Creature:Kazea

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Physiology
The Kazea is a hexapodal land-living creature. It's covered in wool fabric-like fur with a thick mane and a furry tail. Four of the legs are used for walking, the front two are used for tools and balancing the upper body. The hands have three digits each, with the front hands weaker and more flexible. The Kazea is an omnivore, but prefers food it can easily bite off. It has no front teeth, just a beak-like jaw, with chewing teeth further in.



The Kazea is a dual-spined creature. It has two sets of ribs which protect the heart and the lungs. Less important organs are outside the inner rib-cage.



The eyes are not protected by the skull. Instead, they hang beneath it, protected only by two small bones. Behind the eyes are a gel-filled hollow, so if the eyes are hit, they are pushed into the hollow, hopefully avoiding damage.

Diet


Most vegetables grow under the ground to extract the very nutritious minerals in the Akazian soil. The Akazian grass is actually very large vegetables but only their straws grow above ground.

The Kazean people are hunter-gatherers, so hunting is an important part of their lives. During winter when a lot of the animals hibernate or migrate, the Kazean live on dried fruit and some dried meat they've saved from the summer.

Akaz
Akaz is the homeworld of the Kazea. Slightly larger than Earth but otherwise pretty similar, Akaz is a plain-covered temperate planet.

Other species


In the northern parts of the Amaran continent, some groups started to learn how to ride the lumbering Mosasoles. The Mosasole originates from the same ancestor as the Kazea, but its branch on the evolution tree split off long ago. Ideas spread fast among the Kazean groups, and riding is very valuable knowledge, so some groups traded Mosasoles to the southern groups for other resources.



The Imizin is a cave-dwelling creature used as livestock by some groups. The Kazea has learned to milk these creatures of their sweet milk. The Imizin are very slow, and almost without conciousness. Only by hiding out in caves were predators cannot reach them are they able to survive.

The Eshiiph(meaning "fast" in the language of the group which discovered it) are used for racing between groups in certain parts of Akaz. The Eshiiph are too weak to be used as beasts of burden.

The Caarr and the Cimor are actually closely related. The Cimor is a domesticated spieces, used by the Kazea as a herding animal(like a sheepdog) and later in their civilization as a pet

Tribal Life
The Kazea lives in groups of twelve, and no more. When a new Kazea is born in a full group, the eldest Kazea in the group is ritually banished and has to live a hermit's life till he dies or finds a mate to start a new group with. The average life expectancy of a Kazea is 33 years.

When competition for land, recourses or other things arise, the leaders of two groups are face each other, performing a complex set of threats and warnings. Each group has their own spoken language with approx. 400 words, but the only way for two different groups to understand eachother is by their ancient sign language. The group leader with the best "arguments" win, and the other group has to give away land or some item they posess.



Religion
The Kazea do not believe in a creator or a divine supremacy, but they have theories about the afterlife. There are very few non-believers.



There are two theories about the afterlife. The first says that the souls of the righteous and the brave go to the moon when they die. This belief was of course inspired by the large, silverly moon of Akez(Called Imur).

The second belief is much newer and was founded when the Kazea discovered that the planet was round. A theory then emerged which stated that Akez is actually hollow, and the souls of the Kazea go into the paradise-like earth-core when they die. It is also rumoured that there is an opening somewhere on the planet leading into Paradise.

These two belief systems come with their own sets of rules which are pretty similar but with a few differences which has had the Kazea fighting for hundreds of years. (See: The Great War)

The First Religous War
The mighty armies of the Moons and the Hollows clashed on the huge fields of Miriz. This was the second largest war in Kazean history, with casualties rising as high as five hundred thousand.



Imperial Age
The empire was the world's super-power from the approximately 1700-1950 on Akez. It was the first kingdom with no state religion. The conflict between the Moons and the Hollows remained, however.

The Imperial Army
The Imperial Army was a huge and disciplined force, which seldom lost a battle.



Here's a Kazea rifleman, from a time between Renaissance and Industrialism. The rifle is a gas-powered air gun, but much stronger than the air rifles we have on Earth. The Kazea in the picture has yet to reach manhood, which is one of the reasons he voulenteered. The imperial army of circa 1700-1800 Kazea Time was one of the most disciplined on Akez.



The First Empire Air Navy was feared by all enemies of the Emperor. These two-man airships served as transports, bombers and attack vessels. The idea of travelling to the moon was what got the Kazea to start flying, and the first Kazea to lift from the ground was a priest. The Imperial pilot training was very hard and disciplined. Those few who made pilot were watched with envious eyes by the rest of the armies. Even though the mortality rate was much higher in the Air Navy, they received more applicants than any other branch of the Army.



This nasty invention is the Air Navy's foremost weapon. The bomb is basically a sack filled with marsh gas the Kazea has harvested. In one end there's an opening with a plug in it. Inside the sack are also some rocks for added momentum. When the sack hits the ground, the plug is pushed out. The plug then works as a match against the inside of the pipe it's inserted in.The sparks it creates ignites the marsh gas, which explodes, sending the spikes everywere. The airbomb was the first weapon developed with the civilian population in mind. The idea was to drop these bombs in the poorer areas of cities, causing huge fires(See: Tokyo bombings)



Journalism
In the 1880's (Kazea Time) the first newspaper was started. It was a huge hit, and the former "informer" service(Basically messengers send around to customers each day from a large corporation) went bankrupt almost over night. Pretty soon every city had a few newspapers. The Kazea newspapers give much more time to celebrities and statesmen and their private lives than to actual news. Most newspapers are split in two; A large Gossip part and a smaller News part.



''This is a journalist. He's wearing the official blue seal and a journalist hat. In his belly pocket is a chalk board for writing.''



''Here's a newspaper cutout from that time period. The caption reads "Lain Gowek's unknown lover." ''

The Great War
Big war picture

The great war starts in 2399 when tensions between Moons and Hollows once again reach the critical level. At the time, a large Hollow kingdom is the super power, but with a huge stream of Moon refugees the Moon break-out republic manages to create an army of their own. After 40 years of fierce battles and enormous losses on both sides, a peace treaty is signed by both sides. A Free Moon State is created, and the Moons immediately start their Space Program, planning to prove that their religion is right about souls going to Imur.



The Space Age
Moon Lander The first Kazea to walk on the moon was a priest and Kazonaut named Ee Payi. On a noisy radiolink distorted by the thin atmosphere on Imur, he cited the first twelve verses of the Book of the Silvery Moon, the holy scripture of the Moons. This religious note upset the Hollows, who protested wildly in the Capital.

Soon, it was discovered, no souls actually travelled to Imur, or if they did they were undetectable by all instruments. It was a terrible blow for the Moons which they never recovered from.

Space station

In the year 2449, Kazea Time (1,192,866 years since the first group), the first Kazea spacecraft successfully entered orbit. Primitive sensory equipment on board provided the Kazea with their first knowledge of space. Twelve years later, the first Kazenaut was launched into space. In the year 2495, 46 years from the first spacecraft launch, the first Kazea Space Station is fully operational.