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Classification of Human Subspecies |
By: Nexx Many-Scars (nexx@interkan.net)
To: Department of Taxonomy
From: Taranis, head of Research
Re: Taxonomic classification of human subspecies
As you are well aware, the race dubbed alternately "humans", "Terrans", and "Man" has proven, throughout the wide history of research in the Three Galaxies to be one of the fecund, sprouting new branches in practically all areas they settle for more than 3 generations. I have undertaken, over the past several months, to classify each of these subspecies of humans and provide each with their vulgar title and any peculiarities when a mating with another subspecies occurs. Crossbreeding methods were standard for such studies, involving mechanical fertilization in a controlled environment and the force-growth techniques evolved from cloning methods developed last year. Longitudinal studies have shown these results to be 95.78% accurate.
Human proto-species -Homo sapiens sapiens
This subspecies is the base according to which all others are compared, and will henceforth be referred to as "Humans". While they lack some of the advantages inherent to their close-cousins, they have also proven to be the most numerous and vital. Why this is, I am not sure, but they seem to be present in every dimension capable of supporting their rather frail physical structures, and appear to have immigrated to some that are hostile to them.
Ogres -Homo sapiens rudus
These appear to be socially degenerate humans originating on from an undetermined dimension. They have superior strength and endurance to humans, but sacrifice only a small degree of the human's natural charisma and attractive physical features. Much larger than humans, many of their own females are sterile, further strengthening the theory that they are degenerate or mutant humans. Their immense size is supplemented with a natural ability with animals, and as such are well-suited to fields which involve handling non-sentient creatures of comparative size. In crossbreeding studies, it has been found that nearly 94% of cross-breeds will be of the rudus subspecies, and even those cross-bred with lemuria (q.v.) tend to appear as ogres even after the manifestation of the lemuria traits.
"True" Atlantean -Homo sapiens thamaturgus
This subspecies appears to be any evolutionary offshoot of humans, with significantly enhanced physical and mental abilities; the reason for this is not entirely clear. While it is theorized that long association with supernatural forces and high technology has allowed them to more fully develop, but why this has not occurred in other groups closely associated with those two forces is unclear. In crossbreeding experiments, this subspecies varies from humans only when combined with that race. The resulting offspring share many of their H. sapiens thamaturgus parent's traits, though the advantages are moderated somewhat by the influx of human blood. It is theorized that a careful breeding program would yield a population that is made up solely of Homo sapiens thamaturgus, but such a program is likely to be less than cost-effective and quite time-consuming.
Human, Wormwood -Homo sapiens chernoybl*
This variant is almost identical to normal humans, and can be considered such in most respects, save for the innate toughness and complete lack of psionic abilities. In a magic-rich environment, such as the Three Galaxies or Rifts Earth, their natural bodies are the equivalent of light body armor, and they can inflict damage on the toughest of materials with hand weapons. Crossbreeding possibilities appear to be normal, save that cross-bred offspring born off the planet Wormwood will not have their parents innate toughness, while those born on the planet will lack psionic abilities, even if the mate is of the lemuria subspecies (q.v.).
*Chernobyl is a word from the human language of Russian, meaning Wormwood. One of my lab assistants preferred its sound to that of Wormwood, so it was used instead. The classification of this group as a subspecies is disputed, even amongst our own research group, due to the seemingly environmental source of the physiological differences.
Psi-Slayer -Homo sapiens nex
Psi-Stalker -Homo sapiens sangius
These two, closely related, subspecies appear to be native to the dimensional nexus dubbed "Rifts Earth", and are quite rare elsewhere. Aside from minor physiological differences between humans and the sangius subspecies (lack of hair and generally paler complexion, as well as height and physical abilities rivaling or surpassing the thamaturgus subspecies); the major difference comes from their digestive systems. These two subspecies feed on Potential Psychic Energy to a much larger extent than material nourishment. This is discussed more in-depth elsewhere, so I will save my comments on their peculiar digestive system, instead focussing on the crossbreeding results. Again, their principle difference is most visible when mated to humans. In this case, their offspring are as likely to be human as of their individual subspecies. Longitudinal studies with certain blood-lines has shown the trait which causes an individual to manifest as nex or sangius is recessive, and can be passed on in carrier form through several generations. Those individuals that do not manifest as nex or sangius seem to show a slightly higher incidence of psionic ability and natural aggressiveness, but the test populations were too small to draw conclusive verifications of this tendency.
Achilles Neo-Humans -Homo sapiens superbus
Psi-X Aliens -Homo sapiens bradforii *
These are two artificial subspecies, resulting from experiments on the previously referenced Rifts Earth. The abilities of these subspecies are phenomenal, yet very heavily biased towards psionic ability. No known members have practiced magic, save through the aid of a greater entity. Laboratory crossbreeding has resulted widely variant offspring. While many are viable, many more have unstable genetic structures resulting in dangerous and deadly mutations in nearly 75% of offspring. This result is likely due to unorthodox experimental procedures. Amongst those that were viable, approximately 65% manifested as their non-superbus or non-bradforii parent (more in special cases, such as lemuria, praxia, and amazonia [q.v.]), with the others varying in power from slightly above human normal to full superbus or bradforii abilities. There is a demonstrable tendency towards psionics in non-superbus or non-bradforii offspring, with a full 50% having psionic abilities of some sort. However, the non-superbus offspring also scored low on magical aptitude testing, with only some 10% capable of dealing with even the most rudimentary of magical theorems. When the two are crossbred, the result is often (95%) an unstable mutation, with the remaining 5% evenly divided between full superbus and full bradforii strains.
*The classification of bradforii is the result of much research and comparative study with other mutants from the Lone Star facility on Rifts Earth. All show a subtle but distinct similarity in their genetic engineering, indicating that the same person engineered them. Given Administer Bradford's degree of control over the facility, it has been named for him on the assumption that he is either the primary engineer or authorized the engineering.
Zentradei -Homo sapiens zentran
Tirolians -Homo sapiens zor
These two closely related subspecies hail largely from a single dimension. Both appear to be genetically altered humans, though their precise origins and who performed the alterations were unclear to this researcher. It is interesting to note that the zetran subspecies appears to be effectively immortal while they remain in giant form, or at least possess a greatly lengthened life span, with specimens still being in their prime after 400 or more years. Both show caste-oriented specialization in both physical and mental abilities, as well as a predisposition to certain kinds of manipulation, specifically size change (amongst the zentran subspecies) and cloning (amongst both). While both subspecies are cross-fertile with other human-based subspecies, their genetic predispositions make normal pro-creation difficult. Many infants are stillborn, still more are simply unable to conceive, even amongst their own subspecies. Those that are conceived, either biologically or in a laboratory, show a slightly higher incidence of psychic sensitive abilities, and tend to be of the gender of their zentran or zor parent. Also, some of the caste-oriented traits common to their zentran or zor parents become manifest, such as increased strength and decreased intelligence being common amongst those of mixed human/soldier zentran stock, though in no known case are these as severe as those of their zentran or zor parent (i.e. The offspring will be generally stronger and generally less bright than their human peers, but weaker and brighter than zentran soldier-caste peers).
Marduk- Homo sapiens alus
Zentran- Homo sapiens alus-Zentran
Meltran- Homo sapiens alus-meltran
Physically, there seems to be little difference between these subspecies and humans (for alus) or Homo sapiens zentran (for alus-Zentran and alus-Meltran)(q.v.), save for unusual coloring in all three subspecies, with hair tending towards metallics and longer than average life spans amongst the alus subspecies. It is also interesting to note that, while they have the advantages associated with the castes of the zentran subspecies, they do not possess the disadvantages (such as a warrior's decreased intelligence). Due to different methods of size increase, alus-Zentran and alus-Meltran are smaller in their increased size than the zentran subspecies is in its. Laboratory testing with these three subspecies has revealed that all are fully cross-fertile with other human subspecies, though their increased life spans may result in a much higher incidence of mutation.
Praxians -Homo sapiens praxia
Amazons -Homo sapiens amazonia
These two subspecies are marked by increased physical abilities and features generally found attractive by males of all human subspecies, but also by aggressiveness and a pro-female viewpoint found unorthodox by most male-biased human societies. They are interesting in their overwhelming predisposition towards female offspring. The vast majority (approximately 85% of the amazonia subspecies, and nearly 100% of the praxia subspecies) will be of their mother's subspecies, save in instances of matings with the lemuria subspecies (q.v.), and even then the offspring show the same proportion of females as births to human/praxia or human/amazonia cross-breeds (100% and 85%, respectively).
Children of Earth -Homo sapiens terram
Children of Light or Lugh -Homo sapiens mercuria*
These interesting subspecies seem to be the result of a cross-species mutation specific to some locales in Rifts Earth. They are considered to be a subspecies because their abilities, including a binding with either light or earth, seem to be passed down family lines. However, since children having no terram or mercuria (indeed, even completely non-human) heritage can be placed amongst these communities and gain similar abilities, their classification is in debate. The possibility to manifest traits of either mercuria or terram is documented even in offspring that have many traits of their other parent, further casting doubt on these results.
*The classification "mercuria" apparently comes from Earth History. The Ancient Roman Empire, in conducting their pre-conquest surveys of areas currently inhabited by the mercuria subspecies (known locally as "Britain" or "England"), referred to a god known as "Mercury", who was quite popular amongst the native peoples. Later scholars assumed that the Romans used a Roman name for a local god with similar attributes, so they could more clearly communicate with their government in Rome. The god most closely related to this Mercury (apparently, the Olympian, Hermes) was Lugh. Following the human tradition, the Roman or "Latin" form of the name is used here.
Sea Titans -Homo sapiens lemuria
This very rare subspecies is also one of the many native to Rifts Earth, specifically the Pacific Rim region. The result of an unfortunately unrepeatable magical mishap, this subspecies has many interesting attributes. First, they appear to be normal members of their non-lemuria parent (or humans, if both are of lemuria) until they reach sexual maturity, at which point they invariably manifest as lemuria. This includes an apparent lack of aging, high psionic ability, lack of need for nourishment, and a strength and physical structure rivaling that of young dragons. Cultural constraints channel them into a single field, but those raised apart have shown a greater than average aptitude for magic and more specialized psionic fields, without sacrificing any of the human talent with technology. It is interesting to note that all offspring resulting from a cross-breed with lemuria are invariably lemuria, with all abilities of their non-lemuria parent disappearing with the manifestation of the lemuria traits.
Thus concludes my extensive research into the taxonomy and crossbreeding of the various "human" subspecies. I would appreciate all comments on this work, as well as any additions that need to be made to the file. I would like to thank Jori Esterholme Windblade and Karen Freeman for their invaluable clarification regarding several species native to the dimension that originated the praxia, zentran, and zor subspecies, as well as my research assistants, Drs. Pepper and Davis. As per our previously agreed upon contract, all research materials above are owned by the Siembieda Corporation based on Center, and their use is not meant to infringe upon copyrights, patents, or trademarks of that Corporation. The words and applications belong to Taranis, AKA Mark Hall, and were copyrighted in the one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-ninth year since the beginning of the Common Era Calendar.