Human

Humans are the dominant species, distinguished from magical Others. Most humans are Innocent of magical affairs, but a few are Aware or actively Practice magic.

Properties

Humans, as a natural species that arose by chance, are agents of change - a third party to the cosmic battle of order and creation (angels) and destruction (demons).<ref name=":0">Once, he had built.  He had been a theme, spelling out a thousand narratives simply by being, like so many pens touched to an endless scroll of paper.  He inked out paths and behaviors on the broadest scale.
When man had come about, he had been reflected in man’s thoughts and behavior.  As man became intelligent, so had the angel.  He had guided man and been guided in turn, a symbiotic relationship. Man, however, created its own demons.  Some were obvious, while others stirred in the midst of the noise and chaos and took form. 

Sentiments became figures, fears took form, and in some cases, man 

abandoned his kind to join the storm of thoughts and ideas.  To become the monster. The creating ended, and man took the center stage, bringing change to that steady, stable creation.  Born from chaos

and noise like anything else, a chance configuration of molecules, man 

carried that change and chance with him.  Each movement brought change, like a stirring of dust swelling and spreading out from underfoot. As man’s power waxed, the creators’ power waned. Soon, man’s power would wane, and it seemed ruin would follow. - excerpt from Interlude 14 </ref>

Wars and similar are invariably the affairs of men.<ref name="WoG">It kind of always bothered me a ton that in whatever series where you go back in time or when magic was available, the protagonists are like, "Oh yeah, D-day? That was us."

So if I were to lean in any direction in terms of giving official word, it would be that the world wars were affairs of men. Great efforts were spent to keep it that way- both from Others that secretly hoped it was the start of the end for mankind and the forces working in the background to keep Others and practitioners from trying to sway events. Were there practitioners and Others? Of course. but not in the midst of things, and they largely canceled each other out.

World leaders in general don't buy into practice- for those who would or wouldn't, look to those who openly admit to believing in magic. In most cases, practitioners will try to form hidden departments and factions where they can influence and advise, mainly in the selfish interests of protecting national powers and practices. Making powers and Others a big deal has a way of, wait for it, making Others a big deal- its' risky to bring them into the forefront of public knowledge or the upper ends of politics, commerce, science, faiths, or wars. What ends up happening is something will ride the chain of successes and find its way to a place near the top of the hierarchy. Do people try? Of course. But it's a crab-bucket style trying and it's never simple.

Keep in mind, and this is pretty big, that practitioners aren't necessarily aligned with the nation. If you have an American practitioner family but the family has deep-set roots going over to eastern Europe, it's very possible that they could be aligned with the Axis rather than the Allies. This very much complicates efforts to just say, "Let's get all our practitioners together and go stop the bad guys!" - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Human civilization covers much of the Earth. Since humans now dominate the world, Others must deal with them and learn the ways of humans of become marginalized.<ref name=":1">We did not think humanity would last nearly as long as it did. [...] The Others that came before did not think humanity would spread as it did.  Many of the predatory Others promised protections and sanctuaries,

thinking your civilization would be pockets of light in vast darkness. 
Now the light from your world is so bright you must often travel a 

distance to properly see the stars in the night sky.  Some suffered more

than others.  Many have died out or become beggars instead of 

predators. - excerpt from Back Away 5.d</ref>

History

Origins

From Faysal's perspective, humans were born by chance as random molecules assembled, thus taking on the ability to change and carry chance with them.<ref name=":0" />

Early Others assumed that humanity would die out relatively quickly.<ref name=":1" />

Early History

Many Others picked up intelligence and emotions from early humans, becoming more human in turn.<ref>“The town will fall, just as it rose, two hundred and fifteen years ago. Before that, I was here. I watched people come and go. Settlements rose and fell. Not many, not large, but a number. Before that, I was here.”
“Been here a while,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed. “The man and woman who brought me into this world

came to this place on a raft of reeds, and I was so small I had to be 

carried. We traveled from the west to here over my lifetime, following the deer and the hunt. When my parents passed, I stayed. I was one of the first to lay claim here, and I have never given it up.”
“Over the water to the west?” Peter murmured. “The lake?”
“Ocean,” Tiff said, her voice almost a whisper.
“I nurtured those who followed after me or passed through, offered them my hand and my amassed knowledge, so they could be communities, a people. Many are mine. Hundreds of years of work. I saw things follow in our wake, things stirred into existence by our being.

Your Others, echoing our intelligence, echoing our pride and fear and 

pain, to join those Others that were here before the first people. I am

familiar with them all.  I know what man is, and I know that your love and law and fairness are invention.  Invention younger than I am." 

[...]
“You know the power of your repetition. Three times, you do something. Three times you bind it to make it so. Agreed?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“Invention. But at the core, there is truth. I have not counted, but I can still be utterly confident in saying that I have woken up in the same place for more than nine million of your days. I have gathered, hunted, cooked and eaten the same foods on those same days. I have been born, bled for the first time, and been reborn on more than one thousand occasions. The wheel of life and death turns forward and I am an indelible part of it, especially here. This is a pattern, this is my ritual. Now tell me, what is the truth of this. What does it make me?” - excerpt from Sine Die 14.6</ref><ref name=":0" />

In the early days of humanity, they were constant prey for Others.<ref>“You’re an Other,” Maggie said. “That place is like an Other’s amusement park. There, it’s like the old days, before the Seal of Solomon. Before humans were really able to fend for themselves.” - Excerpt fromDamages 2.2</ref><ref name=":2" /> They used cats and dogs to protect them from the worst minor Others, instilling them with instincts to protect humanity from the darkest things that they retain to this day.<ref>“Once upon a time, when humans weren’t much more than animals, we relied on our dogs to scare off the Others who wanted to prey on us and do mischief.  Cats hunted and fought with the lesser Goblins, returning to owners with torn ears or small injuries.  They still have those instincts.  To destroy things of darkness, foulness and blight, before rot can set in.” - excerpt from Breach 3.2</ref>

Practitioners of a sort have existed for millenia; they predate recorded history, and seemingly even human colonization of North America.<ref>There are ways of being inducted into the practices, those esoteric traditions that predate computers, cell phones, the engines industry, and even paper and bronze. [...] One of the common ways is to be born to it. [...] The second way is to stumble onto it. To find a book hidden in a library, or an object both strange and powerful at a crime scene where the deceased was killed by something not human nor animal. [...] The last way, the old way? The road we’re going down? To make that deal directly. Find or be found by the fey things, the goblin things, the things that used to be ghosts and became something more, the things that used to be human and became something less. Strike those deals. Make those compacts. Those strange Others can give up shares of their power and teach their secret knowledge. - Pale: About</ref> Wild Practitioners serving Other patrons were the norm.<ref name=":5">“Alexander,” Mrs. Durocher said. “You do know where they come from? I’m not the only one who’s put it together?”
[...]
“They’re wild practitioners.”
“Hm.”
“What’s that?” Zed asked.
“Practitioners of old ways, Zed. Patron Others and practitioners who

are tied to them.  The way things were done before Solomon, when they 

were formalized. Which leads to questions about who and what spearheaded the organization of this little triad of practitioners.”
[...]
Alexander smiled. “Knowing that you’re wild practitioners with multiple patrons helps me to make sense of you. It tells me you’re probably strong, with a wide base of power. It means I can expect you to be… interesting students.”
“Unruly and interesting,” Mrs. Durocher amended. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4 </ref> As humans grew more powerful, many Others tried to bargain with or exploit them, but humans frequently managed to twist even the most formal deals and concessions to their advantage.<ref name=":6">“To try to formalize deals. To hitch their wagons to that of humanity, by striking deals that would establish them as Patrons. They teach their secret knowledge and ways of manipulating the world, in exchange for servitude… until mankind begins sharing that knowledge in ways few Others can stay ahead of, on paper and in tomes. Knowledge, instead of being taught from patron Other to Practitioner, becomes something kept in families. Others try to formalize a kind of equality, such as the familiar bond, and to make firm agreements about oaths, lies, and declarations, out of fear of being tricked again. But these things become their own weapon that humans wield. Humans sprawl, they work with concerted effort, and they establish and mutate patterns. [...] The Seal of Solomon, as it exists now, was essentially intended as one last concession. Or it was meant to be the last. A binding that would not be mutated further, that would be universal enough that it could be trusted by the Other, instead of having hooks and more traps attached to it. And as part of it, there was a deal that practitioners would manage the affairs of Others but select, powerful Others would have some say over the movements and dealings of Practitioners. Lords and judges. Roles above all other things.” - excerpt from Back Away 5.d</ref>

Post-Solomon

With the creation of the Seal of Solomon, the relationship between human and Other was formalized.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> Others were barred from interfering with humanity "without excuse", protecting the Innocent.<ref name=":2">She lifted another book, turning it around so I could see a painting of a brown-skinned man with a funny little golden hat and a magnificent beard.

Rose explained, “Suleiman. Sorcerer king. He was the first practitioner who really worked for the betterment of mankind and actually made headway. He established rules and contracts, and he systematically worked to challenge the biggest, baddest Others out there that he could, then used them to help get others. It brought about an age where humans could stop being the playthings of Others and start developing as a civilization.”

“Okay,” I said. “And the seal?”

“A formal acknowledgement on the part of an Other, that they won’t interfere with mankind without excuse, they’ll obey certain rules, and the practitioners will leave them be. Typically an Other bears some symbol or token of this bargain. Over time it’s gained a power of its own. Being sealed physically alters the Other, but it also affords them certain protections against us.” - Excerpt from Bonds 1.7</ref> The modern Awakening ritual was established as the means of going from Innocent human to Practitioner<ref>“Suleiman Bin Daoud took the first steps to establishing a new relationship between human and Other,” Miss said. “A lasting compact between human and Other. There are forms of this ritual where we recite

old words in your language and in Suleiman’s.  There are forms where we
conduct old traditions.  At the heart of it, however, lies an 

invitation. For you to join our world, and for us to cooperate with you

in interacting with the world of man.  Would you invite us in, Verona, 

Avery, and Lucy?” - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.2</ref> and Practitioners agreed to accept usually-Other Judges and Lords.

Post-Solomon Practitioners and humans generally tended to view the world as a chain of being: God was above King, who was above Lord, who was above Man, who was above Animals, who were above Others. This may be the origin of familiars taking on animal forms, as they grow "closer" to human and are "raised up" to a more trusted status.<ref>In old traditions, in the post-Solomon reformations, God was arranged above king, who was arranged above lord, above man, who ruled over animal, who were declared above Other. We know this redefinition of the

anno Domini provenance was in part an effort to redefine the realm of 

man and mark out borders on a cultural and linguistic front. Put in simpler words, mankind, in order to both survive and thrive, declared a new order of things and placed Other at the lowest point. The familiar relationship originated in an era where this was the common mindset among men both practitioner and innocent, and the traditions established

then include the translation of Other to the nearest step in the chain,
in what was often viewed as ‘raising them up’ to be animals, close but 

still subservient to man. In this, the tradition of giving them mortality through animal forms was established early on. - Excerpt from Famulus, quoted in Bonus Material: Famulus Text </ref>

Over time, human civilization spread and prospered beyond what anyone had anticipated. Others who had struck deals that barred them from civilization, or chosen to avoid civilization out of fear of humanity, became increasingly marginalized.<ref name=":1" /><ref>“How would you avoid it?  What would you do?” “Not make any more deals?” “Some went that route.  They detach from humanity, finding their own refuges.  But humanity shapes the world, and everything is soon associated with humanity.  These Others now find the world unfamiliar and hostile, they are ill-equipped to catch up or keep up, and they fall

by the wayside.” - excerpt from Back Away 5.d

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