Tarrasqueborn
The ones who feast.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Tarrasqueborn are a semi-bipedal, semi-mammalian, species. They usually stand on their hind limbs with a forward hunched posture, both when standing and sitting.
They, overall, have 4 limbs, 1 tail, 1 head, 2 hands, 2 feet, both with 5 clawed digits and are, on average, 3 meters tall.
Their forelimbs, or arms, hang on the side of their bodies via glenohumeral joins and a shoulder at the base and range in length from 1.5 to 2.5 meters, although outliers do exist, with the length being relative to the length of the overall body, e.g a 4 meter tall Tarrasqueborn will have 2.5 meter long arms.
Their hind-limbs, or legs, are on the underside of their bodies, each attached to the hips by a saddle joint. They range in size from 1.5 to 2 meters, though outliers do exist, and their length is relative to the body's full length, e.g a 4 meter tall Tarrasqueborn will have legs the length of 2 meters long.
Their head lies between their two shoulders, put on a rather short and wide neck, with two eyes on the front of their face. Their heads move up in a curvature from their snout, causing a head shape reminiscent of a bovine but with a wider and more square snout. They have two nose holes above their mouths. Their mouths are filled with 12 canine teeth, 6 above and 6 below, 8 incisors next to those, 2 left above 2 left below 2 right above and 2 right below, and the rest of their jaws are filled with premolars and molars designed to rip apart meats, however some Tarrasqueborn if they choose to subsist on an omnivorous or herbivorous diet can slowly begin to grow short wide molars and premolars which will supplant their old set of incisors designed to tear and mash plant based foods.
The Tarrasqueborn tail begins on the end of their bodies which begins in their lower back and serves as balancing for their hunched over posture. They can move and bend this tail quite well but it, generally, can't be used to grab or hold onto things, making it none-prehensile and while some can train their tail to be used as a whip like protrusion this is an incredibly difficult thing to learn. This tail is, on average, 2 meters and the size is relevant to the body, e.g a 2 meter tall Tarrasqueborn will have a 1.5 meter long tail. The tail is its widest at the base, with a with of about the same size as their body, and becomes slimmer and smaller until it finally ends at a thin, whip-like tip.
Lastly, all Tarrasqueborn have an armored shell on their backs which serves as both a protection from attackers as well as a form of sun-screen which allows their skin to be removed from Bator's unforgiving star. This shell can have spikes on it as extra defense but this is a trait that has slowly diminished over time and those that do have it don't generally have very long or sharp ones.
Biological Traits
Tarrasqueborn don't have any real specialized groups within their species like, say, bees or ants do. The largest differences between individuals comes from random chance, gender, or Sub-species. Here the difference between Male and Female Tarrasqueborn will be explained. The dimorphism between the two is quite pronounced, a male will generally have two horns on his forehead which can range in length from 30 to 60 centimetres and are used to gore prey and battle for mates, while females lack these. Males are generally also larger, with the difference often being around 20 centimetres between the two, and although this is not an unbreakable rule this is more common than any exceptions. Females also have well developed mammary glands on their chest which serve to feed their offspring before their incisors come in, while males lack such organs. Lastly, the claws of females are, often times, much longer than those of males, with males, generally, only having claws the length of 2 centimetres at most, if at all, while females have claws ranging from 5 to 12 centimetres in length.
Genetics and Reproduction
Tarrasqueborn are a sexual species. A male and female will mate for a few hours, generally at least an entire night, after which the male's sperm will inseminate multiple eggs within the female's wombs. For the next 6 months a small clutter of feti will develop within the womb until the feti have fully developed their stomachs and maws.
Over the next month the feti will slowly begin to eat one another, with the 2 strongest or best regenerating surviving. It is common for this pair to be made up of 1 female and 1 male, although under certain conditions this can be skewed either way.
After these 7 months the children will be born blind, hungry, and incapable of locomotion for the next 2 days. During this time they will immediately grab onto the closest body and search for its breasts where they will drink while growing eyes and strong bones. They will remain on the teat for long after this however, drinking milk until they are about 2 in fact.
Growth Rate & Stages
Tarrasqueborn are born, on average, 70 cm in length. They only really grow after they developed their eyes and have learned to walk. They do not undergo any change as drastic as metamorphosis when left unattended. or the first 12 years of their life they slowly grow 12 cm each year after which they will get a growth-spurt that will eventually bring them up to a height of, on average, 2.7 meters (2.8 meters and 2.6 for females).
Now, while This is the, for lack of a better term, ''default'' growth for a Tarrasqueborn, if one grows up around certain challenging factors they can adopt small adaptations and their development can change with those adaptations being easier to develop in their children. This is how the subspecies where formed, by Tarrasqueborn adapting and their children adapting further. This process comes much easier to Tarrasqueborn due to their accelerated regenerative capabilities and some may adapt much more drastically than others. For example, some Tarrasqueborn who spend large amounts of their time in ponds, seas, and/or swamps will develop webbed appendages, fins, or evens sails like a manta ray, while those that spend large amounts of times in cold climates can actually grow fur or cartilage barriers over their eyes to protect from the sun reflecting off snow.
Ecology and Habitats
Tarrasqueborn don't have any optimal environment as a species due to their quick evolution and lack of an original habitat, though individual Sub-Species do prefer different climates. The Depuis Dune prefers hot and dry habitats, the Souterain prefers dark and damp caves, Forêt des fées prefer thick cold forests, and De la mer prefer swamp and lukewarm oceans.
When a Tarrasqueborn population moves into a new ecosystem or habitat they will begin to domesticate/tame any of the local species of fauna, often digging out trenches to serve as pens and shelters. This is the first thing any population of Tarrasqueborn will ever dueto their fast metabolism and high caloric and nutritional needs. After a reliable supply of meat has been established the population will begin to actually build shelters using local materials such as lumber, stone, seaweed, fungi, and animal hides. Tarrasqueborn will make their environment adapt to them as much as they adapt to it.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Tarrasqueborn are mainly carnivorous and many, as such, only eat meats and insects, even though they can adapt to subsist on a mainly herbivorous diet. Tarrasqueborn prefer to herd animals instead of hunting. These herds often consist of larger animals such as cows and boars, which will be bred for size and meat and kept in pens and trenches for shelter. Much of a Tarrasqueborns, in a settlement, day is patrolling around these trenches or herds to keep predators or hunters away, with any that are found often being turned into servants or food.
Tarrasqueborn require at least 5,000 calories each day to maintain their weight but this number skyrockets every time they have to heal. Tarrasqueborn will have to ingest their arms weight in calories after regrowing it, for example. If these needs aren't met their bodies will quickly loose weight, over 2 pounds each week and any none-critical systems will be shut down after a few days to get enough calories for completing any required healing. This can somewhat slowed down by the Tarrasqueborn simply not requiring to heal but even then they will still lose weight rapidly.
Biological Cycle
A Tarrasqueborn is affected by the passage of time in manners not unlike most other humanoid or giant species, though with their regenerative abilities it is a slower process as regenerated body parts tend to be, for lack of a better term, younger than the rest of their body. Despite this, however, many Tarrasque only live for about 130 years in the best of conditions.
Throughout the year, a Tarrasqueborn population will prepare for the harsh summers of Bator via the females collecting as much food as possible, preferably food that can be stored for long periods of time, while the males dig underground tunnels in which they will spend the season asleep, in a play fight, or eating.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Tarrasqueborn are well defined by their large snout and maw, their long horns, and their beady eyes. Their snout is located in the lower middle of their face, extending forward and being as wide as their face.
Their horns are on the top of their heads, and points forward with an upward angle until they end in a thin tip.
and lastly their eyes are small and beady, as said earlier. located on the front of their faces and can not actually see all that well.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Tarrasqueborn are a very thinly spread species. Their remaining population of 10,000 has been scattered across, and inside, the entire planet in small settlements around oasis and even smaller bands of nomads going from food source to food source.
The largest population of Tarrasqueborn, on the surface, is the city of La mer du Dragon Lion build around of the last few large bodies of water on Bator, also called La mer du Dragon Lion, which has a population of 3,000, of which 2,000 are Tarrasqueborn, and which used to house the last family of De la mer of which the last member died in the year 489 A.C.
The largest population of Tarrasqueborn, under the surface, is the city of La ville d'arbres lumineux within the planet's underdark within the forest of La forêt d'arbres lumineux. It holds a population of just about 4,500, of which 4,000 are Soutterain, and is considered one of the more wealthy settlements founded after the collision.
Average Intelligence
Tarrasqueborn are not inherently more intelligent then other humanoid species. They have well developed pattern recognition and advanced problem solving abilities, and while they do appreciate education as a culture, making their average intelligence not low by any means, they aren't geniuses on average.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Tarrasqueborn have 2 eyes on the front of their faces, 2 nostrils on their snout, 2 ear holes on the side of their heads located just beneath their horns, sensory nerves located 4 centimetres beneath their skin, and a split tongue within their maw.
Their eyes are rather underdeveloped, being rather small for their body size, and can only see in a spectrum ranging from 450 nanometers to 690 nanometers. This is a result of their increased regenerative capabilities as they can regrow much faster and still function as normal, for them, than larger and better seeing eyes could.
Their sense of smell, to compensate for their eyesight, is highly developed. By flicking their tongues out of their maws and moving its split ends in opposite directions, which can go as wide as 10 cm, they can pick up on chemicals and particles in the air and bringing it towards an organ on the top of their maw that processes it as smell, and while their nasal passages lead to this as well their sense of smell through their nose isn't as precise as that via their tongue. The flicking of their tongues allows them to, in a way, know the direction of smell and make a mental map of a small area based on smell.
Their ear holes are remnants of the ears of their Troll ancestors, with them still having a small cone like protrusion, no larger than a small bump, around their ear holes that channel sound into their ears which, while not as effective as a fully developed pina, allow them to hear adequately.
Their tactile nerve receptors are located just about 4 centimetres beneath the surface of their skin, except in the palms of their hands, soles of their feet, and genitalia where they are located only 2 mm under the skin. This allows them to sustain much more damage without suffering under it, although this means they receive less pleasure from physical interaction either.
They do actually taste using their tongue, with the hind part of their tongues being covered in 20,000 taste buds which can taste salty, savory, bitter, sour, and sweet. These are, however, only located in the hind parts of their tongue meaning the front part, the opart that is mainly used for smelling, can not actually taste anything.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Traditionally, a Tarrasqueborn has 4 names. 2 given ones, with the first often being more of an honorific representing the expectations that the parents place upon the child, a family name inherited from their father, and the name of their tribe. A good example of this would be Aubréy París DeBisset DuTserít. París would be of the family Bisset which is a part of the tribe Tserít. The name Aubréy means Noble and represents París' parents' expectations of them to rise to fame. The De within their name is a prefix that serves to denote a family name and Du is one that denotes the the tribe name.
The second name is usually the one the Tarrasqueborn will use as their adressor, so our previous example would be called París instead of Audréy, however calling them even by this would be considered improper. To them, a name is considered something highly personal, a gift of Que'Tar that is reserved for those you know well. As such, even in common conversation two Tarrasqueborn will refer to one another as Monsiour, which is masculine, and Madam, which is feminine and will only use another's last name when referring to said person when they are not around. So for example, París would be called Monsiour when talking with their friend and refer to them as Monsiour or Madam but when not in the room will be referred to as Monsiour.DeBisset to avoid confusion.
Common Family names include: Bisset, Chevalíér, Dragon, Biter, Roi, Négrier, and Entr'eux.
Large Tribes are: Portfeu, Tserít, Marfén, and Irin.
Major Organizations
Before Bator's collision with The Castle of the Raven's loft, there where many different organisations within and without Tarrasqueborn society but currently, mainly due to their vastly diminished population, the number of those organisations has vastly diminished. These organisations have established a monopoly upon the lives of the species, with their tendrils desperately spreading through the population and attempting to ensure their own survival and, by extension, that of the species;
These organisations are:
The Que'Tar Ecclesia: The Que'Tar Ecclesia is the main religion followed by the species, and even precedes its existence. It has over 8,000 active members and has its influence in every facet of Tarrasqueborn life, from the highest maire to the lowliest mendiant, from the wealthiest merchant to the simplest butcher. It has a church in, quite literally, every settlement with a substantial Tarrasqueborn population and remains of their alters from before the Collision can be found along ancient roads which are, still, regularly decorated. They are at a vigorous rivalry with the Raven's cult, trying to keep the faith in the Father who feeds strong, and despite the fact that they hold the vast majority of members they are still terrified of any possible chance to lose a member to the Cult. It is led by 3 Arch-priests who, while they do hold quite a bit of authority among the people, must constantly work around and with the maires of cities, the other organisations of the species, and organisations of others.
The Golden Eye Associate: The Golden Eye Associate is not actually native to the Tarrasqueborn species. Originally it was a confederacy of smaller tribes of goblinkin, draconics, and giant species that followed the creed of a paladin of Maglubiyet, who was only known as The Golden Eye. They swept across Bator's continents in an undisturbed conquest, culminating in a final battle at the border between the Stonebrick mountains and the Tlincalli Sovereignty, which later became known as the Tlincalli Hegemony, in a a battle that has been dubbed the battle of 10,000 shields due to the phalanx strategy used by the Sovereignty. This battle lasted for weeks but in the midst was interrupted by the Collision. After this catastrophe the surviving Sovereignty forces retreated underground with their subjects and the Associate retreated into the mountains where they reconciled their forces and waited for 20 years to once more make an attack upon the Tlincalli Sovereignty, now renamed the Tlincalli Hegemony due to their supremacy over the surrounding, remaining, nations, where they once more had a vast battle which ended in both powers retreating away. However, seeing weakness in his forces abandoned the Associate and formed The Golden Eye Crusade. After this, to survive the Associate began trading with Tarrasqueborn settlements, slowly integrating into their society and abandoning their old ways. Now, with a membership of 3,000 and an endorsement of the Que'Tar Ecclesia, the Associate now serves as a form of national defense; protecting settlements and caravans, big and small.
The Raven's Cult: The Raven's cult is both the second largest, and fastest growing religious organisation on Bator. Worshiping the god simply known as The Raven, which they believe lives with the Castle of The Raven's Loft and is currently consuming the world to save it from sin and debauchery. While it is not intrinsically Tarrasqueborn, the cult is still rather interested into the potential of the species for both military and theological expansion. Currently having well over 5,000 members, just about 2,000 of which are Tarrasqueborn, the Cult is still in its expansionary stage as it searches to get members and sympathizers within every establishment and court they can to ensure their plans, wishing to one day free The Castle from the magic that is holding its influence contained to what is has already consumed, although this magic is more a rumor amongst the lower ranking members and a well kept secret amongst the higher officials. Lead by their Head-Patriarch who goes only by the name of Patriarch, who is never seen except during crisis.
The Purple Templars: The Purple Templars are an organisation of fighters, monks, and rangers operating under the banner of the Raven's Cult as a reaction to the inclusion of the Golden Eye Associate into the Que'Tar Ecclesia, and such is almost completely made up of Tarrasqueborn as a form a taunt. The Purple Templars were founded by the second Arch-Patriarch of the Raven's Cult, to have both a reliable military arm as well as to have a form of deniability if and when other parties wish to retaliate against the Cult for the Templars' actions. The Templars, while recent, have already developed a strong sense of honor amongst themselves based on a set of strong rules that the second Arch-Patriarch created to keep them in line. When not in direct battle or training, the Purple Templars spend the majority of their time in patrol around settlements in control of the cult, defending them of monsters and raiders while trying to promote The Raven's Cult, and demoting other religions with its forces of 1,000 strong.
Beauty Ideals
Tarrasqueborn have a rather utilitarian standard of beauty. The physically stronger and monumental a man looks, the more handsome as that denotes wealth and the ability to feed oneself enough to develop strong muscles and an impressive height. Other things considered attractive for male Tarrasqueborn, and other species where these traits can apply, are long and thick horns to gore one's foes, a thick snout, and large eyes.
Female beauty is rather similar but differs in important ways, overly muscular women are considered unattractive since they are expected to be more graceful and move around any threats instead of facing them head-on, while being tall and having a square snout is considered attractive for example. Other attractive traits for females include smaller horns, large eyes, a smooth shell, and a long tail.
Gender Ideals
In Tarrasqueborn society, men and women are separated into two distinct roles that can overlap and aren't mandatory but generally considered ''normal'' and ''good'' meaning those that don't adhere to it are often considered perverse and rebellious.
The role expected of males in Tarrasqueborn society is one of sacrifice. Men are meant to charge head first into any danger for the tribe to either slow or stop the threat to the good of the tribe without thinking of the consequences to oneself. As such, the perfect man would be one so strong or excels in regeneration in such a way that they could defend and serve the tribe a hundred times over without faltering or dying. This sense of sacrifice extends to non-combative sacrifices as well; collecting food, being a midwife, giving one's own flesh to feed another, and any other form of sacrificing one's wellness and wealth to help another. The way that this is received, however, depends on the effort that this sacrifice took.
Of course, ideally a man should be able to defend their tribe and help others to the best outcome, and he will be rewarded and praised if he did it easily, but in Tarrasqueborn society, the more effort and the more that was lost the higher praise he will receive. Slaying a dragon in a single punch, for example, would be a great achievement and highly rewarded but much more respect would be given to someone who would spend months working strenuously and exhausting himself to feed those other than himself.
The ideal woman on the other hand would be based around longevity. In Tarrasqueborn society, the ideal woman would be one who can survive and care for herself and her tribe the longest. Men are meant to run around and help in the moment issues, such as an hostile force attacking or a woman giving birth and needing a midwife, while women are meant to focus on long term issues, such as planning for future food supplies or how a child will be raised. The ideal woman would be one who would be smart enough to stay back during a fight while the men distract the enemy to hide essential tools, valuables, and the children to ensure that if enemies manage to defeat them and the men they wont be able to gain any worthwhile reward from it. Once more, effort is the more important in how they are rewarded or seen than what they do. A woman simple preparing a single pit trap that saves the village is impressive and praised but if she where the prepare countless traps or a self-sustaining farm to feed the tribe for a long time, the latter will be what she will be praised most for.
Courtship Ideals
In Tarrasqueborn society the man is supposed to pursue the woman using various feats of strength, hurting himself badly and regenerating, or by simply collecting various gifts and giving them to the woman he wishes to impress. The more elaborate and large the display of skill the better, as often times many men will be vying for the same woman's affection leading many to try life threatening acts in order to out compete the others.
Relationship Ideals
in Tarrasqueborn society the perfect relationship is characterized as a symbiotic balance between the two extremes. The man would incite the woman to action in the moment while the woman would help the man slow down and think about their own well being. Of course, ideally this wouldn't impede on their normal roles as man and woman outside their relationship but their relationship should compliment each other's weaknesses as well as their strengths. Thus, an ideal relationship in their culture would be combining rash and strong reactions to directed and deliberate preparation.
Average Technological Level
At their peak, the Tarrasqueborn had mastered masonry and engineering using stone and steam based technology, although that was in cooperation with other species. Having unlocked or learned how to create high-powered machinery, steam-trains, basic robotics, and airships which served their society greatly along side those of others. All this however was mostly lost during the Collision. The greatest of cities collapsed under the shock, airships rained from the sky like burning hail, robotics failed or turned at their creators, and trains fell off their tracks crashing into each other or those close to them. Currently, they have been reduced to a iron age level in most areas with only some having a reliable source of proper steel which they can actually forge rightly. Some common items used in their society to show this are the incisive cuir knife, a small sort of sickle made of sharpened bronze and used to cut up animal hides and leaders, the bateau sable, a small raft like vehicle with a sail made of iron and leather used to traverse the desert, and the miroir vertébrale, which is a shield that is decorate with hard spikes with mirroring glass in between used as both a tool and weapon.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
The main languages of the Tarrasqueborn species are, perhaps unsurprisingly, Tarrasqueborn and Giant. The Tarrasqueborn language family is a clade of the Giant language family, with it descending from Jogishk but having evolved so much that it is mostly unintelligible to native speakers of any giant language. It itself has its own descendants and dialects but those are still fairly intelligible to each other thought it still requires some effort for speakers of different dialects to communicate effectively.
The most prominent and still living dialects are Gnome rit, Word'ombre, and Sable chuchotant.
Gnome rit is spoken by the Foret de feet in Dancing Dream and has, over the years, become more and more similar to the Sylvan language, making it the most difficult to understand for the Tarrasqueborn from Bator as their languages, while influenced by other languages, have remained closer to each other than Gnome rit has to them. As basic Tarrasqueborn it is a fluent language, moving from sound to sound flowingly but it has inherited a few vowels and consonants from Sylvan while leaving a few behind from Tarrasqueborn while also shifting pronunciation. This gives it a rather quick pace even for Tarrasqueborn.
Word'ombre is the dialect of the Souterrain, and has become a sort of fixture within the underdark due to their influence. It is strongly influenced by Undercommon, Dwarfish, Drowish, and Jotunstein, with the Jotunstein having the most upon it. Due to the Souterrain close ties with the Stone giant villages, Word'ombre has, in a way, returned to its roots as it now more closely resembles other Giant dialects. Of course, the other languages of the underdark have influenced it as well, even deep speech, but none of them where quite as influential. The language is still flowing and open but it contains more harsh gs, cutting ks, and sudden j's.
Lastly, the Sabel chuchotant dialect is most commonly spoken by the Depuis dune. It is considered sort of archaic as it lacks much influence of other languages, that and the fact that they have the largest population of the three have made it the basic dialect for the language and is what is generally spoken between the three sub-species. It is a flowing language, as all Tarrasqueborn dialects, with words moving into one another and often sounding stretched with it additionally being mostly spoken while clearly exhaling.
Common Etiquette Rules
In Tarrasqueborn society, etiquette is as unwritten as their population is thinly spread. What is considered appropriate behavior in one settlement will be considered offensive. However, there are some common rules amongst them that can be expected to be correct.
For one, it is considered a challenge to lower your head as if a Tarrasqueborn did that they would be pointing their horns at the other but this applies to other species as well. As such, if you lower your head to someone, even in a nod, it will be taken as a challenge to test each other's mettle.
Second, you shouldn't refer to someone by their first name unless you are either family or a close friend. It is considered far to close for strangers to do so and such you are expected to refer to the other person as Monsiour or Madam depending on their gender, and Monsiour/Madam X when they are not around.
Thirdly, a Tarasqueborn is expected to provide food when invited to any occasion which will be eaten by the entire gathering alongside what was provided by the other guests and the host. It is considered selfish to not do so, though a gift for the host is an adequate stand-in.
Fourthly, Any insult must be paid in tithes or combat, no discussion. This is a remnant of older times but is still considered important to this day. In Tarasqueborn society, an insult is considered far to costly an endeavor in a world where everyone must work every day to feed and drink and where they are an endangered species. As such, whenever an insult has been inflicted upon another it must be paid in a tithe which is a consistency of the insulted party's choosing or in combat where the insulted party either loses and forgets it ever happened or wins and gets retribution for the crime.
Lastly, when greeting another, Tarrasqueborn are expected to touch their chest with the tip of their middle-finger as a show of respect and connection.
Common Dress Code
Before the Collision, the Tarrasqueborn had a strong sense of regalia and what would be appropriate attire. One was considered lewd when not covered from neck to toe in armor made of shells, from hook demons or dragon turtles for example, or steel decorated with engravings and spikes.
However, this has changed quite dramatically after the Collision. Now, many consider full sets of clothes as a luxury and decoration of those clothes as a nearly useless frivolity. Most of their clothes consist of animal hides, leather, threads made of fat and blood veins, and a few pieces of metal to keep it all together. Often times, most often, clothing of a Tarrasqueborn consists of belts and pouches over the chest, legs, and arms to carry items; a cloak to shield from the sun and provide a blanket during the night; and maybe a pants, though a skirt is more common for its open and windy nature.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
The culture of Tarrasqueborn is driven by four forces that have been motivation behind every action taken by the species ever since the first Tarrasqueborn first set foot on Bator. These four forces are; Creation. Destruction, Effort, and Ease. Creation forges life and the world it inhabits, Destruction ensures there to be room for Creation and to save nine stitches with just one, Effort is the cost of creation and life and serves to ensure such things are worth it and only taste better afterwards, literally often enough, and Ease is the reward of all things which serves as respite of all nature's ails and a reason to continue creating.
This mentality of "Creation>Life>Destruction/Effort>Ease>Creation" is what defines the roles they expect of themselves and other species. It drives what they expect of their men and women, how they reward achievements, what they create, and how they go about their daily lives.
Most of their cultural heritage is build up on this mentality. Statues dedicated to those who, through great effort, contributed to their species hacked from stone with bare hands; cities build in volcanoes which are destroyed and rebuild greater whenever it erupts; or an underground grove consisting of plants and animals from all over the planet growing together in artificial harmony and much more. Of course, little of these remain after the Collision but to the Tarrasqueborn this is not a tragedy. This is just another part of the cycle for them. These monuments will still remain remembered but now, in their stead can be build new monuments and the resources used for their upkeep can now be aimed at survival.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
To the Tarrasqueborn, practicality is the standard for all their customs. In the endless desserts and tunnels of Bator, you cant waste time and resources on not slurping when drinking blood just because its ''rude'' and ''primitive''. Common customs include; Bringing food to every social event, such as a cremation or celebration; carving a child's name into a stone and using it during the construction of a new building to honor their memory and their birth as a gift of Que'Tar; and the practice of burning the corpses of important figures, such as priests or kings, to allow their ash to join with their realm.
Traditions follow this thought of keeping them practical to save up on time and resources and are seldom celebrated. However, to compensate, whenever they do celebrate them they are of great import and will be treated as such with high strength wine, a large feast of exotic meats, dozens of songs, and plenty of bloody fights to get the tensions high. The most important traditions in their culture, which are wide spread enough to be expected to be celebrated wherever your travels lead, are;
The annual Feasting Star festival: This festival is a celebration of the new year. Originally solely celebrated by the Tarrasqueborn living in Bator's poles to welcome the first sunrise after months of darkness, it spread throughout their species due to millennia of trade and cultural mixing as well as the necessary merging of all Tarrasqueborn tribes to survive the Collision. It is celebrated via the burning of a large statue made of old or disposable leather and the erection of another in its ashes to symbolize the new year.
Raven's flight: The newest of these traditions, Raven's Flight, or Corbeau volant in Tarrasqueborn, is the most important holiday in the Raven's Cult. It remembers how its first Patriarch left into the Castle of The Raven's loft as he was poisoned, giving him but days to live, and wished to be saved by their god. This was, at first, a tragic remembrance of the loss of their Patriarch but after rumors of merchants seeing a shadow resembling him began popping up. When these rumors where ''proven'' by their second Patriarch who went inside the Castle and, again ''supposedly'', saw and even spoke to the first Patriarch. After this event, the tradition became a festive one which began to celebrate all their dead, not just the high ranking ones, and even one where they will send their dead and dying into the Castle to live on forever with both their Patriarch and their god. Of course, all of this is accompanied by high strength wine, combat, and large amounts of food.
The Last Alliance parade: This tradition is quite complex. It began as a simple meeting day for the legions of the Golden Eye Associate, which expanded to become a festival where the legions would gamble, feast, share stories, and compare physicality. This grew even more as merchants began to take advantage of the situation to sell more merchandise, even to citizens which they encouraged to do so to show their ''support for the guard'', or to buy their disposable gear. Eventually, this became a bi-annual event for all who where either members, protected by, or just external supporters off the Associate where they would all come together and, after logistical discussion and easy relaxation, they would hold a parade, which might be an exaggeration given the ''parade'' is often more certain performers marching or dancing and not with other features that could be considered part of a parade such a floats, celebrate and welcome a successful 2 years for the Associate and all Tarrasqueborn kind. This however, would quickly be appropriated by the Purple Templars who began celebrating the same to further legitimize themselves and the Raven's Cult. This means that depending on which religion of the two is most dominant, one can either be greeted by a parade of children dressed in acolyte coats singing the praises of Que'Tar, or, a platoon of Templars recreating a battle between them and a blue dragon.
Common Taboos
In Tarrasqueborn society, the biggest taboos are laziness and wastefulness. In ancient times lethargy was the worst and wastefulness was more a general distasteful trait within their society. The reasons for wastefulness being considered the worst of taboos are most likely obvious, in a world where every speck of a resource is immensely valuable, wasting that is obviously detrimental.
Lethargy, however, derives from their cultural sense of the necessity of effort. Their culture is partly defined by the idea that effort is necessary for any reward or achievement to mean something, and that without effort creation and destruction would both be useless and non-existent because of it, giving the concept of lethargy a horrible connotation in their culture and making it the worst of all their taboos.
Historical Figures
The history of the Tarrasqueborn species is one filled with individuals driven to exceed one another and being ripped from their place in history by those who did what they did, but better, inspired by them to reach for those heights. Many of these figures have been remembered fondly, from Absalon the shepherd to Afrodille the fore-bearer, but just as many have been remembered with disdain, Hugo the Hill and Gabriel the Ripper are good examples. However, if you wish to understand the Tarrasqueborn culture and know of the ones that the define said culture without delving into the realms of mythology, then the grandfather Stün and the Lord of the Teeth would be the best to study.
The grandfather Stün was the most active of the three Arch-Priests of the Que'Tar Ecclesia during the decades before the Collision. His reign with the other two was one of benevolent and far reaching intervention. He attempted to undo the rather cruel view on other species that previous Arch-Priests had begun to instill within the populous, taking an active role as a member of his own, and other, communities to build a less deific and more mortal view of the Arch-Priests within their followers, given his nickname of ''Grandfather'' from children in hospitals he would visit and bless for a quick recovery. This partially worked, with the imi and emigration within Tarrasqueborn holdings increasing and relations improving in general, though many Tarrasqueborn kept a sense of superiority to other species which he could not fix before the end of his reign. Due to his work, the Tarrasqueborn began to both see and be seen in a much better light by others and accepted a form of humility within themselves which allowed for the acceptance and offering of aid when needed after the Collision.
The Lord of the Teeth, originally known as Job DeMontagne was basically the opposite. He took up leadership of the Ecclesia after the Collision, and the death of the last Arch-Priests including Stün. The society he took control of had been thrown into disarray from the Collision. He began in 1 A.C as a doctor, serving to help ease pain and disease of those caught in the immediate shockwave of the Collision. However, this duty of his did not last long. As his years of service continued, he became disillusioned to the Ecclesia, who he believed to not spend as much time and resources as they could trying to help rebuild and, instead, where hiding within their chapels and churches, which he grew to truly disdain, while he and others had to be outside to heal or euthanize their brothers and sisters. As such, to ensure this would end, he became a member of the Ecclesia in the year 4 A.C and, through a process of campaigning, bribery, and assassination, rose through its ranks. This culminated in 6 A.C, when he became an Arch-Priest, though his competitors seemed to have been missing during the election. When this happened he utilized his final private funds to have Drow assassins murder his fellow Arch-Priests. After achieving this, he instigated le règne de ce dernier, a process where a single Arch-Priest, when the other two die or where unable to rule, would take complete control over the Ecclesia and all Tarrasqueborn settlements. Using these new powers he drained all resources from the churches and chapels he hated and spending those on the rebuilding of settlements, collecting of cattle for a food supply, and the establishment of medical facilities. For the next 3 years, he was hailed as a savior and was even dubbed ''Que'Tar reborn'' due to his policies. But this would not last as, in the year 10 A.C, he declared the first Croisade. Aimed at a human refugee camp in the dead-end chasm, with the justification of obtaining resources for the Tarrasqueborn. This was but the first of Croisades, with them becoming more and more aggressive to obtain more and more resources, while Job satisfied his anger at the world. He became known as the Lord of Teeth after he started collecting teeth from battlefields after Croisades ended. After the 7th Croisade, however, the people where fed up with war and he was dethroned from the Ecclesia with the lands conquered in the Croisades being either returned or shared with those who originally owned them in an effort to restore their image in the eyes of everyone else.
Common Myths and Legends
There are countless legends and folk tales in Tarrasqueborn culture, from the little Slaad on the Goblin to the tiny bubonic maiden, and almost as many myths, from Que'Tar's serenade to the Raven's calling. All these are massively important to their culture, and i do mean every one. No Tarrasqueborn doesn't get taught the struggles of Louise the Whale Rider, the horrors of Henri DeVillagemort, the humorous, and slightly disastrous, escapades of Inès DelaCoin, or the tragedy of Lola the wise. As you might have guessed by now, repeating every single one of these will not be happening in this article but i will be reciting the most important of them all. The tale of the 8 parents of the species; Zar, the father of the Hunt, Zir, the mother of healing, Tar, the father of Music, Tir, the mother of Poetry, Oran, the father of Masonry, Oril, the mother of Demolition, Kran, the father of war, and Kril, the mother of Obliteration.
These are believed to have been real people by even the most atheistic of historians due to the hundreds of accounts about them from outside the Tarrasqueborn species and the plentiful physical results of their supposed actions; such as battlefields, portraits, or their actual remains, but to the Tarrasqueborn these are but the tip of the, supposed, mountain range of achievements that they have accomplished. From stealing Tiamat's red head and placing it within the Shadowfell covered in insulting texts, devouring a village of Medusea all the while laughing at their screams and begs, to teaching a human hero on how to defeat his father to take back his kingdom. All these tales, and more, are considered basically, if not wholly, true within the Tarrasqueborn culture. To them, the 8 original Tarrasqueborn are demi-gods with scores, upon scores, upon scores of achievements that are vividly taught by the Que'Tar Ecclesia and the Raven's Cult to instill an identity and sense of unity within their followers.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Crabe Affamé
Origin/Ancestry
Depuis Dune, souterrain, forêt de fées, de la mer
Lifespan
70 years
Conservation Status
just like any species, excluding those within the Tlincalli hegemony, the Tarrasqueborn are very much an endangered species. only 20,000 are alive on Bator and only 3,000 in Dancing Dream. The Depuis dune are the vast majority with a population reaching into 12,000, the Souterrain are second most numerous with a population in of 8,000, but the De la mer have died out completely. They cling to life the best they can as any civilized species would but no external force is trying to keep them alive.
Average Height
2.5 - 2.7 meters
Average Weight
140 - 160 kilograms
Average Length
4.5 meters
Average Physique
Tarrasqueborn spend much of their time in rigorous physical activities and have a natural knack for building muscles. This means that on average Tarrasqueborn have a tall and toned build with very well defined muscles and a powerful presence.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Tarrasqueborn complexion depends upon their subspecies.
Depuis Dune have yellow/greenish skin which is broken up by small specks of darker pigmentation to break them up against the desert sand.
souterrain have a pale, almost white complexion with short, thin lines of bio-luminescent skin that serve to make their silhouette appear more chaotic and hard to pinpoint for predators.
forêt de fées have a brown and green skin tone.
de la mer have a blue and grey complexion with spots of dark green and bright colors across their bodies to more closely resemble the coral reefs and seaweed forests within they reside.
Geographic Distribution
Related Myths
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