Shyr

Sheer

Hyper-adapted to specific niches, shyr have become heavily reliant on others and modern technology to meet their specific needs. Often bound to a limited range, they are sticklers to traditional ways of living and resourceful. Their influences continue to be felt in today’s medicinal advancements, food culture, and technological wonders like the THRU Rings: one of the greatest achievements in intergalactic history.

Appearance & Features

“Shyr” is colloquially synonymous with the particular species of shyr that is divided into many factions. Shyr—referring to the entire race—all have a slender and lanky build, narrow feet, multiple korekas, and a single-chambered kor. Like their Sefora cousins, shyr also have a deep breastbone, long torso, four digits on both hands, unique markings across their body (subtle or otherwise), and digitigrade legs with three toes tipped by talons. The soles of their feet are very thick and their legs are extremely powerful. A single kick could be lethal. The use of one’s legs as a weapon is not socially acceptable unless warranted or situationally required.

Species

This race, like sefora, comes in a colorful variety with three distinct species, each with its own dramatically unique features.
Ly'kor are native to the fire hot substellar point of Serpentis, locally known as She'salla. They have feathery wings and lythe bodies that are covered in small, white scales which are rounded and smooth. Their scales also have a hint of pearlescence and a faint overtone of any color. Ly’kor gene expression has created several castes, enabling individuals to perform specialized tasks for the benefit of themselves and their colony.
Ny'kor are native to the perpetually dark antistellar face of the planet, locally known as She'kilna. They are larger than other species of sefora or shyr and can tolerate temperatures as low as -300°F thanks to their large furnace-like kor, thick and insulating scales, and abundance of special proteins in their blood which act like a natural antifreeze.
Shyr come in a wide range of factions—subspecies—which each exhibit their own unique traits. As a whole, shyr have a pair of koriiatuus and are armless with floaty hands. The kor orientation of general populations of shyr is dependent on the regions of the planet they live on and their more specific physical and physiological characteristics are determined by their faction.

Basic Biology

Shyr and sefora closely share many features, but those that are unique to shyr are their single-chamber kor, five korekas, and hyper-adaption to a specific environmental niche. Koriattuu and ekttua are also exclusive to those who have floaty hands.
Put simply, a shyr’s kor is not part of a separate organ system like organisms of other worlds. Their kor is an all-in-one, compact system that performs most of the bodily functions. Core energy also flows directly through their veins and arteries, influencing the color of their blood. Whereas in creatures of other worlds, the core system is totally separate from that of the cardiovascular. Like sefora, the digestive power and efficiency of the kor allows shyr to utilize 100% of what they consume. Whatever is not put toward bodily maintenance is converted into kor energy. Therefore, they don’t produce excrement.
Shyr cannot kor-bind due to the restrictions of their single-chamber. But their korekas—with lots of practice—allow them to amplify and store energy, be it their own or someone else’s. With exceptions, shyr species can interbreed and copulate with sefora. Ny’kor and ly’kor are incompatible because of opposing core orientations.
Over centuries of remaining in the same environmental conditions led to shyr becoming hyper-adapted to these conditions. Multiple factions emerged. That said, ny’kor and ly’kor have been exclusive to their current range for as long as history has been recorded, well before Nagis Keb which led to the hyper-adaption of shyr, the specific species, today. They cannot leave their specific niche without an exo-suit lest they develop adaption sickness and potentially become deathly ill.
To learn more, check out this comprehensive, clinical breakdown of shyr and sefora biology.

Culture

While all three species of shyr have major differences in culture and lifestyle, they also have many similarities in subtle or more obvious ways. For example, all have deep familial bonds and a strong sense of community. Everyone is expected to contribute. Shows of fitness through play, combat, hunting, sparring, etc. are important, especially come time to choose a partner. And life milestones are always celebrated. All other aspects of culture are dependent on faction and species.

Family Customs

Across the board, the family unit always comes first. More specifically, the youngest. Pups are extremely vulnerable even in their teens. So they are always given food, care, and medical attention, etc. before anyone else. Ensuring the stability and continuation of the family is critical. The family is usually headed by a matriarch who has the final say on important decisions, such as the approval of a prospective spouse presented by a family member. One’s bloodline is a major point of consideration. She may also choose whether to give her blessing to a relative wishing to join their mate’s family. Regarding partnerships, it is customary for a partner to live in the home of the family with greater social significance. Any who become mated to a Sheruui, the most revered shyr family, will always leave their own family to live in the Sheruui homestead.
All Serpentian people, shyr or sefora, have a talisman of some form that distinguishes the family they hail from. Over the generations, the talisman is known to change as significant familial events occur. This talisman can be as simple as a pin or pendant, or they can be complex embroideries of specific colors on specific fabrics. It is very common for families to have a particular clothing style should their talisman be worked into the foundational design of their clothing. Many, if not most, of these talismans are handmade by expecting parents or by the matriarch when someone is mated into the family.
While many sefora children attend municipal schools, mentorships, and other extracurricular activities, the vast majority of shyr children are taught directly by their own elders or those within the colony they inhabit. They are taught critical survival skills, how to use their kor, biological lessons, and more. And while it’s typical of colonies to not have access to internet or to be far beyond city limits, others are close enough for individuals to commute to a job or attend university if they have great aspirations.

Rite of Adulthood

Shyr celebrate their transition into adulthood with a rite of passage that differs from faction to faction and species to species. It’s a time when young adults prove their abilities as an able member of the family and secure their right to engage in important functions like hunting, foraging, and agriculture. They also are given their matriarch’s blessing to begin searching for a partner if they so choose.
In ny’kor, both young men and women are guided through the crafting of their own weapon which they will use to kill their first demon. If the weapon is a success, they will use it for the rest of their life for the purpose of self defense, hunting, and in displays of strength to win the hand of a potential mate.
When a young ly’kor is fully grown into a caste—whatever that may be—they will formally accompany other caste-mates to perform their first real task. Young hunters will make their first kill, waterbearers will go on their first voyage to the steam vents, winter guards will spend their first winter defending against demons, and so forth.
Factions all have their own spin on this determined by the needs of the family and the environment they live in. Young mountain shyr adults will shepard their family’s livestock, sky shyr take their first flight on their itoreh companion, desert shyr make their first harvest of oxi and crops, tundra shyr make their first tespr kill, etc.

History & Influence

The influence of shyr originates as far back as the time when Ancients roamed the universe. Shyr Sheruui was the first Ancient. Sheruui literally means “first.” Per Serpentian history—though some may call it mythology—Shyr Sheruui created the Shyrofor galaxy and most things within it, Serpentis in particular. Those in the Sheruui family are her descendants and so are highly revered. Their height—the tallest of any shyr or sefora—make them easily recognizable.
In the distant past, many shyr led nomadic lives while others were stationary and living closely among sefora. Ny’kor and ly’kor remained in the same place they are today and have never been well documented or understood by the general public. Together, both shyr and sefora influenced one another’s lifestyles and traditions, ultimately leading to globally shared social norms, rituals, and food culture.

Societal Absence

Following Nagis Keb and Hetenkaa, shyr had effectively left the stage. Cities were home to only sefora for countless generations. Today, cultural cities like Thess are still made up of almost entirely sefora.
With the creation of the Shyr Inclusion Initiative some centuries ago, investments had been made to create towns between key climate rings as new places for shyr to gather and socialize. The hope was that by exposing shyr to slight differences in environmental conditions on a regular basis, that the hyperadaption of shyr would be reversed over time. This backfired. Instead, factions bled together to create subfactions. For example, a snowy city built in the boreal forests between the tundras and temperate forests only produced populations of a new group of forest dwellers hyper-adapted to taigas.
Shyr had been absent from society for so long that their rapid resurgence began only recently, near the end of the last era some millennium ago, within the space of a few generations. Despite having more of a presence in general society, many sefora still feel that shyr are absent, a very uncommon sight, or even far less abundant altogether. Because shyr are divided into factions, it is common for people to be accustomed to the sight of one or two different factions. Any others may be regarded as unexpected. This is especially true for ny’kor and ly’kor who are almost entirely non-existent beyond She’kilna and She’salla respectively.

Exo-suits

The development of nanotech Demon Guard armor inspired exo-suits which were created to emulate environmental conditions. They are strictly custom made and tailored to exactly suit their wearer’s form and needs. These suits have freed shyr by enabling them to safely travel beyond a restrictive range. Exo-suits today can be custom programmed to accurately simulate specific humidity ranges, atmospheric conditions of high elevated areas, subzero temperatures, intense heat, pressures of ocean depth, many other conditions, and any combination thereof. They may also be requested with a helmet to create a closed system. This is particularly advantageous for those who need such to properly emulate their biome's conditions.

Major Influences & Contributions

Shyr have made many contributions throughout the history of Serpentis and the universe: food, lifestyles, medicine, technology, clothing, urban life, and more. It should be noted that the following information almost entirely excludes ny’kor and ly’kor because they have been largely isolated from the rest of the population by nature of their specific range. Thus, little is known about their culture and are often forgotten altogether.

Food & Clothing

When shyr still lived nomadic lives, their clothing would often be collections of materials they found, crafted, or bought through their travels: fabrics, fibers, strings, braided cords, beads, shells, bones, stones, and any other interesting miscellaneous items. Some of their fabrics would be dyed with available materials leading to an evolution of clothing colors as families moved across the planet. Today, this fashion style persists. Shyr have more choice over their clothing now than they ever did before. Despite being mostly confined to a specific environmental niche with limited resources, the global trade services provided by greater quilan help all shyr have access to materials they otherwise wouldn’t. Some colonies are also within close enough proximity to municipalities to buy materials.
This clothing style was adopted by many sefora who wear modular clothing. The global fashion industry has become composed of many artisans who hand make fibers, fabrics, dyes, and miscellaneous items as well as brick and mortar clothing stores which cater to people who prefer the convenience of clothing with less hassle. These products are intended to resemble traditional garb. But rather than being many separate, interchangeable pieces, these pieces are adhered together to form a single shirt, pair of pants, etc. Some people may also attach new pieces to these later. It is also common to request custom made clothing from a tailor.
With hyper-adaption came a slew of new foods. Each faction of shyr brings its own unique recipes, methods, and food culture to the table. Mountain shyr are the major producers of shyrven ale and artisanal cheeses. Every family makes its own variety of either. Tundra dwellers have mastered the art of farming and cooking tespr and cold-hardy crops. One of the most iconic and beloved foods of Serpentis is ebelu tii tespr. Desert shyr are the only producers of traditionally farmed, artisanal oxi. Forest, grassland, and water dwellers all play a role in agriculture from vegetables and fruits to rice and fish.

Greater Quilan

Shyr originally led nomadic lives and were a global force of trade. They traveled as a single family unit, bartering with other families and people. The wealth of the planet was in constant flux through the lands. That is until the demons came. This responsibility fell upon sefora, namely kartuu, until a particular Ethiean species settled on Serpentis and evolved into the greater quilan: an established Serpentian race found natively nowhere else. These super-sized versions of their Ethiean relatives became a critical pillar in the continued success and survival of shyr. They filled the niche shyr left open and today make up the majority of Serpentis’ trade system. Capable of adapting to a wide spectrum of conditions and effectively defending themselves against demons, greater quilan reliable, hardy, and much loved by shyr and sefora alike.
Critically, shyrven families have access to resources they’d otherwise be without, like foods produced far from their range or plentiful oxi to sustain their colonies. Furthermore, greater quilan insure that the livelihoods of families remain intact by spreading the wealth of the planet once more.

Medicine & Technology

A key piece of technology that marked a critical time in intergalactic development was the collaboration between Serpentis and Ethiea to form the THRU Rings: the largest structures ever built. Many a shyrven engineer and physicist proudly stand behind this achievement. But shyr are particularly well known for their early exploitation of the natural world in combination with kor energy to produce medicines that border on the miraculous. A bad case of limb rot stands little chance against a skilled shyrven doctor. Their understanding of the inner workings of biology has lent to effective treatments and the technology required to perform even the most complex of procedures. With today's advancements, lost limbs can be replaced with fully functional prosthetics, many diseases have gone extinct, and life saving, lab-grown kor tissues have prevented the untimely deaths of any who suffer from an otherwise fatal injury or condition.

Unseen War

Demon Guards killing demons and UV barriers preventing the beasts from entering the city… These are very tangible and visible efforts to fight the scourge that plagues Serpentis. There is, however, another silent and unseen battle that rages against the monsters happening beneath the noses of the general population. The Sheruui and Lerotere families have a deeply rooted rivalry with the demons and have frequent clashes with the beasts. Unbeknownst to all others, the demons are targeting these two families in their quest to eliminate every Sheruui and claim a carefully guarded secret. The solfiyr.

Additional Remarks

Shyr Sheruui had a penchant for naming things after herself, so the story goes. Which is supposedly why the galaxy and solar system Serpentis inhabits are both called Shyrofor and the shyr are called shyr. Old texts in the Temple of Sheruui offer vague suggestions that Shyr had named her kor Serpentis, which today loosely translates in Common as something like “many who belong to one land.” It is synonymous with the word ependda, meaning “home.” Why she gave her kor that name, and whether the planet was named after it or the other way around, is hotly debated among historians. Some circles of thought have considered the easily dismissed theory of gray energy. The most popular theory however is the idea that serpentis had a different meaning in the distant past. Shyr Sheruui is considered the mother of Shyrofor (the galaxy) by Serpentians. Some scholars speculate that serpentis could have meant something akin to “mother of many lands,” and that by giving the planet this name could have instead meant “mother land.” This however banks on the idea that Serpentis was the first planet Sheruui created. This is unclear.
Creator Note
Shyr actually designed Serpentis to be a reflection of her kor which the planet is named after. Shyr was in fact a gray core, and so both light and dark energy were in constant flux throughout her being just as it is through Serpentis. Only the oldest members of the universe (Noble Whites, Guardians, exziean, etc.) know this.

Depictions of members of the Sheruui family

Native Planet
Serpentis
Related Race
Sefora
Shyr Species
Shyr Factions
Ny'kor
Ly'kor

Average Lifespan
300 - 400 YS
Average Height
(Faction dependent)
Men: 6 - 8ft
Women: 5 - 8ft
Sheruui: 8 - 9ft
Distinguishing Features
Hyperadapted
Faction-based traits
Usually armless
Slender build
Native Languages
Shyrven
Common
Factions
Cave
Desert
Forest
Grassland
Mountain
Sky
Tundra
Water
Wetland
Noteable Shyr
Kiorn
Lerotere family
Sheruui family
Shyr Sheruui