fantasy races

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Jerander

...
Personally, I find "realism/plausibility" in diversity, tendencies (rather than absolutes: "orcs tend to be violent, but not all are" vs. "all orcs are violent"), contradiction (heck even an *individual* in real life can have contradictory motivations, how much more so within cultures/species), and consistancy (both "in race" and in context with setting).

Jerander.

Well there are some near absolute when dealing with people. Those that are too far off the curve will likely be weird in many other way.
People need to be members of a larger society. The anti-social hermit will likely be messed up or at least very odd in other ways. Like a nudist, constant scratching, spitting, necrophiliac, nutbar.

[Jerander]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Well there are some near absolute when dealing with people. Those that are too far off the curve will likely be weird in many other way.
People need to be members of a larger society. The anti-social hermit will likely be messed up or at least very odd in other ways. Like a nudist, constant scratching, spitting, necrophiliac, nutbar.

Good point. *Individuals* can be near-absolute in one (or more) dimensions. Whole *species* are much less likely to be so. Especially if they came about through some sort of "evolution."

The orcish equivalent of Flyndaran's anti-social human hermit might be the non-violent orcish floral designer: "messed up or at least very odd in other ways" by orcish standards. But there could be a couple of them...If *all* orcs are violent, then it eliminates this (and many other) possibility as far as characters go.

[Flyndaran]

Any creature even remotely above simple animal level can be different.
There was once a pet alligator that during a tsunami actually helped his human to land. How's that for going against instincts?
I knew a house cat that would play fetch and came when called by name.

[Jerander]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Any creature even remotely above simple animal level can be different.

In fantasy world, this doesn't have to be true.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Jerander

In fantasy world, this doesn't have to be true.

True, but such an unnatural state should preface the race's description, in my opinion.

[Jerander]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

True, but such an unnatural state should preface the race's description, in my opinion.

Agreed. I'd find such a race extremely unrealistic/implausible without a very good background/explanation. It'd be an extreme example of my problem with absolutes (with regards to species) in general. "Orcs tend to react towards elves and beauty with violence, but not all, and not all the time?" Sure. "All orcs react violently towards elves and beauty all the time?" Hmm...

[Jerander]

On the diurnal/nocturnal twins species idea:

Are all twins same-sex, opposite sex, or some of each? Are they identical, fraternal, or some of each?

In any case, there are two marriage patterns that spring to mind. The first is as others have suggested: One set of twins must find another set of compatible twins.

The second option it that they do *not* have to find a compatible set of twins. Since each half of the twin-pair operate at different times of the day, contact with their twin's mate will be minimal. If each half of a twin-pair could marry into a different twin-pair, then this could set up complicated chains of relationships. Which, to me, seems like a lot more fun to flesh out.

[Jerander]

Twin-race:

What if, instead of a strict diurnal/nocturnal split, one of the twin-pair was tied to the sun-cycles (diurnal), and one was tied to the moon-cycles? Moon-cycles not being the same as nocturnal. Sometimes the moon is up during the day...That would aid intra- (inter-?) twin communication.

Are all males diurnal and all females nocturnal? Or vice versa? Or are some males diurnal, some nocturnal, and same for the females?

What if, instead of a strict male/female sex split, there was something else? Three biological sexes? Or one? Or what if the race were hermaphrodites? Or could switch sex at will?

[Jerander]

Originally Posted by Jerander

...there are two marriage patterns that spring to mind. The first is as others have suggested: One set of twins must find another set of compatible twins.

The second option it that they do *not* have to find a compatible set of twins...

And what if their marriage patterns are not universal across the entire race, but, like humans, different groups have different marriage patterns? What if one culture was polygamous? Or marrying a sibling were encouraged/discouraged? What if the marriage patterns differed for different social groups within the same culture (nobility marries their twin while peasants aren't allowed to, or some such...)?

[Jerander]

What about the fetal/birthing process for the twin-race?

Humans *tend* to have singles, but sometimes has twins, triples, etc...What about this twin-race? Are they *always* born as twins? Or sometimes do they have singles, triples, quads, etc.? How common are they? How does the race feel about them? What does alternate birth-numbers do to their empathic connection?

Can the twins ever be *co-joined*?