Naraji

The Naraji are a mustelid-like species of humanoids from the Kasar planet of Konoben (also known as Knobaji). They've had a long and very slow developed history, and have acted as a mostly violent and vicious race between themselves and others. They live short lives, but develop quick within them while aging slow. Naraji barely have a concept for serious elders nor even childhood, but in part because quite a lot actually die in conflict rather than age. Achieving past age 40 is generally considered old age, in which any younger between 4-39 most are generally capable of strength, breeding, and quick decisions. However the oldest on record is 58 years, in a good health situation. Meanwhile, newborns tend to age rapidly almost to par with more feral life, and show maturing cognitive focus and sexual potential by late 3 years (though in the sense teens can technically be capable but cautioned against). Adults are generally considered to be recognized by age 4 or 5 by parental discretion, giving a very small window of both advanced learning and childhood social development.
Most of their history has been in serious warfare, up to and including techniques that have foiled k'siiva despite their primitive functions, very far back in the past. They are solitary sapient creatures, struggling to form strong and large communities, and have a strong tendency for hyper-activity, usually contributing to early poor listening skills and mild vandalism that would escalate. Over time however more thoughtful genetics, and more advanced ally pioneers have crossed and emerged a more docile society, but still with slight issues and oddities including a very selfish nature between individuals. Yet their perks are also accounted for. They are highly active outdoor types, and quick crafters, not to mention easy to train in a great deal of many labors and have even been taught magic in select cases. They tend to work closely with vyllk who they've copied some paths to industry from, but also integrate some learning programs from orc-humans, and an old zen-like philosophy formed from inspirations off a past ezmarite. This has quickly put them more up to date akin to races like Labris and Ursarian, though they are deceptively far more smarter on an individual basis.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Naraji coupling is complicated in a sense. They are generally aggressive, promiscuous, and yet quite picky with a strong concern of genetics from appearance and strength while finding a need to still dominate over the other. In a sense, they are lawless in this nature, and without a very strong sense of physical sexual dimorphism, what determines the terms of a relation are almost governed like a kratocracy between the individuals. The strongest or most aggressive tends to make the calls, including how and when they mate, or if they have multiple partners, and sometimes if one is to casually leave or produce more offspring. Ordinarily the race is more solitary at heart, and a couple will depart after raising their quickly aging off-spring. However there have been cases of a male holding a harem, or even reverse-harems of a female showing the domination over more than one male.

What makes things weirder is the potential domestic abuse between a relation. Males tend to be more aggressive by hormonal nature, but not necessarily by size all the time. A female can still overpower them, but they also tend to be attracted towards a strong male for when they must labor around a child. This presents a situation where at times females "play hard to get" to tease out strength, while other times they are genuinely fighting and trying to reject the male. This can be flipped at times though, if a female simply wants a certain male or genetics harder than the male is willing to participate. In either case intercourse may appear to come after a violent fight, up to including sometimes light neck-biting while copulating. Ideal attraction between the two is a compromise of firm behavior and genetic fur traits, often meaning the couple want each other to be strong but fashionable with them. 

Image: Usually the dominant partner is the larger one. Left, the pregnant female is naturally bigger in stature & posture to show dominance. The male is more pudgy and reserved, and she probably bred him for his richer fur. Right image, the male is clearly bigger, and may even be having paws around her neck as a show of dominance while she stays hunched and lowered showing equal parts submission & reciprocation.
Once pregnant, a naraji female has a few months ofin which they are quite clingy to their partner, and more social - even in older periods it was the case that females behaved more docile with cubs to stay out of fights and to homestead. 1-3 cubs may be had at a time. Once the cub(s) become mature, a female usually wants more and may leave the partner or repeat, depending on her drive and community attachments. The male may have even started sooner than that, potentially polyamorous or hosting a harem, but in other cases they are a strongly bonded couple to themselves for the few years of cub-reering. Ultimately the more dominant partner will decide fate, but most females don't stop with one mate and may see up to 6-8 pregnancies in a fuller lifetime. In ancient times it was more common for harems to become inherited by a stronger male moving in and killing the lead, so females got around slightly less in older times.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Omnivores, with a carnivorous bias across most of their life. They would often eat a range of meats, and kept close to trapper customs rather than much domestication. However there had been early instances of storing fish and small birds early on, but less so in the way of cows, pigs, and large livestock. This also reflected in the majority of their diets, and they'd often eat small game but frequently.
In more modern times, they've been introduced in the last millennia to a larger consumerist economy, including a more literal sense of a wider universal selection of dishes and over-processed methods, with hints of more sophisticated new culinary ideals too. Among the biggest new crazes is coffee, new and customized in many ways, and feeling good with its caffeinated buzz and their already high energy nature, they tend to indulge heavily in lattes, cold brew, and espressos. There's also been a large uptake in pizza, yogurt, burgers, spicy dishes, and bakery sweets. Akin to more recent vyllk standards - who largely inspired their new industry - a majority are thriving fine, but the race was always so lean until now where an obvious influx in fatter naraji is emerging. Most staying in shape either have some value for a balanced diet with some traditionalism, while others simply burn off calories doing activities. The less fortunate are mostly burger and pizza fans buying off laced sycore property, and lose themselves a bit once they start making returning visits.

From hunting small game (right) to cafes (left) the naraji have a dietary mix that recently includes a lot more coffee, and sometimes too much pizza.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Serious cross-world fur trades often invoked Naraji, formerly very expensive for the dangers of fighting these creatures. A few races came to pelt them for a dangerous sport as much as the trade and value of it, even sometimes dubbing it a special type of mink fur akin to the terran critter they slightly resemble. This practice slightly died when they were being civilized with some strong altruistic surveillance, but over time the practice resumed and just got more integral to killing them in a more quiet serial killer format within the co-existing societies. In other instances, its sometimes possible to even negotiate a system with a resident who has fought with their own, or has lost someone of natural causes, and some willingly give up the fur with some incentive of riches themselves. Given their history, a few also embrace this reputation to goad a primal sense of being hunted and challenged to twist things around.
Another common issue is the rapid settling of Syrena franchises. Pie Princess and Nugget's Queen have both found a great success in the area, and began experimenting with naraji meat harvesting. While some individuals are too cunning to fool easily, they've generally found success, and even sometimes mix in with the other exploitation and sever the meat from the pelt. There is some dispute if this makes a better, wider coat in the end, or if the fatty diet has soiled the follicle texture a little, but either way the naraji are gamed between both systems. Between the two issues, naraji are more appalled to see their kin being fattened into something too sluggish to give a proper fight, and compare this method to a form of poisoning prey, but a few will also respect that sense of cunning.

Growing fat is a more recent concept for naraji, pushed on them by industry seeking wider fur pelts & meat. Most avoid the gain, but its on the rise and easier for poachers

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Early language customs were more playful, arranging sounds with a rhythm, sound, or common vowel. In the end this made for a lot of onomatopoeia names and palindromes. However because of a mix of solitary and unsystemic forms of bonds, there wasn't a lot of tight structure around these ideas, and sometimes they had odd twists or pronunciations. Tot, Sairias, Narf, Raikkiar, Monom, Leomoel, Eikar, Brab'hbarb, Anna, Sethtes, Aiip, Sheek, and Sooh'hoos are all examples of the sort of native naraji names between odd sounds and shared vowels. However with the gentrification strongly pulled by vyllk, they have imitated some naming patterns from afar and may adopt Caul'qa style names, and others into some instances.

Beauty Ideals

Traditional mammal traits are a start to their vanity interests, making no exceptions that firm shouldered and stoic males, or phallic measures please females, while curvaceous figure marks and slim waist tend to strike male interest. Where they up-play and try to strike more dynamic conversation around looks and self-care, is in the fur and hair. Akin to the issues with their fur-trade, the naraji aren't shy about considering their fur a pique trait of quality.
While promiscuous enough to not settle their bonds too seriously, they have a eugenic sense of protecting their fur and genes for it, and won't be happy to feel scoped out by someone off-set by their fur tones. However with the development of hair, they have a large sense of cosmetology around it with dyes, patterns, and styles, including a more classical pride in bald - which tends to be more popular with the more tenacious males to stay ahead in regards to fighting agility. This has even extended to a trend of 'ear-marking', where some uniquely dye their ear fur a bit, and may in some instances use facial marks, but avoid dying (ruining) most of their body fur. Other trends include a 'scruff-mane', where only the base of the hair or even true fur itself is grown out.

From left-to-right, examples of altered styles include mixed hair colors & ear-marking, a traditional scruff-mane, and bald with more emphasis to her facial markings.

Gender Ideals

Males are unsurprisingly the more aggressive of the race. While still more relatively docile than their old past, they are still more willing to invoke a mean tone if its edged out, and can be very rough among themselves. Yet as a long historic trait, its somewhat welcomed, and they hold a great deal of disdain for seeing the 'softer' males of other races or cultures, and don't wish to send their own sons down such a path. Likewise even females tend to more often see this as positive, even if not on the surface. Its difficult to tell in interactions between the two when an honest conversation or disagreement is had, versus the female teasing out aggressions for her own amusement. Yet between equal male peers, aggression is usually very firm and asserted when present.
Females tend to be more social, though the aggressive edge isn't necessarily gone. They still tend to be feisty and assert aggression for things that come to them as unjust, including the potential to outfight or even intimidate a male in some rare instances. They often need more provocation around each-other, but historically sometimes just fought out for territorial disputes. With males they sometimes fight out of serious effort, or just to test and tease them into mating, sending an idea of extreme mixed signals up to even the current day.

Common Etiquette Rules

Naraji are generally solitary by nature. While partnering with the opposite sex, even then they share tensions and tend to switch around often. They're shrewd and easily irritable, however over time they've become more opened up and kind to goad technological treats and inventions they are bad with forging themselves. Ahead after centuries of development, they may show more kindness abroad, but not stable. Females tend to be the most visibly social, and invested in activities. Most naraji running offices and industries are females that more easily balance the assertive tough side with a reasoning negotiation, making it very prevalent to find the "boss-bitch" archetype among them. Elsewhere, they let the aliens lead with some skepticism. They may bring out claws among themselves, contesting fights for honor or misunderstandings. Often they control their temper with xenos unless its provoked, but they are still more tempermental and generally unpredictable. The more common worst scenario is that specific naraji go 'missing' because they got into a fight with another, but these are legal terms among their people.

Odd happenings the naraji people themselves just accept involve...

• Domestic Abuse - Partners want the other to show some 'strength'
• Cold Shouldering - Naraji 'introvert' ideals tend to involve just not speaking to someone, with headphones now a modern escapist form used against the exterior world.
• Scratches - Claw sparring, or even 'love marks' from domestic abuse may be found on individuals, and played off coyly.
• Murder - Escalated issues end in the killing of another. No laws persecute it without a strong case of something 'wrong'.
• Overdone compliments - They don't want to feel too soft or liked.

History

Naraji spent a lot of their history at war with themselves and any guests. Their techniques constantly shifted and re-developed, but was often in rough and loose guerrilla tactics. Ambushes, trapping, trees, poisons, and other strange tactics were common, as was outright melee brawling and paw-to-paw. Some semblance of honor was often held but only in selfish pursuits, like males known to make greater displays around females or when trying to kill a harem-master to gain his wives' interests if a victory was had. In other instances, naraji would simply build a tiny bunker space and lace the area with poison, careless of who fell for it or if they never saw the other's face.
K'siiva had a begrudging encounter long ago, when their first empire was still in assembly. They found a singular flaw with this race in that when they were attacked and battled with, they would find these creatures could hide with a special mud that blocked aura/life-force sensory. In the effect, a few that used this tactic were able to virtually blind early studies, and attacks didn't seem worth it for the serpents to pursue, marking one of the few encounters where even a primal race outwit a speculative and invasive force. Over time however, the race started to have more of a clue of numerous visitors and higher life going on, with confused word spreading down generations.
[TBC]

Lifespan

50 Years

Average Height

1.4m-2m

Average Physique

Lithe, quick, & strong. Weight is on the rise, but most are still fiercely fit

Related Technologies

• Solid-state Television