Ya Gotta Have Men

Wait, wait! Let me explain.

In fantasy fiction, I mean. You gotta have men. Humans. And then you gotta have fish-men. Bug-men. Hawk-men. You get the idea.

I've always said, in addition to the normal races of fantasy, you've gotta have five basic races:

• Cat-men

• Bug-men

• Fish-men

• Hawk-men

• Snake-men

Strangely, wolf-men are completely optional. I don't make the rules. I don't know why this is the case, either. If it were up to me, I'd cross cat-men right off the list. Keep the furries out. Sorry, furries. Jk. We love you too. Times are tough right now. It's too rough out there not to love on everybody. That's the only rule. Everybody love everybody.

So, where does this leave Sarkan?

Does anyone care? I sure hope so. That's the topic of today's post.

That up above is Adera. She's a dark elf. Above her is Terrwyn, a human waitress-turned-thief, and the main character of my novel. You may recognize her from the first three chapters of my novel. And if you don't, what on earth are you waiting for? Grab the first three chapters off my website! Scroll on down to the bottom and do it!

You'll receive one chapter a day over three days, or something like that. It's pretty keen.

Anyway. I thought today I'd go over the main races on Sarkan and get some input on their design. Let me know what y'all think.

I know what you're thinking. "William, lizard-men and snake-men are totally different."

No, they ain't. They the same thing. Lizard-men, snake-men, frog-men, gator-men. They're all the same. Whether you call them reptilians, Vril, or Makao, like in my novel, snake-men are a must in any respectable fantasy setting. Just ask Conan.

Sigh. Freakin' cat-people.

Look, I love cats. Don't get me wrong. But the Internet gets weird about cats. And there's a specific section of the Internet that gets a specific brand of weird about cat-girls. Let's leave it at that.

The Urreshi live in the desert and specialize as thieves, merchants, and wandering scholars. They also don't feature in my book at all. Maybe in a sequel.

The Drall are fierce insectoid warriors, servants of the centipede god Xallax, lord of the void. They're badguys, if you can't tell by the fact that they're ferocious bug-men. They work with the story's antagonist to ruin Terrwyn's day. Of course, Terrwyn ruins their day right back, so they're about even.

Nothing to see here. Just an Ornai, hanging out. They don't show up at all. But you gotta have hawk-men!

This wet boy is a Deep One. That's their name for now anyway. Good enough for Lovecraft, and I don't think the term's trademarked, anyway. Too vague. Gotta have fish-men, even if they don't figure into the plot of the current novel.

So that's it. Apart from dragons, that's all the major races in the world of Sarkan accounted for. Haven't decided yet if I'll make the dragons giant bugs.

Just kidding.

I'd never dream of messing with dragons. A fellow writer warned me not to.

Anyway, feel free to write or call or smoke signal me and let me know your thoughts on what sort of "-men" should be included in my next foray into the rich world of Sarkan. Because you gotta have men!

Note: Special thanks to HeroForge.com for providing the platform to create the wonderful images you see here!