Thental

Thental male and female

Thental are a very disciplined race of white furred hunters. The species grew up on the ideal of the warrior citizen that turned into their legacy. They grow up to 2 meters tall and live between 85-100 years.

## History

The Thental home world, Empress, is an ocean world with islands and mid sized continents. Most of the internals of the islands are savannas due to most plants absorbing moister through their leaves and reducing the amount that reaches the center of the continents. As such the Thental species was forced to live on the edge of the islands and develop hunter/gather parties to go into the dense jungles and fend off the many creatures that dwell in it. A warrior complex built over the years for those who ventured into the jungles to get food and soon the entire populations invested themselves in this image. When they reached an age of navigation and could travel to other lands and encountered other groups of Thental war quickly broke out. Empress Endra Sh'lona rose out of this chaotic war period and conquered all of Empress and named it after her new title. Her rule lead to a time of peace that allowed them to get into space and soon they traveled to the stars and encountered the Star Control Federation. This brought a new cold war as both sides viewed the other as aggressive expansionists. Hostilities ended in 87 DoS when the Mass Alliance formed. To this day the majority of military members are Thental.

## Biology

### Sub species

#### Farilon

From the Continent of Farilon the sub-species of Thental comes almost exclusively in bright orange with dark stripes along their arms and legs. Notable other differences are the thin coarse hair over their body, a taller leaner body, longer thinner tail, a lack of mane or any additional head hair and pointed ears. Typically the Farilon are faster at a sprint with their leaner body and larger legs. When colonizers came from the Sh'lona continent they were fiercely fought by Farilon tribes till their subjugation from 800 BDoS - 747 BDoS (after the Farilon war) but were first to recover from the war and became the dominant power on Empress for a time. However in current times few of the Farilon sub-species venture outisde the home systems of the Thental.

#### Sh'lona

The more common of the Thental types, these look very similar to humans with their body shape and face. The major difference is the fur over their body, their large mane, large ears, their three fingers, fused toes and their tail. Typically they are most common type of Thental as they're adaptable to just about any environment, aside from arid hot one's.

#### Uoma

The Uoma are rather similar to the Sh'lona with the most notable differences being their much more fluffy fur, shorter tail and floppy long ears. These Thental are from the more northern areas and are built to live in cold environments for long periods of time. They tend to be more tribalistic and prefer to work together in groups putting much more emphasis on community.

#### Sangrila

A much more brutal looking sub species of Thental they are known for being far more brutal in appearance and nature with dark fur and long fangs extending from their upper jaw. Following their departure from the Thental when they joined the Mass Alliance they began to take up barbarism.

### Morphology

#### Legs

Thental have a plantigrade leg structure with a three toed foot, with the exception of the Sh'lona sub-species who have one index toe and a wide flat secondary toe. The Thental leg is very long, with the Farilon sub-species having the longest legs of all the sub-species, taking up roughly 60% of their height. The Umoa and Sangrila sub-species toes have a large claw on the end, with the Farlion having retractable claws.

#### Arms

The Thental have a typical arm structure with a bicep and a forearm. The Umoa sub-species has a large amount of fluffy fur around their forearm, needed for their icy environment they lived in. Farilon's having the most narrow and thin arm to match their stream lined quick bodies while the Sangrila sub-species have the thickest and most muscular arms.

#### Torso

The Thental torso carriers a largely similar design between the 4 sub-species of Thental, with the Farilon have a long thin torso, the Sh'lona having an average mass and weight to it, the Uoma being squat and relatively squished as they need to stay low in their winter environments and the Sangrila having a wide squarish torso to help add to their strength. The Thental types also have different tail types between the sub-species: Farilon having a long thin stripped tail, Sha'lona a mid sized fluffy tail, the Uoma having a very short fluffy tail and the Sangrila with a big bushy tail.

#### Head

The Thental head has some unique adaptions between sub-species. All notably have a black color to their sclera.

##### Farilon

Farilon have a tall skiny head with pointed ears sticking off the top of their head and have a flat nose. Their eye color is a yellowy orange with a slit pupil. The most noticeable difference is that the Farilon do not have a head of hair like the other Thental.

##### Sh'lona

Sh'lona face resemble that of a Humans the most. They have a human like nose, mouth, eyes and skull. Their eyes are blue with no noticeable pupil, but a much darker section in the inner eye. This has lead to an unfounded myth that Thental are to some degree blind. They also have floppy ears that somewhat resemble that of a goat.

##### Uoma

Sharing very many similarities with that of the Sh'lona the Uoma's only major difference is their very floppy ears that hang down much like that of a dogs. Their eyes are also blue but have a black iris like other species.

##### Sangrila

Sangrila heads are the farthest departure of the entire Species with an elongated snout, more animal like nose, large fangs that stick out of their mouth and pointed ears like that of the Farilon but extend farther and have a sharper shape that resembles that of a fox, or other predator canine. Their eyes are dark orange and have a slit pupil to it.

#### Special features

Well the Thental don't have many features that set them apart from the rest of the species of Aetherian they do have a unique undercoat of fur that keeps them warm in the cold and cool in the heat, this is specialized to the different sub-species, with the Farilon having a coat climatized to the heat and the Uoma having one climatized to the cold. The Thental also have a variable metabolism that can very drastically based on the level of activity and burn calories at a much higher rate then that of a human. Often times they are seen consuming a large amount of food in order to replace the calories that they just burned off. This has given them a somewhat gluttonous reputation.

## Culture

The Thental tend to practice a culture of military tradition and service, often instilling a sense of military service to each new generation. This has reduced over time after the Thental joined the Mass Alliance, however it has never faded.

### Pre-Mass Alliance culture

Much of Thental early culture was built around the Sh'lona's tribal warriors. In the stone age to early bronze age of Empress the Thental that lived on the Sh'lona and Farilon continents use to organize into hunting parties to venture into the dense jungles in order to find food. The dangerous predator's of Empress's jungles forced them to be more aggressive and organized, groups that would act in a offensive, defensive, scouting and support roles such as tending to the wounded. As these tribes organized into city states the group warfare was expanded into an even greater groups with even more specific roles. This gave the tradition of all members of the tribe or village participating in combat, whether that be hunting or warfare with other groups of Thental.

This is best exemplified with Lady Cassandra of Valora who become a role model for all Sh'lona with her heavy stoicism and strong martial skills. Many try to emulate her style and image, both in practice and the visuals of her. Many Thental even into the modern era would describe her as the archetypical Thental that they all strive to be.

### Mass Alliance culture

After the Thental joined the Mass Alliance in 87 DoS the Sangrila split off from them. They saw this as a weakening of Thental traditions and struck out with a large portion of Thental territory, as they joined the Thental empire willingly they were allowed to exit without violence. While the ethics of this is debated by many Thental to this day it had the immediate and positive effect of making the Thental become less agressive. Well the Thental are still known to be the most aggressive and militant of the species that form the Mass Alliance without the Sangrila this has drastically lowered.

The Thental in the Mass Alliance are largely conservative in their culture and often promote less government interference and more military spending. Many Thental do still see military service as a tradition to be upheld and act as though military service is mandatory. The Mass Alliance does not practice mandatory military service many Thental households do and it is a common practice to ostracize those who do not perform some sort of military or civil service. However there are many who shirk this mindset and forge a new identity for themselves away from this strong military leaning and join the more rebellious careers.

The Mass Alliance's two military's (the Mass Alliance Grand Navy and the Mass Alliance Armed Forces) are made up largely of Thental. However most Thental join the work force after their service, often doing a minimal 4 year service to fulfil family obligations before finding a career, often times in civil employment as many believe that they should service the state before privet interests.

## Miscellaneous

### Marks of pride

Thental mark their faces with symbols of their colonies and home worlds. They mean a lot to the individual wearing them as its representation of who they are and who they bring glory for, whether in combat or other fields that they work in.

### Warrior heritage

Thental have a view of them selves as warriors thanks to their aggressive history and so many Thentals enlist in all forms of the army.