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We can see it in most of us humans. Most homininae, including gorillas apes and humans, act generally similar even if we look really different. We laugh in the same way, we stay in families the same way, we play the same way, and generally have similar visceral, and knee jerk reactions to the same general things... And I also want a way to understand how different my harpies and humans and biped dogs would act. I know general quirks about my fantasy species, like that they snap their mouths when they are angry, and literally bark at times when threatened. They have long tongues and have a snout, similar in size to a bulldogs mouth but smooth. They generally love doing things in massive packs, similar to most bipedal dogs of today that live in caverns and holes. Think a mix between the wolves den and the meerkats and prairie dogs. My bipedal dogs live in insanely long holes and caverns that they dig.

They might live in caves and eat like cavemen, but they are at a metal age level of advancement due to the insane heat and depth they live in, thus making it easier to have access to metal. They know how to dig really well by nature, and know how to use magic to bend metal to their advantage. Metal is easier, and more permanent than the magic substance they use. They do have social standards and can, and do exist and act in regal type places, even if they are discriminated against and called dogs. They aren't feral by nature; they have brains akin to humans, and can change and think and have complex thought processes just like humans. They believe in a God of Void and Holy(the magical substances) like everyone else in this world and they do have rituals and gatherings. So they are generally above cavemen level of advanced.

My main question is mostly just like, am I missing anything? Is there some weird fact about dogs that I am missing in my explanation that I should take into account when designing general behaviors? I know to not have them ALL act like dogs. Don't worry, they all have their personality and each are just as diverse in actions as humans are. I just want to get nature out of the way, because believe it or not, humans do all generally have a specific nature to them that makes them human, aside from physical characteristics, even if it is small.

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  • $\begingroup$ Greetings! You might consider focusing your query on a single aspect of your cynanthropes' behaviour. Per the help center, we like questions that are focused rather than ones that ask for a list of things. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 3:24
  • $\begingroup$ ok then, that will definitely help. i don't really know how or what to ask to specifically get it down, because i literally am asking for a list of things. but i will go ahead and close this question. i've already asked elsewhere where it's more appropriate @elemtilas $\endgroup$
    – michael griffin
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 3:33
  • $\begingroup$ Well, that's a problem! We don't do lists. You are, of course, certainly welcome to ask more than one question (within reason!) about your cynanhtropes. So, pick sòme aspect of their behaviour or culture to start with and go from there. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 3:35
  • $\begingroup$ sounds like a good idea. now we just need to wait for one more person to come by and vote to close this post. $\endgroup$
    – michael griffin
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 3:38
  • $\begingroup$ Just a for example: in my own world, there is a race of Cynanthropes. They tend to be pretty good diagnostic healers, on account of their heightened sense of smell. You might consider focusing on the canine sense of smell, for example, and ask a much more focused query related to that. For example: how would the social niceties of hierarchical canine ancestors translate to sentient, bipedal existence? The obvious underlying question being, would these people continue to smell each others' butts in greeting or what? $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 3:40

1 Answer 1

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The main sense of dogs is smell, their hearing and taste is also more developed that in our case.

So in the very least their culture would very a lot less visual than ours this is even more so in your case since this dogs live underground. Their main arts would be perfums, then music and then food. So it makes no sense to add pretty dresses or structures to their culture. Beauty for them is'nt about looks but smells.

There is also a functional difference to us for example the way they mark paths is olfatory instead of visual. With use symbols to mark paths and indicate meaning like danger. They would use some kind of olfatory signals with the same propose.

Their vision is inferior to ours but they can see in slow motion. The slow motion thing gives them advantage in hand to hand combat but as their vision is worse if proper oclusion of the smell is applied they could be more easily ambushed.

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  • $\begingroup$ that is really interesting. they do have forward facing vision, i should have mentioned that btw. but also, as an ape, it's hard to imagine a world with smell being a bigger factor than it already is. but other's have done it in worlds like the warrior cats, so i guess its possible to imagine it if i try hard enough. i would still think beauty is in looks for these people as that is how it is for every other race, but smell would be a way bigger factor for whether they like or enjoy a person or place. that'd be neat. also a perfume industry sounds neat actually. $\endgroup$
    – michael griffin
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 4:31
  • $\begingroup$ They life underground you said it yourself, normally creatures that live underground completely loose their ability to see. Thats why i put forward the idea of a culture were visuals are secondary $\endgroup$
    – jogarcia
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 4:33
  • $\begingroup$ well it's not like they don't have light. by live undergound i meant like how prairie dogs and meerkats live underground. that's just their home. humans don't live perpetually at all times inside of their house, never leaving. and even in their homes they have light. $\endgroup$
    – michael griffin
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 4:35
  • $\begingroup$ Just curious, why music then food? Why not the other way around? $\endgroup$
    – Matthew
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 4:35
  • $\begingroup$ Food culture in our own kind did'nt evolved very fast while music was faster. Also their audition is very much developed than ours their music would probably be very soft and melodic not that it is related. $\endgroup$
    – jogarcia
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 4:39

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