HUMAN
“You humans are always so curious. Always sticking your fingers into someone else’s pie. Is that the correct expression?”– Executor Pallin
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5´ 6˝–6´ 2˝
Average Weight: 133–220 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 to one ability score of your choice
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Basic, One choice of your own
Bonus Feat: You gain a bonus feat at 1st level. You must meet the feat’s prerequisites.
Bonus Skill: You gain training in one additional skill from your class list.
Human Defense Bonus: You gain a +1 racial bonus to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.
Bonus At-Will Power: You know one extra 1st level at-will power from your class.
Human Resilience: You can use Human Resilience as a daily power.
Human Resilience Human Racial Power
Your grim focus and unbridled energy means that failure is not an option.
Daily
No Action Personal
Trigger: You miss with an attack or fail a saving throw
Effect: You gain a +4 racial bonus to the attack roll or saving throw
Humans, from the planet Earth, are the newest sentient species of notable size to enter the galactic stage and are hands-down the most rapidly expanding and developing. They independently discovered a Prothean data cache on Mars in 2148, and the mass relay networks shortly thereafter.
Play a human if you want . . .
• To be a decisive, resourceful hero with enough determination to face any challenge.
• To have the most versatility and flexibility of any race.
• To be able to excel at any class you choose.
Overview
In 2148, human explorers on Mars uncovered a long-ruined Prothean observation post, with a surviving data cache that proved Protheans had studied Cro-Magnon humans millennia ago. While religions tried to assimilate this discovery into their doctrine, a global rush began to decipher the petabytes of data from the outpost. Discovering information on a mass relay orbiting Pluto, explorers managed to open the Charon Relay and discovered it led to Arcturus. With the help of the fledgling Systems Alliance, humans expanded to other systems, opening any mass relays they could find.
Humans first came to the attention of the galactic community after a brief but intense conflict with the turians, known by humans as the First Contact War, begun in 2157. The conflict began when the turians attacked a human fleet attempting to activate a dormant mass relay (illegal under Council law) and then occupied the human colony of Shanxi.
Led by Admiral Kastanie Drescher, the Second Fleet then launched a massive counter-attack, which caught the turians by surprise and expelled them from Shanxi. The conflict caught the attention of the Citadel Council, which wasted no time brokering a peace, thus introducing humans to the galactic community. As a consequence of the Alliance's swift and decisive action during the First Contact War, the Alliance became the representative and supranational governing body of humanity. Since then, humans have rapidly risen in prominence.
In 2165, humanity was granted an embassy on the Citadel in recognition of their growing power and influence in the galactic community. The timing of this achievement, less than a decade after first contact, caused some friction with other Citadel races who had waited decades for such recognition.
Humanity continued to expand to unclaimed star systems on the edge of Citadel space, which eventually led to competition with the batarians. When the batarians tried and failed to convince the Council to declare the Skyllian Verge "a zone of batarian interest", they closed their embassy and withdrew from Citadel space. Viewing humans as the cause of their fall from grace, batarians frequently came into conflict with human colonies, especially batarian slavers. Tensions between humans and batarians persist for decades.
Humans were caught off-guard by the geth attack on Eden Prime, humanity's most prosperous colony, in 2183. Systems Alliance forces and the legendary Commander Shepard were involved in several operations against geth incursions into Alliance territory. The conflict between the Systems Alliance and geth later became known as the Eden Prime War, and culminated in the Battle of the Citadel, where a massive invasion fleet led by the flagship Sovereign tore through Citadel defenses. With the timely aid of the Alliance's Fifth Fleet, the geth were defeated. Thanks to their efforts in the Battle of the Citadel, humanity rises to a new level of prominence in the galaxy.
Physical Qualities
Humans have a fairly robust physiology. Their internal makeup and reproductive processes are typical of most bipedal mammals, and their size and proportions give the appearance of being strong, fast and agile. In comparison to the Council races, humans are roughly physically on par with turians (as very fit humans can punch them over and even throw them off the ground unassisted), and less agile than asari (whom they closely resemble), though fit human males are likely to be far stronger than the average asari. Humans would appear on average to be stronger than salarians but not as fast, due to the extremely elevated metabolisms of the latter. Like most organic races, humans are also capable of producing biotic individuals but there is a high risk of medical complications.
Humans can live to about 150 years, and recent medical advances have eradicated almost all known diseases that afflict them. However, as humans only emerged on the galactic stage within the last thirty years, it is highly likely that the introduction of new technology into their society will greatly increase their average lifespan. Humans reach physical maturity at approximately eighteen years of age, at which point they have usually finished their academic education and either directly enter the workforce or begin training for a profession.
It has been noted that humans are unusual in the galactic community because they have far greater genetic diversity compared to other species with more peaks and valleys. This makes human genetic material useful in biological experiments, as a control group.
Playing a Human
Humans are generally seen to be very intelligent, abnormally ambitious, highly adaptable, individualistic and thus, unpredictable. They have a powerful desire to advance and improve themselves, and do so with such assertion that the normally staid Council races have been taken aback by their restlessness and relentless curiosity. Their economy, while much smaller than any of the Council races, is very powerful relative to their size, and their military prowess is amongst the greatest in the galaxy, despite the fact that only 3% of humans volunteer for
the Alliance military, a far smaller proportion than other races. Their ability to defeat the turians in the First Contact War demonstrated graphically the potential of human military strength and is therefore a subject of concern for many races, who fear the consequences of another human-turian conflict.
The Systems Alliance, which represents a majority of humans, has had an embassy on the Citadel since 2165. While the humans lack a seat on the Citadel Council, some other species dislike their sudden ascendancy compared to their status as relative newcomers on the galactic stage. Some species feel that humanity is overly expansive in its colonization efforts and aggressive attempts to get a seat on the Council. It took other species
centuries to achieve what humanity has done in decades.
Humans have also been doing what the Council could not: colonize planets in the Attican Traverse, the Skyllian Verge and along the borders of the Terminus Systems, all volatile regions where the Council has little authority. Human forces came into minor conflicts with the batarians over the Verge, which the batarians had been attempting to colonize themselves. When the batarians asked the Council to declare the Verge a "zone of batarian interest", they were refused; in response, the batarians became a rogue state, blaming humans for depriving them of valuable resources, and human-batarian relations have been hostile ever since.
Unlike many species in Citadel space, humans have no close allies among the other races, though they are trade partners with the turians and asari. Without alliances or key political positions, humans have had to follow the edicts of the Council without having much influence on their decisions. Human ambassadors have been pushing to induct a human into the Spectres, the Council's elite operatives, as the first step to getting a seat. Once humanity does get a seat, they will be able to influence the Council's rulings, protect their own interests and have a say in the governing of Citadel space.
Human Adventurers
Two sample human adventurers are described below.