Etausi (people)

Etausi

Indigenous species of intelligent reptilian hexapeds, of which there are five sub-species; The swamp dwelling etausi-boh; The etausi-duat of mountainous regions; The etausi-grat of the plains and deserts; and the etausi-mal of forests. Despite these differences the four groups share a common culture.

Etausi are almost exclusively cave dwelling, sometimes living in dug hovels. As a species they are quite reclusive, and neo-phobic. All tribal decisions are arrived at by a communal consensus amongst the available adults, as a result they lead fairly stable lives.

Etausi tribes typically number around forty individuals, of which fully two thirds will be adults. The Etausi are exclusively of one sex, which reproduce parthenogenetically. Only one or two members will be in brood at a given time guarding clutches of about a dozen eggs.

The Etausi are possessed of an alien artistry, which is most evident in the design of their tools. The best example being the Ky-min (throwing wedge), a three bladed star weighing roughly 2 lbs. The weapon is used with great effect as a tool for downing small animals.

Ky-min (Ky-min skill group), SB 1, Str+Dex+Eye, -20 SE) Wt: 2 Quality: 13 A/D: 1/0 B: - E: 3 P: 2

ETAUSI-BOH The swamp dwelling etausi-boh tend toward the dark greens, blacks, and blue hues in their colouration. Etausi-Boh are tall and lean. height 46+4d6, frame: +4, complexion: +5 Str +3, Sta +1, Dex 0, Agl +2 Eye -3, Hrg +2, Smt +4, Voi -3 Int -1, Aur -3, Wil +1

ETAUSI-DAUT The etausi-duat of mountainous regions have scales of greys, blacks, and other light browns. They tend to be much smaller than average for Etausi. height: 44+4d6, frame: +3 Str +1, Sta +1, Dex 0, Agl +1 Eye -3, Hrg +1, Smt +3, Voi -3 Int 0, Aur -3, Wil 0

ETAUSI-GRAT The etausi-grat of the plains and deserts have colouration which blends into their environment quite well. A mix of yellows, sandy tones, and browns will most often be evident. Etausi-Grat are quite solid in stature compared to the other sub-species. height: 48+4d6, frame: -1 Str 0, Sta 0, Dex 0, Agl +2 Eye -2, Hrg +4, Smt +4, Voi -2 Int 0, Aur -3, Wil 0

ETAUSI-MAL The forest dwelling etausi-mal have scales of greenish hues, which shift with the seasonal variation through yellows, oranges and reds. During the winter months their scales take on a mix of browns and greys. height: 47+4d6, frame: +1 Str 0, Sta 0, Dex +1, Agl +3 Eye -3, Hrg +4, Smt +3, Voi -2 Int 0, Aur -3, Wil 0

ETAUSI-RURE One subspecies of Etausi are reef/shore/island dwelling and spend a lot of time in and under the salt water of Entorais' oceans and seas. Their appearance is similar to a 6-limbed bipedal marine iguana. Culturally they are similar to the other Etausi tribes, living in colonies as primitive hunter gatherers. The Etausi-Rure follow a similar religion to their sisters, and practice the same sacrifical offering of male hatchlings to their god-king.

-- In the rare (one in a million) chance that a male hatches in an Etausi brood. The mewling infant male is sacrificed to the god-deity to ensure further favour for the all female species. They worship a male god who they are married spiritually. Another male would be a challenge to his divine god hood, so the abominations are killed to appease their deity, and avoid his wrath.

Interestibngly enough I have a species of lizard women who reproduce through parthenogenisis. They are a matriarchy (as there simply aren't males), but it has a whole religious context, and since males are not needed at all biologically they are killed shortly after hatching even though it's a rare thing for males to hatch at all.

My one species that flips this are my entirely female lizard people, the Etausi. Given so much of their religion and culture is alien to outsiders it is odd to consider them in human terms. Males can be hatched from time to time, but such offspring are sacrificed to their god-king (a male deity) to avoid jealous retribution. Since no males have been allowed to grow to maturity for millenia, there is no way of comparing their adult abilities or propensity for violence.

Etausi have had little contact with Tre-Ahni. Those encounters, and the results, have yet to be known across the whole species. So there is no general collective attitude towards them. New encounters are approached with curiosity, following those the reaction depends on the experience of that first time.

Alien vocal language for the Etausi. Naturally evolved independant of Tre-ahni languages. Limited social contact between the Etausi and Tre-ahni has kept interlingual influence to a minimum.

The religion of the Etausi: When the world ended, the dragon king gathered all the females of our people together and protected us from the fires, poisonous smoke, and diseases ravaging everything. After the dying times he returned us to the world reborn in small clutches scattered throughout the lands. We live our lives as is proper, and pay homage to our divine protector, so that should another end times come, we will once again be gathered up and sheltered from the apocalypse. The Etausi are an all female, six limbed, reptiplian bipedal sapient race. They have several subspecies which are adapted to the biomes they frequent. Males hatch rarely (about 1 out of every thousand eggs, but are sacrificed to the dragon king out of respect for his divine role as father/husband to the entirity of etausi-kind. Sishala [Preistess matron of the sand cliffs rook.] An elder of her rook, Sishala is treated with respect and reverence. Most of the rook are direct descendants of her line, and she guides them all in spiritual matters.

"Life and death are natural and cyclical. All living things need living things, or their remains to survive. This is a sacred truth of the world. No individual life is sacred on it's own, but as part of the larger cycle, yes. The cycle itself must continue, and death is a necessary part of that cycle. All living things - plants, animals, etausi, treahni - feed other life after dying. How can you preserve life without death?" - Sishala

"Ah. We do not link mating with emotional bonding like your kind then. Emotional bonds can weaken, and break though, and it is difficult upon the whole rook to see it happen. Does the community not try to console and help the pair through such troubling times?"

"There was once a holy man, called Jodam after a prophet of his Goddess. He came to us and tried to change our beliefs about the Dragon King. While we had many interesting discourses on the nature of gods and worship, ultimately I could not accept his teachings as the only truth. The Goddess he followed is certainly powerful, and a key figure in the lives of his people, but we are content in the protections promised to us by the Dragon King."

The Etausi on Entorais sacrifice they newly hatched male children to their god. The all female species see themselves as the mortal brides to their god-king.

It is set in a fantasy fictional world. The Etausi would have become the primary sapient species of Entorais if it weren't for those pesky humans reaching out to colonize other worlds. As they are genetically stable I figure there is probably some alien biology at play here which allows a reasonable diversity within the daughters genetic material. I haven't figured out how their male god figure plays into this; there is a chance of some external manipulation. Although inbred flaws such as you bring up could explain the lack of dominance in the global ecosystem. They are scattered, with subspeices adapted to various climates and biomes. Culturally they are at an early tribal state, approaching the end of their stone age. When humans first arrived 3000+ years ago they were barely tool users.

Etausi - Reptilian natives of planet (not Earth), so six-limbs, egg-laying, scales etc. 99.99% of all hatchlings are female - species reproduces through parthenogenesis. Worship a god-king figure whom they believe they are all mates too, and practice infanticide as a holy ritual when males are born. Do not see family structure in the same human way, eggs are communal, belonging to the whole community, therefore children are everyone's to raise. The species reproduces via Parthenogenesis. Also male/female is determined by environmental factors while developing in the egg, and not sex-linked genes.

Etausi are primitive and territorial. They can not be reasoned with, but if ignored will not encroach on others territory.

Etausi The Etausi follow religions appropriate to their primative nature, generally eating their dead, or choice parts of the fallen. The strengthens the tribe as a whole, allowing the departed to continue as part of the tribe for future generations. Adults that are not currently in brood will engage in sexual coupling believed to spread the departed ones spirit amongst potential future offspring.

The Etausi have not reached the level of cultural sophistication yet to engage in trade or economics beyond simple barter between individuals or small groups, therefore see no value in a currency system.

In the rare instance of a male being hatched, they are sacrificed to their god to avoid causing him to become jealous. Etausi see themselves as the harem of the god they worship. Is the Etausi's dragon-god religion relatively recent? It came to be some time after the "God Wars" as the planet was recovering from a massive scorched earth retreat by two transstellar empires. It seems that dragonkind took a certain liking to the early sapient primatives of their world and worked to protect and nurture them during this calamitous period. The religion developed in response, and is an attempt to explain changes in the reproductive physiology which occurred as a result of the nuclear/biological fallout (things beyond the understanding of the Etausi). Did they have prior cultures that had actual mortal harems to give them idea of a divine harem? The Etausi are at a stone-age tech level, they haven't really much of a culture to speak of. The early species had a male dominant polygamous breeding pattern. Are there any males that somehow survived? I'll say maybe. I have no idea about the individual fate of every last sapient creature on Entorais, and have only detailed two Etausi characters to date. The best estimates for global population is somewhere about two-hundred million Etausi scattered in small pockets globally. Was asking because it seemed like a cool idea for a character that's a male survivor. To speculate it might be possible. This could include a social change in a single colony that breaks away from the religion. As a people the Etausi have many cultural groups/tribes scattered everywhere. These diverse groups are subject to change and growth in any direction. Perhaps he is from a clutch of eggs that survived to hatch and were raised in isolation/left to themselves. In this case the whole clutch would be Etausi in genetics only, and completely lacking any nurture in the cultural norms of their kind. The difficulty here being that the eggs are normally brooded by one or more adults in a communal setting, not simply laid and forgotten like many Earth reptiles. A rare genetic mutation could subdue the physical male sexual characteristics from manifesting. Such an asexual appearance could delay or prevent identification of the male, and thus preserve his life. As a side note the Etausi perplex me from a world building standpoint. Originally they were a mono-cultural lizard people filling a role for an rpg. However the geo-political reality of the planet has them spread out and sometimes isolated from each other by the invasive species/cultures of the Treahni. So it is more likely that they have multiple proto-cultural groupings. I have them separated into a handful of subspecies based on biomes by habitat preference (Arid, Wetlands, Forest/Jungle, Sea, Rocky/Mountainous), but even these groups are discontiguous in distribution.

Etausi - dragon scales are consider lucky charms

My lizard-folk are spread all over the world from before "humans" arrived and should have 1000's of distinct tribes with separate cultures... I accidentally lumped them all together. Of course I could just leave it as humans seeing them as one homogeneous species, and overlooking the differences out of ignorance

Actually the Etausi as a culture have yet to advance beyond stone age technology... except what they might acquire through trade or pillage. Having four limbs with workable hands does make many crafting task easier; notably weaving, and woodcarving, so forging would probably be easier if one worked with two hammers for example.

If one is born with two sets of arms then coordinating them in activities is a matter of natural development. Interestingly Etausi do show a handedness preference like the treahni, favouring one hand and side over the others for basic tasks. If one didn't know, there are few noticeable differences. The Etausi have an alien artistry to their work, which is notable over treahni craftsmanship, but having more hands isn't required to reproduce similar results. Not so interesting... even earth animals show appendage dominance, just ask a dog ti shake a paw, they will prefer one over another, it's an evolutionary thing, not cultural/human thing. Actually I haven't decided. So... as the Etausi hail from a separate genetic/planetary stock than Earth origin species, their nervous systems are different, showing a preference for the lower left hand/left side over the right.

Etausi would be the most unusual. Being adopted by stone aged lizard-women would be a challenging upbringing. They are not mammals so a pre-solid food diet baby would likely die an agonizing death of starvation. A child capable of eating solid food may still have dietary issues as the Etausi diet is higher in meat sourced protein. Despite this a child could survive. There would be difficulties surrounding the slower development of the mammal child, milestones such as walking and talking, maturation into adulthood taking about three times as long. Lacking tails, and having two less arms/hands would require some effort to keep up with swimming, and menial tasks. The child would be considered part of the rook, with all the rights and responsibilities of membership. The neurological imprinting etausi experience forming a nurturing bond with their mothers (plural group of mutual brooders) would be different for this child, but mimicking the behaviour of one's adoptive siblings could pass. Having external genitalia wouldn't be an issue (nakedness taboos/clothing isn't an etausi thing) and they wouldn't consider the gender of the adopted child as important. They are neither male or female in the eyes of the etausi (as they cannot engage in the same physical copulation, nor lay eggs). Good for males, as etausi males are blood sacrificed shortly after hatching, and a non etausi male isn't considered in their religion as a threat. The gender/biological sex of non-etausi is irrelevant to their religious views that male etausi will make their god-king jealous. The species reproduces parthenogenicaly, so males are not strictly needed, and killed before they can become breeding adults. That’s one petty god. Maybe... or the followers have warped their natural shift to parthenogenic reproduction into a religion. Perhaps a bit of both? There is some real thing that they worship, isn’t there? Maybe? They seem particularly reverential towards dragons. The real mystery is how this religiously justified behaviour is prevalent across all pockets of the species culture despite having no means of global communication

Within single colonies of Etausi there is very little genetic or physical variation, due to them reproducing through parthenogenesis. Disparate colonies have changed over time, showing extreme differences in morphology, to the extent of them appearing to be distinct species.

When first discovered, Etausi were protected by a non-interference policy, and a large portion of the planet (all but one continent) was reserved for them as first contact protocol. They were to be studied, but not uplifted.

Etausi continued along their slow plodding course to true civilization, but also suffered from the ravaging of the biosphere. They did however adopt a religion during the aftermath, and now universally worship a dragon god-king figure despite not being connected geographically this religion is present in all Etausi whether settled or nomadic tribes. They seem to believe that this god will continue to protect them. The Etausi also suffered a fertility crisis and have switched to a version of parthenogenesis, sacrificing what male hatchlings are produced to their god to appease his potential jealousy.

The Etausi of Entorais, are consider primitive and bestial by most "civilized" people, mostly because they have less advanced technology. They live off the land, in small tribal communities, not forming nations, and seemingly not connected to each other beyond their physiology, and religion (which is strangely the same despite vast geographic separation between groups). One on one they would be able to hold their own against other races, if they had equal quality and material for weapons and armour. Etausi would have eventually reached advance technology and society, being the indigenous sapient species of Entorais before outsiders came and messed everything up with there cataclysmic war.

How many children does each Etausi tend to have, on average? On average an Etausi lays about 6 eggs. Generally only 2 are in brood at any given time regardless of the colony size. Has the lack of genetic mixing caused any problems for the Etausi? Not as a whole yet. There may well be some alien biology factors preventing genetic bottlenecks from occurring within the species.

Does an Etausi egg have a good chance of eventually being a full-grown Etausi? Typically, if sufficient numbers of adults are in the colony, then the eggs will be well cared for, and some 97-99% of them will hatch. Of those hatchlings, infant mortality (disease, accidents, depredation) takes out another 25% so from Egg to adult (9-12 years before reliable egg laying) is about 73% survival. The average life expectancy of Etausi, is around 25 years, due to their primitive lifestyle, and lack of advance medical care. In ideal conditions an Etausi could live an extremely long time compared to Tre-ahni.

What is Etausi society doing to try to progress, if anything? The idea of social, technological or other "progress" isn't yet part of their culture. So at present Etausi are just existing and doing what they do. Occasionally, one might make a small improvement to some aspect of their colony's daily life, but there is not any sharing of ideas between disparate groups, so very little progress occurs as a species.

Can you give me some examples of these occasional, small improvements? The Rook of Singing Water - This colony is practising a form of animal husbandry, and basic agriculture using floating lodge lizard rafts to form "gardens". The Sand Cliffs Rook - This colony has begun simple forging of natural copper nuggets to make basic tools, and decorative jewellery. The Golden Reef Rook - This colony has started harvesting the poisonous gel from Golus snails to coat tridents used against larger marine predators and prey animals. The Rook of Black Sand - This colony has begun to design atlatl-like spear and arrow launchers for use in hunting.

Can you tell me about fashion among the Etausi? Generally they do not exhibit any modesty taboos, so their clothing is limited to harnesses, pouches, and the like. They may add small totems or charms to their tools. Some ornamentation with simple jewelry, usually bracelets, rings, ankles, necklaces or the like. Materials, design and techniques vary widely between individual rooks. Does the poison pose any danger to the Etausi, in their food, or do they just cook the meat well enough to get rid of the poison? It would, but it breaks down fairly quickly after absorbed into a creatures tissues, so is usually inert by the time they consume the meat. That particular poison is a mild paralytic, that can be absorbed through skin contact.

Is there any spiritual meaning for certain types of totems/charms? Possibly; it would depend on the individual, and their reasons for decorating their tools. There is no specific reason or need to decorate tools in such a manner. Have any species been more resistant to the paralytic poison? Parvil, a common predator fish similar to a pike or barracuda, are completely immune to the toxins. The golus snails are most often found amongst the spawning beds of these fish, whose eggs will often be covered in the toxic secretions. The snails are not eaten by these fish, whom seem to live in a symbiotic relationship. the snails protect the fish spawn, and eat algae and other zooplankton which might damage the young fry. The presence of the Parvil keeps other predators, that might eat the golus snails at bay.

So do the Etausi sacrifice all of their sons? How do they replenish the males? What is the method of sacrificing? Every last one of them. Males hatch naturally from about one in a thousand eggs, but aren't required for reproduction. The exact method of sacrifice varies between rooks, but generally the hatchling is cut open upon an alter and his organs are fed into the flames of a ceremonial fire. The body will be disposed of in a manner befitting any other member of the tribe. Usually buried under a small rock cairn in a sacred burial ground, and marked with a funerary staff.

Etausi live scattered all across Entorais' three continents, but most tribal groups are not in regular contact with others of their kind. Being at the near end of the stone age technologically, they have been forced out of areas where tre-ahni (phenotypical humans) claim land. That being said there are some salt water estuaries where both sub-species would find suitable living conditions. Etausi tribes that do meet will trade or fight as the encounter dictates. This is similar to the pattern when they encounter non-etausi. Etausi of the different sub-species view each other as sisters, belonging to the same species, but even sisters don't get along all the time. They share a similar languages and universally follow the exact same religion despite being spread out globally. With little or no communication between tribal groups globally.

Entorais doesn't have any exclusively aquatic sapient species, but the Etausi, reptilian bi-peds with 6 limbs, have subspecies with varying degrees of amphibious lifestyle. Swamp dwelling Etausi Boh, and the marine/coastal Etausi Rure, in particular can and do spend significant amounts of time in and underwater in the hunting and gathering activities. They can hold their breath three or four times longer than a tre-ahni, and with 6 limbs and tails to propel them, are quite fast and agile in aquatic environs. Boh of these groups still maintain dwelling places on dry land for brooding, and raising their young.

The Etausi, my reptilian race, lack the human range of facial pliability; they have some frills and crests they can raise lower, or flush with blood (colour), and having twice as many arms/hands which vary position to indicate moods and such, in addition to head nods, tilts, and directing their gaze, They also vary the tone of their voices to convey emotional details beyond the meaning of the words they speak.

Etausi - Parthenogenic, reptilian, six limbed bipeds. An exclusively female species. Eggs are laid in group nests and brooded by several females in rotation. The hatchlings are considered children of that brood circle. So they have several mothers. As some external factors can produce males (1:100000 or so), the males are culled in a ritual sacrifice to their male god.

The Etausi species are primitive compared to treahni, and often suffer either genocide or enslavement when the two species encroach on each other's territory.

Actually the Etausi as a culture have yet to advance beyond stone age technology... except what they might acquire through trade or pillage. Having four limbs with workable hands does make many crafting task easier; noteably weaving, and woodcraving, so forging would probably be easier if one worked with two hammers for example.

The deceased body is placed on a platform of stones or wood and left for the scavengers to pick over.

Etausi - Reptilian natives of planet (not Earth), so six-limbs, egg-laying, scales etc. 99.99% of all hatchlings are female - species reproduces through parthenogenesis. Worship a god-king figure whom they believe they are all mates too, and practice infanticide as a holy ritual when males are born. Do not see family structure in the same human way, eggs are communal, belonging to the whole community, therefore children are everyone's to raise.

My all-female species, the Etausi, sacrifice newly hatched male children to their male god-king. Males only occur about 1 in 1000 broodings, so it's not a common event. From their religious perspective the Etausi are all his mates and the existence of a male amongst them would threaten their marriage to their god. The ritual involved is pretty straightforward: The entire rook in gathered and the male hatchling is placed upon a stone altar then stoned to death by the gathered adults, whom shout prayers seeking forgiveness and mercy to their god. The resulting corpse is left to decay or be eaten by scavengers; further interaction with the dead male hatchling would anger their god.

Etausi hatch from soft shelled eggs (being reptiles) laid in shallow dirt nests, over which one or more members of the tribe sleep to keep the brooding temperature stable.

Etausi Religion

The Etausi religious belief is centralized around the belief that they are the chosen people of the great dragon. They believe themselves to be the mates of the dragon, whom guides and protects his chosen to exist in harmony with the planet.

When the world ended, the dragon king gathered all the females of our people together and protected us from the fires, poisonous smoke, and diseases ravaging everything. After the dying times he returned us to the world reborn in small clutches scattered throughout the lands. We live our lives as is proper, and pay homage to our divine protector, so that should another end times come, we will once again be gathered up and sheltered from the apocalypse. The Etausi are an all female, six limbed, reptilian bipedal sapient race. They have several subspecies which are adapted to the biomes they frequent. Males hatch rarely (about 1 out of every thousand eggs, but are sacrificed to the dragon king out of respect for his divine role as father/husband to the entirety of etausi-kind.

List of Religious Figures

The Great Dragon

The singular masculine god-king of the etausi. This great winged beast is the benevolent and guiding force behind the entire etausi culture. He is responsible for the protection and guidance of his chosen people through his lesser dragons and the tribal shamans.

Lesser Dragons

Material agents of The Great Dragon these beasts carry out his wise administration upon the world. They will often be tasked with great quests or duties to protect certain tribes or individuals from evil forces acting against The Great Dragons wishes.

Tribal Shamans

A singular etausi of each tribe will be the revered holder of the stories. This member of the community does not hunt, or work beyond their capacity as the observer of the heavens and recorder of all history. The shaman will tend to the spiritual needs of the tribe while also recounting the history in story and song. The shaman will train/educate several apprentices to continue the tradition when the time comes to leave the world of the material and enter the grand caves of the dragon king.

;List of Religious Observances

Hatching

Hatching of a male

Sacrifice of a male

First Hunt

First Mating

First Clutch

Death

Remembrance After Death