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[ED/SR/EQ] Namegiver and Subspecies taxonomy?

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Dampfish

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« on: <12-08-18/1817:17> »
I posted this on RPG.net as well, but I figured I'll probably get some more educated answers from here, so...
I've been tinkering with a crossover-thing between Earthdawn, Shadowrun and Equinox for a little while now (I'll definitely share it when I feel that I have something more substantial to show) and while I was pondering over some of the fluff descriptions I was writing, I came to realize that it would do wonders for the flavor if I could put at least some scientific-sounding taxonomy of each playable race somewhere.

The Shadowrun books have always been great at this, which is part of why I love 'em, and I know that at least up until 4th Edition they used to have the scientific names for all the metatypes listed at the start of the fluff descriptions for them (I'm not sure about 5th since I don't play that one).
After looking around for a bit, I'm pretty sure that what I'm after is called binomial nomenclature.

Y'know, how regular old human is called homo sapiens sapiens, while elves are called homo sapiens nobilis (although I guess that could/should be called trinomial nomenclature? Don't quote me on that though...) and similar names for all the other metatypes. But I have no clue about where to even begin to put together a plausible sounding Latin name for any the Earthdawn Name-Giver races, or Equinox's subspecies for that matter. I don't speak Latin, for a start.

Can anyone help me out with that?
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Longshot23

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« Reply #1 on: <12-13-18/0815:09> »
 . . . . not entirely sure what you're asking. Latin taxonomic names for the Earthdawn period? Latin didn't exist in the Fourth World, so the names SR has assigned as metahuman designations work as well as anything.

I don't know Equinox well enough to offer any opinion.

Dampfish

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« Reply #2 on: <12-13-18/1734:11> »
Like I said, I'm working on a crossover-thingie (not sure what to call it yet).

And, yes, while the five default races are the same in ED and already have their taxonomic names in SR, the three additional playable races in ED does not. And neither does the additional eight in EQ.

But nevermind, really. I actually got some very good answers from RPG.net, and I've already done the the rest myself.
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mcv

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« Reply #3 on: <12-14-18/0627:03> »
Another interesting question is whether those other namegivers (Obsidiman, Windling and Tskrang) are part of metahumanity or not. We know Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, Trolls and Humans are highly related and basically different expressions of the same species, but can humans also turn into Obsidimen, Windlings and Tskrang? I strongly doubt it. Obsidimen in particular seem like something completely different, being part of a life rock and all that, but I've also come across a hint that someone in the Shadowrun universe (a CEO I believe) goblinised into an Obsidiman.

Speaking of the others being expressions of the same species, that would actually mean that trinomial nomenclature would be incorrect. Why do I call them expressions of the same species? From what I understand, metahumans are almost completely interfertile with each other, but you never get a half-orc, half-elf or half-troll. You're it or you're not. It's more like eye colour that's either blue or brown, and two people with brown eyes can have blue-eyes kids. Except that growing into a troll is vastly more complicated than the pigmentation of your eyes, but I don't think you can technically consider them a separate species or even sub-species. It really comes across as if the difference is merely the expression of one or two genes. And magic, of course.

Dampfish

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« Reply #4 on: <12-15-18/0121:46> »
Well, metahumans are not infertile with each other. True, there are no half-breeds, but there's about a 50/50 percent chance that the child will express as the metatype of either of the two parents, depending on the metatype in question. Children born from ork mothers have about a 95% chance to express as orks for instance (at least according to the Twentieth Anniversary corebook).

As for the other Name-Givers, I would personally classify them as non-metahuman sapients (and have done so in the thing I'm writing). I gave them taxonomic names not related to Homo sapiens at all, but rather tried to come up with other interesting ones. With some help, of course.
The names I gave them aren't purporting to be any kind of official; it's just what I'm gonna call them to give the text some more flavor.
Obsidimen, Galateoidae sapiens. T'skrang, Saurosapiens pteropsidae. Windlings, Nymphidae silvestris. I was considering calling them Nymphidae divorum, but decided that would be more appropriate for pixies, which (surprisingly) don't already have a taxonomy (according to Running Wild).
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Reaver

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« Reply #5 on: <12-19-18/2246:05> »
I was considering calling them Nymphidae divorum, but decided that would be more appropriate for pixies, which (surprisingly) don't already have a taxonomy (according to Running Wild).

That would be because Pixie bodies have this nasty habit of vanishing, making any sort of in depth anatomical study high unethical... So all you are left with are surface observations...

So they generally get thrown in under the "Other" category of species :D

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