: To your question about the differences between Trow,
: fir'Bolg and humans, yes. Each of those species is
: actually seperate. The fir'Bolg I imagine are some
: sort of different genus of the homid species, having
: been isolated in the Ermine for so long they followed
: a different evolutionary path. Humans and fir'Bolg (so
: says GURPS, which _is_ kosher) cannot interbreed.
: Also, BTW fi'Bolg do have pointy ears.
Incidentally, the relationship between humans and fir'Bolg is something of a mystery, according to GURPS. fir'Bolg are apparently completely human in appearance and behavior, yet (as you say) they can't interbreed with humans. No one knows why.
: Trow are totally different. They are not at all related
: to anything else. They cannot even breed. They are, as
: far as we can tell magical constructs, similar to
: golums and elementals, but super intelligent and
: formed by a goddess. The reason they resemble humans
: and dwarves is because Wyrd (I think) fashioned his
: creations after Nyx's succesful model. Trow are not
: and have never been _at all_ related with humans.
While it's not really clear that any Myth species is "related" to any other (after all, we dunno if evolution actually occurred on the Mythworld, or if the species were just created in their current form), we can say that, in general, there are two phases of Mythworld life. There are the Younger Races, like Humans, Dwarves, and probably all the "ordinary" creatures like deer and trees and so forth; and there are the Elder Races, like the Trow and the Callieach and the other races which are now extinct. Each Elder Race was apparently created separately and has no blood links to any other race. The Younger Races, on the other hand, at least *look* like they've evolved from a common ancestor.
(BTW, *I* think the reason the Trow are humanoid is that Wyrd likes that shape for his beings, and when Nyx inserted the Trow into his dream he had enough conscious or subconscious power to force them into that form.)
The Bruig *are* a well-defined ethnicity, if the Zerk in the Catacombs is to be believed. I'd imagine that they look pretty much like the Herons. That's not to say that most citizens of the Cath Bruig Empire were true ethnic Bruig, though, any more than most citizens of the Roman Empire were actually from Rome or its environs. The Bruig were probably just the founders and "core" of the Empire.
Also, the Bruig didn't have any special powers or anything. The great toughness and strength of Herons and Journeymen comes from their years of training, their Root-produced immortality and their magical skills. Most Bruig wouldn't have these abilities, and non-Bruig can acquire them equally quickly by becoming Herons.
--SiliconDream
