Fiction:Humanity/Races

"Hairless monkeys as far as eye can see."

Perhaps more so than any other species in the Gigaquadrant - though the, the s and the seem to come close - the homo sapiens genome is malleable and prone to constant change. Though the mainstream human genotype is not incredibly diverse, being fairly homogenous compared to other species of Earth, the many alien interventions in their homeworld's history mean that this basic genome was often tampered with and brought to other worlds, thus creating considerable diversity. All over the known universe, humans or human-like races are found, remnants of these ancients tampering with the apes of Earth - some more distanced from baseline mankind, others nearly identical, but all sharing the same ancestry and the same original homeworld. The development of spaceflight by modern humans further exacerbated this heterogeneity, as Earthlings began toying with their genes themselves, creating even more human strains, while encountering and, on occasion, having intercourse (thus making more hybrids) with their lost brothers.

The non-Terran human subspecies are known collectively as near-humans, and are further separated into different categories based on their origins. Though the many branches of humanity do not always live in peace, with racism being common and tensions between the Earthling majority and the near-human minority being one of the Orion Spur's main issues, many humans, especially in the, believe that all human subspecies, no matter how they came into being, are still intrinsically brethren, and should band together for the common good.