Valiens Nantaris
Head Admin
Note, this race is found on Raevana
Name: Korhilli. Designated A1557B345G by the Old Republic. Understandably a shortened name was desirable. The origin of the name is unknown, but is possibly derived from their fierce hissing which sounds like ‘Korrrrh’.
Designation: Semi-sentient. The species is heading steadily towards the path of intelligent. During the Rebel landing they were noticed to move in groups, and also witnessed the first signs of tool use. Admittedly these uses were a stick to hit another, but still, that is how humans began! There was also anecdotal evidence of fire usage, though not making. Perhaps without interference the Korhilli will eventually develop intelligent sentience.
Homeworld: Raevana
Language: No formal language, but they communicate with hisses, growls and snarls. Though able to communicate basic, animalistic things, this is not a language.
Average height of adults: 2.1 metres if they stand on their hind feet, which they can do for a small amount of time. Otherwise they are about 1m tall on all fours.
Skin color: Shades of green, lighter when younger, turning a deep olive green as they get older. Their bellies are pale.
Hair color: N/A
Breathes: Type I.
Strengths:
- Strong. Korhilli are big, strong and powerful. Easily packing three or four times the muscle mass of any human they possess incredible strength.
- Ferocious. Added to the strength is the 10cm talons and razor sharp fangs of the Korhilli. They will attack and keep attacking an enemy and will not back down from a challenge unless clearly bested. They are able to damage or pierce up to armour class 4 easily. Anything above that can be buffeted and suffer trauma, but not be penetrated.
- Tough. Korhilli are tough. Their thick, scaly hide can resist regular blades, scratches and contact with jungle flora. Though no protection against blasters or lightsabres, they are by no means easy to fell. It gives them an armour rating of 6 on their arms and back, 3 on their bellies and faces.
- Loyal. Though they fight for dominance amongst themselves, the Korhilli have instinctive and yet powerful loyalty to their clan and will fight outsiders of any sort ferociously to defend them.
- Adaptable. In the fierce jungles of Raevana, adaption is vital, and the Korhilli have proven adept at evolving into niches. For instance, their claws are not just useful as weapons, but for climbing too. Also, their natural tough skin means they often keep carcasses in areas surrounded by barbed stranglers to keep other animals out.
- Brutes. Though hardly fair to call them stupid, Korhilli display little cunning in their hunts. They attack head on, using strength, surprise and ferocity. Likewise, they show little nous when it comes to being lured into traps.
- Primitive. Korhilli have not advanced even to the control of fire, let alone anything more. Whether eventually they will or not is a matter for tens of thousands of years in the future.
- Reptilian. Like most reptiles, Korhilli are cold blooded and operate poorly at night or in cooler weather. Likewise, so consistent is the temperature normally that any slight global shift could cause big problems.
- Sparse. Though estimates are impossible to determine, there are relatively few Korhilli. The dangers of the jungle coupled with their slow birth rate means they are measured in the thousands rather than the millions.
- Underbelly. The bellies of the Korhilli are significantly less armoured than their backs. Thus, in order to use their full strength they must stand on their back legs and expose their vulnerable vitals.
Distinctions: Korhilli are most distinct in that they look slightly like Trandoshans, but have much longer heads and snouts, and also are more prone to walking on all fours. They also sport long, flexible tails and a hard crest of spines down their back.
Females are smaller, but are still perfectly able to defend themselves with their long, vicious claws and teeth.
Average Lifespan: Uncertain, but differentiations in colour and size indicate some can reach 40-50 years.
Races: None, strictly speaking, though those further from the equator are smaller and usually a more yellow-green shade of skin to blend in more with the grasslands.
Diet: Their most common food is meat, usually from herbivores, but also from fish. They are unable to digest green plants, though can eat berries and fruit, though it does give them a bit of a sugar high!
Communication: Vocal, body language, pheromone. The pheromones are used for mating purposes, but also to ward off challengers.
Culture: Though strictly speaking they don’t have any culture, and most things are covered in behaviour, there were some interesting observations by the Rebels. Firstly, they seemed to mourn the dead, as when one of their number was shot down they crouched by the body and nuzzled it, as though trying to wake it. Furthermore it seemed as though they had areas set aside from the rest of the village where the dead were placed, and the bones formed an imposing grotto of sorts.
Technology level: Paliolithic.
General behavior: Although described only as aggressive and brutal monsters, there was far more to the story than the paranoid Rebels made out. Using readings and observations made during her time there, Doctor Elz Tagor, a Twi’lek dabbler in biology, made some interesting observations.
Strength was vitally important to the Korhilli. Family groups were generally small, no more than a dozen individuals. In that group the males hunted whilst the females tended to the babies and foraged from fruit and fish. Unlike other reptiles the Korhilli look after their young after they are born, as leaving them to fend for themselves in the harsh jungle would result in few survivors.
The dominant male of the group would take his place as chief breeder during that season with all the group’s females. Females lay up to three eggs each year in specially regulated nests which they guard for the two months it takes for the eggs to hatch. Although initially alert and active, the babies require food to survive long, and that is provided by the females.
The status of the chief male is decided only by strength, and a challenger in the group can fight for dominance. These battles are often bloody and sometimes fatal. The loser is ejected, and unless they can take over another group they often are abandoned and eventually perish.
Although hostile to other groups, the Korhilli do seem to treat some others with less hostility. The reasons for this perhaps boil down to shared ancestry or the beginning of rudimentary diplomacy.
The Korhilli are usually nomadic except for the two month egg incubation and a month after whilst the babies become big enough to keep up and hunt. Even this three month period is a long time as the hunters have to go further and further afield to bring in food. In this time especially the Korhilli are violently territorial, but even when they are nomadic they like breathing space.
History: As mentioned in the description of Raevana, the Korhilli were the most visible antagonist in the Rebel’s ill-fated adventure. When first seen the Rebel scouts did not know what they were, but the bulldozing of land for their base enraged the territorial creatures and several rebels were torn apart before the Korhilli could be driven off.
By bad luck or the will of the Force, the fresh water the base was built near was on the meeting of several paths of migrating Korhilli groups, some of which showed uncanny abilities to coordinate. Though hardly cunning, their attacks on the base were frequently bloody, as even blaster cannons required several rounds to stop a charging Korhilli, and using a vibroblade on one was a poor idea.
After the evacuation, Doctor Tagor made some educated guesses about the Korhilli origins. She suspected that they had evolved in the swamps and lakes which dotted the jungles, originally being at home in both. Over time though the Korhilli migrated to land more and more whilst their reptilian cousins in the water stagnated.
She further surmised that their behaviour patterns were extremely unlike any other observed reptile, and that it was due to the forbidding dangers of Raevana that this was necessary. Korhilli who left their groups and became independent agents did not seem to last long before succumbing to predators or disease.
The theory that Korhilli are on their way to sentience is of course impossible to prove or disprove. Not without waiting many tens of thousands of years, but they show the potential at the least. Perhaps if Raevana was rediscovered in 8000ABY there might even be Neolithic lizardmen roaming the forests…or perhaps not.
Notable Player-Characters: None. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would want to play a non-sentient lizardman on a backwater world.
Intent: Designing the world of Raevana, the FJ concerned asked for the species to be submitted. Basically, I wanted to design a lizard species which was basically a savage lizard version of humanity’s distant ancestors. It’s also fun to design a species which is unlikely to be RPed but will prove an interesting addition to planned RPs.
I give this submission my blessings,
