their past when they knew not magic, humans are frequently obsessed with it.
OK, it's sketchy and superficial, but it was for me interesting to see if I could sum up my species in as few words as I was spending on other species.