Humma Physiology


Characteristics
 Average Size
 2.5 meters tall
 Average Mass
 90 kilograms
 Average Lifespan
 210 years
 Reproductive System
 hermaphroditic,
viviparous
 Body Temperature
 38 degrees Celsius

Physical Structure
The body of a humma is pear shaped with a short neck, narrow shoulders, unusually short arms, a stocky trunk, and wide hips with powerful legs. Their heads and face tend toward a scruffy look and a mustached muzzel. The body is covered with matted fur, usually dull brown. Their hands are hairless and have a semi-retractable dew claw that acts as an opposable thumb. Their feet are long and tough.

The humma dew claw is located mid way up the inside of the forarm, between the elbow and palm. This claw functions as an opposable thumb for holding tools. It allows the humma to grasp objects and hold onto them till they decide to release them. It is difficult to break free from the grasp of a humma (-15% to the attempt) and success results in the humma's punch score in damage.

Humma walk on the balls and toes of their feet, which gives them their extra height. They are able to jump an incredible distance. Their short arms can hold a rifle but are not suited to melee weapons. They have evolved with an agile and strong prehensible tail with which they can deliver a sound blow or use melee weapons but not grenades.


Senses

Humma hearing and sight are equivalent to human standards. Their sense of smell and touch are not as acute as most other races, while their sense of taste is completely dull. This lack of smell and taste, combined with their tough diestive system, means they can eat almost anything that is vaguely edible.

Speech

The Humma language is an ugly one, full of grunts and guttural noises. It is not an easy languagle to learn; vursk and ifshnits, particularly, have a difficult time with it.

Humma Sexuality and Reproduction

Humma don't understand gender like the humans, vrusk, and yazirians.  To them a normal being goes through stages and that's that.  To be stuck in one stage (male or female) is just ludacris and stupid to a humma and he will tell you so in no uncertain terms.  Humma don't even have words that properly translate to male or female because "you are just you" and the stage you are in does not change who you are.  Humma think of it more like, "I've reached fertility" (female stage), and "I've become virile" (male stage), and "I am old" (neuter stage).

Sex because of love is not on the menu for a humma.  Procreation is what you do to be better than the next humma.  If you win the privilege to mate with a fertile humma then that is points for you and not the next grunt.

Having a litter is a right of passage for the fertile humma.  Everyone does it and it revolves around status.  Fertile humma have spent years positioning themselves to attract the "right" virile humma.  There is great status to be gained by getting the most prestigious, the most popular, and the most honored to compete for the mating privilege. The same is true for the virile humma seeking to mate.  They are seeking to gain mating privilege with the best placed fertile humma in society.  This is not about love, it is about status.  Competitions must be won and prices paid.

When the a fertile humma finally goes into heat the time for competition is up.  Those who have gained enough status and see this particular humma as a good choice to gain more status fight it out in a public event.  The fertile humma is the prize.  This is where houses and families come in.  Houses have great sway in the whole status evaluation of mating candidates.  Back room deals, honor bound allegiances and other feudal responsibilities and obligations come into play and must be observed.  After the deciding fight, the winner ritually fights the fertile humma.  The fight ends with a brief mating.  Then the two part ways and may never see each other again.  In rare cases the fertile humma may actually fight back to defeat the winner and possibly runners-up until the desired candidate is reached and then a ritual fight is performed ending with a mating.  That is the closest that the humma comes to love in a mating relationship. However, the female fighting back can also be due to honor, status, and other obligations too.

A pregnant humma traditionally spends the months of pregnancy shoring up and finalizing negotiations about the care of the offspring.  At birth the kittens are placed with the families or houses of the mating pair to meet obligations and win favors.  The fertile humma then transitions to the virile stage soon after the birth and may never see the kitterns again.  There is little emotional attachment.  Humma value their offspring for their accomplishments and status that they bring.  An accomplished or famous offspring may bring status and help win future mating contest rights.

Historically, humma kittens had poor chances of survival before the modern feudal system of houses and obligations. The kittens were expected to fend for themselves and follow the family as best they could.  Think of the historic family as more of a pack or herd.  The modern system a family is less tied by genealogy than the historic family and more of a cooperative unit that grew up together. Kinda like orphan gangs that society has placed controls on for the betterment of society.  All kittens taken into a house born about the same time become a family and are overseen by elders who see to their "proper" education. 

Houses grew out of the ancient herd or packs. Some houses are more concerned with proper blood than others. Proper blood houses tend to be the older houses and tend to take whole litters together as families rather than mixing the kittens. Typically proper blood houses are proper blood because they have the status and position that allows them to afford the luxury of siblings in families. This is a luxury because the siblings are expected to fight it out and deaths do occur.  In more contemporary houses the families are picked and assembled so as to best grow the house with successful members. It is much like trying to pick a better sports team.

Humma Physiology part 2

Gender Stage and Age Table
GENDER
  AGE RANGE
 Fertile or Female
 0-25
 Viril or Male
 26-170
 Old or Neuter
 171-210

The age ranges given above are flexible not hard and fast. Females generally come into heat between 20 and 25 at the latest. Males will transition to neuter around 170.

The average adventuring humma or player character humma is male. Its likely that the beginning player character humma still fairly young; 25 to 50 years of age. Referees should restrict female humma to non player characters as except under special circumstances.

Determining Litter Size
To determine a litter size on the quick and dirty a referee can roll 1d5 for the number of surviving kittens. Its likely that the original litter size was at least twice that number but infant mortality has been extremely high among the human until modern times. There has been a modern trend to limit infant mortality, at least among urban houses. The more traditional and or rural lineages tend to follow the more brutal practices of the past; allowing kittens to fight for dominance and eat the weak. Naturally a referee will need to adjust the numbers according to the situation.

The following table is provided for more detail, roll 2d10 and add the dice.

 Litter Size Table
 
 Dice Roll
 Litter Size
 Survivors
 2 8-1201
 3 10 6
 410
 5
 5 10 4
 6 9 5
 7 9 4
 8 93
9 8
5
 10 84
 118 3
 12 7 5
 137 4
 1473
 15 6 4
 1663
 176
2
 185
 3
 195
 2
 20 1 1

1. When zero survive its usually because of defects and the tradition of eating defectives. These occurances are quickly hushed up due to the loss of face that is involved but word does get out. A humma that birthed such a litter is usually barred from ever competing in a mating combat and can expect to be ignored as a neuter for election to house leadership.

Special Abilities & Characteristics

Special Abilities

Poison Resistance
Humma are unaffected by any poison that they eat or drink.

Prehensile Tail
The tail of the humma is 2 meters long and has a grip stronger than a human hand. The tail is capable of holding an item or swinging a melee weapon. When holding an item, the humma can use its two arms normally. When using the tail to wield a weapon, the humma must concentrate on it and connot use its arms to operate anything else. The tail can only wrap around hilts, handles, etc., but cannot throw grenades or operate devices. The tail itself is treated as a rifle butt for damage. It is strong enough to support a humma's body, but only for a number of turns equal to the humma's Stamina divided by 10.

Spring Charge:
The humma have a special spring charge that allows them to move, by jumping, before and after a melee attack. The attack is done with the tail and maximum distance of 25m cannot be exceded on that turn. The humma gets to move attack and move without his opponent being able to attack back. The opponent can move and engage the humma on his initiative but good tactical use of this ability can prevent an opponent from ever striking back.

The spring charge is best employed by large numbers of humma circling a victim and springing to attack in round robin. This tactic, known in Pan Gal as the carousel attack, was so named by a human witness.

Humma Characters
Ability Scores
 STR/STA +10
 DEX/RS +0
 INT/LOG +0
 PER/LDR -10







Movement
 Walk 
 Walking 10 meters/turn
Running35 meters/turn
 Hourly 6 kilometers/hour
 Leaping* 
 Walking 25 meters/turn
 Running 50 meters/turn
 Hourly N/A












*Leaping can be maintained only 10 turns, and must be followed by 30 minutes of rest.

Special Abilities
insert table of spec abilities