Worldbuilding Wednesdays: The Breath of Life, Part One

Welcome to Worldbuilding Wednesdays!  Every Wednesday, we spend what is probably far too much time walking through our worldbuilding process.  This week, we'll be presenting the first and most "basic" of our intelligent species, the human.

What We Have So Far

While we've mostly spent the last few weeks defining our other intelligent species by comparing and contrasting them to humans, we have established a few details that differentiate the humans of our gigantic-but-not-massive world from those who grew up on Earth.  Combined with the way normal humans work in given environments and the presence of said environments (or their rough equivalents) on our new world, we have enough to give a fairly detailed description of what we'll call "nu humans" for now.

Something to point out before we get to the description:  We'll point out tendencies for our intelligent species, but we won't be diving into things that serve to define races, cultures, or civilizations.  At this stage in our worldbuilding, we're treating them like any other species that roams the planet, with the only real difference being our knowledge that they will be, by the time we're done, something more.

Nu Humans:  A Profile

Originally native to the leeward megasavannas of our world, nu humans have over time spread to nearly every biome on the planet.  This explosive growth occurred only recently in the history of the species, so while some adaptation has occurred, on average, each nu human is more closely related to each other than individual dog breeds.  The differences between two random nu humans are on the same scale as a black cat with white socks versus a black cat without white socks.  In fact, the most stark contrasts in the nu humans tend to be between the two genders, although there is considerable overlap even there.

  Physical Description.  Nu humans are, on average, a little shy of 2 meters tall.  Nu human females tend to be shorter than the males, though the average difference is only about a tenth of a meter.  The average nu human body shape is slightly stocky for their height, with males tending toward a slightly more muscular upper half and females a slightly more muscular lower half.  A typical nu human will have four limbs- a pair of legs, ending in lightly arched feet that grant them a springy step, and a pair of arms, ending in highly dextrous gripping hands.  Their head will have the majority of their sensory equipment, most notably a pair of eyes that seem just a little large for their face.  The eye structure resembles a mammalian take on the eyes of a raptor.  Unusually for a mammal, nu humans have no thick pelt, with the majority of their hair residing on the head and near the genitals.  Elsewhere on their body is a relatively thin coat of hair, which seems better suited for sensory input than retention of body heat.

  Nu humans appear to alter their coloration over time to best balance absorption of light for Vitamin D production with protection from potentially harmful UV rays.  Those areas that receive more direct sunlight tend to have darker, smoother skin, while those who do not are more pale with (especially near the coastline) more craggy, roughened skin.  Regardless of location, all nu humans develop lightly ridged callouses on their feet over time, the better to allow them control and precision when moving at speed.

A rough illustration that demonstrates skin color ranges and the difference between "normal" human eyes and nu human eyes.

  Behavior.  Nu humans move in large groups consisting of multiple families.  They are both predators and tool users, hunting in packs and using sharpened implements to mimic claws and teeth.  Omnivorous, they will often casually graze as they lope after their chosen prey, moving in a mostly upright fashion that allows them to see long distances while conserving energy.  Thanks to their relative lack of hair, nu humans do not overheat to nearly the extent that other endothermic animals do, and this, combined with their efficient gait and penchant for consuming calories on the go, means that nu humans can track and hunt the same animal for days on end.  Even those prey animals that can outrun nu humans find themselves pursued until exhaustion.

  Thanks to their superior vision and hand-eye coordination, nu humans are capable of hurling objects with great range and accuracy.  This is used to bring down animals that would normally defend themselves rather than flee, as well as flying animals that make the mistake of thinking they are out of reach.  Combined with their creativity and innate curiosity, this has led nu humans to experiment and discover that they can bring down hanging fruits and nuts as readily as prey. 

  Though not built for climbing, nu humans can do so with little difficulty, bracing themselves against a tree with their roughened feet and grasping smaller branches with their hands.  Nu humans are equally adept at navigating other environments, even those that would normally be counterintuitive. For example, nu humans are capable of swimming, and many can be found at depths of 30 meters or more beneath the waves, despite their inability to breathe underwater.  Similarly, despite their lack of body hair, nu humans can be found traversing even the coldest peaks, having learned how to use the pelts of other creatures to protect them from adverse weather conditions.

  When not hunting or foraging, nu humans regularly socialize, both within their packs and outside of them.  Nu humans are legendary for their tendency to pack-bond with almost anything, including other species and even inanimate objects.  As such, they'll often be accompanied by companions of other species, particularly those few species that can keep up with the nu humans' interminable pace.  When nu humans meet other nu human packs, they will interact warily but readily, and it is not unheard of for two packs to mingle to the point that, when they eventually separate again, several pack members will have been swapped between the two.

  Environment.  Although most at home on the megasavannas, nu humans can be found almost anywhere.  They are most at home in areas that allow them to see for long distances, such as savannas, hilltops, mountains, and along the shoreline.  They can also be found in areas where the underbrush is less dense, and so are at home among the hyperforests, though they tend not to climb into the upper reaches of the larger trees and instead restrict themselves to the bottom 100 meters or so.

Conclusion

This should serve to give you an idea of how much information you can derive from just a few lines of exposition and a working knowledge of your world.  Most of what has been written here should come as no surprise, and the new parts can easily be inferred from what we already know.  For example, the bit at the end which mentions that nu humans don't like to climb past 100 meters in the hyperforests?  That's due to a combination of "falls of that height or greater will kill an unprepared human" and "any further up and you're in the territory of another, equally intelligent species."

Next week, we'll be looking at one of our brand new species, using the same template.  The idea will be the same:  describing the species with quite a bit of detail, using what we already know and some obvious inferences to fill in the gaps.  See you then!