Approved Species The Komo

[Sterling Kinslayer]

Spoiler

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a new desert dwelling species for future roleplay and character creation.
• ​Image Credit: Here
• Canon: N/A
• Links: [ Provide links to any relevant threads, characters, companies, locations, equipment, etc here. ]

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Name: The Komo
• Designation: Sentient
• Origins: Outer Rim/Wild Space
• Average Lifespan: Can live to 120 without much intervention, average male life expectancy of 45.
• Estimated Population: Scattered
• Description: The Komo are a near-human species of nearly human-like aliens, with scales covering portions of their body such as the jaw, cheeks, and neck along with their various horns in place of ears. This nomadic, technophobe species can be found on a number of different desert like arid planets, and vary mostly in their color of scales/horns and scale covering, i.e. how much of their body is covered. Aside from this, skin tones tend towards the darker end along with hair though pale and blonde members are a possible rarity, leading to the common belief of the Komo being sand dragons of some sort.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Breathes: Type 1
• Average Height of Adults: 1.5 to 2 meters
• Average Length of Adults: Tail length, additionally, ranges from a further 0.6 to 1 meter
• Skin color: Most tribes have tanned or darker skin tones similar to certain humans. However some tribes have more pale tones, depending on a combination of scale coverage and historically how covered skin is kept during the day. Scale colors tend to be dark or light depending on the individual race of the tribe member.
• Hair color: Commonly have darker hair tones, black predominantly. The lighter the skin, the more variance in shades of browns one may find. In exceptionally rare circumstances, the lighter skinned variants may in fact have blond-ish hair tones.
• Distinctions: A sexually dimorphic species, the Komo females tend to be smaller than their male counterparts, while the males tend to be significantly taller, and consequently much stronger. Many full grown adult Komo are comparable in strength to Wookiees, certainly far stronger than the average human adult male. Scales cover various proportions of their bodies, the neck, cheeks, hands and feet as well as the base of their tail are commonly shared across species. Males tend to have more scales, and curiously seem to be more akin to a cold blooded reptile, relying on the sun for warmth. Females, while possibly significantly covered, tend to be on the less-scale covered end of the spectrum and similarly more warm blooded, as if to handle the night. The horns on their heads assist in hearing, providing a more detailed, intense sense of hearing. Enough to be more than able to hear the shifting of desert sands while hunting for their prey. Their tails seem to be very flexible, able of a number of fine movements, and provide a source of water storage, like a wide number of desert creatures who may find it difficult to handle drought. Aging women are noticeable enough, aging exactly as humans do. However when a male reaches older ages, such as 80, the only visible sign of this is their hair graying, or going near white. The exact reason for this is, unknown.
• Races: Despite the potential variance of skin tone, the dominant feature determining race outside of one's tribal association is the difference of scale tone. Two different 'races' exist:
  Raeine: Komo of the Raeine race have light color scales and horns. These colors tend to be anywhere from cream to white scales, and at the darkest a bright sandy color. They claim this is due to their holy blood, a direct lineage to the first living god.
  Nuuxia: Komo of the Nuuxia have dark scales and horns, usually not black but a very dark purple, blue, or any other color that resembles black. They claim this is due to their bloodline coming directly from the first god-slayer.
• Force Sensitivity: Rare

Strengths:

• Great Strength: Komo, particularly males, are stronger than the average human. Females tend to be as strong or stronger than the average human, while the men can range from the strength of a Trandoshan to the strength of a Wookiee on average. There are exceptions of course, Females who inherit significant scale coverage and unusual height may reach the range of Trandoshan strength, while shorter, warm blooded males similarly more so resemble human peak limits.
• Desert Survival: Due to their tails allowing the body to store additional water (think real world lizards and camels) they can sustain themselves through the drought that is living in an arid environment. They also have the advantage of having evolved specifically to handle the dangers of such an environment, including a dimophic species able to split activity across day and night with relative ease.
• Regenerative Tail: While precious, a Komo's tail can get hurt, or worse, lost during activity such as fighting. Should this occur, most Komo will regrow their tail back, allowing them to continue to store water and fat in the appendage. In cases of low stress, this process can take up to about two weeks, to regrow an entire tail from base to tip.

Weaknesses:

• Cold Survival: Due to being evolved for harsh deserts and arid climates, cold planets, or even cool temperate worlds, can become problematic. While warm blooded Komo can tolerate most temperature variance, heavily scaled Komo would require specialized equipment to survive, depending on how cold or tundra like the planet becomes. A cold blooded Komo for instance would never last on Hoth without a specialized environmental suit.
• Slow Tail Regeneration: Regenerating a tail when lost is a necessary, almost inevitable occurrence, and takes a significant toll on the body of a Komo. Most of their energy is used to rapidly regrow tissue and replace lost bone with a cartilage tube to fulfill the same purpose. In cases of high stress, what can be a two week process becomes six weeks, seven weeks, even months of work.
• Loss of Tail: If the tail of a Komo is lost, they lose a significant store of emergency water and fats, which can prove fatal in environments of scarcity. Not to mention the difficulty that is regrowing a tail with such stress. In a more immediate sense, for a while after losing the tail they will be, off kilter, off balance without the weight of it behind them. One who already has lost a tail may not be as affected for long, but it is still an immediate problem.
• Energy Weapons: Energy weapons such as blasters are, difficult for Komo to heal from. Being injured by such a weapon is exceptionally difficult to heal from, for one reason or another.

CULTURE

• Diet: Omnivore, with a tendency to high protein sources such as insects or meat. Anything poisonous to humans is similarly poisonous to them.
• Communication: Communication between members is primarily achieved through various sounds, such as hisses, clicks, hums, growls, etc. alongside subtle and not so subtle body language, especially with the tail. They are however capable of speaking Basic in broken, fragmented sentences.
• Technology level: Generally technophobes, most modern technology is completely rejected on principle. The many tribes tend to be close to ignorant on modern sciences, and even weapons technology only reaches an archaic form of slugthrowers.
• Religion/Beliefs: Most 'religion' is dedicated to the parable of the Living God and the Godslayer. It is believed by the Komo that, long before any living history, there existed a warrior gifted by the Powers that Be and granted the power of a God, to bend the universe to their whim. This man had brilliant white scales that covered his entire body, creating an impenetrable defense none could best in combat. He grew strong, powerful enough to unite the entire Komo species into one grand, invincible tribe. On the path to victory, he conquered many tribes that would become Raeine, until only Nuuxia Komo remained.
  
  During his conquest to bring war to the Nuuxia, he met a woman of dark scales, who won his heart through her intellect and grace. The two fell in love, though none agree as to why, and the tribes of black and white had an uneasy peace. Though hesitant, they believed the Powers that Be wished to bring an end to the slaughter, and spoke through the two. One night, she begged him to let her see his face, and so he removed the scales covering his features, but it was not enough. She begged to let her feel his heartbeat, and so he removed the scales over his heart. Still she wanted more, and begged him to let them stay the night like this, just once.
  
  In the dead of night, the woman, who heard the Powers that Be within her head, took her lover's life, before she too would slip into the afterlife, the balance kept. Naturally, war erupted, as each proclaimed the other a great hero and savior, the head of their bloodlines, until at last there were too few for the war to rage. Scattering into the desert, each of the many tribes took whoever they could into the sands, ironically ending the feud of Raeine and Nuuxia with the near destruction of the entire species.
  
  IN modern day, this is the parable used to explain their adherence to traditional structure, as a means of survival, as well as whatever oral history each tribe possesses. It also explains their belief in Force sensitive Komo being 'Living Gods', heralds of some great prosperity to come.
• General behavior: Komo live in individual tribes, numbering anywhere from 40 to 50 individuals on average with vastly different individual tribal customs. In general however, Komo are nomadic tribes who spend very little time within one place, usually no more than a few days at most with a single camp. The tribe is everything, and all must be done to ensure the tribe's history is continued, and remembered. To this end, the tribe's chieftain has near supreme authority, and almost always is takes the role of strongest of the tribe's warriors. Generally speaking, the chieftain never lasts more than their forty-fifth galactic year, as individual tribes will often wage war with one another over resources, or they die in the night of cold.
  
  When a male reaches beyond this crucial year and begins to show signs of aging, generally they are treated with reverence and given place as one of the tribe's oral historians, to teach younger members their history.
  
  Generally speaking, finding mates is a matter of worth. Two members of a tribe may find they operate well together, or fall in love (they aren't heartless), at which point the two will work to prove to the family and tribe that it is a worthwhile relationship. Occasionally, when members are willing, mate-hood can be traded between friendly tribes in exchange for resources, and to keep the genetic pool varied.
  
  Speaking of, inter-tribe relations is perhaps the most curious of the social flows. On a planet such as, say Tatooine, there could be ten or fifteen total tribes scattered around the vast sands of the planet, or even more. These tribes often fall into two or three bigger camps of alliances, where they find one another amicable and worth trading with, while the others become fodder for inter tribe wars. On worlds with vast numbers of tribes, it's not uncommon for these alliances to anoint a member as a sort of Chieftain of Chieftains, for the purpose of protection and unity should the tribes face against one another in more than the small skirmishes and wars they are accustomed to. However, when it comes to outsiders, even the harshest of rivals seems content to work together for the sake of the species as a whole.
  
  Generally the warriors will hunt by day, these being any of the members who are primarily cold-blooded, while the home keeping warm-bloods tend to camp, set camp up should they have moved, and otherwise forage for supplementary nutrition. At night, the warm-bloods tend to fires, keep watch, and otherwise ensure the cold-blood warriors find the night peaceful, with hope they awaken. Thus the primary determining factor of social role comes from the blood in their veins, not the usual social determinant factors. When a woman is cold-blooded, she is a warrior. When a man is warm-blooded, he is tending the fires at night. A practical solution they believe.
  
  The tribes value courage and loyalty, making the worst sins cowardice and the many faces of disloyalty. To this, Komo have a distaste for ranged combat, viewing hiding so far away a sign of cowardice, while praising any and all combat that takes place within a short distance. Throwing one's weapon, a scattergun, these things are acceptable when used in advance, not retreat. Similarly, speaking against the tribe's chieftain is acceptable when done in service to the tribe rather than personal vendetta.
  
  Replacing a chieftain is often done in trial by combat, should the chieftain be showing signs of weakness or age. In the case of weakness, the chieftain faces his challenger, unarmed, and the two will fight, often to the point of near death. It is not uncommon for one member to survive these challenges. in the case of age, they pit the two strongest warriors against one another, though these fights tend to be less fatal as there is no honor on the line for one member.
  
  Severe crimes are often punishable by exile. The worst of these sentences tend to cost the exile their tail, where they are sent into the desert without their source of extra water and fat. Should they survive, they are often treated as stronger for it, even if they are distrusted.
  
  In the case of a force sensitive member, they are elevated to the status of a living god, and often made tribe chieftain. In the event that they are, for one reason or another, either unfit for that tribe's chieftain, or incapable of it, they are instead treated as a separate chieftain, until such a time that they amass the sufficient members to form their own tribe.
  
  The ultimate crime, to a Komo, is the ultimate honor as well. To kill a god. Godlsayers, revered and despised in equal measure. They are proof that Komo have surpassed gods, and that their greed has rotted their soul. Komo who kill a god had best pray the tribe believe the Powers that Be demanded it, or a fate worse than death awaits.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

The Komo's origins are, to say shrouded in mystery would be an understatement. No tribe's oral history seems to span far back enough, least of all to explain why they came to live on whatever planet they inhabit. Scattered across many arid worlds, the Komo's technophobe nature doesn't contribute well to their expansion across the galaxy. That said, it's simple enough to guess as to why. Their desert dwelling nature would make excellent slave labor on whatever world for whoever had captured them, though clearly that did not last.

However, the few outsiders who have managed to study Komo to any detail have discovered quite a consistency in certain times of the year. For instance, despite being not only separated by lightyears, but among tribes within the planets, they seem to share a consistent sense of how long until the few ceremonial celebrations they share. Mostly, it seems, in regards to their first God and Godslayer, celebrating both for what they accomplished. Much of the theory as to this is lost, as over the years and centuries the many wars which raged left no time to study a nomadic sentient species content to never take galactic stage.

More modern history, after the Vong invasion specifically, tends to come from a single researcher, Dr. Steve Vurgrmeister. His notes detail some of the major phenomena from galactic history...

I. The Gulag Plague and the 400 Year Darkness

The Gulag plague was a rough period for the Komo, forcing alliances to fight against the infectious disease. Purportedly, several tribes would be wiped out on each planet, melding into others in desperate attempts to survive. The age of darkness that followed the plague's inception were hardly a factor to the Komo but, once the age ended the surge of exploration did come to affect them. This was due expansion of galactic powers encountering rumours of the 'sand dragons' and forcing the Komo to become aware of the outside world to a greater degree.

II. Netherworld Crisis

When a number of Chieftains and members of various tribes were sucked into Netherworld during the Netherworld Crisis, chaos ensued across dozens of worlds. Dr. Steve's group, who happened to be situated in the dune sea of Tatooine, were one of the more fortunate groups who lost little, but became the subject of increased raids by other, less fortunate, more desperate tribes. According to their oral records, it took strong leaders to rise up and restore order, by words or force, to bring the desperate raids to a close. A number of tribes in particular would meld together, as they became too small to survive.

III. Insurrection

The Insurrection, though not having a notable impact that can be relatively generalized across tribes, had an effect on Dr. Steve's study group in particular on follow up studies. This group had encountered a some, difficulties when the Insurrection had inadvertently alerted them to not only the existence of sentient machines, but that the 'Living Gods' could be anything, and in fact plentiful. Until this point, evidently very few force sensitive individuals had encountered the tribe, likely due to their preferred places of living, and nomadic nature. However, it seemed to be this event had the timing to show the Tribe a fairly sizable group of force users preparing to confront the Insurrection by training on Tatooine. While he surmised this may not be a universal experience, it is entirely plausible to suggest most Tribes are unaware of the scale of the galactic population, and prevalence of the Force.


Outside of this, it's known that the tribes tend to avoid settlements, and with very little connection to the greater galactic stage most tribes can spend years without encountering a sentient species besides their own. It has been noted that some tribes on Tatooine, for instance, do encounter moisture farmers from time to time, but tend to avoid interaction unless absolutely necessary. Any significant contact would be brief, and often leave more questions in the wake of the Komo. The few tribes that do interact beyond this tend to be viewed with distrust by their own kind, leading to small numbers who may end up having little choice but to attempt to leave onto a galactic stage.

Though these rogue, tribeless Komo are rare, as they tend to live short lives without constant heat (when cold-blooded), and as such talk so little of their kind as to provide no new knowledge. It would take a very smart Komo, with great help, to survive for any significant time on a grand stage. Especially considering their almost allergic like reaction to blaster bolts.