The first sentient genus on the planet, and the cause of the apocalypse.
Undisputed masters of the world before the apocalypse, and the perpetrators of that same apocalypse. Tenacious, prolific, and highly adaptable, humanity continues to hold its place as the dominant species of the post-poc, constantly struggling against new and hostile sentient creatures, rampant monsters, and the harshness of the very world they created.
The vast majority of settlements in the Far Wastes and the surrounding lands are human settlements, often protected by the dedicated people of the Avantgarde-Miliz. Consummate survivors, even in the face of oblivion, humans don’t always get along with other sentient species. Many see them as the cause of the world’s woes and, frankly, it’s difficult to disagree with that. But no one can understand the lost world like the descendants of, and sometimes the very same, people who lived there.
+1 to any three different stats.
The organisation known as the Avantgarde-Miliz in their original language, or the Vanguard Militia in the wider UE, consider it their primary purpose to protect humans and humanity.
As a human, the Vanguards will assume you are an ally of theirs and that they are an ally of yours; they will try to protect you, and render you any assistance that they feel is necessary. Unless, of course, you have shown yourself to be an enemy of the Vanguards or an ally of their enemies. Most Vanguards do not take kindly to humans who align themselves with ‘abominations’ like Thalborn, Viechkind, or Gamvorites.
Perhaps the most ‘vanilla’ option for a player, they are something of a jack-of-all-trades genus. They did, after all, invent all those trades. Having no set starting stats, and a leaning towards skill variety, a human is a very handy ally to have on a campaign.
The apocalypse didn’t come as a complete surprise. While it’s impossible to say exactly how many people knew it would happen when it did, virtually every community on the planet ran nuclear drills at least every few months. That level of preparedness, while never enough, certainly allowed numerous people to seek shelter when the time came. Some of those unlucky survivors proceeded to find a way to make it to the modern day.
By far the most common method of reaching the post-poc is cryogenic stasis; flash-freezing technology had been around a while by the time the end came. The only limiters stopping any random person waiting out the centuries in oblivious ice were access to a cryo-booth capable of life support, and a power supply good enough to last the years.
That isn’t to say that only cryo-frozen people could last that long. Any method you can think of, from perfect cloning to isolated underground bunker societies, can conceivably result in a human who didn’t grow up knowing the harshness of the Far Wastes.
Born in a relatively safer, happier place or time, life in the apocalypse is quite a change from whatever your life was like before. But on the plus side, you have better knowledge than most people of things from the old world.
You have The Glow on all Pre-Poc skill checks.
At Lv6 you gain Interest in a new skill, and two free points in that skill, as you adapt to life post-poc.
In a way, the pre-poc human is the most challenging species for a player; they’re not exactly apocalypse-ready, with the majority of their knowledgebase being things that no longer exist. That said, there are countless undisturbed bunkers, labs, machines, and mysteries scattered across the world, just waiting for someone with the forgotten understanding to use them.
To grow up and live in a world that limps on after its own fiery demise, that is the badge of honour that all post-poc humans wear. While some settlements offer relative safety for their inhabitants, allowing children to play in peace, the vast majority are troubled places beset by monsters, resource shortages, and anarchic unrest. Post-poc children tend to grow up quickly.
Despite all the threats and dangers, humans remain prevalent. With settlements spanning almost every landmass on the planet, and even some situated in the hazardous Far Wastes themselves, post-poc humans come in an uncountable variety of colours, creeds, and personalities. Not all of them are nice, but some of them are:
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about humanity is their ability to adapt to situations and environments. This became even more important after the apocalypse, when a large variety of skills were suddenly essential for day-to-day survival.
When you level up, you can choose to lose a skill point in a skill with Interest to gain one in a different skill with Interest.
While they don’t get a substantial starting boost in any stat, post-poc humans have a versatility of skills that no other species can match. Given time and levels, they can retrain themselves to have impressive knowledge of essentially whatever appeals to them.