Sarans

The sarans are one of the most powerful and feared races in the galaxy. They are thought to have evolved into humanoids from a race of feline predators when a radioactive comet smashed into the barren world of Kazan millennia ago, but this is actually false. From the craggy peaks of their harsh planet, the sarans were forged into a fierce warrior race who would conquer first their planet and then most of the Known Universe. The sarans were one tribe of many which inhabited Kazan, and were by far the strongest. The dawn of their recorded history tells of mighty saran warriors raging from the north and wiping out every other tribe, using their terrible power to slaughter their enemies. 
After conquering their planet, the sarans were encountered by a powerful alien called King Rao, who was searching for the mystical Bloodstone. He decided to recruit the sarans as his elite warriors, and used them to cut a swath through all resistance. After tiring of taking orders, the sarans rebelled against Rao, who they came to call the Great Enemy. After a long and hard fought war, a lone warrior called the Oversaran appeared. He faced Rao and drove him off, thereafter taking the name Sarada, which means “Supreme Fang” in the saran tongue. With the saran Clans united around him, he took his people on a bloody conquest across the galaxy. They eventually cowed the mighty peacekeeping force called SENTINEL and came into possession of the legendary Bloodstone. 
Sarans are characterized by their black manes of hair and sharp fangs, their incredible power, and enormous sense of pride (all sarans think they are the best and that they can conquer the universe).
==Physiology==
Though they look to be humans at first glance, sarans have a very feral demeanor because of their feline ancestors. Sarans have black hair and eyes with sharp fangs in their mouths. A saran’s senses of vision, smell, hearing, taste, and touch all operate at extraordinary levels, especially their sense of smell.  While nearly all sarans have black eyes which tend to appear to glow in the dark, and are able to see in total darkness as easily as daylight.  Sarans have powerful voices and can roar like lions.  This roar is so terrifying that lesser races will instinctively freeze up at the sound of it.  They also possess preternatural reflexes, high agility, and intuitive fighting knowledge. They have a high order intelligence and a natural ability to analyze patterns. The sarans are also known for their extreme will power and incredible fortitude which makes them truly terrifying opponents.
The muscle, bone, and skin tissue of a saran is 3-4 times as dense as that of a human being. This contributes to the saran’s superior strength and high degree of invulnerability to physical attacks. This high density also causes them to be extremely heavy. For example, a saran male might have the appearance of an ordinary human weighing 180 pounds, but due to the greater density of his body, his actual weight might be well over 600 pounds. However, the saran’s Aura and its ability to manipulate gravity will naturally compensate for this and they always appear to be much lighter than their body density would dictate. The average saran male can lift (press) roughly 10 tons, but they can amplify their strength by charging their Aura. An S-Class saran at full charge can temporarily lift 5 times that amount. Sarans also possess several additional organs not found in humans. For instance, sarans generally have not one but several hearts.
While sarans do need to breathe, they are capable of holding their breath for extremely long periods of time. The upward limit to this is not known, though Cain once said he had to hold his breath for 3 days when he realized after arriving on a planet to kill someone, his target was actually hiding on the planet's moon. This required him to fly unaided to the moon and search for a brief period before he found them.
Due to their superior metabolism, sarans also possess superhuman levels of stamina in all physical activities. Sarans possess a powerful healing factor, which will also grant an increase in their level of power that is far greater than what they had prior to being injured. As the saran heals, their body adapts and evolves to match previous threats and almost neutralize them. In most cases they can heal instantaneously from all but the most serious of wounds. If a saran is injured, he or she will be able to recover much faster than humans, even recovering from impalement or partial dismemberment after a long rest. So long as a limb is not completely severed from their core, the wound will completely recover. However, the more serious the wound the longer the saran will need to rest in order to heal.
Saran pregnancies last a brief period of 5-6 months. Their offspring also mature faster than most other races, reaching puberty at around the age of 7. By the ages of 15 and 12 for boys and girls respectively, they are considered adults. Researchers have described Saran DNA as "aggressive." On occasions when they sire children with other races, the saran genes will override the other race's physical traits and powers. Only in rare circumstances will significant genetic markers for the non-saran parent be apparent. 
The sarans are naturally long lived and remain in their prime for far longer than other races, but they are not immortal. They can sicken, age and die, but are immune to Earth diseases and poisons and age at a much slower rate than humans. The average saran male can live up to 250 years, and the female up to 300. The average life expectancy is about 80-100, since most sarans try to meet a "suitable" end in battle.
Owing to their origins as demons from the Fire Kingdom Inferno in Hell, sarans belong to a classification of beings known as Fire Elementals. They are able to manifest a powerful form of atomic fire called Hellfire which is capable of unspeakable destruction. As fire elementals, they do not burn and are incapable of being injured by any kind of fire except the Hellfire of another saran. Instead, exposure to other forms of fire rejuvenates them. When sarans die, their bodies quickly deteriorate into ash. They don’t leave corpses.
=== Saran Hybrids ===
Sarans are capable of having offspring with other humanoid races. Because saran genes are so aggressive, the child will generally have predominantly saran features. Features inherited from the non-saran parent are generally far less pronounced. In youth these features can be more visible, with the saran hybrid having the coloring of the non-saran parent. However the older they get the more and more saran they will look. Hair and eyes will gradually blacken and the skin will redden. Once they've reached maturity they will be outwardly identical to regular sarans, though regular sarans can determine a hybrid by a slight difference in their scent. Owing to their saran blood, hybrids will be natural aura users and while they typically come to it later in life than a normal saran they will have access to Hellfire as well.
While Hybrids gradually have access to the full suite of powers as their full-blooded counterparts (and depending on the level of their parent might even have MORE power), they don't always have the blood lust or fighting instinct of normal sarans. While their blood will naturally make them MORE aggressive typically than their non-saran parent's race, it will generally pale before the battle frenzy of actual sarans. When a saran meets their hybrid child, this "lack of fire" as it is called is regarded with both confusion and disappointment. However, this more even temperment can occasionally lead to the Hybrid becoming a great hero or protector to their lesser half's race.
==Powers==
Sarans possess physical attributes that operate on superhuman levels. Their bone and muscle tissue is denser than a human’s, endowing them with supernatural strength and resilience. They also have enhanced metabolism, durability, and reflexes far beyond the levels of humans. However, despite their incredible strength, reflexes, fortitude, and powers of energy manipulation, the sarans are most known for their unmatchable speed. They are regarded as the naturally fastest race in the known universe. Even without using their power of flight, they are able to move many times faster than the eye can see. Their recuperative powers are also formidable, as they can take an extraordinary amount of damage and continue fighting.
They are also fire elementals able to control a mysterious form of fire known as Hellfire. Sarans are able to produce and control fire from any part of their body, which can be used both in melee and as a ranged form of offense. The Hellfire can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways including powerful attacks, shields, teleportation, telepathy, healing, etc. Such fire seems to have a “blunt” effect to it, seemingly causing hitting damage alongside burnings. Hellfire also produces much more heat than a standard fire, with even the user’s body temperature being capable of melting metal. The Flame’s intensity is connected to the saran’s feelings, meaning the more emotional they get, the more their flames will increase exponentially in temperature. As sarans are natural Aura users, these flames are reflexively imbued with Aura vastly increasing their potency. Sarans are immune to any sort of fire other than the Hellfire of another saran, and will not burn under any other circumstances. Instead, other kinds of fire have a rejuvenating effect on a saran and can restore his health.
Sarans are able to generate extremely potent Auras, which they can use to enhance their physical strength, speed, endurance, and other natural attributes. They can also employ this energy to negate the force of gravity around them, enabling them to fly. In an Earthlike atmosphere, sarans are able to attain many times the speed of sound. Sarans have considerable powers of super strength and speed, invulnerability, flight, and energy projection. Sarans are extremely sensitive to energies, and can usually tell the identity and strength of someone by sensing their Aura. High level sarans are able to suppress their Aura so as to appear invisible.
==Personality==
Sarans tend to share common personality traits, even at young ages. Being a war-like people, they share an innate enjoyment for conflict and fighting. Violent behavior is encouraged from when they are very young, and they have a tendency to be very casual with death or injury, looking at them as no big deal. Sarans are typically very aggressive and hard-headed, with short explosive tempers. They are an intensely proud people, with a society heavily based around honor and social hierarchy. Courage and strength are highly respected among them, and they have been known to praise these traits even in their enemies. Sarans regard fighting as fun, and are generally thrilled at the prospect of a strong opponent. Conversely they tend to become extremely disappointed if their opponent isn’t as strong as they had thought. They have a tendency to let their emotions get the better of them when roused in stimulating situations, resulting in them making rash decisions at times. While the sarans are known for their powerful emotions, they can also appear to lack sympathy, as shown by their relative lack of fear of death and impatience with even percieved cowardice. Sarans have an aggressive warrior culture where violence is respected and celebrated and things like empathy or remorse are looked at as character flaws. They have no word for "nice" in the sense of demonstrating kindness or compassion, instead the nearest linguistic equivalent which they have literally means "weak".
==Culture and Society==
The sarans are a proud warrior race with a harsh society built on strength and honor. The saran code of honor is based on the Seven Martial Virtues, which were codified by the Saran King, Sarada.  Even after the restoration of the Holy Order, the Virtues were still taught as expected behavior in the Saran Army. Altogether the Virtues are: Honor, Bravery, Endurance, Loyalty, Respect, Pride and Discipline.
Saran society before the arrival of King Rao was clannish, with small bands of sarans waging constant war with eachother over scant resources. During this period, each Clan had a Chief, under whom were the free men and women who would be expected to fight when the Chief called on them. At other times they tended to their vocations, which was usually farming and raising cattle. The Clans tended to live communally, and no one suffered unless all suffered. Despite this idea of working towards a common good, personal honor was of the utmost importance to sarans and infighting even between Clansmen was common. There was a caste of slave girls at this time (as with later, male children deemed unacceptable were left to die in the wilderness), but they had far fewer responsibilities than they would have later.
This changed when Rao arrived on Kazan. Recognizing the untapped military potential of the sarans, he gathered them together into a unified state, patterning them off of the warrior culture that the Gods imposed on the Ogres. There were a few differences though, as the sarans were a rowdier people than the stoic Ogres. The Chiefs of the more powerful Clans were elevated to the rank of Noble Lords and organized into a council which would govern saran affairs and act as the officers for his saran army. From among these Nobles Rao would select a Holy Warlord, who would rule the sarans in his name and coordinate them with the rest of the Holy Order. While each of the Nobles was allowed to keep a small retinue of bodyguards (generally between 10 and 20 strong warriors) the rest of their forces would be absorbed into the Saran Army, which would become the vanguard of the Holy Order.
Sarans were generally organized into small teams of 5, with one acting as the leader, though he would often have a second in command. It was very common for these teams to only listen to their leader, and the leader to only listen to one of the Nobles or the Holy Warlord. Most sarans never met Rao himself. In the beginning it was arranged that no more than 2 from the same Clan would be on a team together, which occasionally was the cause for much in-fighting. However, within a generation most sarans had abandoned their Clan identity for loyalty to their team.
To free up the free sarans for service in the army, more and more of the responsibilities of the upkeep of society fell on the slave girl caste. The slave caste included a number of specializations including scribes, nurses, farmers, artisans, pleasure slaves, etc. Slave girls could be noted by the slave brand burned into their left buttock and slave collar. The brand marked the job to which the slave girl had been trained while the collar bore the name of their owner and was also inscribed with binding runes to seal their Aura to keep them from being dangerous. Like elves, sarans are able to devote an uncanny amount of focus when learning a discipline, and the slaves are supremely trained in their particular tasks. Scribes and doctors are conditioned to be quick thinking and unable to harm their patients. Artisans are conditioned to be extremely intuitive and overly concerned with beauty. Pleasure Slaves are trained in how to give absolute pleasure to their masters and are conditioned to have hyper active libidos to encourage them to use their skills. Slave girls were generally property of the state, but a soldier could buy one he liked with spoils of war. In both ancient saran society and the one created by Rao, this caste was entirely female. This was because of the saran practice of leaving rejected male infants to die in the wilderness of exposure.
Pre-Rao saran infants were inspected by the elders of the Clan, and those males deemed weak or deficient were left out to die. When Rao took over Kazan, he brought with him the Gods’ technology which gave the sarans a more reliable standard for gauging the strength of their young. At Rao’s recommendation, rejects were placed aboard space pods and exiled away from Kazan. There they’d land on planets and wreak havoc, since for most races in the universe even a saran reject is a formidable problem. These wild rejects would typically cause major damage to a resistant planet’s infrastructure leaving it easy pickings for a follow up force to come and claim it in the name of the Holy Order. Because of this practice, saran females on Kazan outnumber males by about 4:1 (though it should be noted that 3/4ths of these make up the slave caste, with only 1/4 of females being judged worthy of inclusion in the Army).
Those children that ARE deemed acceptable are generally turned over to the state to raise since their parents are often away on missions. During down times however, saran parents will commonly look in on their children. Though it is predominantly the mothers who do this, fathers will as well. It is often part of the education for a saran child that they have to battle their parents at several points during their education to test their strength. While the adult will call a stop to it after a certain point, the child is not allowed to yield. Childhood for saran children is full of constant training and survival tests at the hands of warriors who act as teachers.  A child's first trial entails being dropped off a cliff into a nest of Bazu.  If the child survives and manages to climb up, they are greeted by their teachers and classmates and taught how to fly.  As the children come of age and are considered adults (12 for girls and 15 for boys), they are made full warriors and are assigned to a team. Upon becoming warriors, they are assigned private quarters, though Pair Bonded couples will often share quarters.
Life for saran warriors is generally quite rowdy. They spend their time either away on missions or home on Kazan where they spend their time alternately partying and training. The saran appetite for eating, drinking and sex is almost as legendary as their battle-lust. In most cases sarans don’t pre-occupy themselves with their offspring, as only the Noble Families make a point of having heirs. Sarans have no system of marriage as it is understood by other races because of the drastic number gap between the sexes. Instead, sarans of both sexes are known to be notoriously promiscuous and unintentional pregnancies are not uncommon.
Sarans have a very casual attitude about nudity and sex, regarding them as nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of and do not really have a sense of sexual privacy. Monogamy is a somewhat unknown concept among sarans and while many will typically have a partner or partners they prefer, being sexual exclusive does not make sense to them. Compared to other cultures, sex does not carry any of emotional weight or attachment. While it is an intimate experience, sarans see it more of an expression of physical needs than emotional feelings. Sex and love are very distinct concepts to sarans.
The society structured by Rao was kept intact after his deposing at the hands of Sarada, though the authority of the Holy Warlord was seized by the newly declared King and his successors. When Rao returned and once again seized control of the sarans thanks to the betrayal of Zanko, the latest Oversaran, he restored the authority of the Holy Order over the sarans. Zanko was granted the title of Holy Ghost, making him Rao’s high priest and chief representative in this galaxy. The Holy Ghost would empower a quartet of his most powerful fighters as Holy Warlords, whose power was above that of the Nobles. These Holy Warlords would later be replaced themselves by the Deathwalks, shadowy figures modeled on the 4 Angels of Death who served the Gods during the Heroic Age. While the Holy Ghost held dominion over all the races loyal to Rao through the religious authority, worship of the God King was never treated very seriously by most sarans. Instead the sarans respected strength, and the Holy Order was obeyed by the Saran Nobles and the Saran Army because of the power of the Holy Ghost and his Holy Warlords. It was this strength that the Holy Ghost used to ensure the loyalty of the Nobles despite his unpopularity, which bound many of them to his authority even after a Sarada heir appeared and attempted to restore his Clan to the Throne.
Names are a very important aspect of saran culture and are typically a source of pride for them and they will typically swear on them when making oaths. When born, they will typically be named randomly by the birthing facility or rarely by though the parent can choose a name if they care to. At about the age of 5, they'll be given their True Name (usually this is the same as their birth name unless a different one is especially desired) usually with accompanying characters in High Saranic to give it a special meaning. On rare occasions a saran of high rank can bestow a new name or special character on a low ranked one. This is considered a great honor. Slaves on the other hand are denied True Names, instead having names that can be changed at will by their masters.
An important part of saran culture, both pre-Rao and afterwards is the consumption of Blood Ale.  Blood Ale serves to pacify the more volatile aspects of saran personalities and put them in a euphoric stupor.  The effects of ale serve to curtail sarans from using their extraordinary power and violent dispositions from causing planetwide death and destruction.  It is fed to saran warriors returned from campaign to keep their violent emotions in check. It is fed to saran children as part of coming of age ceremonies.   It is fed to slave girls to induce them into orgiastic ecstacy.  It is popular legend among sarans that the creation of Blood Ale is attributed to Sara's son Sora out of the blood of his enemies.
===Clans===
The officer class of the Saran Army was made up of the Noble Families who had been the tribal chieftans of the various saran clans in the Pre-Rao days.  On ancient Kazan, all sarans were organized into Clans under the control of 6 powerful families.  When Rao came and recruited the sarans into the Holy Order, the chiefs of these Clans were made to forfiet their warriors into the newly organized Saran Army.  The chiefs and their families were made officers in charge of the various soldiers, and from among them was chosen a Holy Warlord who would represent them to the God King.  After the rise of the Oversaran, he created his own Clan called the Sarada and made that supreme over the Ancient Clans, which caused some of the Ancient Clans to carry a grudge against the Sarada to modern times.
Clans were generally made up of a core Main House (made up of the Lord, his mate and their children), and a Branch House made up of younger brothers and cousins of the Lord and his family.  Because of high mortality and intrigue, there were rarely more than 20 members of a Clan at a given time.  Also, unlike other sarans who cared little for their children, the Lords of the Clans kept close tabs on their heirs and made sure they knew about their heritage.  Whereas regular sarans do not know their lineage and couldn't care less, the Clan Nobles take blood very seriously.  If a powerful warrior emerges from among the rank and file, he will usually be bred into one of the Noble families in the interest of creating more powerful sarans. Lords could be recognized by red overcoats which had 7 black diamonds running along the bottom (each representing one of the 7 Martial Virtues) with the Clan symbol large on the back, as well as the Clan Pendant which was commonly attached to the left shoulder.
Clan members serve as officers of the saran army.  The higher rank a noble has in their clan the more authority they have over the rank and file saran fighters.  Most Branch Clan members are B-Level fighters, with the Main Branch usually being made of of A-Class.
Sarada
Also called the Saran Royal Family or the Sarada Royal Clan, this Clan was founded by the first Oversaran, Sarada following his defeat of Rao.  While the older, more established Clans initially tried to revolt against the Throne after Sarada's death, they were quickly cowed by Sarada's children who despite not being Oversarans like their father, proved to be very strong.  The Sarada Clan ruled Kazan until the re-emergence of Rao.  As fate would have it, a lesser member of the Clan called Zankou emerged as an Oversaran.  Believing he was the prophesized Warrior-Born, he challenged Rao but was defeated.  In the aftermath he swore fealty to the God King, becoming the Holy Ghost and restoring the rule of the Holy Order over the sarans.  He murdered his uncle, the Emperor, and thereafter swore to keep the Throne empty to ensure that there would be no authority on Kazan other than the Holy Order.  As time went on though, he began an extensive program of breeding and genetic engineering on the Sarada Clan in order to create another, stronger Oversaran who would be able to kill Rao.  Growing up a member of the Sarada during the reign of the Holy Ghost was brutal, as he would force siblings to fight eachother to the death in order to purge the line of weakness, allowing only the strongest to contribute to the Clan's survival.  He did this for 2000 years until the emergence of Arisada, who had been forced to kill his younger brother Renta and later refused to fight his youngest brother, Dashora.  Instead he escaped into exile, and the Ghost ended up naming his grandson (and Arisada's nephew) Cain as Lord of the Sarada and installed him as Prince of the Sarans.  During his time healing in Inferno, Cain came upon statues of the original Saran Clan and noticed his own resemblance to Sara's son Sora and concluded that he and all other Sarada were descended from the hammer wielding Devil. The clan symbol of the Sarada is the tri-flickering flame which also serves as the symbol of the Saran Empire.
Kuri
Said to be founded by Sarada's brother, the Kuri Clan actually predates the arrival of Rao.  Kuri was actually a close friend of Sarada and the two were sworn brothers.  When he took the Bloodstone from the Watchers, Sarada realized the danger posed by the bauble and without telling anyone else entrusted it to Kuri to keep it safe.  Thereafter, the Lord of the Kuri Clan would inherit the location of the Bloodstone and the responsibility to make sure it stayed out of the wrong hands.  The Kuri were eventually wiped out by the Holy Ghost, who became aware of a prophecy that he would meet his end at the hands of a son of Kuri.  This prophecy eventually came to pass when he was killed by the Earth Saran, John Duke.  When Arisada restored the rule of the Sarada Clan, John was named Lord of Kuri, though he never took the title seriously.  While in the Fire Kingdom, Cain saw a statue of the son of Sara, Kai and based on his striking likeness to Karyu surmised that the Clan was sired by him. During the Saran Conquest, Sarada was impressed with the Kuri Lord, Kanto and declared him the embodiment of Bravery and changed the first character of his name to the one for "Ka" meaning "Bravery." Since then all Kuri Clan members have had names beginning with the same character "Ka." The Kuri Clan's symbol is a circle with 6 radiating triangles. While it is said to be a rendering of Kazan's sun, it is actually a reference to their role as keepers of the Bloodstone.
Rabban
An old Clan with a proud lineage, the Rabban were among the most powerful and took an active role in the administration of the Army. The Rabban tended to be very large and burly, and generally had a need to be the center of attention.  They could be noted by their tendency to line their armor with fur.  The Rabban openly rebelled against Sarada when he made himself Emperor and were almost exterminated by him as a result.  For this reason down to the current time, the Rabban have carried a resentment towards the Sarada.  The Deathwalk Brevara was initially the heir of the Lord of the Rabban, but he forfeit his inheritence when offered the position of Holy Warlord.  Before the destruction of Kazan, Kara had taken a lover in a Rabban prince named Treve.  The saran hero Danya was also a branch member of this Clan. The Clan symbol of the Rabban is a stylized Horin skull.
Oda
A Clan known for its good humor.  Many of the greatest saran artists emerged from this Clan. The Oda as a symbol of the general merriness of the Clan, their Crest is a bone with meat on it.
Dogon
This Clan was started by a branch member of the Rabban on Ancient Kazan and maintained a strong relationship with it's progenitor even into the modern age. The Dogon used for their crest a saran battle axe for which they were named.
Kenji
Despite his status as a reject, Crow was born from a branch member of this Clan and one of his soldiers. The Clan Crest of the Kenji Clan is a Tora's claw.
Vizra
The Vizra had a reputation as the cruelest of saran clans and were widely disliked.  Regardless, they were efficient killers and the Holy Ghost enjoyed using them.  Kara during her time as a slave was kept at one point by the Lord of the Vizra, who enjoyed torturing her and watching her be raped by beasts.  As the Deathwalk Ramzi hailed from this Clan, Kara hated and feared him. The Clan symbol of the Vizra is a stylized blood splatter.
Devo
An ancient Clan that was once powerful enough to declare themselves Rulers of Kazan. By the time Rao appeared on Kazan the Devo had long since fallen from their position and the records of other Clans tend to downplay their influence. The Crest of the Devo Clan is a rendering of the 4 terraced crown that the Clan Lord wore in Pre-Rao days.
Arazi
An ancient Clan.
Zaiko
An ancient Clan.
Vujin
The Lord of the Vujin during the days after the Great Saran Conquest had challenged Sarada for the Throne.  Sarada cut off the Lord's arm, but he was still able to punch Sarada in the face with his other fist.  The Emperor easily defeated him, but was impressed by the Lord's courage and refused to kill him, instead procuring an oath of loyalty from him.  Afterwards the sigil of the Vujin became a single bloody fist.
Kirin
An ancient Clan.
===Pair Bonding===
The sarans are a violent and highly passionate race, with powerful emotions that they occasionally have a difficult time controlling. This causes them to psychically seek out a partner who is able to balance their more profound characteristics. When they find someone compatible, they quickly become psychically connected to eachother. Through this link, the pair can experience all the feelings and sensations of the other, where they share the load of the more volatile emotions of the other.  In general, the purpose of Pair Bonding is so exceptionally powerful or dangerous sarans can be kept in line and lessen their threat to themselves or others.  A Pair Bonded saran can often sense the location of their partner even if the other is suppressing their Aura to hide themselves. Sarans have no control over who they Bond with, but once the link is forged it cannot be broken unless one of them dies. While the Bond does not mean that a saran can ONLY fornicate with their Bonded Mate, it does make it so no one else is as fulfilling for them. John Duke likens the relationship to "really close friends who seem to fuck eachother. Alot."
==Religion==
That the sarans had religion is a bit of a misnomer. The sarans believed in a pantheon of beings they regarded as gods. The chief of the saran gods was Sara, the one eyed warrior king who legend had it was the father of all sarans. Second in importance was Sara’s son Sora, the hammer wielding god of war, followed by the other myriad members of Sara’s tribe. Sara’s existence was taken as a matter of fact by most sarans, though he was rarely prayed to or invoked as it was believed that he was an ambivalent deity who would be more inclined to send troubles and challenges to sarans for his own amusement than blessings. Despite this often after a successful battle, the sarans would sacrifice a captive enemy to Sara as a thank you for a great fight. When Rao took over the sarans he made himself an object of worship to them. As Rao was incredibly strong and awed the sarans with his abilities, they agreed to respect his power. However, worship of him was treated with the same general ambivalence as the worship of Sara. It would not be until much later when the Deathwalk Cain was in Hell did he discover the origins of his people in the Burning Circle which had been home to Sara and his tribe, the original sarans who were actually a Clan of Devils. There he would learn that Sara and his tribe appeared on ancient Kazan through a bleed between Hell and the Midplane and would conquer the planet, breeding with the life there and giving birth to the saran race as he knew them. Following the second reign of the Holy Order over Kazan, most sarans just regarded the gods of the Old Ways as myths meant to inspire the sarans to acts of bravery. Cain pointed out that Sora bore many features which became common in the Sarada Royal Clan and mused that in the hammer wielding god he might see his ancestor.
==The Oversaran==
The legendary warrior of the saran race, this advanced state of saran warrior has the ability to drastically augment his speed, strength and energy by transforming his body. When a saran becomes an Oversaran, his body turns red, his mane grow, and his eyes assume a bright glow. Once transformed, the Oversaran becomes a “super being,” gaining a colossal boost in all of his physical abilities, such as strength and durability, and becoming impervious to pain. The first saran Emperor, Sarada, was also the first Oversaran. The incredible power of the Oversaran was what gave him the power to defeat the Great Enemy. However, the Oversaran form is not without its drawbacks, as the heightened aggression brought out by it can manifest as a completely different personality which will not differentiate between enemies and allies. The Oversaran state is actually a form of atavism, which grants a saran the power and appearance of their Devil ancestors. An Oversaran is effectively a Devil, an Immortal being of terrifying power who does not need to eat, breathe, or rest as long as they're in that state.
== Trivia ==
- After reuniting with June, John explained his time on Kazan and the culture of sarans to her. He likened the sarans to the novel Brave New World if the World State if it was designed specifically to create Viking raiders.
- One of the primary features Sarans are known for in addition to their obsession with fighting and great speed is their inhuman sense of smell. It has been said that sarans see the world around them through their nose more than their eyes and in many ways this is true. Different races have distinctive smells to them, such that though Johnny grew up on Earth and appeared to all to be human, he grew up acutely aware of the difference between him and other Earthlings because nothing on the planet smelled like he did. This extends even to Hybrid Sarans who even though they look more and more distinctly saran as they get older, they smell different from full blooded sarans and are almost always treated as outsiders.
- Sarans have a tradition called a Hunt Festival, which is usually held to celebrate a successful campaign such as the conquering of a planet. In it, saran slave girls are released into the wilderness at sundown and given a head start before warriors pursue them. The point of the game is to capture and ravish as many girls as possible before sunrise. Kara would recount the story of Festivals she'd been involved in to John. Much to his (and later June's) horror, she would express fondness for the memory rather than seeing it as victimization.
- With their black hair, eye shape and fair skin, sarans resemble humans with asian features. Growing up this likeness caused many to assume that John was Ray Duke's biological son (Ray was half Japanese).
- All sarans have a verbal tic where they will say "ye" "yer" and "yers" instead of "you", "your/you're" and "your's."
- "What ho!" and "Yo!" are common greetings among sarans.
- Two heroic figures from saran legend are the Red Blaze and the Dark Star. The Red Blaze was a hero of liberation and freedom, a wild, uncontrollable warrior who defied a tyrant. The Dark Star was a fearsome conqueror and avenger. The first Saran King Sarada was believed to be an incarnation of the Red Blaze and generations later this title was applied to Johnny Duke for his role in freeing the sarans from the Holy Ghost. Cain was named for the Dark Star as his mother hoped that he would follow in that hero's footsteps.
- For a Saran their name is their pride. On occasion, Saran Lords would honor lower ranked sarans by granting them a new character for their name. When Sarada himself changed the name of the Kuri Lord Doyin to Kayin (Ka being the saran character for bravery), it was considered profound enough that every successive member of the Clan was given a name that began with the character "Ka." It is for this reason that no saran will honor Johnny Duke's request to call him Johnny. To them the prospect of rejecting your given saran name for some weird alien name sounds insultingly ridiculous. For humans it would be like a grown man named Bill asking to be called something like Sweet Bunz or Sparkle Booty.
- For most sarans, their "full" names are an assigned identification with their batch number and birth number. For instance, Talon: 1234-89 is the 89th child born out of batch #1234. Children belonging to one of the Great Clans will be called by their name, son of (mother's name) by (father's name), for instance Talon, Son of Rava by Varik. If they are the leader of their Clan this would be dropped for "Lord of (Clan Name)." Slave girls are typically denied even the batch and birth number, being considered important enough only for a name which can change at the whim of their Master.
- In saran culture, it is considered extremely rude to talk during a meal or interrupt a saran while they're eating. Despite growing up on Earth surrounded by humans, John Duke would regularly get frustrated and annoyed when people tried to talk to him while he was eating. Even June has said that the level of hate John would glare at people with if they bothered him during a meal would terrify her.
- Sarans will commonly eat the things they kill, whether it be sapient or not. As he grew up on Earth and never engaged in this, John was somewhat put off when Cain revealed he had devoured humans before.
- All sarans have a pointer toe that extends past their big toe.
- Being fire elementals, Sarans are constantly giving off heat. The intensity of this heat depends on the saran's mood. In most cases this just makes them warm to the touch, though as the saran feels more powerful emotions they can exude heat equivalent to a raging fire. When a saran is particularly excited or angry, it is not uncommon for flammable objects surrounding them to spontaneously catch fire. As a kid Johnny noted that snow regularly melted under his feet and he could never make a snowball because it would melt in his hands. Like other elementals they also possess the ability to control who their element affects. Despite having extremely powerful flames, Johnny unconsciously prevents them from hurting his friends, especially June. She's noted that while she often feels intense heat coming off of Johnny she's never harmed by it.
- Owing to their demonic nature, sarans thrive on chaos. The Holy Order was only able to maintain control because the sarans respected Rao's strength. To outside observers the Saran Army had more in common with a biker gang or a warband of thugs than a disciplined military force.
- Sarans find casual harm to be hilarious. If more serious the injury, the more the saran will laugh at it. During Banda matches the ball commonly bounces into the audience and injury and even death are common. If a saran is sitting and the ball kills the person sitting next to them they will laugh to the point of crying. Even John Duke, who didn't grow up on Kazan, was subject to this. It used to creep June out when John would see someone get hurt and start chuckling.
- A key point of saran etiquette is gesture of the saran salute. When saluting a saran will stand straight and place their right fist into the palm of their open left hand in front of their chest. They then bow their torso and head while keeping the eyes on the person they are bowing to. The maintaining of eye contact is considered important since for the sarans to take your eyes off of someone means that you don't consider them to be a threat and this will always draw an attack. This salute is done as a show of respect and not acknowledging it is seen as a serious offense. Among sarans of equal rank this typically means returning the salute, but for a saran of high rank all that is expected is that he nods or waves a hand at his subordinate. For a member of the saran nobility to return the salute of common soldiers is considered a high honor.
- Following the destruction of Kazan, Johnny considered himself, Kara and Cain as the only surviving sarans. However, Cain pointed out that in addition to rejected saran children sent out into the wilderness, there were many saran teams on deep space missions who probably wouldn't have gotten Arisada's recall of all saran forces once the Holy Ghost was overthrown. Therefore it was likely that there were dozens, possibly hundreds of additional sarans spread across the Universe. A secret he kept from the rest of the Magnificent 7 was that at one of the Holy Order bases they used he found oblique references to the Holy Ghost's secret saran colony project, but could not determine where they might have gone. Afterwards, he would take frequent absences from the rest of the group running down any rumor of a surviving saran.
Category:Races
Category:Demons
Category:Holy Order
Category:Saran Empire
Category:Underplane Races
Category:Midplane Races
Category:Alien Races
Category:Mortal Races