Human

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes. They are a space-faring species hailing originally from the planet Earth in the Sol system. They are currently among the most numerous known species in the galaxy, in both population and holdings, and are relatively technologically advanced.

Humanity is the primary driving force for rapid space expansion, owing to their strong, expansionist central government and opportunistic Trans-Stellar Corporations. The prejudices of the 21st century have mostly given way to bitter divides on the most important issue of the times; technological expansionism, with some major human factions squabbling over their approach to technology in the face of a looming technological singularity.

While most humans have accepted the existence of aliens in their communities and workplaces as a fact of life, some exceptions still exist. While more culturally diverse than most species, humans are generally regarded as somewhat technophobic and isolationist by members of other species.

Overview

• Humans have their own language, Sol Common, which you can speak by typing say "#1
• Due to how most technology in human-controlled space was made for humans in mind, they can wear most clothing, and even wear some specialized space suits designed for other species.
• Humans have no species wide restriction on diet, where as other species might.
• Humans are not barred from certain jobs, such as Heads of Staff or Internal Affairs, as NanoTrasen is a human-run company, after all.

Biology

The most commonly defined body systems in humans are the nervous, the cardiovascular, the circulatory, the digestive, the endocrine, the immune, the integumentary, the lymphatic, the musculoskeletal, the reproductive, the respiratory, and the urinary system.

Humans, like most of the other apes, lack external tails, have several blood type systems, have opposable thumbs, and are sexually dimorphic. Humans are also among the best long-distance runners in the galactic animal kingdom, but slower over short distances. Humans' thinner body hair and more productive sweat glands help avoid heat exhaustion while running for long distances. Humans have about 2 million sweat glands spread over their entire bodies.

It is estimated that the average height for an adult human male is about 172 cm (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in), while the worldwide average height for adult human females is about 158 cm (5 ft 2 in). Shrinkage of stature may begin in middle age in some individuals, but tends to be typical in the extremely aged. Through history human populations have universally become taller, probably as a consequence of better nutrition, healthcare, and living conditions. The average mass of an adult human is 54–76 kg (119–168 lb). Like many other conditions, body weight and body type is influenced by genetic susceptibility, environment, diet, and it varies greatly among individuals.

Although humans appear hairless, with notable hair growth occurring chiefly on the top of the head, underarms and pubic area, the average human has more hair follicles on his or her body than the average chimpanzee. The main distinction is that human hairs are shorter, finer, and less heavily pigmented than a chimpanzee's, thus making them harder to see.

Reproduction

As with other mammals, human reproduction takes place as internal fertilization by sexual intercourse. During this process, the male inserts his erect penis into the female's vagina and ejaculates semen, which contains sperm. The sperm travels through the vagina and cervix into the uterus or Fallopian tubes for fertilization of the ovum. Upon fertilization and implantation, gestation then occurs within the female's uterus.

The zygote divides inside the female's uterus to become an embryo, which over a period of 38 weeks (9 months) of gestation becomes a fetus. After this span of time, the fully grown fetus is birthed from the woman's body and breathes independently as an infant for the first time. At this point, most modern cultures recognize the baby as a person entitled to the full protection of the law, though some jurisdictions extend various levels of personhood earlier to human fetuses while they remain in the uterus.

Compared with other species, human childbirth is dangerous. Painful labors lasting 24 hours or more are not uncommon and sometimes lead to the death of the mother, the child or both. This is because of both the relatively large fetal head circumference and the mother's relatively narrow pelvis. The chances of a successful labor increased significantly during the 20th and 21st centuries with the advent of new medical technologies. In contrast, pregnancy and natural childbirth remain hazardous ordeals in developing regions of the galaxy, with maternal death rates approximately 100 times greater than in developed systems.

Humans are considerably helpless at birth, and will continue to grow for some years, typically reaching sexual maturity at 12 to 15 years of age. Females continue to develop physically until around the age of 18, whereas male development continues until around age 21. The human life span can be split into a number of stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood and old age.

Gender Differences

The most obvious differences between males and females include all the features related to reproductive role, notably the endocrine (hormonal) systems and their physiological and behavioral effects, including gonadal differentiation, internal and external genital and breast differentiation, and differentiation of muscle mass, height, and hair distribution.

Externally, the most sexually dimorphic portions of the human body are the chest, the lower half of the face, and the area between the waist and the knees. Males often weigh slightly more than females, and are also slightly taller. On average, men also have a larger waist in comparison to their hips than women. Women however have a larger hip section than men; an adaptation for giving birth to infants with large skulls. Women also usually have substantially larger breasts due to the presence of milk-producing mammary glands.

The sexual division of humans into male and female has been marked culturally by a corresponding division of roles, norms, practices, dress, behavior, rights, duties, privileges, status, and power. Cultural differences by gender have often been believed to have arisen naturally out of a division of reproductive labor; the biological fact that women give birth led to their further cultural responsibility for nurturing and caring for children. Gender roles have varied historically, and challenges to predominant gender norms have recurred in many societies.

Lifespan

With good healthcare and a reasonable lifestyle, a human can live to around 110 years. The oldest known humans are around 150 years old.

Diet

Humans are omnivores, and have evolved to be able to handle a wide variety of foods. However, even humans cannot safely ingest chemicals that are almost universally toxic to other species, like cyanide, phoron, ethanol, or heavy metals.

Strangely, despite the toxicity of some compounds, such as ethanol, many humans will intentionally consume such compounds regardless of the risks.

Behavior

Humanity's behavior varies immensely from system to system. Social norms, the often-unspoken rules of a group, shape not just the behaviors of humans, but also their attitudes. An individual's behavior varies depending on the group(s) they are a part of. Humans who have been adopted by other species will often adopt the mannerisms of a foster parent and the society surrounding them, even to the extent of subconsciously mimicking speech and accents. Humans are also very capable of learning and comprehending other languages, so long as they are within a human's range of hearing. Humans thrive on knowledge, much like the Skrell.

However, unlike any other species in the known galaxy, even more than Sergals, or Unathi, almost every one of humanity's major technological advancements have been fundamentally based in the need to conduct war. The very advent of space travel was a product made not of a desire to explore, but as a means to demonstrate their military superiority over other rivaling nations on Earth. As such, humanity's core military, the UNSC, is arguably the most powerful military force in the known galaxy. Despite a lag in technology behind some other species, such as the Skrell, humanity makes up for it with a knack for grand strategy and asymmetric warfare. Unlike other races, humans very much continue to be at war with other humans as old grudges survive to the modern day.

Humans are unpredictable in how they'll respond to contact with alien species, though this largely depends on societal and economic factors that vary immensely with each population. Some humans will greet aliens as if they were just like any other human, even to the extent of forming deep and romantic inter-species relationships, while the opposite extreme is sometimes violence based on xenophobic prejudices. Humans who have been exposed to alien races since a young age will often base their opinion of aliens as a whole off that experience, while humans who had no such exposure will trend toward being xenophobic and isolationist. Notably, humans who grew up in poverty are also more inclined toward xenophobic tenancies, whereas humans who were better off will not have their views significantly affected by their economic status.

Relations

The United Systems of Sol Central, aka SolGov, acts as most of humanity's representative. As of 2560, there are no ongoing wars between SolGov and any known sapient species, although Sol-Moghes tensions continue to run high, and Vox raiders remain a nuisance.

The Skrell are humanity's oldest contact and closest allies, with free migration between the two species' space and a great deal of cultural interchange. However, some on both sides accuse the other species of tampering with their own natural growth and development, and many libertarian humans loathe the caste-based monarchy of the Skrell.

Humanity is still licking their wounds after their war with the Unathi, and despite their victory, still regard Moghes with a good deal of fear. Efforts on both sides of the border to ease tensions have not prevented the occasional wave of xenophobic violence.

The Tajaran were lifted into the FTL age by human intervention, a fact neither is likely to forget. Humanity bears over the Tajaran and freely exploit migrant labor, while they look upon their uplifters with a mix of gratitude and wounded pride.

Like most races, humanity views the Dionaea as curiosities and little else, given their disinterest in the ways of other sapients.

The Teshari are a rarity outside of Skrell space, and a negligible presence on the astropolitical landscape. The average human accepts the Skrell's paternalistic view of the Teshari as fact.

Opinion of positronics varies erratically between seeing it as the next logical step of human evolution, to viewing it as potentially the extinction of the human race. Regardless, relations between the two are marred by their history of enslavement and the continued discrimination positronics face throughout the galaxy.

Despite the disastrous early stages of a war with the Sergal race, many efforts have been made to build good relationships between Sol and Vilous. Having brought both Sergals and Nevareans into the FTL age, the two races share a relationship with humanity not unlike that of the Tajaran. This is largely thanks to Operation Dominion, a post-war reconstruction and propaganda campaign on Tal, which began in response to the Vilous Incident.

Individually, while humans may vary widely on how they feel of the other known species, centuries of cultural xenophobia often prove difficult to shake.

External links

• Some of this lore is based on content found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human