The Campaign Builder's Guild

Rather than making a thread for one topic, which could be answered rather quickly, I'd like to make a thread for people to discuss strange racial characteristics that they have thought of, either for their setting or for others, for us to discuss the ramifications.

My first submission is to question how a society would change if a race died after reproduction. What would encourage members of the race to reproduce? How would this chance society in comparisons to more typical human-like races? Would there be romance, or would mating be seen as a necessary thing in the twilight of one's life? Would the race necessarily be low in number, or would they just be slow to recover from war? Would that make the race be largely peaceful? How would they pass down culture and history without having parents?

Well an extremely important question would be whether or not members of the species ever become infertile with age. If they do not, I could see individuals spending their whole lives building up financial "nests" in the same way that we build 401Ks before finally reproducing in their twilight years. The whole idea of young directly "stealing" the lives of their parents would create some interesting cultural implications with regard to their views on identity; maybe they aren't seen as unique individuals in the traditional sense but the literal continuation of their forebearers. On a biological level, suicidal reproduction would probably need to result in a large number of offspring, offspring that develop quickly, or both in order to be an effective strategy. My idea of family structure that necessarily lacks any parents would be an extended network of aunts and uncles (need a singular term for that imo) that help raise the children of their deceased siblings.

Of course, the there's the question of whether or not this species can have nonreproductive sex.

Quote from: Rhamnousia
Of course, the there's the question of whether or not this species can have nonreproductive sex.

Depending on the exact biological basis of what kills them after reproduction, I would wonder if risking nonreproductive sex would be worth it.

I imagine some sort of theology of beliefs surrounding the newborn, especially in regards to them as the continuation of their parents, as Superbright said. I don't imagine that a society like this would have the pornographic trappings that human sex can have given the gravity of death, but then again, truth is often stranger than fiction. I could see emphasis would be placed more on the sacred union of two people to foster another, or something like that. If the sex is pleasurable, it could also be seen as some final euphoric contact with the gods, depending on how religious you want to get. Depending on how many offspring they produce, they could be pretty low in number - but I don't see a strong biological basis for a species like that to survive for very long. I think that anything that would take one of their lives (like war) would be a pretty big deal, unless these guys were pumping out like, 6+ offspring per intercourse. In which case, things like war might not be viewed so differently than human's.

I would also wonder what would become of those who didn't want to reproduce. Would they receive any sort of special treatment? Would that even be an option in their society?

This is being drawn from octopuses (recently found out that "octopi" is incorrect). Apparently, their deaths are largely from starvation; after fertilization, the male dies a few days later, losing all will to eat. The female lasts longer, living through tending to the eggs, and then also dies of starvation. This has been experimentally ended by surgically removing a gland, so it is something that could be evolved out ... but I wanted to explore the possibilities.

I'm thinking that those who resist the urge to reproduce (especially if it's an incredibly overwhelming urge) could be seen as priests or at least enlightened hermits who escape from the world to contemplate life's mysteries. As the race I'm working on in question is psychic, maybe parents impart imprints of themselves upon the developing eggs.

If 50% of young end up breeding themselves, then they'd need to lay 4 eggs at once to keep the population stable. I'm thinking of Mendel squares and having each egg get half of their parent's memories. That could create an interesting situation, where siblings stay together for most of their lives so that one can take care of the other's children. Property passing on to children as if they were their parents could also be a common thing.

----------

Does anyone else have any other radically different racial ideas? They're definitely useful to adding flavor to science fiction settings; you don't want everyone to just be rubber forehead aliens, generally speaking, but getting into the minds of truly alien characters can be difficult to players.

Quote from: Xeviat
Does anyone else have any other radically different racial ideas? They're definitely useful to adding flavor to science fiction settings; you don't want everyone to just be rubber forehead aliens, generally speaking, but getting into the minds of truly alien characters can be difficult to players.

I actually do have one in mind.

I've been trying to see how a species of sentient, extremely short-lived rat-people (I suppose that's irrelevant) would impact their own society and human society around it. And by short-living, I mean they would die ~20. I had a few ideas in mind: They would measure time in seasons, not years, so some young adult version of this race wouldn't be, say, 4, but rather 16 seasons old. I also think that to some degree they would be fast learners, but because of their short lifespan they would never truly master some of the more nuanced pursuits of humans, marking them as stereotypically less intelligent. I imagine them as very adaptable, giving birth to many offspring, and being somewhat clannish.

That said, I think the bigger impact would be on human society, since I want them to coexist. Assuming cross-racial platonic relationships are somewhat common, a child who grows to be a teenager and loses a potential best friend from literal "old age" would definitely force the finality of death upon humans at a young age. I wonder if such bonds would readily form given their short lifespans - I can't help but think of the person who doesn't own a dog because they'll be too sad when it dies X years later.

Perhaps I'm also being overly simplistic in assuming humans and these "ratfolk" could really coexist on an interpersonal level; maybe the difference in lifespan would lead to such drastic changes of character and psychological development that one species would be fairly alien to the other. Just some stuff I've been mulling over.

Not to negate the humanity of a short-lived race, but I think platonic bonds between them and humans would be possible, for the very reason you've highlighted; pets. I used to own rats, and the poor things only lived 2 years, even with medical care. You still get bonded with them, and they can't even talk. I also used to move around a lot, I lived in 4 houses in one school year, and I made friends everywhere I met, even when I was only in an area for 2 or 3 months.

Some thoughts to help them function as a full fledged race. First, make them adept tool users; they don't need to take time to learn how to use tools, it's instinctive for them. Maybe they aren't as inventive as humans, which would help explain why they are closely linked. Second, give them incredible memories. They might only live 20 years, but they can pretty much remember what went on every month of their life, if not more. Third, give them a strong bloodline tradition. If your parent was friends with the king, you're friends with the king, and your children are friends with the king. Humans who are friends with your rat-people race may sometimes forget that they're dealing with 2 or even 3 different individuals over their lifetime.