Laira Darkhold
Well-Known Member
THE AKRUT
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To make a species of space avian pirates/mercenaries
Image Credit: [x] | [x] | [x] | [x x] | [x]
Canon: Not Applicable
Links: Kroot (Warhammer 40k)http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Kroot
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Akrut | Akrutan | Akruti
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Believed to be Dubravahttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dubrava, as old cave markings and archaeological evidence have been found there by researchers.
Language: Akruti | Galactic Basic
Average Lifespan: ~50 Years
Estimated Population: Scattered
Description: Akrut are tall, lithe, avian humanoids known for their long, wiry limbs, powerful serrated beaks, and four digits ending in sharp talons. They possess thin bones compared to humans, with small honeycomb pockets within them, covered in corded sinew. Most Akrut possess vaguely humanoid appearance with two arms, two legs, two eyes, and with a plantigrade posture. They are normally taller and thinner than humans, owing to their evolutionary background, possibly related to the Ishi Tib or Fosh species. The Akrut possess long reed-like quills from the back of their heads, which they are able to tie or fill with ornamentation, which serve simple thermal regulation purposes.
They are known to use tattoos, normally both clan specific markings and those born by individuals. Many hold significance and are almost always displayed. Scars are rare among the Akrut, fading quickly as the creature heals rapidly until it is gone in a matter of weeks. Akrut wear limited clothing, trousers, vests, and the like preferring to go without boots or gloves without holes for their fingers. They struggle in cold temperature unless they are able to adapt to the cold through their diet.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Breathes: Type I | They can adapt to breathe Type II atmospheres given a proper diet
Average height of adults: 1.7 - 2.2 Meters
Skin color: Greenish-Grey | Green
Hair color: Black | Brown
Distinctions: Akrut are easily recognizable by their long cranial quills and their serrated beaks. The quills grow throughout the course of their lives, starting as simple stubs on the back of their heads. Eventually, the quills can reach the length of their backs, denoting them as elders, normally beginning to pale in coloration around this time in their lives. These blood-filled quills are used to help regulate the creature’s body temperature, filling with more blood when hot and less when cold.
The jagged beaks of the Akrut are known for being able to tear through sinew, meat, and cartilage with ease, jaws strong enough to break some bones so that they are able to eat the marrow from them. Like fingerprints, now two Akrut beaks are exactly alike, growing with non-typical serrated edges, some developing overbites, others underbites, some wide beaks, others narrower.
Akruti are able to see into the infrared spectrum in the same manner as pit vipers or other snakes due to sensory organs under their eyes. These allow them to speak their language properly as they look for temperature fluctuations in each other’s quills to recognize tone among the chirps and clicks of their spoken language.
The most intriguing thing about their biology is their stomachs. Akrut are able to digest just about anything, meat, bone shards, plant matter, roughage, in some cases even rocks and some metals with relatively little discomfort. Their bodies are also able to inspect the genetic makeup of other creatures, such as an Epicanthix or a Yinchorri’s innate immunity to mind tricks, and add pieces of that DNA to the Akruti’s own genetic makeup. Certain prolific traits are more easily acquired through the ingesting of brain matter or livers, as these are more easily digested by the Akrut’s stomachs. These traits taken on by the Akrut range from eating firrerreo may grant a healing factor lesser than the Firrerreo’s own, or eating wookiee might grant larger muscles, certain creatures might better adapt the being to different environments, and so on. Interestingly enough, the more species the creature eats, the lesser the traits are exemplified in the Akruti eventually to the point of hardly to any notice at all. The offspring will normally exhibit these traits themselves, but often must consume the origin species themselves or they will be watered down in a matter of a few generations.
Races: No two Clans are exactly alike, as their hunting grounds and the territory they fight upon determine the prey they consume, which in turn determines the minor variations from Clan to Clan.
Strengths:
Diet: Carnivorous Diet
Raw animal flesh can cause an Akrut to lose their sentience over time, reducing them to non-sentient beasts
Many fungi are also dangerous to an akrut, causing many
Bacta causes many Akrut to suffer anaphylaxis if injected or submerged in the galactic cure all
Communication: Speech | Body Language
The Akruti Language consists of numerous chirps and clicks paired with movements of their cranial quills. Because the Akrut are able to see into the infrared spectrum, they are able to see the rushes of blood into the quills of other Akrut which seems to influence their tone and meaning. Because of this, it is very difficult to communicate with them in their native tongue without being one of their species.
It can be written, but they possess a plethora of words with similar translations, each representing a different tone or influence when using the word.
They are able to speak Galactic common, though their delivery is said to possess a grating robotic tone. Much like their native language, the Akrut use their hands and quills to help relay their emotion when speaking.
Technology level: Largely Feudal with some aspects of space flight, use of more advanced weapons, and limited manufacturing represented within the species as a whole. Many ride animals, though some are capable of operating speeders. Some even manage proper space flight, though they have extreme difficulty with repairing their craft themselves if they are able to at all.
Religion/Beliefs: The Akrut have a limited understanding of the Force, calling those few of their species that develop use with it “Akori” which has been translated as Cursed. However, while Force Sensitives are viewed with suspicion, even fear, they aren’t hated. The Akori are in fact feared and respected by all within the Clans. To kill a rival Clan’s Akori is believed to result in a clan wide curse of misfortune unless a tribute is paid to the deceased spirit, normally in the form of penance fasting by the offending Clan leaders. Because of this, Akori are very rarely slain in battle, and fill the role of seer or healer more often than anything else. As a species they lack proper Force training, and so normally only the innate and simplistic Force abilities are exhibited strongly.
Ancestor worship is common, with a Clan leader, known as by the prefix “Tar” for smaller tribes or “Tel” for larger congregations, eating the brain, heart, and liver of their predecessor to honor them and absorb their spirits into their own. It is believed that the devoured ancestor spirits provide guidance to the descendents in their dreams, and thus the bodies of the Tar are considered sacred. The dead of a clan are almost always eaten by the Akruti in a desire to preserve the genetic makeup of the fallen, which is believed to carry their spirits. Truthfully, some Akori do see the Force Ghosts of their ancestors they have eaten, so the belief holds some merit.
To the Akruti, the Force is represented by the twin gods Telthrax and Telhura, who both have light and dark representation. Telthrax is the god or goddess of Light, the Stars, and Fire whose light shines upon the just and the worthy and whose wrath explodes the very cosmos with fire and destruction. Telthrax is a just god, but he believes that Power is to those who earn it or take it for themselves. He does not choose or empower beings, and he does not stop the powerful from exerting their strength on others. Instead he holds trial over all who die and make them defend all of their actions. If he is convinced, he grants them paradise, if not though, they are torn and their spirits destroyed. This is one of the supposed reasons the Akrut eat their deceased, to claim their spirits and save their line from Telthrax’s judgement until the end of days.
Telhura is the god or goddess of Darkness, the void, and ice. She brings the darkness and the rain that gives life, but she also brings the cold that follows Telthrax’s wrath. Telhura is why death is described as cold, and why bodies turn cold after they have been killed. Telhura is a manipulator, enjoying the schemes and plots of the mortals that serve him. He grants nothing to the powerful, but he imparts treachery and wisdom to all who wish those gifts. He cares not if they use his gifts for selflessness or selfishness, he cares much more for watching to see what becomes of them. He grants a painless end to the his brother’s unjust if they did not squander his gifts. To those who are foiled and their schemes collapse bringing about their own ruination, he steals their paradise, leaving them stranded in the cold void. And to those who had neither wisdom or treachery in life, he imparts them with an imperfect paradise, ensuring that they are never truly at peace in the afterlife. Finally, to those who have somehow found paradise and used his gifts, he allows them to pardon one of their loved one’s from Telthrax’s judgement.
The only power higher than the Gods is the Force itself, called Fate, the Power, or the Life Power which permeates the universe and so only the cursed are allowed to wield it in their culture, for who would want to draw the ire of the angry gods, or their envy.
Finally the Akrut believe that their ability to adapt was because of the first Akrut, Telkrut, tricked the gods. Telkrut was a trickster who held wisdom over the stars themselves and dominion over many, as dangerous as he was strong, and as silver tongued as he was intelligent. He tricked them and stole the gift over life itself. Needing to hide it from their scrying eyes, he ate it, swallowing the power over life whole where it sat in his stomach. There, as he ate his favorite meal, the power changed him to better match it. And so Telkrut grew large quills and his body became tough and healed quickly as the power healed him. But, in his stomach, Telkrut could not save his own life with the power, and so before he died, he bade his son devour his body to take the power over life for himself and so it passed on to all his race and his spirit was saved the judgement of the angry gods.
General behavior: Akrut are simplistic nomadic creatures, ranging from place to place, hunting, gathering, stealing, and warring with whatever pleases them. They are often regarded as simple-minded savages given their heavy use of leathers and woven cloth, simple weapons and tools. Some even say they are merely semi-sentient due to their lack of manufacturing capabilities as a whole.
They make heavy use of slugthrowers, preferring heavy metal weapons which they adorn with spikes and pair with basic melee weapons. Richer clans might possess blasters and vibroweapons, and the occasional legendary figure among them might have even more technologically advanced weapons. Despite this, they have acquired and make use of hyperdrive technology. They didn’t develop it, it was given, or accidentally made available to their species and thus their clans have spread out in small groups across the galaxy just before the Gulag Plague.
As a species, Akrut are violent and ferocious, enjoying fighting with others and lack a fear of death, for their kin will simply carry their souls when they are gone and only the mighty and the conqueror can earn their way past the judgement of their spirits. With the desire to devour, some clans have favored prey, such as regularly raiding space near a planet because the species that lives upon it has been deemed prey by the clan.
Clans decided which beings to devour based on survival needs, and it is seen as a sacred act. Sometimes, they will make deals with other sentients and seek only those that die naturally, but just as often they will simply make war upon the outer rim settlements and pirate the space lanes to take the prey they need. Gnarlacki and the Tar are almost always the decision makers regarding which will be their primary prey, with some only feasting on their own clansmen, others only on other Akrut calling themselves purists. Just as many Akrut are willing to sell themselves as mercenaries in order to collect their chosen prey off the battlefield. Interactions with the Akrut are heavily dependent on the clan interacted with as their opinion on outsiders and aliens vary wildly from clan to clan.
Mating in Akruti society is normally done communally, as is child rearing. Children are hatched from eggs in a group and then selected by those desiring to raise them in the Clan, regardless of who hatched them. Sometimes, on rare occasion a very important Akrut will decide their genetic makeup is too important for their legacy to fade, and thus will ensure their own offspring, but this is rare, and a privilege only provided to universally renowned Akrut within the clan. Still, many Akrut pair off or form small family groups based on affection for one another and eventually adopt one of the clan’s hatchlings. When a parent dies, their children devour them to preserve their spirits and maintain their genetic essence within the familial line.
Social Hierarchy: The Akruti social ladder is simplistic, based around physical and mental might. A true leader will possess the ability to manipulate his underlings to quash rivals, the intelligence to guide his people, and the strength to force them into line as well as conquer others. A “Tar” is the leader of up to fifty or sixty family units, while a “Tel” is said to be the leader of many thousands as the word roughly translates to king. While there is no set number, it is said that a Tel is the leader of many clans, and so often it involves subordinate clans pledging subservience.
The “Akori” are the Force-Born who act as seers, healers, and feared correspondents of a Clan. Very rarely an Akori may become a clan leader. Its rare, but not unheard of.
The Gnarlacki, translated to the Meat-Guide, are a rare occurrence in the Akruti society, which the Gnarlacki is able to possess the exhibited traits of as many as ten species, whereas normal Akruti can only possess two or three. These Akruti are also able to taste the flesh of others and recognize with some accuracy which traits would be gained by the clan if devoured.
The Akava, or warriors, are those in the clan that are most suited for battle while the Vala are those who are not. Akava possess their own ranks, similar to sergeants or lieutenants in battle or huntmasters over a safari, while the Vala are always represented by the Tar’Vala, normally an elder female akin to a matriarch.
Finally there are the Mokori, which means the penitent, who are fed mounds of animal meat in order to drive the sentience from them so that they can be only slaves, little more than dogs or pack animals. This is a severe punishment, reserved for murderers and criminals of the highest order in Akruti society, such that their line is determined to be tainted forever. After enough of the meat has been force fed to them, they lose their sentience and eventually become stooped beasts walking on all fours. This is done to condemn an entire lineage, and is done only for the most heinous crimes as it is believed that once broken in this manner they and all the spirits they represent would be destroyed and condemned by the Twin Gods upon that being's death.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Akrut are believed to have evolved on the planet Dubrava, having been an outland species known for raiding the planet’s more civilized settlements. Some merchants were known to have decent relationship with several of the Clans while others were hostile to even other Akrut that ventured into their territory. The species populated the underdeveloped rural parts of the planet, and drove numerous animals to extinction during their exile on the outer rim world. Eventually, around 200 ABY, someone gave them access to hyperdrive technology which resulted in many clans leaving the planet and scattering across the galaxy in sparse numbers.
Once they had spread across the galaxy, Akrut became pirates, preying on the weak and unfortunate. They became mercenaries, working for hutts to pay for the corpses they wanted and the supplies they needed. They became hunters, seeking out big game to devour and adapt with. Having never been significantly unified and spread across the stars, the Akrut never really made a stamp on galactic history, much like weequay, gamorreans, or klattoonians.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To make a species of space avian pirates/mercenaries
Image Credit: [x] | [x] | [x] | [x x] | [x]
Canon: Not Applicable
Links: Kroot (Warhammer 40k)http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Kroot
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Akrut | Akrutan | Akruti
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Believed to be Dubravahttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dubrava, as old cave markings and archaeological evidence have been found there by researchers.
Language: Akruti | Galactic Basic
Average Lifespan: ~50 Years
Estimated Population: Scattered
Description: Akrut are tall, lithe, avian humanoids known for their long, wiry limbs, powerful serrated beaks, and four digits ending in sharp talons. They possess thin bones compared to humans, with small honeycomb pockets within them, covered in corded sinew. Most Akrut possess vaguely humanoid appearance with two arms, two legs, two eyes, and with a plantigrade posture. They are normally taller and thinner than humans, owing to their evolutionary background, possibly related to the Ishi Tib or Fosh species. The Akrut possess long reed-like quills from the back of their heads, which they are able to tie or fill with ornamentation, which serve simple thermal regulation purposes.
They are known to use tattoos, normally both clan specific markings and those born by individuals. Many hold significance and are almost always displayed. Scars are rare among the Akrut, fading quickly as the creature heals rapidly until it is gone in a matter of weeks. Akrut wear limited clothing, trousers, vests, and the like preferring to go without boots or gloves without holes for their fingers. They struggle in cold temperature unless they are able to adapt to the cold through their diet.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Average height of adults: 1.7 - 2.2 Meters
Skin color: Greenish-Grey | Green
Hair color: Black | Brown
Distinctions: Akrut are easily recognizable by their long cranial quills and their serrated beaks. The quills grow throughout the course of their lives, starting as simple stubs on the back of their heads. Eventually, the quills can reach the length of their backs, denoting them as elders, normally beginning to pale in coloration around this time in their lives. These blood-filled quills are used to help regulate the creature’s body temperature, filling with more blood when hot and less when cold.
The jagged beaks of the Akrut are known for being able to tear through sinew, meat, and cartilage with ease, jaws strong enough to break some bones so that they are able to eat the marrow from them. Like fingerprints, now two Akrut beaks are exactly alike, growing with non-typical serrated edges, some developing overbites, others underbites, some wide beaks, others narrower.
Akruti are able to see into the infrared spectrum in the same manner as pit vipers or other snakes due to sensory organs under their eyes. These allow them to speak their language properly as they look for temperature fluctuations in each other’s quills to recognize tone among the chirps and clicks of their spoken language.
The most intriguing thing about their biology is their stomachs. Akrut are able to digest just about anything, meat, bone shards, plant matter, roughage, in some cases even rocks and some metals with relatively little discomfort. Their bodies are also able to inspect the genetic makeup of other creatures, such as an Epicanthix or a Yinchorri’s innate immunity to mind tricks, and add pieces of that DNA to the Akruti’s own genetic makeup. Certain prolific traits are more easily acquired through the ingesting of brain matter or livers, as these are more easily digested by the Akrut’s stomachs. These traits taken on by the Akrut range from eating firrerreo may grant a healing factor lesser than the Firrerreo’s own, or eating wookiee might grant larger muscles, certain creatures might better adapt the being to different environments, and so on. Interestingly enough, the more species the creature eats, the lesser the traits are exemplified in the Akruti eventually to the point of hardly to any notice at all. The offspring will normally exhibit these traits themselves, but often must consume the origin species themselves or they will be watered down in a matter of a few generations.
Races: No two Clans are exactly alike, as their hunting grounds and the territory they fight upon determine the prey they consume, which in turn determines the minor variations from Clan to Clan.
Strengths:
- Power through Consumption: The Akrut are able to consume the flesh, specifically the hearts, livers, and brains of other beings and their physiology is able to adapt favorable traits from that species. An Akrut who eats Firrerreo will develop a quicker healing property, one who eats gamorreans will gain muscle mass and a fatty tissue layer. Some rare cases have known them to develop wings capable of flight or extra arms. Despite all the traits they might pick up, these do not fully compare to those of the origin species, and the more traits they develop the less extreme each one is represented within them.
- Lamarckian Exception: Traits that an Akrut develop during their lives through their consumption are passed onto their offspring in some manner.
- Regenerative Nature: Most Akrut heal faster than humans, able to regenerate injuries in a matter of days that might take a human weeks to heal.
- Savages: Akrut are considered savages, as technologically advanced as the average Tusken Raider or Gamorrean, though some have figured out space travel to some degree, relying on the use of other species to help maintain and crew the vessel.
- Limited Traits: Each Akruti can normally only exhibit the traits of two or three species before they become diminished to the point of almost being unnoticeable. Some, the Gnarlacki are able to possess eight to ten, but they are few in number.
- Loss of Will: Devouring fresh animal parts can cause an Akrut to take on those animalistic traits, which if done for a prolonged period of time can rob the Akrut of its sentience, making them little more than animals themselves.
Diet: Carnivorous Diet
Raw animal flesh can cause an Akrut to lose their sentience over time, reducing them to non-sentient beasts
Many fungi are also dangerous to an akrut, causing many
Bacta causes many Akrut to suffer anaphylaxis if injected or submerged in the galactic cure all
Communication: Speech | Body Language
The Akruti Language consists of numerous chirps and clicks paired with movements of their cranial quills. Because the Akrut are able to see into the infrared spectrum, they are able to see the rushes of blood into the quills of other Akrut which seems to influence their tone and meaning. Because of this, it is very difficult to communicate with them in their native tongue without being one of their species.
It can be written, but they possess a plethora of words with similar translations, each representing a different tone or influence when using the word.
They are able to speak Galactic common, though their delivery is said to possess a grating robotic tone. Much like their native language, the Akrut use their hands and quills to help relay their emotion when speaking.
Technology level: Largely Feudal with some aspects of space flight, use of more advanced weapons, and limited manufacturing represented within the species as a whole. Many ride animals, though some are capable of operating speeders. Some even manage proper space flight, though they have extreme difficulty with repairing their craft themselves if they are able to at all.
Religion/Beliefs: The Akrut have a limited understanding of the Force, calling those few of their species that develop use with it “Akori” which has been translated as Cursed. However, while Force Sensitives are viewed with suspicion, even fear, they aren’t hated. The Akori are in fact feared and respected by all within the Clans. To kill a rival Clan’s Akori is believed to result in a clan wide curse of misfortune unless a tribute is paid to the deceased spirit, normally in the form of penance fasting by the offending Clan leaders. Because of this, Akori are very rarely slain in battle, and fill the role of seer or healer more often than anything else. As a species they lack proper Force training, and so normally only the innate and simplistic Force abilities are exhibited strongly.
Ancestor worship is common, with a Clan leader, known as by the prefix “Tar” for smaller tribes or “Tel” for larger congregations, eating the brain, heart, and liver of their predecessor to honor them and absorb their spirits into their own. It is believed that the devoured ancestor spirits provide guidance to the descendents in their dreams, and thus the bodies of the Tar are considered sacred. The dead of a clan are almost always eaten by the Akruti in a desire to preserve the genetic makeup of the fallen, which is believed to carry their spirits. Truthfully, some Akori do see the Force Ghosts of their ancestors they have eaten, so the belief holds some merit.
To the Akruti, the Force is represented by the twin gods Telthrax and Telhura, who both have light and dark representation. Telthrax is the god or goddess of Light, the Stars, and Fire whose light shines upon the just and the worthy and whose wrath explodes the very cosmos with fire and destruction. Telthrax is a just god, but he believes that Power is to those who earn it or take it for themselves. He does not choose or empower beings, and he does not stop the powerful from exerting their strength on others. Instead he holds trial over all who die and make them defend all of their actions. If he is convinced, he grants them paradise, if not though, they are torn and their spirits destroyed. This is one of the supposed reasons the Akrut eat their deceased, to claim their spirits and save their line from Telthrax’s judgement until the end of days.
Telhura is the god or goddess of Darkness, the void, and ice. She brings the darkness and the rain that gives life, but she also brings the cold that follows Telthrax’s wrath. Telhura is why death is described as cold, and why bodies turn cold after they have been killed. Telhura is a manipulator, enjoying the schemes and plots of the mortals that serve him. He grants nothing to the powerful, but he imparts treachery and wisdom to all who wish those gifts. He cares not if they use his gifts for selflessness or selfishness, he cares much more for watching to see what becomes of them. He grants a painless end to the his brother’s unjust if they did not squander his gifts. To those who are foiled and their schemes collapse bringing about their own ruination, he steals their paradise, leaving them stranded in the cold void. And to those who had neither wisdom or treachery in life, he imparts them with an imperfect paradise, ensuring that they are never truly at peace in the afterlife. Finally, to those who have somehow found paradise and used his gifts, he allows them to pardon one of their loved one’s from Telthrax’s judgement.
The only power higher than the Gods is the Force itself, called Fate, the Power, or the Life Power which permeates the universe and so only the cursed are allowed to wield it in their culture, for who would want to draw the ire of the angry gods, or their envy.
Finally the Akrut believe that their ability to adapt was because of the first Akrut, Telkrut, tricked the gods. Telkrut was a trickster who held wisdom over the stars themselves and dominion over many, as dangerous as he was strong, and as silver tongued as he was intelligent. He tricked them and stole the gift over life itself. Needing to hide it from their scrying eyes, he ate it, swallowing the power over life whole where it sat in his stomach. There, as he ate his favorite meal, the power changed him to better match it. And so Telkrut grew large quills and his body became tough and healed quickly as the power healed him. But, in his stomach, Telkrut could not save his own life with the power, and so before he died, he bade his son devour his body to take the power over life for himself and so it passed on to all his race and his spirit was saved the judgement of the angry gods.
They make heavy use of slugthrowers, preferring heavy metal weapons which they adorn with spikes and pair with basic melee weapons. Richer clans might possess blasters and vibroweapons, and the occasional legendary figure among them might have even more technologically advanced weapons. Despite this, they have acquired and make use of hyperdrive technology. They didn’t develop it, it was given, or accidentally made available to their species and thus their clans have spread out in small groups across the galaxy just before the Gulag Plague.
As a species, Akrut are violent and ferocious, enjoying fighting with others and lack a fear of death, for their kin will simply carry their souls when they are gone and only the mighty and the conqueror can earn their way past the judgement of their spirits. With the desire to devour, some clans have favored prey, such as regularly raiding space near a planet because the species that lives upon it has been deemed prey by the clan.
Clans decided which beings to devour based on survival needs, and it is seen as a sacred act. Sometimes, they will make deals with other sentients and seek only those that die naturally, but just as often they will simply make war upon the outer rim settlements and pirate the space lanes to take the prey they need. Gnarlacki and the Tar are almost always the decision makers regarding which will be their primary prey, with some only feasting on their own clansmen, others only on other Akrut calling themselves purists. Just as many Akrut are willing to sell themselves as mercenaries in order to collect their chosen prey off the battlefield. Interactions with the Akrut are heavily dependent on the clan interacted with as their opinion on outsiders and aliens vary wildly from clan to clan.
Mating in Akruti society is normally done communally, as is child rearing. Children are hatched from eggs in a group and then selected by those desiring to raise them in the Clan, regardless of who hatched them. Sometimes, on rare occasion a very important Akrut will decide their genetic makeup is too important for their legacy to fade, and thus will ensure their own offspring, but this is rare, and a privilege only provided to universally renowned Akrut within the clan. Still, many Akrut pair off or form small family groups based on affection for one another and eventually adopt one of the clan’s hatchlings. When a parent dies, their children devour them to preserve their spirits and maintain their genetic essence within the familial line.
Social Hierarchy: The Akruti social ladder is simplistic, based around physical and mental might. A true leader will possess the ability to manipulate his underlings to quash rivals, the intelligence to guide his people, and the strength to force them into line as well as conquer others. A “Tar” is the leader of up to fifty or sixty family units, while a “Tel” is said to be the leader of many thousands as the word roughly translates to king. While there is no set number, it is said that a Tel is the leader of many clans, and so often it involves subordinate clans pledging subservience.
The “Akori” are the Force-Born who act as seers, healers, and feared correspondents of a Clan. Very rarely an Akori may become a clan leader. Its rare, but not unheard of.
The Gnarlacki, translated to the Meat-Guide, are a rare occurrence in the Akruti society, which the Gnarlacki is able to possess the exhibited traits of as many as ten species, whereas normal Akruti can only possess two or three. These Akruti are also able to taste the flesh of others and recognize with some accuracy which traits would be gained by the clan if devoured.
The Akava, or warriors, are those in the clan that are most suited for battle while the Vala are those who are not. Akava possess their own ranks, similar to sergeants or lieutenants in battle or huntmasters over a safari, while the Vala are always represented by the Tar’Vala, normally an elder female akin to a matriarch.
Finally there are the Mokori, which means the penitent, who are fed mounds of animal meat in order to drive the sentience from them so that they can be only slaves, little more than dogs or pack animals. This is a severe punishment, reserved for murderers and criminals of the highest order in Akruti society, such that their line is determined to be tainted forever. After enough of the meat has been force fed to them, they lose their sentience and eventually become stooped beasts walking on all fours. This is done to condemn an entire lineage, and is done only for the most heinous crimes as it is believed that once broken in this manner they and all the spirits they represent would be destroyed and condemned by the Twin Gods upon that being's death.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Akrut are believed to have evolved on the planet Dubrava, having been an outland species known for raiding the planet’s more civilized settlements. Some merchants were known to have decent relationship with several of the Clans while others were hostile to even other Akrut that ventured into their territory. The species populated the underdeveloped rural parts of the planet, and drove numerous animals to extinction during their exile on the outer rim world. Eventually, around 200 ABY, someone gave them access to hyperdrive technology which resulted in many clans leaving the planet and scattering across the galaxy in sparse numbers.
Once they had spread across the galaxy, Akrut became pirates, preying on the weak and unfortunate. They became mercenaries, working for hutts to pay for the corpses they wanted and the supplies they needed. They became hunters, seeking out big game to devour and adapt with. Having never been significantly unified and spread across the stars, the Akrut never really made a stamp on galactic history, much like weequay, gamorreans, or klattoonians.
