Amindii

The Amindii are sophonts native to the Regina system. Comprising less than a quarter of the population of their world, the Amindii remain the dominant sophont in Regina’s rural environments. While most maintain their traditional culture in self-governing territories, many Amindii participate in Regina’s wider society and some have left Regina to become Travellers in the wider galaxy.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

As upright bilateral beings with four arms and two large legs, the Amindii superficially resemble Terran grasshoppers, with internal skeletons within their exterior of chitinous plates and finely scaled skin. Adults average 2.2 metres tall and mass approximately 110 kilograms. External colouration varies with tribes but tends towards patterns of blue and purple which evolved as camouflage in Regina’s native forests.

The Amindii head is composed of a large round skull plate encasing the brain and a facial plate that contains two small eyes and an opening for the large beak-like mouth. Vision is focused on near ultraviolet to green spectra, and hearing is limited to fairly insensitive ear holes at the junction of facial and skull plates, but an Amindii’s entire body acts as a receptor of infrasound. Smell is accomplished by receptors within the mouth and is both acute and closely associated with taste.

EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT

As members of Regina’s most common surface fauna phylum, the Amindii have essentially shed two of their eight limbs as they became upright walkers. Their ancestors were small-group herbivores but the species became omnivorous to allow them to take advantage of a wider set of food options. Regina’s high rate of volcanism, including relatively frequent supervolcano eruptions likely provided the seed to spark sentience in the proto-Amindii. Intelligence and tool use emerged as a substitute for the hibernation reflex employed by most Reginan fauna and gave the proto-Amindii a strong advantage in exploiting scarce resources.

LIFE CYCLE

As with much Reginan fauna, the Amindii have three genders: egg donor, activator and a bearer who carries the fertilised embryo to term over a period of approximately 300 standard days. While mating usually involves simultaneous contact between all three genders, a bearer can act as an intermediary, carrying an egg for up to a week before its fertilisation by an activator. Most births are singular, although monozygotic twins do occur if an embryo splits during early development. The three parents of the offspring are called a Triad but this formation is specific to the offspring and not a permanent familial unit.

An Amindii is considered an adult at 14 standard years and has a natural life expectancy of 65–80 years. Amindii children are able to walk at birth and require less care than human offspring. Familial relationships are weak, with activators and egg donors less involved with their children, who are raised communally within their tribe, band or village unit.

HISTORY

Proto-Amindii achieved full sentience at least 200,000 years ago, based on archaeological evidence of tool use on the continent of Noncredo. Emergence of upright walking behaviour occurred prior to five million years ago, with the shift from herbivorous forest gatherer bands to omnivorous hunter/ gatherer behaviour correlated to the emergence of tool use on Noncredo. A minority of paleoxenologists have put forth competing origin theories involving other continents and it is certainly true that these hunter/gatherers had reached the continents of Feni, Makan, Ishkis and Queenland prior to 50,000, pre-Imperial, forming the basis of the five present Amindii cultures.

Technology developed slowly and in parallel amongst the divergent Amindii populations, with agriculture supplementing a traditional lifestyle and permanent villages forming the basis of tribal life. The Amindii remained close to their forest origins, except in Queenland where the Idinii culture spent much of its developmental period in a semi-subterranean existence, residing in the region’s extensive limestone and volcanic cave systems.

By -1000, the Amindii had advanced to TL2, although their society mostly remained rural and tribal based. Machinery and invention centred around practical items such as ploughs and water wheels, writing was used primarily for record-keeping, not literature, and the continents remained isolated, with only the Ka*tamii of the Makan archipelago developing large ocean-going vessels. In approximately -1000 a Zhodani research expedition first contacted the Mi*ti Amindii of Ishkis, resulting in friendly relations. The Zhodani established a small permanent science-oriented settlement at the modern city of Princips on Ishkis prior to -900. This settlement persisted into the Imperial period until the early 800s.

Settlers from the Third Imperium reached Regina in the Imperial year 75 and established a colony on the continent of Noncredo, contacting the Tida*ii. As the Imperial mostly-human population rapidly expanded, so did its influence on the Tida*ii Amindii, leading to both friction and partial assimilation, although not initially as equals. Unrest followed by 640 but mostly took the form of non-violent protests and legal challenges. These resulted in better conditions for the increasingly assimilated Tida*ii and the negotiation of reservation treaties, first with the Ni*dami and then with the other Amindii cultures by 750.

By 1000, the Amindii had adapted to the Imperial presence on their world, participating when desired but otherwise able to govern themselves. Whilst now a minority on their own world, they occupy more than 80% of the habitable regions of Regina, with Imperial society mostly concentrated in urban areas.

SOCIETY

Except for the mostly assimilated Tida*ii, the Amindii retain their original cultures and languages. While the Idinii depend heavily on vocalisation and inflection to convey meaning, the other four Amindii cultures combine vocalisations, posture and hand gestures to convey meaning. Vocalisation among these four cultures is generally flat, whilst emotive content is reliant on gestures that vary greatly among the disparate cultures.

An Amindii’s communication style requires additional understanding from species unfamiliar with them. An Amindii may appear calm when gestures indicate otherwise and, conversely, an Amindii may place unintended meaning in causal gestures from other species. Such misunderstandings are infrequent among Amindii working closely with other species, such as the Amindii frontline bureaucrats and security personnel often encountered at Regina’s starports.

Village, clan and tribe membership governs traditional Amindii society. Bearers, who control mating success, often play a leading role in politics and social matters. Bearer dominance is especially strong in Idinii society but is evident among all traditional Amindii cultures. With the advent of treaties with the government of Regina, the five disparate cultures of Amindii are legally five semi-sovereign nations but national institutions are weak compared to tribal bonds and structures.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

By treaty, all Amindii are Imperial citizens. As such, they have the rights and responsibilities shared by all sophonts within the Imperium. Amindii cultures are semi-sovereign nations, with full self-government and control over their territories and citizens, although the government of Regina and by extension the Third Imperium are responsible for foreign relations and defence. Various arrangements with Regina’s government allow for transport networks to traverse reservation land and ensure the rights of both Amindii and outsiders are respected within reservation territory.

Assimilated Amindii have achieved status as full citizens of Regina and are often employed in government and industry. The Amindii have a reputation for strong attention to detail and mechanical aptitude. As a result of discrimination in previous centuries, few Amindii are willing to accept subservient positions or perform menial duties. Amindii are readily accepted into police and military roles. To emphasise the Amindii heritage of his world, the Duke of Regina maintains the 4519th Lift Infantry Regiment (Regina’s Own), trained and equipped to Imperial standards. Public venues and facilities on Regina are required to accommodate Amindii citizens, seen in the high ceilings and wide passageways that predominate among Regina’s otherwise compact cities.

Creating Amindii Travellers

Amindii Travellers are uncommon but not rare, especially in the vicinity of Regina. Although most Amindii spend their lives on reservation land, living a fairly simple rural existence, tens of millions have adapted to Imperial society and of these hundreds of thousands have spent at least some time offworld.

Gender

An Amindii Traveller can be one of three genders. The Traveller can either chose a gender, or roll 1D:

• 1 Activator
• 2–3 Egg Donor
• 4–6 Bearer

Characteristics

All Amindii Travellers have the following modifiers applied to their characteristics:

• STR 3D
• DEX +1
  • Additionally, activators receive STR +2 and EDU -2, whilst bearers receive END +1.

Traits

Amindii Travellers all possess the following traits:

• Multi-limbed: Amindii have two sets of arms, allowing them to perform two sets of non-movement actions in any round without penalty.
• Amindii Hands: Amindii hands are not suited to equipment designed for humans. Apply DM-1 to all checks using tools or weapons not designed for Amindii.
• Perception: Amindii are able to perform the equivalent of Life Detection once per hour by making a Recon check. This is not a true psionic power and cannot be blocked with shields.
• Low Berth Survival: Amindii do not suffer a negative DM in low berth equipment not designed for their species. In addition, they receive DM+1 to all low berth survival checks.

Psionics

An Amindii has normal psionic potential if discovered, tested and trained, but receives DM+1 when checking for Telepathy and Awareness talents.

Careers

All careers from the Traveller Core Rulebook are suitable for Amindii. For their first term, unassimilated Amindii cannot pursue pre-education options and must start as Citizen (colonist) or Drifter (barbarian) but can qualify for any career or education option in subsequent terms.

Assimilated Amindii receive the additional background skill of Mechanic 0; unassimilated Amindii receive Survival 0 instead.

Amindii Travellers begin their first term at age 14 and must begin to check for aging at the conclusion of their fourth term at age 30.