Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Giants and Tinies

In some of my previous newsletters, I’ve mentioned giants and tinies, for one reason or another. This one shall deal with these creatures who are on the large and small size. Now, while there are ogres who are better than seven feet tall, and dwarves who are lucky to reach five feet, I’ll be discussing creatures who are better than thirty feet tall, or shorter than one foot.

Now, most of us have heard about Jack the Giant Killer, The Borrowers, The Littles, or Gulliver’s Travels at least once, in one form or another. In all of these stories, there’s at least one group of people that’s bigger/smaller than the other. What's common to both is that they tend to be bipedal, and humanoid. Of course, they are on opposite ends of the size spectrum.

There have been many giants in real life, many of which have been actors, wrestlers, and basketball players. But most part, these people tend to be taller than 6'6". In fantasy and sci-fi however, giant is a term to describe those well over the height of the normal man. Many of us have heard details of Jack the Giant Killer and how the giant was a vicious brute, who would come down and attack the people of the kingdom until Jack was hired to kill the giant, due in part to his boasts of killing seven with one blow. We have also heard tales of Paul Bunyan, the famous lumberjack who stood at well over 60 feet tall, along with his famous ox named Babe, surrounding the pair including the creation of the Great Lakes. Bunyan is considered a gentle giant due in part to how generous he is described to be.

There've also been many dwarves in real life, especially those who are shorter than 5 foot in height. While these people are not considered true tinies, they are generally shorter than the average person. In science fiction and fantasy, the tiny folk are those generally less than 1 foot in height, such as leprechauns, brownies, fairies, and other such small folk. While these folk are generally friendly, they can be very vicious when wronged.

When it comes to tales of people with differing heights, one might wonder if the larger race will be able to hear any of the smaller one. Anyone who has seen Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, or its sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves , can recall that those who were shrunk were unable to be heard by those who were of normal height. The question that comes to mind is; Will the smaller race be heard by the larger race or will the larger race be unable to hear them? Take for instance the last two movies mentioned; in the first movie, the kids had to mime a game of baseball so that way the adults could know what had happened to the shrinking machine. In the second movie, the adults had to rewire a speaker to be heard by the teenagers.

In other stories of course, the larger race is able to hear the smaller one. In many cases this is due to certain biological traits that the giant has, such been able to hear the higher pitched sounds the smaller race talks in, or a latent spell upon the land that allows a sort of universal translation. In other stories, where the larger race unable to hear the smaller one, other methods are utilized. In a fantasy themed story, a magic user might use a spell that will allow the larger race to hear the smaller one, or just project their voice into the mind of the larger one. In a sci-fi themed story, a device might be used by the smaller one to allow communication. For instance, in this one interactive I tend to write in, Family Furs, I have the humans in it use a special headset, similar to one that can be found with a Dragon Speak to Type program or in use by those who play console games, such as Xbox, online, complete with a microphone and earphones, in order to communicate with their large wolf hosts.

In these sorts of stories, certain fetishes tend to be in use. The most common fetish is what is known as vore, or essentially, the cannibalism of the smaller race. Another common fetish is crush, where the larger race steps on the smaller one. A third set of common fetishes are various forms of insertion, especially those of a sexual nature. In some stories, the giant race is unaware of the smaller race, and may do these things by accident. In other stories the giant race is certainly aware of the smaller race, and will do this out of a sense of domination. In other stories still, these things are done in a form of a friendly gesture, as it were. It all depends on the story written by the author/s.

Now, what do these creatures look like? In many stories, they simply would like different sized versions of humans, just larger or smaller. In other stories they're very different. They might have four arms, have one eye, or have a body reminiscent of an animal, such as a centaur or a Minotaur, or some other variation. Of course some creatures don't even look human or any animal known to man. Once again, this depends on the author/s.

This concludes our journeys through the lands of large and small. Please have fun on your continuing journeys to the lands of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Just don't get stepped on by someone larger than you or step on anybody smaller than you.