Human

Human Appearance and Characteristic Behavior

Humans are relatively average in height, ranging around 1 1/3 to 2 meters tall. Their skin color ranges from white to olive to brown. Hair color tends towards brown, black, or blond, with the occasional auburn. Eye coloris most commonly blue, green, or brown, with various shades possible.

Humans in the Dragon Quandrant tend to be adventurous and open minded in their dealings with other races. While magic, psionics, and even faster than light travel are relatively new to the Humans, they have adapted quickly. This adaptation has earned them a reputation of being interstellar jacks of all trades. While this might be considered derogatory by some, most humans take pride in their diversity of abilities.

The first Humans to make their home in the Dragon Quadrant (and most of those who emigrated later) were in search of a new start. They founded their colony with a plan that made use of the hard lessons learned on Earth. While they did not want to live without modern conveniences, they also wanted to take into account the needs of the ecosystem. Fossil fuels were outlawed, only fusion, solar and hydroelectric power were approved. Recycling is a legal requirement. Very little is wasted, so therefore less is needed to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

Events that shaped Human culture

During the later part of the 22nd century, the world was plunged into chaos as the rapidly diminishing oil supply finally reached criticle levels. Though many alternative fuels had been tried, none of them had seen enough popularity to completely wean the world from its dependance on fossil fuels. The most successful was the gas-electric hybrid, and though it significantly reduced consumption, it still required gasoline. Totally electric cars had never developed as a reliable alternative and the promised hydrogen fuel-cell economy failed to appear.

The price of a barrel of oil had been relatively steady for a couple of years thanks to overall demand declining at the same time supply began to wane, when inexplicably it began to climb. Later, it would be theorized that the spectre of the depletion of the oil supply within the current lifetime triggered the sudden change. Then, without warning, war erupted in Asia an the Middle east as desperate nations attempted to seize control of remaining oil resources. The Black Wars, so called because of the root motivation being control of oil resources, soon involved every major nation in the world.

The Black Wars had been going on for about 7 months when SkyWatch scientists made an announcement that stopped the fighting nearly overnight. Skywatch, an organization whose self-appointed task was to monitor asteroids and comets that could possibly intersect with Earth, announced that an asteroid the size of Alaska was on its way towards the planet and there was only about 5 years to figure out a way to stop it.

Though international cooperation was at its greatest level compared to any time in history, the technological hurdles and setbacks resulting from civil unrest used up most of that time. When the mission was finally launched to divert the asteroid, there was little in the way of a backup plan. Life reached a virtual standstill on the planet as the inhabitants waited the 9 months for the mission to meet up with the asteroid and another 9 months to see if the "nudge" they gave it would be enough to save the world from annhilation. Against all odds, the mission was a success and Earth had a new, albeit very small, moon.

This event ignited an expansionist movement amongst the people of Earth and the colonization of the solar system began in earnest. Ironically, the asteroid not only provided the impetus for colonization, but also the means. The asteroid was a generous source of metals and minerals needed to build ships and colonies.

It was only 3 years after the asteroid almost rendered humans extinct when miners discovered that the asteroid was also a source of a mineral, that when combined with a ceramic exhibited superconductivity at 100 C or less. After room temperature superconductors became feasible, advances in physics over the next half-century that allowed the mastery of cold fusion power, anti-matter power, gravity field manipulation, and ultimately the slingshot drive. With faster than light travel available, the galaxy was suddenly open to exploration and there were many people who wanted to explore this new frontier.

Eventually, one of the colony ships discovered an Earth-like planet in what they would later learn was the Dragon Quadrant. The named it Serenity and sent word back to Earth to let them know of their find and how to get there. Once the information on Serenity reached Earth, an almost continuous caravan of migration started. Meanwhile, about half a year later, scout ships tracked an artifical signal to a very large ship orbiting the icy moon of a gas giant in a nearby solar system. It was upon the revival of the first being from stasis that first contact with another intelligent species was made.

The Humans were moved by the plight of the Ceyrideans and allowed them to set up a colony on Serenity. Though there was some initial friction, the two races discovered ways in which they could help each other. When contact was made with other the races that inhabited the Dragon Quadrant the Ceyridean leaders, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, asked the Human leaders to omit the fact that the Ceyrideans were a seperate species. The Ceyrideans adopted the Human word Cyborg and behaved as if the Human leaders were their leaders.

The discovery of six other intelligent species (Ceyridean, Spaetor, Darvot, Altair, Belarth, and Rheleign), and that there was actually such a thing as magic was quite a shock to the Humans. They were still acclimating to all these changes when the Rheleign suddenly decided that they wanted Serenity's for its sources of the superconducting mineral, which were plentiful. Though the Rheleign had a larger population resource, being natives of the Dragon Quadrant, their standing Space Military was not very large. With the migration underway, Humans had an unusually large number of ships available which left them at merely a 3:2 disadvantage.

The fighting was relatively brief, but very intense. Ultimately the Rheleign's advantage with magic was balanced by Human technological ingenuity. When the dust finally settled, the Humans had agreed to give the Rheleign prime trading concessions and the Rheleign had agreed to abolish their practice of magical enslavement. This agreement became the basis for the development of a trade and military alliance between all 7 species dubbed the United Dragon Alliance.

The politics of the Human people

Due to the political situation that surrounded the formation of the United Dragon Alliance (UDA), the government of Serenity is the only Human government recognized as a member of the Alliance. Earth's government is acknowledged, but treated as a foreign power. Trade between Serenity and Earth falls under the jurisdiction of the UDA Administration. Any natural resource exported from Serenity is subject to a quota that allows alliance members first right of purchase.

Serenity's government is a representative democracy with a shot of socialism. Every adult citizen is entitled to a vote and all executive offices are subject to election. Thanks to the design of the original colonization effort, the basic infrastructure was designed to provide the basic necessities of life to all colonists. Basic nutrition, clothing, shelter, and medical services are available at no charge to any citizen. A planetary sales tax on all items considered above the category of 'basic necessities' funds this and all other government activities.

There are only 3 levels of the government: local, regional, and world. The local government is much like any city level administration, handling issues central to people's everyday lives. The regional governments are a cross between a state or province government and a national government, dealing with issues of city and regional interrelations. The world government focuses on global issues and issues affecting interstellar trade and relations.

Though there have been many consolidations of government, such as the European Union, the Allied Soviet Republics, and the African Confederation, much has remained the same as before the Black Wars. The United Nations still exists, though it has gained more power and influence being directly responsible for all interstellar activity. All instances of dictatorships and communism were either defeated or collapsed of their own accord. Democractic systems dominate as the political system of choice; however, there have never been two that were exactly alike in implementation. Though Earth was forced to accept Serenity's independance, at this point it maintains very strong influence over all other Human colonies.