Love knows no species: The Aliens and Human romance thread

Well since most of the threads on this are months or years old...

Anyone want to see this touched on again? I think the only author to even remotely address the issue is Michael Stackpole. This is despite the fact that it's a persistent and very common trope that exists in fiction. Just look at the recent movie Avatar, which addresses the issues of Cross Species love. I may just be interested in it because Mass Effect 2 is coming out and I really hope there's an option for a Tali romance. However, the simple fact is that I'm kind of unnerved that there's only really human-human relationships.

I mean there's plenty of Near-Human races. Why not more relationships like that?

The only hero who seems remotely interested in one is Zayne Carrick and that's assuming he and his Space Elf will honestly get together.

(Are Arkanian off-shoots and humans cross-fertile? Question for the ages!)

What do you think about it?

 

Good point. Are Chiss and Humans compatiable?

 

If you must know, there is an option for a Tali romance. There's a leaked video floating around.

It is heavily implied, especially in the Atlas, that Chiss are descended from human colonists. I don't know if all those thousands of years are enough for the Chiss to become too biologically different from humans.

 

There's confirmed to be a Tali romance, yes. Complete with, um, that scene.

 

All "humanoid" species are probably different offshoots/mutations/experimental humans, I would guess. By humanoid, I mean all the species that look basically like humans with just different colorings, like Zeltron and Chiss. Not sure why some sources even consider Hapans as near-humans though. But yeah, if they do have a common ancestor, they could probably have children.

I'd like to see one or two examples of this in modern EU. Cade is probably the closest we'll get. The EU tends to shy away from the taboo.

 

SWEET!

 

Am I going to have to put the otter banner up?

 

Please do. I never had a chance to see it.

 

In-canon, the nonhuman species almost universally presented as the most physically attractive is a race with technicolor skin and a pair of giant prehensile phalluses growing out of their heads. So, interspecies romance?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo(and stay away from me)ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

You know, my first (admittedly somewhat trollish) impulse on seeing this thread title was to make a one-word post of: "OTTERSEX!"

 

Wasn't it mentioned in Darth Bane: Rule of Two that Zannah is in bed with a Twi'lek separatist? I think his name was Keladden.

Also, in Death Star there's a cross species romance between Villian Dance (a human) and Teela Kaarz (a Mirilian).

Two examples I could think of, from the (relatively) recent EU.

 

-

 

Well I know humans and Non-humans can not genaticly produce offspring. It has been repeatedly stated.

Humans and Near Humans, Obviusly Can if the Drift isnt too bad.

Hapan's can Interbeed with Baselines, and Produce Viable Offspring. As can Kiffar, and Echanii.

Near Humans and Zeltron's probably take gene therapy so to avoid "Complications" like birth defects. same probably goes for Chiss, Zabrak, and the other Blue Skinned near humans Pantorans(?).

 

This is a topic I find extremely interesting, and I find it strange that it isn't brought up more. I often wonder if it has something to do with an author's (or LFL's) desire to perhaps create another potential character "legacy" if you will. To keep a character's bloodline chugging along into the next era, they pair them with the same species. Personally, I'd love to see more attention given to relationships between various species, especially if it was presented as rather normal and run-of-the-mill in a galaxy of trillions.

 

Obviously there's some barriers, but humans can interbreed with many near humans. Shug Ninx is an example, being half human half theelin. There a few weirder examples of interspecies relations in the rogue squadron series, Darklighter with the Bothan, Corran telling the story about the time he went to the space policeman's ball with a selonian, ect. Jabba also enjoyed humanoid slave girls but being a hermaphrodite I think that he was more aroused by pushing women around and toying with their lives than he was by the women themselves.

Actually, I can think of a bunch of interspecies relationships, but they're all between humanoid species, I can't think of any significant pairings involving a nonhumanoid.

 

I think Hapans are a human ethnic group rather than near humans.

 

Well Eh, is there a real Diffrence in Star Wars between Ethnicity and "Near Human" classification?

I mean Kiffar, and Mace Windu's people the Karunai are considerd "Near Humans" if only due to high force sensativity rates, and cultural diffrences. I Figured the Hapan's are the same.

I mean in Earth terms yeah all 3 are Ethnicities. and only Zeltrons, Pantorans, Chiss, and Zabrak would be near Humans. Because of the Obvious genetic drift.

Miriluka...would be Odd. Half or Quater Miriluka tend not only to have eyes, but actual Vision.

But we arn't dealig with a Terran point of view. We are dealing with a GFFA with an obvious sprinkling of the bigoted Human High Culture point of view of the old Empire. I think anyone Not Baseline Human, but still "Human" is Considerd a Near human.

 

Has a specific line been drawn on where Near-Human ends and simply humanoid begins? Its rather obvious with species such as Chiss (Near-Human) and say, Trandoshan (humanoid), but what about Cereans and Zabrak? Though very similar in outward appearance, barring horns and enlarged cranium, to humans, both have drastic internal differences. In this case, Cereans and Zabrak both have multiple hearts, while Cereans also posess a unique binary brain structure. So, essentially, is Near-Human just a vague turn of phrase amongst the galaxy to describe outward physical characteristics, or is it a set scientific standard?

On another note, in terms of reproduction between various species, have we seen any sort of gene splicing outside of horrific experiments like Sithspawn and Yuuzhan Vong creations like the Vagh Rodiek? If so, could this be a feasible loophole for interspecies couples? Expense can be hard to judge at times in the EU, but I can't imagine it being cheap...

 

^ good question.

For Zabrak....they have always been "Funny" their classification murky. Because most of them are so close to Human, and their Wookiepedia entry puts hem as such. I figure theme to be Near Humans.

Humanoids are Aliens that share a Similar Shape. thats about It. Twileks, Asoka Tano's People, Devronians, are humanoids.
Like Hyena's and Tasmainian Devils. they have a similar form... But are not related.


Near Humans are Human peoples that have been Isolated from the Baseline Stock and have developed alterd by the planets regions they have colonized.

 

I suspect it may be tied with the ability to interbreed: a near-human species is one that can breed with humans without having to use genetic engineering.

And there may even be more of a spectrum than a hard black/white line: some don't need any help at all and are basically human races with enough distinct/unique traits to be considered separate (ie Hapans), some are able to have kids naturally but stand a higher risk of "deformities" if not properly screened, and some require specific gene matching of the parents but not outright genetic manipulation to produce any offspring.


A lot also depends on how and why there are so many near-human species spread out throughout the galaxy, and how they came to be. If some ancient beings (Rakatans, Celestials, etc...) did genetic tampering on humans to create some other races, but those races are no longer able to produce viable offspring with humans, they may or may not count as near-human by modern (ie movie-era) standards if their origins have been forgotten. Alternatively, some races that don't appear to be human-derived at first glance, or even via detailed medical/historical checking, may be known to be near-human due to historical records of successful natural crossbreeding.

 

No joke. I mean, I'm not saying there needs to be chapter and verse on what goes on on Zeltros and what species were involved, or what happens in the Imperial "pleasure houses", but c'mon, a simple allowance of hybrids of humanoids isn't exactly taboo.

On that note, where has it been canonically stated that there aren't hybrids? I mean, there are unidentified crosses (half Human half alien on at least two cases that I can tell) but without getting into a lecture on genetics, one has to reason that it's happening.

I would be OK with LFL saying "no reptiloid (Falleen, Trandoshan, Barabel) can cross with a mammalian (human, Twi'lek, Wookiee, Zeltron), and no insectoid (Geonosian, Verpine) with amphibian (Gungan, Mon Cal, Nautolan)" and things like that, because those are patently incompatible on a basic level. But if a Twi'lek wants to marry a Mandalorian male (CWAS, Rogue Squadron) or a Falleen falls for a Barabel (stranger things have happened), I don't see why they wouldn't be able to produce viable* offspring. Obviously there would be some other considerations- I doubt a normal human/humanoid female would necessarily be able to carry a Wookiee cub to term. It would be like breeding a Clydesdale to a Shetland pony. If the pony is female, she's not going to be able to have the foal. However, if its a Shetland stallion to a Clydesdale mare, it would work. Basic...um...size limitations? IDK.

*by viable I mean a "living" offspring. If they want to make them mules, ie the hybrids would be sterile, I think that neatly wraps up the potential for a half-Human quarter Miralukan three eighths Twi'lek one eighth Zeltron mutt.


Edit: Cuz I can do basic fractions and spell third grade words /facepalm

 

I always assumed most human/near human couplings produced normal offspring as long as the near human wasn't too far removed from baseline human.

In the case of the more out there near humans it might take some help in the form of genetic engineering to smooth over any bumps but viable offspring are probably still possible with that help. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the Arkanian's or Bith didn't have businesses catering to couples who can't conceive naturally way but with help can still have kids.

As to human/100% non human I doubt there are very many natural hybrids. Maybe a few sterile hybrids but they'd probably be incredibly rare and the result of a random fluke. There might be some genetically engineered hybrids but they'd probably be rare experiments.

 

Speaking of monstrous unions, how can we not forget:

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/9/96/Young_Karness_Muur.jpg] [image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/b/b8/Kalgrathsithwar.jpg]

It's a match made in heaven.

 

I don't think the issue is a lack of attractive aliens. The Twileks fill the role of the Asari (so to speak) of being the "human enough to be attractive." Dark Horse also loves creating cute Zabrak, Zeltron, and other sorts of girls. It's mostly that we rarely get a chance to see people enter into relationships with them because a substantial number of heroes are Jedi (mostly chaste) or legacy heroes.

Ben will, of course, have to end up with a human woman because he has descendants.

 

But Zeltrons are technicaly human arnt they?

Baseline Human + Zelton = ????

????+ Baseline Human= Mostly Baseline Human.


I mean Look At the Draay Family. Part Human part Mriluka.

Madam Draay had full sight and Seer abilities.

Her son Lucen, Well he was a Jedi master in the end. But his future sight?
And Fully fuctional Eyes.


I mean, Allana 1/4 hapan nor Tenel Ka 1/2 Hapan suffer the Nightblindness pure hapan's do. Well not to the Extent that it is worth mentioning.

So Ben can reproduce with a near Human. As long as his children choose baseline human mates...Cole and Cade will be base line...right?

 

I think you've basically hit on the key problem, yeah: nine times out of ten, the people in question are main characters, which in turn often means they've got descendants already set up in a later era somewhere.

There does seem to be a lack of mixed species relationships with side characters though. It'd be a nice thing perhaps to see Dark Horse explore sometime. I've loved how KOTOR and DT especially have included all kinds of remote alien species in some of the background shots. It'd be interesting if they also included the Star Wars equivalents of half-elves and half-orcs. I'm fine with halfbreeds being sterile (it's the case with lots of cross bred animals after all), but they'd make for some curious characters, even if just the kind of random bystander who only got spoken to once.

Species aside, do we even see that many mixed race relationships? As has already been mentioned, there sometimes seems to even be a tendency to label black characters as coming from a planet like Kiffu or Haruun Kal, which I've never understood. By extension, that then usually means that their wife/husband/significant-non-gender-near-human-alien-equivalent ends up being the same race as they are. Off the top of my head, I don't think Tendra is black, though I could be mistaken, and there's obviously Rawk and Droo... but background couples often seem to be practically clones of each other whereby if Random NPC A goes "This is my wife", then Random NPC A's Wife often looks from an identical background.