Khuzu

The Khuzu are a race of humanoid insects. They are by their nature very orderly and productive, but highly aggressive if their way of life is disrupted.

Biology:

Khuzu have two legs and four arms. They are roughly the same size as humans but are head-to-toe covered in an armored shell. They have compound eyes and mandibles. They do not use factial expressions but instead express themselves with their antennae.
They do not do well in climates that are overly cold or wet, as they quickly start to catch a variety of diseases in such an environment.

However the main thing distinguishing Khuzu from other sentient species of the brass realms is surprisingly not their exoskeleton, their mandibles, their compound eyes or additional limbs. instead their most distinguishing feature is their ability to sense and produce pheromones.

A sense of community: Khuzu subconsciously and automatically produce pheromones as they go throughout their days. If they encounter something dangerous they produce fear-pheromones, if they are happy they produce happy-pheromones and if they die they produce death-pheromones. There are many more types of pheromones, including for occupations, social status and more.
Through these pheromones not only can other Khuzu judge the mental and physical health and mood of other Khuzu at a moment's notice, but they can even judge the same for the wider community. If the stench of fear or death lies over the community too much, it must be investigated and resolved. Through this, the Khuzu exhibit an almost supernatural awareness of their community and its health.

No Hivemind: Khuzu have an almost supernatural awareness of their community's health and are naturally predisposed towards being productive. However that does not mean that they live in some kind of perfectly organized utopia where everybody has their ideal space. Khuzu can have political ambitions, undercut each-other in business dealings, get upset and violent and of course they are both capable and willing of going to war with other states. Conflict is just as much a part of Khuzu society as it is in other civilized species.

My tribe, your tribe: Khuzu city-states have their own scent, detectable only by other Khuzu. All members of that community will produce that scent and other Khuzu will be able to recognize immediately that they are not of the same community. This scent changes over time, however all members of a group shift to produce the same scent and so they slowly change their scent together. If a group of Khuzu is however separated from the larger community for extended periods of time, their scents start to diverge. If the divergence is too great, the group will no longer be recognized as being of the same group by other Khuzu. It is for this reason that Khuzu sailors have to be careful with how long they spend at sea, or fear that they will no longer be accepted once they return.

If a Khuzu from a foreign community is found within a city-state, it will be killed on sight, as clearly this is a foreign spy or saboteur. This comes naturally to Khuzu, as that is of course what they would themselves do if they found themselves in a foreign city-state. If a Khuzu immigrant is allowed into a city-state, they will shift their scent to belong with the larger community over time, but they will be met with suspicion and abuse until then.
It is due to the Khuzu's innate sense of community and hostility to outsiders that Trade occurs in a highly regulated and ritualistic fashion and why political marriages between city-states are even more powerful gestures than in other species.
This all stems from their biology, their ability to produce and sense pheromones more than anything else.

History

The Khuzu's original world was unfortunately destroyed and reclaimed by Sedulon.
The Khuzu have thus outlived their own homerealm and spread to several others, like Kinza.
The Khuzu are slowly advancing, similar to Humans.
Unfortunately the Khuzu don't really engage in species-wide advancement. Every City-state is a colony in of itself, and if one gets too successful, it tends to destroy its neighbors but then create successor states that can rival its own powers. As such their magical and technological advancement is slowed in comparison.

Culture:

Khuzu have a highly communal view of the world. The worth of an individual is determined by how much they contribute to their community and they are highly meritocratic. They are also naturally inclined to be productive, perhaps more than is strictly healthy. Unproductive members of society are very unpopular and thus uncommon. They have great work-ethic, but most Khuzu don't live to an old age because they work themselves into an early grave.

Criminality in Khuzu society is rare, those criminals that do exist form their own 'sub-communities' that operate within the larger community. These people are dealt with harshly, with death or exile being very common punishments.

Foreign species:
Khuzu do not mix overly well with foreign species. Khuzu see many other species as lazy or selfish and find communication difficult if they cannot instantly smell the other's mood or express themselves via pheromones.
However members of foreign species are not attacked on sight like foreign Khuzu would be: their smells are so radically different that same hostility simply does not apply as they are too different.

Exiles: Death and exile are very common punishments in Khuzu society. To be an exile from Khuzu society is however a dreadful fate. If a Khuzu is sentenced to exile, their pheromone producing organs are burned out in a ritualistic process that prohibits them from ever being healed except by means of divine intervention. Such individuals will never be accepted into any Khuzu community ever again and must instead die in the wilderness or build a new life among foreign species.

Society:

Khuzu live in city-states which operate independent from one-another as much as possible. These city-states are normally hostile to one-another unless they are currently working together towards an objective. Khuzu states are highly competitive and often engage in wars against one-another over resources.
When a Khuzu community becomes too overpopulated or food grows sparse, expansionists efforts are often organized. Ships are loaded or caravans stocked, to give the departing Khuzu a greater chance at success. These colonists are then sent off to free land to form their own city-states on their own merits. However from the moment they depart, whether they fail or succeed is no longer the original colony's business. No additional help will be given, only equivalent exchange and trade.

The Khuzu have spread to several worlds using this method. However as time goes on, many city-states are coming to the conclusion that they would rather use their population surplus to wage war on their wealthy neighboring states rather than simply send them to colonize some worthless land, never to contribute to the community again.
The expansion of the Khuzu has thus largely halted.

Warfare

Warfare for the Khuzu is largely ordered ranks of warriors trying to kill the enemy so they can take their stuff. Warfare for them is purely over resources, rather than territorial ambitions.
Khuzu warriors are also famed for refusing to ever surrender and keeping to their orders no matter what.
Khuzu tactics however tend to be fairly simplistic, a great number of casualties is expected. As a result however, khuzu tactics are fairly basic.

Hunting strategy

Khuzu are very comparable to standard humans, the main difference being their carapace and additional arms. A khuzu's natural carapace may make them somewhat harder to kill if one uses slashing or piercing weapons, and one should always be ready for a Khuzu to pull out a dagger with their additional arms.

Appearance:

Khuzu have two legs and four arms. They are roughly the same size as humans but are head-to-toe covered in an armored shell. Their faces are especially alien as they have compound eyes and mandibles.
Instead of expressing themselves via facial expressions, they instead use pheromones and the movement of their antennae to communicate non-verbally.

Khuzu live an average of 60 years, with some reaching ages of up to 80 years.