Overview

The race known as the Terrans is probably the most versatile and adaptable race in the explored universe. Although the Terrans no longer have their own homeworld nor any large empire to speak of, they can be found in almost every walk of life on almost every "civilized" planet. The majority of known Terrans are either citizens of the Burgunn Empire or independents, although some are known in the Rinn territories as well. Comparatively few live inside the confines of the "Fur Federation" either.

Terrans are one of the few races with no social stigma towards different occupations, so they are one of the few races with roughly equal numbers in each class. They are also more tolerant of other races than most, although this is probably a side effect of the fact that they are usually "outsiders" to any civilization they inhabit.

History

Terrans evolved on a fairly large planet, where they were the only sentient species known. Their ancient history is largely undocumented, since the destruction of the planet has caused them to have lost most of their records. What is known is that their first contact with the race known as the Wanderers occurred as they were just developing the ability to traverse space. Terran spacecraft were clunky by modern standards, although very few of the early Terran astronauts were ever killed while exploring. They were on the verges of creating their first ship capable of traveling outside their own system when the Wanderers came.

Terran history shows them to be a hostile race, with centuries of civil war amongst each other occurring long before contact with other races was made. The few records that are found show that there have been many large scale civilizations in Terran history, one of which encompassed well over three quarters of the planet at it's peak. Each of these civilizations was later destroyed by another, although the Rinn who have studied this phenomenon have yet to figure out a pattern to it. It is clear that the fighting was mostly over the resources of the planet, although records indicate that for the most part the planet was more than capable of supporting the life on it and that the large-scale warfare was unnecessary. Although they are not regarded in the same category for wanton violence as species such as the Orks, most of the spacefaring races consider Terrans to be a little too quick to fight when other methods are available for resolving conflicts.

What doesn't exist in records but is theorized by Rinn anthropologists is that the first contact actually occurred much earlier in the Terran social development. Ancient Terran lore is filled with stories of creatures of "supernatural" origin, and many of the descriptions of these fantastical creatures match cultures the Rinn have been in contact with during their long history. It is theorized that the Wanderers actually traveled to the Terran homeworld long before in an isolated area, and that other species came through the Pathway they left and made it to the more populated areas of the planet later. This theory is further evidenced by the fact that when the first recorded contact took place, the Terrans had already learned the mystic arts and practiced them in a similar fashion to the Rinn, which would have been unlikely without some form of prior contact.

Regardless of when first contact truly happened, it is known that after the first recorded appearance of the Wanderers that several critical points developed in the Terran social structure.

The first of these was that it forced the Terrans to recognize that they were not alone in the universe. At this time the Terrans practiced many religions, and many of those were set in the belief that the Terrans were essentially the center of the universe. When this was established to be untrue, Terran civilization suffered a brief period of anarchy as they lashed out at each other. Several of the more fanatical groups declared wars on the other species to prove Terran dominance, although the "wars" were looked upon primarily as nuisances to the other species, particularly the Burgunn. One such "war" lasted 456 seconds as a contingent of several thousand Terrans leapt through a pathway with guns blazing, and were immediately cut down by heavy weapons fire from the Burgunn planet they assaulted. Only three Burgunn were killed during the conflict, one was killed by Terran gunfire while the other two were killed when a plasma cannon overheated and they were doused with superheated chemicals.

At that time, Terrans were divided into four large empires and several small ones. Once the leaders of the larger empires managed to convince the smaller ones that the warfare was foolish, the Terrans quickly rushed to consolidate into one unified government. This unification occurred almost overnight, and when it was finished the newly formed Terran government worked to apologize to the other cultures for their attack. The other races quickly acknowledged the misunderstanding as such, although the Terrans took quite a while to establish themselves as a civilized race as a result. The Terrans, showing their high adaptability, integrated themselves with interspecies diplomacy and quickly gained an understanding of the complex interstellar political structure. They also utilized the "alien" technology at a rapid pace and within a very short time it seemed as though the Terrans had been an interstellar species for quite some time. Within 3 generations of the first contact with the Wanderers they had trained their first Gatekeepers and were recognized as a friendly species to the other races. They had built a city around the Pathway and it had turned into their capitol. Each of the former empires had representation in the new government.

The Terrans had by this time divided themselves into two major factions. There were those that believed that the integration with the alien cultures was in the Terran's best benefit, and were excited by the prospect of learning the new ways. The other group felt that the Terrans shouldn't intermingle with aliens or they would get corrupted. These "purists" led a long time conflict with the other faction, although this was fought mostly in the political arena rather than with actual weapons. Terrorist occurrences were fairly commonplace although most of the time is was splinter factions and very few of the organizers were ever caught or prosecuted. This was recognized as "part of life", and the Terran society flourished with their newly found allies.

Eventually someone decided that the Terrans needed to be removed from the interstellar pool. As the Terrans slept, bombs were planted all over the face of the planet. Several million Terrans were killed in the initial blasts, and Terran Intelligence said that there were enough explosives layered in the planet to destroy it. They found that the planet was in imminent danger of being destroyed, so the Terrans fled through the Pathway as fast as they could.

What they didn't factor was that the initial explosions had somehow managed to short circuit the supposedly indestructible device, so instead of being taken to a world they could colonize, they were scattered across the universe. Thousands more perished as they were transplanted to hostile environments, but those that managed to survive in their new homes quickly adapted to their new surroundings and attempted to make the best of it. Many years later, the Terrans had almost rebuilt their original culture, although by this time it had been infused with the cultures of the planets they were transplanted to. The Rinn studied this as well, and while they could not establish why the Pathway malfunctioned the way it had, they came up with three possible scenarios. The first and most likely was that the Pathway had somehow been reprogrammed by whomever had caused the destruction of the planet. The second, which was also given some credence, was that the sheer number of deaths on the planet created a form of magic flux that interfered with the magical properties of the Pathway itself. The third, while believed by a large number of mystics but largely ignored by the rest of the scientific community, was that the gods had seen fit to scatter the Terrans for some higher purpose.

Some time later, the Terrans rediscovered their home world. Initially, the planets inhabitants attacked them, malformed mockeries of the Terran's own physiology. This race was dubbed "mutants" by the Terran explorers, and after the initial conflicts a peace was established. The mutants revered the Terrans as long-lost ancestors, although many of the Terrans were repulsed by the mutants' defects and their commonplace usage of Discord powers. The two races managed to settle together with some success, although many of the Terrans never managed to get over their discomfort of the Mutants.

A second descendant of the Terrans was also discovered, and while the Mutants were crude and primitive, the Technoids were not. This race had created significant advancements in technology that put even some of the Burgunn work to shame, and they had created a peaceful government with almost no crime to speak of.

The three races operated in harmony for many more years, blending the best of all three worlds and bringing the Terrans to an unprecedented era in their development. The other races had long forgotten the initial "rough spots" when the Terrans had first discovered the Pathways, and the they had become one of the more well-respected species in the universe. They valued their independence however, so when the Burgunn Empire offered them membership they turned it down. This didn't mean they didn't appreciate the offer, so Terran diplomats negotiated a treaty for mutual protection and a substantial set of trade negotiations.

This newfound peace was not to last, however. The same Terran purist groups that had existed for years once again reared their head. Their initial strike was decisive, plunging the planet into a destructive holocaust for the second time in its history. The Terrans once again fled through the pathways, and when the purists realized that the Technoids and Mutants were fleeing with them, they launched their final attack. Massive explosives planted on the major fault lines of the world were detonated, tearing it apart. All three races had established colonies on other worlds, but none were large enough to support the displaced people. After exploring for some time, they found several worlds that would have been able to support them, but they understood that by settling again they would just be leaving themselves open for another attack. Rinn historians sometimes refer to the Terrans as The Lost, since they now truly have no place to call home.

Society And Culture:

Terran society is unusually flexible, like the race itself. Generally, the Terrans take the society of the culture they co inhabit space with, integrating themselves into the local customs as best they can.

On predominately Terran worlds, they have a tendency towards valuing democracy and adaptability above anything else. Long exposures and dependencies on other species have made them take on aspects that probably weren't in the original Terran culture. Other species have recognized this in the Terrans, so Terran workers are highly valued in environments and areas that require adaptability or alternative thinking.

Terrans, despite their warlike history, have a high regard for life and try not to kill unless it is necessary. Murder is considered amongst one of the most serious crimes to the Terrans, even after cloning chips were installed in most of them. However, they also place importance on principles, and are frequently willing to commit whatever force they feel is necessary to accomplish their goals, including criminal behaviors. This is somewhat muted by social stigma towards criminal and vigilante acts, so on the occasions where crimes occur they usually at minimum attempt to be discreet about it.

Government

The Terrans as a rule have no government to speak of, since they don't want a centralized structure for fear of internal assaults. Generally Terrans serve on the local governments in the systems they inhabit, although inside the Burgunn Empire in particular they often don't make it very high up the collective food chain.

When left to their own devices, the Terrans lean towards a democracy or republic governmental structure, although military dictatorships, communism and other forms take place as well.

A small "empire" of Terran-held planets exists in the present day, although it is nothing compared even to the Fur Federation. Each planet in this small empire has a delegation of representatives which vote on the major issues of the society, although day to day affairs are managed on the local level by the planet's own government. This empire is barely recognized by the Burgunn and Rinn empires, although some diplomacy between them does exist. This empire has even gone so far as to issue its own currency, although it usually is ignored by the bulk of interplanetary traders since it is functionally worthless on any non-terran planet. In addition to being worthless, the terran money is also surprisingly fragile and is one of the few money types that can actually be easily destroyed by common elements such as bullets or fire.

Roleplaying, Costuming and Makeup

Terrans are one of the few races without any specific costuming and makeup requirements. Generally Terrans favor functional clothing, although individual tastes and preferences vary greatly from individual to individual. Terrans usually adopt the local clothing and practices of whatever society they coexist with, so if you're playing a character that originates on a Rinn world they will most likely tend to dress in a manner similar to a Rinn. Roleplay is done in a similar fashion, where if your character is a member of a Burgunn world they are likely to value honor and martial prowess above logic and intelligence. On rare occasion Terrans also adopt other aspects of local cultures, such as clan tattoos in the case of Rinn. However, this is done rarely to prevent offending the other culture, as a Rinn who saw a Terran marked with their clan symbols would probably react negatively unless the Terran had previously been adopted by the clan. Terrans are also occasionally allowed to become members of Burgunn Houses, although this is usually granted as a result of some great accomplishment on the part of the Terran, though their descendants are also considered part of the House by birthright.