The Fall of Man RP

Humans (Humes)

For the past 200 years, humans have been domesticated by animals. The animals have collectively named their domestic humans ‘Humes’ (pronounced hyoom-ies).

Most Humes found in the city are born into the trade, or captured young, and undergo years of training and conditioning before they are released into the marketplace to be sold to an animal looking for a pet or a new servant. All humes are pushed into the trade at 13 years old when their training is considered complete. Humes whose masters have died or have given them up often either go to the pound or are recycled back into the marketplace to be sold again.

All humes are required to be collared, registered, and tagged by Crown officials. Any hume found without the proper tags can be impounded or resold.

While there are little to no free Humes found in Collinwood, they do exist. Most are found outside of the city walls, protected by Rebel forces. And while they must live a guarded and protected life, it is mostly normal for them.

Hume Types

Playable Types

• Lap Humes: These humes are typically trophy humes kept for their beauty or cuteness. They spend their time in close quarters with their masters, including being seated at their feet or being seated in their laps. These humes are generally doted over and treated with kindness, either dressed in beautiful or ‘cute’ clothing, which can range from lavish clothes to flashy-colored, childish garb. Despite the potential embarrassment, the Lap Hume is considered to be an honor, often having the most freedoms in regard to other Hume jobs. When not accompanying their masters, they are often granted the freedom to wander where they please.
• Servant Humes: These humes carry out tasks for their masters and are often in charge of other humans in a house. They are commonly regarded as family members by their masters and are the only type of Hume to be given the freedom to do as they please when their work is done. They are also allowed to sit, eat, and drink with their masters, and welcomed in town in most cases. Though, the extent of their freedoms depends on their master, and can vary greatly from household to household.
• Personal Humes: Often given personal tasks that suit their master’s needs, but not given the same rights as a Servant Hume, these humes fall somewhere between a Lap Hume and a Servant Hume. This job is most often compared to slavery because they do most work without any granted rights as a citizen. Sometimes these Humes are tasked with entertaining the children of a home, often becoming a real-life babydoll and being subjected to other ridiculous work.
• Guard Humes: Most often found at their master’s side, Guard Humes live up to their name. Their main purpose is to provide protection to their masters, their master’s property, and their master’s possessions. In return, they are treated with great revere, but allowed very little freedom and leisure time. Guard Humes are often dressed in simple, dark clothing, and are considered to be expendable.
• Fighting Humes: These humes are known for their strength and resistance to pain, and often fight for entertainment in clubs, bars, and other fighting rings. They learn, practice, and use varying fighting styles to put on a good show. Most of these humes will never see the outside of the fighting arena, unless they have very kind masters. In most cases, captured adult humans become Fighting Humes. There have been cases where an unruly and disobedient Hume has been sold to the Fighting Pits as well.
• Songbirds: Highly respected for their beautiful singing voices, Songbirds are often caged in their master’s home or in a place of entertainment, such as a bar, entertainment club, or event. These humes are usually dressed in elegant eveningwear. Because their usefulness hangs so heavily on their ability to sing, some wind up being mistreated once their singing voice wanes; however, some wind up as Lap Humes.

Non-Playable Types

• Zoo Humans: Most of these Humes wound up here because they would not or could not obey their masters. They were unruly, disobedient, and failed to follow orders. Unsure what to really do with them aside from cull them, they are put on display in a ‘glass house’, so to speak, in the Human Zoo.
• Statuettes: These Humes’ purpose is to simply be a living statue or a piece of furniture. Kept for their beauty, they are expected to remain as still as a statue throughout the day, serving their purpose as either a statuette or a living table, footrest, chair, etc.

Training & Conditioning

All humes, whether born into the trade or captured young, are trained through educational facilities called Nurseries. Here, humes are typically grouped based on their general personality and are prepared for their future positions and lives as pets and servants. These facilities are known for treating humes with such kindness that it’s almost cruel how reality hits them once training is over and they are forced into the marketplace.

There are different types of training, and all young humes undergo and learn about each type of job. One phase may be learning to be a Lap Hume where young humes are asked to sit upon an animal’s lap for long periods of time; others might be for Personal or Servant Humes and teach them basic housekeeping skills; others might be for Guard Humes, where they are taught basic survival and self-defense skills.

As humes age within the Nursery, they may be categorized into specific jobs and only trained for those specific jobs if they show particular proficiency in a certain field. Most humes, however, are taught a little of everything and learn most of what they know in the field.

Selective Breeding

Each hume born into these nurseries was a product of selective breeding between the most docile, smallest, cutest, and weakest humans both captured and born in Collinwood. Most humes purposefully bred and born to Collinwood’s Breeding Program are shorter than the average human by 2-3 feet, keeping them small and controllable.

Humans born in the wild are still stronger and taller than those born through the selective breeding programs in the city. There’s a stark difference between hume-bred and wild-caught humans as wild humans are generally taller and have a more rugged appearance.

Aging

The average human lifespan allows most humes to live to 70 years old. Of course, this varies depending on workload, overall health, treatment, and environmental factors.

All played human characters must be a minimum of 13 years old to be played on The Fall of Man.

Universal Hume Law

By order of the Crown:

1. No Hume shall utter the word “no”
2. No Hume shall remove their collar
3. All Humes will serve their master
4. No Hume shall lay their hands upon their master

Failure to follow any and all of these laws is punishable by death.

Hume Care Items

While animals would use most modern-day dog care items for their humes, such as pet beds, treats, toys, leashes, and harnesses, some of the items listed below may not be so obvious:

• Cages: These come standard with the purchase of any hume, though most new owners prefer obtaining or making their own. Most animals prefer to use cages as their new pets’ sleeping quarters, though others have them sleep in their bed or on the floor.
• Collars & Tags: Everyone hume is required to wear a collar and tags while living inside the city, with Model Humes being the only exception. The collar is kept on the Hume at all times, and is often locked tight with a special, small key that a master keeps locked away and safe. A hume’s proper registration tags are always to be attached to their collar.
• Shock Collars & Muzzles: For unruly humes, there are items like Shock Collars and Muzzles. Shock Collars are typically frowned upon, though provide excellent results when dealing with a particularly unruly hume. Muzzles work in a similar fashion; they are a device that fits over the mouth and nose of the hume, forcing the mouth in a closed position while it's on. Both muzzles and shock collars are deemed very uncomfortable and only used as a last resort.
• Catch Poles: Typically an adjustable noose at the end of a long pole, this item is used to catch unruly humes, typically wild humans or escapees. Being snared by one of these is terribly uncomfortable, but does very little physical harm to Humes. The noose end goes around a hume’s neck and renders them unable to struggle much or attack their captor.