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Race
Warning!
This article contains major spoilers for the plot of Arknights.
The world of Arknights is populated by various races.
Overview[edit]
Terrans resemble the Homo sapiens of Earth, but that's where the similarities end as nearly all of them possesses the physical traits of various animals, legendary creatures, and mythological beings in Earth and could be humanoid or bestial.
- Humanoid Terrans appear similarly to Earthlings, albeit with bestial ears and a non-prehensile tail (although some Terrans do not have either of them), as well as additional features based on their race (e.g. horns, feathers).
- Some humanoid Terrans have short, rounded ears or long, pointed ears in place of bestial ears.
- Some humanoid Terrans actually have two pairs of ears; a bestial pair and a rounded pair identical to that of Homo sapiens'. Interestingly, all four ears are functional,[1] but how this affects hearing is unexplained.
- Bestial Terrans appear exactly like the animal/creature they are based on, albeit being bipedal.
Whether a Terran is humanoid or bestial does not correspond to their lineage, as attested to by the bestial Rat King having a humanoid daughter (Lin).
Terran races reproduce like that of Homo sapiens by giving birth to the young (viviparity), even if they are based on animals that lay eggs (oviparity).
Interracial relationship is common in Terra; if a couple is of similar race (e.g. both being Forte), their offspring will inherit similar traits, but if the couple is of different races (e.g. a Savra with a Forte), their offspring will always inherit the traits of either parent, usually the father, except in certain cases such as the child of a Sankta and Sarkaz parent who has the traits of both races. Since the Aslanian Conquest, race mixing has been evolved to a political concept where they seek to keep their bloodline's purity, especially among the ruling class.[2]
The average lifespan of a Terran (excluding the immortal Ageless, Teekaz races whose lifespan is longer than other Terrans, and individuals who extended their lifespan through various means) varies by race with an average of 150 Terran years assuming the individual is free of Oripathy throughout their life. Padishah Ibn Erhan of Sargon, a Savra who lived for 230 years—way past the average lifespan of his race—is the oldest Terran on record.[3]
The Terrans are generally referred to as human and its derivatives, though sometimes they are referred to with specific titles.[4][5]
Groups[edit]
Natives[edit]
Terra has been inhabited by several sapient races long before the advent of the Ancients and Elders.[6][7]
| Elf • Feranmut |
Teekaz[edit]
Throughout millennia, the Teekaz have been Terra's most dominant race of the Terran planet where they call it their homeland.[6] But since the arrival of the Ancients and the Elders during the Ancient Wars in 9,000 BCE, their domination came to an end as they became scattered across Terra and their lands being taken over by the invaders, turning them into a diasporic race without a permanent settlement.[8] To make matters worse, the Teekaz are not fully united as internal strife has caused an ultimate split of the race.
Currently, only the Sarkaz continue to carry on the Teekaz's sorrowful legacy; such name was originally a derogatory collective term that refered to any non-Ancient and non-Elder races but was used to justify their vengeance as a rally cry.[9] They deem rebuilding Kazdel — the "Promised Land" of the Teekaz — is the only way to "return to their roots." Whereas the Sankta, Anasa, Durins, and Oni, who originated from the Teekaz, have chosen different routes to rebuild their homeland.
| Anasa • Durin • Oni • Sankta • Sarkaz |
Terrans[edit]
The "Terrans" that most people understand refer to non-Teekaz humanoids known as Ancients and Elders with the additional properties of various animals who make up of the majority of the population. According to Sarkaz tradition, the Terrans are "aliens" arriving upon Terra during the Ancient Wars between around 9,000 and 8,000 BCE when the Elder "Hegemons" brought along their slaves to annihilate the Teekaz civilizations, forcing the Farchaser, the first King of Sarkaz, to summon the Amnannam, the first Catastrophe in Terran history.[8] Since the collapse of the Teekaz, these aliens quickly populated to form the civilizations that led to the modern world.
Trevor Friston the Preserver refers to the Terrans as "humanoid creatures/animals";[10] in fact, they are originally creatures from Talos-II that were accidentally introduced upon Terra by the Predecessors along with the first Originium.[11] Over the course of time, said creatures gradually evolved to become more and more humanoid because of their assimilation with Originium that transformed them into the Predecessors' image.
Ancients[edit]
The Ancients is an umbrella term for a large group of Terran races that make up the bulk of Terra's civilization. They are physically weaker than the Elders, i.e., having lower lifespan and average body strength, but they have very high fertility that can quickly increase their population within a short span of time.[8] In modern days, the middle and lower classes are mainly composed of the Ancients; only a few of them have managed to become royalties and the bourgeoisie who prove themselves on par with the Elders' supernatural power.
| Aegir • Anaty • Anura • Archosauria • Aslan • Caprinae • Cautus • Cerato • Elafia • Feline • Forte • Itra • Kuranta • Liberi • Lupo • Manticore • Perro • Petram • Phidia • Pilosa • Reproba • Savra • Ursus • Vouivre • Vulpo • Zalak |
Elders[edit]
The Elders are an umbrella term for a small group of Terran races who were formerly the royalties and bourgeoisie class of Terran nations, but today are equal to, if not in a higher status than the Ancients. Unlike Ancients, many Elders possess traits of mythological animals in Earth's mythologies. Most Elders are racially distinct from the Ancients, but some are the subrace of (or more appropriately, related to) certain Ancient races.
The Elders possess superior abilities lost to time such as elongated lifespan that could surpass many Ancients and unimaginable Arts that are exaggerated in many legends (e.g. weather control and spiritual communication). In Sarkaz religious narratives, these early Elder leasers "descended" upon Terra, titled the "Hegemons," manifested even more exaggerated powers that were described as one that could "steal the sunlight."[8] But since the Amnannam and the collapse of the first Kazdel era, the supernatural power of the Elders have gradually lost due to the influence of Originium, making them completely weaker than their ancestors.[12][13] Nevertheless, many Elders continue to see themselves as "pure-blooded" through their surviving traits, hence distinguishing themselves from the rest politically.
Since their "descent" upon Terra, the Elders had been holding on the philosophy of the "divine right of kings" due to their unique traits. They had enslaved the majority of the Ancients by using them as their pawns against the Sarkaz.[8] Entering the feudal era, they implemented rigid, racist, and unfair inegalitarian policies that worsened their oppression. However, their dominance came to an end by the hands of another Elder race, the Nightzmoras, during their worldwide conquests. From Terran year 31 onwards when the Ursi toppled the Hippogryphs, many Elders forever lost such "divine rights," and those surviving Elders have either chosen to integrate into the Ancients' society or used meritocratic capabilities to climb back to the top of the social hierarchy once again.[14]
| Cerberus • Draco • Hippogryph • K'uk'ulkan • Kylin • Lung • Nightzmora • Nine-Tailed Vulpo • Pegasus • Unicorn |
While classified as Reprobas, members of the Tulla family from Long Spring, Sargon, which includes Picale and Drudge Tulla, are Elders.
Aliens[edit]
These "aliens" refer to those who are neither the Teekaz race nor the Ancients and Elders whose origin could be traced back outside the Terran planet.
| "Predecessor" • Earthling • Observer • Other aliens |
Other races[edit]
| Ageless • Beast Lord • Chimera • Collapsal • Seaborn |
Unidentified[edit]
The following Terrans are not (yet) classified into any known race, whether due to a lack of information, their traits making their exact race difficult to identify, or because they are an organization of various races.
| Operator |     |
|---|---|
| NPC |        |
Trivia[edit]
- With the introduction of Honeyberry as the first Ancient based on marsupials, monotremes became the only vertebrates that are not yet represented by the Ancients.
- During an interview, Hypergryph confirmed that Homo sapiens did not exist in Terra.[15]
- Hai Mao confirmed that each race have their own lifespans with a completely different process of maturity than the humans of Earth, which is the reason why characters' ages are not stated in-game.[1] However some characters like Coldshot and Ho'olheyak have their age indirectly addressed.
- For unknown reasons, the official English localizations of certain story texts omit any references to the Elders:
- The original Chinese text of Suzuran's Archive File 3 refers to her as "the daughter of an Elder," which was changed to "inherited the sacred bloodline" in the localization.
- The original Chinese text of Tola's statement in Near Light's third Epilogue states "...pedantic Elders...", which was changed to "...pedantic wisemen..." in the localization.
References[edit]
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