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The Ithkari are a genetically modified race of bipedal, vaguely caniform mammalians. Their original stock was a (presumed extinct) species of carnivorous, quadruped coursing hunter, similar to the Terran wolf, though they resemble wolves only in the most vague fashion. Omnivores, the Ithkari retain the large canines and carnassial teeth of their stock race but all the rest of the teeth are the flat cutting and grinding teeth of an omnivore. They also retain the blunt, non-retractile claws on hands and feet. Somewhat more unusual is the structure of the legs, which is something of a cross between digitigrade and plantigrade. While the Ithkari foot is not as elongated as most digitigrade species, it is longer than most plantigrade species, and the Ithkari tend to walk on the balls of their feet. In addition, their gait, while upright, tends to be more bounding than in a plantigrade species. Their fur tends to be short and very dense, showing off the exaggerated physique which is legacy of their creation as a weapon of war.
According to their history, the Ithkari were created by a race refered to only as Progenitors. These Progenitors designed the Ithkari to carry out warfare and exploration in their stead. For reasons never explained, the Progenitors eventaully decided the Ithkari were no longer of use to them, and set about eradicating them. A long, bloody war of genocide followed, ending when the Progenitors had been exterminated. The Ithkari themselves were devastated, and their whole culture thrown into a short Dark Age as they reorganized and recuperated. The war is refered to in the histories as ``The War of Dying Stars", and has left the Ithkari with a deeply ingrained racial loathing for the use of weapons of mass destruction, and a frighteningly clinical and unforgiving attitude in regards to the waging of war. Some remnants of their creation still run strong within them, and one of the most common forms of employ for offworld Ithkari is as mercenaries, bodygaurds, and security or police agents.
Because the Ithkari are a relatively young race, their culture is rooted in the militaristic programming and structures that are a legacy of their creation. They have a strictly codified society, based upon clans of huge extended families, and guilds. All Ithkari are members of a Guild, and the insignia and heraldry of the Clans and Guilds are a major component of everyday Ithkari society. Thus, while the Ithkari have no nudity taboos, a certain amount of clothing is considered appropriate, to allow others to determine your position and rank. There is a Guild for every possible choice of career, and an Ithkari is free to choose whatever Guild it likes, with the exception of two: the Assassins' Guild, and the Thieves' Guild. Membership in the Black Guilds is punishable by death.
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the Ithkari is their racial philosophy. To the Ithkari, Art is the focus of all life and effort, and mastery of one's art is the ultimate goal. In this instance, ``Art" covers every skill, career and action one makes. Thus, the focus of every Ithkari is to become the best it possibly can at its own chosen Art. Calling an Ithkari artless is the most dire and deprecating of insults.
The Ithkari are an unusually ethnocentric race, and have some bizarre attitudes and ideas when it comes to other races. Basically, to them, everyone is Ithkari, or ``An-Ithkari" (Not Ithkari). However, individuals or species who display properly Ithkari virtues are viewed with approval, and anyone who applies to become an Ithkari is welcomed with open arms. This rather enlightened attitude would appear to mean that, at least to the Ithkari, being Ithkari is more a matter of mindset than of actual physiology. This attitude takes a somewhat odd, dark twist in warfare, however; The Ithkari do not take prisoners in the traditional sense. Instead, captured personnel are transfered to the main homeworld of the capturing unit's clan. They are then issued identification as Ithkari citizens, and released, to fend for themselves. This method has many benefits, in the opinion of the Itkkari. Primarily, it saves them from maintaining highly ``artless" prison-camps, or the unthinkably artless choice of killing all prisoners. Shipping hundreds of enemy personnel to your homeworlds during a war might seem like an excessive security risk; those who have tried to exploit this quirk have found, to their short-lived dismay, that Ithkari justice --while fair-- is swift and staggeringly harsh.
The other area affected heavily by Ithkari ethnocentricity is that of personal elationships.
Because anyone can ``be" Ithkari, the Ithkari view extra-racial bondings and relationships in the same way they do same-sex bondings: It dosen't make a lot of sense to them, since no children can result, but is otherwise acceptable. In fact, children are about the only ``weakness" the Ithkari could be said to have. The Ithkari adore children , regardless of race, and have a fierce, almost instinctive desire to protect them. Ithkari often adopt children (There is in fact no word in their language for orphan), and the children of a vanquished or killed foe are usually brought into the
clan of the victor. |
