Thri-Kreen

Thri-kreen are an ancient spacefaring race of insectoids.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Like the insects they resemble, thri-kreen are covered in a carapace that gives them natural armor. They also possess an extra pair of arms, which are not as strong as their primary ones but are fully capable of independent movement. Thri-kreen are also psionic, able to communicate their thoughts telepathically to both thri-kreen and non-thri-kreen alike.
Additionally, thri-kreen do not require sleep. While members of the species do need to refrain from strenuous activity for roughly eight hours a day, they can remain conscious while doing so.

Growth Rate & Stages

Like other insects, thri-kreen are born from eggs. Thri-kreen born from the same group of eggs are called a clutch, and the bonds between clutchmates extends beyond family or friends as most humanoids understand it. This desire for close companionship appears biological, and thri-kreen in non-kreen society often feel compelled to create a new clutch of the humanoids around them.
Thri-kreen moult once a year until they become mature adults around 5 to 6 years old.
A short-lived species, thri-kreen are considered middle aged around 12-16, old by 18-20, and elderly at 25. Though they could live up to 35, such a feat is rare.

Civilization and Culture

Relationship Ideals

Thri-kreen are monogamous and consider any betrayal of the relationship between two partners as one of the highest social taboos.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Thri-kreens unique biology means that their language, thri-kreen, is made up of a series of clicks and grinding noises impossible for most other species to reproduce. While thri-kreen can learn to understand other spoken languages, they generally require their telepathic abilities to communicate with other spacefaring races.

History

Over three million years ago, the first thri-kreen arrived in wildspace. They did so just as the even older Juna civilization, the first major spacefaring race, was on the decline. Most modern knowledge of the Juna has its origins in the legends of the first thri-kreen spelljammers.
Four thousand years ago, the dispirate thri-kreen people united under the banner of the People of the Celestial Mantis. The People's belief included a mandate to spread the words of the Mantis God to all the Known Spheres. For a time, the People were the dominant hegemon of wildspace, in a position not disimilar from that of the Imperial Elven Navy three milennia later. However, the thri-kreen's belief in the inevitability of their religion spreading often came into conflict with the unwillingness of other spacefaring races to bow to an unfamiliar diety. Though the the People could enforce compliance with their spelljamming fleets, in time the thri-kreen's dominance came to an end.
Though it has been many ages since the thri-kreen once ruled the Flow, this glory age has never been forgotten, even if the thri-kreen rarely discuss those days.

Common Myths and Legends

As one of the oldest spelljamming species, thri-kreen have a wealth of stories and legends that date back millions of years.
While thri-kreen can be found worshipping a variety of deities, many still worship the Mantis God, as the People of the Celestial Mantis did thousands of years ago. Worshippers of the Mantis God view time as a fixed and immutable thing. The past is unchangeable and the future is fixed. Instead, all of existence resembles an infinitely long, intricate tapestry. What other races percieve as "time" is merely the result of being unable to view the entire tapestry of existence at once.
During the height of the thri-kreen's power, the worship of the Mantis God became linked with an evangelical call to spread its "truth" with all known peoples of the Known Spheres. As the power of the People of the Celestial Mantis faded, so too did the thri-kreen's belief in their manifest destiny.

Lifespan

35 years

Average Height

4.5 - 7 ft.

Average Weight

100 - 375 lbs.