Kxhhrit’k

## Physiology

The Kxhhrit’k are an insectoid, incendiovorous race that look reminiscent of praying mantises. They have a thick exoskeleton of chitin for protection and thermal insulation, and this is coloured a dark grey, though some exhibit much lighter tones or have blue tinting. They are hairless.

Kxhhrit’k are typically around eight feet (2.45m) tall when they stand straight, and males are slightly smaller on average, though Kxhhrit’k often bend their double-kneed legs so as to reduce their effective height to an average of 7’’. They tend to be very slender; this adaptation helps them to move through small burrowed tunnels with ease.

The Kxhhrit’k have six limbs, two legs and four arms, and each of these has two joints, in addition to a wrist to which is mounted a hand or foot with three claws. The upper two arms are tipped with large, sharp claws exquisitely adapted to rend flesh from bone, while the lower two arms are built more for manipulation of objects, with finer control in the hand and arm and much smaller claws built for fine work.

The Kxhhrit’k have wings, but are too heavy to fly with them.

Each drone lives between 45 and 90 Terran years with current medical technology, though this is constantly improving. Queens live significantly longer, averaging 150 years.

The Kxhhrit’k have most organs in the thorax and abdomen; beside the blast-furnace-like stomach and the small gill-like structures in their neck ridges, they have a large number of specialised renal organs, designed to filter their ‘blood’ of specific compounds or elements to direct them to where they are needed.

## Metabolism

The Kxhhrit’k metabolism is unconventional to the extent that a new term had to be invented to describe it: incendiovorous. A Kxhhrit’k gets its metabolic energy through internal combustion of food materials, which heats its blood-equivalent, liquid gallium stored in and circulated through a network of internal tubes by a piezoelectric biosilicate pump. The heat stored within the gallium is then used to fuel any endothermic reactions, such as those required to produce the materials from which a Kxhhrit’k body is constructed.

The Kxhhrit’k heart beats roughly 35 times in a minute, and this value is near constant irrespective of levels of exertion, as an increase in the rate of circulation would achieve nothing.

Because of the way they burn food to get energy from it, the Kxhhrit’k can eat almost anything flammable, though dryer foods and foods with more stored chemical energy tend to be preferable. This means that they generally smoke meat prior to consumption. Since very few pathogens can survive the temperatures of a Kxhhrit’k’s internal structure, they tend not to contract diseases that other species might. In addition, toxic or harmful enzymes of other organisms are typically denatured by their high internal temperatures. However, the Kxhhrit’k do have diseases specific to them; these are incendiovorous or extremophilic organisms resembling bacteria, which can consume a Kxhhrit’k’s body for food or use its internal heat to fuel itself, neither of which is good for the host Kxhhrit’k.

## Brain

The Kxhhrit’k brain is Silicon-based, being composed of biologically-crystallised semiconductors of non-constant purity, which form a complex self-controlling network of biotransistors within the Kxhhrit’k skull, capable of complex data-processing with the emergent property of self-awareness and sentience. To reduce entropic malprocessing arising from high temperatures causing misfiring of biotransistors, the brain must be kept somewhat cooler than the rest of the body, and as such there are ridges around a Kxhhrit’k neck, which emit hot air and occasionally steam. These ridges are also where the Kxhhrit’k take in air for their furnaces and to construct biological materials.

Due to the nature of the Kxhhrit’k brain, they tend to be good at working with computers. Their unconventional brain structure also renders them immune to most forms of telepathy.

## Genetics, Reproduction & Hybridisation

Due to not being influenced in their development by the Progenitors, the Kxhhrit’k have a very different genetic structure when compared to the humanoid species. They cannot interbreed with any other species. The Kxhhrit’k DNA analogue is comprised of a strand of diamond crystal folded into a 3d fractal, with microscopic lumps of different gemstones on the diamond encoding information. This information is read by molecular identifying molecules, which direct the production of biological molecules within cells. The Kxhhrit’k lay eggs to reproduce. These are laid by the female queens, and fertilised by the male princes, where the child inside grows until it can survive outside the egg, whereupon the egg hatches. The eggs are best kept warm, and so are kept in a dedicated `fihr room`, and Kxhhrit’k are fiercely protective of their eggs, especially soldier drones. Each Kxhhrit’k has two of each diamond strand, and provides one of each pair to the child if it reproduces, resulting in greater genetic diversity. Most Kxhhrit’k are females, but these females, unless they are queens, are more like genderless drones; unless they become queens through a period of metamorphosis, they do not reproduce or show any sexual characteristics. The same is true of the males, in that they are genderless drones which merely carry male genes unless they are activated to fertilise eggs for the hive.

## Society

Kxhhrit’k do not have siblings, as all children are simply children of the hive, but they do have an analogous system. Shortly after a child is hatched, it is paired with another child, and these Kxhhrit’k are usually friends and constant companions for life. These “buddies” will work together and live together constantly, as a lone Kxhhrit’k tends to draw suspicion. Kxhhrit’k live communally, in groups of twenty to fifty, and the elders tend to mentor the children, forming close bonds with them.

The Kxhhrit’k value honesty and clarity in their interactions; a Kxhhrit’k tend to speak frankly. Despite there viscous appreance and demeanor, Kxhhrit'k are friendly to the species around them, with the notable exception of the Kyn.

Kxhhrit’k collectives are led by the Queen, the highest-ranking female who is able to produce eggs for the collective. The Queen is traditionally the collective leader, though there have been cases of cryptarchies in the past, where Queens have been no more than puppet leaders controlled by other powers, internal or external.

Beneath the Queen is a council of Princes, high-ranking, biologically-activated males who are a form of aristocracy, and High Administrators, skilled and capable drones in their field of excellence, though the Administrators used to be chosen based on personal favour with the Princes. Each Prince and Administrator controls a hive within the collective. A hive is a group ranging from a few dozen to a few thousand Kxhhrit’k within a collective, and every hive contains a subqueen, who technically outranks the hive leader, but who in practise usually leaves command and administration to the Prince or the Administrator, as the queen tends to be busy creating and tending to eggs. However, a Queen does not become nor stay a queen without both strength and intelligence, and they tend to be competent leaders.

## Culture and tradition

The Kxhhrit’k culture places great stock in fire, to the extent that they worship it, in a nontheistic religion. This is because their life comes from the fire that they carry inside them, which was a very important observation to early Kxhhrit’k; whereas early humans were animistic, early Kxhhrit’k were pyristic, worshipping the `blessed flahme`. Even today, oil and coal, valued flammables, form an unofficial second currency in the same way as connoisseurs of wine might trade especially valuable bottles. However, these descriptions do not apply to all Kxhhrit’k, as they are not monocultural, and they have very different cultures across Kxhhri, especially in the region known as the Deadlands.

Kxhhrit’k art values geometric precision, and simple shapes in complex, often fractal patterns. Their art is almost exclusively abstract, and tends to be in few colours which mostly match the environment in which the art is made; the Kxhhrit’k’s sensitive eyes allows them to use tiny variations in shade or tone as humans might use entirely different colours. However, due to their poor hearing they do not have sound-based art, such as music.

Many Kxhhrit’k have some kind of cosmetic rituals; those in the Deadlands scar themselves in rituals to demonstrate resilience, and to create patterns demonstrating allegiance, and the Kxhhrit’k in the Blue Desert tend to mark under their eyes with blue dye.

Most Kxhhrit’k wear plain clothing; they wear trousers, but not usually shirts. They also wear special hats, which resemble the Shakos of ancient Earth militaries. Some of the brighter colours are reserved in clothing for the nobility, much like purple in many ancient Terran cultures, and these colours are often worn in sashes over the torso.

Kxhhrit’k do not wear earrings, as they have no ears, and they do not wear necklaces lest these corrode or melt, but they do wear bracelets on the arms and legs. They take pride in keeping their teeth and mandibles clean and sharp. Where they wear clothing over their torso this incorporates slits through which the wings can protrude, and the Kxhhrit’k tend not to wear anything that could cover or crush the fragile wings.

Kxhhrit’k are cremated when they die, in a return to the `blessed flahm`

They have no naming ceremony, as such, but are informed of their name and task as soon as they are hatched by the Fire Room Administrator, and sent off for training and education with the commune.

While there are no cyclical celebrations of age in Kxhhrit’k society, the graduation of a drone is a joyous occasion, marked by their equivalent of a party, with lots of gifts of oil and coal given to the graduating drone to prepare them for the start of their working life, before the presentation of the uniform, the precise nature of which depends on the drone’s occupation and their graduation marks, a measure of ability at the time of graduation.

Military drill is an important part of the life of all Kxhhrit’k, as it helps to maintain discipline. Arms drill is very common, with muskets, which are an outdated weapon but still very commonly used.

## Science and technology

The Kxhhrit’k scientific complex is a somewhat large section of their workforce, focused largely around development of technology for use in space exploration and around cybernetic research. The Kxhhrit’k value economy in their engineering, and are very careful not to design things beyond what is required of them - overengineering is heavily discouraged among the Kxhhrit’k’s engineers. They are also excellent information technology engineers, as their transistor-based brains allow them to easily understand the low-level workings of computer systems.

## Recent History/Background Info

Kxhhri is a world on the edge of Federation space, in the direction of the Tholian Assembly. In recent history, they fought a war against the Kyn, a group of proto-Andorian humanoids who declared war on Khhri as soon as the Kxhhrit’k developed warp travel, simply on the basis of their appearance. There was a bloody war for several years, before simmering to lower levels of conflict before exploding again. This has occurred multiple times, and large scale fighting resumed in 2410. With the Kxhhrit’k and the Kyn now near Federation borders, the Federation stepped in to arbitrate a ceasefure, a ceasefire which favoured the Kxhhrit’k, at least under the Kyns eyes. The Kxhhrit’k did not lose any worlds, and a DMZ was established, much to the chagrin of the Kyn. But the Kyn were worried about direct Starfleet intervention if negotiations failed and peace was not established, as they were exhausted from constant war. As such they took the choice of a return to Status Quo. Currently, Kxhhri and its colonies are protected worlds under starfleet, but Kxhhri is not part of the federation, due to its inability to form a united world government, among other factors.