Re: Homanii - Dysonspace Original Race

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Mon 07 Mar, David Shepheard wrote:
> From: "Dreamer" <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk>
> Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] Homanii - Dysonspace Original Race
> > This is a basic write-up of one of the races that I intend to use
> > in the background for Dysonspace, that I am writing up. What I
> > wanted to check was, how similar is this to other, existing SJ
> > races, as far as anyone knows?
> >
> > You will probably guess that I am going to see if I can make them
> > credibly Progenitors, who are the reason for all the humanoid
> > races around in SJ.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> > Homanii - Dysonspace Original Race
> >
> > These were hairy, pelted, humanoids, and were the construction
> > experts among the three main original races who created
> > Dysonspace. Rather than being human (homo sapiens) they resembled
> > orangutans ('forest person'; pongo pygmaeus). As a race they were
> > interested in all sorts of construction, and how things were
> > made, including living things. They lived in cities made from
> > bio-engineered trees, which produced a wide range of fruit, all
> > year round, edible bark, or were places where the insects that
> > they ate flourished.
> >
> > There were many homanii sub races, adapted to living in different
> > environments, including on and under the ground, rather than
> > mostly in trees. All of these sub races were hairy and pelted.
> > They ranged in size from goblins to giants. The homanii also
> > blended other races with their own, in particular the sauranii,
> > producing the elves, the illithanii producing the mind flayers,
> > and the barakanii producing the gnomes and dwarves.
> >
> > It is thought that the loss of (most of) their hair produced a
> > form of racial hysteria in the homanii and their sub races, and
> > some died out, some became vicious, and some became solitary. One
> > of the most successful at bouncing back from this racial shock
> > was the humans, though these regressed to a state of savagery
> > which lasted many millenia. Many of the races have a racial
> > memory or a legend of a time, a golden era, when all lived
> > together in harmony.
>
> This seems to be a subject that is handled differently in
> different D&D products. Some seem to mention some sort of
> evolution, but others seem to describe races arriving fully
> formed in a more creationalist manner.

What I have in mind is a bit 'creationish', but no gods are
obviously involved.


> As this is fantasy, either approach is valid. And a mixture of
> approaches might also be valid.
>
> I've seen a number of different D&D books that have used
> evolution. One that springs to mind is the Complete Book of Elves
> (which even mentions elves in SJ somewhere). This book describe
> the different elven subraces as being like branches off of a
> tree.
>
> I've even seen a book that described the evolution of all the
> races in a particular campaign setting. I can't remember what
> this was, but from what I remember it made halflings evolve from
> humans.

If I get the timeline right, then there might well have been
time, since, for some evolution, particularly the
magically-boosted variety.

Orcs, for example, are supposed to be a later invention.


> The Homanii are certainly interesting, but if you want to make
> Dysonsphere the homeworld of the *human* race you will need to
> double-check *all* the products that are compatible with SJ to
> make sure it doesn't clash with any established facts. There will
> be a lot of work to go through all the Dragonlance, Greyhawk and
> Forgotten Realms stuff. Don't forget that you need to do all the
> Al-Qadim, Hoardlands, Maztica and Oriental Adventures stuff when
> you check the Realms. As the Astromundi Cluster does link the
> Dark Sun setting to the SJ Setting, you do need to check that as
> well. If you have time you should check the other TSR worlds in
> case people want to add them onto known space.
>
> That is a lot of research to have to do to make sure there isn't
> already a SJ creation myth for the human race. I don't think I
> could be bothered to go to all that effort.
>
> Do you really need this to be the home sphere of the human race?
> Because your Homanii could easily have been the ancestors of the
> Grommams or the Hadozee. Or either of those races could have once
> shared Dysonspace with the Homanii and been one of those other
> sub races you talk about.

In no way would I plan for Dysonspace to be the home sphere of
the human or any other race - but it might be a reason such races
are so widely spread.

Also, it's more fun there being multiple creation myths! [grin]


> Having said that the Hadozee homeworld description seems to imply
> a normal world rather than a dyson sphere, so they would probably
> be ruled out from your sphere. They also seem to still live on
> their homeworld, so that rules Dysonsphere out if you want it to
> be empty. I bet the Hadozee would live in the tree tops of giant
> trees (maybe in mile high tree houses) and glide from tree to
> tree without walking on the ground. Their world should have nasty
> predators on the ground to make the gliding ability something
> that would be used.
>
> Back to the Homanii, I think that if you are going to have a
> number of different sub races from the size of goblins to giants,
> you should instead make them different races instead. A size
> difference of that magnitude may well be too much to allow the
> different Homanii to still interbreed. Each race could still be
> descended from a common ancestor. In game terms the different
> races will need different ability scores and other attributes to
> reflect its different size. They should also really have
> different names. Instead of saying that a certain Homanii is the
> size of a goblin (which may imply to some people it is related to
> a goblin) you can then give it its own name and a specific
> description that relates its size to the Homanii.

I am not saying the various races could interbreed, but ... if
you look at all the different sizes of domestic dog, and I'm
told, by experts, that all these can still interbreed.


> You could still use the Homanii to justify the spread of humans
> or other races, without Dysonsphere being their homeworld.
> Perhaps the Homanii for some reason liked to transplant races
> from one world to another.
>
> Maybe instead of the hair loss making the Homanii have a racial
> hysteria you could make both of these things the symptoms of some
> sort of disease that was slowly killing of the race. (You did
> want the sphere to be empty now didn't you?)
>
> The wizards/clerics/sages/government/whatever of the Homanii
> could look for some sort of alchemical solution to whatever was
> slowly wiping them out. They would test all of the natural things
> around them for a solution, but when they didn't find them they
> would have to look further afield. If you made this disease slow
> enough you could give the Homanii a thousand generations to
> search for a solution among other spheres. They might have sent
> out ships to transport in other races to help with their research
> (this could be vivisection if you want to make them evil or more
> benevolent research if you want to make them good). These ships
> could have functioned like slave ships, grabbing people of
> various races and moving them towards Dysonspace.

The reason the sphere is empty is worked out, referred to as The
Fall. After this there is no intelligent life left there, not
even constructs, or such weird things as living patches of
vacuum.

Also, given the sort of command over living things that the
Homanni had, a disease is very unlikely, unless it was in some
way no altogether physical.


> I say towards, because moving a race across 1000 spheres in one
> go is not possible. Homanni exploration colonies built in
> spheres between Dysonspace and more distant spheres would house
> several non-native races that were being trafficked inwards. You
> could either allow some of these races to escape over the years
> (with the Homanii not caring as long as they have enough
> specimens left) or have the whole operation collapse when the
> Homanni disease becomes so bad that they can't reproduce any
> more.

Actually, it possible to move a race across a 1000 spheres in one
go. You just can't do it with spelljamming. Also, the Homanni
predate the invention of SJ by a very long time, though their
travel method was in many respects not as good.


> Unique races like the Kender, could be explained away as races
> that the Homanni have overlooked. Maybe they thought they were
> halflings and didn't bother collecting *another* sample.
> Alternatively they might be a race that appeared after the
> Homanni did their thing. You would need to check the Dragonlance
> stuff to work out how to fit them in *if* you want to use them.
>
> Actually, if you wanted to use an idea like this you would have
> to double check with a lot of products to see that it didn't
> clash with established cannon. It might be a lot easier (from a
> continuity point of view) to connect this race with the Grommans
> and a few other hairy races, but ignore humans.

The sample taking is an interesting idea, but it clashes with
what I've planned. I think some of the other 'originator' races
might prove useful enemies to DM's, though.


> David "Big Mac" Shepheard
> Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
> http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
> http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/