Post Human

Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at writing a story with sexual content, an experiment I wanted to try for a while now. It serves as kind of a pilot for what might become a longer series, following the protagonist in his exploration of a dystopian future earth. If people here like it, maybe I will write more. The kinky stuff is an integral part, but not the main focus, so some patience is required. Any feedback is very welcome.

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Preamble

My name is Teo. I live on earth in the second century of the second age of humanity. I am human. More precisely I belong to one of the six human subspecies as they exist since the beginning of this era. This is my journal.

This will probably never be read by anyone, but for the unlikely case that the record of my life is of any value to some person in the future, it might be worth providing a short summary of what I know about the world I live in and how it came to be. For the sake of completeness if you will.

There is not much I can tell about the first age of humanity. It began with the initial emergence of the species Homo Sapiens from its primitive predecessors and ended with the downfall of human civilization in the 21st century of the prevalent calendar used during those times. The end of old humanity was brought about by the invasion of an alien species known as Sikatis. In a short, cataclysmic war the foreign invaders ripped through any military resistance, subjugated the population and claimed our planet for themselves. From their brutal efficiency and their army of slave soldiers stemming from various other planets, it became clear that they hadn't done this for the first time. Earth became the newest colony of a vast, interstellar empire, its inhabitants subjects to the Sikatis overlords. Of this empire, which comprised dozens, if not hundreds of star systems, we learned only very little.

What followed is now known as the great darkness. Centuries of living in servitude to the new masters. The invasion was only the beginning of the torments my ancestors had to endure. More than half of the population had been exterminated during the war and the subsequent purges. The rest was rounded up like cattle and driven into slavery. Much of human knowledge, culture and history was irretrievably eradicated.

Yet among all these atrocities, the most radical measure was the creation of the human subspecies. The Sikatis defined certain criteria by which all humans were categorized into six classes. Each class represented some collection of tasks, professions and purposes, it should fulfill within the new order on Earth. Everyone who didn't fit into a specific class was killed. The classes were strictly separated from each other and forbidden to mingle. Through genetic engineering, selective breeding of paragon specimen and culling of unwelcome ones, over time, each class was permanently transformed to become perfectly specialized servants for a specific purpose. Due to this classification, throughout the centuries, humanity evolved into six subspecies. Because of the extreme interference of the Sikatis, the differences between them went far deeper than the trivial details separating the naturally developed ethnicities of old humanity. Moreover the borders between them were drawn much clearer.

To easily tell them apart, the genes responsible for the development of melanin causing the pigmentation in the human eye was adapted so that each subspecies had a different eye color. Pigmentation of the skin was left unaltered and developed more or less naturally. Apparently a diversity of skin color within the subspecies was considered beneficial or at least not harmful.

Each subspecies was given a name based on the classical Latin identifiers:

Homo Sapiens Fortis: The strong, large, and robust humans with red eyes.

Homo Sapiens Durabilis: The untiring, resilient, frugal humans with gray eyes.

Homo Sapiens Callidus: The crafty, clever and skillful humans with brown eyes.

Homo Sapiens Eloquens: The communicative, sociable and eloquent humans with green eyes.

Homo Sapiens Pulcher: The beautiful, artistic and desirable humans with blue eyes.

Homo Sapiens Primus: The intelligent, wise and most sophisticated humans with purple eyes.

Given enough time, the classes would certainly have developed into completely different, genetically incompatible species. Luckily it didn't come to that. At some point the Sikatis empire collapsed. The reason is still a mystery to us. Earth was a remote colony of little importance, far away from the core of the Sikatis realm. The only thing humans were aware of when the fall of their masters approached, was the dwindling number of occupying forces and receding military presence on and around the planet. Many members of the Sikatis species were called to other parts of the galaxy, never to return or be replaced by new ones. When the weakened state of the tyrants became obvious, resistance stirred. Slave communities started to revolt. When some of them achieved first victories and no reinforcements were sent by the empire, all hell broke loose. In a long, bloody war of revolution, humanity reclaimed its freedom and drove the aliens from their home. What became of the Sikatis is still unknown. Those who had the opportunity left the planet. The rest was exterminated to the last individual. The fear of them returning was ever present of course, but there was little one could do about it and these worries were soon overshadowed by more immediate problems.

Once again Earth was in the hand of its native inhabitants. The second age of humanity dawned. That came with a lot of new challenges. After the war, many of the big cities on the planet lay in ruins. The planet was deeply scarred. Too much of the knowledge from before the invasion had been lost for us to continue where our ancestors had left off. Plenty of Sikatis technology had been left behind but people lacked the expertise for understanding and reproducing it. The species had no real leaders, no administration, no organizational structures and worst of all, hardly any sense of purpose, direction or identity.

On top of all that, humanity was deeply divided. After the long time of separation between the subspecies, there was a lot of distrust and resentment towards each other. The revolution had given them a common goal, enabling them to cooperate for a while but afterwards the alliances fell apart. Most people preferred to remain with their own kind, forming isolated communities of genetically similar humans. Tensions developed as land and resources were claimed, sometimes even erupting into violent confrontations.

More than 150 years have passed since the fall of the Sikatis. A fragile order has settled in and between all the problems, challenges and hurdles, there is still hope for a bright future of the Homo Sapiens. The rifts between the subspecies are only just beginning to heal. Most humans still stick to their own, but there are efforts to bring them back together and first results are slowly emerging. It is an exciting time for our species.

This is where my story begins.

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Chapter 1

At the break of dawn I was ripped from a dreamless slumber by the sound of drums. The noisy tumult outside announced the beginning of a day I had been looking forward to for years. Still I found it hard to get out of bed. With a mixture of excitement and nervousness I went through my morning routine. By the time I was done and left my shack, most of the people of the village were already part of the processions. Preparations for the ceremony were well under way.

It was the proving day, the annual event were all youths of the tribe who had turned 18 since the previous one, made their transition into adult life. It was a common tradition among the Homo Sapiens Fortis or just Fortis for short, one of the six human subspecies. I belong to this subspecies and that day it was my turn to become an adult. There were many components to the occasion which justified getting excited about. For me there was only one: Once I was an adult, I was free to leave the tribe for good. While I was without a doubt a Fortis in terms of genetics, I never fit into this society.

Bracing myself for the challenges to come, before I could finally turn my back on the village, I joined the celebrating crowd. As soon as someone recognized me for one of the aspiring adults, I was ushered towards the center of the main village square. Being pushed and pulled rather roughly by various laughing and hooting tribe members, I made my way to the elevated platform there. Most of the 18-year-olds were already present, lined up on the otherwise empty stage. I moved to the end of the line and assumed my position, still and quiet as was expected of me.

My gaze wandered over the crowd surrounding us. A wild mess of cheering and screaming people. All of them were Fortis, that was obvious. Compared to the other subspecies our appearance was very distinct, not just due to the red eyes. Our ancestors had been selected, bred and modified by the Sikatis for physical fortitude. Many of them had served the oppressors as soldiers, gladiators or bodyguards. Others had been doing work which required great strength or resilience. With these purposes in mind, the Fortis had been made tall, robust and muscular. These traits were still very much present among the current members of the subspecies. The height of the adult males in my tribe varied between two and two and a half meters, with an average around 2 meters and 30 centimeters. Females were slightly shorter but still huge by general human standards. With 2.18 I was one of the smaller ones among my peers.

It was similar with my muscle mass. Weighing less than 130 kilograms I was considered a lightweight. An adult male Fortis could easily reach a mass of 170 kilogram or more while still having rather little body fat. The Sikatis had modified our systems in a way that strongly benefited muscle growth and retention. Muscles once gained, hardly receded in disuse. As a consequence, Fortis needed a lot of food. The Sikatis had provided a concentrated nutrient paste to their loyal subjects. Now it was a lot harder for us to acquire sufficient nutrition. In Fortis tribes, a large part of the population was exclusively responsible for providing food.

The result of all the modifications were still very apparent on each individual. Broad shoulders, massive torsos, big limbs bulging with muscle, thick skin and a solid bone structure made us far superior to all other kinds of humans in terms of physical prowess.

Those advantages came at a huge cost though. The tasks we had been designed for, had little demand for intelligence. The Sikatis needed us not for thinking, but for blindly following orders. Not only was intellect neglected when selecting humans for breeding within this class, it was deliberately diminished. Dull, stupid people were easier to control and manipulate, posed less of a threat and made for perfect working slaves. Centuries of being deprived of any proper education deepened the cognitive deficiencies of our ancestors. After the fall of the Sikatis, we were free to develop our brains again, but too much damaged had already been done.

So while Fortis were clearly the strongest among the human subspecies, they were also without a doubt the least intelligent. Among many other consequences, this was the reason why they lived mainly in small, primitive tribal societies while other types of humans inhabited large cities with a much more sophisticated level of technology and social system.

From a very early age on I had known that I was somehow different. What had been a vague feeling of not belonging, had developed into the certain knowledge that my mind worked differently than those of the others. The most significant difference was that I turned out to be smart. Not just relatively smart for living among a society of people commonly considered to be savages. My intellect rivaled those of the smarter individuals from the other human subspecies. Except for the Primus of course.

Where my unusual abilities come from I cannot say. There was always the suspicion that my father might be from a different subspecies. Like most people in the tribe I had never known who my real father was. Fortis tended to switch sexual partners often and all offspring was raised together as children of the tribe. Parental relationships had been significantly weakened during the servitude to the Sikatis, in order to mitigate complications when culling the population at a young age. If my mother had copulated with someone outside the tribe she would have never admitted it because it would have brought great shame to her.

On the outside I was clearly a Fortis. Below average in size and strength but still undeniably of the same breed. I had never really felt like I was part of the tribe or even part of their kind though. It had left me discontent and unfulfilled. I dreamed of living in a great city among people who's mind was more akin to mine. Before that could happen I had to go through the proving day though.

Once all the candidates, 21 male and 22 female in total, had found their way onto the platform, the ceremony could begin. The Supreme Mother of the tribe came onto the stage and initiated it by reciting the traditional words, customary for the occasion:

"In this harsh world, only the strong survive, only the resilient endure, only the capable procreate. Today we will find out who is worthy of being called Fortis, fit to join our tribe; and who isn't. Let the tests begin."

After the short introduction, the proving could begin.

The whole proving day tradition was utterly absurd to me. It was a remnant of the brutal Sikatis rule. For sorting out the unwanted individuals from the population, they had introduced multiple gateways in the early life of a Fortis. The first one occurred right after birth, the last one on proving day at 18; two more in between. At each gateway the individuals were assessed and those which didn't show the desired characteristics were exterminated. In addition, the last stage served to decide which kind of work the candidates who survived would be assigned to. In the very beginning the assessment was done by the Sikatis themselves, but once the Fortis were indoctrinated enough to accept the new order of things, the older ones of them took it into their hands.

Surprisingly the cruel traditions had survived in most Fortis societies, even after humanity had regained its independence. Some still performed them in their original version, convinced that disposing of the weak was a necessary measure to keep the tribe strong. Others, such as mine had modified the procedure to certain degrees. In my tribe, those who could not prove their worth were simply banished from the tribe and even that happened rarely. With the high demand for workforce around here they couldn't really afford to send able-bodied young people away. But the traditions had to be honored so they put up this show each year. Every now and then someone who strongly differed from the ideal image of a tribe member and was not particularly popular in the village was exiled. I had a faint suspicion that I fit that description. Not because my physical attributes were insufficient, I had no worries about that. My psychological differences however, had often been regarded with suspicion.

Being banished from a village which I wanted to leave anyway didn't seem all that bad, but for some reason I still didn't want that to happen. Despite all my rational arguments against the Fortis way of life, I could not deny that it still had a significant impact on me. The thought of failing frightened me, even though I knew how ridiculous the whole occasion was. It would also mean that there was no coming back in case life among the other kinds of humans wouldn't play out as I hoped it would.

So there was still some nervousness in me when the Mother approached the beginning of the line. The assessment of the new adults consisted of five tests. The first one, called the test of stature was simple: The candidates were lined up and the Supreme Mother assessed stature, virility and absence of dysfunctions one by one.

In the old days a majority of the men had been taken on as soldiers or assigned to some other work far away from their homes. Only occasionally did they return to the places they grew up in, if life was kind enough to let them return at all. Some of the women were also sent away, but the percentage was a lot smaller so most of those who stayed behind were female. It fell to them to care about their homes and the young. This included also the responsibility of assessing children at the four stages. An assembly of mothers holding a high status within the tribe was bestowed with the responsibility of deciding over the fates of the candidates. The highest among them was the Supreme Mother, who led the ceremony. The hierarchy within the tribe was mostly determined by physical attributes and capabilities. It tended to change frequently.

The current Supreme Mother of my tribe was a stern woman in her early thirties. She was huge for a female, even by Fortis standards. She moved up to the first candidate in the row, a relatively small girl with short red hair and fair skin by the name of Kira.

"Undress!" the Supreme Mother commanded. For a proper assessment, the entire body needed to be observed. The Fortis were not of the shy kind, and nakedness was not considered as something shameful. Most of them were proud to show their impressive bodies. So the girl didn't hesitate to shed the few garments she wore until her entire body was bare for the crowed to see. The sight was welcomed by the spectators with thundering approval.

The Mother looked her up and down, first just in a superficial way, then more closely. The treatment became rougher the longer it took. She grabbed, pinched, squeezed and shifted body parts until she had examined pretty much every centimeter. The girl took it with casual dignity.

Once the Mother was done, she showed a casual nod of approval. That didn't mean much, the final decision would only be made once all tests were completed, but still the verdict brought cheers and applause from the crowd and made the girl stand even prouder. The next candidate was male. He too, undressed on command and had to endure the same procedure. At the end there was an additional step though. She grabbed his manhood with one, his testicles with the other hand and started massaging them in a dispassionate, methodical way. The handling of his genitalia was continued until he had reached a full erection. Testing this form of male virility was part of the examination. I had my suspicions that it was not part of the original customs, but introduced later, mainly with the purpose of degrading the candidates in front of the spectators, but I knew better than to question the traditions.

Once the organ had reached its peak size she let go of it and concluded the assessment, leaving the candidate standing unfulfilled. The procedure repeated itself for each person, with only the slightest variations. The seventh candidate, another male, got a bit too excited. As the tribe mother applied a last stroke when his phallus already stood quite upright, he jerked his hips forward and ejaculated onto the stage with a grunt. The mother barely dodged the first shot. She struck him violently across the face with the back of her hand while the crowd was roaring with laughter.

There were no more unforeseen occurrences until it was my turn. I swallowed hard when the mother stepped in front of me. She was an intimidating sight, taller than me, the outline of her muscles clearly visible under her olive skin, short black hair and a gaze hard and cold as stone. Within the tribe she was considered a real beauty. Fortis men were conditioned to be attracted by tall, strong and fit women. It benefited the chance of producing offspring with similar attributes.