[Sword & Sorcery] Alternate non-humans

[Tim Kirk]

So what inhuman but intelligent creatures populate your sword & sorcery world?

Man-eating apes are right out. (I may have intelligent apes, but I'm wanting them to be more noble, I think.)

Serpent-folk are over done, although admittedly I like them.


I'm thinking Vulture-men, probably degenerate survivors of a once great kingdom stricken down for their hubris and transformed into gluttonous scavengers.

[zanshin]

Fairies - vicious small (6") winged humanoids - think Willow (the film).

[cjh]

I'm a big Moorcock fan so I like non-humans along the lines of his Eldren races (the forerunners to Elric and Corum's people). Just because they look human that doesn't mean that they are. Fae are fun too.

[MisterGuignol]

I've used the D&D races that don't have clear Tolkien analogs:

Goliaths - a warrior race breed by sorcerous magics
Shifters - animalistic tribal scavengers
Tieflings - a race of cursed beings whose empire was forged by diabolic pacts
Warforged - robots warriors who gained free will after being used to fight a cataclysmic battle

[The Tim]

Satyrs, but much more like those found in the Burning Wheel Monster Burner than the ones that are more like Narnia's. Degenerate rapists that worship a dead god slumbering beneath the earth.

Corpse eating ghuls; though that may overlap with the vulture people, it could make for interesting competition between the two of them, especially if the vultures like fresh and the ghuls like decomposing.

A race that looks like humans but are slightly taller and show a variety of hues for their skin and hair, well beyond human norms. Take the coloration from the color associations of the seven deadly sins (off the top of my head Wrath -> Red; Lust -> Blue; Sloth -> Light Blue; Avarice -> Yellow; Envy -> Green; Pride -> Purple/Violet; Gluttony -> Orange). They are decadent, show patterns based on their decadence, and know secrets best left untouched.

[Canidaemon]

The Cynocephali, the Dog-Headed men. Inspired by the RL beliefs from different cultures and Umberto Eco's Baudolino. Noble (if a bit slow) barbarians that live in the most remote places of the world.

The Abyssals, fish-men who live in the dark depths of the oceans. Think HP Lovecraft with more bioluminescence.

Goblinoid races, especially Hobs. Small goblins are the "dark things in the forest", while Hobs are militaristic hordes.

The Others, who are basically psychopathic dopplegangers with no society of their own save for the ones they infiltrate. They take up personas and try to act like humans, but their lack of empathy makes them come off as "wrong". They're an ongoing Red Scare plot where entire villages are whipped into panic over who is one of the Others.

[Doctor,Wildstorm]

A tribe that looks human at birth but fuses with some object or environment some time during adolesence.
Like, if the merge with sandstone the get the coloration and hard rough skin, or if and animal they get random features.
Elite fighters will be those who mixed with weapons, meaning they are always armed and often somewhat armored by patches of iron skin.
All one people, but all differently messed up.

[igelixo]

Deep Ones and Ghouls.

[armageddonsocks]

Ghouls of the Fritz Lieber / Nehwon variety. Basically just a very insular barbaric culture with transparent flesh. As I recall, they run around naked for the most part, for the intimidation factor - fucking screaming skeletons with battle axes running at you. Not jangly reanimated corpses - lively, angry bones shouting insults at you and cutting you the hell up.

Centaurs of some stripe. Not mythic centaurs, but real horse-people - wild Mustang men and women, swarming over the grasslands. Lords of the plains, the terror of the steppes - Mongols without saddles.

[Father of Dragons]

Blemmyae -- Men with faces in their chests. Usually considered to be man-eaters (anthropophagi).