Is it even possible to create a "Unique Race" in fiction, specifically fantasy?

[Blaster395]

One of my friends said that he could not think of a good "Unique" fantasy race to add to his current D&D campaign, claiming that no matter what you create, it falls into an existing stereotype. I think there are some truth to these words, after all, humans, elves and dwarves and orcs are more or less fit all societies.
Trade and economic based expanding and growing stronger humans, nature loving magical toga wearing crystal building elves, industrial underground dwelling nature hating shiny thing loving dwarves, and chaotic war loving bloodlust filled orcs.

Sometimes you can combine these races together, for example, the Orcs in WOW are kind of a cross between the orcs described here and humans.




Anyway, I tried to create my own humanoid fantasy race, and ended up with something completely insane where the whole society is split into tribes that only exist because the biology of them requires it, but pairs of tribes will often work together once again because their biology requires it, and they have no internal disputes because they live in a post-scarcity society and their biology requires that they do not form hate against each-over and the only reason they have not taken over the world is because they have no need to and their population is very stable.

And that is as much detail as I want to go in, because I have decided to take my mini-concept and use it for something else, which is unfinished

Anyway, is my concept original? Is it possible that there are more potential concepts that would not fall into any existing stereotype? If you want, post your own concepts

 

[NeedAUserName]

The Draenei in WoW were pretty unique. You just have to get the right balance between fantasy and farce.

But on the topic of your race, how does their biology dictate their actions?

 

[Saxm13]

Nope.

Everything is taken.

Nothing is original anymore.

 

[Blaster395]

If you want to design an interesting community you could try something like a race that's communally psychic. It's not perfect telepathy and it's not enough to read intent, but it's enough to tell you if someone's stood around you and to tell if someone's lying.

Imagine the difficulty in committing crime and how their society would self-order?

I did actually think about the possibility of this once in a "What if Psionic powers were real and everyone just had to practice in order to use them". I eventualy came to the conclusion that society would either collapse from fear, everyone would get taught to levitate a pencil and then be all Meh and not bother going further except for a few people, or everyone would have enough skill with Psionics that Mind reading can only be performed on children who have not practiced enough to be able to defend against it.

Its too similar to hive mind insect race.

But on the topic of your race, how does their biology dictate their actions?

Its quite simple, positive social interaction is required, and without it, they die in a similar way to how we would die from hunger. If a person committed a murder in such a society, the fact that they performed a very negative social interaction would likely cause them to... die from... dehydration, that would be the closest comparison.
Negative social interaction would be the equivalent of walking through a hot desert, it would cause you to require more Positive social interaction, which would be the equivalent of water.

Along with some more strange facts that I would rather not go into, but it mostly effects the social interactions within and between tribes, which are more complex.

 

[Mariner]

How about a race of blobs that create everything with blobs and communicate with light. They have their own methods of warfare which can involve squeezing into tight cracks to ambush people or fire primitive but effective sluggers which are like hand cannons. Also there are a lot of them.

 

[Xelt]

The Sload from The Elder Scrolls don't seem to make me think of anything else.
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Sload

 

[manythings]

If you want to design an interesting community you could try something like a race that's communally psychic. It's not perfect telepathy and it's not enough to read intent, but it's enough to tell you if someone's stood around you and to tell if someone's lying.

Imagine the difficulty in committing crime and how their society would self-order?

The Naga in Rokugan are all part of a communal intelligence called The Akasha.

 

[Zannah]

With my significant other being a fantasy novelist, I can attest that it's possible without breaking a sweat

 

[Neuromaster]

I'd say there're plenty, but not always a good idea. Not too difficult to come up with something completely wacky & throw it in, but part of the reason so many fantasy races have similarities is because they're intended to fit into the fantasy genre in ways we're familiar to.

Off the top of my head, DA:O's darkspawn actually seem pretty unique to me. Sure they're goblins, orcs, and ogres. But they're actually manufactured by the horrifically mutated females of captured dwarves, humans, and giant humans they capture - that's an idea you don't hear associated with orcs much. Oh, and that they don't have language or culture & are instead telepathically commanded by the archdemon. Which is an corrupted ancient demigod worshiped by the mage-kings of a far off land who were cursed when they stuck their noses into god's backyard.

I mean, it's not all new. They're still goblins/orcs/ogres. They play the easily recognizable role of baddie invading hordes that you don't have to feel guilty about sticking with sharp objects. IMO, it's the details & how they tie into the world story/history that make them unique.

Edit: I know I forgot the shrieks, who are mutated elves. But nobody likes elves, and if you've played DA:O you probably like shrieks even less.

 

[Blaster395]

How about a race of blobs that create everything with blobs and communicate with light. They have their own methods of warfare which can involve squeezing into tight cracks to ambush people or fire primitive but effective sluggers which are like hand cannons. Also there are a lot of them.

I am quite sure The Blob already is quite similar to this.

I imagined up a race of space faring blobs of matter which orbit stars in eccentric orbits, gathering up the tiny amounts of dust and gas which get stuck in the blob. The blob would remain dormant for most of its orbit, only becoming active when close to the sun, to perform photosynthisis and use the dust and gas it collects to grow bigger. The blob would also divide if large enough.
A blob could get flung out of a solar system from a close encounter with a large body (Or in the eventual end of the stars life) and then lie dormant for millions of years until it falls into orbit of a different star, and with such a system, unintelligent life could spread across the galaxy.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Nope.

Everything is taken.

Nothing is original anymore.

You could be original. A mutant race of platypus-spiders that worship cheese would be original. Original and sensible? Doubtful.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

If you want to design an interesting community you could try something like a race that's communally psychic. It's not perfect telepathy and it's not enough to read intent, but it's enough to tell you if someone's stood around you and to tell if someone's lying.

Imagine the difficulty in committing crime and how their society would self-order?

The Naga in Rokugan are all part of a communal intelligence called The Akasha.

Not to mention the Protoss and the Khala, and the Kithkin of Magic lore had the Thoughtweft.

 

[rokkolpo]

Unique, yes.
Never thought about or sharing some characteristics with other characters, no.

 

[Risingblade]

I'd say there're plenty, but not always a good idea. Not too difficult to come up with something completely wacky & throw it in, but part of the reason so many fantasy races have similarities is because they're intended to fit into the fantasy genre in ways we're familiar to.

Off the top of my head, DA:O's darkspawn actually seem pretty unique to me. Sure they're goblins, orcs, and ogres. But they're actually manufactured by the horrifically mutated females of captured dwarves, humans, and giant humans they capture - that's an idea you don't hear associated with orcs much. Oh, and that they don't have language or culture & are instead telepathically commanded by the archdemon. Which is an corrupted ancient demigod worshiped by the mage-kings of a far off land who were cursed when they stuck their noses into god's backyard.

I mean, it's not all new. They're still goblins/orcs/ogres. They play the easily recognizable role of baddie invading hordes that you don't have to feel guilty about sticking with sharp objects. IMO, it's the details & how they tie into the world story/history that make them unique.

Edit: I know I forgot the shrieks, who are mutated elves. But nobody likes elves, and if you've played DA:O you probably like shrieks even less.

But city elf is my favorite origin!!! D:

also I didn't know shrikes were mutated elves o.o

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

That's not quite true. A good friend of mine came up with a CRAZY awesome character once. What the guy was, was incredible.

But yes, it can be hard to escape the tropes of fiction, specifically fantasy.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

It is, but no one would read it because in fantasy races we like to read things that are different but not too different. Elves are us, but more beautiful, wise, graceful and live forever, orcs are us, but evil, decadent, and brimming with violence and fury, dwarves are our industrious spirit, Hobbits our determination. It's why we like reading the stories, because we don't see them as inhuman, but superhuman, if only in one trait.

Even villains fall somewhere on our scale, even if they're not meant to. TVTropes has more about this but basically it falls under something called Blue and Orange morality. We see things in black and white morality, with gray in the middle, one is good, the other bad, and everything in the middle is interpretation. Blue and Orange is when there is no interpretation, because the morality is so batshit insane we can't even wrap our heads around it.

following spoilered for length and partial relevance to topic. Still very useful for race creation though (I hope), read the last paragraph if looking for ideas for your RPG or novel.

Spoiler

For example, in my tribe every second Sunday of the third month if there isn't a full moon, you must sacrifice a curtain by nailing it to a great tree by a river and setting the curtain (but not the tree) on fire. This is because otherwise the hamburger people will fall from the moon.

Now this could literally be the lynchpin of an entire society in a fantasy book, but it's impossible to actually get behind the idea and care about it because to us it seems so batshit weird, and has no logic tying it together. Why does sacrificing curtains to a tree stop moon people falling? Octopus, that's why. In order for the wacky wayside tribe to have any relevance their concerns have to be human, and that immediately counts them out of being completely unique.

Also, things which don't look human will tend to get regulated into villain status, or at least beastial animal status. How often do you see true good races of insect people? I mean proper Starship Troopers looking insects, not James and the Giant Peach bipedal insects. This is because we can't identify with them, and their morality is not close to ours, usually based on a strongly hive based mindset with no individuality that we as readers/watchers/players can't wrap our minds around, because we are independent thinkers.

And this brings us right back to morality, even if the morality isn't supposed to conform, then we try and make it anyway. Bug people often have a 'kill things which aren't useful' method. To us we find it hideous because we think of things as individuals, and don't like the thought of disregarding things, but to a hive mind? Completely acceptable. Hence they become our villains for being 'immoral' despite it really being a very moral decision from their point of view.

This can be represented well, with heroes who are willing to accept that maybe their way of life is not the be all and end all, and that other ways of living have just as much merit and potential for justification, but frequently it is a case of 'my species right or wrong.' If you're going to do this, subvert it by having the heroes be of type A instead of type B.

Before I get even deeper into race creation, yes, it would be possible to have an entirely unique race. No it would not be sensible to try it. People have and have failed, because in the end readers/watchers/gamers want something that's foreign but not too foreign. If they can't identify, either there won't be any emotional connection because it's too out there, or they'll automatically assume different=evil.

And no-one may use my race of curtain sacrificing moon worhippers without my express permission.

 

[Daverson]

Every fantasy race is "like people", but:
-They differ in appearance, either an obscure colour or texture of skin (ie, Orcs have leather-like skin), noticeably different facial features (Elven pointy ears), a drastically different build (Dwarves, Hobbits, Gnomes, etc.) or being "furries" (Humanoid animals).
-They have a gimmick (Dwarves love mining and hate magic, Elves like magic but hate destruction, Orcs love fighting but hate being told what to do etc.)
-They live somewhere we wouldn't. (ie, Elves live in forests, Dwarves live in mines etc. This usually falls into line with their gimmick)

So, some examples:

1. A blue skinned humanoid race with compound eyes that worship technology. Their villages and cities would themselves be huge machines, however, the devices they create rarely serve practical purposes.

2. An anthropomorphic chicken race who have a fascination with flight. Their villages and cities would be built atop mountains, or consist of tethered together balloons.

3. A species of intelligent octopuses, who communicate uniquely through sign language. They live underwater in cities built out of corral.

The reason so many fantasy universes have Elves, Dwarves and that is probably because these are creatures who's origins can be traced back to our own mythology (similar to dragons, really). If you want a good example of a really original fantasy universe, try playing Zeno Clash.

 

[Wolfram23]

Telepathic shrimp. Done. lol