Lemorians

From TFC Galactopedia

Short Disclaimer : All original info here is © Ashley Holohan 1993-2008. You MUST have the Creator’s permission if you wish to build a character utilizing this data. The Creator also reserves the right to tell you no if she does not like the way you treat her world.

A Typical Lemorian Aristo

Lemoria Prime

A Common Caste Lemorian

Homeworld

Lemoria Prime

Racial Name

Lemorian, plural Lemorians (Alopex lagopus, Cerdocyon thous, Otocyon megalotis, Seudalopex culpaeus, Pseudalopex griseus, Pgymnocercus, Pseudalopex sechurae, Pseudalopex vetulus, Urocyon littoralis, Vulpes bengalensis, Vulpes cana, Vulpes chama, Vulpes corsac, Vulpes ferrilata, Vulpes pallida, Vulpes rueppelli, Vulpes velox, Vulpes vulpes, Vulpes zerda)

Racial Nicknames

Lemran, Lemrans

Height

Adults average from 1.7m-2.1m, with extreme cases recorded at 1.1m and 2.5m.

Weight

Average healthy weight ranges from 40kg-80kg (male and female), extreme cases recorded at 27.4kg and 163.9kg.

Average Life Expectancy

225 standard yrs, 300 yrs being the upward limit. The lemorian ‘year’ is almost twice as long as a standard year, so they would say they live to be 150 at most.

Fur Color

Shades from white, bluish and cream to black with red (red fox coloration) being the most common.

Hair Color

Most 'natural' shades and on into bluish or greenish. Aristos lean toward darker hair colors in general.

Eye Color

Blue, Brown and Green are the most common. Occasionally Black, Amber, and Violet occur.

Aberrations

Rarely (1 in 700-900 births) a lemorian cub is born with dual colored eyes. The child has two or more rings of color in the iris surrounding the pupil. It is an extremely recessive genetic trait and often heralds a sickly, diseased, or ill-tempered existence. Such cubs are outcasts almost from birth. They are the very bottom of society, no matter what their fur color. They must live in special enclaves meant to keep them separate from the rest of society. Most do not live past childhood. Those who do are called ‘Coronas’ for their ringed eyes. Their average lifespan is half that of a 'normal' lemorian.

Vision

20/20 full color sight (15% of population born color blind).

Hearing

Average for a vulpine species (2% of population born deaf).

Sense of Smell

Highly sensitive.

Diet

Omnivorous, high protein.

Mental Capacities

Average intelligence.

Other

Lemorians produce the same average percentage of Force Potentials as the rest of the galaxy (.5% - 1% of the population).

Mating and Young

Both male and female lemorians go through fertility cycles. Both sexes must be ‘in heat’ for pregnancy to occur. This natural cycle helps to keep the population level from exploding too quickly. The heat cycle is stronger for females than males, and males, predictably, have faster cycles and are fertile more often. Lemorian females give birth to 1-5 young (average 2, twins are most common) after a 6-month gestation period. Lemorian genes are very receptive, so half-breeds with other mammalian species are somewhat common. Those half-breeds may or may not be sterile depending on how the genetic dice happen to roll. Pups average 10cm in length and 2kg in weight, they grow quickly in their first years and reach 70% of their matured physical size by age 10, at which point their growth slows down until they reach full physical maturity around age 15.

Status System

This is the traditional fur color status system. As a note, anything below the functionary level tends to have more blurred lines, especially in recent years. The younger generation especially has taken the caste system to be more of a rough guideline you follow to make your parents shut up rather than an ironclad rule. The Lemorian Fur Color Caste breaks down as follows:

Aristocracy: The highest of the high, these are the ruling caste.

Pure White (Royals)
Pale Cream (Nobles)
Pale Blue (Nobles)

Functionaries: These people serve in direct support of the ruling caste.

Tan and White (Aides/Clerks)
Yellow and White (Aides/Clerks)
Medium Blue and White (Aides/Clerks)

Guards/Servants: These people, many drawn originally from the common caste, often serve in hereditary positions guarding and catering to the ruling caste and their aides.

Yellow and White (Guards)
Gray and White (with or without red accents) (Guards/House Servants)
Red and White (Guards/House Servants)

Entertainers/Exotics: This odd caste is actually one step above Common. Many of its members are trained from birth to be fantastic performers and athletes. Usually these physical traits are limited to families within the caste, but it does accept outsiders not born into it.

Black
Black and White/Gray
Very Dark Blue or Green (rare recessive)
Patched Color
Odd Markings (striping, rosettes, etc)

Common Caste: The common caste lives roughly middle-class lives, comparably. Depending on genetics and partners, they may contribute members to either the Exotic or Other classes. Guards and Servants are also drawn from this caste.

Yellow and White (Merchants/Laborers)
Gray and White (with or without red accents) (Merchants/Laborers)
Red and White (Merchants/Laborers)

Other Classes: The caste where the odd, undesirable, or ill begotten reside.

Half-breeds (Half-lemorian/half-mammalian alien)
Color Caste Interbreeds (Obvious color mixes, not exotics)
Coronas (Color ringed eyes)

Holidays

“Ceertas” – The Lemorian equivalent of “Beltain”. Celebrates the coming of spring/fertility.

“Sarrrn Fi” - Basic translation: “Lady’s Day” – Celebration of the mother goddess.

“Kahla” - Basic translation: “Harvest” – Gathering in of crops before winter sets in.

“Tohra Fi” - Basic translation: “Queen’s Day” – Celebrating the first queen mother’s ascension

“Yil” - Basic translation; “Namedays” – Celebrated actually a month or more after birth days in case the cub died young.

Fine Art

Dance and music are integral parts of Lemorian Society. Wealthy Aristo patrons support artists most often. Though it is also possible to make a meager living as a street musician or dancer, these folk generally will turn to other professions in thin times. The best dancers are taught from cubhood and taken on by a patron once they reach a level of expertise. Musicians follow a similar system. It is not unheard of that an Aristo will hire on a busker, but that scenario is not very likely either. Lemoria Prime, and specifically the city of Turashene, is home to one of the greatest theatres in the Middle Rim. The Draelyn Theatre, named for the Queen Mother who had it constructed, is an enormous underground cavern shaped into a 360º bowl with tiers of seating on all sides. Concerts, plays, dramas, and other exhibitions are designed to use the circular construction and carefully created acoustics to their advantages. Strategically placed antigrav generators allow the performers to utilize all the vertical space as well as the horizontal. The Queen Mother sponsors the theatre, but anyone with even modest means is able to purchase seating should they desire. Only the most skilled and beautiful performers play the Draelyn Theatre. It is considered a great honor to perform there--more so if the Queen mother is in attendance. Besides the lone buskers and street dancers, there are small troupes of musicians who usually work with a dancer or two for small coin at crowded intersections. They play mostly old, little used or traditional folk music to stir the hearts of the crowd. They practice illegally, and have to be prepared to move on quickly before security patrols force them to leave or arrest them. These groups are not normally profitable, though they do well enough to support themselves. Visual art and aesthetics is also highly upheld and well admired, and Turashene's "Art District" is home to many artisans, painters, sculptors, and craftsfolk.

Sports and Entertainment

Young cubs typically play stickball or tug-the-rag as well as hunting games and the typical rough and tumble play of youngsters. This holds true for all but the highest level of society where such behavior is quickly stifled. The middle class amuse themselves with watching the holonet for news and entertainment, dancing, attending social meetings or making forays into the wilderness for some rustic adventure. The wealthy enjoy skimmer flights, private hunting preserves, fencing, pomadon riding and hover skiing in addition to occasional trips off planet to more exotic locales. Middle class and others are not forbidden to leave, but few have the means to do so simply for vacation purposes.

Games

Games of strategy are common and well liked among the Aristos, even to the point of heated argument. The middle and lower class tend to copy their habits and tournaments with prizes large or small are common occurrences. Sabbacc especially, while not Lemorian in origin, is especially common in the taverns and cantinas, though generally frowned upon by the upper class.

Religion

Those who choose to follow it believe in a Creator, a holy mother figure whom they call Kandas (for whom many Queen Mothers have been named). The religion is believed to be based on Lemoria’s distant past, and there are indeed historical parallels to the events in their belief-myth. Lemorians see themselves as descended from one of Kandas two children, the nobility especially. These two children were Lemra and Tereas. Lemra is seen as a kind and gentle shepherdess of the people, a healer and protector. Tereas, on the other hand, is a war god, big and brutish, a destroyer. The religion holds that Kandas, sorrowed at her son’s behavior, cast him and his followers out, leaving only Lemra and those she watched over to live in peace on the face of the world. Lemra, roughly translated, means ‘daughter of peace’. She is considered a symbol of hope and harmony. Most religious lemorians worship only Kandas and Lemra, choosing to ignore the warlike Tereas. Worship is informal and takes place either in small home shrines or public chapels.

History

Modern lemorians are really the descendants of a blending of two races. Time immemorial, the Lemra system’s two planets were inhabited by separate, but genetically similar races. Lemoria Prime was inhabited by the original Lemorians, a race of small, lightly built, quick running nomads. They had no centralized government and lived in peace beyond the occasional squabble over campsites or grazing rights for their pack beasts. Lemoria Secundus (also called Terea), which is actually closer to the system’s sun, was home to a very aggressive race, known as the Tereans. Larger and of heavier build, the Tereans pushed their own technology forward at an accelerated rate- all for the purpose of making war on each other. They went as far as to develop nuclear power and limited space flight capability. One clan, the Ariannan, sick of fighting over their own tortured lands, turned their eyes to their sister planet. They sent one expedition to cross between the worlds. The advance party, however, was stranded on the new world when the rest of Terea managed to use its new nuclear power to bomb itself back to the stone age.

The invading Tereans found the Lemorian nomads a passive and biddable race. Though the Ariannan had no further instructions from their kin, they set about making this new world their own. They built their first major city on the edge of the southern plains and desert, and named it Falashan. The conquerors spread out from there, taking the peaceful natives for their slaves and servants. This continued for some centuries. The northern city of Turashene was established on the tundra below the great glaciers, as well as the forest city at Nercosa and numerous smaller towns. The Ariannan government was male and dictatorial, in direct contrast to the matriarchal lemorians. Terean rule came to a head when two brothers, Torish, called the Blood Mane, and Kaylin, fought for the succession. Kaylin moved his family north to Turashene to escape his bloodthirsty brother, but Torish followed with an army, slaying his brother’s entire household he could lay his hands one. One child, an infant daughter of Kaylin’s, was smuggled away in the night and survived the carnage.

Though raised among the lemorian slaves, the child Mysta would grow, through hardship and trials, to become a great liberator. She rallied the demoralized lemorians and built an army to contend with. They stormed the city of Falashan, where Torish’s slave army switched sides, greatly swelling the ranks of the invaders. With the death of Torish the Blood Mane, Mysta was elevated in status as the first Queen Mother. She declared that henceforth, all the people of Lemoria would live together as one. Since that time the two separate species are nearly indistinguishable due to interbreeding, though the occasional genetic throwback occurs and small pockets of nomads still exist in the more isolated parts of the world and are nearly indistinguishable from the original lemorians they descended from generations before.

No longer peaceful nomads or bloodthirsty conquerors, the new blend of lemorians lived on in relative peace for the next millennium. The capitol city was moved from southern Falashan to Turashene in the north. The color caste system developed slowly over the course of these years. Mysta’s descendants were all white furred with black manes of hair. From this stock were formed the principle noble families. Intermarriage produced a small range of ‘noble’ colors, though nothing darker than pale blue or cream and generally tending towards dark hair. Families who were not quite pure white tended to be considered cadet branches of the larger noble families. Their most trusted servants tended to come from yellow, tan and grey furred stock, which the occasional exceptional red. The most common class were those with red fur overall and white underbellies. They served most as merchants and workers. Those with more exotic markings, such as black or patches of color, most often became part of the entertaining caste. Cities and towns grew and prospered even as these social boundaries grew. Technology advanced and contact with the Old Republic was achieved.

The next notable point of history was the infiltration of the palace by the Terean bandit-prince Halin and the capture of the then heir, Princess Arianna. Unlike the last Terean incursion, however, the lemorians fought back, regaining the princess before Halin could force a new union under the control of his people. Halin’s venture resulted in the blockading of the Terean homeworld, interdicting it and confining its troublesome race to a single planet.

That aside, the lemorians turned their attention to mining their moons. Never a metal-rich world, the moons provided the ore needed to build up their technology, as well as for trade with other worlds. A space station grew in orbit, as well as a small shipyard. The lemorians’ primary interest was in small craft and fighters, as well as ships to carry them. They exported a good deal more raw or partially refined ore than they did finished fighters, however.

Current Status

Many lemorians live much the same as their past predecessors. There is technology available to them, but it is generally disguised behind stone and wood, artistically and aesthetically concealed. The current Queen Mother is Candas Touras-Lyles-Sonnay. The troubles and scandals of the Lyles-Sonnay family are a well-known topic of gossip among the commoners. The younger of Candas’ firstborn twin daughters is likely to be named in succession over her older sister since the older twin has been essentially banished from the planet. Lemoria holds a position of neutrality in the Empire’s war, enforced by the sale of highly discounted ore to the Empire (leave us out of it and we’ll give it to you cheap). Rornal Mining is the company that oversees the moon mining efforts and is owned mostly by the Queen Mother and members of her council. The color caste, while not strictly enforced, is considered the code to live by, and infractions (intermarriage or mating) are sternly frowned upon, and the offspring of such unions often are ostracized or kept out of sight.