Kyali

A race described a bit like goat-jackolopes. They're mana-sensitive mammals native to the Iisaka Galaxy of Kasar, on a planet named Gnopha. Initially they have tried a Lainuru/Yodaban tactic of spreading out through multiple Gnopha's, but these have ended up mutating into Gnofaas, Gnophelia, and Norsha, as well as more detached colonial projects like Sytheli. They are a bit of a ploy between the SSE imperials, and the Bovid Conglomerate, having met and taken financial and technological aid from them without total full integration. As such they've partially been conduits for peace between these large federations, while sometimes found simply doing their own thing and stubborn to change some habits.
They are renowned and understood by a few principles. They have some gifted fusion of tech and faith in their culture, and strange little developments. They're revered for incredible dark ales, their views on taking faith, and their legendary Fogveil Martial Arts. This accounts for their strange abilities, shooting out light, and using a 'flash' mana effect of micro-teleporting in the middle of combat, and their energy blade technology backing it.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Their body is a humanoid structure, and unless tempered unnaturally, is often lean with a sturdy sternum, and more muscular definition in the thighs & glutes, and the scalp where upward horns protrude. Long loped ears, fleece-like thick density of fur flowing from the scalp on back define a lot of the upper-cranium. They have a mid-short snout, which can just out wither either a more rectangular or rounder goat or rabbit-like shape depending on genetics and fat distribution. Their bodies can come in fur-coats of gray and silver to earthly and darker colors. Undercoats can sort of mix, but they don't have much for patterns in their genetics. Their fore-limbs end in simple hands with dark nails made almost as tough as their horns. Legs go down to hooves and dew-claws. That tails are a bit like short lion-tails or ovebis, often not very long, but ending in a little woolly plume. In rare cases an individual may grow out much thicker fur that forms more like a wolf/fox tail, but its uncommon.
Males tend to develop larger and thicker "treetrunk" horns, while females develop more "lightning bolt" shaped weaving horns. Fleece-like hair is applicable to either, but males may also find more of this also coming around their collar, chest, and chin while its very rare for females to find growing outside the regular hair range. Female and male anatomy works more typical per bipedal mammal, with more curves for females, though males still tend to have large thigh muscle development, while females do still share a bit of strong shoulders without being as reinforced as per male. Males also tend to get longer dew claws, though its popular and even sometimes medically necessary to clip and trip at them, with some bad cases of males having dew claws curve up and puncture into the legs if untreated.

Genetics and Reproduction

Reproduce sexually, though also with a strange influx of mana infusion. Females are superfetacious. In completely ordinary circumstances they get one child from mating, and may gestate around 7-8 months, and may become impregnated with more children even while developing. However they seem to have unusual mana-magnetism that heavily flows and works with a maternal cycle. Having a conduit or loose (not directly damaging) mana and energy around a developing child can reinforce and "boost" them. Offspring can develop faster, and if onset from early term, can even multiply and extend into a mid-small litter. Orichalcum and similar cousin entities, and ancient beliefs attributed to dieties, have circled the culture and been used to explain or reinforce 'fertility' rituals. To the present day, even virgin females may be found sometimes wearing or given jewlery intended to be strapped and adorning around their navel or belt, and if actually magic, is expected to fortify and assist a more fruitful pregnancy.
If quirks are combined, like two different sired pregnancies coming close together and then a 'boost' of mana to turn each child into a litter, usually the closer children are 'merged' in some way and may come out with a more mixed batch of genetics. Usually this is without a problem, but may catch an intended or choosen father figure off-guard.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Kyali are omnivores with hard incisors for tearing into thick hides and tough meats. Their pallete tends to be driven to be enamored with smokey flavors, rich creams, soft but present spices, and salty tastes. They are even known to lick gems and grainy things for savoring the texture or looking for minerals, of which their native stones sometimes do have a strangely salty-sweet tone. Largely they tend to produce and enjoy salty grains, roasted malt and high-yeast alcohols, bitter teas, smokey and lightly glazed meats, and crunchy crops. They are very big on beer, and after the BPC, have gotten quite renowned and had it exported out.
Kyali used to be quite adept at balancing their diet and work. Some were raised with only one huge meal a day for main course meats and drinks, while their mundane and task-riddled time would be spent only eating either a small fruit serving, or having 'mineral lick' treats (often dull gems or limestone pebbles smothered in salt). Other regional eating morals simply kept small plates or strict finger-held servings. As such they never seen much effects caused by eating, but a richer diet and unusual chemistry in Kronahai crops that were imported to grow and farm wildly, has caused a large love. They've also followed the influence of a allowing few fast food places, and embraced the expansion of their beer industry with more drinking. Their eating and universal weight has grown exponentially. A few centuries into the bovine federation, its now estimated that 75% of the matured species is overweight, and has arguably been the sneaky biggest cultural change as changes had to be made to defensive martial arts, and tailoring needs.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Verbal Conventions

Baby = Tott
Child = Dwarf
Female = Lassi
Male = Kaddo

Societal Forms & History

Gnophan Kyali come from a strange mix of historic features and changes, though it is to note they seemingly went untouched during the entire ISE timespan of their galaxy. They seem like humble country people with smaller towns and villages, but have long enjoyed ideals of small communities running things together, and working over interconnected councils with a mindset they often attribute to being like rivers. While this hasn't always gone perfect, even having small micro-wars breaking out, they tend to find quick solutions, including 'grudge trips' where towns on bad terms would still make deals through proxy communications with the help of other mutually friendly councils that wanted to hold peace. Despite low-tech appearances and some strong religious icons still drawing back to the sun and sky, they actually made it to the intelligent stage of launching spacial drones and astronaut strides by themselves until it got positive outside attention.
In each community were sets of nearly universal guilds. These often were named after common things in society, including: Wall (Warrior), Pollen (Arts/Trade/Capentry), Cloud (Education & Faith), with a few rare or merging guilds in odd regional circumstances. Like one area may have a Stone Guild for working with minerals and magic stones, but often those ended up merging or falling more into Cloud responsibilities, or a council may try to install a special union for their own protection until they realize it becomes easier to work closer with their local Wall members.
The k'siiva/SSE has since intervened, and peacefully offered to settle with new bonuses that sped up their tech, tailored it to their needs even, at the expense of less council power. They even led to the creation of a new guild, though also slighted and weakened powers to Wall and sometimes even embarassed Cloud guilds. They ended up reinventing a form of placement rift openings, made from special stones. These became gateways that improved local travel, and even planetary colonization, and they propped up special management unions for travel, supplies, and aid, as River guilds. They also bestowed them with new power-drawn resources, synthetic mana conduits known as Sleep Stones and Nuopal gems, and larger circulated an influx of new techs and AI assistance. This lead to the surging wave of sub-Gnopha colonies, and even some broken off from the project like Sytheli. To this day a large influx of aqueeb have also colonized and lived beside. While the empire would later dwindled down to only remote and outpost controlled locations, there remains some k'siiva and allies roaming and interacting, and a lot of virtually sovereign aqueeb by now.
When the Bovid Prosperity Conglomerate settled, and met with SSE, a deal and purchase was made to exchange the rights of numerous territories and claim most of the planet... and most of its directly related planets. Many councils agreed and happily sided with their new masters, calling this The Accord Of Hooves. Taur, ovebis, and smaller more remote batches of elkyne, and labris were then spotted across many places and multiplied quick. On other sister planets, different mixes of the BPC visited, with some seeing more of other allied races. Most that could, then quickly cultivated a new wave of harvests, more housing booms, and some subtle changes and agreements to different names and a few new divisions. A couple small locations grew a lot bigger per size, with Gnopha beginning to form more larger city structures in some select regions, while other areas are promised to have their greener integrity kept. Almost a total rarity and misunderstood when it used to occur, kyali of the following generations began to quickly fatten-up, and took a great love to kronahai imported crops, and had to triple their brewery formations to please an outside audience that started to love and crave large sums of their older dark and hazy ales. As such industry and people have grown a lot with the arrival of the BPC, though it is still seen rare for a kyali to "entirely" integrate and join a large expedition or aid service with a Conglomerate fleet.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

As more are growing fat and seen slowly slipping out of their normal worlds, without direct protection they are sometimes quickly tested for meat quality. Though rare, many "gulpers" love the flavor of a fat kyali. Often it can be described in cooked forms as well as Salty mutton-like with hints of tikerin flavors and texture. Their hair may also be forcefully sheared as a more rare fleece commodity, and sells high for its more spare material. Horns, especially Lassi variety, are also popular to take and collect.

Civilization and Culture

Relationship Ideals

Kyali aren't very consisten in a full familial unit relation, though tend to steer mostly into a promiscuous lifestile with monagamous units still held. Often they expect some help or cooperation with one of many mates they may couple with, and try to pick one they enjoy the company of most, mixed with a valueable quality, skill, or effort they put out. A lot of times the female holds the most power in these relations, especially if under Conglomerate cultured influences. However even in older times, the fact was she could come home and make requests or orders with expectations to support a new child without a lot of word from the partner, but in having that power the male agreed to be with her on terms expecting she was responsible and capable of making smart choices. In some cases, relation networks become more tangles and larger groups may form of shift more elaborate home or communal spots into more of a mixed harem or general small communal habitat for a complicated set of relations, but these are uncommon. Then others may never decide to fully settle with any social unit, and simply make deals to pass or choose which children they will support, or if the other will take them. However this is also rare or unsustainable.
If building a familial unit, often its done while ackowledging the promiscuous habits between a pair. As such, fathers can find themselves looking at sons and daughters that aren't their own making, but still bestow a responsibility like one. Sometimes its a guessing game spirit as to even which may be "truly theirs", and naturally this is lost entirely if the infant was mana-fused in gestation with others. Sometimes the choosen father cannot find his influence in the fused infants at all, and may refer onto them akin to an indirect offspring. These indirect father-child relations may be called guide-father or a Zagasi (older Gnopha term for lifelong protege, refering to the child) or Zagasi link in the broader sense. If the indirect child should find his actual father and build a relation, this is simply deemed a blood-son/father, but not entirely respected as a part of the familal unit.

Lifespan

90-140 Years

Average Height

1.65-1.9m

Average Physique

Innately lean with bottom-heavy muscular portions. BPC ties have fattened-up the species in recent centuries. Many now pudgy or worse with puffy 'bunny' faces & bulging bottoms.

Geographic Distribution

• Kasar
• Taomika

Related Organizations

• Bovid Prosperity Conglomerate