Jesoban

Jesobans
Biological classifications
Designation	Feathered avian humanoids
Subspecies	Several
Physical characteristics
Height	0.9m-2.5m
Mass	14kg-120kg
Distinctive traits	Usually including: Feathers Beaks
Lifespan	70-150 cycles
Socio‑cultural characteristics
Homeworld	Jesor
Habitat	Varied
Diet	Omnivorous
Language	Song-like

Physical Description

Jesobans are a widely varied species of bird-like mammals from the planet Jesor. Their females are capable of nursing their children the same as other mammalian species.

Heritages

Due to living in a cosmopolitan civilization on a supercontinent with few meaningful natural boundaries, Jesobans do not have specific heritages. While they are morphologically diverse, the Jesoban species does not stray far from a single genetic baseline.

History

Jesor is a planet with a single world-ocean out of which rises the supercontinent of Vaa. Though their early history was quite bloody, the species as a whole generally pivoted to settling things through non-lethal matters by the time the Directorate arrived, both for sport and for political purposes.

During a prolonged era of peace for the Jesobans, the Directorate would arrive and unintentionally alter their history forever. Unknown to the fledgling space explorers, the hull of the Directorate ships had picked up a highly contagious pathogen alien to Jesor, and it quickly began to infect the Jesoban tribe who had made first contact with the Directorate. It was only a few days before symptoms began to emerge, and with the Directorate’s instruments they were able to determine that if left untreated and allowed to spread the virus would ultimately decimate the Jesoban people in a matter of years.

Thankfully, the language barrier was quickly eradicated due to a linguistics expert on board the ship and the surprisingly adaptability of the Jesoban people, and after explaining the situation the two cultures quickly got to work on construction of Directorate-made cryo facilities to place the infected in suspended animation while a cure was researched. During these stressful weeks, despite around-the-clock labor, Jesobans working on the project needed to be placed into cryosleep quicker than the pods were being made, and news from neighboring tribes revealed their members already began to show symptoms. Jesoban Doctors quickly educated the Directorate medical team about their own biology, and it was through this sharing of information that the Directorate Doctors were able to create a counter-agent to delay the effects as long as possible so that sufficient cryo facilities could be constructed to house the infected.

Uninfected Jesoban couriers were dispatched to instruct those from other tribes to head to the facilities for treatment, but unfortunately, the virus seemed to continue to spread at a slow rate. Fearing that the virus had possibly evolved and infected the water supply or even become airborne, the Directorate hatched a plan to bring all the tribes to one central location to get those that weren’t infected in environmental suits and those that were infected as much treatment as they could provide. With the help of the Jesoban tribe leaders as interpreters, the Directorate were able to have the leaders explain the situation in their own language and urged all nearby tribes to come to the facilities immediately. The other tribes were quickly convinced upon seeing so many tribes unified under one banner, and brought as much supplies as they could muster, helping other tribes along the way if possible.

The Directorate established a very large perimeter around the series of cryo facilities, and sealed it off with a dome to eliminate the spread, hoping that the virus truly hadn’t infected the water or air. With enough generators to properly power their equipment at full capacity, a quick environmental scan was able to confirm that, indeed, the virus had been localized inside of the dome. The dome was named “Condua”, roughly translating to "Core of the Averted Crisis.”

Uninfected scouts from other Jesoban tribes saw the dome in the distance, and it quickly caused word to spread. As Condua was only constructed to be a quarantine rather than a secretive fortress, they were able to communicate to travelers on the outside and explain the situation to any passersby. Jesobans inside of Condua offered to share their knowledge with the Uninfected Jesobans outside in order for the race to continue experiencing their rapid education and development, and over time a micro-community spawned around Condua where Jesobans continued to prosper off of Directorate teachings and sharings, and doing whatever they could to motivate and encourage those within the dome to continue their hard work.

Eventually, safe entry into Condua was made through advancements on the outside from the micro-community, allowing new Jesobans to come in and give those that had been working tirelessly since the beginning some reprieve. The virus came to be known as the Porthovirus, named after the Feni Captain of the vessel and the one who took full responsibility for bringing it to Jesor in the first place. Over the course of four years, a cure for the Porthovirus was finally discovered with only about two thousand Jesoban deaths recorded, a figure that was notable in Jesoban history for being completely accurate with historical records.

From that eventful day forward, Jesor and the Jesobans became a founding member of what would eventually be known as the Directorate, putting in thorough standards and practices to ensure no fledgling alien species ever experiences the same incident they did. The Porthovirus incident is viewed by modern Jesobans with extreme pride, both in how their ancestors were swift to answer the call to action and how effective they were in doing so.

Society

Jesobans do not use last names. Their names tend to sound grand and somewhat close to Greek or Latin.

Example Names: Xomeo, Arithea, Onexomos, Maerophis

Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors

Among the many tribes of the Jesoban people, religion as an organized institution failed to gain widespread traction. Instead, cultural traditions that were passed down in individual tribes and superstitious beliefs were more common. The idea of spirits and an afterlife are a recognized concept, but it is rarely elaborated upon.

Though many Jesobans harbored a competitive spirit, and in their early years resolved many conflicts both minor and major through bloodshed, over time among many tribes the appreciation for rivalries grew, and competition among the Jesobans tended to be settled through forms of games of skill, non-lethal gladiatorial combat, martial arts competitions, and even battles of artistic expression. It was believed that by having a variety of recurring opponents in your life that matched your skill equally, you would always be constantly pushing yourself to be the best you could be, so as to not fall behind.

It is believed this desire for competition emerged from the mating rituals ancient male Jesobans put on to attract females, and over time, simply courting someone was not enough: male Jesobans wanted to showcase that their rituals were the most effective and superior. This drive for competition over time became unisex, and though it is far more common in men, it is not too uncommon for women to be as equally bombastic if they take the initiative upon themselves to find a partner.

This ancient form of courting was one of the few times in which Jesoban society and culture was not strictly egalitarian in nature, and otherwise it can be considered as such.

Sardiana refers to the practice of several schools of Jesoban martial arts that developed from cooperation between the more prestigious tribes in pre-Directorate Jesoban history. Traditionally incorporating either twin blades or a staff, Sardiana strongly emphasizes showcasing the user’s dexterity and grace with each attack so that any onlookers can undeniably recognize their ability beyond simply winning the battle, and should they lose, they will lose with as much grace and dignity as they can. After Jesobans were established firmly in the Directorate, a form of Sardiana was created revolving around spinning and flourishing firearms without compromising accuracy.

Style Guide and Character Creation

• Jesobans all resemble anthropomorphic birds.
• Jesobans sometimes have such dramatic feather growth across their arms that it can create “wing-arms”, but this is not the norm by any means. These wings do not function for flight in any meaningful way, and typically their usage as hands are more limited compared to those with normal, scaled hands.
• Jesoban arms and legs are normally scaled, like bird legs.
• Plantigrade and digitigrade legs are both fine and are attributed ICly to simply where their ancestors were and how they lived. The same logic also applies to teeth.
• If you have hair, try to make it match your head feathers as seamlessly as possible.
• Jesobans do not lay eggs.
• If you want to make something like a Gryphon or have features like antennae or “ears”, you will need to specify that your Jesoban is a splicer. Your reasons for getting altered are your own, but they are not naturally occurring features.