Kemzali

Kemzali? Big, scary, smelly, carnivorous, parasite freaks that so happen to be psychic. They're completely sure of their own superiority, they think you're at best a pet and at worst a meal and the only good thing about them is they don't care about who you are. Species, class, sex?

Kemzali have a reputation as aloof despots, slavers and monsters. Many believe them further to be man-eaters and engaging in mind-manipulation. The truth is a bit less negative. They are incredibly long lived, naturally psionic beings deeply obsessed with righteousness, order and proper behavior. Their folk belief is that they are manifested supernaturally by their own species’ psionic dreams to ‘repair the universe.’ They do not generally value personal freedoms and are only tepidly social with their own species, preferring to surround themselves with other species, which they regard on average as servants or pets, a mindset that those kemzali removed from their territory have to fight against, and often over-compensate for.

Physical Description

Kemzali are a lithe, densely furred, four-limbed serpentine species with a long, narrow head bearing horns, while a single horn is most common other formations do occur. Their legs end in four sharp, distinct toed hooves on each foot. Their hands each bare two clawed fingers and two clawed thumbs. They eat their prey whole, have hook-like teeth, and can vary dramatically in exacting appearance, with each major lineage having appearances that vary in minor, or rather significant ways. While they may socially be male or female, their entire species are hermaphroditic and reproduce via sexual intercourse followed by the receiver parasitically implanting an embryo in a host. An average kemzali has a distressingly long lifespan with members outliving the thousand-year mark.

Heritages

Kemzali do not have defined heritages, rather they have a variety of what are known as 'dynasties' each kemzali line have some morphological differences in both appearance, patterns and hornshape. But as rare and unique creatures, there are little documented or observable formal categories among them with most specific dynasties having different specific appearances, scents and are immediately recognizable by other kemzali and may even be misunderstood as different species by those without great knowledge of the species' internal diversity.

History

The kemzali history is ancient, with thousand-year lifespans, their own documentation is extensive and details their history over the past forty-thousand years, with less firmly documented past histories going back over a hundred-thousand years. Despite this, history itself has little meaning to kemzali and events, conflicts, social growth and the like barely figure into retelling. Rather they are extensive details of lineage, territory, intro-dynastic drama and have proven difficult to parse and penetrate due to high bias and lack of overall focus.

In the modern era, kemzali's history begins some 9500 years ago when they began settling the other planets in their system. Leading to the current three most populated worlds, Kemsin, Jemzal and Kuni. Splitting into two distinct social groups, the Kemsin and Kuni people, who regard Kemsin as the home of their people, and the Jemzal, which considers their dynasty, the Jem, the true home and Kemsin populated by those cast out to these worlds to develop in peace. Yet they failed to develop faster-than-light travel of their own and were while exceptionally developed, had only sent occasional slower-than-light explorations into nearby systems by the time they were encountered by the Directorate in 2054 as one of the first peer-powers encountered. The encounter involved the capture of the Directorate exploratory ship, and reverse-engineering of the FTL systems. Proper contact came 11 years later in 2065 when the ship and its crew were returned to the Directorate and a cultural exchange was made.

The Directorate, cautious about giving technology to the aggressive aliens, would be surprised when the Directorate's secretive reverse-engineering project gave birth to their first kemzali made FTL system in 2088 and began a serious of minor conquests and eventually clashed with the Directorate in 2133, sparking a low-intensity conflict that lasted until 2160, settling the Directorate-United Families borders of today.

Society

Kemzali and their culture is based around two major aspects, an extreme adherence to what they see as order and the good of their underlings, and their own individualistic needs. Their own mythologies say they dreamed themselves into existing as they felt the universe needed something beautiful and perfect. On their homeworld of Ornja they evolved to dominate nature, other species and each other through a combination of psionic manipulation, physical prowess and forward-thinking. They rule their society absolutely, existing as generally benevolent though freedom-denying beings over kobari, one of two sister species, and alien subjects within their domains. A kemzali learns their history, skills, their identity and much of who they are over the first few decades of their long lives via a psychic connection with their parents, a dream that tutors them as they sleep. In many respects, these dreams are their primary teachers, as kemzali are apex-predators and do not socialize well with each other and their relationship with their parents tends to standoffish. Their names are often short, two-syllable words and are usually somewhat feminine. Their surnames are always their mother’s first name, unchanged. Kemzali, formally introducing themselves, will continue and list all of their ancestors' names prior to their mothers, grandmothers, etc, in an ongoing line of surnames. This process, despite kemzali’s long lifespans, can be time consuming. While most Kemzali identify as female among foreign species, some identify as male, or nothing at all. Technically, their own gender in their language is the same as their species, Zala, as in Kem-Zala which is what they call themselves casually.

Example Names Maala, Sahna, Taali, Luura, Selaa, Tahni, Horhja

Beliefs

Order absolutely dominates the kemzali mindset, one of the least pleasant experiences for them is existing in disorder, dysfunction and in an environment with altering rules. Despite stereotypes as villainous rulers, kemzali are deeply concerned for other people’s needs. They may be willing to sacrifice an ally for a benefit, but only for the benefit of the whole. Seeing those they consider part of their domain suffer or be unhappy can easily fill them with distress and guilt. Religious kemzali are uncommon beyond adherence to the Kemz, a series of guiding principles of order that manifest throughout life. The religion is based heavily around the principles of Right Actions and Right Order. In which people are divided based upon their species, social position, and role in society, and the actions expected of them are strictly considered. Within it, rightness of actions may differ by role and position, but are no less true. It posits that The Dream the Kemzali were born unto has set unalienable perfect rules that guide society. While Kemzali are often only moderately religious, kobari tend to obsess over these same rules, and constantly alter them.

Style Guide and Character Creation

Kemzali are difficult characters to play and make and have some restrictions on them, as such they are Application Only species. While the first difficulty of kemzali is that they are both not easily represented by a simple avatar, being serpentine, furred, and a distinctly chimeric appearance. Their primary difficulty is their peculiar mental state and social requirements.

Social Concerns

Kemzali are apex isolate predators, and have difficulty putting up with each other without some blood relation, feeling an intense need for space, territory and a domain. As such any kemzali on the main station, and are therefore playable are likely related in some manner to Selaa, the owner of the station. This would likely mean they are descended from one of her children, are one of her children, or are descended from one of her siblings children. More than this they are not going to be established. Kemzali spend the first hundred or so years of their life attempting to find a place to establish a colony. This is a long period of their life essentially locating and determining a proper point in which they obtain territory, usually deeded to them by their parent.

Kemzali Relationships

Kemzali do not have a normal concept of romance, gender or even affection. Their concept of romance is a predatory hunger and domination, it is usually brutal, violent, and has little in common with affection. It should be noted that consent is still important in their culture, their sex is usually an organized conflict, with both partners deciding the other is worth the challenge of sexual conquest, they are after all, both divine beings. Their concept of gender is simply Zal, their word for self, and is similar to 'godling' or 'divine.' They almost always adopt female pronouns, though some adopt male. Very, very few would adopt a gender neutral pronoun as the entire purpose for adopting a 'standard' pronoun is simplicity of interactions and identity to foreigners. Finally the nearest thing they have to affection is relationship to themselves. Their mother is what made them, and what they fear most. Their siblings are their closest rivals. Their offspring are part of them that lives on, and their employees, underlings, etc, are their domain. Affection is only such in a purely self-centered way for almost all kemzali.

Kemzali Mental State

As it is probably understood at this point, kemzali are abjectly self centered. All things are seen in relationship to themselves. They're asocial at best, and regard most things as either threats, short lived tools, or pets. They can get close to others, but it is a rare kemzali that truly learns to appreciate someone else for something other than a benefit they bring to themselves. Their most intense feelings are not for friends or associates, but for rivals that they can defeat, fight and reproduce with by some manner of semi-consensual force. Similarly there is nothing more erotic to kemzali than losing to a more powerful rival. It gives them a goalpost not to respect the other, but to long to dominate and ascend above.

Avatar Creation

The easiest avatar directly translatable to a kemzali is the ghosted tigerlong with its horns removed and replaced. Though others may work. As a rule, kemzali are unlikely to an extreme to engage in significant body modification. They are biologically and mentally hardwired to being self-centered and consider themselves a near perfect, divine state. Cybernetics are almost unheard of as its marring their perfection (and can negatively effect their natural psionic nature) and biological alteration via any form of splicing is similarly, when present, usually minor alterations or temporary in nature. Why alter what is perfect?