Race Name/Nicknames: Scian (pronounced shyanne) - A close approximation to what they call themselves in their own language, but Anglicized. Means sky-people
Racial slurs: Clickers, Animals, Poisoners, Clears.
Life Span: 60-70 years. They don't age linearly, though. The youth and adolescence of a Sciani lasts about ten years, after which they remain relatively the same for the next forty, not showing any typical signs of degeneration. After about fifty, they tend to gradually deteriorate, but not to the extent that someone would call them old until about a year before their death, during which they rapidly decline.
Appearance: The Scian are an arboreal species. They have proportionally long limbs, fingers, and toes to add to their climbing ability, so that they can grip and reach better. They are also a highly flexible species for the same reason. The Scian have dappled, light skin, ranging from extra-pale green to grays. However, most people can't actually tell what their skin looks like, as it's nearly translucent. Blood vessels are easily visible through their skin, as are bones in locations with little fat padding, such as the clavicles or feet. Primarily, their organs just present as shadows, but some people find their appearance nauseating, especially since it's rumored that you can see right through them if the sun is shining. Not strictly true, but it does make an impact for better camouflage in the shifting leaves of a forest. Any given Sciani will have large yellow eyes with reflective properties, so they can see in the dark, and foxlike ears on top of their heads. Their "hair" is about the length of that of a cat, and grows across their heads, though also like a cat, they shed, and do not grow hair longer than a few inches. Their nails are sharp, black, and flaky, like beetle husks on the ends of their fingers and toes.
Female Sciani are constructed quite differently than their male counterparts. About 4'10" and 83 pounds on average, they have hollow bones and large flaps of skin extending from their pinky fingers to their hips. These flaps mostly do not make an appearance and everything but what has to come with when they move their arms stays flattened to their sides with the help of the small amount of supporting bones and muscle in the skin flaps. They generally do not use their pinky fingers, which are opposable, as that involves too much skin flap usage. The skin flaps are used as temporary wings when gliding from tree to tree in their natural habitat, rather like flying squirrels.
In contrast, the male Sciani average 6'5" and 170 pounds. Still light, with lithe builds that allow them to climb easily, but their bones are more solid, as they don't glide. Rather, they are often wiry strong and have large canine teeth that curve down around their front teeth, but don't show out of their mouths. Male Sciani have venomous sacs along their gum line, and their bite is poisonously fatal, even to each other. The only reason they themselves do not die from it is that it is keyed to their personal genetic code - because of this, sometimes their children will also be immune to that particular venom. However, the toxin dissolves and evaporates within a few hours, so if they bring down prey with their bite, which they will do, as they have long legs and jump well, the prey is safe to eat within a few hours.
One unique thing is that this race doesn't kiss or smile. Because of the poison in the males' mouths, any kind of oral contact or baring of teeth is seen as aggressive, not affectionate. It's a cultural thing they have to pass down even through half-breeds, in the case of one being born with a poison sac.
Religion: The Scian's organized religion could be better described as storm-centered chaos. They regard thunderstorms as messages from their God, and go out to dance and play and run in them, then the tribe gets together afterwards and anyone who had a religious experience speaks of it so the group can learn. They have no central church or leader, no name for their God, but consider touching water in any form a kind of devotional. Scian faith is highly personal, and once away from the tribe-centered nature of their planet, they often fall away from it or convert to something else.
Laws & Moral Codes:
The Sciani Laws around fighting are harsh. Because of the male's large size and venomous sacs, males are not permitted to fight with females - if it is even known of that one did so, he will be cast from the tribe and the trees, shunned by all the others. Equally, if a male bites another male, this treatment will be employed.
Fighting in Sciani culture is conducted in the middle of an arena, male vs male or female vs female. If a male has a quarrel with a female, she may either request a male to fight for her, or he may request a female to fight for him. Sometimes both. These fights are very public, a kind of communal bonding, and rarely does anyone die. Biting of any sort, even between females, calls for immediate victory to the non-biter and some degree of alienation of the biter.
The Sciani are not to bite their nails to the nub - keeping them short is acceptable, but it is not alright for them to waste by ruining their nails.
Any crimes of violence, really - rape, beating, biting, etc - are harshly punished in the Sciani community, especially if they are perpetrated by a male against a female, because of the size difference.
It is acceptable for a male to have multiple females, if all involved agree, though the reverse is not acceptable, because males are seen as the protectors in Sciani society, and a female does not require so much protection. However, commonly both males and females choose one mate.
Homosexuality is frowned upon by the Scian, unless two males and two females choose to form a single mate-unit, because that is an acceptable family, so long as there is at least one male per female.
It is the job of the parents to educate the young, and they have no major schooling system.
When it comes to eating, it is expected that pregnant women should get to select food first, then children (though their parents serve them), then teenagers, adults, and the elderly.
There is always a war-leader of each Sciani tribe. Generally, they behave as a village, no clear leader or person in charge, just cohabiting, each doing different jobs. However, when there is a dispute or a problem, there is always one of the Scian, generally female, who has been selected by popular vote to decide the next actions and banishments. This war-leader, whose mate leads in battle, can only be removed if popular vote elects another (simple majority rules).
Language: The Scian speak in a language comprised completely of screams, clicks, whistles, and other such noises. Not only are these more natural to a forest, but there are no other anthropomorphic creatures to have a more spoken language on their planet.
Because of this, the Scian have difficulty adapting to and learning other languages, and their English is often pitchy, squeaky, or has other such noises mixed into it, which leads to disdain from others.
Attributes: The Scian have very low alcohol tolerance and get blood poisoning easily. They are not good distance runners, but they are fast climbers and quick in their motions, which are very fluid. Sciani never do anything jerkily, because it would look unnatural in a forest. Bright lights bother them immensely, because their eyes are meant for seeing in shade or dimness.
Habitat: The best habitat for Sciani is a temperate rainforest. The rain is give or take, but what they really like is cool and shady. They don't tolerate sun well and their skin burns easily, but because of how thin their skin is, they aren't very good in cold either. Thus, a warm but shaded or temperate climate are the ones that Sciani survive best in, as they tend to suffer from ill health and complications in other environs. They have some difficulties on earth, because their air is comprised of much more carbon than ours is, so they tend to get lightheaded unless they breathe in other people's exhales or are mixed-breed. They also have slightly higher gravity on their planet, so those that were born there will often overshoot their jumps or land further than they thought they would, as they overcompensated for gravity.
Racial History: The Scian race comes from a marsh planet where they live primarily in trees. Though they hunt in the waters below, only males are encouraged to venture down to islands and water, because they are stronger, and the things that live in the water are primitive, dangerous, and instinctive. The Scian do live in societies, however, their agriculture and other productions are limited, and they live mainly tribally on their home planet, adhering to tribal laws.
When they were discovered by Necrokin, as their technology was nowhere near the point where it would be able to take them to other worlds, those Sciani who were brought along found technology and the format of modern societies very disorienting. Rather than having anything tight-knit, they struggled with learning new languages and assimilating into society. Though many colonies were established on other planets, they had trouble interbreeding at first, and new ones had to be imported for the first fifty years or so to keep them from dying out.
Once the Scian were brought to Earth, however, one of the females realized that because they, at least, spent so much time in the air, they were very good with currents, navigation, and knowing the sky, and began navigating or doing meteorology.
Bolstered by their success, males began to assimilate more too, and it is on Earth that the Scian have succeeded the most, because they have bred with others and established roots.
Despite this, most are leery of, disgusted by, or otherwise displeased by Scian and Sciani half-breeds. It's unpredictable how their children will turn out, and they're so bizarre in general that they are disliked. However, they've interbred enough that mix-blood children get the pleasure of suffering for their parentage, or watching their siblings do so, depending how they turn out.
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