Humans are a sapient race in the Big Blue. Earth is the planet from which humankind originates; most humans were brought to Cerulea hundreds or thousands of years ago, and are now considered Blue-born Humans, i.e. natives of the Blue. Those that have been brought to Cerulea in recent times by Unstable Portals are known as Terrans.
n.b.: The term 'Human', when used on its own, usually refers to Blue-born humans only, rather than both Blue-born and Terran humans. The collective term for both is 'humankind', or 'humans' without capitalisation.
Terrans, having been brought to the Blue more recently, bring with them the culture of Earth, where it is currently the mid-to-late 2000s. Terrans understand the principles of Terran Technology, which makes their knowledge incredibly valuable to tinkerers and inventors who like to fix, reverse-engineer and retro-fit gadgets that wash up.
Terrans can usually be found living in the Tritonid Dominion, where they
usually turn up after being sucked into a portal. The Dominion welcomes all and, due to its diversity, makes a pleasant home for the Terrans who don't quite fit in. Some Terrans also live in the Iguanid Empire, particularly those willing to lend their scientific or technical expertise. Most Terrans speak Common, or at least a broken form of it, as it is the easiest to pick up and acts as a lingua franca for trade and commerce.
Many Terrans have Pacific Islander, native South American or Southeast Asian backgrounds, as the portals to the Blue tend to appear in the Pacific Ocean. They usually speak a variety of Terran Languages, often native to the regions they hail from, although these are rarely spoken by anyone on Cerulea, if at all.
Playing as a Terran
Terrans are standard humans from Earth, physically speaking.
Terran characters are more likely to be proficient at running, jumping and climbing (i.e. athletics), working with technology, or anything related to their background before they were brought to the Blue (such as playing Terran musical instruments, surfing, martial arts, etc).
Though their exact ancestral make-up is unknown, Humans from the Blue can be assumed to be from mostly Austronesian descent. They speak many of the Languages of the Blue, but usually you'll find them using Common or Tritonid, at least within the Tritonid Dominion. They are fully assimilated into the Blue, with little knowledge of Earth, its languages or or its people. Instead, they have developed their own culture over the many hundreds of years since coming to the Blue.
After such a long time being genetically isolated from the humans of Earth, Blue-born Humans have diverged from Terrans slightly in order to thrive in the Blue:
Some of these traits are quite similar to those possessed on Earth by indigenous communities who are exceptional at free-diving after generations of adaptation. Whilst their swimming and diving capabilities are enhanced compared to most Terrans, they are still not fully aquatic like Tritonids are.
Additionally, these adaptations have some drawbacks: Blue-born Humans are less adept at running, jumping and climbing than their Terran cousins, as they are less equipped for moving on land, and they are not as deft with their webbed fingers, which gives Terrans an edge when it comes to dextrous activities like using computers.
Playing as a Blue-born Human
Blue-born humans can hold their breath for longer, dive deeper and have better vision underwater than most humans on Earth. They are the same height and weight on average, and just as long lived.
Human characters are more likely to be proficient at sailing, wayfinding fishing, free-diving .