OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a species to flesh out my planet sub
- Image Credit: . Yi
- Canon: N/A
- Links: Tyrant Dragons
- Name: Tygerii (Tie-Gear-E)
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Tygeria
- Average Lifespan: 320 years
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: The Tygerii are a human off shoot species, having separated long enough ago to evolve enough independent traits and be labeled a new species.
- Breathes: Type 1
- Average Height of Adults: 2 meters
- Average Length of Adults: N/A
- Skin color: Pale white.
- Hair color: White, blonde, auburn, burgandy, copper.
- Distinctions: Eye color tends to be shades of Purple, Red, Yellow, Green, or Blue. Compared to humans, the Tygerii are far more lean than they are bulky due to a faster metabolism and their bodies having somewhat lost the ability to store fat effectively. They are also mostly hairless even bald sometimes.
- Races:
Plainsmen: The plainsmen are by far the most religious out of all the cultures located on Tygeria as well as those who keep traditions dating farther back than even Oros and the First Hegemony. Their lifestyle is fleeting and semi-nomadic and follows an unusual trend of wandering to a new location in the great oceans of grass, building a city, living there for around 80 or so years, burning the whole thing down, and migrating to a new section of the planet to build a new city, often revisiting sights hundreds of years later that their same group had previously colonized, finding the soil rejuvenated and fresh from the burning. The plainsmen are the backbone of the Tygerii people, producing a majority of the crops that are eaten across the planet, acting as the majority of any raised militias to fight the noble houses wars, and often raising most of the cattle and herd animals that are fed to the dragons of the Dragon Kin en mass. Their traditional lifestyle has been protected since the dawn of the First Hegemony, as any and all attempts at trying to force them to settle down usually ended with revolts and not enough food heading to the cities.
Their architecture is rather unique as well, small hovels built primarily underground with only the upper most wall and a thatch roof showing above ground. These hovels are then connected by a series of trenches with thatch or cloth covers suspended just above the ground by around a foot, allowing for easy climbing in and out of as well as viewing what may be lurking above ground. Their entire villages are laid out this way, with markets and all being somewhat underground. This is mostly to prevent them from being burnt by the sun, as they have no natural cover or shade to take shelter in and their sensitive skin burns easily. Surrounding these villages are fields and fields of crops that they have planted after burning down the local grass, and these fields often stretch for miles, with trenches leading around them like a circular grid.
Outside of their villages, the Plainsmen are obvious by their distinct lack of hair, which they are either born bald or simply shave off. Any guards or warriors from these tribes often partake in ritualistic scarring, especially of their head and face thus to look more intimidating.
Yet to claim that these tribes are primitive would be doing them an injustice. They have just as much access to technology as the rest of the Tygerii, simply chosing to forgo many of the niceties of modern life. Many of these groups have solar powered droids to help with the fields, or speeders or hovercraft to help the migration process. It also within these tribes that a majority of the ex-slave races live, such as the humans and twi'leks.
It is theorized that their lifestyle was shaped early on by the wild dragons of old terrorizing the tribes and burning down their settlements regularly. This may have lead to an early understanding of fire and its benefits towards agriculture and then shaped their society from there.
Mountainers: The mountainers are a strange group, connected by the mountains that spread across Tygeria like a spidersweb. Unlike their plainsmen counterparts, the Mountainers are fiercely independent and too many wars have been fought after a mountainer stronghold denies sending their levies to fight for some nobles war.
The Mountainers divide themselves up into great strongholds, each carved into our out of one of the mountains of Tygeria. Some of the largest of these strongholds are made of the entire mountain, with fortifications running up and down their steep cliffs and so many tunnels and rooms that the mountain has been practically hollowed out. Mountainers rarely leave these strongholds, tending to stay near to family, friends, and familiar environments. Each of these Mountainer strongholds is ruled over by a minor lord of the Tygerii aristocracy, most of whom are Mountainers themselves with a few hated exceptions. These Mountainer noble families call themselves 'Clans', further trying to separate their people from their conquerors. In the past, these strongholds were the longest lasting free parts of Tygeria before they were conquered by the First Hegemony, and in fact, were the only ones to actually kill the dragons that their invaders used as mounts.
Their key secret to their independence was their engineering abilities as well as their early understanding of heavy metals, specifically the Phrik found on their world. They forged great bolts of Phrik within the volcanoes, and launched them out of great ballistae, shooting Dragons from the sky. These minor victories have permeated their society ever since as the only ones to survive the dragon onslaught, at least for a time.
Mountainers are clearly distinguished by their clan and stronghold marking tattoos. One on the left of the neck for which family they belong to and one on the right of the neck for which stronghold they belong to, both consisting of geometric shapes and sharp designs. Their hair style is usually short, practical, or shaved and they are the only Tygerii known to commonly grow facial hair. Most of their people have auburn or burgundy hair color.
Dragon Kin: The dragon kin are the dominant culture on Tygeria, having descended from Oros, the First Tyrant and his Dragon Lords. The culture of the dragon kin can best be summed up as 'Aristocracy' as even the poorest of the poor of the Dragon Kin tend to have some form of wealth and holdings to their name seeing as wealth tends to be shared through your family rather than kept to oneself. They pride themselves on being world conquerors, even if their most recent ancestors to do so are thousands of years old. Dragon Kin are also somewhat above the law, with police even of other cultures looking the other way for minor crimes due to their higher status in the mind of the cultures on Tygeria, the only exception being the Mountainers who claim some sort of equality between the two.
They can best be described as tall, slender, and gorgeous. Years of near-eugenics level of breeding and pedigree has lead to most of the Tygerii oft he Dragon Kin to be as gorgeous as gorgeous can get for humanoids. Some even genetically alter themselves for further beauty and to assure their house will keep that beauty.
Lysenii: The Lysenii are a branch of the Tygerii people native to Lysenia, now called Kalidan. They are staunchly anti-Eternal Empire (who have made the planet home). They consist of hundreds of nomadic raider bands traveling around the planet, scavenging the natural environments and the ruins of their once great colony before it fell to nuclear war. Their entire existence are centered on the "Barges" which are large vehicles with massive hydroponic farms on board used to feed the caravan. These "Barges" can be anything from particularly large trucks, scavenged AT-ATs, or even actual barge boats on the ocean. These groups constantly raid each other, and weak Eternal Empire targets, for wealth, prestige, food, and materials used to grow their caravan. This constant aggressive attitude has made any settlement by the Lysenii ultimately end up burned to the ground due to word of a sitting target quickly spreading their networks.
Most Lysenii speak a child language of the Tygerii language called Lys. Lys is a language of very few words all of which are mostly single syllable exclamations. It is an incredibly simple language, easy to learn with very basic information being able to be shared very quickly. The engineers, farmers, and those requiring special technical knowledge with a lot of specifics learn Tygerii or the "Tech-Tongue" to them.
Like their ancestors before them, the Lysenii are heavily house based, although to them they are simple clans. Clans are hierarchical and highly matriarchal with strict gender rolls. Women are expected to be leaders, scientists, and engineers, while Men are expected to be diplomats and soldiers. The heads of these clans usually run the Caravans, dictating where they should travel next, who they should raid or trade with, or even if the clan should split due to too high of a population. These clan leaders also usually take care of what ever Tyrant Dragon population the clan owns, expected to be a master dragon rider and the educator to anyone they deem worthy of being a dragon rider.
- Force Sensitivity: Standard
- Long Life: Tygerii tend to live significantly longer than other near human species.
- Slightly Higher Intelligence: The Tygerii are able to access their memories and memorize things a little faster than traditional humans.
Weaknesses:
- Melanin Deficiency: Tygerii bodies actually struggle to produce melanin, making them extremely vulnerable to solar rays.
- High Metabolism: It's difficult for a Tygerii to store any kind of fat, making them hungry often.
- Diet: Herbivore, their body has lost the ability to digest meat effectively. They can eat it, but odds are it won't give them a lot of nutrients and will make them sick.
- Communication: Speech, mostly Basic Tygerii
- Technology level: Galactic Standard
- Religion/Beliefs: They have a host of small religions, the largest of which is the belief of the Great Dragon Gods which live within Tygeria and whenever they fight it causes the volcanoes to erupt or earthquakes. Yet more and more Tygerii are moving away from these beliefs as it was found that the orbit of their planet around its parent gas giant causes disruptions in the mantle that cause volcanoes to erupt and also causes the earthquakes.
- General behavior:
Education is incredibly important, with millions across Tygeria hired on as personal tutors as the impersonal governmentally regulated education system having been deemed too impersonal and corruptible. Now the success of a child is determined through economic status and the child's only want to learn. Roughly 4 hours every day are spent in personal tutoring, with some exceptions, until the child comes of age (12 years old) where he is squired off into the military, continues a higher education, or is given to a tradesmen as an apprentice. The basic education mostly consists of the histories, basic maths, and literacy with the tutor and child branching out into other subjects depending on the child's interests.
Playtime is also very important during a child's developmental phase. Many children enroll in sports ranging from dueling, wrestling, various forms of racing (beast racing, on foot racing, pod-racing), and other sports integrated from outside of Tygerii.
Adolescence: At the age of 12, one is expected to pick a profession, but some put this decision off until the age of 16. It is here one finds a master to take them as an apprentice, go to a university, or signs onto the military as a squire where they will train for 6 years. During this time, one is encouraged to read, especially philosophies, more histories, and the arts.
Apprenticeships are usually the hardest of the three available options. Good masters drill their students on a regular basis while bad masters tend to do it a bit too much or not nearly at all. Yet the apprenticeship system is the backbone to Tygerii society and it is the greatest honor to apprentice under a master at his work. Secrets and techniques have been passed on for thousands of years this way, and regional methods spread across the globe. This has lead to much diversity in the way products are made as well as their quality.
Squiring is by far one of the most popular decisions for Tygerii youth. And their 6 years of training is rather relaxed, with around 3 hours a day spent learning the techniques of swordsmanship and marksmanship. The rest of their time is spent bonding with other squires, their master, and generally gallivanting around. Very rarely will these squires actually see combat, mostly restricted to simulations or mock fights between each other. However, after the 6 years are complete one will have to pick a specialization or to head back to a university or apprenticeship program. Those who leave the military then are considered 'militia' and are given a monthly payment by their noble house and better equipment should they be called on for combat. Those who don't leave choose a specialization as either a Knight, Gunman, or Scout. The most successful of which are hired onto the Knights Vigilant or various household guards for the noble families.
Adulthood: Most of early adulthood is spent doing you guessed it, more reading. Yet you are also expected to begin to master your craft and seek out a mate. Tygerii society has only recently shifted towards the acceptance of homosexual and LGBT+ relationships, but it is now more or less accepted as equal to a heterosexual relationship. Those go into a religious order, the Knights Vigilant, or one of the few scribe orders all of which require vows of no sexual relations must donate a certain amount of reproductive material to be housed and used for those seeking children but who are unable to have them. This requirement is also pushed onto LGBTQ+ relationships, causing some political strife.
Most of what you do in your adulthood is meant to further the prestige of your family. Work the hardest, be the best soldier, know the most on the planet, all what Tygerii strive for in their respective fields. There is intense societal pressure to better yourself and your family, and those who don't are often ridiculed and looked down upon.
Miscellaneous:
Glaedii: Glaedii are blades (usually ceremonial) that hold major importance within Tygerii government and politics. The purpose of the blade is to signify the head of the noble house the blade is assigned to, whomever possesses the blade legally is thus the head of that noble house. Glaedii change hands often but not always for the same reason as many houses have different inner cultures for why exactly the head of the house should change. Some houses hold a democratic vote every few years to determine who the head should be, others pass it down when the current head dies, and others the Glaedii must be taken through a duel. The reasons and ways of going about exchanging leadership are many. The Tygerii government however does have some say in which person inherits a Glaedii. They mostly stay out of the process, but they step in to prevent criminals or dangerous individuals from gaining power over a noble house. There are even a few recorded situations where the government waged a minor war against a noble house to secure the Glaedii and hand it over to the government, effectively dissolving the noble house.
These Glaedii are often intricately carved and bejeweled, befitting the status of the house it originates from. Noble houses take great care in the maintenance of their original Glaedii as it is a sign of their houses longevity and tells the tales of their houses many victories. Some of the Glaedii preserved this way are hundreds if not thousands of years old, and have given many insights into the ancient history of the Tygerii. Should a Glaedii be stolen, broken, or generally lost a new one is commissioned. Many modern Glaedii have internal computers used to record the history of the noble house, from marriages, wars, great deeds, and etc.
The Glaedii also serve an important role within the government and diplomacy on Tygeria. Each noble house is required to send an envoy to vote on laws and matters of state, and this delegate is given the Glaedii temporarily to show that he speaks for the entirety of the noble house. Messengers are also given a Glaedii during diplomatic talks between two houses, again for the same reason. This obviously risks having the Glaedii be stolen on a regular basis, which means that the head of the house usually acts as both messenger and delegate in order to give the Glaedii as much protection as possible.
Within the chambers of the New Hegemony, when the delegate is voting for the laws and issues of state, the Glaedii is prominently displayed over top of the chair the delegate sits in. When it is time to vote, the delegate either leaves the blade holstered above them as a show of support for what ever is being voted on, or the delegate draws the blade to vote against it. This is also how noble houses formally declare war, by drawing their Glaedii within the council chambers and pointing it at their enemy while citing their Casus Belli and what they plan to get out of the war, be it reparations, land, technology, and even marriage.
Cybernetics: There is a deep stigma against cybernetic enhancement within the Plainsmen and Dragon Kin cultures. It is generally viewed that the need to improve oneself through cybernetics is a weakness and that true improvement should be accomplished through training and study. However, Mountainers have fully adopted cybernetic enhancement and are known to replace perfectly functioning organs and body parts for better cybernetic alternatives. This has lead to an even further divide between the Mountainers and their Dragon Kin lords.
Wine Ceremonies: A key aspect of the Dragon Kin culture are the wine ceremonies, which has origins that can be tracked back thousands of years. The Wine Ceremonies are really only one ceremony that can be used in multiple different situations, all of which have to do with the relationship between some form of leader and then a follower. The most common uses of this ceremony is when one noble swears fealty to another, a noble joins the New Hegemony for the first time, and in more traditional Tygerii weddings.
The ceremony itself is rather simple. The liege and subservient sit down together at a table, the subservient states the situation that has brought them to the ceremony, and the liege either further specifies and allows the subservient to repeat under the new conditions, or agrees with the conditions. The subservient then stands, stepping to the side of the table and pouring two glasses of wine, setting the first glass in front of the liege. The subservient then sits again, vowing his loyalty, honor, and unquestioning obedience before drinking from the glass. Should the liege find everything in order, he too shall drink to formalize the deal. In case that the liege is either offended (usually because he was not complimented enough) or he does not find the terms or vows sufficient, he shall refuse the drink, stand, and walk away, dishonoring the subservient.
In the case of the new nobleman joining the New Hegemony government, it is similar, except the already sworn in members act as the liege and a 2/3rd majority must drink for the new member to be accepted.
The wine used is traditional Tygerii blood wine, called such because of its use of Tyrant Dragon blood in the brewing process. However, in recent years tea has become a substitute in some cases.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Pre-History: Thousands of years ago the Tygerii were a simple human colony ship that fell into a wormhole, and ended up crashing on Tygeria. It is only in recent years that this has been discovered, but many Tygerii refuse to admit that they are related in any way to the humans of the galaxy regardless of similarities. These early survivors clashed with the great dragons of Tygeria, and it was these dragons that would eventually cause them to reverse to tribal civilizations who lost their knowledge of their origin.
Early History: The early history of the Tygerii was defined by the development of many cultures across the planet as the Tygerii tried to learn to survive in their new habitat. Yet it was with the rise of the Dragon Kin and Mountainers that things really began to pick up. The Mountainers pushed the dragons from their mountain homes, claiming them for themselves while the Dragon Kin began to develop a mutualistic relationship, eventually riding these beasts and using them as various forms of beasts of burden. These cultures would ultimately clash over and over again across the globe, but neither having the infrastructure or population to really conquer the other.
Mid History: It was with the dawn of Oros the First Tyrant and his dragon Xalgion the Fyrewing that the Mountainers and the rest of the world would bend the knee to the Dragon Kin. This was due to Oros' connection with the force, using dark sided powers to corrupt and conquer. The rest of their history was spent swapping between various Hegemonies and other governments that tried to replicate them. Yet never again would Tygeria fracture into many nation states. It is theorized that this unity is what allowed them such rapid development of technology as well as unifying their cultures.
Late History: With the dawn of space flight, the Tygerii moved their raids for slaves away from each other and to other nearby worlds. Their attempt to spread their hegemony never truly worked though, with colonies outside of Tygeria slowly devolving into warlords and greedy nobles over extorting their populace. They weathered various Empires and other galactic governments, bending the knee when they must but mostly just trying to stick to themselves. It is during this time that the Tygerii came into contact with the Jaieek'Ma. Their early history was fraught with conflict, but inevitably simmered down to a begrudging cooperation. Many Tygerii still hold hatred for the Jaieek'Ma, seeing them as one of the greatest enemies of the Tygerii people, yet the New Hegemony is doing everything within its power to destroy this idea and foster positive relations with the Jaieek'Ma.
