Thraecian

Statistics

Height:
Lifespan:
Diet:
Sentient: yes
Body Structure: humanoid
Locomotion: bipedal
Home world: Thraeca (Kepler 186b)
Language:
Major Cities:
Level of Technology:

Habitat

They live in Enclaves built into the rocky cliffs and mountains. There used to be many more, but at present there are fewer than twenty. Each one is led by a trio of elders who are at least 50 years old.

Appearance

They’re short and squat with dark, rocky skin. They have crystalline protrusions all over their skin that increase in size and number as they age.
Their heads are roughly oval in shape with large rounded eyes on each side of their head. Each eye has a row of small, round pebble-like growths over the top lid. These growths are a slightly darker shade than their main skin tone. Eyes are a single color and often a much lighter colour than their skin shade.
They have ear holes towards the back of their heads.
They have two arms and two legs. Their arms end in three crystalline claws. They don’t have very good manual dexterity but they make do. They have feet with two toes.
Crystalline growths vary among individuals and geographic origin.
They can walk on their hind legs or run on all fours to better escape predators.

While they eat, sleep, bleed, and defecate like most organic life, they don’t consider themselves to fit into the standard categories that organic life forms fit into (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, or bugs). They have no gender and they don’t reproduce in any manner. They classify themselves as living rocks, not unlike Earth’s golems.

When something does manage to penetrate their thick, rocky skin, their blood is dark brown and flows sluggishly.

Mating and Procreation

Thraecians will form permanent bonds with each other or even long lasting partnerships, but they don’t consider their partners to be mates by any means. They simply have no concept of such things.

To show affection for one another they will share food and other resources.

Thraecians live for a relatively long time if they manage to evade poachers. It takes them more than 100 of their years before they sprout so many crystalline growths that they cannot move anymore. Not long after that they go into what they call the Deep Slumber, or just the Deep. They find an out of the way spot, curl up, and sleep. They don’t wake up again.

New thraecians are found most often by Reapsmiths on their gathering expeditions. No one really knows just what spawns the creation of these new life forms, but they’re most often found wedged into crevices or sometimes just wandering aimlessly. It’s a Reapsmith’s most sacred duty to bring any new bolus they find back to their Enclave.

Demeanour

Casual observation from other species has led them to believe that these are simply dumb animals. They are a technologically advanced race, but it’s difficult to see that given that everything they have is hidden in their caverns. Most people don’t bother trying to talk to them. All they see is the crystals embedded in their hides and hunt them for those potentially valuable stones. This poaching has made the thraecians wary of outsiders. Ironically, it has also bonded them together as a race. It’s a little hard to bicker as a people when you’re busy dealing with invaders.

Illnesses

Stone Rot
Cave Creep
Sun Madness

Diet

Thraecians typically eat rocks, earning them the galactic nickname of Rockeaters. They find this a little unfair as they also eat snails and assorted crustaceans. Really, they’ll eat anything as long as it’s hard and crunchy.
They don’t have set meal times. They’re opportunistic eaters, eating when they feel hungry or when they see something that looks tasty. They have teeth specifically designed for grinding.
The minerals in rocks help fuel the production of the crystalline growths on their body. As they grow, these growths shed to be replaced by newer, bigger ones. As they age, they sprout additional growths. The very elderly among them are almost entirely covered in crystals.

Culture

They typically sleep for 6 hours out of their 25 hour day. They hole up in caves to keep away from hunters. They’re perfectly fine sleeping on rocky or sandy floors, but they enjoy soft beds of grasses, mats, and even fur.

Thraecians don’t have a formal currency, but they trade with each other. They have a strict barter system.

They have excellent memories. Education comes via the Wordsmiths, the oral historians that live in each Enclave. Specific trades are taught when a bolus is deemed wise enough to take one on.
Wordsmithing is considered to be among the highest callings, but the training is intensely rigorous and many fail.
Other occupations
Stonesmith - work to improve the enclaves
Metalsmith - their focus is on making weapons and tools
Songsmith - musicians
Medsmith - healers
Techsmith - the inventors and tinkerers
Reapsmith - they search for foodstuffs in the area
Skysmith - they watch the stars and discern weather patterns

Language

While intelligent, they find it difficult to make themselves understood by fully organic species. This is a problem the Techsmiths from all the Enclaves have been labouring to solve for a long time.

There is one common language but each Enclave has a slightly different dialect.

To them, names are just the sounds they use to identify each other and have no significant meaning beyond that. Their names are generally very simple.

Notes

They value knowledge more than anything.
They aren’t space flight capable although they’re working on it.
Thraecian is a modernization of thura’ecean, the old name for their species. They don’t remember what it means anymore. The Great Purge--a period when many outsiders came and killed a massive number of thraecians--destroyed much of their history.