Creature:Volanti

"There is no sanctum, lords. The Silver tide is rising, and the Seven will claim soon all of your lands. The Tide is rising- the will of Volaris approaches. Hide what you can and run while you are able, for we leave no branch unrattled and no star unconquered. Run, men of churches and of tradescrafts, chancellors and kings. Run, little moon men, run. The Tide is rising."

- The Volanti

The Volanti are the dominating species of the Rohse Galaxy, an imperialistic and proud millennia-old people. Their history is long and eventful, and as most of them live for hundreds to even thousands of years, so is their memory. Their struggle for success and control has spawned one of the largest civilizations in galactic history, the Valian Empire, which has not stopped with their incursions into neighboring galaxies.

Volanti refer to themselves as star men, owing from their origins on the blazed planet of Nol Aris, and to other alien species as moon men. A single member of their species is called a Volant; a citizen of their Empire, Volanti or not, is a Valian.

Anatomy
The Volanti are an androgynous and humanoid race, physically speaking. They a set of two arms and legs, ending either in a hand (with three digits) or a foot (with none), an abdomen and a single head, which contains the command centre of their nervous system. They have very long necks and a human-like face, albeit with large breathing pores instead of noses and two close-set eyes, suited to well-lighted environments. Their eyes and elongated and dark, owing to their evolution in the brightest regions of the galaxy; accordingly, they have very poor night vision. Although from a distance they look completely black, in close light a luminescent strip of green, and in some cases blue, iris can be seen.

Valians have large brain-to body ratios and flexible, almost luminescent gray skin, with subcutaneous layers of fat similar to those of many sea creatures’- supporting the leading theory that they evolved from maritime animals. However, they also have a durable, tough armor of solid, bone-like cartilage tissue throughout their bodies (and no actual bones besides), which provides protection for the more vulnerable portions of their bodies. Where vital organs are found, this inner skeleton is thicker than usual.

With fast metabolisms and no extra fat tissues, their bodies are wiry and muscular, with toughened muscle visible wherever their exoskeleton isn’t present. They have somewhat irregular life cycles, with periods of rapid growth and no changes at all. It is believed that newborn Volanti are asexual, and in their maturing stages develop to join the ranks of either the female or male sex, with marked differences between the two. They have short childhoods and enormously long adolescent stages, often decades long, with their ageing process getting slower as it goes. Mature adults, at 800 years of age, can live for several centuries before the slow process of old age-to-decay follows. Death is an enormous taboo for the living, and the passing away of a Volant can be mourned for years.

Three hearts, located on the left side of their upper and lower abdomen, pump blood continuously through their thick frames at a frantic pace. This makes them efficient performers of high-energy activity (which, ironically, they shun), but also susceptible to poisons, which can course through their veins bare seconds after ingestion.

Gender Differences
Female Volanti are decidedly different form their male counterparts. They are generally much thinner, with a taller, slighter frame and longer necks. Their exoskeletons have different patterns than those of males’, with smoother edges and less-prominent formations, and much more soft tissue overall. Female Volanti are who bear children, delivering a single child (in a non-shelled egg) after a year of pregnancy- twins are the stuff of legend. They are revered for their role in the continuation of their species, but otherwise deemed exactly the same as male Volanti.

Speech
Volanti speech is marked by a heavy, sibilant accent, the result of their inadequate vocal chords attempting to adapt to foreign sounds. It is much too different from many other alien tongues because it is based on sounds akin to growling hisses, not solid vowels, and continues to confound foreign linguists.

Special Characteristics
Come out, come out, wherever you are…there’s no use at all in hiding. Your stench is all I need to see.|Volanti

Their heightened scent perception and their ability to detect living being’s involuntary airborne secretions- such as hormones- give them the eerie ‘sixth sense’-like ability to detect the presence of others nearby, as well as their state of mind. To an unpracticed eye, this can make them seem to be mind-readers or telepaths. It can also be a disadvantage, however; when on alien or untraveled-to planets; their atmospheres can be severely unpleasant to breathe in. Scents that other races find irritating can almost incapacitate a Volanti if he is not wearing an air-gill mask.

Culture
"With diplomacy through firepower there is no need for the talking."

- The Volanti

Volanti have an extensive and sophisticated cultural make-up, being hundreds of thousands of years old. Little is known of their traditions and practices, because they consider them the heart of their very being and above other, lesser ones. They can be famously isolationist, with a national pride that borders on xenophobia (calling themselves, for example, star men and alien races moon men). Though their ideologies can change from planet to planet, they do a very uniform behavior. Most are quite utilitarian (a practice the Empire fosters), and believe the results justify the means- any means. They can have greatly different temperaments, of course, but most are short-tempered, proud and to the point. Their absolute surety in themselves and their race-which can be called anything from admirable confidence to insolent pride, is what makes them agile fighters, traders and politicians: they will rarely deviate from a choice. This has also made them, however, prone to conflict, and though they find idle fights distasteful they have no qualms about purposeful violence- nor sacrifice. They are not greatly militaristic, however, and most wish to keep things, if not in a state of peace, in one of lasting and efficient order.

Genetic experimentation and body modifications to their own kind are seen as blasphemy by the Volanti, who believe that their pure, natural form is the bestand only time should change them. They therefore generally wear little clothing; aside from protective leg and arm bands, it is customary to show as much skin as possible. The kind of human-like modesty seen in many other races is near-inexistent on Volaris and its daughter planets, whose inhabitants see no reason to cover themselves with clothing or put trinkets on their person. Not even Valian Emperors or nobles wear adornments, sake for the small crown of thorns that is the symbol of the empire’s monarchy.

Religion
Modern Volanti society is everything but religious. A long history of secular, scientific ideals has been the overriding tone for tens of thousands of years, leaving no place for churches nor temples. However, thousands of ancient templed shrines, mounments and mausoleums remain, dating back to the Old Empire-era and beyond. And ancient religions, much older than any remotely modern culture can claim, still have a deep resonance in Valian culture. The practice of never defiling nor seeking to improve one's body with technology, for example, has not base in any modern doctrine but is as strong as actual laws. The worshippers of forgone times were rumoured to worship the stars, a possible reason for their never-ending fascination with the universe.