“Their Race Failed”
“Their Race Failed”

“Their Race Failed”

What do I mean when I say “their race failed” or the less common, “racial failure”? In a way it’s obvious. Basically, the race in question died out, went extinct. This however is just a surface definition.

In this world, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the races play a pivotal role in the culture. In a way, your race is your identity. It is how this world handles the number of sentient races it has. What you are determines how well you do in any society, how beautiful you are considered, even how safe you are. So, when a race is damaged, in reputation or affluence, every individual within that race is impacted, and often subjected to the consequences. If a race fails, that means they all die.

It strikes at a core that we, as the sole sentient race of our plant, simply don’t have. If we all die, so does the rest of the planet because we’re at the top. But on Emris, races have come and gone, and Emris survives, and has other leaders to take their place. In this world, there’s an element of constant struggle to remain, to be greatest among the races and to say that a race has failed is to say that that race gave up on the struggle that every other race must necessarily cling to. It’s a taboo, and it’s the ultimate form of weakness.