Alien races in outsider!

[Arioch]

Actually that brings up another question. One of the many reasons we humans developed intellect in the first place (yes i consider humans to be smart) was our frail physique or the other way around that our big brains made powerful ape physique obsolete (mountain chimps are no joke).

The human development of larger brains was an interesting confluence of factors. It turns out that the arrangement of the muscles on the skull that power our jaws also restricts or allows the growth of the braincase. When Homo erectus (which still had relatively small brains and powerful jaws) developed the use of fire some 400,000 years ago, the ability to cook food made it much easier to extract the nutritive value from the food, allowing for smaller, less powerful jaws, and less robust stomachs. This in turn allowed for bigger braincases and the resources to power bigger brains. But this was a situation specific to the quirks of our anatomy; in general it does not have to be that brains and brawn are mutually exclusive, if you can get enough nutrition to power both. Dolphins and other whales have very large brains, but are also extremely powerful animals.

Anyway what i wonder is what could possible have motivated the delrias need for physical prowess when clearly brains wins over brawns in evolutionary terms. Were they competing with gigantic predators? (yes i'm well aware that they themselves are gigantic predators). This question also applies to the Niberen which i assume are on similar intellectual capacity as us Humans.

I don't agree that brains always win over brawn in evolution; if it did, you'd expect that nearly every type of animal would inevitably become very smart, which hasn't happened. Selection pressures can result in some very strange and non-intuitive outcomes: consider birds like the peacock or bird of paradise, where male physical features that are actually hurtful to survival are encouraged through arbitrary female selection preferences. The Delrias and their ancestors have had high technology for more than a million years, and so are pretty far removed from the processes of "natural" selection based on environmental pressures or predator/prey relationships. Instead, Delrias selection pressures are societal; Delrias social status (and therefore breeding priority) is based on physical intimidation, and so selection is in favor of larger and more aggressive individuals. The related Morat do not have as violent a social structure, and so do not have the same selection pressure for size and strength. But in the case of the Delrias and Morat, intelligence and size/strength are not an either/or proposition; the Morat are not smarter than the Delrias just because they are less strong. Large brains and big muscles each require a lot of nutrition to power, but once you've got high technology, obtaining lots of food is really not a serious problem.

The Nibiren are much closer to their "natural" evolutionary roots, and so presumably their size has a direct link to their environment.

[GeoModder]

geo: the genetics are still there, we just do not train worth shit, basically we eat too much and move around nowhere near enough.
the first generation in 'their shoes' would do rather poorly, most of the survivors would be fishing, trappers and gatherers, second generation however would probably be capable of endurance hunting.

Second generation would still rely alot on scavenging, and likely try start up farming and continue a habit of domestication as well.

[discord]

geo: never said they WOULD do it, it is inefficient after all, just that they COULD, given different upbringing.
the statistical change from one in a hundred to perhaps one in ten capable of that method of hunting would show that the genetics is still there, just not the environmental and social impetus to do it.

[Charlie]

The San Bush people still today sometimes run the animal until it`s heart gives out, they also use poison tipped arrows.

[junk]

Well, our ancestors sure were. But my feeling is the large majority of today's people wouldn't last long in our ancestor's "shoes".

actually that's relative. Take the draft. Basically it turned people from all kinds of walks, with vastly different physical abilities into fairly high end specimen in a few weeks at best.

Hence with a bit preparation you could probably get most people into pretty good hunters. But it would require a fairly brutal regimen.

The thing is, we're a bit at farming and it does make for a more stable food source. Still it doesn't change the fact that we are one tougher critters on earth even without our brains.

[discord]

ah, sensible people, got a buddy that for some reason thinks humans are the most pathetic thing since....gimpy toothless chihuahuas, he just can't understand that most of the 'problems' he sees are psychological most of the rest environmental(lack of exercise) but the problem is that there is a grain of truth in what he says, he is just making mount everest out of an anthill.