I’m the kind of person who looks at fantasy games where you choose your character’s species/race and thinks, “Yessss.” Being human in real life is all well and good. But speculative fiction is all about breaking from the norm and trying something new. And for me, that means going really new. Skip the usual elves and dwarves; I want to play a catlike Kajiit, an aquatic Zora or a devil-blooded Tiefling.
Now, obviously this is a matter of personal preference. Some people connect better to human or humanlike characters. Others might care more about a given group’s lore or culture than its physical traits. Or maybe they just prefer the cool abilities or the “feel” of one in gameplay. But in settings where we have access to potentially dozens of intelligent species, it’s worth branching out and looking deeper into just how each of these species fit into their world.
On Elves, Dwarves, and other humanoids
When it comes to peoples of “civilized” species (that is, wearing clothes and building cities rather than being intelligent but still hanging out in a dragon cave or something), the most common starting point for fantasy and folklore is humanoids. Cultures throughout the world have stories of beings that appear almost human on the surface but are somehow fundamentally different.
These fantasy peoples, including European fairies, Arabian jinn, and Japanese oni, are often associated with gods or spirits, magic, and/or unearthly realms. They may have inhuman features like fish tails or wings, strangely colored hair or skin, or a fundamentally different size. They may be immortal or at least long-lived, potentially with the caveat of lacking souls. However, their key features are their ties to magic, mystery, and something altogether sperate from the “normal” human experience.
In the right settings, this can be enough. If there’s a mystical fairyland or demon realm that parallels Earth, you could consider magical humanoids the parallels to humans. Likewise, if magic or some aspect of it is limited to these beings, that in itself could be what distinguishes them from us.
But in many modern fantasies, humans have access to magic and live and work alongside peoples of fantasy races. Think about Dungeons and Dragons, which has a fairyland in the Feywild but still houses its elves and dwarves in the more Earthlike Material Plane. Or The Elder Scrolls games, whose non-“Earth” realms house its gods and demons rather than its not-quite-human Mer.
Niches for species (drat, that almost rhymed)
In these cases, it’s useful to start asking yourself a few questions. Where did these races come from? How are they different from us, and more importantly, why? What distinguishes them as a separate species from humans, and not just another ethnicity or culture? Remember that humans come in a diverse array of sizes, skin and hair colors, and cultural and personal opinions. Just saying that your dwarves are all short and obsessed with mining and smithing will feel more like a “planet of hats” scenario than a fully realized intelligent species.
It helps to look at related species in real life, like grey wolves and coyotes. These animals are extremely similar, both being medium-sized predatory canines. They’re even capable of interbreeding, which is typically something that different species by definition cannot do. (Incidentally, this makes them a useful model for those who want “half-elves” and such in their fantasy stories.)
But grey wolves and coyotes still have enough key differences to keep them from being defined as mere subspecies. Wolves are significantly larger and heavier than coyotes, and hunt larger prey than the smaller animals that coyotes focus on. Wolves have a larger overall range spanning multiple continents. However, coyotes are more adaptable to different environments and less likely to suffer habitat loss. Both live in family-based packs, but coyote packs are smaller and they are more likely to travel alone. And though the species have similar enough genetics to interbreed, their differences in behavior and low tolerance for one another make it relatively rare.
Many of these differences can be attributed in part to the two species inhabiting slightly different niches, or environmental roles. In this case, a lot of it likely comes down to prey focus. Coyotes are agile opportunists whose small size lets them better hunt small speedy animals. Meanwhile, wolves use their bulk and larger, more coordinated group efforts to take down large mammals.
Applying this focus on ecological niches to humanoid species can help you identify helpful and interesting traits for said species. Do you want some forest-dwelling elves? Perhaps they’re less adaptable than humans, and thrive best within certain temperature and humidity levels associated with temperate forests. Perhaps they’re naturally inclined to living in treetops and other high places, to hide from aggressive monsters, gather tree fruits, and ambush prey.
This tree-dwelling behavior could mean elves have longer limbs or stronger arms than humans, but weaker running stamina. They might also have greater distance vision than us, and slightly weaker night vision. Or their vision could be the opposite, well adapted to catching movement in the gloom of the forest but not as adept as ours at distinguishing colors.
Either way, the niches your intelligent fantasy species developed in will likely influence their broader cultures. After all, human clothing styles ultimately derive from what’s practical for a given environment, and our favored flavors come from foods that naturally provide both those flavors and important nutrients. So too should a fantasy culture’s preferences draw in part from its peoples’ needs.
On Non-“Humanoid” Races and Species
When looking at different species in terms of taxonomy, the fantasy races we’ve discussed so far have a pretty straightforward place in the family tree. Being very human-like in form and behavior, they would likely be considered members of the Homo genus found within the clade of great apes.
But what if you wanted to look elsewhere in the animal kingdom? “Beast” races, like The Elder Scrolls’ aforementioned Kajiit and their lizardlike Argonians, are also popular choices for intelligent fantasy species. But having a truly immersive beast race is about more than slapping some fur or feathers and an animal head on a human body. Even more than with hypothetical hominids, animal species have a wide variety of traits and quirks that influence both their forms and behaviors.
For such intelligent fantasy species, it helps to do some research on the animals you’ll be deriving them from. Let’s say you want a “catfolk” race, like the Kajiit. In Skyrim, player Kajiit have two special abilities based on their feline forms: an unarmed attack bonus to acknowledge the presence of claws, and an ability to see in the dark as a nod to a cat’s night vision.
These traits are some great examples, but how much further can we go? Cats also use their ears and tails for a lot of body language. Their excellent night vision comes at the expense of lower detail vision, and they can’t see as many colors as us. Their fur requires grooming, which their rough tongues are built to help with. And they’re obligate carnivores, which means their diets are more-or-less strictly made up of meat.
Thinking about these traits gives us a fertile ground for considering how this fantasy race might interact with the world. What would catfolk art look like? Or their cuisine? How do they express themselves when they feel certain ways? Do they still groom with their tongues, and perhaps consider social grooming an intimate act between very close companions? Or do most of them groom their fur with special brushes?
And of course, there’s always the question of size and shape. “Civilized” cat people likely would have developed some ability to manipulate fine tools. But does that include a two-legged posture to free their forelimbs? If so, what do their paws and legs look like? If not, how do they manage while on all fours, and how does this impact the design of their tools?
I find this question especially fun when it comes to birds. Their forelimbs are wings, which aren’t exactly useful for gripping unless you’re using cartoon logic. But many intelligent real-life birds manipulate things surprisingly well using their feet and beaks. From there, we could “cheat” a bit by giving our birdfolk an extra set of forelimbs based on the feet. We could also look at some of the more “primitive” birds like the young hoatzin, and extrapolate on their wing-claws to design something with a little more grip. Or, we could challenge ourselves by sticking with the beak-and-feet method and, again, asking how that would influence tool design.
Dare we go further?
Of course, nothing’s stopping you from going beyond Earth’s animal kingdom. It’ll take a lot more legwork if you want a “realistic” plant- or fungus-person with intelligence in a way we understand it, but it’s not impossible. It might help to find some of the more mobile and intelligent non-animals for your basis, like slime molds.
And of course, if you’re working with truly alien races, your hypothetical cladogram will start as a blank slate. This is where the really hardcore speculative biology comes in. But as long as you remember what environments your fantasy races or intelligent species are native to, what might be some reasonable adaptations to get them what they need, and how those adaptations might influence their culture, you’ll be on the right track.
As one final note, remember that evolutionary specialties tend to have trade-offs. Investing in one ability means that other, overlapping or less necessary abilities are less developed. The vision tradeoffs I mentioned earlier are an excellent example. Basically, eyes have two kinds of receptors for gathering and interpreting light. Rods work fine in low light but see less detail. Cones gather color and sharp detail but need bright light. Most species use more of one or the other, either seeing well in the dark at the expense of picking out fewer details and colors or vice versa. It’s tempting to focus on animal species and fantasy races in terms of what cool things they can do better than us, but other species tend to have weaknesses compared to humans, too.
Regardless of how you “build” your fantasy races, peoples, intelligent species, or whatever you want to call them, the worlds of both nature and culture are bound to take their members in all kinds of weird and wonderful directions. And with a bit of imagination and finesse, you can inspire your readers to follow them there.
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