Anim

Baselines

If you are one of those types of people who might say something like "Only Human", these would be one of the people you would be talking about. People who can stop bullets in mid-flight or perceive the code that makes up the virtual world in which they dwell are not in this category.

The people who are in this category are those faceless masses that are often the backdrop to an epic tale, set dressing, the innocent bystanders that are nonchalantly murdered by the actions of superheroes and are of such little consequence as to not even be mentioned in the movie nor are spared a moment's reflection. These people's stories, often as average citizens struggling with a world in which the miraculous is commonplace, can be just as compelling as aliens in red capes.

Maybe even more so.

Protohumans and Metahumans

The first race of Humankind, the Edenites, wasn't really Human by modern standards in much the same way a modern Metahuman isn't really Human any more, either. Certainly many similarities exist, but the metamorphosis of an Avatar and the lineage of Protohumankind leave them as something distinct from a "Natural".

The original Anim, cousins to the Aevi, were born and died in Eden and Nod. Sculpted from clay and imbued with fire, they were the very first mortals to exist untouched by Mana. They were, however, still capable of shaping it.

The Humankind of the modern world, though they tend to be unaware, are the second generation of Humankind—Humans 2.0. They are a second effort, guided by the hand of their creator, in an effort to usurp the Higher Spheres. This effort has been quite successful as very few other gods remain. Those that do have proven to be quite tenacious.

One might make the mistake of thinking of the Metahumans as Humans 3.0, rising up in the modern world. However, the origins of the Metahuman condition are older than recorded history and exist only as apocryphal tales scribbled in ancient texts, and even if the existence of these "people of renown" were actually part of a grand plan, said plan would be far grander than the machinations of the Patriarch.

In other words, the Patriarch is most displeased about the existence of these quasi-immortal demigods springing up as weeds in his fields.

More Human Than Human

Mortals come in many shapes, sizes and origins. Sometimes, these people aren't quite so human any more. Some of them never were. Those people may be found here.