Woven Biography (Woe-vin)

Hailing from the region of Vespera, a unique shard full of whimsy whose makeup leans into art and craft materials, the Woven are artificially organic almost doll-like creatures. Crisscrossed with stitches and threads drawn from their own bodies, they are a creative and passionate species capable of achieving unique solutions to many problems.
Direct yet enigmatic, lonesome, and yet social, the Woven are a species of blended differences. Considered to be a hardy folk, they can now be found all throughout Refuge as natural explorers and adventurers looking for ways to improve their own passions. However, these characteristics come at the cost that Woven appear to find great difficulty in creating and maintaining their own culture. As such, they find themselves attracted to the regions and settlements of other species in order to satisfy their curious urges.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Bearing large glass-like claws, a felt-like skin, and thread-like fur, the almost doll-like nature of the Woven is immediately apparent to those of a more traditional biological make-up. However, the Woven are not magical dolls but instead beings with skeletons, circulatory systems, and functioning brains as well. While each component is rendered in an artificial manner, such as their skeletons being made of a rather flexible but strong plastic material, their bodies function much the same as they do for other biological beings. That said, there is one notable exception. The Woven do not possess any functioning sexual characteristics and as such have to reproduce in a different and unique way when compared to others.
Breaking down their body, the most notable aspect of a Woven is their claws. Made of a strange combination of tough glass and metal that is also present in their teeth, these claws are razor-sharp and capable of inflicting deep wounds should they make contact. That said, when not hunting or defending themselves, the Woven will go to great lengths to keep their light-scattering glass claws from affecting those around them. As an aside, it should be noted that they'll use their large claws in a variety of applications such as cutting paper, knitting, and stirring soups.
Other noteworthy features include their long thin tails, large ears, and digitigrade posture. Covered with a flurry of fur along their lengths and tips, the Woven's tail is capable of quick and flexible movements. This allows these appendages to not only convey a Woven's body language but also act as a source of thread for personal use in equal measure.
While many would assume that a Woven's large folding ears are capable of hearing vast distances, the truth is that their hearing is average to slightly above average at best. Instead, acting as a means to show mood, a Woven's animal-like ears are an essential part of their ability to communicate with others.
Finally, the Woven have one last distinct feature that is not immediately obvious to the casual observer. Should they be injured then what will ooze from the wound will not be red blood but instead a silver almost mercury-like substance. Considered to be highly flammable, this substance is capable of breaking down many organic and inorganic substances over time.

Biological Traits

Born without gender or sexual characteristics, it would not be presumptive to assume that many Woven are relatively similar when it comes to their biological traits. That said, as a Woven grows they will often begin to personalize their own bodies with a variety of different characteristics, such as adding feminine or masculine features should they want to emphasize a chosen gender, or changing their body's profile to better pursue a specific hobby.

Genetics and Reproduction

Unlike many species within Refuge, the Woven do not reproduce through sexual contact. Lacking sexual characteristics, the Woven instead engage in a lengthy two-fold process when creating their young.
In order to create new Woven children, two adult Woven will engage in an extensive and elaborate courtship that may last months if not years. Growing deeper in their connection, Woven will slowly grow to know each other until they are considered to be nearly inseparable. At this point, when they feel they no longer have any room for doubt, the engaged Woven will begin to craft a doll. Created in their species' image and whose materials are drawn from the parent's bodies, the young Woven will steadily be crafted over a period of several weeks. Then, once their physical form has been completed, the resulting child will require two final pieces to finish the process.
Each parent will then reach into themselves and draw from their inner core exactly one piece to a puzzle box. Considered to be the very essence of the Woven themselves, these intricate puzzle pieces will only be compatible with their partner's puzzle box piece. Created over time due to their lengthy courtship and profound love for each other, these pieces are then combined together into one whole puzzle box and inserted into the empty doll who will then be filled with life from their parent's love.
Able to repeat the process once every 3-5 years, the parenting Woven take great pains to keep their created children safe until they are ready to defend themselves.

Growth Rate & Stages

While a child, Woven will look much like patchwork dolls. Their color and fur patterns, the former directly given from their parent's own hide, while the latter is purposefully designed by their touch, will often be stark and contrasting. However, as the young Woven grows, their colors and patterns will gradually blend more naturally upon their bodies until they fully mature at the age of 16. Once fully grown, Woven are then expected to help with their communities although it is not unusual for many to strike out on their own in search of adventure, creative inspiration, and potential mates.

Ecology and Habitats

Fiercely creative, Woven will seek to become the masters of their environment and as such value hard work in cultivating their surroundings into their desired spaces. This can include creating elaborate maze-like fields for crops, constructing seemingly random but intricate shelters, and maintaining complex but satisfying bonds with others. Within Vespera, Woven may choose craft environments that fit their prospective hobbies, such as the paper-mache forests, stained glass ruins, or origami meadows, to inspire themselves. While this may be more complicated in regions outside of Vespera, Woven will still tend to commit to various careers or working environments that suit their creative needs.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Able to eat a wide variety of food and nonfood products, such as paper, wood, and clay, the Woven possess extremely efficient digestive systems that are able to process nearly every aspect of their meals to be utilized within their artificially organic bodies. As a result, they do not need to eat frequently, around once every 2 weeks, however, this has resulted in many Woven being picky about their food, and as such it is not unusual for this species to go through great pain to ensure that their meals are well-done.
Notably, many Woven enjoy savory or umami foods, such as milk, as these flavors often remind the Woven of the comfort and security they felt when they were first held in their parent's felt-covered arms. On the other side of the food coin, many Woven also have the tendency to dislike spicy food due to being reminded of fire and sharp objects when they consume it.

Biological Cycle

Considered to be a species that rarely experiences change throughout their lives unless physically modified, generally by their own hand, the Woven experience great youth and vitality for many of their years. However, upon reaching around the age of 120 to 130 the Woven will generally begin to experience a physical decline that will last until their natural death. Their cloth skin and fur will fade in coloration, their bodies will gradually grow stiffer, and small cuts will be harder and harder to repair.

Behaviour

Creative and passionate, the machinations of the Woven can often be a strange mixture of both direct and unusual actions and emotional expressions. While not so enigmatic as to be completely unreadable, the Woven and their motivations can be hard to follow for those not used to their strange personalities. That said, Woven tend to integrate themselves into communities thanks to their social predilections and useful skills depending on their chosen passion. Provided, of course, that the community in question is able to look past the Woven's artificially organic body.
Other unique behaviors associated with the Woven include an ability to mimick many sounds which they use to help lure prey into their grasp as well as a natural ability to stitch and sew up their own bodies when injured by picking threads from their hair/fur and using their needle-like claws. This trait has also proven useful when they wish to modify their own bodies as well in pursuit of personal expression.

Additional Information

Social Structure

A species struck by a unique dichotomy, the Woven have to balance community and individuality in equal measure in order to survive and thrive. Passionate to a fault, they often clash with other Woven in the pursuit of their ambitious hobbies. However, this does not mean that they are incapable of working together with others. Rather, many are forced to admit compromise so that they can achieve security that allows them to better pursue their creativity. As a result, many Woven communities look like a hodge-podge of artistic instability, however, upon closer inspection, one can identify the true strength of their social foundations and harmonious teamwork.
Because of their individual dedication for hobby perfection, however, this often means that the collection and dissemination of knowledge is often lacking if not entirely absent within Woven communities. As such, it is not unheard of for Woven to essentially reinvent the wheel every few generations. A concept that can be seen in individual Woven who will create something unique related to their discipline only to forget how they came to it later.
Otherwise, however, Woven do support strong family systems with created Woven generally acquiescing to their parents and older family members should conflict arise.

Average Intelligence

Of average to above average intelligence, the Woven are not considered to be the smartest among many of Refuge's sentient species. However, their persistence, creativity, and passion often allow them to reach conclusions and solutions that may evade many others. Possessing immense amounts of grit, they will generally strive to try again despite repeated failures. A definition of insanity to some and an inspiration to others.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

While the Woven do not excel in most senses due to their cloth-like nature, they do possess an extensive propensity for identifying visual dangers in their environment. This ability is considered to have evolved due to having lived in a region where predators are able to hide amongst the chaos of various seemingly colorful and innocent materials such as paper and glass landscapes.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Due to the nature of the Woven's default language, one that they acquired as a species upon first meeting explorers from beyond their region within Refuge, their birth names tend to be filled with blunt and slicing sounds and emphasis. However, breaking away from the natural naming conventions of their first language, Woven have a propensity for using alliteration as a part of their names. Here are a few examples of individual Woven names:
Silenco Sitago
Blunacht Blutan
Charn Chul
However, these names are not the final evolution of their identities. As a Woven grows and begins to develop their interest in a passion or hobby, a second community-given name will be added onto their original name. Frequently given by older members of their community, their secondary title will be in a form of common with an emphasis on what hobby or passion the individual Woven has invested themselves into. For example here are some names followed by what passion they represent:
Talleur Talecto of the White Flour - Hobby in Baking
Yammur Yamor of the Carving Wood - Hobby in Wood Carving
Daden Dadur of the Fractured Light  - Hobby in Glass Sculptures

Major Organizations

TO BE DETERMINED

Gender Ideals

Lacking natural gender characteristics when they are young, it is not uncommon for Woven to experiment with various gender characteristics as they grow older. However, they tend to be limited in Woven communities, as such it's not unusual to see a broader expanse of features for Woven who live outside of Vespera and are thus influenced by other species and their gender characteristics. This can include having larger individual muscles, 2 or more breasts, and even culturally expectant clothing such as male-centric dresses or female suits.

Courtship Ideals

Often mating for life, Woven will integrate exhaustive courtships as they begin to date and romance another individual. While the specifics differ between individual Woven and the regions they reside in, they are always activities that encourage the development of both characters, for example, learning a new skill together or commenting on an unusual or profound experience that they can share. As there are no expectations for who should engage first, it's generally accepted practice for each partner to take turns romancing the other before being romanced in turn.

Relationship Ideals

While many Woven practice monogamy with a single partner, this is more out of practicality than any other reason. As it takes time to invest in a partner to create a child, having multiple partners can quickly make this concept a messy one. However, that said, there have been examples throughout Woven history and society of poly relationships being able to successfully create young together with each member contributing a part of the puzzle box necessary for the child to live.

Average Technological Level

A species with a fierce need to experiment and master their chosen disciplines and hobbies, Woven have been able to reach renascence levels of technological attainment multiple times throughout their brief history on Refuge. However, they frequently forget this technology as, inevitably, most Woven individuals forget to record their progress and technological blueprints for future generations to use.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Lacking a native language of their own, the Woven instead stole their common language from adventurers who had first crossed into Vespera after the drop. Good at mimicking animal noises and the patterns necessary to evoke certain responses from their prey, they quickly learned how to construct the basic sentences necessary to begin true communication with other sentient beings. This ability has not faded and as such it is often surprising when a Woven walks into a region and begins speaking the dialect after a few days of listening.
Currently, the Woven prefer languages that evoke blunt or slicing expressions. The reason for this is, as noted by Woven who specialize in language, because the words of those languages intrigue and excite the Woven tongue.

Common Etiquette Rules

One of the most common etiquettes that Woven practice is the Art of Sharing Interest. When engaging with another individual, the Woven will encourage their partner to show their "passion" in exchange for sharing their own. This manner evolved as a way to build community and to allow for fresh inspiration and ideas to flourish by seeing the works of others. To refuse to see another's work while showing off your own is considered to be rather rude.

Common Dress Code

Lacking inherent dresses and outfits of their own culture, the Woven have been known to either copy the dresses of other sentient species around them or forgo clothes entirely. However, the latter is often met with curiosity and disgust by other sentient species who are unfamiliar with Woven biology. That said, Woven do practice practicality when it comes to their hobbies and as such many of their outfits will reflect this quality. For example, wearing pants with many pockets if they need space to hold shiny gems that they cultivate or weathered aprons if they are preparing food.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

TO BE DETERMINED

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

TO BE DETERMINED

Common Taboos

For Woven, there exists one taboo above all others. Due to the nature of their bodies and the lengthy healing they require, cutting another Woven is considered to be a grave insult and as such is reserved for the most extreme of circumstances. Therefore, great care is taken when interacting with another Woven in this capacity. With this in mind, many Woven can be almost unnaturally graceful with their claws when engaging with another being, especially in contexts where physical contact occurs. This grace extends towards interaction with many objects as well and as such a Woven's movements as they perform tasks can seem almost gentle.

History

TO BE DETERMINED

Historical Figures

TO BE DETERMINED

Common Myths and Legends

TO BE DETERMINED

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

TO BE DETERMINED

Lifespan

150 - 180 years.

Conservation Status

Considered a relatively rare species throughout Refuge due to both their unusual artificial organic nature and lengthy reproduction cycle, the Woven have been able to maintain a consistent population due to their relatively hardy nature and longer than average lives.

Average Height

5'9" to 6'2" with an added 4" on average for their ears.

Average Weight

100 - 150 pounds.

Average Physique

Due to their artificial nature, Woven tend to be relatively modifiable to a degree. As such, it's not unusual to find Woven consisting of a large diversity of builds that they have actively worked towards. However, most Woven tend to remain around a build that emphasizes a slim litheness as this form is generally one that they are born with, and thus find the most comfortable, and one that is useful when pursuing a variety of creative endeavors.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Creatures born from creativity, it should come to no surprise that the Woven possess a large variety of markings and fur colorations. Crafted from the colors of their parent's bodies and lovingly given their patterns upon creation the Woven tend to be akin to patchwork quilts when "born" but gradually will have their stark colorations and patterns begin to blend into more natural gradients and shapes as they grow older.
Consisting primarily of two to three colors taken from their parent's forms, it is not uncommon to see different symbols or decorations littering a Woven's hide. Many of these impressions are often inspired by significant events or circumstances that their parents experienced. For example, a Woven may have a shield image upon their back as the result of one of their parents having been protected by a knight during an adventure.
Because of this great diversity among Woven, each individual member is often difficult to forget. A valid observation that is made more so as they grow older and modify their own bodies with personal touches.

Geographic Distribution

• Vespera