Hapans and Kiffar

Why are they considered near-humans? Physically, genetically, how are they different from baseline humans?

SOME Kiffar have psychometry: this is not a physical trait, and not proven to be genetic, and their are inherited Force things (the Skywalker and Halcyon bloodlines) which don't make those families near-human. Kiffar have tatoos? Big deal.

Hapans are goodlooking and tall. So what? Is that beyond the possibility of baseline humans. The weak eyesight thing--is that an inherited thing they are born with, or simply something that develops as they grow due to all the light?

Are Hapans and Kiffar really any more alien than Lorrdians?

 

Nope. They are basically human.

 

I think in the SWGal all humans evolved on Coruscant, If human evolved separately elsewhere, that could account for the differences.

Alternatively it could be that genetics have shifted over time due to only certain bloodline being availible?

 

Actually, Coruscant was originally home to the Taungs, the forerunners of the earlier Mandalorians.

No one really knows where humans originated.

 

Okay, but isn't Coruscant the widely held belief?

 

Wasnt´t Notron the human home world in old comics?

 

Well, I looked in the Essential Guide to Planets and Moons. It list sthe near-human Etti as Etti, but the Hapans simply as humans. I guess the RPG considers Hapans and Kiffar near-humans for the same reason is does Lorrdians and Zelosians: their RPG stats differ a bit. That's IT. In terms of the REAL given definition, none of those four groups are near-humans: Hapans, Kiffar, and Lorrdians are baseline humans (Zelosians are just plants).

Notron was the human homeworld ACCORDING TO the pre-Republic human civilization of Seoul 5 in the comic "Seoul Searching." But Notron was nothing more than a name in their legends, no clue to its location, so who knows what modern planet it would be.

Coruscant definitely was NOT the human homeworld. Nor the Taung homeworld, in fact. It was the Zhell homeworld. The Taungs conquered it and the Zhell were wiped out (the Taungs may have been from Roon). We don't know why the Taungs left Coruscant, but they apparently moved on to Mandalore. And we dont know how the humans ended up on Coruscant, but they independnetly ended up on many far-fetched worlds, such as in the Tion Cluser.

 

Interesting, "Taung" is spoken in Mando'a evidently as meaning "great and honored ancestor" or something of the sort.

 

Hapans are a little too good looking than the standard baseline human. Meaning that they are able to use their looks to stand a better chance of persuading the opposite sex of non-Hapans to do as they wish of them, or to con them, or even bargain with them so that they get the better end of the deal. Think of them as a race of super models where most are even beyond regular super models. They also possess poorer night vision than most other humans.

 

Well, you learn something new everyday, can anyone tell me where the coruscant theory of human beginning comes from, I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere?

 

Okay, but isn't Coruscant the widely held belief?

widely held by whom? that's the predominant belief in the Core, but people in the Tion think of themselves as the first. most people outside the Core and the Tion don't really care one way or another.

the real deal seems to be that the humans were found somewhere in the galaxy by the Ratakan, and brought all over the galaxy as slaves, but then when the Infinite Empire collapsed, the different pockets of humans fell into ignorance and isolation for a few thousand years, until different post-Ratakan hyperspace-capable societies started emerging and running into each other. many human enclaves at that time probably thought of themselves as the original homeworld of their people, but that's only because they had lost their own history.

of course, since no one remembers the Ratakan at all, this information doesn't come up much.

SOME Kiffar have psychometry:

most Kiffar have psychometry to some degree or other.

this is not a physical trait, and not proven to be genetic,

it is proven to be genetic. in all the galaxy, only Kiffar have psychometry, and almost all Kiffar have it, though it's pretty weak in most, and it's specifically attributed to some quirk of Kiffar genetics.

and their are inherited Force things (the Skywalker and Halcyon bloodlines) which don't make those families near-human.

because they're only specific families. if all the Halcyons went and lived on a planet together, and over time slowly added to the gene pool in such a way that the Halcyon genes were dominant in everyone who lived on that planet, they would eventually be considered near-human.

the line between near-human and human isn't really a big deal, and it's awfully subjective. they aren't really separate species, but rather subspecies of the broader human genepool. some near-humans are a little more radical, like the Mirialans with their green skin and (probably the most radically diverged near-humans of all) the Miraluka, with the no-eyes and the Force sensitivity. but even they aren't that far out. humans are capable of being Force-sensitive, and they're capable of being born without eyes in the case of genetic defects. if you put these mutations together and breed them for a while, you start to get different enough that you might want to call them near-humans.

but, again, in-universe, no one really cares that much about the difference between humans and near-humans, except during the Imperial period when human "purity" was such a crazy ideological priority. people routinely refer to Mirialans as humans, even though they're green, even though other people consider them near-humans, and even though they're really no more different from baseline humans than, say, the Chiss, who everyone considers near-human. it seems to be the case that there are any number of people who would consider group X human and any number who consider the same group X near-human, and no one really makes a big deal about it. it seems to be as much an issue of opinion and cultural difference as anything else.

 

And are more susceptible to bright lights, yes?

 

I looked up the Quinlan article on Wizards. I had forgotten this about their stats. It says they trust in their instinct and have +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom. That probably supports the point made above about ALL Kiffar hjaving some psychometric ability, even if not all of them have the actual Force Feat Psychometry. And I have read some passages in Republic comics that support the pan-species possession of the psychometry as well, go I guess it is a genetic divergence from the human norm. Also, +2 Constitution suggests some sort of physical adaptation, although I'm not sure what.

Personally, I think Isolder looks uglier than I am in his NEGTC pic, and I'm a squidhead.


So, since I had luck with that, I looked up Planet of the Amazons, which in part one refers to Hapans' "genetic night blindness."

So I guess my questions are answered

However, we know Korunnai have a genetic ability too:
"The thakiz baw'kal -- literally, "Downstorm" -- that annually blows the upper layers of the cloudsea into the lowlands around Korunnal has led the Korunnai to evolve a high tolerance to poisons in the atmosphere. They receive a +4 species bonus to any Fortitude save made to resist gaseous toxins."
So Korunnai should be considered near-humans. WOTC even calls them a human subspecies.

What annoys me is the inconsistency. EPIG calls ADi Gallia and Depa Billaba near-humans, but later sources say Adi is the daughter of two Corellians (undisputably baseline) and RCR specifically says Chalactans are NOT near-humans, but baseline, as opposed to Hapans (whom it says are near-human). IT uses them as an EXAMPLE! And then both WEG and WOTC continue to call Lorrdians near-humans even though EGA specifically says they are NOT (sign language in environmental, not genetic). And of course WOTC called Zelosians near-humans, and they were PLANTS! As for Mirialans, Ep2 VD claimed their hoods protected extrasensory organs, but on the cover of MedStar Barriss has her hood down and there is just normal human hair, and POTSB doesn't mention any extrasensory organs nor give stats for such (or even explain why they are considered near-human, although it does say that they are). NEGTC calls Thranw Chiss and calls Isolder Human; EGPM calls the people of Etti IV Etti but the people of Hapes Hapans.

Aiee!! Inconsistency!

Well, I will put Kiffar and Hapan back on the species list, but also the Korunnai from now on

 

I don't think their more suceptable to bright lights. It is because of bright lights that Hapans have poorer night vision..

 

What annoys me is the inconsistency. EPIG calls ADi Gallia and Depa Billaba near-humans, but later sources say Adi is the daughter of two Corellians (undisputably baseline) and RCR specifically says Chalactans are NOT near-humans, but baseline, as opposed to Hapans (whom it says are near-human).

Adi's black and she has bright blue eyes. That really doesn't seem baseline Human to me, and it certainly doesn't sound Corellian. Depa looks vaguely Israeli, but since Quinlan appears to be the GFFA equivalent of Latino, I guess the People Who Make Books have a tendency to make minorities "near-Human"...not sure how politically correct that is, which might explain the sudden apparent attempt to quietly change it back (and resulting minor canon-trampling without retcons).

 

First off, Mandalorains are human.

Second, many people say the Zhell and Taungs were the races from Couriscant and so Couriscant is not the human homeworld. But they are not called races, they are called armies. they couuld both be human factions. Nothing is known.

 

Actually, it's the Battalions of Zhell rather than just the Zhell, though after being called by the army's full name the EC does shorten it to the Zhell. But the full name suggests that either they were followers of a person called Zhell or that the army came from the Zhell people. This itself could suggest one of two things, the Zhell people were the people of the Zhell nation and could thus still be human or that they were from some ancient race called the Zhell.

 

Wasn't there a picture in The Essential Chronology of the Zhell and Taung war?

 

First off, Mandalorains are human.

modern Mandalorians are, but that's a pretty recent development. the original Mandalorians were a species of grey-skinned aliens, as seen in TOTJ, and recently revealed (in SW Insider's Mando history) as descendents of the Taungs. shortly after that point, they started adopting humans into their culture, and eventually the original Mandalorian alien species died and the humans were the only ones left taking up the culture. it's like the Sith alien species and the Sith cult that took their name.

 

Not really.

 

Well, by "recently," I think dizfactor meant within the 4,000 years BBY. Has it ever been established when the Taung became the "First Mandalorians?" I mean, if not, the Taung could have settled Mandalore soon after they defeated the Battalions of Zhell at Coruscant. Therefore, the Taung could of settled Mandalore as early as ~25,000-24,000 years BBY. By comparison, 4,000 years seems downright recent.

 

Wasn't there a picture in The Essential Chronology of the Zhell and Taung war?

Nope. The brief mention of their battle on Coruscant was on page 1. The very first picture in the book was on page 2 and it was of the Daragons. All the pics of the first part, where the brief mention is located, were of people or events from Golden Age of the Sith through the Battle of Ruusan.

 

Hmm, was sure there was one. Oh well, maybe I'm just stupid.

 

Maybe you were thing a pic of the Sith vs Jedi during the Battle of Coruscant during the Great Hyperspace War.