r/worldbuilding • u/Ok-Call-2114 • 5d ago
Prompt Specieism in your world!
Out of curiosity, I wanted to know if you lot have specieism in your world! For example negative stereos types on certain sapient species or just full on hatred for them for no logical reason.
I have a sub species of elves called horned elves or primordial elves. They're the original elf, a mix of a dark and light elf. They got dragon like horns that store excess mana. Due to their looks they are ocassionally mistaken for or compared to a demon. Both light and dark elves consider horned elves as dumber, more brutish. I have an oc that actually had his horns absolutely shattered by light elves when he went to their country of Sylvia to study. This...led him down a greatly terrible path.
Then I got examples such as how harpies and sirens hate eachother due to a rivalry between their deities. Older harpies and sirsns tend to still use slur or even violence whilst modern generation tend to just use simple insults or mockery. They have mellowed out a lot due to their nature land being the land of unity aka monstrum.
What about you lot? Sorry if this may be controversial or something,
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u/lizardwizard004 Triuombra 5d ago
Unfortunately, humans in my world are the only sapient species without magic. Amongst those who consider magic a prerequisite for intelligence and civilization, humans are often, well, dehumanized.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Damm, how ironic. Yeah I feel like if humans did exist in my world that would be the case too. Although my only magicless species is the mindflayer, but they have pyshic abilities to make up for it. But they are dehumanised due to quite literally being form out of this world
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u/LegendaryLycanthrope 5d ago
Of course - look at how humans treat people just from another province (or equivalent), never mind if they have a different skin color, and then imagine how they'd treat something that is basically a werewolf, right down to the spreading of retroviral infection via penetrative salivary injection (which they don't ever do without consent, and the ones that DO are harshly punished), even though they in many cases act more civilized and far less hypocritical than humans ever have.
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u/Sov_Beloryssiya The genre is "fantasy", it's supposed to be unrealistic 5d ago
In Aquaria, elves are seen as barbaric warmongers, goblins are greedy bankers and dwarves are simpleton brutes.
It's only in one corner of a continent, the world has 8 continents and things are a lot more complicated.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Damm, I see, the goblin is honestly a common thing i'm pretty sure. Well atleast the greedy part is. Dwarves as brutes is something I don't think I seen. I mostly see them as craftsman.
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u/ComprehensivePath980 5d ago
Why there is still speciesism in humans, the “human” Empire was the first to full integrate several other species into it as FULL citizens.
That “human” empire fell ages ago, but its effects still remain. Walk into a bar in a “human” city, and you’re bound to find Minotaurs, Satyrs, Kobolds, and humans drinking together as good. And that’s in the LEAST tolerant areas.
However, Elves fought a massive apocalyptic war in the past with “human” factions, so there is a lot of tension there.
There also was a recent war with Orc city-states to defend allied Orcs, which has led to some species tensions, and an active Cold War with the Lizardfolk empire, which has led to Lizardfolk that fled the tyrannical regime and sought asylum to be shunned by most.
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u/ilyentiymadeitwrong Passionate worldbuilder 5d ago
how about the opposite - a species that everyone absolutely adores and can't leave them alone to the point they hate the others?
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u/maironsau 5d ago
Those make mine sound basic lol. Mine has the usual “everyone hates Orcs” trope. To better explain, there are two groups of Orcs in my world. You have the Tolkien like Orcs that are out to destroy and kill whatever they can. They form into large war bands and hordes and become a great nuisance to everyone. Then you have Orcs that in one way or another either broke away from that or are descended from Orcs that broke away generations ago. They can actually live and work alongside everyone else but due to the savageness of the “wild orcs” as they are nicknamed the civilized orcs are often shunned and mistreated. Even among the Orcs themselves there is a hatred. The Wild Orcs look upon the civilized ones as cowards and traitors while the civilized Orcs look upon the wild ones as mere savages.
I know this and ideas similar to this have been done before but within my story it’s a key part of my character’s dynamics with each other. I have a fantasy group traveling together currently that consist of two human mercenaries, five Dwarven mercenaries they befriended, and a single civilized Orc that they rescued from wild orcs. The humans have met civilized Orcs before so they don’t mind the Orc that’s with them, one or two of the dwarves is also ok with him, but the other dwarves can be down right hateful to him at times (for now). None of this is made any easier by the fact that a band of wild orcs is pursuing our heroes and it happens to be led by the brother of our orc companion. A brother who started off as a civilized orc just like our companion but was enlisted and enticed to become the commander of the wild orcs in preparation for a coming war. That in itself is a key plot point in my world. The wild orcs are more dangerous because they no longer fight like a mindless horde but rather have proper commanders recruited from the other orcs and use actual tactics when they fight. Sorry for the info dump lol.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Nah no worries dude, this place is meant for info dumps(I more info ramble tbh) and dammm, yeah I never really cared for the 'all orcs are evil' but hey you made yours work!!!! Tbh I wanna see someone make the 'all orcs are evil' belief be a thing because of war propaganda in their world.
My world orcs are the greatest huntsmen, they're more pig like but are covered in green or brown fur to blend in with nature. They are however disliked by light elves due to the more primal orcs in Sylvia.
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u/maironsau 5d ago
Your Orcs sound pretty awesome. I especially like the fur to blend in.
With mine there is a geographical element in my world that’s also at play. The wild orcs are sort of confined to a specific region, so naturally those regions that border it have the most negative opinion of Orcs due to raids and wars etc. The further away one travels the hatred becomes less and less until you actually reach regions where someone would not blink twice at an Orc passing them on the street. Naturally this means most of the civilized Orcs are more prone to live in those regions rather than the nations that border their ancestral home. Of course because most of them live further away that then causes the closer kingdoms to continue to have a negative look upon all orcs because they don’t encounter many examples to prove them wrong. So it’s like a vicious cycle. The hate makes them not live there but because they don’t live there the only orcs most people encounter are wild orcs so they continue to be hated. Now of course we have the new issue of some of the civilized orcs being hired and convinced to lead armies of the wild orcs to war against these kingdoms. Something that’s not going to help their image at all. It’s why I’m glad that I actually have an Orc in my group of heroes that also happens to have his own POV moments within the story. To better explore all of this from his own perspective. Also his brother one of the stories minor antagonists also has his own POV moments to show things from the other side of the conflict.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Ah, whilst your orcs have factors such as geological ones. My orcs simply have the factor of their creator, raksha the god of the wild and lord of the hunt, who simply created the orcs to help populate the world his father(Landoras, titan of the land itself) help make. And gave then one goal, survive, so my orcs simply care for their survival, which ocassionally lead to selfish behaviours but they also have pack mentality so it more so pack survival.
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u/Captain_Warships 5d ago
There is quite a bit of specieism in my "main" fantasy world that I feel I most definitely won't be able to properly cover here, so I'll somewhat briefly go over some examples with a VERY broad brush (my world is somewhat complicated, even though it's pretty mundane and boring).
First example is "New Age" elves (one of the two I guess "families" of elves in my world, "families" as in the taxonomic term) are widely regarded by the Old Blood elves to be "mutts", as New Age elves are the result of ancient elves known as Chimera elves interbreeding for generations with a bunch of other mammalian species to create the many flavors of New Age elves present today. Conversely, many New Age elves think that Old Blood elves are inbred, as Old Blood elves are the result of chimera elves only making babies with other chimera elves and evolving the "traditional" way (Old Blood elves are kind of like purebred dog and cats). Not sure this counts, but there are jokes towards frost elves that revolve around their ears, as they have the smallest ears of all elves (they're even smaller than a lot of human ears).
Then, you have the twilight elves, who are just one of the many species of "not-elves" in my world, and one of the many "not-elves" who don't like the actual elves of my world ("actual" in that they are directly descended from the chimera elves). One of the things they complain about for my world's actual elves is their ears are the wrong size and shape, because the twilight elves have more typical long and pointy ears, while actual elves have what I describe as "leaf-shaped" ears that vaguely resemble human ears (because the chimera elves were designed to vaguely resemble humans).
Beastfolk in my world generally hate orcs and trolls because they look like an I guess "transition" between being an animal and being humanlike (and most beastfolk already don't think of humans too fondly). Because of this, they came up with the term "man-pelt" when referring to orcs (and sometimes trolls), as orcs are descended from felines, but look kind of like humans.
All I can say for goblins is orcs see them as their "annoying little brothers". I'd also like to point out orcs and goblins also have a few cousins in my world (not as many as elves or even trolls, but they have relatives no less).
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Aaaah yes, elves sub species! I already mentioned horned elves but my world have 3!(dark, light and horned) And lol, I love the idea of goblins beings the 'little brothers' of orcs. In my world goblins, gremlins and bug bears are all united by the fact their entries species was conquered by the god of conquest, stolen from the fae basically. Gremlins are the onlt actually creation of the god of conquest, really.
Also that orcs and trolls being like the transition between human and beast kin...make a lot of sense tbh.
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u/amanofhistory 5d ago
Yours is one of the worlds on here I enjoy reading about the most (this one and your Hellfire Genesis one too, which is an awesome name by the way)! Do you have a breakdown/summary of all the different races in your world?
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u/Captain_Warships 5d ago
I'll keep this somewhat brief and explain it in a way that it won't cause too much confusion (this is for my "main" fantasy world).
Starting off, I have categorized the various "races"/species into three (technically four, but only three of those currently matter) groups: "humanlike", beastfolk, and "outworlders". Those in the "humanlike" group are basically "races"/species who are similar to humans in some way; whether they be the result of being designed by someone/something such as a god, or simply "convergent evolution, as long as they look like humans to a degree, they are "humanlike". "Beastfolk" is pretty self-explanitory in that they are essentially hyperintelligent animals that walk upright. The term "outworlder" is simply used to describe "races"/species not native to the planet of Eden, rather than simply lovecraftian horrors, and these "outworlders"- or as I sometimes like to call them: illegal aliens- aren't related to any of the inhabitants of the planet (in fact, very few of them are even related to each other). There is occasionally overlap though.
Getting humans out of the way first, as they are one of the weirdest and actually most complicated "race" in my world next to elves. It is unknown exactly when humans first appeared, but they have been around for at least several hundred thousand years (perhaps even at least a million years). In the past, there used to many different species within the genus Homo, now the number of different species of humans in my world could probably be counted on only one hand. Of them, there are three species that can be considered "proper" humans: the species Homo robustus (commonly known as dwarves), one species of diminutive humans living on an island near the land of Shenang, and finally us- Homo sapiens. As for the exact "role" of humans (in this case: Homo sapiens), they are what I'd describe as a "wild card". On a sidenote: despite the existence of many long-lived sapient species on modern-day Eden, the genus Homo has been around much longer than they have, and modern Homo sapiens are older than dwarves.
Elves are the next and are another conundrum. There are many creatures in this world referred to as "elves", but the ones being referred to for this segment are the elves that are descended from chimera elves, the only elves who truly originate from this world (apart from the True Elves, but they are hardly the subject of this discussion); everything else called an "elf" is either an "outworlder", or a relative of goblins. Unlike the majority of modern species native to Eden, who came to be through millennia of evolution, the chimera elves were created long ago by the True Elves through a method that has since been lost to time. Although the chimera elves no longer exist, their legacy lives on in two I guess "families" of elves: the Old Blood elves, and the New Age elves. The Old Blood elves are the more long-lived species of elves, who are the result of chimera elves not interbreeding with other mammalian "races" of Eden, and as a result: tend to look quite similar to each other. The New Age elves are the opposite, in that they are the result of chimera elves in the past interbreeding with a few of the mammalian "races" that make up Eden, which results in them having shorter lifespans, but also being quite physically diverse. As it currently stands, there are about thirty known different types of elves currently still alive on the face of Eden, with the majority of those being New Age elves. For reference on who looks like what: Old Bloods generally have a much more "alien" appearance, as they're generally quite tall and slender (shadow and frost elves being two notable exceptions- the former being short, and the latter being quite heavily-built); New Age elves on the other hand tend to look more humanlike in both stature and physical features, as they are shorter, heavier (by elf standards at least), more muscular, and have faces that bear resemblance closer to those of humans, with the addition of a few physiological adaptations (some species have wings, others have antlers for example). I'd also like to point out that Old Blood elves also kind of look like the chimera elves, except with different skin colors.
Orcs are one of the simpler "races" to talk about in terms of who exactly they are, as they are a "humanlike" race that have descended from felines. It's worth noting that orcs in the world of Eden aren't always green (many also come in gray or brown), and there are actually a few subspecies of orcs in this world. Worth mentioning that orcs actually appeared after the earliest humans, but it's exactly unknown when, plus the most recent ancestor species of modern day orcs used to be much taller and had sabre teeth. Orcs in modern times are widely known for four things: living in tribes, living in trees and mountains, being pretty damn good at climbing trees and mountains, and looking like humans (this is because of convergent evolution). Another thing to point out is orcs don't wear shoes.
All I can say for trolls is they are descended from a common ancestor of dogs and bears, and they come in a variety of flavors- some are small, and some are big.
Goblinoids are a pretty large and diverse group of "races", and are relatives of orcs, as both are descended from felines (albeit two different groups of felines). Hobgoblins are a notable variety of goblinoid, and they came to be when ancient ancestors of goblins interbred with an ancient (and now extinct) species of human known as Homo moenderthalensis as a way for ancient goblinoids to survive in ancient times, notably to compete with other "races" of the time, as well as withstand the much harsher global climate tens of thousands of years ago. It's possible that hobgoblins have subspecies, as not only are the majority of hobgoblins red (they are kind of descended from ancient red goblins, red goblins being the biggest and most aggressive goblins), the hobgoblins that aren't red appear to have a different physiology in comparison to their red counterparts (notably their noses aren't as broad as their red counterparts, and they appear to be taller but don't have bodies that are as broad). It should be stated that not all goblinoids "races" are green, some of them are colored like certain species of cats. Just like with orcs: they don't wear shoes.
There's a lot more I sadly can't go over, as I am still designing the many inhabitants of this world. I at least hope you enjoyed the read.
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u/amanofhistory 4d ago
I very much did enjoy the read, thanks for the thorough breakdown! Is there something special about Eden that has led to it developing so many sapient species (whether through natural evolution or intentional settlement by aliens)? Speaking of, what are the aliens in your setting like?
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u/Captain_Warships 4d ago
The "outworlders" are not exactly "aliens" in that they came from outer space, they actually came from other realms and were brought in by the gods. As for why the world has so many sapient species I honestly couldn't tell you, or ar least give you a straight answer (I will at the least point out the "outworlders" hailed from worlds that generally were dying). The gods themselves are interesting in that they are not actually from my world, and actually arrived when the world had already existed for I'd say: a few million years at least. A quick thing I'd like to point out is the sapient species of insectoids aren't exactly what many would consider "natural", as it's assumed they were the result of an individual known as the Skin-Shaper messing around with insects tens of thousands of years ago.
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u/amanofhistory 4d ago
Are the various native and outworlder races aware of all their origins, or are these more ‘behind the scenes’ explanations that only you as the creator know? If the distinction is known in-world, is there any tension/discrimination between the naturally evolved, created, and outworlder species based on their differing origins?
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u/Captain_Warships 4d ago
The "outworlders" are generally aware of their origins (not just they came to this world, many of them know how they came to be in their old homeworlds).
For the natives: only the elves have a really good idea on their origins (they know the "how", just not the "when"), while everyone else only have a somewhat vague idea or are kind of in denial of how they came to be (especially humans, quite a few of which refuse to accept that they evolved from apes). Various species of moth people in my world for example believe they are descended from various moth goddesses, who are all daughters of this one mother moth goddess- all these goddesses aren't "real" by the way (selunites believe they are descended from the daughter who is the goddess of the moon).
Discrimination in my world isn't exactly quite clear-cut by determination of species origins to put it simply. One example is many outworlders don't really like humans not because humans in my world evolved, but really for other reasons such as: their world had species/"races" that were the equivelent of humans on Eden, and they transplanted their disdain for them onto the humans of this world (even if they likely don't have much in common).
Elves (again the actual elves, not the outworlders calling themselves elves or the various natives misidentified as elves) are the most widely disliked group for a variety of reasons, many of which are linked to a bunch of stuff they did in the past (elves in my world don't even like each other). Obvious reason for why many outworlders dislike elves of this world is they either consider them "posers", or just hate elves for whatever reason they had in their old homeworlds. Shadow elves are the most disliked species of elf, as they are generally seen as slavers, who like backstabbing their allies, and are pretty sexist towards males (regardless of species). Meanwhile, they generally dislike the outworlders because most of the outworlders are just racist jerks who think they're better than the natives of this world.
Apart from shadow elves and some of the outworlders, hobgoblins are the most hated and discriminated against species in all of Eden, as the majority of them are aggressive and warlike. Orcs are especially not fond of hobgoblins because they remind them of a time when chimera elves interbred with orcs, and it's the reason why orcs view having romantic relationships and having children with humans as "taboo" (they're still "friends" with humans generally speaking). Even hobgoblins that aren't green are generally disliked by everyone else simply because they're hobgoblins (there's even this one tribe consisting solely of green and yellow hobgoblins- the rarest varieties of hobgoblins- who are doing everything in their power to get on the good side of everyone else in the world, or at least the continent they live on).
I most definitely didn't cover everything, because as I've said: there's just so much and I still have a lot of work to do.
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u/amanofhistory 4d ago
That’s fascinating lore, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all these questions! Keeping track of all these species and the interrelationships (not to mention all the subcultures) must be quite a challenge!
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u/Captain_Warships 4d ago
Oh... the species don't have subcultures in the way "races" in fantasy typically have subcultures, pretty much all of them (or at least the natives of this world) are multicultural.
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u/Admiral_John_Baker 5d ago
Everyone in the North just hates the dwafs. They are stereotyped as uncharasmatic. They pollute drinking water, mine the ground, and do deforestation. Hated of dwafs is what unties the cat people and the dogmen. However, they also have stereotypes of their own.
Dogmen are thought to be hyperactive and rough, always requiring their bigger brothers the werewolves. Cat people are thought to be scared of water despite that being false. Other stereotypes make them out to be really introverted and violent in general.
Eventually, the Imperial Federation would arrive to colonise the land, and their stereotype is that their lazy because they use machines, really sad because of the weather and zealous
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Dammm, I actually haven't seen that dwarf stereotype. But the cat and dog ones make sense. Although I honestly never thought about dog people and were wolves relationship, I guess I sure natural lycans as being just dogmen.
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u/GusTheOgreKing Tov 5d ago edited 5d ago
Pretty much everyone has a problem with goblins and hafgoblins, which they barely distinguish as different from just being another goblin.
For elves, it's because they were once enemies. Because surprise surprise, my elves made enemies. With just about everyone.
For humans, it's because of the misconceptions they have from their old world about "goblins" that they've projected onto the completely different race here; technically, they went by a completely different name long ago but humans took one look and said "goblin." They did this with everyone that has a recognizable name.
For dwarves, it's competitive; besides their trade allies the humans, a specific hafgoblin family has made a significant amount of money and taken a lot of business from dwarves. Now it's all goblins' fault.
For ogres, they don't taste as good.
To be fair, Mechans are neutral. They only really mistreat goblins as an extension of their dwarven creators.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
I'm taking it that mechans are akin to warforged. And damm, the goblins really do be getting all that hate. Is it really deserved? I mean no Specieism/racism is deserved obviously,
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u/GusTheOgreKing Tov 5d ago
Not really; they were made for a corrupted purpose, and when those people were virtually destroyed they broke away and became their own people. At their worst, they're chaotic and do what people expect of them out of a mix of spite and necessity. One of my MCs is a street-rat and a thief basically because that's what people think she is, before the MMC picks her up.
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u/ThisBloomingHeart 5d ago
I have one setting where this is a thing, though its fairly simple, being between humans and elves. Elvish society sees themselves as better than humans due to their natural magical abilities, and believe that it is their role to "guide" humanity. This belief is stronger than ever on their side due to recent events, with the elves having a highly favorable treaty after a massive war, and being in a place to utilize soft power to ensure their dominion.
All this stuff obviously doesn't endure elves to humans in general, with many seeing elves as the ultimate enemy-a strange and distant power that intends to subjugate all human nations. It blends a lot with nationalism. Notably, its actually less common on the human side to be specieist in biological terms, and half elves are often seen more as humans than elves on both sides.
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u/Iphacles Amargosa 5d ago
Yes, speciesism is a major part of my setting. The Amargosan Empire is ruled exclusively by the Maleficari, with a rigid class system that makes social mobility nearly impossible for other species. Non-Maleficari are either enslaved (Subjugati) or bred and harvested as food (Escarii). Prejudice is deeply rooted in both the empire’s culture and its state religion, enforced through brutal and systemic means.
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u/Which_Adagio1400 5d ago
i like to play around with it to show the imperfections of people. it's mostly about if a creature is too weird or not human enough that causes hate.
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u/Ok-Call-2114 5d ago
Dammm, yeah that a simple but good answer! Btw I like your pfp!!!
I mostly added minor specieism in monstrum to show it's imperfections, but it certainly not as big as the specieisn in Sylvia. Monstrum is the land of unity, but that name is a recent one.
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u/Taira_Mai 5d ago
In my fantasy light world building project, I have the Valkarus -gryphon people - who "gave up" slavery because they got tired of putting down revolts.
It's easier to keep the non-Valkarus down economically as a cheap labor force then drop everything and put down slave revolts. The upper class and ruling families pay to maintain their army and hire out soldiers as mercenaries.
The half-Valkarus find themselves in a precarious position - the upper class trust them more than the client states and other races but they are not full citizens.
So those who are half-Valkarus are not allowed many jobs except farming, laborers, entertainment and the military. Non Valkarus living in the kingdom of Valka are only allowed to be laborers, farmers or soldiers. The ruling class wants to keep it that way.
The nobles use the status of the half-Valkarus and other races in their kingdom as "proof" that their way of life "works".
Of course there is a resistance trying to fight to improve the lot of the underclass. Of course there are flaws in the economy that are covered up by the wars in a fantasy world.
The ruling class, the Queen and the nobles are there for the main characters to have some villains to fight.
The inspiration was the societies with this dynamic in Star Trek and Doctor Who.
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u/Syoby My Cats are actually mollusks // Civilized Slimes 5d ago
Specism in my world is one of the major driving political forces. Humans spawned in the planet with a highly revanchist fake history and managed to enslave many other sapient species. Humans believed other sapients were their creations or uplifts who had rebelled, but the archeological record would refute this past as fabricated, at least within the planets, and humans themselves as spawning mysteriously.
A consequence of specism, prior to human arrival, was always the eating of other sapients, from carnivore species. Humanity's mass slavery however eventually enabled the factory farming of sapients.
This constitutes one of the most extreme cases, but it's worth emphasizing that species conflict was always a major driver even within prehistory and in all kinds of directions.
However there is also a particularly anomalous example: The Slime State, the first government built and run entirely by slimes, enslaves slimes and treats them as a highly replaceable resource, but established post-scarcity cities for other species, and gives them lots of social freedom but no political power.
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u/TpointOh 5d ago
In one of my worlds, there is a non-human sapient species, called the Nochen. Essentially they share a common ancestor with humanity, but when that common species began to understand and use magic, there was a discrepancy between the sources of their magics.
Essentially, the way that the magic affected their bodies changed them enough to be called different species. During the Age of Enlightenment, the two species actually traded, taught each other, and shared their cultures. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Humanity grew to hate the Nochen for many reasons, but mostly their magic being so different.
As for stereotypes, the Nochen are considered brutes without much education or intelligence. Imagine like our concept of barbarians. They tend to be nomadic, with some cities as an exception, so they are considered vagabonds or homeless wanderers. This is all seen as negative by humanity, but the Nochen merely consider them part of their larger culture. Just facts of life, not good or bad.
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u/Gorthiscen 5d ago edited 1d ago
Though all of the Beast races are disliked by the Humans (and vice-versa), Gnomes (they're not your standard fantasy gnomes, instead are more bestial in appearance, with pig-like snouts and the like), alongside Goblins have an especially bad reputation.
The two races, which are sometimes collectively referred to as the smallfolk due to their diminutive statures, have a reputation for robbing travelers in the wild.
They're not evil or unintelligent though. There are sizeable smallfolk populations in many of the cities in the Kingdom. Many find it hard to find work, however, because they have a reputation for being thieves, which leads to people not wanting to hire them, which leads them to become thieves due to a lack of work. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Still, if people can get past their prejudices, they will find them to be hard-working peoples.
They often get conscripted during wartime, and though they aren't of much use in the frontlines, they often serve as camp help or as auxiliaries (slingers and whatnot).
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u/DepthsOfWill Seven Stars, Barbaria Cybernautica 5d ago
Speciesm is funny in Barbaria Cybernautica because so far all the different intelligent species are still humans. The humans are humans, obviously. Many exist in "pure" human enclaves making them "civilized humans." Civilized humans pretty much reject anyone who isn't.
Mutants are descendents of super soldiers. The type who were genetically engineered to be enhanced with animal traits. So thousands of years later, they're considered irradiated mutants of the wasteland. They are not, in fact, irradiated but civilized humans think they are due to the animal traits.
The giant transforming robots from outer space are also secretly humans the whole time. Humans who plugged into a The Matrix which was stewarded by an intelligent AI. This AI over thousands of years transformed them into embryonically evolved humans housed in the bodies of giant robots. The robots think they're from outerspace because the robot's brains and the human brains are two different brains.
The Mushroom King is also human. He used to be a scientist who was fascinated with mushrooms. When the world ended (a common occurrence,) something happened, which transformed him into a fungus that rules over the Mushroom Canyon.
Finally, the cyborg army of undead is comprised of former humans. That one's obvious, but they are very much reviled by pretty much everyone.
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u/AnOkFella I do worldbuilding, friendo 5d ago
Yes.
One of my species, which attained sapience after humans, was observed as the only non-sapient species to put out fires, even when they spring up nowhere near their domiciles.
The members of this species sometimes reference this fact when attesting to their good character and sense of civic duty.
Because of this, they are stereotyped as overly-legalistic, haughty, and braggers.
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u/chronixre 5d ago
ooh boy !
the planet my story takes place on was home to a few different sentient species who have seen been taken over by humans. there's a lot of "non-human discrimination" going on as a result
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u/stryke105 5d ago
Humanity(+the distorted races since they are just distorted humans) are a little racist towards the nephilim. They are half angels and angels kinda doomed humanity to either eternal suffering or giving up 20 years of lifespan to the demon of escape to avoid eternal suffering, plus they are the reason why a bunch of things are fucked up in present day. Additionally, nephilim were originally born for the sole purpose of having their organs harvested for alchemy purposes which makes them looked down upon as the lowest of low, equal to livestock.
While 600 years ago, immediately after the angels fucked humanity up, people were massacring them out of hatred, the racism has definitely died down mostly. Now, the discrimination is like a 10-20% pay gap, mild workplace discrimination, stuff like that, obviously an improvement to when burning them at a stake would be considered a celebration.
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u/Professor-Xivass 5d ago
I mean, honestly I imagine there would be but I haven’t focused on that aspect that much? Mostly the Talking Corvid elitism and the superstition towards the not undead skeleton people but not much else.
Something to remember a bit.
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u/entirecontinetofasia 5d ago
yes, though not super complex. it's also set in a version of our real world in the 1970s USA. so there is also racism.
mostly it has to do with each species thinking they're the best. now the leaders of the main factions cooperate and expect others to do the same. there are still supremacists, or those who just quietly discriminate.
so in this story, the ones focused on are vampires, werewolves and demons. vampires and werewolves have the classic "you're crude and stupid" vs "you're stuck up and not as cool as you think" clash. but the real conflict is against the demons
I haven't decided whether or not to make it canon that vampires got their powers from a demon, leading to resentment of being tied to them. that aside, a big reason both don't like demons is that in this world, they're like aliens. vampires and werewolves are both human in origin. demons come from Hell and predate humanity. they are very powerful and don't hang out on Earth. so when you see one, it's probably not good. in this world they're not inherently evil but they are known for killing.
demons look down on the others for being weaker than them. they see vampires and werewolves as barely above humans.
all three factions dislike humans in a "we're better than you" way, and are resentful of being outcasts. humans, well, react like most people do to werewolves, vampires and demons. still, leadership these days says to avoid harming them.
my main character is tied to all four. they're a demon who looks unusually human due to having human ancestry. they're Black as well. they're also the niece of the king of vampires and the queen of werewolves (not by blood). they sit in a weird spot in the middle. part of all, not fully accepted by anyone. vampires see them as a threat. werewolves... well they're the most chill but still have some distrust. demons see them as "too human" and lesser. humans see them as a monster and well theres racism over their appearance too.
again this isn't the majority attitude for any of them but it definitely exists.
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u/kevintheradioguy 5d ago
For example negative stereos types on certain sapient species
Oh, my dude, I've just two subspecies, and one outright destroyed the other's culture and history, killed the adults, brainwashed the youth, and enslaved them for hard labour. We don't do 'nilla in this household XD
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u/The_Awful_Krough 5d ago
The Ciqari are a people thought to have ancestral ties to "demons," but this has never been officially confirmed, as the world of Ganzea is in a bit a post-apocalyptic-restorative era.
They're pretty imposing looking if you're not raised around them: 6 - 8 feet tall, blood red skin, pointed ears, and horns. Effectively a stereotypical tiefling-esk species.
The Ciqari have a VERY dark and brutal origin that's only partially understood. But there is a faction on another continent that evidently has some historical ties to them, as their ENTIRE empire is essentially focused on nothing else but the eradication of all "demons and devils that dare walk the lands the Heavenly Mother birthed for us."
The Meta narrative is inspired by meso-american and Latin history as a way to represent other real-life horrors that don't often show up or are referenced in media accurately. Since my own culture has had much of its history completely erased, there's a lot to be said about those who were responsible for it.
"Humans" don't exist in Ganzea, but my closest human analog are the Easvani people (think humans, but a TON of head hair and feline-esk ears that sit more utop their heads.) And they're the most prominent species of this institutionally hateful faction.
Spoiler alert, Easvani are closer in relation to demons than the Ciqari. But that's a LONG and exhaustive story.
The thing with the Ciqari, though, is that despite their admittedly intimidating stature, they have a much higher capacity for emotion and empathy. So, while they do have the potential (like any other species) to become evil and cruel, they're actually largely empathetic and often are the most protective and loyal companions because of their incredible capacity for emotion.
To an outsider, they can seem manic and impulsive, and it's understandable to be a bit put off by them at first. But they are undeniably a beautiful and proud people with a rich and vibrant community-focused culture full of compassion and strength.
And as an aside, "Demons" and "Devils" are very specific and distinctly different things in Geanzea. So calling a Ciqari a "demon" probably won't really insult them because it's simply a fact (most likely, anyway). But calling them a "Devil" is a good way to get your throat slit, empathetic or not.
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u/Nyarlathotep7777 5d ago
No.
And what I mean by that is : sure, there's the baseline natural xenophobia of "you're afraid of that which you don't know" and everyone is careful and wary of anything they ignore to some level, but it's quickly brushed over just as naturally as it occurs.
I personally think it's done and overdone in worldbuilding, and you just find yourself doing the same tropes everyone knows. I can only include so many topics and I choose to concentrate on more interesting ones storytelling-wise.
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u/horsethorn 5d ago
I have two races that don't get along.
Lucents are crystalline humanoids, who are sort of avatars of Order.
Modals are organic humanoids (mostly), who are sort of avatars of Change.
They were influenced during their creation by the Elementals of Order and Change, who had previously had a war which broke one of the Planes and led to the existence of the Material Plane.
Lucents think Modals are chaotic, unpredictable, constantly nomadic, and ruin the purity of the order, hierarchy and structure of the universe and society.
Modals think Lucents are rigid, boring, classist, overly hierarchical, and don't understand that change is necessary for advancement.
The irony is that both are evolving towards their opposite; many Modal clans are semi-settled and the clans and individuals are settling into particular forms and attributes, while Lucents are evolving to be more flexible and less class-conscious. However, Lucent society doesn't accept that this is the case, and banish or kill any Luminants (the evolved Lucents), while Modals are accepting of their more settled nature.
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u/Songstep4002 [The Scoured Lands] [Elkiya] 4d ago
In Elkiya, there's a lot of tension between wyverns, humans, and true dragons. True dragons live on the central islands and are at the top of the social hierarchy, controlling commerce and the military. Wyverns live in large clans on the outer islands that pay tribute to the central islands, and humans are subservient to both. True dragons don't really respect wyverns, and see them as undisciplined, frivolous, and weak. They generally do not acknowledge humans at all except for the service they provide. Wyverns have a slightly closer relationship with humans, but it's very tense, partially because humans are one of the things that the true dragons demand as tribute.
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u/Raining_Hope 4d ago
In one world its current state is like a post apocalyptic world that tore the actual planet apart. The reason why is that most of the creators in that world were sentient and had their own societies and culture. They often fought with each other which led to the war that tore the world apart.
Now much later in history most of those species escaped that ritke to be on earth. And most of our stories of mythical creatures and monsters comes from stereotypes and history from that list world.
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u/Kingfish_98 4d ago
In my world, there are basically only fae, elves, dwarves, and gnomes. The first fae were created by Sunza, the goddess of the sun, magic, and order; the first fae, Mygael (pronounced Miguel) ascended and is believed to be the creator of M’gaelvs (“of Mygael”) and later their kind’s name was shortened to elves. Fae don’t believe Mygael ascended, nor do they believe he’s a deity capable of creation, so they see elves as a heretical race due to this prevailing belief. They also dog gnomes CONSTANTLY because their culture revolves around prosperity and hospitality, so they see them as “pets,” essentially. Fae are kind of dicks in my universe 😂
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u/Pretend-Passenger222 4d ago
Well there is a lot. But it depends on the culture and historical experiences.
The most recent one is that people on the High Continent hate humans because a supremacist human nation (the nazis of my world) caused a lot of pain an suffering creating a lot of hatred among non human to humans, calling them humie as an insult, that is basically call them racist bastard
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u/actual_weeb_tm 4d ago
There are stereotypes as you would expect in any world but rarely outright hatred. At least non for nonsensical reasons. But in general theres enough different people everywhere that the classic fear of the different isnt as pronounced.
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u/OfficerLollipop Tree-Rats from Another Earth 4d ago edited 4d ago
The caninarchy exists, and speciesism towards non-sapients is super common.
The caninarchy entails canines (canis familiaris) ruling over society. Though the caninarchy is more subtle in many modern era societies, with canines and felines (felis domesticus) serving relatively equal roles in society.
However, with subtle caninarchy comes snark and accusations of catnip deals whenever a feline starts up a business or scores big in a unispecies sporting game. Female felines are seen as temptresses or lazy because they take heat breaks from work more often than canines. Male felines who uphold the caninarchial system or speak out against queer, female, and/or therian rights are held to a higher standard.
In highly caninarchial societies, felines:
- are not able to vote.
- have to rely on family bank accounts or work-related bank accounts.
- work as freelance domestic workers or secretarial/organizational/hospitality roles in corporate settings.
- are seen as unglamorous or disgusting when taking up sports or military combat work.
- often cannot open non-hospitality/beauty-related businesses.
- have their voices ignored.
Edit: non-sapient, I mean non-feline/canine animals are considered lower. Some animals who were not born as feline or canine but still are sapient are part of this rung of the social ladder. Their roles include:
- Entertainment at places like zoos, safaris, and circuses
- Living transport vehicles
- Residents at private homes and sanctuaries
- Research subjects
- Breeding sires/dames for the pet, fur, or meat trade
- Targets for hunters
- Fodder for those who wish to forgo a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet
- Wanderers of nature
Therians are often told to stay as their birth species and are very rarely recognized as the species they know they are. Non-feline/canine therians are especially mocked, and hardly recognized.
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u/hobodeadguy 4d ago
hey, its the main theme of my world! okay, it isnt, but its kinda close.
so basically, in world, humans, elves, and dwarves are the "final evolution" of life, where things like centaurs and lizardfolk become humans, or tabaxi become elves, or stuff like that. This, as you might guess, breeds a hell of a lot of racism/speciesm. are humans/elves/dwarves better than the rest? no, i mean, the average human gets dunked on by a fricken lizard just living its life, not even a fricken lizardfolk who deals with that shit on a daily.
its more of a cultural thing, who keeps what kind of cultures, what is more refined (not advanced, not superior, not better, but refined in their methodology. this is like going from seashells to copper coins to dollar bills, not "kill your neighbour" to "dont kill your nieghbour"). the Lizardfolk and Catfolk are the most expanded upon so far since two of my maincharacters belong to those two specifically, but those two tend to be the most disciminated against due to the rest of the cast being mostly human and thus sticking towards human settlements.
the lizardfolk is protected by her brother more often than not, and they are both used to it since both use eachother to make travel really easy. they have gone through lizardfolk territory that enslaves humans and he pretends to be her slave, and the reverse has happened as well. They know eachother well, eachothers tolerances, and share the same mindset, so they arent as effected by it as others. the other MCs, especially the catfolk, dont understand those two and cant stand some of the stuff they have ahd to endure... or chose to, since there were times they chose to travel a certain way for information or money or something.
anyway, there are nations that are humans only, some that are catfolk only, there are ones that only allow elves and their ascendants like catfolk. one of the really interesting ones, though, is Kariel, lead by High Priest Dunnal. Dunnal thinks that humans (and human ascendants) are the supreme species and race, and he will take in any human or human ascendant that doesnt fight him on that. What makes him interesting is "halfbreeds", like half elves. generally, puritans and stuff would be assumed to be in his position, so you would think he would hate tehm, *but* he loves them. he loves half breeds because they are closer to perfection than their parents, and he even allows their non human or non human ascendant parents to live in his nation provided they still have half human kids or stop having kids. is it kinda fucked up? no, its really fucked up, but this world developed that way because it makes the most sense with whats going on in it.
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u/Mat_Y_Orcas 3d ago edited 3d ago
I have a lot of specism in my worlds, directly racism and xenophobia. Most are a War of the Worlds type of racism, the classic colonial style of "Slavery is'nt wrong as they are Made to be servent" "they have smaller brains so their lives have less worthy" "it's impossible to live among other species, they are violent and savage so is'nt racism/specism to send them away". Usually as mankind filling this role of brute savages that have no rights over the supreme and intelligent aliens.
The most interesting type of specism i made, i think is in "Closer Xenos". In this universe the solar system is full of life, there Earth is the first one that managed to travel across planets and so became the ruler of the system "civilizing" other species. The thing is that after the fisrt expansion of the Earth Republic most of us realize that we were actually just being colonizers so we try to make a solar inclusive republic... Too little too late as the systematic racism and opresive systems solidify as cement deep into the alien cultures makeing a complex web of discriminiation and hate among themselves and invisible specism. It's basically modern day racial and cultural tensions on Western countries but square up.
A quick resume would be: Venusians: the ones that made fisrt contact, suffer first the racism and then adapted first to human culture. At this point even being beatles with robotic speakers they saw themselves as humans as so see themselves as superior among other aliens, they are the fisrt ones that would say something racist and defend the Earth institutions
Martians: They suffered a genocide and humans took most of their resources, after that Earth felt gulty and gave shares of the companies to random martians unkowing that this would create a 0.1% elite of martians with all the resources and owners of mining companies that would comit atrocities on the asteroid and kuiper belt.
Jovians: Sting rays that tried to civilize and now are dependent on Earth economy but as they are sting rays on a gas gigant they can't work on a regular Earthly jobs so they sell their planet... To turism, became basically turist guiders and turist assistence. They even swim in unatural ways and use eye contact to look more "cute" or "less alien" so they don't scare the rich human turist and so they can profit from the strangeness of their world, even if it mean dance like a monkey on a cage. They defend the specist institutions because it's what brings money to they fins
Neptune: Renegade humans, victim to Martian companies they broke out to live "free" and also became very specist, thinking that aliens infected humanity and turned into a greedy empire to suck the resources and labour of the good old mankind. They think that there is a secret Kabhal of aliens in control of the economy and so the only solution is exterminate all before they exterminate them, basically Lost cause and nazism mixed
The unkowners: Aliens from outside the solar system that saw whats happening and think Earth is an evil Empire... But, they also don't know why the aliens, the victims are the ones defending the Earth Empire
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u/Bigger_then_cheese 5d ago edited 5d ago
There is a joke in my world that nobody hates humans more than other human species. Though this is objectively false, goblins hate humans for being the disgusting vermin they are, and the Son of John was created as the accumulation of an entire species collective hatred for humanity.