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I have a humanoid species in my story about Life on Kepler Bb so far. It is a morphing humanoid species that I still don't know what to call it. But I am afraid that if I call them people, it will be confused with humans. First a bit of planetary background and distance units: Kepler Bb is an earth-like planet the size of Neptune. It has rings and 4 moons. The moons all have their own trajectories but at the same distance from the planet. This means that they are in different phases at different times. Rarely do 2 of more collide but when this happens the broken rock aggregates to form new moons. Also the different phases at different times means that they could have a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse at the exact same time or multiple lunar eclipses at the same time but again this is rare. The distance units are 4 times as long as our distance units because Neptune is 4 times the size of earth. I call them neptunian feet, neptunian miles, etc. for simplicity. Morphing humanoid species: General species description: A human like creature with superhuman powers. Excellent climbing power is a built in superpower and to the species, isn't a superpower. Others are discovered with age and learning. A baby is gender neutral until 5 years of age(so genetically gender is already determined but gender is still unknown until it is 5 years old). Then external genitalia start to develop as do gender-specific characteristics. So a pregnant woman won't know the gender of her child until she has taken care of it for 5 years. Immortality is a genetic trait and is recessive. So 2 mortal creatures can have an immortal child. Even with immortality, death is guaranteed at some point due to disease or other natural and unnatural causes. Female characteristics: They tend to be shorter although some can grow taller than their male counterparts. They tend to be very smart in child care and housework and don't need to be taught although teaching does help considerably. Pregnancy lasts 9 months for a singleton, 12 months for twins, 15 months for triplets etc. with 3 months in between each birth in a multiple pregnancy. This seems to be so that the body can recover from effects of birth before the next child is given birth to. It also gives the other baby/babies more time to develop. Females can have up to 12 babies in a pregnancy. As a last resort, females that already have babies can grow another set of mammary glands if they have an impatient, hungry child and there aren't any lactating women nearby to feed them. Average height is 5 neptunian feet for females. Male characteristics: They tend to be taller but some are shorter than the females. They tend to be very smart in building and medical care and again, don't need to be taught these things although teaching does help. Average height for males is 6 neptunian feet. Child characteristics: Besides most children being smaller than their parents, when they are babies, they don't cry from hunger. Instead they say that they are hungry. Sometimes they get impatient which is when a lactating woman really comes in handy. So their babies are more fully developed than human babies. Civilization description: Every male humanoid builds a basic shelter for him and his eventual wife. Females are not so lucky. They know how to gather materials but don't know anything about construction. So when there is a storm the unmarried females either have to find a shelter fast or wait it out. After the basic shelter is done the males build more off of it both at ground level and underground like sleeping chambers and children's rooms. Their floors are designated floor 0, floor -1, floor -2 etc. from top to bottom. They can dig through anything from loose sand to frozen permafrost. They keep it waterproof and stable by using positively charged static electricity. They don't get shocked because they have a positively charged layer on the surface of their skin. So I am wondering what I should call this species since different individuals of this species have unique superpowers. Some might be able to fly for instance while others might be able to hibernate like a bear or grow fur in cold climates. Some might even be able to evolve into a reptilian morph and this reptilian morph can have different superpowers depending on the type of reptile. And about the superpowers themselves there are thousands of superpowers. As an example Electromagnetic vision has these superpowers: Radio vision: Ability to see radio waves Microwave vision: Ability to see microwaves IR vision: Ability to see heat Enhanced color vision: Ability to see more colors of visible light UV vision: Ability to see UV light X ray vision: Ability to see through objects Gamma vision: Ability to see gamma rays Color biased vision: Every color is more color x than in someone with normal color vision(basically a form of color blindness where you see every color, its just that there is more color x in what you see) Combinations of these superpowers: Usually has enhanced color vision as 1 of the superpowers but also has the ability to see 1 or more parts of the electromagnetic spectrum other than visible light And this is just a small subset of enhanced vision powers which include things like Enhanced night vision which usually doesn't include IR vision. This is turn is just a small subset of enhanced sensory powers which includes having senses other than the 5 senses. this in turn is a small subset of sense manipulation which includes getting rid of 1 or more senses in oneself or others temporarily or permanently This in turn is a small subset of body manipulation which includes having an extra heart when 1 isn't working. This in turn is a small subset of biological manipulation which is basically the same thing as body manipulation but also applies to plants and animals. This in turn is a small subset of organic manipulation which is where you can manipulate all organic matter, living or dead, gaseous or solid, etc. So how will I know what superpowers to give to a certain character if the thousands of superpowers are like a tree diagram that goes in more than just 1 direction? |