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Sthyss Species Reference Sheet

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Art by :iconrikkoshaye:

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History
About half a millennia ago, a young species known as the Vendarians discovered a planet much like their own, orbiting a distant star. From afar they could see that this world was pristine, fertile, and rich with life. The Vendarians named it Paradise, and once they began to colonize the stars, tens of thousands of pioneers were sent its way.

Once the colonists arrived, it didn't take long before they gave it a new name: Torment.

While in many ways similar to most Garden-type worlds, Torment is an extraordinarily inhospitable planet due to its peculiar biosphere. When life first developed there, it had to endure a long series of frequent mass extinction events that ended up producing a group of multicellular organisms that were highly structurally resistant to kinetic energy, extreme temperatures and pressures, vacuum, as well as exposure to high doses of radiation. This incredible resilience was so intrinsic to these organisms that it was passed on to their descendants who became Torment's flora and fauna.
Multicellular photosynthetic life never evolved on Torment, but photosynthesizing bacteria thrived and evolved a symbiotic relationship with certain types of organisms. As a result, the "plants" there are more akin to corals covered by symbiotic bacteria.

Due to the extreme toughness of their food, the native organisms that fed on other lifeforms evolved various strategies to overcome this defense. The animal life, and some plants, developed two broad approaches: extra-oral digestion and engulfment. Organisms that utilize the former cover their food with highly corrosive acid to break it down and then suck up the nutrients, while those lifeforms relying on engulfment evolved bodies that made them better able to completely envelop and trap their food inside themselves.

The fauna most analogous to terrestrial fish are more like something in-between a sea slug and an eel. These creatures possess a relatively simple skeleton, consisting of only a spine and a set of jaws. Most of their structure is instead supported by a complex array of hydrostats and cartilage. Some of these creatures developed bony gills, and some of these developed into bony fins, which led to the evolution of two-limbed land animals.

The ancestor of the Sthyss was an opportunistic predator, whose arboreal lifestyle in the coral trees led its legs to evolve into arms capable of not only grasping branches, but also manipulating the world around it. A growing curiosity that helped it find food as well as mimic prey, in addition to an increasingly more complex social life vital to survival, resulted in the evolution of primitive sapience.

It is doubtful that the Sthyss ancestors would ever have been able to develop past the early stone age; Torment was simply too unforgiving. And the Vendarian colonists would've surely perished had they not been discovered and rescued by the mercantile humanoids known as the Dravinians. Once the Dravinians learned of Torment's unusual biosphere, they realized that they had just found a biological gold mine.

Within a few decades, several competing Dravinian corporations had established outposts throughout the system, from which they could launch expeditions to study and explore Torment. It quickly dawned on them that they had bit off a lot more than they could chew, as they lost countless equipment and personnel to the deadly flora and fauna.

In the hopes of overcoming this, one company uplifted one of the more clever and sociable creatures they had encountered on the planet. They named this new sophont 'Stis' and deployed them on their expeditions. While the Stis performed far better than the Dravinian explorers, it wasn't enough to offset the cost of their development nor the assets they kept losing to Torment's biosphere. The other corporations had similar problems, and in the end they came to deem Torment as more of a money sink than a gold mine; and one by one, they decided to cut their losses and abandon the system. But by that time their outposts had grown into small colonies in their own right, and as their parent companies left they were forced to fend for themselves.

After having seen each other as competitors and rivals for decades, the colonies were unwilling to cooperate, and as they grew, this enmity sparked an unending series of feuds and conflicts. The Stis, however, thrived, as this environment was perfect for mercenary work and their biology made them well-suited for it. This era is considered to be the cultural birth of the Sthyss, as the intercolonial wars and the wealth it brought allowed them to truly develop their own identity as a species, along with their own unique dialect of the Dravinian language.

Once they spread outside of their home system, the Sthyss quickly garnered a reputation as xenophagous savages and drew the ire of most of civilized society. Some polities even went as far as to classify their entire species as "undesirables", essentially criminalizing their existence. Where they were tolerated the Sthyss found themselves denied legal employment for anything other than mercenary work, forcing many of them to turn to crime in order to make ends meet. This, of course, did nothing but worsen the reputation of their species.

General Description
Sthyss, native to the planet Hashi, are an intelligent, brave, and proud species. They tend to be ambitious and hard-working, and usually possess an air of superiority about them. They make great scientists and artists, as they are both innately curious and highly imaginative. Additionally, sthyss are extremely playful and produce a lot of art, literature, games, and media; and because of this playfulness and their competitive nature, they also have elaborate sports.
Another notable trait sthyss tend to possess is a remarkable loyalty, especially towards their friends and coworkers. Betrayal is very unusual, and is seen as one of the worst things one can do.
Because of the way the sthyss' ancestors evolved, they are wired to enjoy the feeling of having living creatures inside of them. As a result, sthyss mostly eat live food, but the consumption of other sapients is universally outlawed. An interesting aside of being wired this way is that females enjoy being pregnant far more than other viviparous species, which increases their fecundity.
Another consequence of their evolutionary history as opportunistic predators, is that they possess an unparalleled curiosity for sampling new food, to the point where they have biologically augmented themselves to be able to safely consume and digest any organic matter. One dark aspect of this curiosity is an interest in eating people, but this is considered to be taboo.
Females are larger, more aggressive, and more dominant than males. Sthyss males tend to feel intimidated by females of their own species and behave submissively towards them.
Sthyss typically wear little to no clothing. This is partially because it restricts their movements, particularly if their tails are covered, but mostly it is because of their culture. Sthyss who have grown up in an alien culture that promotes wearing clothes often cover their torsos. Still, even sthyss who go in the nude tend to wear bandoliers, holsters, and bags to carry things with them. Protective outfits that cover the whole body do exist and are used where this is necessary, but being covered in social situations is taboo and considered to be very rude.

Physiology
Sthyss resemble their Thesan ancestors, with the exception that they possess larger craniums and human-like torsos. Unlike their ancestors, sthyss have endothermic metabolisms and females possess mammaries. Furthermore, the tail provides more structural support to a sthyss' upper body, making it look more erect.
Sthyss have a great variety of skin colors and patterns, as well as eye colors.
They have been genetically enhanced to be able to feel comfortable in a wide variety of climates and temperatures without any protective clothing.
Their reproductive organs are in their torsos, while the anal opening is located near the end of their tail.
Because most of their skeleton is hydrostatic, sthyss are incredibly maneuverable and have a great deal of control over their bodies.
The tentacles on their head are semi-prehensile and move autonomously. Their complex movements is an important component to sthyss body language.
Adult females are usually 230 cm tall and 11.5 m long from the tip of their snouts to the end of their tails, and have an average weight of 370 kg, while males are 199 cm tall and 10.6 m long, with an average weight of 340 kg.

Sexual Behavior, Courtship, and Family
Sthyss are extremely promiscuous and do not form enduring pair bonds. However, they are more likely to have intercourse with their friends or slaves than they are with strangers.
While adult females experience estrus once every 294 days, they are still very sexually active when not in their estrous cycles. At the beginning of this cycle, a female's skin will change to slightly more vibrant hues. Their estrus period last 13 to 31 days, during which they experience almost uncontrollable sexual urges, and sthyss males who are in the presence of a female in this state will begin to experience the same urges. One consequence of this aspect of sthyss behavior is that their females enjoy a leave of absence from work while they are experiencing estrus, and during this leave of absence they are expected to indulge in their urges.
Hetero- or bisexual females typically favor males younger than themselves. Older females show a similar preference, with the addition of preferring males with whom they have had long and friendly prior relationships.

Despite their non-mammalian appearance, sthyss reproduce via placental viviparity and breastfeed their young; and like with humans, the reproductive organs are located in the torso. The gestation period is 244 days, and sthyss neonates are quite large, with an average weight of 19 kg. Due to a genetically enhanced fecundity, females almost always birth two neonate at a time, which means that twins are the norm.

Only females may raise children; males are not allowed to do so, nor do they desire to. However, fathers associate more closely with their own daughters than with unrelated females, and the latter favor their fathers over unrelated males.
Mothers who raise their own children are typically struggling economically, while those who are well-off have nannies and slaves help raise their children. These kind of servants are remembered with great affection and treated more kindly than their peers.

Reproduction and child-rearing is a major industry in the Great Hashi Empire due to its natalist policies. Mothers or guardians of children receive hefty child benefits to promote reproduction and to help them afford buying slaves and hiring nannies to aid them in raising their young. The government makes sure to keep tabs on the beneficiaries to ensure that their children are taken care of.
Great Hashi also employs trained professional child-rearers who each birth and then raise six children at a time, all six representing a different combination of donated sperm and eggs. This work is highly paid but requires a great deal of skill and emotional depth.

Sthyss children grow quickly and reach adulthood at the age of twelve.

Slaves
Slavery is legal and an accepted part of life in the vast majority of sthyss-controlled territories, though only extends to members of other species.
Their slaves virtually never perform manual labor, as much cheaper and efficient alternatives exist in the form of automation. Rather, slaves perform other menial tasks, such as customer interaction, entertainment, sales, or skilled, managerial, administrative, or other service-oriented work.

Interspecies Relations
It can be said that sthyss enjoy the company of anyone or anything that doesn't value their own freedom. The social dynamic sthyss feel most comfortable in is when they are in charge.
This appears to be mostly cultural though, as sthyss who have grown up in an alien culture and raised by members of another species are more socially flexible in such situations. However, confidence and pridefulness appear to be intrinsic to their psychology.
While sthyss and terrans strongly disagree on politics, they do enjoy similar things: good food, fiction, music, games, sports, entertainment, drugs, and sex.
It is not uncommon for sthyss to commit xenophagia (eat aliens). This is partially because sthyss are genetically predisposed to having a predatory nature, and partially because their digestive system is so efficient that it is extremely easy for them to dispose of a body by eating it, as it will destroy any organic evidence of the victim. Though, as is the case with many other species, some individuals just enjoy it or do it to make themselves feel powerful.
When it comes to the sexual aspects of interspecies relations, sthyss are one of the most prolific. Though, the majority of these "interactions" are between sthyss and their slaves.
Sadly, non-consensual sex between sthyss and free members of other species is not uncommon, and the perpetrators in these situations are usually females who are in heat.
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Comments4
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halodragonborn's avatar
Would one of them be available for rp?