Aranaya

The Aranaya are an insect-like race of post-humans that are predominantly found in of in the Elitra Cluster.

## History

The Aranaya are descendants of Nocturnals who split off from Yako Sei in 750 NA. The inhabitants of early Yako Sei were a mix of many types of people, and new forms of gene alterations were often being experimented with, some gaining in popularity and spreading. Around the year 650 NA, a new gene alteration pattern was developed, based on portions of insect dna, which strengthened a body's resistance to radiation poisoning. It had the unintended side effect of growing a thin layer of chitin on the on the person's skin. But it was effective for radiation resistance and it became somewhat popular in some parts of Yako Sei. People with the gene were referred to as “Chitinous”.

About the same time, Biomaton, a genetic engineering company which often worked with the Yako Sei government, was making progress on the “Thrall” project. Thralls were genetically engineered slaves designed to be 100% obedient to aid law enforcement, military and for manual labor. A key component for a successful thrall (and to justify it ethically to the public) was that these lifeforms were to be engineered to not develop the parts of the brain that gave them free will. They were to retain their intelligence but otherwise were to simply be biological machines, born without the capacity for emotions or desire for autonomy. Biomaton developed a new prototype that was considered successful enough to begin small scale implementation. By 750 thrall law enforcement was ubiquitous throughout the cluster.

As thralls began being produced, their design went through many iterations, and specialized types were designed for different applications. But eventually, variations of the Elitra gene became standard as part of the dna recipe of most thrall types since the radiation resistance was valuable.  For some applications, they also enhanced it so the thralls had a thick layer of chitinous exoskeleton which acted as a natural armor and made them more durable.

But there was a problem. Biomaton was not successful at actually preventing the thralls from having the capacity for free will. The parts of the brain responsible were also important for other functions. Their solution was to simply suppress their free will and emotions, to make them 100% compliant. This seemed to have the same desired effect and their testing did not reveal any problems. Around 700 NA, Biomaton made a small update to the DNA recipe that seemed trivial but had a fatal flaw. From then on, in less than 1% of thralls, once they reached adulthood, this suppression gradually faded over the course of a few years and they became more self aware.  Of the hundreds of thousands of thralls in the cluster, a few hundred began to realize their situation. This first generation would become known as “The First-Awakened” or “The First-Flawed”.

The First-Flawed were to figure out how awaken the other other thralls. In 750 they planned and executed a revolution. Because they had so many in law enforcement and military, they were able to take over a large percentage of the cluster by force. Eventually they worked out a deal with the government. They would be given a substantial number of ships, and a couple cylinders and allowed to leave the cluster without retaliation to go live their lives somewhere else if they would just give back control. They agreed and formed a nomadic cloud of ships and eventually formed the Elitra Cluster.

Though some sympathized with the revolution, Yakosei citizens and leadership spread propaganda opposing the movement throughout the cluster and vilifying them and their supporters. To justify the Biomaton program, they spread disinformation about the “flawed thralls” claiming that they still did not have human level sapience but they had regressed into feral, unintelligent and repulsive creatures. Due to their insect-like appearance they began to be referred to as "aranaya" (or "spiders"), and were painted as a step backwards in evolution.

Some blamed a flaw in the Elitra gene which spread the same disdain onto non-thrall chitinous people as well. These increasing hostility toward the chitinous people lead them to band together and form their own communities and after several decades, many of these would move to the Elitra Cluster. The chitinous people and the awakened thralls started referring to themselves as "Aranaya" as well, embracing the derogatory term as part of their new cultural identity.

## Physiology

### General

Most notable is the chitinus skin. Orignally, aranaya were more shades of natural human skin colors. The thralls were generally colorless white. But now aranaya come in any color, or multiple colors, though shades of green are common.

Radiation resistance.

### Reproduction

The earliest Elitrans were genetically engineered thralls that were not designed to be able to reproduce. When they revolted and left Yakosei they took some of the Birth temples with them. Over time, a portion of the population began to engineer themselves to be able to reproduce naturally but most aranaya preferred the traditional method. About half of the population are still sterile, and even more still prefer to get their children from the many sacred Birth Temples in the cluster, where new aranaya are grown in artificial wombs, rather than natural birth. The regions that now reproduce naturally are looked down on by traditional aranaya for abandoning the old ways.

### Rejuvenation

The Chrysalis Corporation has developed a technology which can undo the effects of aging and rejuvinate a aranaya body into a younger form, allowing them to live potentially indefinitely. The technology can only work on the unique dna of aranaya due to the way their cells grow. An aranaya child molts regularly until they are an adult size (mid teen age). The Chrysalis reverts all their cells to a regressed form, and after incubating for several days, their bodies are restored to this young adult form and begin the aging process again.

The drawback is that the process is not perfect. There is some risk that the body does not regrow correctly and greater chance that the process can affect one's mind. Since all cells are transformed, the brain is impacted too, and some neural connections may not regrow as they should. The loss of some of these connections are unnoticeable or insignificant. But others can cause a shift in preferences or attitudes. Combined with a return to a younger brain chemistry these changes can quickly grow into new personality traits. And if key memories that were formative to one's identity or relationships are lost, it can significantly impact one's personality and feelings. The severity of the changes vary but many argue that losing core memories can alter one's identity so much that it is philosophically no different than dying. The Chrysalis Corporation has created blood tests which can determine a prospective client's risk of memory loss or personality shift. Currently only about 10% of the population is in a low risk category and even less go through the rejuvenation process.

## Subraces

### Kaito

The Kaito refers to aranaya that appear closest to humans and are most similar to the original aranaya. They have a thin layer of chitinous scales over their skin. They have black eyes and more human colored skin, with a faint yellow or green tint. The term kaito is a shortening of the word chitinous. They are generally a mix between the descendants of flawed-thrall aranaya and human/kessler.

### Koneshi

The majority of aranaya are Koneshi. In the early period of the Elitra Cluster, the aranaya wanted to form a new identity and celebrate their shared genetic alterations. They embraced the term "aranaya" which means "spider" and added more insect-like appearance traits to their genes. The Flawed-thralls had colorless white chitin, but later generations adopted many bright colors, but primarily yellows, and greens, browns and black. They have a thicker harder layer of chitin and more noticeable scale lines. Many have an extra pair or two of smaller eyes. Humanlike hair is less common, replaced with thicker spines and quills.

### Chokora

The chokora are most closely related to the original soldier thralls of early Elitra. They are larger, and had very thick armored exoskeleton. The Chokoraan region is primarily populated by chokora and their culture is still very military inspired. They identify as the children of Revelde and raise all their children to be fighters and prepared for war, just in case.

Generally less colorful, darker shades, though some are still proud to be the original white chitin of their Flawed-thrall ancestors.