Rigellian

The Rigellians were the first sentient race discovered by the Terrans all the way back pre-Glassing. Terrans consider the date to be pre-diaispora in their timeline. There are more than a few recovered memes and videos of Rigellian Saurians and Terrans interacting in bizarre ways. A famous one that is not understood outside of Terrans and Rigellian is a still image of a flexing Rigellian female with "I AM PROUD TO REPRESENT THE SOVIET UNION IN FEMALE WEIGHT LIFTING" underneath. Both Terrans and Rigellians find this hilarious but cannot explain what is so funny about the reference to a nation that collapsed before the Terrans even met the Rigellians.

## Description

On the average, when someone thinks of a Rigellian Saurian they think of a large, heavily muscled, bipedal warm blooded lizard. Many who do not know much about the Rigellians assume that the image is that of a male Rigellian, however, this is very wrong.

### Immature

Immature Rigellians appear much the same. Small lizards covered in a light downy feather, with short bills that have nostrils on the upraised ridge at the end, rounded heads, long necks, fluffy tails, and webbed feet. Rigellians call their young 'ducklings' despite no relationship to the Terran Anas Platyrhynchos. Their coloration on their plumage is vivid and is made up of blues, greens, yellows, reds, and purples.

As they get older the females toes separate and are stunted while they develop large claws. At approximately puberty the females lose their feathers and their skin grows thick pebbly hide. The females become upright, their shoulders broaden and they lose their wings as they gain massive muscle mass. Their hands become thick and powerful with long nails. Their face shortens until they have only a short muzzle and their eyes shift toward the middle of their face giving them binocular vision. Their mouth fills with meat tearing and chewing teeth and they develop an appetite for meat.

The males become fatter, their feathers become fluffier. Their wings remain and their tail feathers get longer. Their face widens as does their 'bill' and the ridge at the end raises up. At puberty the male develops feathers like a Terran peacock.

### Maturity

Rigellian males are brown feathered across the spectrum, fat looking, and waddle where they go. They have wide eyes that face to the side more than forward, giving them excellent peripheral vision and limited binocular vision. Rigellian males make a singing noise as they waddle around, broken up now and then by a "rwack" noise. They are usually seen with up to a dozen immature 'ducklings' under them. They are barely sentient herbivores who enjoy swimming and basking in the sun.

Rigellian females are tall bipeds, taller even than humans at 7-9 feet tall, and are extremely muscular. They have thick legs, heavy clawed feet, large hands, and powerful jaws. Their skin is a greenish-gray and pebbled. Their eyes are all black and have a retractable clear protective membrane. The females are large, powerful, and aggressive omnivores.

## History / Culture

Rigellian society is based on one's accomplishments. They are aggressive in everything from business to sports to exploration. However, they are also capable of humor and enjoy music very much. Their physique is very important to females and scarring is considered fashionable as long as it is not self-inflicted, however 'accenting' a scar with ritual scarification is a thing with military and law enforcement.

Rigellians are still extremely careful with eggs and young, as they almost went extinct when industrial and textile waste runoff damaged the eggshells until the thick leathery skin of the egg had degraded until it was hard and thin and easily broken.

Singing is extremely important in Rigellian society. A poor singer will not attract any males, who look for mates who their singing is compatible with. The males mate for life but get lonely easily, meaning that most females have 2-4 males in their relationship.

Historically females engaged in posing and flexing as non-violent domination tactics, which was still a cultural activity when they met Terrans. During the intervening years of learning about Terrans they discovered Terran bodybuilding competitions, which they immediately took to. In the Terran Confederacy the Rigellian Saurian body-building contests are a highly viewed SolNet broadcast. Many Saurian females are amused by the act of wearing a bikini top despite the fact they have no nipples or mammary glands (the males do). Rigellian Saurian females like wearing fur skirts or loincloths with ornate leather belts and are very taken with "Cimmerian Fashion" at the current time of the Sixth Precursor War. While they will full uniforms to abide by dress codes, there is still a somewhat habitual desire to wear shorts/skirts/loincloths and to go bare chested. In the younger females "Nuke Chic" is gaining popularity, complete with 'tire shoulder pads' and 'assless chaps' and 'stopsign chest pieces'. Female Saurians also find weight lifting to be a community activity and most gyms near Saurian living quarters are always patronized by Saurian females.

Due to the lack of sentience in the males, most Rigellian females pair-bond with each other, only bonding when the males get along with each other and 'approve' of the other female. Rigellian females are fascinated by the fact that Terran Descent Human males are intelligent. It isn't too uncommon to find a Rigellian female pair bonded with a human male.

A male is considered extremely precious due to the near loss of them before the Terrans arrived and Rigellian Saurians will do whatever it takes to protect the males.

Rigellian Saurians, while slow to anger and move unless their males or ducklings are threatened, are one of the more aggressive species in the Terran Confederacy.

Strangely enough, that aggressiveness seems to form a bond between Terran Descent Humanity and the Rigellian Saurians. Additionally, Terran Descent Humans are *extremely* protective of males and ducklings.

## Home System

While the "Rigellians" appear to have hailed from the star Rigel (approximately 850 Light Years from Sol), the status of their home system is unknown.