[Species] Kori

[Kazumaru]

Species: Kori

Homeworld: Arensiya (Destroyed)

Physical Description: The Kori stand between six to eight feet tall, and tend to be built rather scrawnily; However, their strength is easily equal to that of an average human, owing to a far higher muscle density. Their faces are reminiscent of an avian's, having a similar shape and proportional beak.

Overall, their skin is a lightish gray, although some is usually covered by tribal markings, courtesy of the strange skin of the Kori which allows them to change the colour of certain parts over a period of several days.

Where a human would have hair, the Kori instead have a dense array of hollow, bone-like quills. When they'd shake their heads during fights, the quills would clack together and create a fairly loud and rather indimidating noise, enough to scare off homeworld predators.

The proportions of the arms and legs of the average Kori are comparable to a human's, however both their feet and hands are vastly different. The feet were talons, capable of gripping tightly onto branches and anything similar. The hands were roughly similar, having two long, dexterous fingers ending in sharp nails, and small, stubby thumbs, large enough to allow them to grab things.

The eyes of the Kori resemble that of a bird of prey, being able to see far greater detail than the average human. Like many species, the Kori have two eyes.

The bones of the Kori are hollow and, coupled with the dense muscle fibre of the species, affords them great agility.

Governmental Structure: Since the destruction of Arensiya, the majority of Kori live in large ships known as, in equivelant terms, "tribe ships." In these tribe ships, two leaders share power: One is equivelant to a tribal chief, the other equivelant to a naval commander. Mutinies against inept leaders in either position are rather common, as the Kori have no delusions about those who lead them. The chief is responsible for domestic control-- Resource distribution and laws go through him before being put into practice, among other things-- while the commander is responsible for military and navigational duties, along with disciplinary action for severe offenses.

On a lower level, individual clans-- which there can be dozens of to a single ship-- discipline their own members for minor infractions, with the clan leader deciding punishments. These infractions range from matters such as failure to keep up with training regiments (A matter of clan pride. The clan is only as strong as it's weakest member.) to not obeying orders. (A matter of both individual and clan pride. While thinking is valued, the proper procedure is to discuss the orders with your superior, not to go off on your own and muck around.)

Technology: The Kori, despite formally dwelling in hollowed out trees and treetop cities, have managed to develop a rather remarkable level of technolgy, having some tribe ships capable of faster than light travel. However, these are rare, as the tribe ships were thrown together quickly when it the destruction of their planet became unavoidable as was shown when roughly eighty percent of the ships failed to reach exit velocity without experiencing catastrophic failure, and half of those that did make it out quickly learned that their ships were not, in fact, airtight...

The faster than light travel is accomplished by tapping into what is known as the Great Dark, a realm that is, in a sense, beneath our own. Travel in it was rather simple: Move as far as you need to go (Thanks to the wonders of other realms, travel in the Great Dark was roughly one hundred times as fast as travel outside of it, for equal power usage.)

Avoiding exiting in side a planet, moon, star, or other ship was rather easy- Anything in the physical realm showed a signature in the Great Dark.

Of course, there WERE things there that would attempt to eat you alive there, but that was a small price to pay for incredibly fast travel.

Eating Habits: The Kori digestive system appears to be incredibly adaptable, having digested meat from literally hundreds of planets over the generation. They are capable of digesting almost anything, however, meat is their preferred food.

Language: The Kori communicate telepathically, as verbal communication has a tendancy to either alert their prey to them, or mask the sounds of their predators. The actual language is an interesting one- It consists of uncountable sounds, each representing a different basic concept, with multiple being put together to form words-- Similar to the Japanese or Chinese languages. However, it is gramatically similar to the Romantic languages of Earth, the exception being that it skips articles.

For example, the English sentence "I'm going to the store." would be rendered in Kori as something equivelant to "I'm going to store."

History: The Kori, for several million years, lived in relative peace on the planet of Arensiya, in cities centered around hollowed out dead trees-- Roughly equal in size to large redwoods. The majority of Arensiya was covered in dense jungle, broken up by lakes and rivers, and the icy poles, blocked from the forests by a strip of plains.

The Kori way of life, consisting almost entirely of activities related to either the hunt or rearing children, was a naturalistic one, seamlessly adapting technological progress into their society without disturbing their connection with nature. Kori airships floated in the sky above while below, Kori warriors hunted for food.

However, this harmony was not to last, as Arensiya had been designated as a weapons test site by a "superior" race. Through an unknown means, the race from above broadcast a psychic message to the Kori, conveying images of destruction and death. The message also came with a time: Three planetary rotations. Just barely enough time to slap together a craft that *might* be space-worthy.

After the three rotations, at least 90% of the Kori had been killed. The rest managed to escape. Some went as far away as they could, others attempted to shape a nearby planet to their needs.

That was fourteen generations ago.