Mataian

## Anatomy/Biology

**Types**: The main type are the fanged Mataians, who look a lot like saber cats. The other type do not have this characteristic and simply look like your normal big cats; tigers. lions, panthers, jaguars, etc.

**Description**: Could be described as anthropomorphic version of big cats; ie, they stand on two legs and can use their arms and paws like a human would. However, you can still catch them sometimes running on all fours, but that is usually only on their home world.  They are digitigrades and have opposable thumbs.

**Diet**: Mataians are hypercarnivores, they absolutely have meat in their diet, though they can be caught enjoying fruits and veggies from time to time, though it is an extremely rare occurrence.

### Male

**Average height**: Anywhere between 7-9 ft tall

**Average weight**: Between 250-300 lbs

**Average build**: They tend to run on a lean/muscular side

**Coloration**: Almost any natural colors (brown, gray, black, white, cream, orange, etc)

**Average lifespan**: 280 years

### Female

**Average height**: 6-8 ft tall

**Average weight**: 200-250 lbs

**Average build**: Lean/muscular

**Coloration**: Almost any natural colors, like their male counter parts, though they tend to run on the brighter colored side of that scale

**Average lifespan**: 300 years

**Extra**: Female Mataians tend to have an average litter size of four. Much like human women, they have two prominent breasts, but that is where they differ from humans. They have six nipples, making it much easier to feed their young since it is very rare that a Mataian gives birth to a litter of one or two. The others can become prominent during pregnancy when they are starting to produce milk. Most Mataians are considered to reach adulthood around the same time as sexual maturity; 16 years being the typical age for that though some males and females have been known to not reach that until ages as late as 22. Most female Mataians are stay at home parents, though some can be found doing other jobs, like military jobs and political jobs for example. Males are the primary workers and leaders in this society.

## Politics

**Classification**: The Mataians are viewed as a more of an assembly of clans.

**System**: This government is a militaristic form of democracy, where all free clan warriors can make their voices heard, though they all still refer to the Speaker of the Clans as their leader. Speaker of Clans are elected by the people, though that was not until after Valrood was executed by current Speaker of Clans, Aticuak, for his crimes against the race. After installing himself as leader, Aticuak has turned their society into a more democratic one then a monarchical one as it previously was, especially since he was wanting to be apart of the Solarian Empire.

**Values**: Mataians value family above all else. To a Mataian, there is no greater honor then starting his own lineage to continue long after he or she is gone. Some Mataians are still hold militaristic values like honor but now have begun leaning more towards environmentalism and merchantile pursuits; they seek to co-exist in harmony with nature, since Valrood destroyed many religious/natural land marks and to improve on their economy.

**Religion(s)**: The Mataians worship one god and two goddesses; Bogatie being the God who represents Wealth, Labor and Commerce; Sursa being the Goddess of Fertility, Motherhood, and Love; Krig, Goddess of Protection, War, and Destruction. Most Mataians pray to Bogatie and Sursa while some question whether Krig is worth worshiping or if she is more in league with the Om Rau (devil).

**Settlements/colonies**: Their home world is Edith Negeru, but they have four other colonies located in their system; Trokavis, Hosciri, Bowawei, and Kriggus.

**Diplomacy**: Since the Mataians only discovered space travel in the last four years, they have not made much in way of diplomacy with other races, but they have been getting a long great with the Solarian Empire and have much respect for them.

**Age of spacefaring civilization**: Six years

## Technology

**Military**: Military tends to use plasma weaponry, introduced by merchants and modified by the Mataians most revered scientist, Merunga Palizi. It was only modified to be used by Mataians hands since human/humanoid models were hard to hold and control. They have their own armor made from the unknown resource that sits in mines below the surface of the planet. Otherwise, they do not have much of a military, and really their only military force is Krig's Cubs, who are basically body guards for the Speaker of Clans.

**Civilian/Public**: Civilians can use holographic projections to send messages, and FTL Comms though there's has a bit more delay then normal, and a version of Virtual Intelligence designed by Merunga, though it is relatively simple compared to most races, called CAT.

## Racial Information

**Traditions**: Mataians celebrate birthdays by having the siblings from that particular litter play their own version of "War games". Whatever siblings wins gets to decide what they all get for their birthday, though parents will step in if someone is being plain out mean. As they get older, they tend to still do this, though instead of "war games" they compete with mischievous pranks. When a matriarch or patriarch of the family dies, the family commemorates their death with a feast among the whole society, commenting on the good they've done or how well they raised their cubs, etc etc. The only Mataian traditions that are very private is that of the birth of a new litter, especially since the Mataians lost a lot of cubs during Valrood's rule. However, that is only during the first week of the birth. At the one week mark there is typically a smaller feast celebrated by family and friends of the new mother and father, and the Speaker, who blesses the cubs and the family by placing a "flower crown" on their heads that are decorated with flowers that determine oldest from youngest, and by drawing a circle on their foreheads with his own blood.

**Conflicts/Issues**: Fanged and non-fanged Mataians still butt heads, as there are some that still see them as inferior, while others think that they should have every right as a fanged Mataians. There are also a good number of Mataians that do not want to be under the Empire's thumb and resent Aticuak for wanting to join with the Empire. On a more simple note, Mataians have a very low population, especially since there's now way more males that have been born then females in the recent years, causing the race to argue if polygamy is the way to go or if the family unit should main nuclear; one male, one female, and their cubs.

### Relevant history

* Valrood the Vicious takes power as Speaker by killing the former Speaker.
* Valrood starts to enslave the inferior Mataians (those without fangs) . Many females in the world were killed and raped, causing the population to drop significantly. Some cubs were born of the rapes, but many of these cubs mysteriously disappeared. No one is quite sure what happened to them, though it was suspected Valrood sacrificed them to Om Rau.
* Aticuak Gatlur raises an army and tries to challenge Valrood, but Valrood locks down his palace and places a siege in the capital city of Edith Negeru to try to avoid Aticuak.
* After several weeks of waiting, Aticuak Gatlur and his army end up breaking into the city thanks to some of Krig’s Cubs who were fed up with the crimes they were committing under Valrood’s rule. Aticuak defeats Valrood and frees the slaves and pardons most of Krig’s Cubs.
* The Dom’Kavosh place their biggest attack on the Mataians, placing another huge dent in the Mataians population shortly after Aticuak takes place as the Chieftain. Many Mataians blamed Aticuak for this saying the Dom’Kavosh must have feared or favored Valrood and that Aticuak angered them by killing him.
* Mataians hear of the defeat of the Dom’Kavosh by merchant humans 7 years after they attacked the Mataians, prompting them to try to discover space travel in order to thank and become allies with the humans.
* Merunga Palizli, with the help of an unknown human, finally cracks the code to space travel for the Mataians. They can’t get out of their solar system but they are now able to try to colonize other unclaimed plants in their solar system.
* Mataians can now travel to other systems thanks to Merunga Palizli once again and the mysterious human.