ANAZAZI

Anazazi

Physical Appearance And Structure

Anazazi are tall, thin humanoids. Long-feathered wings grow from either side of their bodies, attached at arms, torsos and legs, allowing them to fly at great heights under certain conditions(see Winged Flight, below).

Anazazi have almost humanoid facial features, with aqualine noses and high forheads. Their heads are surrounded by a crest of feathers ranging in color from white to dark brown, while their skins range from deep red to dusky brown.

They are omnivorous.

Anazazi hands and feet are double-jointed, with the inside toe of each foot opposable, like a thumb, allowing them to grip things with their feet.

Senses

Anazazi eyes are set further apart than Human eyes, giving them excellent peripheral vision. Because they evolved on a world with an atmosphere thinner than Earth's, their eyes are adapted to seeing in dim light(though not in complete darkness) and must wear dark glasses when in areas where the light levels are more Earth-normal. Anazazi without dark glasses in Earth-normal light are blinded and suffer a -15 penalty to their DEX/RS.

Anazazi hearing is keen in thin atmospheres and even sharper on worlds with higher atmospheric pressure, same as with their sense of smell.

Speech

Anazazi speak nearly all Human language and Neveleim fluently, with their own language bearing a surprising similarity to most Human languages.

Society And Customs

The most basic family unit is the clan, an extended family consisting of several generations of Anazazi. Clans are matrilineal, tracing their descent from the females of their clan, and the traditional ruling body of their society, prior to the War of Purification, has been a council of clans, headed by a popularly-elected leader referred to as the Sayer Of the Law; they now have a shared council with the Neveleim, who employ a similar clan structure to the Anazazi.

Their avian evolution colors their entire society.

Anazazi cities are built into the sides of mountains, with no streets, and landings and entrances at the tops of their buildings. In the place of traditional ground vehicles, Anazazi built flying machines, the skies of their cities filled with modern aircraft, aerodynes, ornithopers and winged beasts of burden.

They are unfamiliar with the concept of sailing on the water, seeing bodies of water only as pastures for their food animals.

Anazazi prefer to fight in the air, favoring plasma swords with double handguards-called nofohaz koru-wielded in pairs during hand-to-hand combat.

Typical Anazazi clothing are close-fitting breeches and tunics, the latter employing strap-type fasteners on the sides of the torsos and underneath the arms to accommodate the wings. The plumage of the wings-normally a darker shade of the color of the feathers on the crest-are often dyed to match the color of their clothes. Shoes are glove-like affairs, made of supple leather to afford their feet the greatest degree of freedom, especially when they are in flight.

The major exception to this rule is their military armor, which opens and fastens at the back, the wearer stepping into a suit of armor with his arms and wings extended, stepping the rest of the way into the suit, all this, again, an accomodation for the wings, the armor itself made in a way which contributes to the lift of the wing area.

Anazazi are honorable, placing the greater good of the clan and their society above their own interests. They are also a tolerant people.

Attitudes

In general, Anazazi are tolerant of those who act in an honorable, tolerant manner and places the greater good of others over her own self interest.

Having contributed to the near-destruction of their society through selfish, intolerant, dishonorable behavior, the Anazazi are pathologically afraid of those beings and/or races who display these attitudes and will go to extremes to either distance themselves from such people, or, if that isn't possible, to eradicate them utterly.

Special Abilities

Winged Flight. Anazazi can soar to great heights and fly great distances using their wings. An Anazazi can fly 1 meter ahead for every meter she is above the ground. She must either make a running start on open ground or be at least five meters above the ground when she starts flying.

The maximum distance an Anazazi can fly depends on the gravity of the planet, as shown below

Anazazi cannot fly on planets with gravities lighter than 0.5 G or heavier than 1.1 G.

Battle Rage: This is similar to the Yazirian ability of the same name.

HAZIRI

HAZIRI

Physical Appearance And Structure

Haziri devolved from the Anazazi.

They are shorter and stockier than Anazazi, with leathery flaps of skin in the place of wings, these flaps only allowing them to glide short distances.

They are incapable of intrabreeding, requiring Human, Anazazi or Neveleim captives in order to reproduce their own kind, with only one in one hundred captive births resulting in a purebred Haziri.

Haziri have low sloping foreheads and pronounced muzzles, with thick, coarse hair in the place of feathers, this hair invariably a glossy black, even though some Haziri in Human society choose to color their hair blonde.

They are carnivorous, preferring their meat raw. If no other meat exists, Haziri will cheerfully kill and eat one another.

Their hands are thick, hairy paws, terminating in short, stubby fingers.

Senses

Haziri have narrow close-set eyes which are a dull black, though Haziri in Human society wear blue-tinted contact lenses.

Their eyes are also adapted to seeing in dim light(though not in complete darkness) and they must wear dark glasses when in areas where the light levels are more Earth-normal. Haziri without dark glasses in Earth-normal light are blinded and suffer a -15 penalty to their DEX/RS.

Speech

Haziri speak all other languages than theirs with great difficulty and thick accents. Since assimilation by the New America, they have abandoned their own native language in favor of a pidgin English, punctuated by grunts, growls, howls and other body noises, the Haziri insisting this has always been their native language.

Society And Customs

Before the War of Purification, the Haziri were the voluntary outcasts of Anazazi society, choosing to live apart from them until the day they could plot to take over, while at the same time, aping the Anazazi's clan culture and styling themselves as the master race.

When they used fear of the Neveleim and the Divine Plague to take over, they plunged their own people, the Anazazi and the Neveleim into a war which nearly destroyed all three races, the surviving Haziri relocating to worlds over which they had firm control, taking Anazazi and Neveleim captive to serve as breeding stock, at the same time carrying out constant offensives aimed at the destruction of the Confederation of Two Races.

Defeats during the Eleven-Day War made the Haziri vunerable to conquest by the New America, the Haziri leadership choosing to subject their race to assimilation to the winning society's culture and mores, wholly dismantling their own parody of a society, choosing instead to ape the ways of their new masters.

The Haziri embrace the victim-state mentality they accuse their victims of embracing, constantly claiming they are being discriminated, persecuted, harassed by the police(even though they make up 49% of both the National Police and the TSID), and the like.

They are also almost pathologically addicted to violence, the more graphic, the better, favoring chainblades for hand-to-hand combat and rapid-firing massdriver weapons for ranged combat.

They are extremely patriarchial and misogynistic, with an exaggerated sense of their own masculinity and an insane need to make other men appear less masculine.

Attitudes

Haziri are as bloodthirsty, ruthless, power-hungry, hateful and treacherous as the Terranovans who have assimilated them.

Terranovan Human males-especially younger males-are almost worshipful of the Haziri(as the embodiment of the masculine idea), aping them as they ape their superiors.

The Neveleim and the Anazazi loathe, detest and will attack without hesitation any Haziri they stumble onto.

Humans in the Commonwealth also have more than sufficent reason to hate Haziri.

Special Abilities

Gliding. Similar to the Yazirian ability to glide, with the following exception.

Haziri cannot glide on planets with gravities lighter than 0.5 G or heavier than 1.0 G.

Battle Rage: This is similar to the Yazirian ability of the same name.

NEVELEIM

NEVELEIM

Physical Appearance And Structure

Neveleim can pass for tall Humans, were it not for several salient features unique to their race.

Neveleim have aqualine noses, high forheads, skin which is either dark red or a dusky brown, and long, straight hair which is invariably a glossy black.

Their hands are double-jointed, terminating in long, slender fingers.

They are omnivorous.

Senses

Like the Anazazi, Neveleim have eyes set far enough apart to grant them excellent peripheral vision. Their hearing and sense of smell are similar to that of Humans.

Speech

Neveleim speak nearly all Human languages and Anazazi fluently, with their own language having striking similarities to Anazazi and most Human languages.

Society And Customs

Neveleim have a system of clans which is amazingly similar to that of the Anazazi.

They otherwise share traits with both Anazazi and humans.

Like the Anazazi, Neveleim are honorable, placing the greater good of the clan and their society above their own interests.

They are also a tolerant people.

Attitudes

Neveleim are tolerant of those who act in an honorable, tolerant manner and places the greater good of others over her own self interest.

They do not share the Anazazi's pathological fear and loathing of those who aren't tolerant, honorable or altruistic, though, as a rule, they are leery of such people.

Special Abilities

Education: Like Humans, Neveleim can add five points to any one attribute.