Eelavi Drodo

***WORK IN PROGRESS***

**Eelavi Drodo**, otherwise known as just **The Eelavi**, are an offshoot of the Drodo race and in particular the Aratacei people. Not a natural evolutionary branch, but rather one both forced by the machinations of the old Technocratic March and the consequences of its downfall, the Eelavi are a proud race that nevertheless were borne from sheer total tragedy.

Their homeland is the Commonwealth of Eelav.

## Technology

Eelavi, in general, are a  **Hi-Tech** to  **Ult-Tech** people with some exceptions. Virtual reality, advanced medical technologies, public shuttles, and advanced computational abilities are highly common. Additionally, traditional Eelavi weapons have tended to be Laser based, this extending to naval/armor applications where they are joined by high energy particle lances for larger caliber guns and artillery pieces. While experiencing a drop off in ability after the collapse of the Technocratic March, in the past two centuries there has been an effort to rediscover the basis of their technology and utilize it-- Which has been helped by the trove of ruins within their territory.

However, while the end destination of their technology would be acceptable to say an Aoshanti or a Pheroene, the methods towards it remain firmly influenced by Aratacian means which have been joindered to Eelavi knowledge. It is, on general, more robust and as a consequence bulky, using safe and tested forms of technologies and pushing them to their limit rather than risking it with something new-- Transistor computers, cathode-ray tube monitors, large mainframes, and other similar technologies are joined by hefty metal bodies.

## Language

Eelavi far and wide tend to speak **Aratacian** and **Aoshanti**, the latter being taught as a secondary language in most schools.

However, their dialect of Aratacian, **Eelavi Aratacian** is somewhat different from mainline Aratacian. Namely, it uses punctuation and grammar choice that might be considered a couple of centuries out of date, which when combined with the Eelavi accent, can sometimes lead to some difficulties.

## Physiology

### Designed Physiology

The Eelavi are highly distinct from the mainline Drodo race in physical appearance and physiology, some of this by design.

Purpose vat grown by the Technocratic March to be the laborers of their Utopian project, which shunned most planetary inhabitation in favor of vast stations, the Eelavi are naturally suited towards this environment. They are shorter than most Drodo, the average being about 4'9 to 5'1, and in general are rather lean. Their hands and arm musculature though, along with that of their core, tends to be more developed and in-particular more precise with their movements-- Most commonly accepted to facilitate both harsh manual space labor and precision maintenance work.

Their serpentine-esque eyes, also assumed to have been specifically designed, are able to see quite well in the dark usually and have a higher than usual number of rod cells-- At the expense of cones, leading to color acuity being lesser, but Eelavi instincts seem to account for this. Additionally, their skin/surface level cells are somewhat more robust than the average Drodo's, and between their two lungs have a reserve air bladder; which has been presumed by scholars to hae been designed to facilitate brief lapses in air pressure.

Additionally, they have serpent esque tongues, able to taste the air and most commonly thought to have been provided so that workers could identify harmful gasses that while scentless, were not tasteless.

### Post-Collapse Additional Physiology

The slave revolt and resulting collapse of the Technocratic March was brutal; in-particular, heavy usage of radiation weapons such as nuclear cobalt warheads alongside general failure of station radiation shielding due to war damage led to widescale mutations among the population. The vast majority would die of these, mostly of cancer, and even more would be stillborn. However, after five centuries, these genetic aberrations and mutations would stabilize in a new way among the population.

Most apparently, their darker skin, which was a further evolution that originally started in the irradiated countryside and later spread to the entire population-- It gave better UV radiation protection, atop of the skin's already more durable nature. However, it was not without negatives, Eelavi Drodo have at this point a chronic kind of dermatitis which gives them a somewhat scaled appearance. This fact, paired with their eyes and more slender form, has frequently gotten them the moniker "serpent" from their peers. Skin cancer is still rampant.

Additionally, most surface cartilage has been lost, and their fur in the process was also lost, replaced only by a most frequently black-colored head of hair which is prone to high amounts of patching. At the very least, they have retained their antennae, which retain much of the same functionality as with other races.