Venkath

## Overview

The **Venkath** are a militaristic, clan-style species known for their obsession with drinking blood and conducting harvest raids on other alien species. Because of their typical lifestyle, their only real home was Poenari which was destroyed at the end of the Venkath Onslaught. The venkath are now spread across the galaxy in limited numbers, preying on weak convoys and planets as they presumably lick their wounds and come to terms with galactic irrelevancy.

## Anatomy

Venkath individuals look similar to humans in terms of proportions and general appearance. They are bipedal, posses two arms, and have the typical facial features that you come to expect with a human. Many venkath also grow hair, although in limited quantities, only white, and usually just on the scalp.

They possess grey skin that has no variance in pigmentation unless surgically done. Their height averages around 6'4" while their weight averages around a muscular 185 pounds. Venkaths are naturally inclined towards developed muscle mass, making them significantly stronger than humans on average. Venkath live underground in hive-like structures, generally avoiding sun whenever possible.

Venkath senses are slightly weaker than a human's. Average lifespan of a venkath is 230 years although they rarely reach this due to their violent psychology. Venkath speech is completely indecipherable to human ears, making communication and translation all but impossible. It sounds like a high-pitched shriek with very little tonal enunciation.

Internally, a venkath is similar to a human except that they have four lung-like structures, no kidneys, liver, or pancreas, and do not possess a true intestinal system. Instead, to remove waste, the stomach connects to an intestinal pouch that processes the nutrients of ingested food that then gets pushed by peristalsis up a duct until it triggers a vomit reflex. Venkaths throw up their waste.

General upkeep of the body's internal systems is reliant on a tumour-like organ attached to the venkath heart that seems specifically geared towards processing ingested blood and "scrubbing" fluids and food of any foreign or harmful material. The venkath stomach and this organ, called a blood sac, seem to function in an almost circulatory manner; the stomach regularly pumps its acid and its contents through the blood sac which then gets brought back to the stomach. This is referred to as a gastrocardial cycle. The intestinal pouch seems instinctively timed to only open after a gastrocardial cycle has completed.

The blood sac seems to also function as a blood cleaner, something ordinarily done by the liver and kidneys in the human body. The toxins are compressed into an almost gel-like substance that then passes into the stomach with the gastrocardial cycle, set to be thrown up through the absumus (the passage which expels waste) once it transfers to the intestinal pouch.

It is said that the ingestion of blood gives a venkath a literal high, with experiments showing that the blood sac responds more aggressively when it comes in contact with blood of any species, even that of its own kind. Blood seems to not be passed back into the stomach through a gastrocardial cycle, instead being absorbed by the blood sac. This causes an immediate response in the venkath's heart rate and blood pressure, implying a sharp adrenal increase when blood is ingested. To describe a venkath as entering blood lust is seemingly not out of the question.

Some common diseases in a venkath include dysfunction of the gastrocardial cycle, dysfunction of the intestinal pouch, and paralysis of the venkath's trio of throat passages: the esophagus, the trachea, and the absumus.

## Psychology

Based on human understanding, the venkath are mere savages who managed to figure out how to build spacecraft and use them. This does a disservice to the venkath. They are deceptively intelligent despite their preference for unreasoned violence, keenly capable of improvisation and adapting the technologies of others to their own purposes. While they did not develop many of their own tools, they did take the tools of others and make them unique. It is unknown which species provided the venkath the ability to access FTL. Whoever it was utilized the same model as humanity, convincing human science philosophers that humanity was at least on the right track when it came to futuristic advancement.

The venkath operate through a clan hierarchy, much like the Mongol hordes in pre-modern history on Earth. There is a superior clan that rules over the rest but the subservient clans are often free to pursue their own interests. This seems ingrained in venkath psychology, with venkath children isolated from venkath society and then left to their own devices often developing the same social hierarchy as witnessed in the Thoren Empire. A venkath that doesn't abide by this structure is a rarity and seemingly culled when discovered.

The harvesting of blood is an almost obsessive component of venkath psychology. They are biologically and psychologically predisposed to the consumption of blood, with any ingestion causing an immediate high that then encourages more consumption. Venkath are addicted to blood from a young age that only grows more insatiable as they get older, with the veteran venkath raiders often sacrificing everything for the chance to drink. As a result, venkath war parties regularly abandon raids or waste resources in the pursuit of a juicier score. Demoralizing a major enemy is seen as a worthwhile expense no matter the cost simply because it might make the hunt a little easier with the side effect of yielding more blood to drink.

This approach has made it nigh-impossible for the venkath to have positive relations with other races, with relations primarily devolving into open war within months of contact due to the venkath's desire for blood. The venkath possess harvesting facilities where they attempt to create the perfect breeding arrangement for the species they harvest, creating an infinite resource of blood. This blood, however, is seen as sub-par. Venkaths appear to develop a psychological bias towards "fresh" blood. That is, blood from a live victim that was forcefully drank instead of extracted from strung-up livestock. Blood that is harvested is usually given to venkath women and children, two demographics that are never seen outside of their underground hives. Men dominate venkath society.

In summary, the venkath are wildly aggressive, irrational, and seemingly incapable of cordial conduct with other species. They are to be avoided at all costs.

## Common Use

The **venkath** have a **CONDITIONAL** Common Use policy. They are not a playable race right now but you can have run-ins with venkath warlord raiding parties if you so desire. You may also be raided by the venkath.

## Credits

Venkath artwork is concept art for Thor 2 designed by AndyParkArt on DeviantArt. You can find the original source here.