Questions tagged [fantasy-races]
For questions relating to peoples or sentient beings that are often found in the fantasy subgenre of fiction, such as elves, dwarves, etc. This can be about their physical characteristics, their societies, or something completely different.
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How to prevent theft in a society where everyone has hyperspace storage?
In my modern fantasy novel, there is a species of people called the Hammerts. The Hammerts are small orange humanoids who have issues running and jumping after they reach adulthood. To compensate for ...
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What kind of environment would lead to the development of traits typical of fantasy races? [closed]
I'm not actively working on my world, but I'm currently thinking about races for it. I want this world to seem like a typical fantasy world at first glance, but have scientific reasons behind it. So, ...
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How would a creature with third-and-second-person vision be able to wield a firearm effectively?
My urban fantasy story, set at the turn of the milennium, has a species of humanoid beings called the untethered. The most distinctive thing about them is that they lack eyes of their own. Rather than ...
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Does the addition of dominant fantasy races change racism in humans?
Context: This takes place in an alternate reality earth; several fantasy races have existed since the Ladinian era of the break up of Pangea; meaning by the time humans evolved into homo-sapiens, they ...
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How would you prosecute crimes in a world where everyone regenerates from injuries?
The world is filled with trolls. Trolls regenerate from any damage other than fire or acid at a rate of about 10% per second, and so any injuries or torture you inflict will very quickly be removed. ...
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Will my Hydra sink into the bog?
Hydras in my world are much like a brontosaurus in form, but has three heads. Much like a hippo, hydras have incredibly dense bones, and sink rapidly in water. Hydras are almost exclusively swamp ...
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What muscles would get sore if humans had wings and could fly?
I'm intrigued by the idea of humans with feathered wings as a 6th appendage, but with prolonged flight, if such a thing were actually possible for humans naturally as it is in my book, I'm not sure ...
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Cultural identity in an Multi-cultural empire
I'm world-building for a universe. I just came up with Deals Best Kept, and I realized I wanted to have a bunch of fantasy races interact, be very culturally diverse and mixed, and also account for a ...
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How would "barbie doll" anatomy work?
A fairly common trope in fantasy is "barbie doll anatomy". Effectively, a species completely lacks any visible orifices besides their mouth and nose. This brings up two major questions. ...
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What protection would autotrophic zoophytes construct? [closed]
The mireworts are a species of small (piglet sized) motile (snail paced) autotrophs that have a high degree of intelligence and sociality. They gain energy solely through photosynthesis, and consume ...
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What cutlery would rotifer monsters use?
The rotifer monsters are monstrous rotifers with a roughly human level of intellect. They are roughly 7 metres in length and 2 metres in diameter. They possess the power to manipulate gravity, ...
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Would my giants still have a functioning appendix?
In my world, there is a species from the Homo genus named Homo gigas. They are commonly called giants.
They are as massive as polar bears, and they never stop growing like kangaroos.
They have seal-...
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Sonic weapons vs Faeries: Can we survive The Cloud of Blades & Bombs?
The faeries of my world are nightmare fuel.
They 5-7 cm insects that have two legs and four upper grasping limbs. Paired with this, they have the flight characteristics of humming birds, making them ...
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Could sophonts that evolved in colder climates keep cool in the tropics with simple technology? [closed]
On an Earth-like planet, we have a functionally human-like creature which evolved to dwell comfortably in its world's boreal forests. As humans have done, it will likely have a desire to explore its ...
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What would make winged centaurs a reasonable fighting force? [closed]
Within my world of Astarious, I have a race known as the Pegtauri, winged centaurs, who for a time were feared raiders on villages near the mountains that separated their plains from the rest of ...
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Would a satyr wear horseshoes?
Would a satyr wear horseshoes?
Horseshoes were invented because stone roads were bad for a horse’s hooves. I’m not sure if a satyr would want to nail horseshoes (goatshoes?) to their hooves, or if ...
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How would a city be structured if the inhabitants did not have houses? [closed]
Some sapient species, unlike humans, do not see the need to erect housing or beds to sleep in. They still have access to the art of construction for other purposes such as storerooms, forts, and ...
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What could be a compelling reason for an incestuous race to diversify into clans? [closed]
I'm writing a litRPG novel and have created an incestuous race called Purus (a temporary name). Purus are a long-lived race that can live for up to 1000 years. They possess unique magical powers, ...
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How would different antler styles impact balance in humanoids? [closed]
I’m designing a feylike race where more dominant females develop antlers to display their place in the hierarchy. However, I haven’t decided exactly how they’re going to sit yet or if the style that I’...
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How can my puny naked apes possibly become the dominant species? [closed]
I have been building my fantasy world for the last fifteen years. The world has satirical elements. In particular the world is ruled by puny naked upright apes. I am having difficulty justifying this ...
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How would my fantasy race keep blood in ceremonial pots without it getting gross?
There’s a group I’m designing that believe blood to be sacred, and at 7 they begin keeping it for rituals and such.
The amount of blood is about a drop per day and is kept in a (glazed) clay pot that ...
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What level of phenotypic change is plausible over 10-15,000 years?
I'm developing a story with 4 distinct group of humans who inhabit 4 geographically separated and ecologically distinct islands (Iceland to Greenland sized). These groups descend from a single diverse ...
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What would be a good reason for a clan of 'Pure bloods' to want all other supernatural creatures dead? [closed]
In my novel, I'm working on having some form of clan/club/group of 'pure-bloods' that are descended from Van Helsing that are now an entire organization (in the 21st century) still working to carry ...
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Would merpeople be able to survive in relatively still water?
So merfolk are obviously fantasy creatures, and their biology depends entirely on the designs of the writer. For my merfolk, I am leaning less into the accuracy territory, and simply looking for ...
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Could a sub-race of humans survive at 2 feet tall and live underground (occasionally going to the surface)
The faeren are an extremely short sub-race of humans that live underground in secret mounds called "barrows." Their males are chubby, but muscular, and are all capable of growing vast beards,...
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Goblins are Vulnerable to Fire and Light -- What Weapons Should we Use?
I’m doing a project about secret agents in the same vein as MIB but it’s set in the year 2050 and instead of aliens they deal with monsters similar to goblins.
The goblins evolve, growing from ...
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Why are my Orcs so Big and Strong? [closed]
Here are the usual "Since warcraft 3" Orcs.
Men are between 2.0 and 2.7 meters tall.
In women from 1.7 meters to 2.5 meters.
Almost no fat.
Much stronger than humans "One orc is as ...
user100265
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Can a canine/human hybrid balance without a tail?
I am writing a book about a humanoid wolf (named Wolf. See what I did there?). Wolf lost most of his tail in an accident when he was younger. He hides the stump under his jacket to avoid being ...
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Formula for calculating aging rate of a decaying half-elf dynasty
A powerful human king had a child with an elf princess. His life expectancy is about 70 years (human average), hers is 2000 years. The half-elf prince is expected to live for about 1000 years, more or ...
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Footwear for my invisible fantasy race
My setting (urban fantasy set in 1998 America) has a variation on the classic movie monster of the "invisible man". Here this species (tentatively called the neverthere) has a physical body ...
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How would a group of people inspired by European ethnic groups maintain their lighter skin in a desert climate?
Messing around with different aesthetics and groups for this story, and I'm wondering how to go about this. I wanted to do a setting where a region is full of basically ancient Egyptian inspired ...
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What conditions could fish people evolve to be in their current humanoid form?
My fish people live in underwater nations. They look like a mix between the Creature from the Black Lagoon (left)
and the sea creatures from Luca:
with the exception of some minorities that resemble ...
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How could my solar-powered fairies exist in outer space?
There have been instances of flashes in space that were attributed to sprites and fairies. Now, I know these phenomena can be explained by natural means such as blue/purple lightning. But the concept ...
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How plausible is the idea of aquatic humans/humanoids having respiration like a frog instead of things like gills?
I was reading about frogs, which led me to think: what if, instead of gills, aquatic humanoids had a respiration system like frogs (absorbing the oxygen from the water through their skin)?
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Would stalked hair help a tunneling humanoid?
Many mammals that dig and live in underground tunnels have short/no hair, so as to avoid the hair being bent backwards if they need to reverse out of their tunnel. However, I'd like my tunneling ...
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How to prevent super-strong slaves from escaping and rebelling
I have a fantasy setting that is about as advanced as the late 15th to early 16th century. There are humans and many other sapient non-human species; humans are one of the only species to create large ...
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What would an "excessively sober" dwarf look like if they need alcohol to function?
Some dwarf lore, particularly the video game Dwarf Fortress, depicts dwarves not just as aggressively alcoholic, but as a species that functions better when drunk than when sober. That they need ...
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What anatomical features would enable tree climbing in someone with feet for hands and no opposable thumbs?
Short version: A given person’s arms are now legs. But somehow they are able to climb trees despite having no opposable thumbs or big toes. How is the anatomy of their arm-legs designed to make this ...
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Is it easier to kill a dragon with a machinegun or a bazooka? [closed]
Faced in a mortal combat with a dragon* would a squad of humans be better equipped mostly by medium machineguns or by portable rocket launchers? Would a 7.62×51mm to the eye or armpit maim an ...
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How do human police (non-lethally) apprehend far larger, more dangerous races?
One of the factions of my setting has several different races cooperating to form a cohesive society. Being relatively modern, it has a variety of amenities we would consider a part of civilisation, ...
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What gene could have a mutation that makes humans have blubber?
In my world, there are three species from the Homo genus that make together a clade named the aquatic humans: Homo maritimus, Homo corpulentus, and Homo gigas (the names respectively mean "marine ...
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What struggles would a ten-foot tall humanoid face in daily life?
In the story I am creating the fantasy race I am creating is roughly 10-20 feet tall from the tip of their ears to the end of their tail in water, and out of water 8-10 foot tall from tip of their ...
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How could dryads realistically grow plants out of their body? [closed]
My fantasy world includes non-traditional dryads who are pretty much just humans that have a stronger connection to nature, as well as the ability to grow plants out of their skin. Is there any way to ...
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What type of diet would be needed to sustain the Seadominians and keep them thriving
I created this fantasy race called Seadominians, they are basically merfolk. They are mostly bipedal, have scales covering all over, and live all throughout the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, also the ...
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Biology Question Ovoviviparity in Mammals Mammal/Brid Hybrids [closed]
I am not sure where to ask this question at so I hope this is a good place.
I also am not sure where I ever got this idea, but I wanted ask what possibility it had.
Considering the reproduction of a ...
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How would technology differ in a society with different intelligent species than just humans?
In my story, Longhorn, there’s five races descended from five gods of the same names, which consist of humans, keratas (anthropomorphic big cats w horns) lykos (anthropomorphic Wolf/hyena creatures) ...
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What is the earliest point in human history that gold could be hoarded?
I am currently brainstorming the history and logistics of the dragon species in my urban fantasy story about immortal mythical creatures. The way I currently envision them, dragons have their ...
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How could a mostly medieval civilization withstand an invasion by a modern air power? [closed]
In my story a medieval civilization of elves is facing an invasion from a modern day earth power. They have prophetic powers, which have predicted the invasion will happen in ten years, and have that ...
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Could superhuman pre-Industrial Orcs wage effective guerilla warfare against a modern military?
In my story, a portal links the modern world to a medieval fantasy world. This is sort of similar to Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There. The North Korean military decides to go through their portal and ...
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Would merfolk have pale skin?
Quite simply question. In my story I am depicting merfolk as having lighter skin than even Caucasian people, contrasting to my human society which bears resemblance skin tone wise to Hispanics.
I've ...
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