Kharā

Name:  Kharā

Homeworld:  Āguna

Faction:
Confederated Soverign Planets of the Aethelwulf Nebula
Kharā Territorial Confederation
Galactic Commonwealth

Lifespan (average):  300 years

Genders:  2 (Male and Female)

Notes:  A rare blend of mammalian and reptilian traits and features, the Kharā hail from the world of Āguna.  As a Class H world, it was a struggle for daily survival - resulting in a hearty population, albeit one with heavy tendency towards loners who only come together for convenience and the vestigial breeding season.

Due to Āguna's harsh conditions, the Kharā evolved a natural form of population control:  though biologically capable of reproducing year-round, the fight for a share of their world's limited resources forced them to only seek out mates every ten years after reaching maturity.  In modern times, especially following the development of interplanetary travel and being able to reach other star systems, this instinctive drive to breed has become vestigial.  However, given so few generations have past since this species began reaching for the stars, it remains a part of their lives.  Of note, unlike the ponn far of Vulcans, the Kharā see no shame in their remaining urges - though this is just as likely due to differences in cultural and social norms and values differing between the two species.

Kharā reproduce in a relatively uncommon manner.  Ovipositors, the female carries a single egg for four months until it is ready to be laid.  Once lain, the egg can remain dormant for up to five years before hatching- though this can be extended via artificial means - when special receptors pick up a specific pheromone from the mother indicating favorable conditions for the hatchling's survival.  After hatching, the newborn is then reared in a more mammalian manner - suckling on milk produced by the mother's mammery glands.

On average, as another part of the naturally evolved population control mechanisms, a single child results from each breeding.  On the rare circumstances a female lays two or more eggs, differing views exist due to how theological the community is and what denomination is in majority - this can range from the offspring being seen as blessed for future greatness to outcast as a curse on the community.  While it was rare for those exiled to survive in the past, the Kharā's expansion off their homeworld and interactions with other species means, though the practice has generally fallen out of favor with only very isolated populations practicing it, such hatchlings usually have much better odds of surviving and finding a new home.

Though the modern Kharā species is homeothermic in nature, they've evolved poklythermic traits to survive the extreme day-night temperature differences during their pre-technological era on Āguna.  Using a thermoregulation method similar to temperature cycling, they allow their body temperature to rise during the day and fall during the night, adjusting their body temperature to cycle over approximately several degrees Centigrade.  Modern members of the species may the benefits of artificial environmental control technologies, but the average norm stills see regular sunbathing and use of heat lamps.