Cultural Overview of True Humans
See also: Dennis Callin, Jonathan Callin, Alexandra Morrisdaughter, Changed Humans

Not much is known about the settlements of True Humans, mostly because Gandahrahns will take great pains to avoid them whenever possible. What is know is that True Human settlements have little variation, consisting of nomadic gypsy-like caravans, scattered villages, enormous stone towns, and at times, horribly cluttered cities of mountain-high, polluting skyscrapers that resemble termite mounds. Often, they completely deplete the resources of whatever area they’re living in (which can take as long as a few centuries, or as little as a week), then move on, leaving behind all their buildings and technology to crumble and wreak havoc on the native ecosystem.

Apparently from oldEarth, these creatures (and half-breed offspring of theirs) are distinguished from Gandahrahns by having five-fingered hands, five-toed feet, and small round ears (half-breeds have larger pointed ears). These are descendants of most of the Humans brought to Gandahrah by the gods, who wanted to give them a chance to start over and live again, but True Human culture appears to be unbelievably self-destructive. They have a written language, but while it appears similar to its oldEarth origins, the manner in which it is read is horrifying alien.

Society and culture is amazingly self-destructive, and brutal, especially to women, a sharp contrast to Gandahrahn culture.

Society here is basically a Hierocracy, with the Church having full control and power over the lives of the people. Practices such as burning people at the stake for accusations of witchcraft or homosexuality are common, as are torturing people for information, often to the point of death. The basic tenement of the Church is ‘Be fruitful and multiply, but if your Unmen should fight back, kill them and their offspring’.

Females are called ‘Fems’ or ‘Unmen’, and considered little better than animals. Families are arranged along patrilineal, patriarchal lines, with the oldest and most prolific man serving as clan Patriarch. Women are often traded between clans for breeding purposes, and it is almost unheard of for a woman to die of causes other than childbirth. The birth of a son is cause for celebration, while the birth of a daughter might well be grasped at as an excuse for society-sanctioned murder and brutality. Women are so treated because they are blamed for the race presently being on an alien world, as well as for ancient, probably fictitious things, like the biblical Fall from Grace, and ‘witchery’.

Depending on gender, a child might be safe, or in perpetual mortal danger. A son is typically loved by his father and male relatives, unless he proves to be rebellious or filled with ‘demon-spawned thoughts’. If nothing else works, a Patriarch is fully allowed to abuse, torture and rape his son, which will often break them more than their already-brutal culture would. When they reach the age of 12, a boy is taken to a doctor, and half his brain is effectively replaced with complex technological implants that turn him into a robot, under the control of his father. Between the ages of 12 and 19, most boys will be used to father over 200 children, almost half of them will probably be killed for being girls, while the rest of the pregnancies will most likely end in miscarriages (which often happens in about 70-90 percent of all pregnancies in which both parents are True Humans). After the age of 19, the implants are removed from the boy’s brains, and after several months of observation, if they prove not to be irrevocably damaged by everything, the young man is allowed to kill his father and take over the clan position, if desired. With this, the young man takes the title of Patriarch, and has full breeding rights to all the women who are in his father’s possession at the time of his death.

By sharp contrast, a girl is almost always condemned to a life of sexual servitude and constant pregnancy. Assuming they survive birth and their first few years, a girl is sold to the highest bidder at the age of nine, who will promptly rape her as often he can. If, by the age of sixteen, the girl has not conceived, she is killed. If she has the misfortune to conceive before sixteen, she is kept under horrible conditions that are not conducive to the survival of herself or her baby. After giving birth, she is promptly raped again, while her baby is taken away from her forever; most women never know how many sons or daughters they have been forced to birth in their long lives. Since Unmen often live up to five times longer than the men, they are especially tormented. Often, a man will keep his daughters in a ‘breeding harem’, along with other women, and a woman can be expected to bear children to her father, brother, son and grandson, at the very least. The end result being that out of all a man’s surviving offspring, half of them will definitely be severely inbred.

However, there are exceptions to this brutally rigid society’s rules. If a man is considered crazy, he is exempt from the teenage years of robotic control, and will be limited to a breeding harem of two or three women with whom he can produce children. Also his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons will be under similar restrictions. However, this doesn’t stop the Council of Patriarchs from using him and his family as a scapegoat. A woman who is not unsightly ugly, and very intelligent, might well be able to escape the tortures typical to her gender, though only through sexual means. A woman of this sort is ‘initiated’ by a Church Father, who supposedly gives her a child of God. A son born of this union is raised by the Church, and if his mother is still alive, fathers a child on her at the age of 12. This pattern repeats until the woman dies.

Also, some True Humans who are strong in will and open-minded have proven capable of assimilating into Gandahrahn culture, following a mysterious change known as Transformation. During this, which can take days, months or years, a True Human’s appearance changes dramatically. Their eyes start to reflect light, which True Humans’ don’t, while their hands and feet widen and gain another digit, and their ears grow in size and become pointed. They also gain new abilities, the very least of which is sending, or mind-speech.

By this same token, however, Gandahrahns are capable of being corrupted and being turned into True Humans. These people often loose any and all faith, and repeatedly and brutally denounce the local gods, and end up running off to join True Human communities. A Gandahrahn eventually turns into a True Human, though to complete this ‘reverse’ Transformation, they end by cutting off the tips of their ears, and amputating an entire portion of their hands and feet, removing one finger and toe so they are literally ‘five-fingers’. As far as anyone knows, neither Transformation is reversible once completed.