Despiri

## Anatomy/Biology

Types:

* Arboreal Longnecks: These Despiri live amongst the treetops and thrive in forests. They are notable for their long, flexible necks, sharp beaks, and blades protruding from their heads, arms, legs, and tails. They have adhesive pads on their feet and hands for great climbing ability, as well as prehensile tails. Their hands consist of three fingers and a thumb while their feet have three toes and a dewclaw. Their coloration generally is a variety of green, with a few uncommon exceptions. Longnecks also possess venom glands on each side of their head, behind their eyes, similar to snakes. While they can inject venom through a bite, their primary usage is spitting venom through their upper and furthest front teeth. The venom is incredibly corrosive and lethal to all except the Longnecks.
* Common Despiri: The most populous type of Despiri. Marshes, lakes, and rainforests make up their primary habit, though they are a very diverse type that can live comfortably in any non-arid climate. Naturally, very humid climates are preferred. They have gills on their necks, protected by a layer of scales, that allow them to breathe underwater and also to protect the organ from damage on land. Hands and feet are webbed, and their tails are thick and powerful to allow for easy gliding and maneuverability in the water. Cranial traits can include fins, horns, spikes, spines, feathers, and ridges, simply based on familial genetics. Common Despiri eyes are also adapted to see clearly underwater and to see in the dark and they have incredibly sharp teeth, which does cause subconscious unease around their Echobi companions.
* Winged Despiri: Equipped with powerful wings to soar across the mountain ranges they originate from, this type resembles mythological wyverns in human legend, with their wings attached to their arms. They are sometimes more ornate in appearance, but less populous than the other Despiri types. They are built to be more aerodynamic and are thus less durable than their Arboreal and Common counterparts. Their eyesight is one of their most prominent and impressive traits, which greatly aids their navigation in flight by using landmarks. They also have a natural olfactory cue for navigation, constructing a visual map in their mind based on environmental odors.

**Description**: All Despiri are scaled, reptilian, bipedal humanoids with ferocious claws and teeth and long, sticky, slender tongues. They are also capable of quadrupedal movement. However, due to various adaptations to extreme locations and habitats, subtypes vary greatly. Features can include horns, blades, forked or long and slender tongues, gills, feathers, webbing, beaks, wings, etc. depending on their species. Colors have no limits on their scales. No Despiri looks the same and they take a great pride in their incredible racial diversity.

**Diet**: Omnivorous

### Male

**Average Height**: 6’ 2” or 187 cm

**Average Weight**: 216 lbs or 98 kg

**Average Build**: Muscular with a well-built stature

**Coloration**: Any color(s) on the color spectrum

**Average Lifespan**: 82 years

### Female

**Average Height**: 5’ 9” or 175 cm

**Average Weight**: 168 lbs or 76 kg

**Average Build**: Slender with a supple stature and toned muscle

**Coloration**: Any color(s) on the color spectrum

**Average Lifespan**: 94 years

**Extra**: Despiri, regardless of type, all have incredibly powerful vocal cords, being able to casually reach 115 decibels of sound. Their vocal cords are incredibly developed, allowing them make a wide range of pitches and mimic many sounds similar to their voice.

They are an oviparous race who can lay up to five eggs. These eggs are then incubated and taken care of by the mother until they can hatch. However, instead of hatching with teeth, hatchlings have to breastfeed from the mother while their teeth come in. They experience teething similar to humans, except naturally far more painful. Breastfeeding cannot and should not be done during teething.

## Politics

**System**: Echobi Horde

**Values**: Independence, freedom, camaraderie, music, living life to the fullest.

**Religion(s)**: One of the most prevalent beliefs in Despiri society is the Essence of All. It is a living, breathing energy that lives in all things, inanimate and animate, omnipotent in its ways. The way it flows is called the Dance. They believe that the Essences breathes life into everyone, and because of this gift, the Despiri worship it. To them, the Essence, when pleased, it Dances to bring about ample harvest and good fortune, and when dissatisfied, Dances to bring about death, natural disaster, and disease. Because it is the Essence of All, it is both good and bad. The trick is trying to keep the Essence Dancing in Despiri favor. It is widely believed that the Essence has a particular love for music, as music ebbs and flows elegantly just like itself. This is why music, especially warsongs, are used so heavily in Despiri cultures so the Essence will Dance for them rather than against them.

The afterlife is the other most major belief. They believe that all Despiri and other life will enter the realm of Wtindordea upon death. It is an afterlife where there is no pain, sorrow, and suffering. No matter what atrocious deeds someone had committed or how much someone hated another, all would come together and forgive in the end and celebrate eternally in Wtindordea. Happiness, love, joy, company, and an overwhelming abundance of music are the associations with the afterlife. It is the Despiri way of coping with the idea of death and what may happen beyond that.

Another prevalent belief, is the Affliction. The Despiri people are very resistant to poisons and toxins. However, there is a spreading growth in the belief of the Affliction, a coming plague of their entire race. They believe that the Affliction will only come if their populations prove damaging for their homeworld, Aweosung, and any other planets. Abortion or abstinence are prominent activities of these believers. Though, a few minor terrorist cults have emerged, their goal to purge the Despiri race to what they believe to be reasonable levels to avoid the Affliction. They believe that with these sacrifices, they can save the whole race.

And of course, other minor religions exist, such as tribal polytheistic beliefs and others.

**Settlements/Colonies**: The Echobi Horde territories.

**Diplomacy**: They are always properly careful of any new contact, but open their arms joyfully to welcome new friends. However, if a race or nation demonstrates dissatisfactory traits that would exert any sort of control over the Despiri, it’s an absolute no-go. Despiri are independent and proud and will never accept anyone encroaching on their freedom.

**Age of Spacefaring Civilization**: 823 million years ago

## Technology

**Military**: Energy weaponry, stealth systems, neural links to vehicles and drones, powered armor, large anti-psychic dampening fields built into buildings, ships, or stations, everything that civilians have access to

**Civilian/Public**: Plasma and kinetic weaponry, vibroblades, hyperdrives, holographic projectors, Virtual Intelligence, lightly armed ships, cloning limbs and organs for replacement, personal shields that block psychic abilities, FTL comms

**Overview**: The Despiri had been very primitive, only using incredibly basic tool for tasks. Their intelligence was comparable to a chimpanzee’s up until 823 million years ago when they met the Echobi. When the Echobi went through efforts to uplift the Despiri into sapient creatures, their first experience with technology emerged. Since then, Despiri have only gone along with Echobi development, able to sort of mooch off of their progress. However, as the Despiri became more adjusted to technology and their new-found intelligence, they were able to create a few unique designs of their own in different aspects of technology, though they rarely ended up used due to the Echobi being superior engineers.

## Racial Information

**Traditions**: The Despiri, because they were immediately integrated into Echobi society upon being uplifted, often follow many Echobi traditions as well. Though, their powerful individuality allowed them to develop some of their own.

The most prominent tradition among the Despiri is very tribal in nature. This fun-loving race takes a very serious turn in what is called Swigtima’s Ende, which bears some resemblance to Día de los Muertos in human society. It’s a sort of appeasement ceremony. They recognize that the Essence of All will eventually take life away from all people and use this holiday to mourn for the dead and give offerings to the Essence in the hopes of giving family and friends great longevity. The decorations, songs, clothing, rituals, and overall preparations are incredibly large and exciting for the Despiri people.

The first and second days are a day dedicated to tribal song and dance, the true part of the holiday. These days are very exhausting and intense. Numerous rituals and performances are put on by the people so the Essence will Dance with them. It is during these days that, if visitors are around, they will witness the full power of a Despiri vocal cords as they bombard passerby with sheer walls of sound, albeit absolutely beautiful. They dress in sacred, flowing tribal garments and paint their scales in flowing patterns. The songs will range from cheerful and celebratory to pleading to solemn and mournful. Really, the flow of the Dance decides what they sing.

The third day of the holiday is a day dedicated to making floating lights called Aldors. They represent the life of loved ones and send them into the sky as symbol of prayer for a long, good life. The lights are released at nighttime and accompanied by soft hymns with themes of love, life, and intimacy.

The fourth day is when they send gorgeous native flowers from their homeworld, Aweosung, down local rivers during the daytime, which gleam and sparkle in the light. The sight is particularly gorgeous when rainbows of color and light glide down a river like that. The songs sung this day are celebratory and cheerful and the night is filled with feasting and shrines set up to honor dead relatives and friends.

The fifth day is the wind-down of the holiday. Incense is burned and thickly fills the air. Large bonfires are lit at night and the celebrations are similar to campfire songs, telling stories, eating snacks, and simply relishing the company of loved ones.

Before any big event in a family, such as an audition for something, a sporting event, etc. they will gather around and chant excitedly, arms around each other in a circle, swaying. Families and friends often come up with personalized chants and songs for their own usage. It’s just used to energize and excite and support people, with some claiming spiritual cleansing from chants.

Another huge tradition in overall Despiri society is the shedding of scales. It happens only once in a lifetime, similar to baby teeth in humans. Scales on a young, newly hatched Despiri are duller and small. However, as they grow to their adult size, they outgrow those scales for more vibrant, larger ones. In turn, through adolescence, their scales begin to shed until, eventually, their adult scales grow in. This usually leaves awkward periods of time where patches of their skin are bare and very sensitive until the new scales grow in. However, the process is carefully monitored by parents, making sure they keep the skin underneath protected while there is growth by using ointments or wrappings. Once the adult scales fully grow in, the hatchling has reached a milestone into official adulthood. A major celebration is held with close friends and family, with feasting, a LOT of singing, and many other fun, entertaining activities.

Common Despiri hold the tradition in their society for underwater exploration. Friends and family will often host huge parties for their loved ones to hunt, collect underwater treasures, and simply sightsee all of the beautiful underwater life. For them, these are very relaxing activities that are done to clear the mind, particularly to take a break from the noisiness and constant singsong above.

The prideful Winged Despiri, in their separate culture, host air sports in a very public event every four years, called the Erlyft Games. This is an incredibly popular sport to watch among the overall Despiri populous. Winged Despiri sign up and compete in numerous sports to show off their skill in flying and sheer physical prowess. Games range from different races, to combat, to stealth tag, to ball sports, and many others. The variety is endlessly entertaining, with viewers all over placing bets on the players they hope will win.

Arboreal Longnecks, like their Common and Winged counterparts, have adapted their own little traditions as well. Often times, older hatchlings will have venom spitting contests to see who can spit the farthest or who can corrode the strongest material. Other traditions include racing up trees, racing through the high foliage, and tending to very elaborate gardens.
Most Longnecks try to own a good plot of land so they may have their own little forest that they plant and tend to. Generally, the more beautiful and lush the garden is, the wealthier and more in touch with nature they are, which is held in very high esteem in Longneck society.
One of their best traditions, though, is planting community gardens that provide free snacks and food for passerby and locals alike. They also like to do this at places they visit so they can leave a parting gift.

**Conflicts/Issues**: One of the most prevalent issues with Despiri are the subtypes. Because of the physical differences, numerous and a growing amount of Despiri claim superiority over the other types due to different values. The largest one being Winged Despiri arrogantly and proudly looking down on Commons and Longnecks due to their inability to take to the skies. This issue has started to cause rifts in the sub-societies, with outbreaks of enraged violence becoming more prominent.

Another large issue is that small groups of Despiri are coming to despise the Echobi for their engineering superiority. They feel they have less of a say in how society in the Echobi Horde works and hate the fact their race is omitted from the name of the nation. Rumors of growing numbers of these radical people are about, and on two occasions there have been suspicious “accidental” explosions in Echobi engineering buildings. Fears are that violence will grow and cause rifts between the Echobi and Despiri’s fierce friendship.

### Relevant History

823 million years ago, the Despiri were uplifted by the Echobi, a technologically advanced race that noted the intelligence of these creatures. So, the Echobi granted the Despiri sapience through genetic engineering that has created the race as they are known today. As the Despiri continued to develop, they were integrated into Echobi society. The Echobi were more than welcoming and went through the process of teaching their new friends about technology and their culture. As the Despiri grasped the concept more and more, they began to invent their own culture, traditions, religions, and inventions, while simultaneously accepting the Echobi’s lifestyle. One of the biggest reasons for their friendship was love for music. Both cultures shared what they had with one another and inevitably mixed to create some of their modern music today.

The Despiri enjoyed the luxurious life the Echobi provided them with. In exchange, they shared their own talents, especially physical ones, to help the nation develop. The proved especially helpful with construction, entertainment, and military development. In fact, while the Echobi were still shying away from militaristic or violent operations, the Despiri were naturals. The Echobi welcomed this joyfully, knowing their new friends could protect them while they offered them luxurious lives in return. And the Despiri happily obliged as natural, fearsome predators. Their favorite tactics, while brutal, were very effective. Guerilla tactics were very popular, as the Despiri had developed ambush tactics from the water, air, and treetops even before they had sapience. And they were absolutely vicious in battle, opting to use their barbaric, savage, and primal instincts as a fear tactic against any dangers. Their theatrics to act like monstrous reptiles is one of their most prized battle skills.

However, when the Despiri started to devise potential plans for policing and justice, the Echobi were reluctant. They were still too forgiving as a race and disliked how seemingly harsh the Despiri ideas were in terms of punishment. However, 678 years ago, violence took the nation by surprise. Despiri and Echobi alike began to fetishize their primal rage and bloody fights and murder. The bloodbath was exactly as the Echobi feared, and many criminal Despiri were happy to take advantage of their fears of teeth and another Slaughter. The nation almost fell into shambles and no one was safe. Soon, a group of Despiri finally brought their original policing and justice system plans back to the table where now-desperate Echobi agreed. Stricter laws and punishments were placed for crimes and the effectivity was swift. Criminals were soon deterred with hefty sentences, fines, and even torture and death. The nation largely celebrates the Despiri for saving the nation at that time now known as the Second Slaughter.

The Echobi, impressed with how fast it worked, placed many Despiri in charge of policing and criminal justice. When it came down to it, the Despiri could overlook forgiveness and dole out necessary punishments without guilt far better than the Echobi had been able to. Even though the Echobi were unaccustomed to this new harshness, their fear of a third Slaughter greatly outweighed their dislike. Eventually, the nation stabilized and they began their trek forward again.