Social Sciences > Life Forms > Humans

Humans
(Homo sapiens sapiens)

Since the fall of the Commonwealth, humans have become pariahs throughout much of known space. Many sentients from other species blame humanity for giving birth to the Nietzschean subspecies that brought about the fall, and view Homo sapiens sapiens as responsible for the sins of their invictus cousins. But despite the prejudice and many other hardships, humans-both genetically engineered and unaltered-remain common, eking out the same hard lives endured by most sentients in these difficult times.

Physical Characteristics
Mostly-hairless bipeds standing just under two meters tall, Humans form one of the principal races of the Systems Commonwealth.

Reproductive Method
Humans most commonly procreate through sexual reproduction involving two pair-bonded individuals, one from each human gender. Cloning, artificial insemination and in vitro gestation are not, however, unheard of. Neither are a wide variety of alternative bonding and child-rearing practices from same-gender pair bonds to Than-like neo-kibbutzim.

Homeworld
Humans hail from Earth, a small, relatively insignificant world located on the outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy. Despite being admitted thousands of years after the Commonwealth's founding, humans proved clever, adaptable and vigorous. They quickly spread throughout the Known Worlds to their present near-ubiquitous state.

Social Characteristics
Humans have embraced genetic engineering and nanotechnology with gusto, using these tools to reshape themselves to fit into a variety of hostile environments. This has resulted in many variations of the human form, including aquatic humans, humans engineered to live in space, humans adapted to heavy gravity worlds and ultimately, to the Nietzschean subspecies (see Nietzscheans).