Astran

The Astran are one of the most well known races amongst the scattered civilizations of The Excess. Seemingly meant for the stars, the Astran are assumed to be the first intelligent race to travel the stars, having created ships that could traverse the excess before many other races had even discovered fire. The Astran people now, is scarce, with their remains having been scattered throughout the cosmos. Their home world, Initium, was destroyed by the Volcanus millennia ago, and they have not since recovered or founded a new home world. Astran wayfinders simply reside among allied races who align under COU.

Bloodfire Mentor by Chase Stone

One of the most influential discoveries by the Astran are their flying ships, which used outer magic to allow the Astran to traverse the stars. This technology was given to many races during the first voyages the Astran set out on. As a culturally generous and giving people, they saw no flaw in this decision. Even though the Volcanus would soon prove that decision foolish.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Those that look upon an astran’s peculiar features can tell that these creatures are not of this world. Although humanoid in form, an astran’s appearance is off-putting. Their bodies are long and wiry, and their skin is the color of ash, accented by deep crimson hues. But their most unique feature is the shape of their head, which is characterized by a set of three tentacle-like protrusions from the back of their skull, as well as pairs of smaller protrusions set into their slender face. They are approximately 7 feet tall on average, though some can stand up to 8 and half feet tall. Despite their staggering height, astrans usually only weigh between 130 and 170 pounds. They have no hair on any part of their bodies. To the other races all astrans look quite similar. While other astrans can easily tell their kind apart, most others need to study their features for at least a few moments before coming to a conclusion. If in doubt, all astrans can be set apart by their uniquely colored eyes, which can take on nearly any color and often contain complex patterns that are as unique as fingerprints.

Genetics and Reproduction

The astran are creatures of the stars, and reproduce in a rather strange way, more alien than most of the races of the Excess. An astran's dreams are magical, and when it comes a time that an astran is ready to reproduce, a small piece of their soul leaves them, and finds itself forming into an asteroid. This asteroid will orbit the planet the astran was on at the time of conception, and gestate for a number of months. When it does fall, the meteorite acts like the shell of an egg, until after a few weeks a tiny astran will emerge. A young astran will understand it's innate magical abilities enough to take care of themselves if left alone, though on Initium it had become common place to simply adopt any children the sky would gift you with. The concept of biological family is incredibly alien to the astran, and those unfamiliar with other forms of reproduction will find the idea incredibly jarring.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Simply because of their nature, ever since the destruction of Initium, the Astran have simply adopted names given to them by the cultures they find themselves among. This causes a number of confusions when it comes to introductions, with people expecting a human man behind a so called Jeff's door, when suddenly a strange all grey man stands on the other side.

Major Organizations

The astran incredibly well known for founding the The Cosmic Order of Unification, and you'd be hard pressed to find one who didn't align with their ideals.

Gender Ideals

Astrans are also completely genderless, and therefore have no concept of ‘male’ or ‘female.’ Their bodies look more masculine to other races, however, and they are usually fine with being referred to as ‘he’, though won't usually hesitate from correcting them to the more appropriate 'they'.

Average Technological Level

The Astran were, before the destruction of Initium, one of the most technologically advanced races to exist, period. Though, many of their discoveries were lost. The volcanus hunted down their well known engineers and scientists, as to stunt their recovery, and they did an incredible job with it. With the exception of the gifts of flight they gave to fledgling races, almost none of the information they had attained in their existence still remains.