Hey all, TL : DR - how do I describe humans without sounding like an elitist douchebag. ETA: This is what I Have for my glossary: "Children of Nytia who only have hair on the top of their heads and softer features," Spoiler: A bunch of Info no one cares about so. on my world, there are various human-species as I call them, I.E. Humans, lizardfolk, beastfolk, etc. and as I just used it, the term Human is used to encompass all them, so I can't use human to describe those who look like us, and even in our own category of human, there are ape and monkey people as well. I have a word for the humans like us, but for the glossary, I am trying to describe us in a way that doesn't' sound silly or obnoxious (Elitist). ETA: Also, Nytia is an archangel, who according to lore created the "Primate" humans. Thus these people are called Ny'Kin or Children of Nytia. and have sub-categories as mentioned above, with the humans like us called Kromun. So in my glossary, I have: (The glossary has a lot of the lore references) "Children of Nytia who have softer features and just have hair on the top of their heads"
Kind of, only differentiate for them from the others Edit: skin tone and gender don't matter, just a generic description of humans.
An ape-like species very little fur on their bodies and hair on their heads and lower abdomen. Their skin is soft, their hide weak, and they lack the physical attributes that allow other races to survive without help, such as claws, sharp teeth, or hard scales. The males of the species are generally larger and more muscular than the females, usually with much less hair atop their heads. The females are often smaller than the males, and have stores of fat around mammary glands on their chests. The Children of Nytia species displays a strange fascination with clothing, which can also identify the males and females from each other. The females are often seen wearing skirts, while the males usually wear trousers, and it is frowned upon in their societies for the females to have their chests exposed in public.
Cool. A primate species with little fur and soft skin. Though lacking natural defenses, they are highly adaptable to their environments and situations, allowing them to become the dominant "Race" on the planet.
I don't think your description sounded douche-baggy at all! Are you looking for a term that describes all humanoid races including your lizardfolk, etc? You could always adopt the more general term 'hominid' if you need a more general term for the ape-like humans. If you want to JUST describe humans, we have a few features that are uniquely ours. We have large brains, we're capable of abstract thought (imagining the concept of things outside of what we're currently experiencing), we can engage in thinking about the future, we have the most adaptable movement options of any other creature on the planet (we can walk, run, climb, swing, and swim pretty effectively), and we can throw objects better than any other creature. The only animal with better vision than us are birds of prey. Now I assume your other humanoid races have similar abilities since they're humanoid. But maybe your humans can be the best-of-the-best of these things. I feel the most important thing to describe of humanity is that "were highly adaptable, and capable of both immense good and immense evil."
I think the description would depend both on the character doing the describing and to whom. It’s going to be a matter of perspective. Would a house cat describe people in the same way as an alley cat? So the first task, I’d think would be getting into character and establish how that character sees and feels about human beings.
