Landdwellers

Landdwellers is a broad, informal term used to describe beings, organisms, or groups that primarily inhabit terrestrial environments. It derives from the simple combination of land and dweller and is used across disciplines and genres to distinguish non-aquatic, non-aerial life from its rivals—sea-dwellers and air-dwellers—or from other habitats.

In scholarly and folklore contexts, landdwellers often refers to humans or terrestrial organisms contrasted with water-dwelling spirits or creatures. In myth and legend, the term helps categorize different populations or beings according to their presumed habitat.

In fantasy and science fiction, landdwellers commonly describes human-like races or terrestrial species contrasted with sea-dwellers, sky-dwellers, or space-dwellers. Writers use the term to explore themes of belonging, adaptation, and the boundaries of civilization, especially when territories or cultures shift between land and water.

Ecologically, land-dwelling organisms are those that complete life processes on land, as opposed to aquatic life. They typically exhibit adaptations to terrestrial life, such as skeletal strength for support, reproduction strategies suited to land, and tolerance of variable moisture.

Because it is informal, landdwellers does not denote a single taxonomic group or a precise set of traits. Its meaning depends on context, ranging from casual reference to a particular culture to a literary device for world-building.