Need help with my universe

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Somes J
Posts: 377
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:04 am
Location: Berkeley, California

Need help with my universe

Post by Somes J »

I'm starting this because I could use some help with my uni.

As you probably already know, the universe is a primitive fantasy-type setting based on the idea of a world where humans have evolved into a number of divergent species. There are seal-like humans, apex predator humans, scavenger humans, shaggy fur-covered humans etc. A little like Ringworld.

Now my problem is, I need a way for this to plausibly happen. The problem is that a bright tool-using race, like humans, tends to use technology to eliminate the need for evolutionary adaptation. Why evolve fur in a cold climate when you can just make warm clothing?

So, what sort of backstory can you think up that might allow me to have this sort of world?

Some possibilities that have occurred to me:


(1) It's a place sort of like the Red Moon in Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Origin. Somebody with super-advanced tech has been bringing different kinds of humans from different parallel worlds to this world for millions of years. Could work, but it seems a little Deus Ex Machina-ish to me. Also, I sort of like the idea of a greater connection to our world; it makes it feel more "real".


(2) Sometime in the near future, aliens attacked Earth. They wanted to make sure humanity could never be a threat to them, but out of a twisted sense of mercy instead of killing us they "only" used a virus to rearrange our DNA to turn us into retards too dumb to make fire, clothing, language, or anything but the most basic tools. Over millions of years the retards gradually diversify into many divergent types. Then an individual is born with a mutation that undoes the aliens' genetic engineering and restores his full humanity. He passes his genes on to his descendants and the human species is reborn. The mutation is then spread to other near-human species by interbreeding. I like it a little better, but it still seems kind of contrived.


(3) In the near future, humanity has enthusiastically embraced transhumanism and genetic engineering. Then civilization collapses and humanity goes back to the stone age. Humans are left to compete with the various posthuman species they have spawned.
The big problem with this is a lot of the species I thought up don't really make all that much sense as engineered creatures. Like the apex-predator humans, or blind humans evolved to live in caves. Why would anybody want to create something like that?


Anybody have any other ideas?
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