Etalts

Etalts
An Etalt hunter
Homeworld	Lont
First Discovered	141 PB
Average Lifespan	55-75 Years
Sentient	Yes
Status	Non-endangered

The Etalts are enigmatic race of hunters and trackers.

Appearance

Etalts are humanoid race with average height is 5,25 feet, slightly shorter than Hurons. Their skin is rougher than those of Hurons, but it is covered by something which seems to be a fur, which isnt too long, but rather thick like a feather, with the colors of it being mostly darker shades of grey, which is than mixed up with a tint of either blue, red or yellow (or even mix of these three), depending on from which part of their world they come from. While this fur/feather is on rest of the body short (less than a centimeter), on their heads they grow into long spiky hair which keeps its shape in most cases.

They are very gaunt when compared to Hurons or Gobians, with the joins being more distinct than in other races. They have thin four fingers on their hands and three thicker toes on legs. The shoulders arent directly connected to the torso, instead there is another large bone that connects them, giving them more alien look. Their eyes are black and spread out vertically, unlike the Hurons who have them horizontally, eyelids on the left and right. Due to their masks it is not known how do they look like under them, thought it is speculated they may have some sort of beak-like mouths (only those who examined their dead bodies knows for sure), but it is known the position of it can greatly vary from individual to individual, being either at the bottom of the face or higher, closer to the eyes.

The females differ from males by their fur color, which is far lighter, with the tint color being more distinct this way.

All Etalts wears masks which completely covers their faces, making them a puzzle for the rest of the galaxy how exactly does they look like behind them. The masks have two horn-like protrusions which goes straight up and two more which goes to the sides, the holes for the eyes, and protrudes down where are three holes. One for the real mouth and two as false "holes" (only a slight pit) out of religious purposes.

Biology

The Etalts are presumed to have evolved from avians, sharing several of their traits. One of them is the said beak-like mouth, which has by the evolution descended into the skull, but it is still there. Only a handful of individuals seen Etalt face, and those were only doctors doing them autopsy, because somehow their masks can stick to their faces really well. or those rare individuals who gained permission to enter the private rooms of the Etalt, where they are not scared to show their faces.

Another is their hair. It is a strange combination of the feathers they had, having its structure but far smaller, and fur, by its thickness over the body. It can work for thermo-regulation and camouflage in the darker forests of their homeworld.

Etalts' bones are hollow, thought not exactly, and while they are not able to fly, their lightweight makes them able to jump higher than most others, in part for strong muscles. The bones are in fact filled with a gel-like substance, which is both light, but also serves for absorbing the energy inflicted against the body part, the source of Etalts increased durability unexpected of their small and fragile figures. Still, Etalts arent stronger than Hurons or Gobians in regard of strength.

And lastly, Etalts has very similar reproductive system as other avians, thought only that when female gets pregnant, she will grow the eggs in her stomach (increasing its size) similar to mammals, and after two months they will hatch them, and than for another month (maximum) will sit upon them until hatching. Average female Etalt can hatch around ten eggs. The nestlings are blind after hatching and remains so for about three weeks.

Because of the masks, Etalts cant eat most of food by normal means. Using made tools, they suck the juices out of fruits and water through a quill, and if they have something larger to eat, like some grilled animal, they cut them into small elongated pieces which fits into the mouth hole of the mask. Than the Etalt can store a lot of nutriment for the future, prolonging the time before they need to eat again.

History

The earlier history of Etalts is not much known, as Etalts are little suspicious to outsiders, and share only minimum of their history. Since the Zrillac discovered them, the females started building the spaceports for the arriving shuttles, as well as making their own using the technologies they learned from the insect-like race.

Eventually, more and more Etalts started venturing to the galaxy, males as mercenaries, bounty hunters or soldiers of fortune, and females as mechanics, builders and technicians. While they are mostly neutral, most of Etalts that decides to join the galactic war goes to Kasmari rather than Vuldak, because of their friendliness to non-Hurons. But few Etalt bounty hunters which worked for Vuldaks were also reported.

Culture

Not so typical for a sentient race, Etalt society is divided into two major groups. Hunters, composed of males and their young ones who learn from their fathers the arts of hunting and tracking, living a tribal life, and city-states ruled by females which stays at one place and builds structures, cultivating farms and researches.

Males and females stays separated for most of the planetary year, with occasional deliveries of hunted animals to the cities, after which the hunter returns to his pack. Only for two months out of 16 months and twice a year does a hunter-male returns to his bondmate female to look up to their children or for the mating season (which is once a year). After the two months passes, the males returns to the wilderness to continue their hunting of animals for the females. The Etalts are strongly devoted and loves only one partner. When the partner dies the Etalt will after that never searches for a new one.

Meanwhile the females maintains the cities, builds new houses, raises children (young males can join their father for shorter periods before aduldhood, to learn the aspects of life of hunter), and they are the scientists and developers of new technologies.

Hunting Ranks and Titles

The male Etalt society has a hierarchal system that is based on the hunting skills, experiences and the kind of a hunted prey and trophies from hunt of the individual. This includes:

• Tyro: 
• Hunter: 
• Elite: 
• Veteran:
• Hero: 
• Elder: 
• Legend: 

Relgion

Etalts believes that everywhere around them are all sorts of spirits, good ones or evil ones. Even Etalts which left their homeworld believes the spirits are following them, or present on all planets, asteroids and even ships in the galaxy. The protective spirits, which guards their houses or hunting hut, are given offerings to keep them in good favor, or to keep the bad spirits away.

Their masks are in large part worn exactly because of their beliefs. They believe that if they will leave their faces and mouth unprotected, the evil demonic spirits will enter them by a mouth and possess, causing a body heat increase and sores all over their face. This was later attributed to parasites, but Etalt still believe the story of evil spirits. The masks covers their whole face, and to "trick and confuse" the evil spirits, the mask usually has one real mouth hole, and two false "holes". Otherwise the masks also serve as a sign of from where the Etalt comes from, by its shape. The color of it is commonly depending on the individual's position within the community.

Government

While the males are composed only of a hunter packs scattered all over the planet, the females (and children under their care) does have some form of government of city-states. Each city is considered a state which maintains a small territory around itself, with a leadership composed by the smartest engineers, scientists and experts in all of the fields of government, the technocracy. The head of the government is usually called "governess".

Military

There is no large formation of hunters which can be considered military. Each hunter pack is a combat unit which operates on its own, usually led by the best hunter in the pack.

The city-states does have a militia composed of other females, but they do rely more on the technology, using laser defenses and shield generators shipped by Zrillac for defense. In case of need the city-states can call for help and all nearby hunter packs can come to aid.