Xuxtabar Humans

The humans which inhabit the planet of Xuxtabar are primitive and aggressive tribespeople who have been on Xuxtabar since around 178 FOF. The humans of Xuxtabar were notably made up of various tribes which were dispersed across the single major continent of Xuxtabar, called "Erias". The population of humans on the continent of Erias was scattered and diverse with strange physical and mental mutations happening to some of the tribes on Xuxtabar. The Xuxtabar humans had no known form of audible communication aside from some grunts, screeches, and the occasional odd noise. Technology was virtually nonexistent to the humans of Xuxtabar with many using primitive spears and clubs for hunting or fighting while most villages on the planet consisted of small straw tents or basic wooden huts. The Xuxtabar humans had no existing culture or real governing system in place. Most contact by outsiders was met with fierce aggression. The tribes on Xuxtabar were considered very dangerous and were mostly left alone, cannibalism was common and actively practiced by many of the Xuxtabar humans.

**ORIGINS**

The humans which now exist on Xuxtabar were believed to have been passengers aboard the Federation civilian vessel **Darius or FCV Darius**. The Darius would depart from a Federation spaceport sometime in 178 FOF and would begin its journey to the distant Federation colony of Utica, At the time of the Darius' take off it held over 30,000 civilian passengers aboard, at some point while traveling to Utica the ship would be pulled out of lightspeed travel around the planet of Xuxtabar. The FCV Darius would suffer severe sudden mechanical and electronic failures and would be pulled into Xuxtabar's gravitational pull, the civilian ship would fall directly into the giant ocean of Xuxtabar. Of the original 30,000 people on board the Darius only a few thousand would survive and would be forces to swim to the nearest land, with no way to communicate or contact any outside help the passengers would slowly become the primitive mutated humans known today however this process of degradation into primitive mutants would be mainly caused by the Erias Pylon. The Xuxtabar humans would further build small primitive villages and towns and would further increase in number until they dotted Erias, the inhabitants would split themselves up into many different tribes and would often war with each other and at some point, would even resort to cannibalism either as a means to survive or because of the effects of the Erias Pylon's mutations.

**REDISCOVERY**

In the year 422 FOF the Federation research vessel **Polaris** would be surveying and studying the local solar system, the crew on board would discover the wreck of the Darius just below the surface of Xuxtabars ocean. The mechanical and electronics of the Polaris would begin to fail as they got closer to Xuxtabar, the Polaris would similarly be pulled into the gravitational pull of the planet and would crash land unto one of Erias' many beaches. Lead researcher on board **Dr. Weylus Sloane** as well as captain of the ship **Terrence Kalmun** would be the only survivors. The Polaris surviving duo would soon come into contact with the native humans on the planet and would be hunted down and nearly killed by them. Some of the Xuxtabar humans would simply watch the men from afar while others would deliberately attack them with primitive spears and clubs to little success. Dr. Sloane would record all of the actions and behaviors of the Xuxtabar humans as well as some of the mutations. Terrence and Weylus would fight for survival on Erias for weeks. In this time Dr. Sloane and Captain Kalmun and some human tribes would come to a strained neutrality with one another. While attempting to find a way off of the planet the pair would find the Erias Pylon which was responsible for the failure of the ships components as well as the local mutations of the wildlife and humans over the years. The closer one got to the Erias Pylon the more mutated the wildlife and creatures became. Dr. Sloane and Captain Kalmun would temporarily shut down the Erias Pylon's electrical disruption and would make haste back to their ship. After some repairs were completed on the Polaris the two would return back to Earth where their discoveries would be made public. The Federation would shortly after prohibit any vessels from flying through the space around Xuxtabar however multiple ships would still be sucked in by the Erias Pylon in the years following. Since no ships could effectively bypass the Erias Pylon's field without crashing or suffering electrical and mechanical failure the Federation would not attempt contact with the humans of Xuxtabar, even if contact could be made the tribes were mostly incapable of human speech or written communication. Very few people who found themselves on Xuxtabar made it off.

**MUTANT HUMANS**

The appearance of the Xuxtabar humans varied greatly, the humans which suffered few mutations would resemble regular humans with the exception of them having a more primitive and unkempt appearance. The more mutated humans on the planet would often have black, grey, or dark bronze colored skin, which was caused by the Erias Pylon, some humans which resided closer to the Pylon had grown multiple arms or legs in some rare cases. The eyes of a mutant human would also darken in color with some having no visible pupils at all while some individuals eye color did not change. The effects of the mutations were completely random and unpredictable, however according to Dr. Sloane's research these mutations did not occur unless one spent years or decades near the Erias Pylon.

While at first glance the Xuxtabar humans may seem to be nothing more than mindless savages they still clearly retain at least some of their former intelligence, the mutated humans still wear basic cloth rags as a sort of clothing, they often adorn themselves in war paint, skulls, and bones of animals and other humans. The humans on Xuxtabar have territorial markers located near their huts and villages to identify boundaries between other villages, they often hunt in groups and will work together to take down prey animals or other humans for food. The humans of Xuxtabar even displayed some resemblance of a truce with Dr. Sloane and Captain Kalmun which they did not attack each other however other tribes did not make such a truce. It is clear that after centuries of being near the Erias Pylon that it has permanently altered the mental state of the humans on Xuxtabar which is why most of them do not display the ability to verbally communicate or write any coherent language. While the mutated humans on Xuxtabar are very different and much more primitive they are still considered human by many Federation scientists as the Xuxtabar humans still display certain undeniable human emotions such as fear, love, anger, sadness and even hatred as experienced firsthand by Dr. Sloane.

In regard to the rampant cannibalistic tendencies displayed by the mutant humans on Xuxtabar it is unknown whether the practice began as a means of survival or not, depending on the tribe some subsist purely on human flesh and do not hunt animals on Erias while others only become cannibalistic when absolutely necessary. A common theme in many tribes on Erias is to adorn outfits and villages with human skulls and bones in an attempt to scare off invaders or trespassers.

**KNOWN TRIBES**

While there are hundreds of undiscovered tribes on Xuxtabar Dr. Weylus Sloane recorded some of the tribes he came across during his venture on the planet and attempted to record as much of their behavior as possible.

**The Eastern Shore Tribe**

The Eastern Shore Tribe was located on the eastern beaches of Erias only a few miles from the crash site of the Polaris, the tribes were relatively unmolested by the mutant effects of the Erias Pylon and remained very human looking. The tribe was fairly cautious and did not immediately attack Sloane and Kalmun but rather stood away and carefully observed them.

**The Jungle Aggressors**

The Jungle aggressors were a much more violent and savage human tribe which was located in the inner jungles of Erias and was notably aggressive and territorial, the tribe also practiced cannibalism and ate those who stumbled into their turf as well as any invaders. This mutant human tribe was known for smearing blood on their bodies and clothing to the point of them appearing almost completely red in appearance. The tribe suffered from limited mutations.

**The Mutant Horde**

The Mutant Horde was a tribe discovered by Dr. Sloane and Captain Kalmun which comprised of many heavily mutated humans and sat only a mile away from the Erias Pylon, the tribe's members suffered from many different mutations which was so bad each member had their own unique mutation. The mutant horde was one of the most diverse tribes in physical appearance and in attitude, some of its members did not attack and were very neutral and docile while others in the mutant horde would actively hunt for other human beings. This difference in appearance and mentality led to many instances of infighting in the tribe itself. The mutant horde was one of the only known tribes to participate in religion with many of the tribe worshipping the Erias Pylon and offering sacrifices to it such as animal or human corpses.

**The Erias Amazons**

The Erias Amazons tribe was located somewhere in the Jungles of Erias, the tribe consisted mostly of females which led the tribe and were the bulk of its warriors. The tribe was aggressive and did go to war against other tribes nearest to them, once they defeated another village, they would often steal its food and its male members, it is speculated that these males are used for reproduction inside of the tribe, but no one knows for sure. Most of the time the Erias Amazons would attempt to kidnap males that were lost or patrolling the territory near them. Some minor and major mutations did exist among them.

**ERIAS PYLON**

The Erias Pylon was a large structure built on Xuxtabar by an unknown ancient alien species, the structure was located deep within a section of forest on the continent of Erias which is where it gets its name. The pylon itself stood way above the trees surrounding it and emitted an electrical pulse which disabled all ships which flew to close to the planet. The pulses sent out would disrupt all electronics and components within most spacecraft that were in the field of effect. The technology behind the electronic field which the Erias Pylon produces is unknown, the interior of the pylon was quite cramped and contained many running wires and odd computer like devices, the interior was divided into multiple stories with the single EMP emitter at the top of the tower. The Erias Pylon could be temporarily deactivated for around 72 hours; however, the process of deactivation was complicated and time consuming. The Erias Pylon was left completely abandoned without any trace of life inside in which Dr. Sloane theorized that no living creature had been inside for thousands of years. Even though there had been no maintenance performed on the structure for possibly thousands of years it was still completely operational even in the 4th century FOF. The mutations which the structure would inflict on the natural wildlife and humans surrounding it would become less and less severe the farther away you were from it, nearly all fauna around the Pylon was completely mutated and unrecognizable from its natural state. It is theorized that the projected mutations are a self-defense mechanism for the structure to try and deter anything from entering it and that in the ages past this mutation process could have been much faster than it is now.