Sablekyne

"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must. Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you."

Sablekyne are a vaguely feline race of horned alien bipeds hailing from the planet of Onkarth. Nearly a century of integration and cooperation with humans have made them openly accept Sol Federation rule and they have allied with them to spread their influence and race to the stars.
A quick-start guide:

• Sablekyne are vaguely feline horned bipedal aliens averaging at 182cm (6’0 ft.) and have thick stocky bodies built for strength and harsh weather conditions.
• Sablekyne are strong and tough and get a +5 to their toughness and robustness stats. An extra +5 can be gained if their homeworld is chosen in character setup.
• Sablekyne can see further in the dark than humans.
• Sablekyne are at home in extreme heat and cold with bodies built to survive in such environments.
• Sablekyne have claws and horns that are suited for use as weapons, they deal more damage in unarmed combat and may cause bleeding on hit.
• Sablekyne primarily draw nutrition from meat and foods containing animal protein as they are carnivores, regular nutriment does not sate hunger nearly as well.
• Sablekyne hail from the star system Gamma Minoris and the planet Onkarth.
• Sablekyne are separated by the Northlanders (Gaelic influenced) and Southlanders (Japanese influenced).
• Sablekyne have their own religion which worships the god of the sun and fire, known as Ferris, followers refer to themselves as Sun-Eaters.
• Perk: Sablekyne gain the perk "Last Stand" which allows them to ignore the effects of pain for 1 minute every 15 minutes.

Home System and Planet

The sablekyne hail from the star system gamma minoris, a small system of only three planets that is positioned largely out of the way of the galactic stage. Of the three planets only one is hospitable with the other two being a magma planet and gas giant respectively. The three planets within the minoris system are named Anzonus, the magma planet closest to the minoris star. Onkarth, the hospitable desert planet where the sablekyne reside and Xegetis the gas giant and farthest planet from the sun.

Anzonus is a dense metal rich planet extremely high in ore content but completely inhospitable due to volcanic activity throughout the surface of the planet. The systems gas giant, Xegetis, is largely similar to other gas giants and possess nothing in the way of abnormalities. The home planet of the sablekyne, Onkarth, is mostly a desert planet with intense seasonal heat and freezing winters. Onkarth is also the only planet that has moons, of which it possess two named Cannick and Muros. A complete rotation around the minoris star takes eight hundred and forty seven days, with each day lasting a total of twenty nine hours. The seasons are marked by six different periods known commonly as the monsoon season, spring season, the summer, the ember season, the frost, and winter.

Monsoon season is marked by torrential rains across the planet as the temperature begins to rise towards the end of winter. Floods and over run rivers are extremely common during this season and is usually noticed first by the influx of animals and insects leaving hibernation. Next is the spring season when vegetation begins to grow rapidly and abundantly near sources of water such as lakes or rivers. Next begins the summer where the late stages are marked with a steady rise in temperature that cause a noticeable drying of all lakes and rivers near the equator that slowly expands outward. The ember season is marked by most of the vegetation dying and small fires due to the heat, a process that releases most vegetation seeds as the flames carry them into the wind and in some cases, causes the flaming plant to explode similar to some trees found on earth. After the long ember season the frost season begins where each night becomes increasingly colder until winter begins and snow begins to fall. The frost season is marked by what little water remains freezing over and winter, unsurprisingly, by the appearance of snow during the day.

The planet consist largely of a windy desert from which intense daytime heat and freezing cold nightly temperature are common year round, ebbing and flowing with the seasons in severity. The large deserts are home to the southlanders while their cousins live in the rockier and colder climate to the north. The frozen north has much sturdier and year round vegetation among the rocks and dirt, making it seemingly more hospitable compared to the large desserts with few areas of water.

Onkarth is home to numerous species of life with God Machine predators being few in number. In the north lands their are two animals that present the biggest threats to the northlander sablekyne. The first are the samaks, an ambush predator that has plagued the northlands since recorded history due to its rapid breeding, aggressive nature, and sturdy bodies. Samaks are ambush predators that rarely hunt in packs, usually hiding in the snow and waiting for prey to near. They appear like large carapace covered animals and are known for their voracious appetites. The second and far more dangerous predator in the north lands is the white shrieker, a large gorilla-like beast standing on average ten feet tall. White shriekers have massive claws and immense teeth with which they use to tear apart prey after disabling It with an ear-piercing scream, hence the name. The number of white shriekers had declined heavily after first contact due to the introduction of firearms, but they remain a threat even to the modern northlander should they forgot to remain armed.

In the south lands the three major predators are the skiver, rot stinger, and belch worm. The skiver is a dog-sized furred beast vaguely resembling a hairy crocodile. While not a serious threat to an armed sablekyne they are numerous and highly aggressive, willing to attack any and everything with their long toothy maws. The rot stinger is a non-aggressive flying insect with a large venom filled barb extending from the face. The highly potent venom causes severe necrosis if not treated quickly and eventually will cause organ failure in a high enough dose over a prolonged time period. Rot stingers live in hives and are heavily attracted to a plant known as spirit lilies from which they extract the nectar as food and often become hostile if anyone touches there food source. Belch worms are a large maggot like creatures averaging in size to that of a regular human and rarely up to the size of a small car and are the only known serious threat in the current age in the southlands. Belch worms are burrowing creatures which tunnel through the sand and only surface to attack prey. While they have a large powerful jaw lined with teeth belch worms prefer to use a special gland in the mouth from which they vomit a powerful acidic enzyme that eats away at organic matter rapidly. Fortunately this enzyme cannot eat through metal or stone, making their threat in the modern age slim to a prepared sablekyne or those living in an urban setting.

Biology: Built Tough

The sablekyne are bipeds that are vaguely feline in appearance and closely resemble the standard biped evolution in biology with a handful of major unique features. Sablekyne, with the aid of modern medicine, have a life expectancy equal to humans. A sablekynes build depends on if he is from the equatorial ‘desert’ or the more consistently cold north lands with the southern sablekyne leaning on the slightly taller and thinner side. Both northlander and southlander sablekyne are generally much thicker and stocky than humans with bodies heavily adapted to survive both the brutal cold and intense heat. To thrive both weather extremes sablekyne have incredibly thick and insulated fur that protects them both from intense cold and intense heat. All sablekyne possess a thick and easily shed outer coat of fur and a secondary coat beneath that is extremely compact to the point of providing a highly regulated temperature control to their body. The fur patterns of northlander sablekyne tend to be white, gray, black, or brown while the fur patterns of the southlanders are blonde, orange, brown, chestnut, tan, or in some rare cases silver.

• The most notable feature of Sablekynes are on the skull as all sablekyne possess various shapes of horns. Functionally the horns work as weapons, allowing a sablekyne to headbutt animals with surprising force when charging. The shape and size of the horns vary greatly, but are usually curved or spiraling with ridges or fluting.
• Starting from the head sablekyne have a notably feline shaped skull with vertical slit eyes adapted for low light environments, giving them excellent vision in the dark, and large pointed cat-like ears below the horns that can swivel and move in response to noise. Sablekyne do not possess pupil coloration, all sablekyne have pure white eyes with black slit pupils.
• All sablekyne have extremely large fangs commonly referred to as sabers, of which jut downward from the mouth in the form of tusks and vary from a few inches to half a foot in length. Sablekyne teeth consist entirely of fangs due to being primarily carnivores and have quite long rough tongues.
• While a sablekyne can eat plant matter they do not draw much nutrition from it and must eat meat on a regular basis.
• Sablekyne possess sturdy and sharp retractable claws on the end of each hand and foot that function well as weapons. Sablekynes claws can be forced out of their sheathes by pressure applied in the right place along the knuckle.
• At the end of each finger tip and on the palm each sablekyne has soft padded skin much like earth felines.
• Sablekyne have a long tail that they may flit and move at will to maintain balance often when walking, running, or charging.
• Sablekyne are physically adapted well to strength intensive tasks but tend to be rather awkwardly clumsy. Though agility and speed can be found among them this is the exception rather than the rule.
• Sablekyne females will generally give birth in litters of two to six with a gestation period of six months, though in rare cases a female may birth a single child, it’s an uncommon occurrence. Due to their stable genetics hermaphrodism cannot naturally appear in sablekyne, though nothing besides social pressure prevents adult sablekyne from later going under operations to become such for personal reasons.
• Sablekyne are bipedal and possess digitrade legs ending in arched feet with claws on the end of each toe that are retractable much like the ones on their hands and course foot-pads that protect the feet from light damage. Sablekyne lacked any form of proper transportation for most of their evolution, as such they are well adapted to walking and running long distances with little rest, food, or water.
• Across the arms, forearms, shoulders, outer thigh, and shins all sablekyne possess bone-like plating on the extremities that are quite tough and sturdy. While this doesn’t protect them as much as one would guess it allows them to absorb the impact and force of a strike, leading to their high pain tolerance.

Deviation between sablekyne is by ethnicity with the four major ethnicities being northlander, southlander, maunkyne, and mutkyne. All sablekyne are heavily built with thick bodies and a tendency towards muscular builds that feel less pain in comparison to humans. Southlanders tend to be slightly thinner and taller than their northlander cousins but generally only deviate by fur pattern. On the other end of the spectrum are the maunkyne and mutkyne. Maunkyne are addicts to a drug grown on Onkarth and are usually living squalid life styles in exile, often times hunted down and treated brutally for their choice of addiction. Due to their unhealthy living conditions maunkyne are usually quite thin (for a sablekyne) and suffer from mange or other common health issues as a result of bad hygiene.

Mutkyne are the rare result of a sablekyne successfully breeding with a non-sablekyne and the result creating a mutant. Sablekyne may very rarely have a successful pregnancy when paired with someone not of their race and the result is usually a healthy sablekyne child that has at most an abnormal fur pattern or eye color, with non-white eye color the sure sign of mixed parentage. Sablekyne lineage is matrilinial and the child’s race and genetics depends solely on the race of the mother. In a small number of cases this may result in what is known as a mutkyne, a mutated and sterile sablekyne who is openly disfigured. Mutkyne usually have small deformed horns with a consistency and strength to a callous instead of the sturdy bone-like quality of a normal sablekyne. Most mutkyne have no fur or only small patches and malformed hands with always extended claws too weak to be used as proper weapons. The tail of mutkyne is often stubby and crooked and often fails to serve its function in keeping balance. Treatment towards mutkyne often ranges towards neutral to outright hostile due to them being seen mutations, a fact not aided by their condition rendering them sterile. Mutkyne are commonly referred to as ‘muties’ by northlanders and ‘low-born’ by southlanders. Despite both being ostracized, even the maunkyne act brutally towards the mutkyne and are often treated even worse by maunkyne than northlanders or southlanders.

History: Strange Acquaintances

The origins of the sablekyne is a product of natural evolution though many consider the first sablekyne to speak did so when addressed by the Sun God, Ferris, who gifted them with language by offering them berries that glowed as the sun did. While people in the modern age contest this, it isn’t an uncommon answer when asking the average sablekyne about the history of their people. Sablekyne history is much a mirror of human history to the complete lack of surprise to any cultural anthropologist. Sablekyne progressed from the stage of tribal to a mostly modern civilization that had only just begun industrial automation, a slow process due to the lack of easily accessed minerals, until first contact with humans expedited their development.

Historically speaking sablekyne history is pockmarked with many wars and conflicts settled into trading agreements and alliances of convenience. Notably the sablekyne home-world lacked the minerals required for mass production of gunpowder and ballistic ordinance which resulted in less bloody wars compared to other races. In the time predating first human contact the sablekyne civilizations had only just reached a record period of little conflict and fighting. Traditionally most wars happened between the rugged snow dwelling northlanders and the more desert adapted southlanders.

Despite differences both in culture and physical appearance between the north and south sablekyne trade, inter mingling, and good relations do dot the history as much as conflict. It wasn’t until first contact and the influence of two separate groups of humans that this cultural divide was strengthened. During the centuries following first contact much advancement in science, medicine, and automation thanks to the outside influence drastically improved the quality of life among the sablekyne.

First Contact: The Pivot Point

The first contact by humans was actually by a corporation known as the Oni, LLC, a geological and anthropological survey institute that scans planets for minerals, rare elements, and intelligent life and then sold the information of these planets on the market. This Japanese company discovered the sablekyne first and chose not to sell the information or report their discovery due to the nearby mineral rich planet of Anzonus. Instead, after surveys noted a distinct familiarity in southlander sablekyne culture as compared to the bygone age of Japanese culture in that they had a lack of iron in most products and a similarity in clothing, in particular the practical garbs of straw hats and robes quite similar to the Japanese gi and kimono. The Oni corporation elected to begin a multi-generational plan to uplift the sablekyne to create allies who would work the nearby mineral rich planet while offering them a large cut of the profits and the technology to do so. The process was a slow and steady plan where the Oni anthropologist were methodical, careful, and respectful towards the more refined southlander sablekyne. Over a period of several decades the Oni, LLC prepared the southlanders through the gifts of technology, medicine, and needed supplies that very quickly warmed the sablekyne up to their new allies. From their operational base on the moon of Cannick everything was proceeding nicely with only a few marked discrepancies compared to other alien life. Chiefly, the sablekynes native language called ‘crinos’ was impossible for a human to speak properly and thus most sablekyne were obligated to learn human languages to speak with their new allies. The decade long plans were proceeding nicely for the well meaning corporation.

Until the Gaels showed up.

Unknown to the Oni, LLC a second group had discovered the planet of Onkarth, a colony ship filled with humans of gaelic descent had proceeded, illegally, into unknown space seeking a new hospitable planet to claim as their own. Having discovered the stable planet of Onkarth they landed in the north lands where the icy temperature seemed far more comforting to the already cold acclimatized humans. Having not realized intelligent life had already laid claim to the planet the humans built a fortified city from their colony ship and began preparing advanced farmland and hunting parties to collect meat from the local wildlife. It wasn’t long before the northlander sablekyne discovered the human colony and, amazed by the technology on display, made contact first. The humans, surprised and dismayed to discover that an alien race in their new home quickly found the north land sablekyne to be rather receptive to their desire to live among them. What quickly followed was swiftly made alliances, with the northlanders desiring the humans technology and weaponry for war and the humans wanting peace for their new colony. Though the relationship did start off as troubled as they lacked a proper form of communication and sablekyne proved as wantonly willing to let a discussion devolve into a fist fight as their new human allies.

Over time the influence on the sablekyne from their more advanced human allies began to have adverse effects on their culture and thus drove a deeper divide between the two groups. The north land sablekyne became much more jovial, friendly, and kind but equally became just as crass, scrappy, and belligerent like their human allies. Meanwhile the southlanders grew to be more refined speakers and focused on appearances and honor. While most sablekyne retained much of their culture a few influences can be spotted outside the technological spheres. Firstly, northlanders inspired their Gaelic allies to readopt the use of halberd as before the introduction of firearms sablekyne commonly used a pole-arm of similar design meant to chop through the heavy carapace of a samak. Perhaps as a way to differentiate themselves from their northern cousins the southlanders adopted the use of their own weapon to hunt samaks but largely own them as a status symbol and rarely use them as an actual weapon, superficially they resemble a tetsubo or really, a long wooden club with iron studs meant to shatter the bone and carapace of local fauna common in the desert.

The second most notable influence is speech, with the north land sablekyne speaking English common with the trademark influence of gaelic speech methods. While this influence is common modern schooling makes severe attempts to curb this speech method to allow sablekyne who move off planet to be more easily understood. To the south the opposite happened, most southlanders speak perfect English common with very little use of contractions, as such many southlanders rarely use words such as "isn't, arn't, I'll" and other similar phrases, opting instead to full say "it is not, are not, or I will". They speak softly, carefully, and in low tones compared to their boisterous cousins. As a result of centuries of human influence and living among them the native language of crinos has long since become a dead language with few native speakers. Nearly all sablekyne speak English common and many learn common secondary human languages such as jive or techno-russian, with only scholars and hobbyist learning to speak crinos.

Culture: Influenced Evolution

Sablekyne culture has in recent decades been heavily influenced by human contact but has retained much of its own identity. Sablekyne culture is best described as egalitarian and preferences heavily on community, family, and personal success. Sablekyne are absolutely loathe to perform any form of charity that isn’t directly towards a member of one's family or community and rarely as a group ever go into any venture that doesn't directly benefit their side. While most sablekyne are generally friendly that does not mean trusting and most have a dogged wariness that comes across as paranoid to other races, especially to those who are alien and not human derivatives. While sablekyne are entirely uncaring of sexual orientation they find the concept of hermaphrodism disturbing and shun those who don't stick to traditional gender roles, though exceptions do exist. Due to a rather famous court case disputing if a hermaphrodite was able to both vote for being female and hold public office for being male they are now barred from either. At the same time, due to public office and the ability to vote requiring a sablekyne to have a minimum of two generations of family below them they tend to heavily favor traditional roles.

Northlanders: The Rowdy

Northlander culture has always been rather utilitarian given the colder climate they exist in and they heavily favor a pragmatic approach to most things. The divide between the sexes is very distinct with men expected to marry and have a large family from which he is the primary provider for. Women are expected to marry young and support their families as keepers of the house, though they are not restricted from joining the work force the propensity for large families rarely allows for it. Despite clearly defined traditional roles women are still expected to be able to fight, a custom carried down from prehistory from which women commonly protected their young when the men were away hunting. In an arrangement that often surprises outsiders sablekyne are restricted by gender in their respective roles in politics. Only a male may hold public office in any official capacity, be in a small town mayor or large city governing magistrate. Despite only men being able to hold power they are not allowed to vote, voting is down exclusively by women and men do not have the privilege of picking their leaders. The last restriction is the criteria for voting and holding office in that only a sablekyne that has at least two generations beneath them, that is to say grand kids, may vote or hold public office. This idea is under the pretense that only an elderly individual who has two generations of family to think about will consciously make decisions for the betterment of others. Of northlander naming conventions they tend to favor the traditional names of sablekyne that contain hard vowels and roughly spoken words. Male names tend to be short, while female names tend to have more syllables and thus be longer. Common names include "Akari", "Telk", "Akridin", "Crenkindo", "Jumk", however, many northlanders will also use traditionally gaelic human names when naming offspring. This is more commonly done if the respective litter was sired by a human/abhuman or the clan itself has several humans within their number.

Of the actual governmental organization the sablekyne generally organize themselves based on origin. Northlander sablekyne are generally close to a republic with very little over sight on day to day lives of citizens with choices made largely based on what each community wants. This system proves extremely prone to tradition and rarely suffers deviants or radicals, with most ‘reformers’ seen as foolishly young and often times look down upon.

Northlanders are also lovers of song, dance, and drink and often have large festivals at the beginning of each season to celebrate the change and use it as an excuse to get absolutely hammered. In addition to this jovial attitude one can easily spot a northlander from a southlander based on if they are accompanied by a shantak. Shantaks are a carapace covered pig like pack animal that has a gem-like exterior. The shantak were originally tamed by northlander sablekyne to be used in hunting and are seen much like dogs are to humans. Young shantaks are known as gruntlings and are common gifts to families expecting children as when raised beside children the shantak is aggressively protective.

Up until the modern age northlanders used to distinguish themselves from each other by which clan they belonged to. Clans were organized family groups linked together by the oldest patriarch with prominent members being younger men with sizable families of their own. Unique to the northlanders many clans would freely consider humans who married into the clan as one of their own. It was not uncommon for a human to be considered a clansmen. In modern times this distinction has weakened and while people will recognize clan affiliation it isn’t as big of a consideration as in previous decades.

Northlanders are also extremely averse to being unarmed in their day to day lives thanks to the prevalence of the dangerous and territorial samaks that plague the colder climates year round. As such northlanders belonging to a clan may openly carry any form of weapon from a rifle, pistol, or traditional hunting halberd. Those who leave heavily populated areas are commonly seen wearing at the very least armor across the chest. Choosing to adopt a human fashion many northlanders also wear kilts to hide additional knives and weapons beneath where they can easily reach.

Southlanders: The Refined

Southlanders are on the opposite side of the spectrum and by comparison are far more reserved. Much of their current culture is more heavily influenced by their Japanese allies and mirror some of the customs as a result. Southlanders even in modern times keep themselves organized in a strict hierarchical houses that function much like a caste system. Males born into their house remain so forever unless disgraced and females remain so unless they marry into another house. This highly structured system has the unfortunate side effect of making upward mobility for the common southlander significantly more difficult. Southlander names are similar to northlanders in their respect for hard vowels and rough wording, though many southlanders default to traditional japanese names as a matter of honor towards their human allies. Unlike the northlanders, this practice is far more common.

Male southlanders are expected to obtain a job early on in their adult life and remain with the company and career they first obtain work with for the rest of their lives, weathering good and bad times. Those who quit their first jobs are considered a societal drain and largely shunned depending on the wealth of their house with more powerful houses seeing little social reprimand. Female southlanders are expected to run the households finances and keep everything in order from raising the children, ensuring all accounts are settled, and handling all business affairs.

Unlike the boisterous and combative northlanders the southlanders find entertainment in competition and games of chance. Southlanders are unabashed gamblers and prize fighting through martial arts is a common form of entertainment in many households. Curiously, much like their northern cousins they also favor drink but tend to choose less powerful spirits during festival times and parties. Southlanders face far less danger in their mostly desert home compared to their northern cousins and as such weapon carrying is far more restricted. A male southlander is permitted to carry a tetsubo for personal protection but not a firearm. A female southlander is permitted to carry a knife they are expected to conceal for person protection.

Southlander interaction is usually far of a subtle affair when compared to northlanders but this restriction is generally observed in professional settings or with less than intimate company. Southlanders also tend to be equally as superstitious, in many ways more so, than northlanders and believe deeply in spiritual matters despite being less religious than the devout northlanders. An extension of this is a southlanders honor, a fickle thing as they care deeply about what they view as an insult. Though to a southlander an insult rarely takes the form of words outside of a few select phrases and instead take the form of someone dealing with them in bad faith, someone breaking their word, or the desecration of something sacred/personal. An insulted southlander may choose to challenge the person to a duel, though more often they challenge them to a bet or drinking contest. Win or lose it is extremely rare for a southlander to forget such grudges and they will oftentimes remember an insult to their honor for months or even years, bearing the grudge in memory for any further dealings with the offender.

Maunkyne: The Hated

Maunkyne are the hated social class of the northlanders and southlanders. Due to being exiled in the south or executed in the northlands many maunkyne hide themselves among there clans and houses until found out and removed. Those that manage to escape alive are often picked up by the small counter society that has formed in the wastes as a result of the surviving exiles. Maunkyne culture is both a reflection of and derision of sablekyne culture. Unlike the various clans and houses that put down roots the maunkyne remain mobile, often traveling in vehicles designed to move through the desert wastes as portable homes. There existence is, technically speaking, illegal and as such they rarely approach established sablekyne towns in large numbers and often times send individual members to buy or sell supplies these roving caravans have found, made, or stolen. Maunkyne culture cares little for honor or tradition and with there difficult lifestyle will resort to whatever needs to be done to get by.

This has not helped any fight for equality as maunkyne are often behind prostitution rackets, drug trafficking, and rarely people trafficking due to cutting deals with established, but not maunkyne, criminal groups. To make matters worse, they are commonly used as scapegoats historically, compounding the general hatred from the north and south respectively. To further separate them from the established society maunkyne also refuse to follow the traditions and religious practices of either culture, often times subverting them by actively spitting on the generally accepted codes of conduct. Sexual, physical, or social deviancy are not only common but heavily encouraged, with the more open maunkyne altering there appearances to be far more ‘offensive’ to traditional sablekyne standards. Unnatural fur colors, piercings, or body mods that profane the ordered appearance of a sablekyne mark maunkyne who have long since given up on returning to ordered society.

Additionally, sickness and physical weakness is common among maunkyne should they fail to get there daily dose of the demon powder they are addicted to. Due to this reliance and the costs of maintaining such an addiction maunkyne rarely bother with luxuries that allow for personal hygiene or physical maintenance and thus often appear thinner and sickly compared to other members of their race. Mange, blood shot eyes, physical weakness (should they be in withdrawal), missing or severely decayed teeth, and flaking skin around the horns and bone plates are extremely common health concerns for many maunkyne. Those maunkyne who appear healthy and well adjusted are often hated and feared all the more by other maunkyne and outsiders, as a healthy maunkyne is the sure sign of a ruthless criminal who has succeeded by the extortion and exploitation of others. Some exceptions, however, do exist and some maunkyne bind together in roving clans that use their drug peddling skills to make medicines and other products to maintain themselves with some degree of dignity. Such remedies are often a mix of natural and scientific healing that makes them similar a roaming hospital that proves effective for the unhealthy desert roamers. These groups are a minority even in a minority and the few southlanders and northlanders that know of them refuse to entertain the idea, at least publicly, that their are maunkyne who are more than animal.

General Culture: The Broad Strokes

Both the northern and southern sablekyne celebrate holidays at the beginning of each season and, due to a translation error, refer to these celebrations as samhain in the north and majo no kisetsu in the south. In a curious example of cultural misunderstanding the Gaelic humans introduced Halloween to the north land sablekyne who took to the holiday first out of general amusement and later adopted it as a full celebration. However the sablekyne mistook the event for happening every season instead of once a year during a specific season. By the time the Gaelic humans noticed the tradition had spread and was now mistakenly called samhain regardless of when it took place. Eventually this holiday spread to the southlanders who adopted it as well but renamed it to majo no kisetsu to better link themselves to their more oriental allies who they mistakenly believed celebrated the holiday as well.

Before the introduction of these holidays, however, sablekyne did not have many celebration. Sablekyne do not attach any significance to the day of their birth and feel extravagant displays during times of celebration are at best vain and more often times seen as wasteful. Even the holidays they’ve adopted from humans are often austere and cheap in comparison to most other races. The only significant unique gatherings sablekyne have are the golden ring, the scouring, and the welcoming. The golden ring is a holiday common to most sablekyne that mark a time of plenty by all members of a clan, family, or house for their respective community. Those who wish to hold it will invite anyone within their community to a feast laid out for the benefit of those not within the respective family. The golden sun is often used as a display of success or status, but is considered one of the few acceptable forms of such displays as it benefits the community as a whole.

The welcoming and the scouring are holidays equal but opposite to each other. The welcoming is a small austere celebration welcoming newer additions to a family, should it be through marriage or the birthing of a new litter. The welcoming rarely involves gifts or money exchanging hands and often is little more than a home cooked dinner for close family members and sometimes extended clan mates if those involved are well known in the community. The scouring is the removal of a family name, be it house or clan, and is often accompanied with the exile or annulment of the persons name and memory. This can be due to a member failing the clan in some way either in life or in death with the more common reasons being discovered as a maunkyne, failing to provide for your family, or showing cowardice in some cases. In the northlands a still living member of a clan who is being scoured will often have his horns broken off by his clans patriarch before being forced to join the lodge of heroes, while in the southlands members are disgraced by losing there house name and status, effectively unpersoning them and reducing them to the lowest social class.

Of the sablekyne society the absolute lowest dregs are those considered lacking in a clan or house, a mutated hybrid, and those addicted to a chemical created from the desert flower known as spirit lilies to the southlanders and hell petals to the northlanders. This desert flower has extremely addictive but extremely powerful healing properties when the nectar is baked into a certain spice commonly referred to as demon powder. When eaten the spice causes the imbiber to heal naturally at a much faster rate, while no where near a mythical healing factor of legend users of this drug will see marked increased in strength, speed, healing, and require very little sleep for several hours. The side effects when the drug wears off include extreme bodily weakness, muscle fatigue, and general irritability. An overdose in the chemical will result in severe hallucinations, brain damage, and potentially heart failure. The drug itself though takes years to detox once addicted and only one or two uses before the body gains a dependency on it. Addicted users are looked down upon as the lowest form a sablekyne can sink to, a traditional view dating back to the drugs discovery during times of conflict. While the drug would allow one side to give their soldiers an edge in battle the lasting effects would forever cripple them and thus the use was banned. As such, this drug is highly illegal and extremely criminalized.

Users and addicts of this drug are known as maunkyne and due to their constant use of the spice have prolonged lives as long as they regularly intake the chemical. Some have theorized that a maunkyne could potentially live a much longer life span, upwards of ten to twenty years longer than normal, provided they take the drug on a regular basis. Regardless, any discovery of demon powder is swiftly blamed on the maunkyne and those discovered to be addicts are usually removed from society entirely if not imprisoned, though some powerful southlander houses who have been discovered housing maunkyne may get preferential treatment. The northlanders are far more brutal and treat maunkyne as animals without rights, usually resulting in addicted users being executed. The continuation and propagation of this addictive chemical is attributed to maunkyne enclaves hiding in the wastes, though how they smuggle this chemical is largely unknown.

As a counter to this criminal underbelly sablekyne military forces are large and well equipped thanks to their near complete integration into the human federation. Backed by human technology and military acumen most of the sablekyne military and police forces are well trained, efficient, and large in number with groups made of northlanders, southlanders, and humans. Sablekyne justice is often swift and brutal, rarely does the concept of mercy or unfair punishment come up as sablekyne see such displays as weakness. To the average sablekyne, committing a crime is to invite any retribution and while their justice system works towards being fair and reasonable, punishments are often severe. While police forces between the south and north lands work independently military integration and cooperation is a requirement first brokered by the Oni, LLC to ensure stability and safety on the planet. As such, military forces can be made of northlanders, southlanders, humans, and in rare circumstances other human federation species. Sablekyne are extreme in there respect for authority and attitude towards personal success and pride. Sablekyne commanders are loathe to insult or take for granted those under their command as such direct insults to a subordinates honor and pride often times result in duels. Whoever wins, however, is expected to show modesty in his success and any overt bragging is often shamed as the participants are expected to become friends afterwards.

Another key facet to sablekyne society is the organization and structure of the career and training of its members. Long before the time of first contact sablekyne in the northland and southland had created two divergent methods of large industry known as lodges and orders respectively. Sablekyne pride personal success and as such take great pride in a steady work ethic and proper schooling, often becoming competitive in the areas they specialize in but expected to be modest of there accomaplishments.

Lodges

Lodges are similar to the human concept of guilds but encompass more than a singular skill or task and often cover every aspect of its specific industry. While not every sablekyne is trained by a lodge they are big industry players in their respective economies and many sablekyne worked for one at some point. Members of a particular lodge often preference others from the same lodge, seeing it similar to a fraternity that remains ingrained even if both members leave the lodge. As a general rule once a northlander has left the planet they will have cut ties with their lodge, though this is considered normal and does not carry any social penalty.

• Magma Lodge – The lodge that trains miners and drillers for the nearby magma planet as well as producing metallurgist, weapon smiths, gun smiths, and armor smiths due to being heavily invested in the metal trade. They've existed before human contact but didn't grow huge until after they got off planet. The magma lodge began as primitive blacksmiths focused primarily on making tools, weapons, and armor before later growing into a large spanning industry based in military and civilian markets. Many prominent clans and military leaders hail from the magma lodge and its often seen as the most traditionally acceptable lodge to belong to.
• White Lodge – Northlanders are far more traditional and religious than their southlander cousins and have a lodge formed around upholding traditional and religious ideals. The white lodge primarily trains priests, theologians, and political aspirants. In addition, they record the history of the northlanders and the annals of each clan so they may trace the lineage of each large and expansive clan. The white lodge have the only accurate and definitive census of each clans members.
• Beast Lodge – Sablekyne are carnivores and the production of meat is a priority for food. their industry for butchers range from home town cutters to massive meat producers on large ranches. The beast lodge is named thus because they also produce farmers and ranchers who grow food to feed the massive herds of livestock being fattened for later butchering. The beast lodge also includes game hunters and survivalists and it isn’t uncommon for members to later become explorers and rangers when they go off planet.
• Hero Lodge – The lodge of the hero traces back to the famous northlander legend of Akari Magraw, a northlander clansmen said to have united the entire sablekyne clans under a single banner in his life time and the one who first outlawed the use of demon powder. Despite its inspiration the hero lodge is not one any sablekyne would willingly join. The hero lodge is exclusively reserved for the mutkyne, clan-less northlanders, or disgraced southlanders. Members are required to take the oath of the hero and leave the planet after being sold to the highest bidder as a form of disposable mercenary. To return to Onkarth and be absolved of their failures or social disgrace a member of the lodge must survive ten years of active conflict as a soldier or mercenary, at which point even a mutkyne may be socially accepted upon returning, at least at face value. Few, however, return even if they survive their decade long duty.

Orders

Orders function similar to lodges but focus more on specific vocations over a broad area of related industries. Unlike a lodge, an order is something a sablekyne always belongs to even if they move off planet. This spanning influence is commonly used for said orders to exert control off planet and are usually beneficial to both the member and the organization as a whole. That said, an order often cares far more for what benefit its over any individual member.

• Order of the Coin – Southlander sablekyne have always had a lack of easily obtained resources in comparison to the northlanders. As such diplomacy and mercantile skills become a prominent factor in a houses success. The order of the coin trains merchants, traders, stock brokers, and bankers and is considered the most elite of all the orders and lodges, often coupled with being quite elitist, as they rarely allow anyone not from a powerful or wealthy house within their ranks. This favoring of the elite has led to members of the coin being looked down on as representatives of nepotism and con men, grifting people for their services.
• Order of the Mirror – Southlanders always had an abundance of sand and not much else. This gave way to the practice of creating and sculpting glass into amazing artistic pieces that become the pride of houses and clans. Artists, sculptors, and craftsmen in the modern age have progressed into creating their masterpieces in more than just glass blowing but the order remains heavily invested in glass creations and trade.
• Order of the Automaton – The only order mostly controlled by humans and exists off planet at the Oni, LLC moon platform on Cannick. The order of the automaton focuses entirely on robotics, synthetics, and bio-mechanical engineering. Much of its members are quickly assigned internships and later employment at the expansive mining operations on the nearby magma planet of Anzonus. Unlike other orders the automaton is primarily owned and operated by native humans and will willingly recruit anyone wishing to learn instead of restricting their ranks by ethnicity, wealth, or influence. Though due to social pressure, they will not recruit a known maunkyne.
• Order of the Horn – The order of the horn is the most elite of any lodge or order that recruits only those of significant merit or wealth. They train soldiers for the Sol Federation as part of the federation forces, often training said members to become officers, commanders, and rarely commandos. Prospective members are trained on the logistical and leadership aspect of war and heavily preference their accomplishments towards command. That said, all members are expected to be advanced users of various combat styles both ranged and melee. Graduated members of the order of the horn can be differentiated from rank and file due to always carrying a melee weapon, commonly a pole-arm or mace-like weapon due to cultural leanings, that they have mastered the use of.

Religion

Sablekyne religion is a tricky subject to outsiders. Where as other aliens and humans often have a pantheon of gods or a single benevolent god the sablekyne possess only a single god who is often times more brutal than they are kind. Worshipers of Ferris the sun god are known as Sun Eaters for the commonly held belief that he gifted the sablekyne with language in the form of a globe of fire that burned the throats of those that ate of it, but gave them the ability to speak for surviving the process. The commonly held belief by both the southlanders and the northlanders is that Ferris is not a god of mercy nor one of benevolent kindness but one of strength and trials. The challenges and trials of their home-world are said to have been placed by Ferris to ensure his children would always remain strong by being constantly tested. Often times stories involving Ferris involve him actively tormenting those his eye has fallen upon under the idea of they will either become stronger or justly break for their weakness.

One of the most famous and oldest stories of Ferris and the inspiration for the Hero Lodge is the story of the Akari Magraw. While the life of Akari is rooted in fact and well recorded the origin of his birth and younger days are hotly contested. The story goes that the sun god’s eye fell upon a sablekyne woman who refused to marry, in a fit of desire and rage he raped the woman and some months later she gave birth to two male children. One, however, inherited the power of Ferris and was born with skin of molten metal. Yet before the metal could cool the mother strangled the child and use his divine body to forge a halberd of legendary and divine strength that Akari was said to wield later in life. The other child, one without any sign of divine power, was named Akari Magraw and raised as a normal child. While the story of his origin is not one to be taken at face value what is known is that later in life Akari united the northlander clans under a single banner through years of conquest. It is also known that Akari did later slay one of his younger brothers who had, during a clan rite, secretly used demon powder to beat Akari in single combat. When it was later revealed, Akari slew his brother in a fit of rage and outlawed the use of the drug, a law that still exist uncontested today for various reasons.

Despite the brutality of Ferris many sablekyne, in particular northlanders, are devoutly religious and many call themselves Sun Eaters as it is socially seen as the acceptance and willingness to endure strife and pain no matter how terrible. Religious rites of the priesthood of Ferris is often ceremonial involving incense, candles, and robes where they speak words of absolution for weakness and create oaths of resolve to endure a hard life. A common motto for devout sablekyne is never to pray for mercy, but the strength to endure pain.

Present Day

Present day sablekyne have largely assimilated into human society as apart of the Sol Federation and can easily blend in with any human environment quite easily. While they are generally aloof with alien races they tend to be friendly with humans and, although wary of them, human gene splices. Many sablekyne who move off planet tend to have a broad spectrum of skills and talents and don’t really specialize in anything as a race barring physical labor thanks to their tough stocky bodies. The spread and travel of sablekyne has given rise to new cultural facets however. To avoid confusion, sablekyne measure their age based on terran years when stating how old they are.

Sablekynes absolutely loathe nekomoris or ‘cat-girls’ as they liken them to the mutkyne mutation that creates an infertile mule. Few sablekyne will associate with nekomori willingly and many southlander sablekyne will be passive aggressively insulting while northlanders are outwardly and openly belligerent. If one thought this prejudice was odd sablekyne also find ‘exotic’ fur colors something to be laughed at. Many sablekyne who see brightly colored unnatural fur colors will ridicule the offender relentlessly and in some places beat them severely for ‘offending’ them with what they perceive as an idiotic color patterns. Sablekyne also find speaking in third person incredibly offensive when done by their own kind and other feline type races due to learning of a stereotype of feline races speaking as such. Sablekyne go out of their way to self police this habit. It’s not only expected but encouraged to beat a fellow sablekyne unconscious or shun them severely if they speak in third person for any reason in public, even as a joke.

Outside of present day cultural impacts from traveling the universe many sablekyne also carry and use a unique weapon called a bolt lance when employed as soldiers or mercenaries. A modern take on an old crossbow designs the sablekyne modified their original design with the aid of their human allies to create a powered mag fed crossbow that fires superheated bolts. While considered a practical weapon due to requiring only easily made metal rods as ammunition and a power cell they are uncommon outside of sablekynes mercenary and military forces thanks to their archaic appearing design.

Sablekyne have also begun to accept cybernetic implants, synthetic limbs, and robotics as a facet of life due to their last few decades of dangerous mining operations on the planet of Anzonus. Both north and southlanders will take work off planet in the various orbital platforms funded by the Oni, LLC for the extravagant pay. Such work has a comparatively high mortality rate and often requires the use of mechanized suits and robotic assistance. Injuries are quite common and it is not unusual to meet a veteran miner who has lost a limb and long since obtained a synthetic replacement. As a byproduct of these operations, robotics and cybernetics have become a more commonly accepted practice on the sablekyne home world.

Sablekyne are not without their own slang and slurs they use commonly, often to the bewilderment of cultures unfamiliar with their customs. Such phrases vary by region, clan, and house, enclosed is a list of the most common phrases.
Northlander slang

• Glass, glassing, glassed – Exploded via a bomb or similar form of destruction to describe something as completely ruined. Originally derived from the after effects of artillery strikes on desert areas which left sections of rough glass behind.
• Skoal – A phrase picked up from humans usually shouted before gulping down a full mug of booze.
• Fukin’ Magraw! - A battle cry shouted by some northlanders when engaging in melee combat, a reference to an old legend about a powerful northlander warrior who repeatedly screamed his name (Akari Magraw) while fighting.
• Codger – Another slang word picked up from humans, usually used to reference a clan patriarch or elderly male in a good natured but derisive way.

Northlander slurs

• Cunt – It means and is used exactly as humans use it.
• Gobshite – Idiot, historians are unsure if this word came from humans or sablekyne.
• Petal head – An incredibly offensive insult that implies someone has used a highly illegal drug derived from hell petals. This is usually the precursor to a fight when addressed to a northlander.
• Shanshit – An insult claiming someone is like the incredibly odorous shit produced by northlander animal companions, shantaks.
• Slag – A word often used to describe either a person, situation, or object. Examples include "slag this" before giving up on something. "Slag that" as an order to break something. Or "ye slag" implying the person is trash.

Southlander slang

• Metcha – A slang term picked up from humans, usually used in exacerbation during a troubling or tiresome moment and followed by a groan or sigh.
• Hanpa – Another slang term picked up from humans that’s used to express discontent, usually with a frustrating or silly situation.
• Grit – A common reply when someone is asked how they are doing or how they feel, usually interpreted as a stoic response to troubling situations.

Southlander slurs

• Kawaii – An insult that is interpreted by southlanders as accusing them of being like nekomori and by extension mutkyne.
• Jingo – An insult that usually accuses someone of wielding their power and influences foolishly and without long-term thought.
• You’re an interesting person – A compound slur usually spoken to imply a person is reckless and unable to control their emotions, often used towards non-sablekyne to inform other sablekyne present they disapprove of who its directed at.
• Lilly lover – A major insult accusing someone of being a maunkyne or user of the drug derived from spirit lilies, often interpreted as a direct challenge to a duel.

Canon Species in the Sojourn Universe
Core Species Akula - Kriosans - Humans - Mar'qua - Sablekyne - Naramad - Abhuman
Non-Core Species Opifex - Cht’mant - Cindarite - Mycus - Folken - Aulvae - Minor Factions