Post by Dire Wolf on Aug 30, 2018 19:13:33 GMT -5
Aphithiri  ((img courtesy Grafit-art.deviantart.com)) Post Apocalyptic Space Elves Name • Aphithiri Type • Near Human Home World • Aphithir Influence • Negligent; small population inhabiting only one planet in a system Ethos • Survival of the Fittest; Subsist Only On What's Needed Allies • N/A Enemies • Anyone landing on their planet Rivals • Each other, mostly  An Aphithiri scavenger seen in her protective garb ((Img by nikki landis)) Ecology The Aphithiri are a near-human race and the product of nearly fifteen thousand years of a careful eugenics program designed to not only keep their relatively limited gene pool free from deformation, but also advance the species as best possible. Where this goal is otherwise impossible extremely light genetic modification has been introduced to refresh their relatively low stock, however save for one relatively small tribe this practice is rarely used. While considered reprehensible by the galaxy at large, this selective breeding program has offered the race their own boons. On average they tend to range much taller than a baseline human, albeit they often appear to be more slender. This allows them to dissipate the oppressive heat on their wretched homeworld, as well as subsist on the minimal resources that it offers. 6' is generally considered short for an Aphithiri male, while 6'8' is tall. Contrast, females generally range form 5'9 to 6'4. Both tend to have willowy and graceful frames and tend to be more dexterous than strong. Apithiri also have eye shades as varied as humanity, save for one; green. That shade seems to be part-and-parcel with another genetic marker that denotes the ability to command the Force. Hair color also tends to follow a similar vein to humanity without any specific unusual colors though platinum blond and black tend to be more common than their human counterparts. Thanks to that eugenics program and light genetic tampering, the Aphithiri have also developed keener sight and auditory sensitivity, though they're far more likely to be overwhelmed by audio and visual stimuli. They tend to be more far sighted than not, though it's rare for them to be unable to focus on near objects. They can also hear at greater ranges, both high and low, compared to baseline humans. This increase in audio-sensitivity brought slightly pointed ears along with it. Finally, Aphithiri have also developed superhuman longevity; two hundred and fifty is often considered wizened by their standards. While most clans detest delving too deeply into gene modification, one had been blasted into such obscurity that they were all but forced to bolster their numbers with a superior populace. Their warriors stand nearly 9' tall at the shortest, weigh almost 600 lbs in pure muscle, and carry around weapons that weigh nearly as much as other warriors in their entirety. Their scientists are enhanced to be far greater in intellect than the other members of their race, and the other castes are adequately modified to be perfected at their singular job at the cost of nearly everything else. Countless attempts to eradicate the clan have been attempted, however each one was in vain. Culture  A warrior prepares her secondary weapon ((img by Greylle Shard)) The Aphithiri society, in a word, could best be described as needful. Their whole thought process is defined by two traits; the scarcity of their home-world, and their low population. Due to the fact that Aphithir has nearly no natural resources to speak of, all things; technology, waste, and even occasionally corpses, are re-purposed and reused in their own ways. Nothing is wasted in their society, and among the gravest insults is to call an Aphthiri of any standing a wasteful individual. Rather than be buried into the ground, bodies are often sent off for medical research and training, and waste redistributed appropriately. Additionally, destroying infrastructure and other non-military targets is considered a war crime on the world, and attacking such will immediately earn the ire of all involved. Even one's own men, and clan. The other aspect of their society that best dictates their thought process is their low population. While war and combat aren't unfamiliar to the race, actually killing their own is heavily discouraged. Often times combat is carried out by the native race of Aphithir, the serpentine Golkiir, who are little more than cannon fodder to be slain. While there's legal punishment for killing another Aphithir in combat, or racking up a high body count for that matter, there are often non-formal actions involved. Cleaning latrines would be one example. Murder is among the highest crimes one can commit, besides wasting and thievery, and will often result in severe punitive action to be decided and carried out by a high council. To tie in with the above, however, it should be noted that Aphithiri aren't above cannibalism of their own nor of the Golkiir race. While the meat is cleaned and cooked, they still recycle every part that they can. If that includes nourishment, then that's what it includes. Their population has been divided up into 5 castes that are nearly impossible to move from. The first and by far most important to their society are the Warriors. With only one exception the various clans tend to be lead by the Warrior caste, as defense against other tribes is paramount. While all castes tend to be treated with their own modicum of respect, the utmost reverence is reserved for the Warriors and the greatest of them are even recorded into a 'genetic bible' of sorts to recount their lives and deeds. While this honor is more often than not posthumous, latter warriors may take up their name as a Surname, or Blood Name of sorts. It's not unheard of for a great warrior to take two or even three Blood names, the second replacing their first name and the third acting as a middle. There are extremely limited slots of warriors allowed to carry on the name of great warriors of old. The second caste in number and importance are the scientists; their role in the society is fairly mundane as are the rest. They research and develop new technologies to be used by the Warriors in their various conquests. Which is to say that any and all advanced technology they may have is martial or derived from martial use. While they do have blasters, such weapons are heirlooms of a bygone age and treated as almost considered holy in their importance. Reverse engineering of such technology is plausible, however attempts at actually recreating them have been stymied by their homeworld's woeful lack of important resources. As such they often wield the occasional slug-thrower, as lead and iron are two metals that're relatively common, or metal melee weapons. Communications are the only area that the race could be considered advanced in, as they've long since developed instant telecommunication over great distances. Finally, they've barely progressed past simple combustion engines for their transportation. They've yet to re-achieve powered flight, and will likely never again breach their planet's atmosphere unassisted. The next two castes are relatively mundane. The merchants oversee the economy and trading goods within and between clans, and as such could potentially double as diplomats within their society. Only one clan has allowed them to surpass the warriors in prestige and importance, and as such that tribe has become a veritable economic superpower in the world. The laborers are the largest portion of the population, and are regulated to the intelligent but menial tasks required of the society. They're the cooks, the mechanics, and the builders of the world. Their importance can't be understated, and as such they're treated with as much respect one can afford them. Bondsmen, however, are slaves. Any race other than Aphithiri that resides on their world is often made slave to work menial, dumb tasks such as mining or digging. They're also the cannon fodder to be used and killed during any of the vast multitude of wars that're going on at any given time. Mentioned before, genetic tampering may be lightly used throughout most of their population, but most individuals in their number have been born in-vitro. While doing so may cost resources, the amount it costs the clan pales in comparison to the hours of lost efficiency that a pregnant female requires of them. Warriors and laborers are generally born this way, however scientists and merchants are often born naturally thanks to their jobs requiring a minimal amount of strenuous activity. While no one is required to birth children in-vitro, doing so is heavily encouraged. That said, though, any individual who strays from the strict eugenics program is subject to harsh punishment. A child born out of the program is immediately made a bondsman, as are the parents, if the trio aren't killed outright to keep such rebellious blood from the pool. One odd effect their selective breeding program has afforded them, is a certain degree of promiscuity. So long as a child isn't born out of the union, the authorities tend to turn a blind eye to such couplings. History 15,000 years prior to play The Aphithiri were one of the many human sleeper pods that were sent out throughout the galaxy, however theirs took far longer to actually reach any sort of world. While their original target was a lush and verdant world in the same system, a brush with a passing asteroid left their vessel crippled and their population decimated. While they were able to land on their target world, they did so without much of the technology they'd been intended to receive. As such, even more of their population died of starvation and a lack of shelter until a paltry few remained. Barely enough to sustain a viable population. It wasn't until the remaining population was able to initiate relations with the locals that they were actually able to establish a foothold on the world. The two races began to thrive in spite of the scarce resources of the planet, quickly developing ways to recycle the old into the new. They became so proficient, that they'd actually moved past the industrial age and into the digital. Eugenics programs were a necessary evil at this point, but the Aphithiri were convinced that after only a few more generations it would no longer be a necessity. 14,000 years prior to play As the population grew throughout their first millennia, they spread throughout the surface of the world. While their population was kept in close check by the authorities, the government hadn't accounted for the increase in Golkiir population. Resources began to grow scarcer and scarcer. Two races that had once been allies erupted into a war that consumed the entire planet. The battle had been utterly devastating to both races. By it's end, the planet of Aphithir was consumed in nuclear fire. What little life remained on the planet had been forced deep underground. Mercifully, both races had managed to delve deep underground. While the war was placed on pause for a time, the radical isolation populations had from one another served to alienate them. Two races, once unified, had been broken and fractured into a multitude of states. While growth was stymied for a time, life on the planet persisted. Somehow. 7,000 years prior to play Between constant tinkering by Aphithiri scientists and the planet's natural processes, seven millennia after the world ended the surface became some measure of habitable. Life had taken a savage twist. Monsters had begun to thrive in the irradiated wasteland, lurking in the shadows and within the ever boiling oceans. The various populations of Aphtihiri began to peek out from their holes, never without thick protective gear that shielded them from the harmful radiation. Slowly but surely, and by degrees, they began to reclaim their world from the savage elements. A few scattered tribe of deranged, inbred sentients may have persisted but were quickly dealt with. They would remain, occasionally troubling cities but never anything beyond mere annoyances. However, as the Aphithiri were soon to discover, what had so long ago been a unified race had become fractured. Differences had split them to the point of such peace being impossible. Squabbles became common place; mere disagreements over land and resources both natural and logistic. Squabbles quickly escalated into all out war. Fortunately all nuclear stockpiles had been obliterated in the desolation of millennia past. Wars became common place, though as time progressed the various factions came together to agree on a certain manner of civility. Avoid killing one another, if possible. Avoid destroying infrastructure. Absolutely no nuclear weapons. 5,000 years prior to play Factions came and went through the years, and as they did alliances between said factions coalesced into great Clans. While war may have been common place, the people did their best to advance themselves to the point of growing beyond their wretched little world. Scarce resources made it difficult, however they were just on the cusp of breaking orbit when the Golkiir finally rose up from their underground holdings. Hordes of serpentine beasts poured up from their caves and tunnel networks, attacking cities and towns alike with impunity. The Aphithiri clans' response was as swift as it was devastating. While the hordes of beasts may have had numbers, size, and strength, what they lacked was technology and the benefit of nearly two thousand years of constant military struggles. The invasion may have initially pushed the people back, but after only a few short years it ended with the whole sale slaughter or enslavement of an entire people. Golkiir were refused any manner of education or comfort, and sent back down into the holes they'd lived for so long, only now to mine for the various ores. While they mostly find Lead with some Iron, other veins were occasionally found and immediately harvested. 500 years prior to play Life had begun to settle in the world once again, now that the Aphithiri society had begun to form into that which they are today. By this point the world had become slightly more hospitable to the point of them being able to survive outside of a suit, though certain zones were still off limits due to how wickedly irradiated they had been. They still scrambled for any possible means off of the planet after so long. Even simple aerial flight had been lost to them in the great years since, though they'd just managed to rediscover the internal combustion engine and slugthrowers. Such weapons were reserved for their Bondsmen scum, however; melee combat remained the sole sphere of Aphithiri combat. 400 years prior to play to current All of that normalcy had been disrupted when an errant Republic Ship had found the Aphithir system, and the wretched world that they'd been found on. What had initially been meant to scout new hyperspace lanes in an effort to find a way around the unbreakable Mandalorian frontline had ended with the scouts discovering a new race. After sending a message to the Republic, the ship landed only to find the planet hellish. A roving band of warriors was quick to pick them up, and send them down with the Golkiir while their vessel was subsumed and tech learned from. Only a few months later a larger Republic Force came to negotiate the release of their prisoners; a difficult sell up until the Aphithiri learned the full extent of their delayed progress. The prisoners were happily handed over in exchange for a negligable amount of resources and technological know-how. After that, the Republic promptly left the system. While explorers do venture to the planet from time to time, it's known as a wild system best left alone. Legacy Clause • Open for use, regardless of activity |
