Kloosh

*Created by: GURPS Aliens 
*Appearance: Epiphany Trek Starbase 600 Game, Star Trek: Outwardly Mobile. 
*Number of Members: Billions 
*Nature of Members: Koosh are a vaguely humanoid mammalian race which are in the process of transitioning to ocean based life. Koosh legs have gotten progressively shorter while their body has gotten longer with a more flexible spine. An upright Koosh is a comical figure. Koosh have retained their hands which have six digits. They (barely) walk plantigrade. They are not graceful on land, and prefer to swim, where they outperform any other humanoid race as hunters and swimmers. Koosh have thick short fur that covers the entire body. It a dark gray on the top and nearly white on the underside. Their nostrils are above their eyes and close tightly. The Kloosh have a thick layer of Blubber and are well streamlined.<BR>    All sexual characteristics have become streamlined both male and female. If you see breasts the woman in question is nursing. If you see nothing it could be either gender. They can tell the difference.Koosh have an 11 standard month gestation. Young are born one at a time and average 30 pounds at birth. Young can move independently at birth and require their mothers only for milk and education. Sexual maturity comes in 8 years. Koosh, if left to natural causes will live about 90 years. In their home environment they seldom make that figure.<BR>    Koosh do not wear clothing. Clothing impedes movement through the water. They are mostly immune to any "normal" weather you will find on a class M world. Excessive heat does bother them. Fully integrated into the structure of the Kurr Association the Koosh can expected to make the 90 year figure.
*Culture: Koosh family life centers around two loose pods. Females look primarily to the females of the family pods for support and help in child rearing. The females will defend a territory along a fertile shoreline where they feed and raise their children. They will often build a crude shelter on a protected shore to give birth and to store food.<BR>    Further out from the shore male pods roam up and down the coast. Females will entertain them briefly, but the males are expected to move on. Males also closely protect the female pods from larger sea-born predators on the principle that a dead female will not mate with you, and if the coast is too dangerous, the females will move on.<BR>    Koosh cities are all built right on the ocean. They tend to be built over and under the ocean as well. The parts of the city primarily on land will be laced with canals for ease of movement.<BR>    A typical Koosh pod house is a large structure that is as much swimming pool as a house. Koosh prefer to sleep on the water much like the Earth sea otter, the young on top of their mothers and male or female, the whole pod holding hands to keep from drifting away from each other. In wild conditions there is always a watch.<BR>    In the more urbanized enviroment the Koosh culture expresses itself in female houses and male houses. Each tends towards the same roles they had in the wild. Females as nurturers and builders, males as protectors. The advantage of civilization is no one is held strictly to these roles.
*Organization: Planetary Confederation
*Game Role: One of the Englobed races of the Kurr Association.
*World Role: Life happening. 
*Relative Influence: Major as one of the Five Kurr Association members. 
*Public or Secret?: Public
*Publicly Stated Goal: Live happy ethical lives. 
*Relative Wealth: Moderate. Koosh have only one planet. 
*Group advantages: Good swimmers, nearly immune to weather, and excellent physiologist. They balanced two greater rivals against each other for a century. 
*Group disadvantages: Koosh have a difficult time on land and do not handle heat well.
*Those who favor them: Other members of the Kurr Association, UFP
*Those opposed to them: Those opposed to the above groups.
*Area of Operation: Kurr globe and area about it.
*Headquarters Location: World/Ocean A beautiful blue world with shining rings.
*Public Face: Happy playful people with a big curiosity button.
*Notable Members: None yet mentioned.
*History of the Organization: Ten million years ago the Koosh home world captured a huge comet. Said comet wandered inside the Roche limit and was torn apart. Between the alteration in the planet's orbit and the water the comet showered the planet with the ecology went from a 73% water, sub arctic/super tropical world to a 87% water arctic/tropical world. The tool-using pre sentient Koosh, then a bipedal quasi-primate developed into an aquatic mammal.<BR>    Koosh were encountered by the Orla and Kamla and given technology. Koosh successfully played both ends of the Kamla/Human rivalry against the middle for nearly a century. In the doing they eventually became a power in their own right. Due to greater contact with the land the Female pods have benefited mostly from the contact to begin with.<BR>    The Koosh have no colony worlds of their own, but inhabit the shallow seas of both Orla and Kamla worlds in equal measure. They aid these more land oriented races with aquaculture and all benefit from the arrangement. Likewise Orla and Kamla are found on the Koosh world, but in much lower numbers due to the lack of suitable land. Koosh can build, use, and maintain most technology used by humanoids. they do not need to be wet they just prefer it.
Category:Races
Category:ST-OM
Category:Epiphany Trek
Category:Kurr Space