Myridians

Myridians are the dominant species of planet Myridia, descending from Humans after extensive genetic engineering by an unknown god.

## Physical appereance

Myridians are mostly physically indistinguishable from other humans. The only identifiable difference is the hair color, since they have a much wider variety of hair colors (including pink, blue and green).

Myridia is very racially homogeneous, with a single race indistinguishable from Earth Caucasians.

The strenght, durability, stamina and reflexes of a Myridian are roughly three times those of humans of a similar build. While they seem to age at the same rate of humans, Myridians can live longer.

They are also able to learn faster than humans, although this might be thanks to their duplication powers.

## Duplication power

Thanks to the Monolith under the surface of the planet, all Myridians share the same duplication powers. Since the power is not transmitted genetically, Myridians must be on the planet from conception to birth (and possibly longer) to develop them.

Each Myridian can create exact duplicates of his/her body with almost no mental effort. Each duplicate is a perfect copy of her body at the moment of the duplication; it will then be completely separate and independent from her. Each duplicate can create new duplicates, without permission from the original body. Duplicates will disintegrate if subject to enough force to cause an injury; the duplicate will feel pain before disappearing, but it will not be shared by other duplicates.
By minimal mental effort, the original body can make the duplicates disappear at will. Duplicates can also self-disintegrate at will.
By re-absorbing duplicates, the Myridian instantly learns all the knowledge and experience gathered by the duplicate.
Myridians start duplicating as children, but they are typically unable to maintain their duplicates for more than a few seconds until they reach puberty.

All Myridian duplicates, male and female, are sterile. Once a Myridian woman is pregnant, she will be unable to duplicate until after birth: this is because the Monolith can't distinguish between the mother and the baby until they're separated. Any duplicate created before conception will continue to exist normally.

Since each Myridian is technically already using Drylon technology, they are unable to activate any Drylon device.

## Society

Independence and exploration are very important to Myridians, surviving even during the Demeter regime where an adult Myridian was expected to travel the world and build his/her own town. Myridians are known in the galaxy as the best builders and martial artists, although women also have a reputation as prostitutes since several Myridians were sold as sexual slaves to other planets.

While they have all the memories and emotions of the original bodies, duplicates are not fully considered to be real people. A Myridian doesn't show concern for the safety of his/her duplicate; in fact, the duplicates will often sacrifice themselves to save the real body.

Important actions, like being present at a relative's funeral, are considered sincere only if carried out by the original body; delegating these tasks to a duplicate is among the worst offences a Myridian can do.

Very nearly all Myridians are bisexual, even though same-sex relationships were heavily restricted by the Oracle regime. While the husband and wife are expected to be faithful to each other, their duplicates are not restricted to keep the same partner.

## Religion and philosophy

Under the Oracle regime, Myridia was a theocracy where worship of Demeter was strictly enforced.

Freedom of religion is granted under the civilian government, with some still worshiping Demeter, among other gods.

The Church of Null is a small but influential cult that worships Noriko Null as the only true goddess.

## Names

All Myridian family names are only three letter long, and are matrilinear, with the husband and the children taking the wife's last name.