Tessera

Seven Tesserai, direct descendants of the First Progenitors.

[WIP]

Tesserai are a mammalian/reptilian species from the planet Torus. They were made by the winning Twilight team of a session of The Game.

## Anatomy & Physiology

Tesserai come in 7 color-coded groups called Clades, they are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, and Achromatic. They have a bright accent color that colors their pupils and two strips of hair along the sides of their face (which can be combed into bangs), their hair is a duller version of this color and their skin color is an even duller one. The only Clade restricted on which accent colors it can encompass aside from the expected color restrictions is Achromatic, which is limited to white, black, and pure middle grey. Clothing is typically in the person's colors but it's not a strict rule.

Tesserai horns come in 6 possible positions and always look the same. The more horns a Tessera has the higher in the social standing they tend to end up (with the exception of the First Progenitors). Horns can come in any arrangement of the available options. Horn amount rarity, from most to least common, is as follows: 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 6.

Each Tessera has two tails, which are flat and fabric-like. The color and end shape go along with Clade, but the actual shape of the tails are genetic. Tails are mirrored. Tessera ears are big and floppy, the exact shape is genetic but can't angle above 90°. Tesserai are land animals, but can jump high and can hold their breath underwater for up to 3 hours.

Tesserai have two sets of eyes.

Tesserai lifespans are around 1,200 years (yes, earth years, they use the same calendar we do) but as Tesserai age about 10x slower than Humans it's not too much longer from their perspective.

A Tessera can reproduce both sexually and asexually, the parent of an asexually-produced child is called their progenitor and is genetically identical to them bar mutations.

## Society & Culture

It's standard to cover the bigger top of eyes set except for in the presence of those the person is close to. Nobody's going to get in trouble for not covering their top eyes, but it'd be like going out shopping in your underwear. It's possible in some places, but it's revealing and you're gonna get some looks.

Tesserai have six standard genders, Vise (Ae/Aer/Aers), Rhon (Sy/Syr/Sys), Soua (Fi/Fir/Fis), Jaio (Xe/Xem/Xir), Nyvo (She/Her/Hers), and Kyho (He/Him/His). Gender identity is decided on entirely by the person as Tesserai do not have any physiological differences that could warrant an AGAB. Non-standard genders are referred to just as enby because that's what 3 of the 4 Twilight team members call it and what else are you gonna say? Non-sexternary? That's a mouthful and I don't think sexternary is a word.

Nyvo and Soua are considered feminine, Kyho and Rhon masculine, and Jaio and Vise androgynous.

Having and/or raising a child with someone is not considered romantic and therefore it is common to find children who was raised by people not romantically involved.

## Naming Conventions

Tessera first names are the length of the number of their horns \* 2 or the number of their horns \* 2 + 1, so a 4-horned Tessera could have a first name 8-9 letters in length or a 2-horned Tessera could have a first name 4-5 letters in length. Last names are in two parts, the first is the month they were born in and the second is their family name which can be from 1-4 letters in length. The result ends up like Hyracothi August-O or Rest July-Lulo.

Tessera symbols are based on the season they were born in. A sun and a crescent moon indicate summer and winter respectively, while a rising sun and a rising crescent moon indicate spring and autumn respectively. As season depends on hemisphere, two Tesserai born on the same day but in opposite hemispheres will have opposite signs.

Horn amount vs first name length
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

## Etymology & Inspiration

Tessera is a derivation of Tesseract, the 4-D analog of a square/cube. Torus is from 3-torus, a hypothetical shape of the universe.

Clade names come from the ROY G BIV conventional color depiction of rainbows, with indigo removed/added into Blue and an Achromatic Clade added instead.

## Gallery

Rest July-Lulo, a 2-horned Summer jaio Red Clade Tessera.Aisuhowana June-J, a 5-horned Spring nyvo Orange Clade Tessera.Fossera December-Mew, a 3-horned Winter kyho Yellow Clade Tessera.Dasos January-Far, a 2-horned Summer enby Green Clade Tessera.Vayesanohina February-Four, a 6-horned Summer rhon Blue Clade Tessera.Hyracothi August-O, a 4-horned Winter soua Violet Clade Tessera.Key October-Ie, a 1-horned Autumn vise Achromatic Clade Tessera.