I saw an article a while back about the shape of human hearts. People who train for strength or speed or who don't train at all tend to have round hearts, similar to what is seen in other primates like chimps. But endurance athletes have something special: endurance training causes their hearts to grow into an elongated shape. When, say, a runner goes out for a long jog, the elongated shape of their heart causes the heart to bounce back and forth as it beats. The momentum of the twisting allows the heart to move more blood with less muscular effort. In other words, humans have a latent genetic ability (to use momentum of the hearts movements to pump blood more efficiently) that is only expressed in certain environmental conditions.
In a fantasy world, what other abilities like that might humans have? If the interior of the fantasy world is filled with vast networks of tunnels, then maybe humans have evolved ways to survive underground, but these traits only express themselves if you spend a few years down there. Maybe if you go deep enough into the dungeon you'll find colonies of humans with strangely large eyes, better for seeing in the dark. And if you join them, your eyes will gradually get bigger as well.
Anyway, instead of adding yet another fantasy species to your game, just make humans weirder.
No comments:
Post a Comment