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| − | About ten percent of Drrhaan are 'Depolarized', a group of nomadic barbarians. They live in small groups of five to fifteen, and follow the seasonal lightning storms around the continent. They can be distinguished by their polished stone segments (as opposed to the societal Drrhaan's craggy exterior), a size of seven to ten feet, and their wild, violent demeanors. It is believed that this madness is somehow an intrinsic byproduct of their removal from balancing ceremonies, and their electromagnetic signature begins to become ragged. Depolarized Drrhaan are despised by their more civilized counterparts, as the Depolarized are known to raid civilized settlements to steal supplies and | + | About ten percent of Drrhaan are 'Depolarized', a group of nomadic barbarians. They live in small groups of five to fifteen, and follow the seasonal lightning storms around the continent. They can be distinguished by their polished stone segments (as opposed to the societal Drrhaan's craggy exterior), a size of seven to ten feet, and their wild, violent demeanors. It is believed that this madness is somehow an intrinsic byproduct of their removal from balancing ceremonies, and their electromagnetic signature begins to become ragged. Depolarized Drrhaan are despised by their more civilized counterparts, as the Depolarized are known to raid civilized settlements to steal supplies and outstones. |
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=Technology= | =Technology= | ||
Revision as of 16:49, 29 July 2011
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Physical Data
Description
Standing between eight and twelve feet in height and weighing upwards of ten tons, these inorganic bipedal creatures command an imposing presence. Each rock segment is attached to the next by millions of platinum-colored filaments, somehow allowing them full freedom of movement. Two large, glowing eyes peer out of their head-like appendage, ranging between lemon yellow and a blue-green, but typically an electric chartreuse. While typically having two locomotive limbs, two manipulative limbs, and one sensory appendage, some lines stray from this.
Interior Workings
Lifestones
At their center is a human head-sized stone called a lifestone that glows the same color as their eyes, and seems to have strong telekinetic and electromagnetic abilities. As its name suggests, it is the source of life for Drrhaan, and its removal means instant death.
The lifestone also serves as the means of Drrhaan reproduction. When a Drrhaan reaches anywhere from 400 to 1200 years in age and consistently has sufficient charge, the lifestone will often bud, creating a smaller lifestone near the small of the Drrhaan's back. Once large enough, the lifestone is detached and placed in a Po pond, where it slowly electrolyzes minerals onto itself, forming a body over eighty years or so.
Outstones
When a Drrhaan dies naturally, often their lifestone continues to function, albeit at a reduced rate. These are collected by the living, and serve as an 'extra battery' for the old and sick. Lifebearers take bags full of outstones into lightning storms to charge them, bringing their charge back to the village.
Sensory systems
The lifestone connects to billions of tiny white-silver filaments which seem to act both as muscles and a crude nervous system. It is able to sense its environment via a sort of electromagnetic radar from its 'eyes', allowing it to sense minute shifts and eddies in the electromagnetic spectrum within a few hundred feet, barring the blocking of extremely insulating substances. While they can sense the slightest muscle twitch of someone a hundred feet away, however, they cannot sense color. They speak via a group of specialized filaments in the neck joint, which vibrate like a stringed instrument when an electric current is run through them. Young or small Drrhaan might sound like a cello, while most adults sound like a bass or even lower.
Dress
Traditionally, clothing is sparse, usually only including a waxy-looking moss green cloak, cape or poncho used to repel acid rain, and a few pouches or bags made of a dirty white web-like substance.
Sustenance
Drrhaan do not eat or drink, but instead constantly absorb electrostatic energy from their environment, storing it in their lifestone. Given their massive frames, they require quite a bit of electricity per day. They achieve this via two means.
First, Drrrn is blanketed in violent electrical storms. In Polarized societies, Lifebearers carry Outstones, the dead Lifestones of their ancestors, within these storms, charging all the batteries at once and bringing them back to the village for the use of its citizens. In Depolarized society, their entire society follows the lightning storms, and they steal Outstones when they’re able.
Second, Polarized Drrhaan utilize photosynthetic bacteria called Po, which are kept in pools of water and turn the sun’s energy into a weak electrical charge in the water. Polarized Drrhaan typically soak in Po pools during most of the day, coming out at night.
Personalities
Drrhaan display a wide variety of personalities, though some generalizations can be made. As beings who evolved against a harsh environment and other races rather than any other species, they can be extremely fatalistic and set in their ways. If something worked for thousands of years, it rarely needs alteration.
They are also extremely collectivist, always valuing the good of the group over that of the individual. Those that show deviant behavior are often cast out from society and forced to become depolarized.
Third, they are often polite and humble, seeking to elevate the other being before themselves. This is often tied back to keeping the Spirits happy.
Last, due to being asexual beings, their behaviors cannot easily be defined in male and female gender roles. Most Drrhaan show an intricate mix of male and female stereotypes within the same being.
Geography
Drrrn(in G# minor)
Covered in turgid acid and lightning storms, thousands of active volcanoes, toxic mists and acidic lakes, the Drrhaan's home planet has a very high magnetic signature, and temperatures of 100-200F. Organic life seems limited to bacteria, fungi, basic insects, lichens, and some simple plants, like mosses.
The Burn
As Drrrn sports a wide variety of corrosive chemicals in its air and water, Drrhaan survival necessitates that they both minimize contact with the Burn, and gain mass to make up for that lost. For the former, mosses and lichens are woven into coverings and coated with petroleum-based substances to minimize this loss.
Culture
Races
There are three 'races' of Drrhaan, and discrimination can be intense amongst them.
Slllasa
The vast majority of Drrhaan are Slllasa, or Dusty. They are composed of a combination of sedimentary stone, pumice, obsidian, sand, yellow clay and dirty quartz, giving an impression of being made of living dirt and common stone. They come in shades of off-white, tan, yellowish-brown, brown, dark brown and black. Most choose to grow mosses and other simple plants atop their heads and backs. Slllasa leaders are often the ones with the lushest back growth and/or the most fragile organisms, as this is seen as evidence that it is successful in keeping away the Burn. The Slllasa are subjects of the domineering Yunnnna, and generations of submission has cemented in their minds that they are the weaker and less special race.
Buuuuur
A tiny fraction of Drrhaan are Buuuuur, or Sun. In addition to a base of pumice or sedimentary stone, they incorporate a great amount of topaz, with large crystals of shades of yellow, orange or brown, with the rare pink-orange or wine colors.
They are rarely seen by the other races, preferring to keep to themselves in the northwest of the continent after a failed attempt to conquer the Yunnnna over six thousand years ago. They are a crafty race, known for ambush-style tactics and ingenious uses of electricity to surprise and disable their foes.
Yunnnna
The most influencial group of Drrhaan are the Yunnnna, or Lighted Mist. Their lands are heavy with corundum crystals, and most Yunnnna incorporate these heavily into their makeup. In addition to obsidian and some sedimentary stone, they have large crystals of translucent red, orange, pink, green, yellow or very dark blue-violet, or a composite of crystals of two or more of these colors. Most common, however, is a vibrant pink and dark green.
The Yunnnna live in the Longshift mountains, from which they rule over the Slllasa in a fairly hands-off fashion, requiring tribute every few years in exchange for their autonomy and defense against the occasional Depolarized raid. They are believed to be the race most favored by the Spirits, as their corundum makeup is an effective insulator, allowing them to live a good deal longer than the Slllasa, and have much stronger control over the electromagnetic spectrum. However, their makeup is so dense that they require a great deal more energy input to function.
Society
Drrhaan live in tight-knit communities of up to ten thousand, and observe daily purification rituals to stay polarized and keep in the Spirits' good graces. Society revolves around immersion pools, eroded hollows in the rocky surface the size of a pond. These are filled with mineralized water and stocked with photosynthetic bacteria called Po that emit a strong electrical current. During daylight hours, the Drrhaan immerse themselves in these pools, gaining electrolyzed minerals as well as recharging their lifestones. Outstones are also left in these pools until needed.
Religion
The Spirits
All three races of Drrhaan believe in the Spirits, a nebulous force or group of forces that live within all living things, and are seen as the creators of electromagnetic current, allowing living creatures to convert other substances into this life force.
Both the Slllasa and the Yuuuuna believe that the Yuuuuna were ordained by the Spirits as their emissaries in the physical realm to rule over the continent, while the Buuuuur tend more towards Deism, and a believe that the Spirits do not meddle in Drrhaan affairs, save as a force for inspiration.
The Spirits can be both positive and negative, cursing one Drrhaan and blessing another based on poorly-understood reasoning, and thus drive a great deal of personal superstition in how best to appease them.
Individual Practices
The Yuuuuna create complex mandalas of iron filings by which to gain the Spirits' favor, with each formation symbolizing a different desire to be fulfilled. These creation ceremonies can last days, and include hundreds of Drrhaan in the ceremony.
The Slllasa seem to have adopted a somewhat similar ceremony, save for the fact that these mandalas are done in colored sand on beaches during low tides, and the Spirits are believed to receive the petition as the tide rises and pulls the mandala into the sea.
Roles
Lifebearer
All three Drrhaan races utilize Lifebearers, Drrhaan trained in speed and hardiness, who carry Outstones into the heart of lightning storms in hopes of being struck by the lightning. It is a dangerous job, and thus is much respected. Lifebearers who travel to another race's lands are treated with a good deal of respect, if not deference.
Mrrriti
An elite band of Yuuuuna Drrhaan dedicated to the protection of each community under their rule, and occasionally, important individuals. They are heavily trained in martial arts and in the use of the Knntus, a volcanic steel polearm featuring a hammer, a pick and a spear point. Advanced Mrrriti are actually able to channel an electric current through the weapon, and use electromagnetism to either attract or repel other such weapons. Their main opponents tend to be the Depolarized, a group of lawless barbarians.
Depolarized
About ten percent of Drrhaan are 'Depolarized', a group of nomadic barbarians. They live in small groups of five to fifteen, and follow the seasonal lightning storms around the continent. They can be distinguished by their polished stone segments (as opposed to the societal Drrhaan's craggy exterior), a size of seven to ten feet, and their wild, violent demeanors. It is believed that this madness is somehow an intrinsic byproduct of their removal from balancing ceremonies, and their electromagnetic signature begins to become ragged. Depolarized Drrhaan are despised by their more civilized counterparts, as the Depolarized are known to raid civilized settlements to steal supplies and outstones.
Technology
Drrhaan technology is very basic, but what they do have is extremely well-made. They possess volcano-forged steel tools and weapons, lichen weaving to keep the acid rain off, basic oil refinement, glassmaking, and 1800's-level chemistry.
Tool Use
As Drrhaan hands are large and often inelegant, they have developed a variety of pole-based tools to compensate, ranging from curved iron mandala rakes to long, thin lichen hooks for removing lichen from hard-to-reach areas. As a result of this constant long-shaft tool use, Drrhaan in general are extremely proficient in polearm-related weaponry.