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Humanity in Inhuman Stories

 I'm currently in the process of outlining a sci-fi book series; The Citadel Series, which is a series of three planned books about young adults trying to navigate in a world with an oppressive government that doesn't care about you if you're disabled. 

I'm finding it hard to create a world where there is no human influence. As a human in a society that was built and entirely influenced by humans, I can't imagine what it would be like to have languages, beliefs, practices, morals, or anything else develop without human influence in some capacity.

Why should a bipedal lizard with no showing genitalia feel the need to cover their body? For protection? Why not just live in, and work in environments where they don't need the protection of clothes? Why should a fuzzy creature with fur thick enough to protect it from sharp weapons ever wear something to cover up its fur? For fashion? Fashion is an entirely human idea, and in nature, most animals show they are 'worthy' by showing off their natural assets. 

I find that my limited human vision of the world makes me see the species I have created to be entirely non-human, incredibly human. And while I do want them to feel human in the way they interact with each other, the way they interact with the world they were born into, and the way they interact with their feelings, they are, in the end, alien to us, and in that way, they should not be human, but a little to the left.

How does one make a language that isn't rooted in some human language? How does one make slang that isn't tied to human slang in some way? Getting into the minds of individuals who are not, in any way, connected to humanity, and making them perfectly humanly inhuman, is harder than one would realize when first tackling something like this. 

I've come to the crushing conclusion that I can't. It would be impossible for me to make a language, a set of morals, a world, an oppressive institution, that isn't inspired by an already existing human concept in some way. And I have to be okay with that. My characters may be alien in biology, but they are deeply human. Their society is deeply human. Their wants, desires, fears, ways of loving, ways of living, friendships, rivalries, and interactions, are all deeply human. 

I have to write them from a human standpoint, and I can not divorce myself from that human standpoint, no matter how hard I try. So, I have to embrace that. I have to show my characters being human, even if they're not. I have no way to make an inhuman language, so I'll borrow from human languages to make what I need. Humanity isn't my enemy. It is something I need to work with to get to my destination.

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