Irvagaleni

**The Irvagaleni** hail from the Beta Plane, though they certainly didn’t stop there in their quest for expansion. The Irvagaleni Empire is the largest single-species government entity in all of Spectra, though it’s still technically smaller in size to the Hegemony as the latter is composed of a multitude of races and territories.

## **Biology**

Irvas, as they are called by the rest of the galaxy, stand at around 6’ (1.82 meters) on average, and have thick, muscular digitigrade legs. Their feet are equipped with four claw-like toes, two large ones on the front and a smaller one on each side for balance. Perhaps their most notable physical trait is the fact that they have four arms- two where one would expect at the shoulder joints, and two more just underneath those. Each arm has four fingers on its hand, two opposable thumb-like digits on either side of the palm, and two dextrous ones in between them, all of them clawed.

Their lower arms are around ⅔ to ¾ of the length of their primary arms, however, and are thinner. Their heads are angled forward like a salamander’s, and are equipped with intelligent eyes and a varying number of head-fins which act as sensory organs. These fins are located near the rear top of their head, right at the corner of their skull. Watching an irva’s fins can tell you a great deal about how they’re feeling; an alert or excited irva might perk up their fins, whereas one that is depressed, threatened, or angry might lay them flat against their head or even let them droop.

Irvas come in a wide variety of colors and markings, perhaps the most diverse of any species. Their skin color is vibrant and highly saturated when they are first born, and it loses its brighter pigments as they grow older. An irva that may be a dark green early in life may be pure black by their prime. Any irva mating pair may produce any color of offspring, though statistically speaking they are more likely to produce children with pigments closer to their own. The skin itself is covered in microscopic, almost imperceptible bumps that give it a slight sheen like an amphibian’s.

## **Society and Culture**

Irvas take great pride in their names. Each is given a single syllable at birth to call themselves so they can distinguish an individual from a family name, but they can earn more of their choosing depending on the contributions they make to the rest of their race and the Empire as a whole. It is rare for an irva to not earn at least one syllable for the entirety of their life, but rarer still is earning more than one- having three syllables in their personal name is the highest honor an irva can attain, and signifies status in the Empire’s ranks.

Irvas are regarded by the rest of the galaxy as selfish, arrogant, uncaring, and generally unpleasant to speak with. This comes from the widely held claim amongst the Irvagaleni that they are inherently superior to the other races. This belief is so strongly held by the majority of the species that other races have debated whether or not this is an example of genetic narcissism, and wondered whether irvas actually have a choice in believing what they do or if it’s too deeply ingrained in their biology to eliminate.

Back when they lived on the Plane, irvas carried out a barbaric form of humiliation to disgraced or shamed individuals held in contempt by the Empire. This process is referred to as ‘cleaving’; an irva’s lower arms are cleaved off at the bicep, and the wounds are cauterized. Their arms do not grow back, so a cleaved irva must live out the rest of their life sans two arms, a reminder to all that they are not to be treated as an equal, but as an enemy of the people. Horrifically, this practice is still carried out today.

The Irvagaleni society is a matriarchal one where the females are respected as the heads of leadership, and pass down their family name to their children as opposed to the father’s. The Empire is ruled by a single monarch, their Empress. The present ruler is Empress Cassana of the Bo dynasty, but the coronation of her daughter, Glyphonel, is expected to take place soon.