Urni (Urr-nee)

Summary

A flight-capable species of arthropod monsterkind, the urni have never been known for great empires, nations, or numbers. They're reclusive and isolationist, preferring their own and keeping out of the businesses of others. It is a learned lesson that their surviving tribes carry on, for the urni are not remarkably strong as monsters. Possessing neither great magic nor physical strength as others do, they rely upon illusionary magic and agile flight to prevail.
Living as nomads, the urni travel all over Veltrona, each tribe guided by one idea or another. Some follow the winds, others ancestral migration routes, and often more seek out rich lands that might sustain them for a time. While it is easy to scorn their demure nature, the fact they've survived Veltrona's myriad wildernesses is an unspoken for accomplishment. The urni are exceedingly skilled at winning the only game that matters: survival.
Shrouded in mystery, the flighty and elusive urni are regarded as vagrants or strangers in many lands. The great tribes can migrate through even the most capable of defenses, making them a constant presence just out of mind. It is more the case that lone agents, huntresses, and other skilled persons branch out from the tribes. These scouts are the first, and often only, point of contact many have with the urni as a whole.
In times of good fortune and friendliness, urni merchants seemingly materialize out of thin air. They quickly setup their vast tent towns, creating bazaars overnight. Upon their displays they offer all sorts of things, both mundane and unfathomably exotic. In all their travels, the urni encounter many mysterious things, and so collect them for future trade. If one needs something they can't find anywhere else, an urni bazaar may very well have it.
Knowing how futile force is, great powers offer friendliness to entice urni to visit. Among all on Veltrona, though, only the bieneren truly speak with them on the regular. The two species have a long, harminous history and so bieneren queens are often an intermediatory contact to reach the urni. It's an arrangement that suited the two well, for the queens gain influence, and the urni have protection against malicious minds.
Tides changed for the urni when the Imperium arose. Having fully earned the attention of dragonkind, many urni tribes fell to a horrible fate of slavery. Their lackluster physique and general uselessness for anything the dragons wanted saw the worst hand dealt to them. It would be only the likes of humanity and the then-unknown baarham that they found allies. Though many histories rarely account for them, skilled urni spies and assassins played pivotal roles in the rebellions that undermined the Imperium.
After the Great Darkness, the urni had largely returned to their nomadic ways. Some among them remained with others, having found a home of their own in their cities. It formed a divide in the species for the first time, between their nomadic ways and the ways of others they adopted. The Baarham Dominion proved an interesting, if contentious time for them.
Sorcerer King Ghown had no love for the urni, but many baarham anktorlas protested unfair treatment toward them. Finding little reason to care about them in particular, King Ghown elected to ignore the urni, and so did the Dominion as a whole. It would be an unwitting boon in their favor as the Dominion expanded, and many other species met with even worse fates than what the Imperium had done.
They would invariably be drawn in to help those oppressed by the Dominion. As they'd learned in the age of the Imperium, the urni put to use their esoteric talents. It's hard to say how much impact they had, for the Dominion never fell properly. After the baarham suddenly vanished, it would be only the baatari left behind that the urni found. Hearing of their plight and plea, the urni secreted away the baatari from the hateful eyes of the world.
When the baarham returned, King Ghown perished, and his daughter, Vanzkah zahd Ghown, became queen, the urni again helped. Upon hidden paths they led the new queen of the baarham and her people to Mount Skyreach, a holy place for many urni tribes. Though under the control of the hateful Bloodwing, they too had dealings with the exalted wyvern. When all was said and done, the urni left in earnest to their own ways once again. But, they had made eternal friends of the baarham and baatari.
In the centuries since, the elusive and somewhat mythical urni have slowly become more and more known. The innovations of magic, technology, and many arts of civilizations has increasingly drawn their attention. Seeing others tame the deadly wildernesses, uncover unimaginable secrets, and redefine once certain truths, proved irresistably intriguing. In seeking out those same answers, they came closer to other peoples, and so more and more urni began settling down.
Whether or not it will be the way of their future for good, however, remains to be seen.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Urni are bipedal humanoids, defined by a head, torso, four arms, hips, two legs, and large moth-like wings emerging from their shoulders. As with many other arthropod monsters, like the rachtoh, their body is made of an exoskeleton covered in a skin-like flesh analogue. Their skin is then covered in a short, fluffy covering of hair so dense it resembles fur, making them deceptively soft and comfortable looking. Only certain parts of their bodies, such as the palms of their hands, their faces, and the soles of their feet, lack this fuzzy covering.
An urni's head has human-like hair and recessed ears hidden at the sides of their heads. Their compound eyes, while being functionally very useful, give them a distinctly different air others sometimes find disturbing. An underlying 'sclera' color defines the base hue of the eye, while colorful patterns adorn the multitude of ommatidia. These patterns give the illusion of a bizarre and strange iris with a 'pupil' at the center.
At a distance one might confuse it for regular eyes until they're much closer to the urni proper. The shape and sculpture of their faces is, otherwise, quite normal, with their skin appearing unusually pristine, clear, and soft. They could be called an alien sort of beauty, exotic and different from other monsterkind species.
Two antennae extend up and out of their forehead, with females having long and curving antennae, males stubby and jagged. The antennae exists largely to detect air currents and sense smells, performing as a specific olfactory organ. Their lips overlap in a W-shape, and their tongues are unusually long for the purposes of eating.
Upon the torso there are two pairs of arms and their wings. Beneath the normal arms are the lower pair of arms, of both the same size and usability as the upper pair. The arms lead to four-fingered hands; one thumb and three fingers, respectively. On the urni's back, between the four sets of arms and on their spine, is a large, muscular hump that is the root base of their wings. The wing joints there are very flexible, giving them nearly full range of motions for manual flight, gliding, or otherwise.
Their wings grow to reach just above their ankles, but they're somewhat flexible. Urni often curl them up, or wrap them around their arms, when not using them. In a sense, their wings can function like very fancy shawls or arm scarves, and it is something they incorporate into their native clothing.
In terms of appearance, urni 'fur' and wings carry fantastic patterns upon them, either as camouflage or as a symbol of their bloodline. The center of the wing itself can resemble crystalline, an illusion created by their scales. Some even ritualistically dye themselves, changing the appearance for one purpose or another. Their wings are tactile and sensitive, though not especially erogenous. Massaging them must be done with utmost delicacy, and given that their wings are often very stressed from usage, it is an intimate and relaxing gesture.
Their legs end into four toed feet, which have unusually large, flexible hook toes. The purpose of which is to more securely grab onto surfaces, and allows the urni a position of stability. Quite surprising to many, their feet can be functional limbs in themselves for grabbing onto things, wielding tools, or utilizing weapons. In another respect, the urni are capable acrobatics and the full potential of their bodies gives them incredible dexterity.
Urni are sexually dimorphic, with the females being larger/taller, possessing enlarged breasts and wider hips. Aside from the aforementioned antennae differences, female body fluff is more pronounced and voluminous, while males err toward sleek and compact. They do have differences in their body fur and wing patterns, with females favoring jagged and 'threatening' appearances to the males swirly and curvaeous ones. In terms of body shape and proportions, both trend toward being lithe, lean, or slender, with body fat adding onto padding out their figure. As they have an exoskeleton, they cannot become too fat without potential harm to themselves.
Their color ranges are evocative of their homelands, being a blend of natural camouflage and fantastic coloration. Interbreeding with other species has long since introduced even more colors and pattern variation, making the urni visually distinct and vibrantly varied. They tend to consist of three-to-five colors working in tandem, but some bloodlines maintain the ancestral two-tone distinction. How these colors and patterns blend into each other is, itself, indicative of their lineage as well.

Biological Traits

Fragile – By monsterkind standards, urni are as physically remarkable as humans, and possess no special strength or durability.
Herbivorous Diet – Urni are largely herbivorous, consuming varied and rich plant-based foodstuffs, such as fruits, nuts, legumes, roots, vegetables, etc. Meats are reserved for preserved foods, long term storage, or special events where such things may be warranted.
Aeroframe Body – Physiologically adapted toward flight, the urni have much lighter weight and greater strength in their body for such a task. They do not have great lifting power on their own, however.
Powdery Exfoliation – Urni wings are covered in fine, fuzzy scales that help to direct mana used in flight. These scales are constantly growing in and pushing out old ones, creating an extremely fine, powdery dust they have to clean off. This mana-rich dust can serve as a kind of physical stimulant, enhancing the growth of plants or energizing a person. Depending on the species, it may cause effects anywhere from an aphrodisiac to an energy drink loaded up with caffeine.
Complex Eyes – Their eyes are developed toward perceiving broader spectrums of color, as well as sensitivity to ambient mana. Exceedingly bright light can hurt their eyes, while softer and warmer hues can have a comforting, almost hypnotic effect that lulls them to sleep.

Civilization and Culture

Relationship Ideals

Friends, family, lovers, and more are some of the few constants urni afford in their lifestyle. They spare no expense in maintaining these relationships, devoting as much time to them as they do working. One never knows what may happen in the wilds: drifting apart, sudden rivalries, fate's cruel hand, or otherwise. More than any material good, the urni value those they know, and would go to great lengths for them. It is something that makes them very amendable to socializing with the rachtoh.
Urni romanticism is a fairly open thing, intricate in its social movings but unbound in how it comes about. Love and passion are, themselves, great things to be treasured, and difficult to force about. So it is urni focus on finding connections where they arise, and enjoying what comes of them; for however long that lasts. Establishing something like a marriage is more a function of familial tying together, property management, and bloodline intermingling.
For the urni, they regard love like the moons: dancing in the same sky, destined to meet some nights, alone on others. Yet, inexplicably, drawn toward each other in an unending arrangement. Some relationships exist solely in the context of their festivities, while others build upon different grounds. It's often the case that those working certain tasks fall in with others who do the same, and they spend great time together as a result. For all others, they are bound to meet again and again as fate allows.
It is a curious blend of polyamory, monogamy, and circumstantial occurrences that forms a tangible, shifting landscape. For those unfamiliar with their lifestyle, it can make courting urni frustratingly difficult. If a spark of something emerges, their whimsical thinking may make it seem they don't value the relationship. Or, at least, are willing to 'settle down' in the stagnant way many other cultures view relationships as. Conversely, those looking for something more casual inadvertently burn the urni who were putting in great effort as they understood it.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

A peacefully amicable people, the urni wander across Veltrona in relative seclusion from other species. Their shamankas, spiritual leaders and caretakers of oral history, tell their story the most. In ancient times, a powerful goddess was shattered into twelve pieces. The urni, faithful followers of that goddess, left in search of the twelve to reassemble their goddess once more. To date, only four pieces have been found, with the remaining eight somewhere across Veltrona.
This 'great journey' of theirs is a centralizing aspect of the urni's nomadic lifestyle. Countless generations of inheritance and passing on has changed much of this story, though. None of the tribes maintain an original version any more, though the theme of 'find the twelve pieces' is unyieldingly consistent. Divine beings, curious by such a tale, have gone on in search themselves, whether for greed or to aid the urni. While there's certainly something going on, the truth of it all is impossible to uncover for certain.
Regardless of what that ultimate truth may be, urni cultures have ever been shaped by it. Nomadism became their means to search for the pieces, and so their lifestyle of choice. Though that entails all of its own hardships, they've not only survived, but learn to thrive off what Veltrona can provide. Changing times, however, have made many of them start to question this traditional way. Those settling within cities and the civilizations of others has ever concerned them.
Is it not against their ways to do so? Many shamankas debated amongst themselves, but ultimately decided it was not, necessarily, wrong to do. The urni could just as well find the twelve pieces with the aide of others. Many traditionalists, weary about involving outsiders, nonetheless shy away from doing so. While it's a growing division in the urni, especially as newer generations grow in outside cultures, it isn't a violent schism.
Overall, the urni are lively hedonists–insofar as experiencing life and its pleasures is itself a meaningful thing. They have a deep love of the arts as a whole: music, literature, paintings, sculptures, beautiful clothing, performances, dancing, etc. The constraints of nomadism means only some of this can be brought along with, while others become living repositories. Dancers and musicians, particularly, are venerated as living libraries of wonderful experiences. Chefs are uniquely respected as caretakers and flavor creators, putting the three into high regard for many urni.
Despite their generally easy-going-attitudes, urni are always busy. There is much to do to maintain the tribe, ensure everyone's safety and satiety, and work on the festivities they all enjoy. In this, they are hard and reliable workers, all the more for the less fortunate among them. To the urni, the tribe is their whole world, and everyone in it deserves a helping hand and bountiful happiness. How well they can realize that lofty dream is a challenge they face every day.
Of especial note is the urni and their relationship toward the sun in the sky. While they're not inherently nocturnal, the urni have a great distrust of the sun. To them, it is a judgemental eye, the essence of something unfathomable and uncomfortable. It greatly unnerves them, and so they go out of their way to block out direct sunlight. Otherwise, the feeling of being watched can become too overbearing to deal with. Hence the proverb, "the eye that watches knows all".

Inspiration

Saturniidae, giant moths, fantasy elves

Lifespan

100 years

Average Height

Medium: 5-6.5ft / 152-198cm

Average Weight

Moderate: 105-190lb / 47-86kg