Biology:
"Short, cuddly, exuberant, and capable of giving near-lethal hugs when caffeinated. I love watching them. From a distance." (A Federation First Contact team Sociologist's observation.)
Grawn (Gamma Tucanae Four) is an extremely dense world, not terribly larger than Earth but having an inordinately high percentage of heavy metals in its makeup. Grawn-Ti DNA is significantly more redundant and resistant to injury by ionizing radiation. While many races in the Federation have some ability to breed hybrid children with similar races, the Grawn-Ti's over-long and jumbled genetic code precludes the possibility of Grawn-Ti hybrids. Grawn-Ti look mammalian and for all intents and purposes are a parallel evolution of Mammalia. The base description of 'warm-blooded, bears live young, nurses them, has hair' will stick, but just barely. A thick pelt protects them from impact damage, they bear one to two young who nurse from the mother after an approximate nine-month gestation. The resemblance ends there. Grawn-Ti tissue is extremely dense, and compresses easily in only one direction due to their cellular structure, which is similar to some 'spongier' areas of the mammalian body, such as the tissue of the nose. Their bones are thick, resistant to impact, and meant to bear them up under the 3.5g acceleration of their homeworld...All of which makes them little walking tanks in normal gravity situations, but does not a thing to help them against directed energy weapons such as phasers or disruptors. This same unusual density gives them nearly no buoyancy in water. In extremely salty oceans (such as some of the shallow oceans of their homeworld) they are able to swim by brute force, but they cannot manage even this in fresh water. Grawn-Ti range in height from 1.4 to 1.7m, averaging on the low side, and mass between 140 and 230kg, averaging on the high side due to their dense bone and tissue structures. Females tend to be slightly larger (in both height and bulk) than males. They are primarily carnivorous but do eat a small percentage of 'roughage' vegetables as a regular part of their diet. They do not require live prey, but the hunt is a social and community affair which modern Grawn-Ti greatly enjoy...Given access to a holo deck they will conduct pre-meal hunts on a regular basis. dern Grawn-Ti greatly enjoy...Given access to a holo deck they will conduct pre-meal hunts on a regular basis. They are planigrade and more accurately described as semi-quadrupedal than bipedal, able to stand and walk on their hind legs but largely running on all fours. The chemistry of their neural receptors is a rather puzzling inversion of molecules from the norm, and due to it they have little reaction to ingesting alcohol but caffeine tends to make them drunk and drowsy/uncoordinated in much the same depressant/soporific way alcohol affects most species.
Homeworld:
"It's extremely pretty if you like yellow-orange, very few high mountains, and sore feet. I should very much like to see a tree right now, anything more than three meters in height and with green leaves would do." (Excerted from a letter from Ambassador Denuk to his family after his first week on Grawn.)
Grawn is the fourth planet circling Gamma Tucanae, part of an extended binary-star system. It is a moderately cool world with temperatures ranging from -10 to 15 degrees Celsius and most of its surface averaging about 4-6 degrees Celsius. Soil tends to be rocky, and rock tends to be more frequently metallic ore in nature. Approximately forty percent of the surface is covered by vast, shallow seas which are extremely salty by Terran standards and densely crenellated with coral reef-like organisms that provide a significant percentage of the reoxygenation conversion in the atmosphere. Native vegetation tends to be squat and broad-trunked with lacey, lightweight leaf-structures supported by 'air roots' and a xanthophyll rather than chlorophyll dominant color-structure (reds and yellows). The majority of 'trees' are similar to Terran conifers, their seedpods bursting almost explosively on impact to scatter seeds further. The majority of species are quadrupedal and planigrade herbivores or scavengers. Due to the high gravity there are very few flying species, even among the local insect fauna.
The return of the enslaved Grawn-Ti from Hillal has left Grawn a bit overcrowded as well as adapting to new technology and a wider universe. With Federation assistance and a great deal of native exuberance, the past fifty years have seen the creation of several vast orbital clan-habitats (populated almost entirely by freed Grawn-Ti who are more comfortable with such enclosed and restricted spaces) as well as a thriving artificial island archipelago established in one of the shallowest oceans, the islands capped by soil and an ecology imported from the mainland. The larger of Grawn's two moons now has four separate colonies on it, all digging in underground as well as spreading out greenhouse bubbles on the surface. Even with all this effort, Grawn is still somewhat overcrowded and encourages travel abroad in hopes that clans will take root elsewhere in the Federation where there is more free space to hunt in.
Interaction:
"Trim your claws on only one hand. Then don't use that hand for anything. Trust me on this, it'll make your time here much easier Ambassador. Well-trimmed claws on both hands just confuses them. Oh...Do you sing?" (From a written advisory forwarded by the First Contact Team to Ambassador Sural, representing the Federation to the Council of Clans.)
The Grawn-Ti see very slightly further into the infrared and have less perception in the deep blue spectrum than most humanoid races, they prefer their dark blues to be purply-red-blues rather than green-blues. As a guideline, a Grawn-Ti in a pitch-black room cannot distinguish other surfaces by reflection of its own body heat, nor identify others by their body-heat, but has just enough awareness of infrared to be better at distinguishing where individuals are as vaguely lighter patches. They cannot distinguish Prussian blue (
http://tinyurl.com/s34au) from black. Their sense of smell is slightly below-par in normal-pressure atmospheres (fewer molecules in contact with their sinuses than they evolved for). Their hearing is good at the low end of the normal frequency but poor at the high end and their hearing drops off more rapidly due to distance than human hearing does in standard-pressure atmospheres. Grawn-Ti voices run towards the bass spectrum of the human range, but racially they tend to be melodic rather than 'gruff', and as their own language is sung rather than spoken, with much emphasis provided not only by tempo but chord structure, they bring a rather uniquely musical 'accent' to any other languages they learn.
Evolved from ambush predators, they tend toward an absolute stillness when paying attention that is sometimes disconcerting. When they move, it is with great fluidity: a miss-step under high gravity can cripple. They can sprint fairly quickly off and on in short bursts if they are given time to catch their breath, but cannot run or jog for more than two or three minutes continuously, they lack the endurance for it.
For as long as they have been tool users, the Grawn-Ti have trimmed the claws of their more dextrous hand (frequently the right), and refer to this as the 'thinking hand' or the 'hand of peace' or the 'hand of friendship'...All these terms are variations on the same word in their tongue, with emphasis added by how it is sung. Particularly fluent singers can lend subtler meanings, but they are all very, very distinctive from the 'hunting-hand', the 'violent-hand' or the 'war-hand'. Deliberately touching another Grawn-Ti (or sapient) with the 'hand of peace' is never cause for offense, but using the 'war-hand' to touch another shows harmful intent. It isn't a challenge, necessarily...It may be done as a warning 'I am not your friend.' or 'I am opposed to what you say.'
Behavior:
"If you land a shuttle on a Grawn-Ti, make sure it's headed in the direction you want to go, because it's going to get there." (Unknown, Apocryphal)
The Grawn-Ti as a race have many qualities that longer-civilized species would consider 'feral'. They tend to run on all fours (more support is safer in higher gravity), to have 'poorly developed social skills' (Grawn-Ti are not given to subtlety or decorum.), and in many situations value instinctive reactions as highly as intelligent decision-making: Grawn-Ti are likely to act on their hunches without question or pause, and this has much to do with their perception of themselves and the quality they call 'Gahn'.
'Gahn' is an underlying theme in Grawn-Ti culture, and the source of myriad long-sung sagas about lovers with conflicting Gahn. A Gahn may be momentary, or life-long. It is the impetus that becomes being, the drive which ones bends one's life toward. It is said that when a Grawn-Ti is following his or her Gahn, that they are unstoppable. It is the source of many perceptions that alien races have about the Grawn-Ti, and the root of many qualities that are associated with them, ranging from fearlessness to foolishness. A Grawn-Ti who dies trying to fulfill Gahn dies well, whether they fail or succeed. Gahn is not honor. You cannot insult someone's Gahn. You cannot say that they have it or have not, as all people have them, at one time or another. You cannot say it is foolish, because it may well be. The Grawn-Ti are well acquainted with how foolish the heart and mind can be in all manner of stresses, and see no conflict. Federation sociologists have tried to link Gahn to phrases as varied as 'To your belief be true.' or 'A thing worth doing is worth doing with all your heart and mind.' and 'If you're going to be a stubborn ass, at least be a consistent stubborn ass.' It isn't that Grawn-Ti are fearless, it is that Gahn is more important than fear. It isn't that Grawn-Ti are single-minded, it is simply that once one knows one's Gahn, nothing else surpasses it in importance. If something did, then clearly one has not found one's Gahn. Grawn-Ti are often puzzled at other races' ideas of 'honor' or 'face', and ritual for ritual's sake. A Grawn-Ti council is a cacophony of songs, with various singers choosing to lower the volume of whatever story or idea they are proclaiming when it is clear another singer has found his or her Gahn...Possibly even weaving their song into an eloquent, supporting fugue with the main singer of the moment. A funeral looks (and sounds) nearly the same to an outside anthropologist, save that instead of discussing economics or philosophy, the content of the songs will be the experiences of all those present with the departed...Something like an Irish wake without booze and with an excess of bards.
The Grawn-Ti's most common philosophy seems to be 'Approach life whole-heartedly, do nothing by halves, embrace life as you find it, whether in laughter or in sorrow.' Grawn-Ti are insatiably curious and laugh a great deal at the wonders they discover, and the depth of humor they find even in ironic and pointless situations has led some races to state that it may be the most civilizing influence the species has.
Their family makeup is clan-like and polygamous with lineal descent traced through the clan overall. Children are raised in creche, with all local adults of the clan taking time to visit with all the children and share experiences with them as often as possible. While it is biologically possible to determine the exact father of a given child (and the mother is a matter easy to establish), they do not give it any import. Breeding is for love of live, and of one's clan-mates, and the joy that having children around the clan will bring. Competition between members of a clan for breeding is an occasional, boisterously jovial and yet still highly violent occurrence, dueling treated largely as a game between the interested parties. Death may occur but is certainly not sought, and generally such duels result in scars enough that the elders nod their heads and confide to each other that 'That one will know better next time.' and quick medical care for all involved. Grudges don't bear much fruit in a clan-society where being antisocial and actively harmful results in excommunication.
Despite this seeming good-nature, the Grawn-Ti can be shockingly violent between clans. Their historic songs recall that it was only a few hundred years ago that clans raided each other for better resources, better mates (of either gender, the Grawn-Ti find role differentiation by sex a ludicrous idea except during the last two trimesters of a pregnancy, when the female is given great support by the clan and coddled and cared for on behalf of the child), hunting territory, and in one incident four-hundred years ago and still well-documented in songs, the Gahn of a mad clan-chieftess who felt there should only be one clan in the world (This particular element of history is so widely treated as a laughable (if somewhat painful in its effects) joke that most sociologists studying the Grawn-Ti are of the opinion that a true central racial government (as opposed to the highly informal and relatively powerless Council of Clans that the Federation has recognized as a government) may be thousands of years away.).
Grawn-Ti clothing reflects their semi-bipedal form of mobility, being moderately loose at shoulder and hip, with cuffs gathered close at wrists and ankles. Pockets tend to be located on the chest and belly, as well as the front and outsides of the thighs and the insides of the forearms for ease of access when on all fours. The majority of native clothing is still woven from traditional plant-derived natural fiber and silk-like material derived from cocoons of the larger insectile predators of their homeworld (they prize alien silks highly also) rather than synthetics. Cloting tends to be brightly colored with a predominance of reds (Grawn-Ti vision can distinguish more finely in the red spectrum than in the blue spectrum) and reddish purples. Greens and blues where present tend to be brighter rather than darker tones as Grawn-Ti vision drops off more quickly than human vision does at the blue end of the spectrum.
Pre-Federation History:
"Hunt, fight, party, sing, sleep. Hunt, fight, party, sing, sleep. If we were recruiting a Marine choir, I know just where to find a Colonel his baritones and basso profundos." (Credited to an early UFMC Instructor evaluation of a Clan militia.)
The Grawn-Ti did not, on their own, evolve to an industrial level. They understood chemical explosives and even employed guns in conflicts with other clans, but they did not progress beyond this point under their own power.
Grawn is a planet of a fairly widely separated double-star system...Distant enough that its orbit is not significantly perturbed by the partner star. Grawn and Hillal (Gamma and Delta Tucanae) circle each other at a distance of almost half a light year, and it was from Hillal that the Grawn-Ti understanding of technology came.
The natives of Hillali Three, a group of lemur-like aliens (rather similar to aye-ayes) had colonized two other planets in their star system, and those colonies were in rebellion. All three worlds had significantly lower gravity than Grawn Four, and the Hillali had a physical structure that was notably more frail than the natives of Grawn. The natives of Hillali prime achieved warp, but used it for rapid transport in combat rather than exploration. One group, watching the rapid decline of all three Hillali worlds, struck out for Grawn, only to find the system already occupied by primitive, savage, carnivores. Given the lack of physical combative capability that the natives of Hillal enjoyed, they lost little time in enslaving several clans of the Grawn-Ti and carrying them off to fight the increasingly brutal war with the colonists for them.
Warp capability was quickly captured by the colonists, and in very little time, so were effective ground troops in the form of even more Grawn-Ti. The Grawn-Ti had an existing tradition for dealing with captives taken in raids merging into the clan of their captors with little muss or fuss, and with little grudging decided themselves to be part of 'The Clan of Hillal'. This behavior wasn't trusted by the Hillali homeworlders, but the colonists took advantage of it and trained any Grawn-Ti who showed an aptitude (quite a few given the race's curious nature) to handle field repairs and transport as well as firearms. The war dragged on for almost two-hundred and fifty years like this, slow and brutal and ever more often relying on the relentless Gahn-driven determination of the Grawn-Ti to carry the brunt of the effort. By the time the USS Valkyrie (Constellation class), tracing what looked like a weak warp-signature found the conflict in 2331, Grawn-Ti were helping to design and build craft as well as fly and maintain them.
[ Merged the threads (it's the same topic) and changed thread title to remove part number - Aspera]
