Vahl

Tul

Grok

Vahl are a race of large humanoids from Anhae. Vahl have a unique system of genetic memory that allows their children to take on their personality. This makes them effectively immortal as long as they successfully procreate. They have a deeply embedded warrior culture and pride themselves on their martial prowess and physical power. On Dorad, Vahl take great pleasure in seeking out human military and hunting them. While usually hunting in small groups or alone, they can form hunting parties in the hundreds, and their tactics have disrupted all human military operations on the planet. Most Vahls swear fealty to their God-King Verkon who has ruled their entire race for millennia. Vahl vary widely in their physical characteristics, but they are universally large and dangerous. Vahl have the ability to consciously evolve themselves over multiple generations, and so they adapt quickly to new environments in order to reach the top of the food chain.

## Vahl Cities

Vahls do not keep personal residences, but all Vahls in the hunt have personal spacecraft that act similarly to human homes. These spacecraft are used for transportation, storage, sleep, and Vahls often incubate an egg in their ship as a form of life insurance. Therefor Vahl cities are not made up of residences, but large parking-lot-like structures meant for ship landings, and nearby support buildings for traveling Vahls. All cities will contain an arena, a cage house, and an armory. Larger cities will contain food and drink vendors, clothing and jewelry shops, libraries, teleporters, and factories.

## Vahl Culture

### The Koansk'ki

*main article: The Koansk'ki*

This is a sacred text written by Verkon thousands of years ago that nearly every Vahl memorizes, transcribes, and carries. It is widely accepted as the legal and cultural foundation of the Vahl race, and the vast majority of Vahls adhere to this text's prescriptions. Those Vahls who do not follow Verkon and the Koansk'ki are called Rogue Vahls.

### The Reveling

Vahls in the hunt will battle their ashen siblings in an age-old blood bath called the Reveling. There are generally 2-4 siblings born of a Vahl corpse. Upon hatching, these Vahl children grow incredibly quickly, usually reaching full size within 15 days if properly fed. When the Vahls are fully grown, they will meet at the place where they last died in order to perform the reveling. (Note: famous Vahls may instead perform their reveling at an arena) The siblings engage in a bloody, ruleless and ruthless brawl where they attempt to kill one another at all costs. Since Vahl eggs take at least a month to properly grow, Vahls that die in a reveling will not produce offspring. This ritual has had a profound effect on Vahl evolution.

### Vahl Social behavior

Vahls are social animals that bond by storytelling and dueling: both fatal and nonfatal. Vahl cage houses are a place for storytelling and nonfatal duels, while arenas are the place for fatal duels and famous revelings. Cage houses are home to all kinds of Vahl domesticated animals and treasured alien predators. Here Vahls gather around the animals and tell stories of their days in the hunt. Humans are sometimes kept in cage houses. Cage houses have large circular pens where Vahls host informal, nonfatal duels against each other, usually without an audience. They can also fight animals from the cages, exempting humans, for a small fee. Humans are usually given weapons and taken to fight in arenas. Arenas have strict schedules and are generally busy all day, year round. They have a constant audience, and arena contenders always fight to the death. Contenders that die in the arena are thrown into arena pens, where there are constant revelings of defeated siblings that can draw audiences of their own.

In this way, Vahl social behavior is inseparable from fighting. No Vahls are truly friends until they have killed each other at least once. A Vahl that cannot kill his friend is not considered worthy of friendship, and truly the closest Vahl companions have ancient rivalries and keep a close competitive score.

Vahls also bound closely with animals but can find it difficult to reconcile the death of their pets. Many Vahls will bound so closely with their animals that they fear death. Because they will be unable to care for their beloved animal while ashing, this is one of the only times a Vahl will avoid dying in battle.