Dogs?

I don't really like dogs, but I wanted to bring to your attention that they have no concept of relative size. I'm sure this could be an idea to someone, but I can't really work on it right now. So I'm just throwing the ball, if anyone wants to grab it... what could we make of a terribly heterogeneous race of people who don't care how big (or how small) you are? I imagine giant-sized dog-people would be really funny, easy to scare off or even trash-talk into submission, while smaller breeds would be... all things considered, that quality would be pretty much suicidal in Felarya, so I think this race would only come in big flavor.

Besides they've got puppy eyes, and some breeds are so inbred they're blind... and worse, though we take that worse part for playfulness. But invariably they've got keen noses. So, what do we make of that? An eugenics victim that finds you fun and can follow your smell anywhere could be a real brown note, specially for nekos: doesn't matter how fast you are if that thing never, ever stops chasing you, and stealth is useless against a blind creature. They also love licking stuff, and tend to swallow things they know they shouldn't, SPECIALLY if they smell like its master; call them on it, and all you'll get is puppy eyes. According to Cute Overload, that's cute...

Do you think this has potential? Sorry if it's been brought up before. Didn't check.

it has some potentials

Many people had bring before the idea of dog-like people before so you need to work a bit more your idea and about the keen nose there is already a creature which do that it's the crimson snapdragons you can read more it here: http://www.felarya.com/wiki/index.php?title=Elementals

Canine demihumans are interesting.

Most incarnations I've seen lose their sense of realism by applying too many bred-dog traits and focusing on a master-slave kind of behavior, which is weird. Keeping the distinctive canine traits that seperate them from nekos, and elaborating on maybe a stronger 'pack mentality' could be a way of differentiating them without making them seem odd as a race.

Unrelated but interestingly enough, the lore section has to say that were-beings like werewolves, are perpetually stuck in a semi-human form instead of being one or the other.

/Fish/ wrote:

Canine demihumans are interesting.

Most incarnations I've seen lose their sense of realism by applying too many bred-dog traits and focusing on a master-slave kind of behavior, which is weird. Keeping the distinctive canine traits that seperate them from nekos, and elaborating on maybe a stronger 'pack mentality' could be a way of differentiating them without making them seem odd as a race.

Unrelated but interestingly enough, the lore section has to say that were-beings like werewolves, are perpetually stuck in a semi-human form instead of being one or the other.

I could see the some basic differences that separate them from Nekos/Humans/Elves/Etc.

Endurance: Dogs are known for their extraordinary endurance, so I could see the canines having that advantage over most other species in this regard, they could potentially keep running from predators, or after prey for hours, much like real world dogs.

Pack Mentality: Dogs instinctively know whose in charge in pretty much any group. Their less likely to argue with the leader, especially in dangerous situations. The same could be conceivably true for the canine hybrids which would make them more likely to be chosen to go on expeditions into the Felaryan wilds, since their less likely to run away, disobey orders and so forth. Of course be both good or bad depending upon the situation and the decision the leader makes, as their also less likely to disobey a really stupid order.

Sense of Smell: Dogs have a really good sense of smell. I don't really have to go into this one too much. Its kind of a cliche for humand/dog hybrids, but only because it makes so much sense.

JohnDoe wrote:

Sense of Smell: Dogs have a really good sense of smell. I don't really have to go into this one too much. Its kind of a cliche for humand/dog hybrids, but only because it makes so much sense.

in that case we can play on the fact they have problem with color and see the world in black and white.

gwadahunter2222 wrote:

JohnDoe wrote:

Sense of Smell: Dogs have a really good sense of smell. I don't really have to go into this one too much. Its kind of a cliche for humand/dog hybrids, but only because it makes so much sense.

in that case we can play on the fact they have problem with color and see the world in black and white.

Not a bad idea. Trade the extraordinary sense of smell for the ability to see color.

JohnDoe wrote:

gwadahunter2222 wrote:

JohnDoe wrote:

Sense of Smell: Dogs have a really good sense of smell. I don't really have to go into this one too much. Its kind of a cliche for humand/dog hybrids, but only because it makes so much sense.

in that case we can play on the fact they have problem with color and see the world in black and white.

Not a bad idea. Trade the extraordinary sense of smell for the ability to see color.

I kinda like that trade-off, with the endurance too as another trait.

Since dogs are derived from the Woefully Overhyped canis Lupus Family (WOLF), might as well make those the base for them physically.

Ooh, ooh! Can I make a bit of the race?!

FalconJudge, by this time you should already have.

Okay, just remember what everyone said: if you go too much into the details that come from their breeding, like that guy said, we'll lose realism. They see the world in black and white (though they CAN see shades of gray), are good at following orders or finding out who's who, and have really, really, overhyped origins. So they've got quite the mysticism to draw upon, being able to put the "big badass wolf" look, just like any chinese kid only has to wave a hand at you and say "I know kung fu" for you to think he's able to kick your ass through a brick wall. They're very enduring, sweat through their tongue, work very well in teams...

... and keep this in mind: they ALWAYS know what they're facing (IRL wolves never attack people unless they're rabid, they feed on mice most of the time: a single wolf can eat 20 mice a day. If people hadn't been so scared of them all history long, there'd have been a lot less plagues, guys. Wolves eat mice because they KNOW what mice are. You've got freaky limbs all over the place and force it to reconsider the way the world works and what are trees made of every time you pick up a branch, so they don't want to see you unless they've got a whole pack behind, to surround you, throw you to the ground to RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS, and a second team to cover the retreat if you happen to be too dangerous). That's if you want to go for a wolf rather than dog approach. If you want to go for a dog approach, they'd have to be the wolves' inbred cousins. Or something.

What the hell did that just mean?

That means, Falconjudge, two things.

One is that I had no idea why there wasn't a dog race already; if you wanted to write a bit, I thought you'd already have done so.
The other one is that you'd do well to take into account all the feedback we just got. Looks like everyone wants a dog race.

Sorry if it came out a bit long-winded, convoluted, and maybe offensive, I can do that sometimes, and always in the strangest ways . But I don't mean any harm, that I assure you.

No, it's okay... just that last part confused me a bit...

Stabs wrote:

They see the world in black and white (though they CAN see shades of gray).

Actually, that's not true.
Dogs are colour-blind, but they can see colour.
Quote from colblindor.com
"Neitz, Geist and Jacobs researched in 1989 the color vision of domestic dogs and found the following facts:

1. Dogs have two different color receptors in their eyes and therefore are dichromats.
2. One color receptor peaks at the blue-violet range, the other at the yellow-green range.
3. Conclusion: Dogs are green-blind which is one form of red-green color blindness also called deuteranopia.

This results were support by later researches of Jacobs with colleagues in 1993 and Miller and Murphy in 1995."

Humans have 3 types of cones (the light & colour receptive cells), although there are some women who have 4 types. but this is rare. (Having 4 types allows one to see up to 100 million different colour variations).
I suggest that dog demi-humans would have something similar.

I wish i had four cones...that would be AWESOME!!!