Lorro'kah

The **Lorro'kah** are a species of Near-Humans native to the planet of Barab II. Descended from humans who crashed onto the world eons ago, the society of the species has since regressed into more primitive, hunter-gatherer tribes that fight to survive the harsh environment and highly dangerous predators of their homeworld.

Having existed for so long in this state, the Lorro'kah developed into distinct tribes and cultures, only united by their religious belief in the worship of the day and night cycles. Though the tribes would squabble and sometimes fight out blood feuds, the status quo mostly remained intact. Together, they shared the idea of a prophecy concerning the birth of two children who would raise their people beyond the ceiling of the sky.

One of these children was born as the young boy Varik Ice, who would eventually become the leader of his tribe. Being the half-human child of a mysterious stranger to the world, he displayed great power that convinced others he was one half of their prophesied saviours. However, some plague had been brought to the Lorro'kah with the Human man, and no child could be born afterwards.

The Lorro'kah eventually descended into civil war between tribes, even after a brief period of uniting into one confederation beneath their supposed God-King. Their population massively dropped, and only a percentage of them were left by the time the New Republic and NJO had discovered them and began aiding the survivors, while working on a cure.

## Biology and Culture

The Lorro’kah have a similar anatomy to that of humans, but are physically distinct through their paler complexions, white hair and brightly-coloured eyes. Much like humans, each individual appears physically distinct in build, facial features and other various differences. The Lorro’kah have a biology built for living in the harsh conditions on Barab II, which aided them against environmental dangers as well as predators.

Lorro’kah have a natural resistance and hardiness against cold temperatures, allowing them to survive comfortably even in sub-zero temperatures that are potentially dangerous for other species such as Humans. Their white, almost silver-like hair is attributed to their need to more easily blend in on a planet covered in ice and snow. Their eyes exhibit vertical slit pupils, similar to feline beings. All Lorro’kah have a distinctive yellow-gold, or more rarely blue-purple eye colour that appears as a faint glow in the dark, and have a natural night vision to counteract the incredibly dark nights on Barab II - notably, the colour yellow glows far more prominently in this vision.

In physical build, most Lorro’kah are tall and physically strong naturally, with slightly higher muscle density than that of humans. They have far slower metabolisms and seem to require less food and sleep. Though the lifespan of Lorro’kah is apparently similar to humans, they do not age as severely. They do however, seem to have reduced critical thinking, which is more apparent in some specimens than others.

The Lorro’kah were a primitive, tribal-like society that had a great emphasis on strength and survival. Their culture appears to prioritise the forming of tribal units and the identity of an individual within each tribe. Each tribe goes out of its way to be distinct from the others, and each individual within must have a role they take seriously. All Lorro’kah tribes have a single leader, with multiple priests. Though priests could be of either gender, most Clan Chiefs were traditionally males, with daughters of previous chiefs only chosen if no brothers were available.

Spiritually, they placed a high amount of significance onto the day and night cycle, which were associated with warmth and cold. Each of these times and temperatures were associated with one of two gods who are aspects of a single god. Varrik, the god of cold and night, was often perceived as a stern and guarding father, with the dark shroud he brought hiding his people from predators, while Shan, the goddess of day and warmth, was perceived as a caring and loving mother.

Lorro’kah generally believed in an eventual salvation brought to them when Varrik and Shan would each come down in disguise and have a child each, acting as their avatars. Once these two avatars married, their child would be the great hero to lead the people to a great world of both cold and warmth, where they would all prosper. Their emphasis on bloodline through this religious belief made them a people with an unusual penchant for genealogy, with bloodlines recorded for hundreds of generations in not only their oral traditions but on carvings on a great collection of tablets recovered. There appears to be no written form of their language.

## Language

Below are some distinct words and phrases from the Lorro'kah language, which has not been yet fully codified by New Republic lingusts.

Shirko/Shirka = House/Home (In Lorro’kah writings, this can also be used to refer to family or other loved ones in a longing manner)

Karuhk/Karuhka = Ice/Cold (This also is used as an honorific, similar to ‘King’ or ‘Ruler’)

Farrkah = Enemy (This also roughly translates to ‘beast’, perhaps due to the various predators on Barab II)

Yor’tem = Roughly translates to ‘Metal Cart’, used to refer to spaceships.

Baihan = Translates to ‘Warmth’, or ‘Life’. Lorro’kah used this to refer to a beloved mate, though Baihu can refer to an adored child.

Varrik’Shan = The deific figure of the Lorro’kah religion. It is believed that Varrik and Shan are two separate entities fused into one, one representing the eternal cold and the other being of an eventual warmth. It was prophesied of a great child that would be born of the ice, and then soon after it, a mate for them that would bring prosperity to the Lorro’kah, the warm child of Shan.

Jarkat = Weapon, can be combined with other words and prefixes/suffixes to refer to specific types (Lightsaber would roughly be Jar’Han or Warmth/Light Weapon)

Raschok = An insulting and demeaning term, used to refer to those who cannot provide. This has two extra forms depending on pronunciation - Ras’chok refers to a male and is used in a more ‘emasculating’ fashion whereas Rasch’ok refers to a female and is more of an insult to intelligence. These can be also used to refer to the opposite gender, giving different meanings.

Badahk = Roughly translates to ‘Great Sight’. This was more of an honorific, used to refer to the priests or spiritual leaders of the Lorro’kah. It is also used interchangeably to represent spirituality, the presence of a deity or an intense spiritual experience.

Jarqo’soth = The ritual paints of the Lorro’kah; these were used to paint the face and sometimes body, mostly of males, in times of war or in rituals used to prove certain traits and worthiness of positions of responsibility.

Norui and Varakka = A simplistic translation would be to ‘Joy’ and ‘Anger’. However, Norui refers to more of a calming, comforting joy, whereas Varakka is not a passionate, but a bitter and biting anger that is also used to refer to grudges and revenge. These are both also the names of the two ‘seasons’ on Barab II that the Lorro’kah use to measure an ‘Age’, their equivalent to a year. In truth, Barab II only has a calm winter (Norui) and harsh, biting ice and snowstorms where the planet’s predators become more active (Varakka).