Hasik

The **Hasik** are a humanoid species from the planet Antibaar.

## Biology

A bipedal humanoid, Hasik can be distinguished from other races by their distinctively shaped skulls that feature two prominent lobes at the back of the head bifurcated by a line of spotted scales that runs from the bridge of the nose, up and over all the way to the back of the cranial cleft. They also possess ropey, protruding veins on their necks and high bone ridges over their eyes. Hyach are, in general, taller than is average for most races and some (males especially) have stiff and sparse hair across the back of the head and down the jaw line. Females can also be distinguished by their six relatively small breasts on the front of their torsos, three on each side from the chest down to the waist. Like Humans, Hasik have five fingered hands, though their feet have only three toes per foot. Their skin is thicker than that of Humans, with a somewhat scaly quality that tends to vary between what humans would consider light flesh colors to ruddy "sunburned" browns.

The Hasik body exudes an odor which many races consider to be pungent and quite nauseating. As a result, when travelling off-world many Hasik choose to wear specially scented robes to cancel out their natural smell.

Hasik reproduce like many other species through sexual coupling of males and females. Similar to the Kauld in many ways, Hasik have no external genitalia and instead reproduce and dispose of bodily waste through osmosis. Again, like the Kauld, fertilisation of a female Hasik is achieved through vigorous rubbing which transfers the male seed to female egg sacs through the skin. This act is done purely for reproduction as the Hasik have no concept of sexual pleasure.

Once impregnated, the female will carry the developing embryo for the equivalent of 15 months and will give birth to anything from one to five infants per pregnancy. Females can usually give birth a maximum of three times in their entire lives, after which they become sterile. The low birthrate was said to be offset by their very long lifespans.

## Culture

Though favoring an essentially simple way of life, Hasik society can in fact be terrifically complex. The Hasik adhere to thousands of rules and rituals that supposedly cover every conceivable situation. There has been no significant change in this aspect of their civilization for 4,000 years.

Marriage and parenting are very important to the Hasik, with all unions arranged by the elders of the involved families. The suitability of such marriages is judged first and foremost on the love between the couple-to-be. After that a very careful scan of the history of both families is conducted to judge compatibility. This engagement process takes a full Hasik year while the elders discuss the marriage. Polygamy is quite common and in fact many Hasik families consist of several sets of husbands and wives, with both males and females considered equal in all aspects of Hasik culture.

### Religion

The Hasik worship an androgynous creator deity known as Oshi-Ta, "the Seed and the Egg" and this is the only accepted religion on Antibaar. A serpentine figure, Oshi-ta incorporates a balance between both male and female aspects and it is the belief of all followers that Oshi-ta tells all Hasik to live long, be wise and die happily so as to continue the cycle anew.