Madison M. Maxwell IV
『 amadeus 』
- Intent: To create a species for my new character; to help populate Wild Space with more people and locales fitting with the themes of strange cultures and exploration; to give the Sovereignty more roleplay with a more passive-minded species within their borders that could and certainly would provoke tension.
- Image Credit: Matt Rhodes (Cropped and merged by myself when necessary), Skyrim Concept Art (Edited by myself), Desert Canyon City (Edited by myself), City Ruins (Edited by myself)
- Canon: N/A
- Links: La'ra
- Name: Fanaa
- Designation: Sentient
- Homeworld: La'ra
- Language: Faan, Basic
- Average Lifespan: 130 Standard Years, though men tend to live only to 100 or so.
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description: An average Fanaa is tall and stocky, though this is rarely what many notice when they see one -- Fanaa are all a bright turquoise-cyan colour, with red scleras and yellow irises. Their hair is black and is often dreadlocked due to the oils they secrete. It's widely believed and even likely that Fanaa share lineage with the Chiss of the Unknown Regions, due to the similarities they share in appearance. This closeness ends at aesthetic, though, and Fanaa operate very differently to their blue cousins in the Unknown Regions. Beyond that, all Fanaa share a deep love & appreciation for shiny objects, art, music, and general pacifism.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
- Breathes: Type I
- Average height of adults: 1.8 - 2 Meters
- Average length of adults: N/A
- Skin color: Turquoise-cyan, though some are lighter and some are darker, none of them deviate from this unique colour.
- Hair color: Black, more often than not dreadlocked.
- Distinctions: A Fanaa is brightly coloured, athletically inclined, and proud of it. They share little with Humans, with their blue skin, haunting eyes and avian-like facial features. What truly sets them apart, however, is the presence of a syrinx at the base of their tracheas. Considered a remnant trait of their animal origins, Fanaa are able to produce beautiful bird song noises, chirping and cawing and singing. This doesn't necessarily mean they can communicate fluently with birds, but their tunes can draw them from miles away as birds mistake them for others of their species. In the event a Fanaa is born without a syrinx, all they will produce is a hissing noise that is deemed unpleasant by the Fanaa and they are often ostracized for it. Almost all Fanaa are pacifistic in nature, only defending themselves when provoked and their cities are designed more for the appreciation of art than the defence of its citizens. It's also been documented that some Fanaa are born with stumps on their shoulders as if wings were meant to exist there, but there is no recorded case of a Fanaa exhibiting full wings or an ability to fly. That is one evolutionary trait the species lost with the onset of bipedalism.
- Races: N/A
- Strengths
Songbirds: Having kept a syrinx as a part of their anatomy, all Fanaa born with one are able to sing like birds and produce cawing, chirping, or in rare cases, even mimic other specific voices and lines much like a parrot would. This can be helpful as those individuals trained to produce such noises act much like organic recording devices. Other noises, such as the chirping and 'singing', are able to attract La'ra's avian wildlife and are also noted to be extremely pleasant to the ears. Specific tunes are used for attracting mates.
- Hollow Bones: Whilst this makes them brittle and dainty, the hollowed bones of Fanaa also allow them extreme agility and gracefulness. The precise and elegant movements of a Fanaa are likened to that of highly trained exotic dancers without the years of practice, and they are remarkably flighty and swift on their feet.
[*]Weaknesses
- All That Glitters: Fanaa are fascinated and entertained by all things shiny. This manifests as their cultural love of brass and gold-embellished outfits, droids, cities... However, there is a dangerous edge to their affection. A byproduct of their avian roots, Fanaa are hypnotized by things particularly bright and pretty and have a subconscious desire to horde it. Easily distracted by sparkly objects, this can be used to advantage in combat or space warfare as the want for such items can override basic survival instinct and combat adrenaline.
- Hollow Bones: Another unfortunate remnant of their origins as a bird species is that Fanaa have bones that are hollow. Whilst this grants them certain agility and speed, it makes them glass cannons -- Their bones are prone to breaking easily, making them poor close-quarter-combat fighters as even a relatively strong punch to the gut could splinter their ribs, for example, or blocking an attack with their arm could fracture the bone.
- Heavy Is The... Armor?: Compounding onto the above weakness, most Fanaa are physically incapable of wearing armor for battle that is too heavy due to their skeletal structure not being able to support that much weight. When they were involved in combat, Fanaa opted to wear heavy cloaks and robes instead and relied on their agility as their defense. If a Fanaa dons armor that would fall into the 'heavy' category, they could collapse under the weight of it and seriously hurt themselves as their bones could break and leave them helpless.
CULTURE
- Diet: The Fanaa are especially fond of consuming mice and other rodents, and they are omnivorous. They also enjoy small berries and the occasional insect, though they tend to eat the standard foods anyone else would -- Meats, plantlife, dairy products. Most of their food is grown right on La'ra, though they import more exotic and luxurious meals when desired. And it is desired quite often.
- Communication: Faan is the Fanaa dialect, sharing many linguistic parallels with Basic. This allows them to pick up the more commonly used language quickly. Additionally, Fanaa communicate with other members of their species utilizing their syrinx to produce distinct 'bird' noises that only another member of their species would be able to identify and interpret. Various sounds mean various things, and some are even able to mimic like a parrot would.
- Technology level: The Fanaa are spacefaring, having found ship wreckage dating to the Clone Wars on their world that they used to enhance their own tech and to reverse-engineer hyperdrives. Whilst their ship designs are certainly unique and a little rough around the edges, they get the job done.
- Religion/Beliefs: The Skyhawk is a singular deity that the Fanaa believe in, praising Him for their gifts and blessings. He has a shrine in La'ra's capital city Atratus. The Skyhawk is pictured to be a massive bird, who is said to have tended to the Fanaa like baby chicks, and all of La'ra was His nest. The northern parts of La'ra are sacred ground, believed to be the remains of His nest and are not to be touched by the Fanaa.
- General behavior: Unlike their avian ancestors, Fanaa give birth to their young live, like Humans-- Though prehistoric art implies that there was a time when Fanaa laid eggs, such a time has passed --And are only ever able to produce one offspring at a time. Multiples are non-existent in Fanaa reproduction. Due to the longevity of females versus males, finding a partner to produce young with is an important part of Fanaa culture and they can be quite dogged in their advances as a result. Fanaa are genetically compatible with other near-Human species, often imparting traits such as their songbird organs, skin colour, bone structure and eyes onto their half-breed offspring. Half-Fanaa are looked down upon in Fanaa culture (Unless, of course, they are able to sing like the others. In such cases, they are treated as regular members of society. Those without syrinxes are treated even worse than full-blooded Fanaa unable to sing). Partners co-parent their young in family units, with the schooling system placing heavy emphasis on the education of art, history, and especially music. Fanaa hold a deep and sacred relationship with the avian wildlife around them, those willing to kill them exiled from Fanaa society as heretics. Birds are seen as avatars of the Skyhawk and singing to them is akin to communion. As the Fanaa maintain no standing military or navy, they channel their focus into building their gilded cities and training as artists, musicians and performers for the entertainment of each other and themselves. The Fanaa are led by an elected cabinet of officials, the Clywdo, who wear elaborate golden bird masks and dress extravagantly. Members of the Clywdo determine the Fanaa's laws and long-term goals, whilst also ruling over the planet and people with compassion and kindness. In the days of rebellion, the Clywdo were the ones who determined the Fanaa would side with the Rebellion, and who met with Rebel leadership to swear fealty.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
AGE ONE: THE AGE OF THE SKYHAWK (??? BBY - ??? BBY)
This is a time before recorded history when the Fanaa began to evolve into a sentient species. Prehistoric records indicate that they were advanced for their time even then, and many attribute this to the guidance of the Skyhawk, the diety that the Fanaa worship. This was a primitive era where the Fanaa were beginning to develop culture. Historical documents alongside key genetic markers indicate the Fanaa may, for one, have a relation with the Chiss in the Unknown Regions, and two, evolved from very bird-like peoples.
AGE TWO: THE AGE OF NEW SPARKS (100 BBY - 4 BBY)
It was during this time, millennia after the Fanaa's initial evolution, that the technological boom hit their homeworld and they began to develop into a true and proper nation. This was helped in part when in 19 BBY a Confederacy fleet suffered an extreme navigational failure and jumped out of hyperspace right into the asteroid field outside of La'ra. One cruiser in particular was slingshot into La'ra's gravitational field as a result, which caused the ship to crash on the planet. It would remain in a state of dereliction for years until Fanaa scientists would launch a formal investigation of the crash site. This would promote a wave of technological advances as the Fanaa began to reverse engineer the technology found aboard. The cruiser's hyperdrive would go on to aid in the development of Fanaa hyperspace tech for years to come, and even a captured Republic astromech, obliterated in the crash, would go on to inspire the multipurpose wrist-mounted droid used by the elite of Fanaa forces during the Rebellion years.
AGE THREE: THE AGE OF TYRANTS (4 BBY - 0 BBY)
Whilst a small Age in comparison to the others, this one was no less important. It marked both the Fanaa's introduction to the galaxy as a whole and to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, of which they would join as willing members following a resounding victory at Yavin inspiring confidence in the Fanaa people to throw their loyalties to the rebels as opposed to the first Imperial Empire.
AGE FOUR: THE AGE OF SUCCESSION (0 BBY - 4 ABY)
The Fanaa would go on to serve the Rebellion as soldiers, spies and relief. Their spies would be among the many who died to collect information concerning the construction of a second superweapon, and their ships joined the effort at Endor to abolish the Empire once and for all. However, especially following the devastating loss of so many Fanaa to bring intelligence of the second weapon to the Rebels, the Fanaa's faith in their Rebellion began to wane significantly, and this only increased after the victory at Endor -- What was supposed to be a celebration turned sour for the Fanaa as they began to turn their backs on the rebels who had seeped war into their culture. This age is seen overall as both a victory and the beginning of the end to galactic ties for the Fanaa.
AGE FIVE: THE AGE OF PEACETIME (5 ABY - 40 ABY)
Following the victory at Endor, the Fanaa began to pull out of all major Galactic positions they might have held. They famously fled the battle of Jakku even though the New Republic was winning, declaring that they wished to remain independent to the new government and that they had done their duty to defeat the Empire and saw the Imperial Remnant as no threat. This, whilst sounding particularly bleak, actually began an age of prosperity and newfound pacifism for the Fanaa, and the New Republic honoured the Fanaa's wishes by cutting off all ties to the people and their planet and even going so far as to begin to slowly and systematically overshadow their involvement in the Rebellion by promoting the assistance of other governments over their own. A bit of a petty move, but nobody raised concerns. It didn't take long for many to forget the Fanaa even existed, or that they had once fought to overthrow the same Empire everyone else had. La'ra still had relative traffic, but was, especially in the first couple years following this exodus, extremely closed off.
AGE SIX: THE AGE OF LIGHT (41 ABY - 427 ABY)
And so, free of the war bonds that once bound them to a sinking ship, the Fanaa flourished in their newfound freedom and peace ideology. It was universally agreed; They would not fight on someone else's behalf ever again. Four centuries of cultural refinement, construction, art, music and love followed the Fanaa exiting the Galactic scene as they drew inwards, promoting a private lifestyle of personal growth and reflection among the people. It was an extremely popular ideal to follow, and would serve as a catalyst for the modern Fanaa ideals going forward.
AGE SEVEN: THE AGE OF DARKNESS (428 ABY - 835 ABY)
Thanks to the new isolationist policy of the Fanaa people, they were actually spared most of the Gulag plague's wrath. A couple hundred thousand cases planetwide, but many perceived it to be a strange and violent illness born on La'ra as opposed to Galactic terrorism. Still, it was enough for officials to shut down certain space ports to prevent contamination, but that's all that was done. When the Darkness hit as well that wasn't a very big cause for concern either, simply due to the fact that they had reverted to a smaller scale of existence; life outside Wild Space or even La'ra didn't concern them much and they were fine with nobody being concerned with them either. So they passively grew during the Darkness, gathering strength like a sleeping giant...
AGE EIGHT: THE AGE OF NEW AWAKENING (836 ABY - PRESENT)
After the passing of the Darkness, another radical change was to hit the Fanaa people. A galaxy in turmoil, one they couldn't turn their back on, had risen from the ashes of the old. And now there's this faction of warmongers, this Sovereignty, strutting around Wild Space like peacocks. Needless to say, the Fanaa are at the present experiencing another introduction to the Galactic scene, and this time, the greeting party might not be so receptive to their ways.
[member="Zeradias Mant"]
