|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:00:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:00:38 GMT -5
INTERSPECIES RELATIONS
The sorassan are not inherently violent towards one another. Social friction, compared to mankind, is often tame. This does not, however, exclude them from conflict; severe grievances between primitive towns or wanderers often end in bloodshed. Further, xenophobia in sorassan communities is significant, especially with regards to mankind. Even the slightest of provocations can often push sorassan towns to war or abandonment. Only the paleworlders command more animosity from the sorassan - and are generally treated as no more than hostile wildlife.
Similarly, the sorassan have had a longstanding dissatisfaction with the redworlders over the mass abandonment of their species during the Splinter Wars. Attempts to heal the rift have been largely non-existent on either side. Only time has served to reduce the animosity, and it has worked slowly for both species. Sorassan are naturally disinclined towards unionites due to their heavy reliance on cybernetics. Likewise, many primitive settlements may not recognize unionites as living creatures at all.
|
|
|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:00:56 GMT -5
SIGNIFICANCE OF TRAVELLERS
Most sorassan cluster near arctic or antarctic regions in mixed mergers of towns and wandering hunting bands. Each town typically serves as a waystation for the hunting bands, who bring their spoils for trade and continue along to the next town on their path. Variations on this core trend are countless in variety; some are nomadic merchants, some are mercenary companies offering time-limited services, others still are raiders harassing towns as part of a longstanding tradition. The distinction between townsfolk and wanderers is often a significant cultural aspect of most communities.
Travellers and wanderers are romanticized to a significant degree in most sorassan towns. Many are the lifeblood of a given community and many more generate much-needed intrigue in otherwise stagnant and isolated communities. Many feature in folklore and fiction, even including works spared from their homeworld's destruction. Loss, abandonment, and displacement have similar significance in sorassan culture. Furthermore, social ties in sorassan groups are often weaker than in human counterparts, especially with regards to family loyalty. While individual relationships can grow to be just as strong as in other species, most sorassan struggle to form these kinds of bonds.
|
|
|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:01:04 GMT -5
TERRAIN PREFERENCES
Possibly related to the sorassan's origins on a high-gravity planet, vertical movement is a curious taboo. Despite being effective climbers, most sorassan are instinctually avoidant to slopes, cliffs, and other major changes in terrain height. Most communities prefer plains and other open spaces, while groups of nomads typically avoid mountains or valleys - sometimes, at considerable expense. Acrophobia is a common trait in most communities. Air and space travel are abhorred.
Sorassan prefer to settle in deserts or away from large bodies of water. Seaside communities are rare and meager. This stems primarily from the physiological effects sorassan suffer from humid air, especially around bodies of salt water. Colder regions are often preferred, as well. As a result of pressure from mankind, at least nine in every ten sorassan live in an arctic or antarctic region. On the rare occasion that a community finds a localized area of high gravity or intense atmospheric pressure, most avoid it. While the sorassan were once adapted to a high-gravity planet, most suffer from muscular insufficiency similar to that of human spacers in orbit. As a result, few are still capable of surviving in their native conditions.
|
|
|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:01:26 GMT -5
TECHNOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES
The average sorassan community exists in a technological state only just past that of the Middle Ages. The highest level of technology most can achieve is basic industrialization, typically with limited electrical or electronic involvement. Most are capable of using human-manufactured tools with reasonable proficiency, though many place a stigma on working with items made by other species. More primitive communities may even regard objects as cursed if they were touched by another species. This behavior stems strongly from the natural disinclination of electronics towards the sorassan cognitive field.
In orbit, sorassan are often fitted with protective equipment to help shield surrounding systems from their thought field. Some are even cybernetically modified in order to offer an additional, permanent layer of protection. While sorassan-dominated ships do exist in orbit, their numbers are vanishingly small. Likewise, most are second-hand ships with decades of stress and fatigue behind them. A small, but significant population of sorassan reside aboard Unity Station as part of the Endangered Species Survival Enclave program, but other sorassan residents are rare.
|
|
|
|
Post by Insano-Man on Sept 23, 2018 7:01:39 GMT -5
RELIGION & PUNISHMENT
Three dominant religions are present across most sorassan society. The first and foremost is Seheras, a quasi-theistic belief in the "Mind of Life". Seheras focuses primarily on the concept of a planet's biosphere as a form of deity, where each planet is governed by a collective intelligence formed by its biosphere. The second most significant religion is Etherealism, centered on the belief that all that does not exist is that which shapes the universe. Some forms of Etherealistic worship assign god-like qualities to the realm of inexistence. The third most prominent is Forsisirris, a conventional polytheistic religion focused on a pantheon of six major deities.
All three share major religions some roots on their homeworld, but only Forsisirris was directly transplanted to Set. At least eight in every ten sorassan are religious in some capacity, usually in proportion to the technological state of their home conditions. The sorassan show marked abhorrence to slavery, imprisonment, and any other restrictions on personal movement, even as punishments. Likewise, corporal punishment is strongly restrained due to their natural difficulty in controlling bleeding wounds. Prevalent forms of punishment often center on malnutrition or exile, temporary or permanent.
|
|
