I don’t care about Dungeon Meshi otherwise but “Tallmen” is SUCH an elegant solution to placing humans in a fantasy setting that it’s still blowing my mind. Just the term itself is enough to instantly recontextualize humans. They’re no longer the default race. They’re those big goobers with long legs, striding about all the time. I can so easily envision much more interesting relationships between humans and non-humans because of it. Like perhaps “tallmen” are stereotyped as shepherds by other races because they can watch over their flocks better, or as vagabonds because they are better suited to long travel on foot. And of course, they don’t *literally* have to be taller than everybody else, they were just the tallest around whenever the label became the norm, or something like that. I just feel like it’s so much better than what I’ve seen in settings like D&D that go “and humans are the… adaptable, generalist people :)!”
[Image ID: Tumblr tags reading: #for my own worldbuilding projects I always love associating humans with fire #I kind of hate the generic mcBlandRace thing humans always got going on while elves are nature incarnate and dwarves are stone and metal #I conceptualize it thus. a race’s elemental affinity is tied to the first friend of that race #dwarves mad their homes and hid from predators in stone caverns and mines #elves lived in harmony and attunement with nature and the forests #and were affected by their element dwarves are craggy and tough like stone and age like rocks. #elves age like the trees and take it slow #but like humans? we are the beings of fire. it was not the caves that protected us nor the trees of the forest #fire was our first friend. in the primordial darkness it burned and cast away the shadows and frightened beasts of the night #we use it to cook our every meal and need it in a way that influences every aspect of our culture #as civilization began it was used to forge our tools and weapons. it heated our homes. the energy we take for granted was all fire #even today electricity is still predominantly made by fire #and we are as fire. swift-lived but terrible. a hungering devouring forces which seeks to consume all the resources around it to expand #a human will never have the longevity of an elf or a dwarf. but the flame burns bright #much like the shifting lights and shadows of a bonfire the empires of mankind rise and fall with a terrible dramatic swiftness #compared to the relative placidity of elves and dwarves /end ID]
