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The world is ruled by three people each over their own group. A vampire rules the supernatural creatures. A sorceress rules over all magic users. And a man, granted a great man, rules over all humans. But the man is feeling a bit inadequate.

His humans are ordinary. They work, they provide for their family, they do all the normal things we do in our current life. They are not treated badly by the others, they just aren't special like the other groups. Their technology doesn't really set them apart as the other two groups have a hand it in.

Besides just being food, target practice or worker bees, in a modern day world where magic is ordinary and supernatural creatures walk among us, how can humans prove they're just as good if not better than the other groups?

A little more clarification: Magic is hereditary, you can only be born with magical abilities, but in addition to that, you do need to be taught to be able to control it properly. Magic users can mate with normal humans sometimes producing a child with magical abilities. Supernaturals are the traditional western varieties, vampire, werewolf, fairie, ghosts, etc. acting and reproducing in the traditional ways, i.e. vampires and werewolves create more through their bites, fairies mate with other fairies, ghosts are dead, etc. Interspecies relationships are not frowned upon.

The world is current day, only slightly more advanced technology wise. Everyone has been out in the open for centuries. Magic allows for better healing and some conveniences, but of course not everyone can use it or have access to it. The world is (mostly) at peace as any time fighting breaks out one or the other steps in to stop it.

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    $\begingroup$ Man can walk in both day and night, and man doesn't pay the price of magic that sorcerers do? $\endgroup$
    – JustSnilloc
    Nov 4, 2018 at 23:34
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    $\begingroup$ Humanity always wins at dance-offs. $\endgroup$
    – The Square-Cube Law
    Nov 5, 2018 at 0:24
  • $\begingroup$ Hi poeticvampire, and welcome to Worldbuilding! This question is what we call opinion-based because there's no criteria to judge one answer better than the other. As such, I've voted to place your question on hold so that you won't be swamped with unhelpful answers. Feel free to edit it so it's a better fit for our site, according to the tour. $\endgroup$
    – Dubukay
    Nov 5, 2018 at 2:50
  • $\begingroup$ I agree that this is opinion based. "better" is always tricky, and if you look at the answers you have already, they're in all different directions. That being said, one phrase caught my eye: "They work, they provide for their family, they do all the normal things we do in our current life." Never underestimate the normal job of providing for one's family. Those who do not find that "better" can get what they get. $\endgroup$
    – Cort Ammon
    Nov 5, 2018 at 5:56
  • $\begingroup$ An almost always overlooked idea is quantity. Many qualitative "better" creatures have died out because being less energy intensive and using more offspring is better. Humans require less food and get more offspring faster and outpopulate the other groups. The sheer production capacity this gives them, as well as the "you mess with us we'll swarm you with coordinated numbers" tactic, allows humans to thrive. $\endgroup$
    – Demigan
    Nov 5, 2018 at 9:01

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With great power comes great vulnerability

Magic is not something that mages simply use - it is a part of them. This means that things which disrupt magic - iron, or running water for example - significantly interfere with a mage's ability to do anything at all, as well as disrupting their spells.

Vampires, of course, have a large number of famous weaknesses. Sunlight, garlic, a propensity for counting seeds.

These weaknesses mean that neither group is well suited towards transporting items long distances (Since vampires can't work more than half the day, and mages fair poorly on rivers and oceans). And transportation is the lifeblood of the global economy - a lifeblood which humans control.

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    $\begingroup$ I like this. So often in fiction humans are represented as "the average" or "the mediocre" but really, we could be twice as strong as the vampires and mages, 3 times as tall, twice as intelligent, half as intelligent, run twice as fast...we're so used to considering median human traits (like tolerating running water!) as average that we forget that they almost anything could be considered exceptional in the context! $\endgroup$
    – Bug Catcher Nakata
    Nov 5, 2018 at 1:05
  • $\begingroup$ Hmmm... you're right, I hadn't thought too much about the others limitations. That could be helpful. $\endgroup$
    – poeticvampire
    Nov 5, 2018 at 2:29
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The humans are many. And more are coming.

There are a few hundred magic users. There might be a thousand supernatural creatures. But there are nearly a million humans, just in this one country. More are born every day. The power of humans is the power of numbers - and not just numbers, but cooperating numbers. Humans renew and grow their numbers in a way that magic users and supernaturals cannot. The power of humanity is the fecund power of life, channeled with intelligence and cooperative cunning.

Cooperating with each other and fill the earth with ourselves is how Homo sapiens has taken the earth from our competitor animals, and from competing hominin species. That is the same power humans have over minority competitors like supernaturals or witches. If the humans decide to move as a body against either one, they don't stand a chance.

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  • $\begingroup$ Damnit, I should read all the answers before I write one. $\endgroup$
    – kingledion
    Nov 5, 2018 at 1:32
  • $\begingroup$ Strength in numbers is good, and humans definitely outnumber the others. But how would they use that combined intelligence and cunning (other than in battle)? $\endgroup$
    – poeticvampire
    Nov 5, 2018 at 2:27
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    $\begingroup$ Co-opt them. Coerce them. Team up with them. Threaten them. Impede them. Buy them off. Provide them what they need. Seduce them. Trick them. Help them. Charm them. Serve them. All of the things humans do, and maybe all at once. Also - track down where they sleep and burn it then dig thru the rubble at high noon (for the freaking vampires). $\endgroup$
    – Willk
    Nov 5, 2018 at 2:50
  • $\begingroup$ this mostly works as a reason for the supernatural people to hide, because if the humans knew about a deadly predator that feeds of humans then they are likely to hunt them to extinction $\endgroup$
    – mgh42
    Nov 5, 2018 at 4:43
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Humans are social

Vampires can't be together for more than a couple weeks before they begin plotting how to kill each other, magic users will desperately keep their secrets hidden from each other, but humans? Humans are social creatures.

Humans had a need to band together to survive since their first days on this world, but the supernatural creatures had never any such need. As a result, humans are simply better at organizing in groups and simply making friends with others.

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  • $\begingroup$ That's a good point and would lend to why there are greater numbers of them. $\endgroup$
    – poeticvampire
    Nov 5, 2018 at 3:33
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Humans have choice

This is a variation of supernatural weakness but a lot of supernatural or magic things have to follow their nature. For example: a druid cannot wield metal weapons, a vampire cannot enter a house without permission.

Of course there are things a human can't do such as fly or leap tall building in a single bound. But this is more about the mental thought process rather than the physical limitations. If you are being heavily influenced by a supernatural force this will not just affect the way you can act but the way you think.

For example a werewolf would not just be a human who can turn into a wolf. The bestial nature would affect every aspect of their life. Their families would act very pack like. They may know how to use weapons but their instincts to use their natural weapons (claws, teeth) would be enough to override their conscious brain.

Humans don't have these instincts, at least not to the same degree as supernatural creatures. Even when we do have them we can choose to ignore them. For example we know not to get close to fire but humans regularly run into burning buildings (fire fighters).

At an individual level it is not the most powerful thing but as a species it makes us creative, unpredictable and a lot more variable.

If you bring higher entities into the picture it can become even more useful. A water goddess could control all water based supernatural creatures and influence any sorcerer with a connection to water magic. Our naturally chaotic nature and strong ability to choose would make us naturally resistant against this. Perhaps even more resistant than most supernatural creatures.

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You got to be way more specific.

  • How does the magic system work, is it teachable like a schooling or special people picked out. Is it a hard or soft system?

  • How do the supernaturals reproduce, what species fit under the term "supernatural", werewolf, vampire ghosts?

Other than that i can think a few ways humans humans have an advantage. Our intuition and creativity, as well as desire to outdo each other could lead to advances in certain areas. We could also reproduce way quicker than the magical users and supernaturals which leads to a population advantage. I could make a much better answer if you went more in depth about your world and its inhabitants.

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  • $\begingroup$ Updated my question with a little more background. I definitely think you're onto something with the desire to outdo, but how? $\endgroup$
    – poeticvampire
    Nov 5, 2018 at 2:28

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