Race and Science
According to the American Association of Biological Anthropologists, "race, while not a scientifically accurate biological concept, can have important biological consequences because of the effects of" this six-letter word.
What is racism?
The writer who invented orcs, drawing on anti-Asian stereotypes and the martial race myth.
Who is J.R.R. Tolkien?
“When one faces two ghuls, waste no time wishing for fewer.”
Who is Saladin Ahmed?
Members of this species "are very much like small humans, thus their name." (1978)
What are halflings?
The 1790 Naturalization Act limited the right to become a United States citizen to someone who was a free this kind of person.
What is white?
This term used to refer to white people was chosen by Johan Friedrich Blumenbach in the late 1700s because he believed people from a certain mountainous region between Europe and Asia produced the world's most beautiful people.
What is Caucasian?
According to the 2014 D&D Players Handbook, this kind of person might surreptitiously hide valuable or fragile goods when a half-orc walks in.
What are shopkeepers?
“Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky.”
Who is Ursula K. Le Guin?
Members of this species "are the most adaptable, flexible, and ambitious people among the common races." (2003)
What are humans?
What is barbarian?
Percentage of DNA that is shared by all human beings
What is 99.9%?
N.K. Jemisin proposes that orcs equal human bodies plus bad magic minus the essence of this.
What is humanity? (or soul, or mind, or aestheticism)
"But back in my village, salt was sacred to my people. It was life but also culture, self-worth, our purpose for existing."
Who is Nnedi Okorafor?
"Were it not for one renowned exception," this species "would be universally reviled." (2014)
What are drow (or dark elves)?
Portuguese chronicler Gomes de Zurara wrote the first tract describing distinct African peoples as belonging to one "black" race in order to justify this activity.
What is the slave trade (or slavery)?
Human variations in skin color, which is affected by this substance, can develop relatively quickly because they are affected by very few genes.
What is melanin?
In the 1978 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook, half-orcs have a maximum cap in these two ability scores.
What are charisma and intelligence?
"Cet closed his eyes. The Moon's afterimage burned against his eyelids in tilted stripes: red for blood, white for seed, yellow for ichor, black for bile."
Who is N.K. Jemisin?
A member of this species' "energy and enthusiasm for living shines through every inch of his or her tiny body." (2014)
What is a gnome?
John Punch, an African indentured servant, was the first person in colonial America to be assigned this status, after being caught fleeing his indenture along with a Dutchman and a Scotsman, who received lesser punishments.
What is permanent servitude (or enslavement)?
19th Century racial "scientist" Samuel Morton was more wrong about race than previous scientists like Blumenbach because Morton was a polygenist, which is the mistaken belief in this.
What is the false theory that white and black people evolved separately rather than descending from a common ancestor?
In the 1978 rules for D&D, this is the only class for which there is no limit to the number of levels a half-orc character can gain.
What is assassin?
"Taran wanted to make a sword; but Coll, charged with the practical side of his education, decided on horseshoes."
Who is Lloyd Alexander?
"Whether descended from an angelic being or infused with celestial power," a member of this species "can fan that spark to bring light, healing, and heavenly fury." (2024)
What are aasimar?
In 1923 the Supreme Court found that Bhagat Singh Thind, a man from this country, was not eligible for U.S. citizenship despite being "scientifically" classified as Caucasian.
What is India?