I have an idea for a setting in which I insert two races that I've created into our world, and I'm interested in suggestions that people who might have done the same thing or something similar might have. In this setting, these races are not aliens. They're native to earth. They're intelligent races, and while not as common as humans are still very widespread. I'll share some of the key points about them and then see what you guys might have to say about the setup. The first race is known as the Demaryn race. They have reptile-like scaled skin which can be just about any color that you might find on a snake, though they're warm-blooded. They're somewhat bigger than humans, and physically stronger and tougher. They have fangs, claws, horns, and barbed tails. They're sometimes pejoratively referred to as lizards, dragons, or demons by humans, which greatly offends them. Though there are plenty of individuals among the two races that get along just fine, overall, the relationship between the two races is something akin to an uneasy truce. The only reason there's no threat of war breaking out between the races is that both know that it would be very costly, similar to the Cold War concept of mutually assured destruction. Demaryns strongly prefer peace, but they firmly believe that the best way to ensure it is through strength. The other race is the Thargozine race. They stand about three feet tall, have blue or green skin, and are amphibious. They aren't dependent on water, so they could theoretically be found living anywhere, but they much prefer to live in or near water, be it fresh or salt. They have webbed hands and feet, can breathe through both lungs and gills, and have fins on their arms and legs. This race is very primitive. When I say that, I'm going for the primitive image of the uncontacted tribes of the Amazon. They have nothing that we would recognize as technology, but are very much attuned to nature and have no problem living off the land/sea. They have contact with the other races, but they prefer to preserve their own way of life, so they don't mix societally. They're wary of both humans and Demaryns, but as the Demaryns take it upon themselves to play something of a role of protectors of the Thargozines, the Thargozines are more comfortable with them. I have more than that, both in description of the races and their place in the world, but I think that's a good starting place. I really wanted to post this to see if anyone sees any problems/potential that I haven't seen that I can deal with or build into it. Thanks!
What's their role in your story? I'm kind of dubious about the statement: questions I have: 1. you say the lizard people like peace, which is contrary to the idea of wanting mutually assured destruction. This implies the humans are the primary aggressors? 2. if cost is therefore the only motivating factor in preventing humans from genociding them, the lizard people must have done some pretty horrible stuff. I have a low opinion humans, but as far as I know their main motivations for war tend to be land and resources - so that implies the two are competing on earth. Do they co-exist peaceably side by side or are they constantly skirmishing? Uneasy truces usually mean a lot of espionage, assassinations, pogroms, distrust. Look at the long, bloody, and ongoing history of the Balkans for a typical example of what happens when you mix people from lots of different cultures and identities - now imagine if they're not even mixing with other humans. Folklore is always full of civilisation competing with 'monsters' like goblins, ogres, gremlins, etc - would lizard people be seen any different? 3. Is this an alternate reality where the scalies have always lived on earth and grew up with humans, or did they climb out of the swamps on day? The former scenario might allow you to apply some of what we assume about early humans. For instance, the disappearance of neanderthal man around 45,000 years ago which coincided with the development of cro-magnon. It's led to some theories that early modern humans competed with a displaced neanderthals by and large, there's evidence that neanderthal genes were interspersed with homo sapiens (and this has given rise to some pretty fascinating studies and research into gene variance and expression).
That's why I wanted to sound this out here. I had a feeling there would be some stuff that I haven't completely thought out coming. This is what I come up with as I try to think that stuff out better. Today, peace is the desire of both races, but there's a lot of remaining distrust from a long history of antagonism between the two races that only ended in the last few hundred years. The more I think about it, I think I tend to agree that while the Cold War analogy applies in general, the MAD part is probably a bit much. I still think there would be some fighting if the races weren't afraid of the cost, but not at nearly as big of a scale. Overall, though, outside of specific individuals, they still don't like each other, and try not to deal too closely with each other, save in a few areas that each feels like they have to gain from the other. While the Thargozines are more off to themselves, humans and Demaryns are, whether they like it or not, still tied in with one another. They both need or want things from the other, and there are some economic ties. If there's an "aggressor" in the modern times, it would be humans. If push were ever to come to shove, humans are the dominant race, simply because of their sheer numbers. There's no way humans are interested in losing that status, so they try to make sure to keep the Demaryns down to a degree. I have long had the idea that the Demaryns were once very militaristic and that their current more peaceful stance was one that evolved over time out of necessity. They were more than capable of inflicting serious damage to humans, but over time, they learned that, not only could they not win in the long term, but continually trying was depleting them. They slowly shifted to more of a defensive stance, at different times in different parts of the world, since there wasn't any kind of worldwide communication back then, but eventually, that mentality set in everywhere. Over time, they became much more comfortable in that role, and now, they much prefer to live in peace than to fight. Still, they have a very strong military tradition, and if a male Demaryn can't serve militarily, there's a degree of shame in that. Interestingly enough, there are times that humans readily embrace the military skill of the Demaryns. If one nation invades another, the humans in the invaded nation are more than happy to have the Demaryns in the fight since they have a common goal and since the Demaryns are so good at what they do. But, even with a few hundred years of peace, the tension has refused to die. That part feels very logical to me. If humans tend to hold grudges with each other for long periods of time over something like skin color when they're still all human, I feel that it would be much stronger between two truly separate races. I haven't worked out origins yet, since so far, none of the ideas I've had have required that yet. What I do know is that for as long as the three races have recorded or transmitted history, they've always lived around each other. I do know that there is no possibility of any interspersing of genes because none of these races can reproduce with each other.
A few authors have inserted dragons into real world settings. The most famous is probably Naomi Novak's Temeraire books. There's another, Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn and its sequel (which I have yet to read, but fully intend to) which puts dragons into a more modern-day setting.
