Human Race

Biodata

Territory and settlements

The Human Race established twelve megasettlements on Ruolan Star 3.

Society and government

Human society is organized around groups ranging from the twelve cities to families and master-disciple lineages. Established families and sects accumulate awakened members, talent and resources, making advancement difficult for ordinary people 11.

• Leadership: A Grand Speaker and other speakers preside over a council of influential figures. Entry to the core upper council requires a position among the top Heaven Realm experts 35. The Grand Speaker also represents the interests of the Human Race’s Heaven-Controlling Realm leadership 286.
• Major factions: The Aristocratic and Reformist factions compete for influence. Academic powers and sects also hold substantial interests in student recruitment 30 35.
• Recruitment: Powerful organizations offer talented youths from poor backgrounds resources and opportunities, but expect their service in return 21.
• Underground arenas: Faction scouts use fighting arenas to identify promising fighters. Powerful groups tolerate the venues while collecting protection money 12.
• Bound Captives: Suo Qiaoyun used her talent, [Motherly Silk], to control powerful individuals as agents and relay points for her senses. The Grand Speaker secretly authorized the capture of Yinling Sect personnel as Bound Captives and the processing of battlefield corpses into Psychic Energy Crystals 227 344 363.
• Council’s fall: After Suo Qiaoyun’s death and an uprising among the settlements, Shisui destroyed Zi City and the council, ending a rule that had lasted at least two hundred years 363 369 373 374.

Talent awakening and cultivation

Talent awakening marks the beginning of learning to use Psychic Energy. Most human awakeners use Awakening Stones, whose pure, gentle energy provides a safe and reliable means of drawing out talents. Even with the stones, the chance of becoming an awakener is no higher than 0.2 percent 4 5.

• Awakening Stones are tightly controlled; authorities have instruments designed to detect their Psychic Energy fluctuations 5 8.
• Students must show basic talent information to regulatory personnel and return their stones after the ceremony 4.
• Human cultivators advance through ranked realms. At the Fifth Realm, awakened individuals gain significant improvements in recovery and night vision 32.
• The universally recognized major realms are Yellow, Profound, Earth and Heaven. Beyond the Heaven Realm lies the Heaven-Controlling Realm 66 235.
• Spatial talents are rare among humans. Their difficulty withstanding Spatial Energy has restricted Human Race research into space, despite their possession of the Unified Exam Secret Realm 269.

Unified Exam

The Human Race Unified Exam, formally the All-Academy and School Alliance Unified Entrance Examination for Higher Education Institutions and Sects, is held annually by the All-School Alliance and other human powers. It selects promising young people for cultivation and influences how resources are distributed among those powers 21 22.

Competition also encourages manipulation. Before one exam, the Chen Family planned to use a Hidden Realm Ring to conceal an overpowered candidate’s cultivation realm 21.

Psychic Energy technology

Human Psychic Energy technology emphasizes machinery and developed in part through wartime research. Military applications include Psychic Energy Cannons, shells, suppressors and warships 183 324.

The secretive military-industrial company Citroën developed advanced shipbuilding technology, including an aircraft carrier powered by a Psychic Energy Reactor. Shisui later destroyed its underground factory near Zi City and attempted to frame the Beastfolk for the attack 124 324 327 328.

Relations with other races

• Beastfolk: The Spirit Resonance River marks a boundary between human and Beastfolk territory. Their peaceful coexistence agreement forbids awakened individuals above the Fifth Realm from crossing it 8. Despite recurring hostility, the Human Race leadership later considered the possibility of cooperation with the Beastfolk 328.
• Demon Race: The Human Race maintains an intelligence presence in Qiongfang City. After a Red Crane Orchid badge appeared at the site of a disappearance, human spies sought to warn Chen City against accusations of interference in Demon Race affairs 45 50. The races also fought over territory and resources on Huaihuang Continent, before temporarily allying against the Sea Race 145 359.
• Sea Race: The Sea Race invaded human territory, devastating Mao City and capturing Yin City. The Human Race later launched retaliatory attacks on Sea Race cities, using Bound Captives to lead decapitation strikes before larger forces advanced 124 175 324.
• Insect Race: During the Human Race’s internal turmoil, the Insect Race invaded, sending forces toward Chen City and the ruins of Chou City 370.
• Three-race relations: More than 150 years before the main story, the Human Race, Beastfolk and Demon Race signed the Wunu River Treaty, ending regional fighting over the Ten-Thousand-Blade Plateau 39.
• Exchange conference: The three races participate in the Friendly Communication and Exchange Conference and Youth Sparring Tournament. Each generally fields ten contestants and two substitutes 49.

Story role

Awakening Stone theft

Lou Shisui, a Ghoul who resembles a human, blends in at West District No. 1 Middle School while seeking Awakening Stones. After their theft, Yin City forces seal the Spirit Resonance River; Shisui kills a patrol and later destroys a human pursuit squad in the rainforest 4 8 9.

The Yin City government issues a Class B wanted notice for him under the name Eight-Tailed Owl and cooperates with the Beastfolk government in a rainforest search 11.

Bloody Unified Exam

Aristocratic family scions attack examinees during the Unified Exam. Lou Shisui helps sever the examination secret realm from the outside world, while Zhang Guangzong opens a wormhole through which Beastfolk enter. More than 80,000 examinees die 25 26 35.

The Human Race sends a rescue force of 300 Fourth Realm soldiers and three Fifth Realm experts into the realm. Following the disaster, its leaders hold an emergency council meeting; the government announces punishment for the Li Family of Zi City and issues a highest-level wanted notice for Eight-Tailed Owl 30 35 36.

Qiongfang delegation

A human delegation travels to Qiongfang City for the three-race conference. After delegate Tan Anqing is killed by Eight-Tailed Owl, its leader orders members not to travel alone and to limit unnecessary outings 47 49.

Shisui attacks human and Beastfolk intelligence strongholds and leaves Red Crane Orchid badges behind, intensifying conflict in the city. During the youth tournament, Jiang Hongyan leads the human beginner team against the Beastfolk, while Lin Shunan attacks his own elite-team leader, Xiao Ziyi, during a match against the Demon Race 51 57 59. Human spies later discover that Demon Race forces are using the unrest to occupy rival armies while moving toward the Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range pass 64.

Sea Race war

The Sea Race’s tsunami devastates Academy Island and Mao City. Human forces subsequently arrive to fight the invaders, while fighting with the Demon Race continues on Huaihuang Continent 124 131. The Human Race and Demon Race agree to a temporary alliance against the Sea Race, but their mutual distrust persists 145 328.

On Kaiyang Continent, Sea Race forces take the southern shore and Yin City. The Third Fleet of Jade Swallow Continent then launches a saturation strike against the Sea Race forces occupying Yin City 169 175. At Mao City, the Dragon King later attacks the allied army, overwhelming its defenders with Heaven-Controlling Realm pressure 212.

The Human Race eventually ends cooperation with the Demon Race while its liaison continues to describe their alliance as unbreakable 288 293. It later attacks Sea Race cities with Bound Captive-led strike teams and larger military forces; two cities in the western Tianpiao Ocean fall amid extensive slaughter 324 329.

Shen City and the Yinling Sect

In Shen City, Shisui steals classified information about military bases, weapons, troop composition and sect locations. Meanwhile, Human Race leadership prepares to seize Yinling Sect personnel and resources 217 227.

Dragon Whisker vines subsequently breach Shen City’s shield and wall. By the time Shisui arrives, half the population has been slaughtered and survivors are resisting at city hall. Military orders direct defenders to abandon the city and protect a research base instead 236.

Revolt and fall of the council

As Shisui restrains and drains Suo Qiaoyun, Bound Captives begin resisting her attempt to draw on their life force. Yan Fei and Lu Qianyu help spread the call to rebel 363. After Suo Qiaoyun’s death, suppressed factions rise against the high command 365.

Zi City’s attack on Chou City prompts other human settlements to unite against the council. Amid the internal conflict, the Insect Race advances on Chen City and Chou City, while the Demon Race invades human forces on Huaihuang Continent. Shisui kills former Bound Captives preparing to flee Chen City, then attacks Zi City; the destruction of the capital wipes out the Human Race Council 369 370 373 374.