Chapter Text
Ardurian Roc: [Canon Info]. The dominant species of the planet Arduria. Like the mythological rocs of Earth, they are avian creatures, but that is where the similarities end: the rocs of Arduria are sapient, mechanical humanoids, not dissimilar from Cybertronians, who view them as "estranged cousins" of their race and do not trust them. Known for being extremely watchful, the rocs communicate via radio waves and dwell in floating aeries.
Aquusian: A human-sized galactic-level space-faring seahorse-like aquatic race native to Atlatix.
Captis: a felenoid taur race, mech-sized
Catharsian: [Canon Info]. a race of mechanical aliens, similar in size and stature to Cybertronians. Unlike Cybertronians, however, they are incapable of transformation and lack sparks, instead deriving sentience from their "warm-wired" physiology.
Chromite: [Canon Info]. A race of humanoid robotic lifeforms who hail from some unknown portion of the galaxy. They stumble into places they really should not be.
Dragons of Hausnest: In an AU where Praxus was ruled by Predacons that left Cybertron when Alpha Prime began to hunt them in seriousness they settled on Hausnest. Full racial info is on This Page.
Dragons of Trikell: Have a very strong resemblance to the modern western fantasy dragon and ranged from twenty five to over a hundred and fifty feet long depending on gender and age. They do not find space travel agreeable at all.
Ea'ny: the energy beings from The Mechanoid Preserve.
Itarian: A bipedal wolf-cat mix with some avian characteristics and feathers. Average 8-9ft tall. Marsupial. Typically dark brown or black with muted green, tan and blue. 7 vorn life expectancy.
Iteranik: A centaur-like race with 4 arms and 4 legs. From a world in There's Always Someone Stronger ch 6
Kantin: The humanoid canines of Aristal.
Ka-Karur: An avian (endothermic) race native to Evidran 3. Ka-Karur are large ground raptors that possess obsidian feathers. Primarily hunters that live in small clans, this species has only recently developed sentience and makes few tools or structures. Eggs are laid in special caves and offspring remain in the cave for a few months before leaving to join the rest of the clan. They can live up to 300 years, but most only survive to around 50. Elders, called White Ones, develop white feathers after age 50 and are revered. They are not sexually dimorphic. The average adult stands 6ft tall and weighs 1500lbs. Created by gatekat and KarlWolfemann in Raptors of Evidran.
Kat: The humanoid (small cat based) felines of Aristal.
Lathirian: a mechanoid race.
Lithone: [Canon Info]. A race of robots from the planet Lithone. They possess a very high percentage of "emotional circuits" in their computer brains, which affects their individual personalities in different ways. By nature, they are not vengeful, making them lenient towards troublemakers. Their race appears to feature not only male and female members, but robotic "children".
Llazian: Native sentient race of Llazus IV.
Mecannibal: [Canon Info]. On cursory viewing they appear vaguely similar to spiders with four legs attached to a round red body. Unlike spiders they possess one pair of yellow optics and a large toothy mouth. Known to eat other mechanical lifeforms, they often sell the leftover parts on the black market.
Mustelid: the humanoid weasels of Aristal.
Najma Zag (Star Dragon, Sun Dragon): From 20ft tall biped to 20ft long/5ft shoulder quadruped to planet-sized depending on age and growth rate. They grow their entire lives. How fast depends on how much energy (and/or material) they put towards growth. Many will reach the size of a galactic freighter (or Mars-sized planet) and decide that they don't want to get much bigger so they stop spending energy on growth and focus it all on maintenance, self-improvement and their crew.
Najma Zag are an immortal but not invulnerable species; they can be killed but they do not die of degradation/age related issues.
Their primary fuel is solar and heat radiation. It is common for a Najma Zag to park itself in orbit just outside a star's photosphere and stay there for centuries at a time to build up the energy reserves to comfortably travel to a far-away star. While the ambient energy inside a galaxy is enough to sustain one it is equivalent to minimum survival rations.
Najma Zag long ago developed an appreciation for having small companions that travel with/inside them. The largest of them may have entire self-contained cities inside them but the average adult (the size of a 10,000 sq ft building) tends to have a pair and the number of residents increases as the size does. This assumes an average resident is a 15-20ft tall biped. Adjust accordingly if not.
When a Najma Zag decides to reproduce it will create a handful of eggs (with or without partner(s)) that hatch into vaguely quadrupedal beings. Depending on the race(s) the creator favors for residents they will be sized to match and exposure to that race will quickly shape the hatchlings into shapes that can pass for them. Those destined for organic residents require extra help as Najma Zag are mechanoids with a core of sentio metallico. Those going to mechanical worlds just need armor. When the hatchlings are mature enough to function on their own their creator drops them off in distant corners of their desired race's domain to make friends that will eventually become their first residents. The leader of these residents is the First Mate (title). While the First Mate is often the Najma Zag's lover, the title comes from being the first in command after the Captain (Najma Zag).
For those headed to Cybertron the stay was expected to be a thousand vorns or so before the transformation into dragon form was triggered and the creator(s) to come to pick up the youth and their first residents. The group will generally stay with said creator(s) until the young Najma Zag is large enough for their first residents to be comfortable living inside it. Then the young Najma Zag heads off on its own.
While they are largely solitary or travel with only one other Najma Zag are quite social among their own kind. It just tends to be via subspace radio. The last big gathering made the star look like it had a nearly-complete Dyson sphere almost overnight that cleared just as fast some time later.
Nebulan: [Canon Info]. organic race from the planet Nebulos similar in design to the inhabitants of Earth. Peaceful until they encountered Cybertronians. Often binary bonded to Cybertronians as Headmasters and Targetmasters.
Nijihito: A race of organic aliens who's skin, hair and eyes come in a wide range of colors. They are highly technological, commonly cyborgs and heavily invested in the slaver trade. Nijihito is Japanese for rainbow. Used in Kaizen 1: Against All Odds.
Raccipi: eagle-like avian humanoids with much larger, dark colored females and smaller, brightly colored males. Males generally tend the nest, though they are far from helpless and are taught to hunt. It is not uncommon for a successful female to have multiple males to care for her holdings and young. Think of the females as eagles and the males as parrots.
They grow at 1/2 the rate of a bald eagle http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle4.html
flapping starts at 16 weeks.
first flight between 22-24 weeks.
Full size at 14 weeks.
Physical maturity at 1 year
Sexual maturity at 10 years
Death from old age between 80-100 (without cybernetics).
Ramotaur: Maturity: 18 years. Max: 40. Brash, strong-willed and with a culture built on an enormous amount of testosterone and very short lives, these cousins of the common minotaur have the heads of wild sheep or goats. The females, while smaller and lighter built, are just as savage and doubly so when any of the herd's pre-teens are in danger. While all are trained as warriors and hunters most work of the herd is tending to their animals; sheep and goats also native to the mountains. They generally have a summer village and winter village they travel between to graze their animals. They really don't understand why many other races twitch at the fact that Ramotaurs eat animals that share their faces. Generally sheep are kept for wool and meat while goats are kept for milk and meat. Some herds also have semi-domesticated fowl for eggs and meat. While their common tech is stone age to deal with animals and day to day living, when real danger threatens the pull out the bronze and steel. Both genders favor plate armor and war hammers and are good at using the steep terrain to their advantage.
Ramotaur of Confluence: Fully organic and differing from the default only in being larger. They average 14-16ft tall. Magic is very rare; a priestess thing and largely ceremonial or combat oriented. While they have some iron and even the occasional steel weapon, the majority of their tools are stone and bronze. Females are called ewes and males are called rams.
Life stages:
Birth - 6 months: largely locked on mom and goes with her everywhere. Still nursing. High mortality rate in the first month from birth defects, disease and such.
6 months - 2 years: still locked on mom but eating mostly solids and mobile. They begin helping with simple chores and tasks with her and she will have a sharp eye on what the kid might be good at for a special skill. Not all have one. This is the age bracket with the most deaths due to accidents and predators.
2 years: apprenticeships start for those who get one.
8 - 10 years: When priestesses are chosen and begin their specialist training. Also when young are considered adult enough to protect the herds and deal with things alone. Everyone would have killed, butchered and cooked domestic animals for food by now.
12-14 years: Adolescence. While ewes can get pregnant and often do it is extremely rare for her to maintain the pregnancy for longer than a month. Unlike humans, a Ramotaur's body will reject a pregnancy they aren't prepared to give birth to.
18-20 years: Physical maturity. Rams leave home. Ewes build their own home if they want. Ewes usually begin to have kids.
24-28: Rams are in their physical prime. This is the age bracket of almost all village leaders.
30: The life expectancy for males.
34: The life expectancy for females.
40 years: Considered the max age for a Ramotaur, male or female. A handful do live longer; they are like 100+ year olds today. They are regarded as exceptional rather than a hint that the race can live longer. Even with the best galactic grade medical care a Ramotaur won't see 50 without cybernetics and it's unlikely any would want to. They simply are not designed to last very long.
Ewes are fertile every other fall and will usually get pregnant every chance between 20 and 40 (when they become an infertile Elder). There is a natural mortality rate in the first 2 years of life close to 60%. The lower the infant mortality rate goes the fewer times most will choose to get pregnant.
It is common to have several names over a lifetime. Some given, some by choice. Naming themes:
Males: mineral-action (Amber Lancer, Goldrunner, Ironstrike)
Females: mineral-plant (Amber Rose, Goldbush, Irontree)
Neutral: mineral-anything else (Amber Rain, Golden Sun, Iron Drum)
Ramotaurs on Confluence are a largely nomadic race by our standards but they are more like herders than true nomads. They have a summer camp and winter camp, both of which have permanent buildings and they move as their herds need to move. The territory is owned by the ewes and property other than what is worn (clothing, armor, jewelry, weapons, field tools) also belongs to them and is passed down to female descendants. Specialist tools (jewelry maker, blacksmith, leather-worker, priestess, healer) belong to anyone with those skills, which is usually just the local master and an apprentice or two. It's anti-social to use a blacksmith's forge without knowing how but not typically 'criminal'. Overall, however, their mentality is of communal property. If you need something you use it and replace/sharpen/repair it when you are done. This is particularly true of shelter, ordinary tools and common (non-named) weapons. It is true with food so long as the leader or priestess hasn't called for strictures (common in the second half of winter and does not mean famine).
The males typically leave their home village when they reach adulthood (17-19 years). Females rarely leave their herd. There is significant competition among smarter ewes to get their young sons into apprenticeships so they can go to another village and be welcomed as a skilled member and not just a warm body for labor.
They have the knowledge of both contraceptives and abortifacients for those who do not wish to be pregnant. This is the realm of the healer and priestess. They are also known to practice both fostering and by exposing those who do not want to raise the kid.
While many ewes settle down with one or two rams, or choose a steady lover for a given period, those that don't care to will typically choose either the lead ram (settlement leader, which comes with an expectation of a gift of goods for the kid from him) or a skilled artisan (with the understanding he will apprentice the kid when old enough). Since their society still operates on the assumption that most males will never have a kid, much less enough to have grandkids by a son, being asked to sire is an honor to be paid for.
Views on homosexuality: Neutral. It's natural.
An ewe who prefers females and/or doesn't like the idea of being pregnant or raising kids will be directed to the priestesses. While priestesses do occasionally have kids and often foster them, it's much less a part of their lives than for the average ewe.
A male who prefers males will usually be looked on with approval by other males. It's that much less competition for the ewes and leadership.
An ewe who is sterile or likes kids enough will be well compensated and viewed with great regard by her community for taking on orphans and the kids of those who are willing to give birth but don't want to raise the results. Kids, like most not-specialist work, is a community effort.
Transgender is very rare but treated as being sterile/non-breeding for other reasons. While it would be unusual for either kind to become a community leader it is possible.
For a ram to transition to a ewe the new ewe must be accepted into a settlement or family as such. Castration, in whole or in part, is common but not universal. Since most inheritance is through the female line and she can not have kids she will not normally inherit much, if anything. Which isn't nearly as stigmatizing/unfair as it sounds in a world where most things are community property.
For a ewe to transition to a ram is simpler. There are treatments that will render her sterile. Then it is taking up the dress and duties of a subordinate male and working his way up the hierarchy like any other young ram.
Stentarian: [Canon Info]. Eerily similar to the Cybertronians, the Stentarians are a race of transforming and combining robots. Sixteen million years ago, the Stentarian race split apart into two factions — the Heroic Terradores and the Evil Ammonites — and they have been at war ever since.
Urgronian: a humanoid with tusks and large, thick bodies. Cybertronian sized. They are all about the profits, but once you get their signature on a contract, most can be trusted to uphold their end of it. If word gets out that they aren't good to their contract, they lose a lot of business and they know it.
Xanith: The humanoid (big cat) felines of Aristal.
Zunisertos: [inspiration image 1], [inspiration image 2]. A dinosauroid native to the Cybertronian empire. Rarely seen without its mount nearby.