| Races - Humans |
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Most humans are the ancestors of pioneers, conquerors, traders, travelers, refugees, and other people on the move. As a result, human lands are a mix of people--physically, culturally, religiously, and politically. Hardy or fine, light-skinned, or dark, showy or austere, primitive or civilized, devout or impious, humans run the gamut.
Personality: Humans are the most adaptable, flexible, and ambitious people among the common races. They are diverse in their tastes, morals, customs, and habits. Others accuse them of having little respect for history, but it’s only natural that humans, with their relatively short life spans and constantly changing cultures, would have a shorter collective memory that dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings.
Physical Description: Humans typically stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with men noticeably taller and heavier than women. Thanks to their penchant for migration and conquest, and to their short generations, humans are more physically diverse than other common races, with skin shades that run from nearly black to very pale, hair from black to blond (curly, kinky, or straight), and facial hair (for men) from sparse to thick. Plenty of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood, and they may demonstrate hints of elven, orc, or other lineages. Humans are often ostentatious or unorthodox in their grooming and dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothing, tattoos, body piercing, and the like. Humans have short life spans, achieving majority at about 15 and rarely living even a single century.
Relations: Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mix with members of other races. Among the other races, humans are known as "everyone’s second-best friends." They serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kind.
Human Lands: Humans lands are usually in flux, with new ideas, social changes, innovations, and new leaders constantly coming to the fore. Members of longer-lived races find human culture exciting but eventually a little wearying or even bewildering. Since human lead such short lives, their leaders are all young compared to the political, religious, and military leaders among the other races. Even where individuals humans are conservative traditionalists, human institutions change with the generations, adapting and evolving faster than parallel institutions among the elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. Individually and as a group, humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay on top of changing political dynamics. Human lands generally include relatively large numbers of nonhumans (compared, for instance, to the number of non dwarves who live in dwarven lands).
Adventures: Human adventures are the most audacious, daring, and ambitious members of an audacious race. A human can earn glory in the eyes of his or her fellows by amassing power, wealth, and fame. Humans, more than other people, champion causes rather than territories or group.
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