I always saw it as other species being a bit frightened about humans and their potential. Just like in D&D - the first take is that the human is the generic baseline and all the other races are cooler because they have different special abilities. Then you realize that being generic means you can go any direction and still have the other abilities, just not top level. Humans are OP because they are so versatile. Add in emotions and irrational behavior, and other species would rather just be on good terms with us, even if they find us distasteful. Don’t poke the humans.
Klingons: You Vulcans are a bunch of stuffy prisses but you’re also tougher, stronger, and smarter than humans in every single way. Why do you let them run your Federation?
VSA: Look. This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they don’t do experiments on one and save the other for if the first one blows up. This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they will ask for a third one, immediately plug all three into each other, punch a hole into an alternate universe where humans subscribe to an even more destructive ideological system, fight everyone in it because they’re offended by that, steal their warp cores, plug those together, punch their way back here, then try to turn a nearby star into a torus because that was what their initial scientific experiment was for and they didn’t want to waste a trip.
VSA: They did that last week, we have the write-up right here. It’s getting published in about six hundred scientific journals across two hundred different disciplines because of how many established theories their ridiculous little experiment has just called into question. Also, they did turn that sun into a torus, and no one actually knows how.
VSA: This is why we let them do whatever the hell they want.
As a result of evolving on one of the most dangerous temperate worlds in the galaxy; with higher than Galactic Standard (9.81 m/s² vs 7.55 m/s²) gravity, poisonous plants and animals, competing with carnivores, infectious microorganisms, natural disasters e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, high background radiation, Humans have developed unique physiology to galactic species at large.
Yeah, D&D humans may not be as fast, strong, or smart as the other races, but they make up for it by being really good at learning things. Depending on edition, that extra feat might be supplemented with extra skill training. If you’re going to multiclass, humans are almost always the race to do it with.
To be fair about that last bit, isnt having engaged in nuclear war at some point relatively common for species in the star trek verse? I seem to recall the Vulcans having done similar?
I don’t know that answer, but I do know that Vulcan prehistory was probably worse than Earth’s. The difference is that Vulcans came to realize how dangerous their emotions were and learned how to suppress them to survive. What may scare them is that humans managed to stay emotional and survive. How? It’s not logical.
I can’t remember who says it, but this comes up in the Syrrannite arc of ENT S4. That Humans reached the stars (warp drive) 100 years after their nuclear wars, when it took Vulcans 1500 years and suppressing their emotions. It was revealed as the main driving force behind the Vulcans saying Humans weren’t ready to visit other worlds.
I always saw it as other species being a bit frightened about humans and their potential. Just like in D&D - the first take is that the human is the generic baseline and all the other races are cooler because they have different special abilities. Then you realize that being generic means you can go any direction and still have the other abilities, just not top level. Humans are OP because they are so versatile. Add in emotions and irrational behavior, and other species would rather just be on good terms with us, even if they find us distasteful. Don’t poke the humans.
“They irradiated their own planet?”
Klingons: okay we don’t get it
Vulcan science academy: what what?
Klingons: You Vulcans are a bunch of stuffy prisses but you’re also tougher, stronger, and smarter than humans in every single way. Why do you let them run your Federation?
VSA: Look. This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they don’t do experiments on one and save the other for if the first one blows up. This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they will ask for a third one, immediately plug all three into each other, punch a hole into an alternate universe where humans subscribe to an even more destructive ideological system, fight everyone in it because they’re offended by that, steal their warp cores, plug those together, punch their way back here, then try to turn a nearby star into a torus because that was what their initial scientific experiment was for and they didn’t want to waste a trip.
VSA: They did that last week, we have the write-up right here. It’s getting published in about six hundred scientific journals across two hundred different disciplines because of how many established theories their ridiculous little experiment has just called into question. Also, they did turn that sun into a torus, and no one actually knows how.
VSA: This is why we let them do whatever the hell they want.
Klingons: Can we be a part of your Federation?
We’re Deathworlders.
First chapter is a banger.
https://deathworlders.com/books/deathworlders/chapter-00-kevin-jenkins-experience/
Lemmy could use something like Reddit’s “Humans Fuck Yeah!”. https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/
Glad you pointed this series out.
!haso@sh.itjust.works
!hfy@lemmy.world
These appear to be dead: !hfy@reddthat.com
!hfy@lemm.ee
I need to get caught up on The Nature of Predators. =D
In D&D, Humans are overpowered because of the free feat at level 1.
Yeah, D&D humans may not be as fast, strong, or smart as the other races, but they make up for it by being really good at learning things. Depending on edition, that extra feat might be supplemented with extra skill training. If you’re going to multiclass, humans are almost always the race to do it with.
Reminds me of Footfall where the humans nuke Kansas because that’s where the aliens setup headquarters.
“They nuked their own breadbasket just to get a handful of us! These humans are crazy!”
Great book. Still love the opening to the one chapter. “God was knocking on the door, and he wanted in real bad.”
To be fair about that last bit, isnt having engaged in nuclear war at some point relatively common for species in the star trek verse? I seem to recall the Vulcans having done similar?
I don’t know that answer, but I do know that Vulcan prehistory was probably worse than Earth’s. The difference is that Vulcans came to realize how dangerous their emotions were and learned how to suppress them to survive. What may scare them is that humans managed to stay emotional and survive. How? It’s not logical.
I can’t remember who says it, but this comes up in the Syrrannite arc of ENT S4. That Humans reached the stars (warp drive) 100 years after their nuclear wars, when it took Vulcans 1500 years and suppressing their emotions. It was revealed as the main driving force behind the Vulcans saying Humans weren’t ready to visit other worlds.