Bulls

These lads were conquered by the Goners some centuries before the human-Goner war. They're lacking in aggression and lust for power and as a result not that much has happened in their history.

The term "bulls" comes from them being referred to as such by human soldiers during the human-Goner war; based off of how they're often eaten by Goners, the fact that they are either completely non-aggressive or go utterly insane in combat and their herd mentalities.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Imagine a bear with a head like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo with floppy ears, which will then have floppy and wide ears or a Labrador or the dragon from the Never Ending Story.

They generally move on all fours but can also walk on their back legs without much problem. Their claws are retractable and their fingers quite flexible, with fingers having different claws between sharp, coarse and blunt (which are used for delicately picking fruit) and their "combat claws", which they use to defend themselves and one another from predators (in those genetically modified for combat these claws are larger and sharper).

Fun fact: both males and females have pouches in which they keep various things, including their young.

Biological Traits

The weaponised Bulls have big "combat claws", thick and tough skin, fur that is modified to be stronger (acting like Kevlar) and deflect light (reducing laser damage), have weird pouches, are larger and stronger and are basically psychopaths. No seriously.

Regular Bulls don't have any of the above but internal variations include; facial features, fur colouration, pouch size, size, (to some degree) proportions and personalities.

Genetics and Reproduction

Once a year (which for them is 534 and a half days), one or two young. Mating pairs that stay together for as long as they have young that can't fend for themselves yet, but have the option of ditching each other before any young are produced (after which their brains produce lots of hormones to basically force them to stick together; because of this they are generally quite careful of who they mate with) and before then are usually together for several years. Most mating pairs will have 3-7 young in their care at a time.

Growth Rate & Stages

They can't walk for the first 3 years of their lives, living in the pouches of their parents for this time. After that the pouches serve as places to sleep until the age of 10, where they're too big for pouches. It's around this time that they start going through puberty, which lasts until they're 25 (although they usually become independent at 15). They usually live to 150 after this.

Ecology and Habitats

They can survive in most temperatures. Their bodies can control the rate of hair growth and shed it at any time: this makes them able to survive in fairly (but not very) warm environments as well as very cold ones such as the arctic. They originated in mountainous jungles but these jungles aren't quite the same as those on Earth: trees are far larger but have big gaps between them and it's not that warm. Think of one of those elven forests, but with far more ground vegetation.

Dietary Needs and Habits

They can eat almost anything that is plant-y, although they generally don't like to eat wood and some plants are poisonous for them. They scavenge meat and can eat some large species of bugs and eggs.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The oldest ones are generally in charge, with the most intelligent among them being the general leader of any large group. Otherwise all of their social structures are very artificial, such as during the Many Kingdoms period of their history.

Domestication

Well if we count domestication as a form of slavery (dog owners are probably gonna hate me for putting that down)

Facial characteristics

Whether or not their noses like those those of a doggo or have hair on them plus some positioning and size differences, fur colouration on the face tends to be symmetrical but is otherwise extremely varied, snout length and width, ear shape varies massively, eye size and positioning and eye colour.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

They even have underwater cities.

Average Intelligence

You'd be surprised: they're very clever. Their average intelligence is a bit below that of humans but they have a wider range of intelligences, meaning their most intelligent would be more intelligent than humans.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Their depth perception isn't feeling too good. They have a fairly narrow range of depth-perceptive sight due to their eyes being on the sides of their heads. Their sense of hearing is quite good and their sense of smell is okay.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Lots of tick-like creatures inhabit their fur and eat their skin and drink their blood. Luckily for them they also have the existence of fur spiders who kill such ticks and other insects. Generally in the modern day though neither are widely present in their fur.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Their names are adorable when translated. "Floppy ears" and "Bouncy jumper" are common first names. Young are usually named at the age of 3.

Major Organizations

They generally get to run their own settlements and have mailing organisations between those groups, but there's not much more than that.

Beauty Ideals

"I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky" - Floppy Ears the Bull, circa 2607, colourised.

Courtship Ideals

"Remember, my fellow Bulls, your mate is for life; so be careful who you choose. Be it 3 years or 10, certainty is key." - Cleric Bouncy Jumper, circa 2703, colourised.

Relationship Ideals

Life-long relationships are already built into their biology so..

Average Technological Level

They were just waltzing into an industrial revolution when the Goners showed up. They don't have much in terms of weaponry but that's what you get when a species is extremely peaceful.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

There's the Common Tongue, 7 Regional Tongues and the Holy Tongue.

Common Etiquette Rules

Keep clean, no scratching people, hugging is part of greeting.

Common Dress Code

They... don't wear clothes.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

These guys love peace, drugs (oh I didn't mention that did I? Yeah they're total junkies) and nature. So their culture basically amounts to the perfect hippie utopia.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

They have lots of festivals, in which the events go as follows; setting up, dancing, getting drunk and high, passing out while cuddling one another, cleaning up the next day.

Common Taboos

Violence bad.

History

There's not much interesting stuff here. A general lack of much political manoeuvring, war is very rare and even then is usually quite tame. Anyone who studies it will have to be doing it for the culture because there's not that much in the way of events.

For example; the Many Kingdoms period of the First Continent (where they originated within their planet). Kings of regions were chosen by clerics, usually being close relatives of the previous kings, to run areas. Clerics and the religion they put across basically banned war and the fact that Bulls naturally aren't very power hungry meant that there wasn't much political manoeuvring happening either. Food was plentiful due to the management of the kings to ensure large rates of production and good distribution.

It was during the Age of Bridges, named for how a bridge between their planet's 2 continents was built and existed in this period, that the Goners invaded. They were extremely ruthless with the Bulls, with a policy of killing anyone in power and active suppression of those they conquered. Roughly 70percent of the Bull population was killed in this conquest and the species was enslaved by the Goners until the late human-Goner war. They now exist on 9 planets within the CHG and on several dozen planets in the LIR.

Historical Figures

Most major historical figures are inventors, doctors who found cures for things, rulers who helped their people pull through despite trying times and Farmer Clingy Fingers, who discovered that a type of extremely common inedible fruit could be made edible by mixing it with its own root juice.

Common Myths and Legends

The legend of Springy Feet, who stopped a *it's basically a wingless dragon without fire* from trampling the crops of his village by eating nasty food and urinating around the edge of the field. It stank so much that the dragon stopped going around the field. Most of their other stories would fit in very well alongside the stories of Peter Rabbit or as replacements to episodes of shows for 4-year-olds.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

They're not generally taken very seriously by other species, but opinions of them are generally positive with exception to the species who are basically might-makes-right style fascists like the Sagwalli. They generally have good opinions of everything except the might-makes-right fascists and the Goners.

Scientific Name

Callidus pecus

Origin/Ancestry

There are 2 subspecies, one of which was made by the LIR through genetic modifications.

Lifespan

150

Conservation Status

All species the LIR knows of has DNA of it stored in LIR facilities throughout their empire which could be used to bring the species back if it dies out.

Average Height

6-8.5 meters for adults when standing on back legs.

Average Weight

540 kg

Average Length

When on all fours: 5-7 meters

Average Physique

Lots of muscles with fat layered around them.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Lots of different fur colours that vary between individuals.