Toa Tor
Gazing wishfully across the gap from ring 4 to ring 3, the young Toa Tor shifted the weight of the enormous stone club resting on her shoulder. Her vulpine ears twitched constantly, listening for the endless dangers that stalked this region.
Her foot rested on a bundle of sticks. Each stick at least 6 feet long, almost twice her height. She was proud of this bundle. Something from these sticks would help them get closer to their brethren on the other ring.
Something clicked in the forest behind her. While it did not sound threatening, it ended her daily viewing. Valla of Falling Rocks and Flying Rocks turned around to check out any potential dangers. Her black, slightly bulging eyes caught nothing in the trees. However, the whiskers on the end of her snout caught the scent of a briar caterpillar.
Valla breathed out, not realizing she had been holding her breath. Her gray fur relaxed as she bent down and scooped up the bundle of sticks with a single clawed hand. As she tossed the bundle on her shoulder, she turned her bare feet, dug in her claws and started running towards home; home and her favorite building house.
The Toa Tor believe they exist for a single reason, a bridge between the rings. They live on both the 3rd and 4th rings of Ring World. Each day they spend some time contemplating how to get to the other ring.
Fortunately for their survival the Toa Tor do not dwell for long. While they exist to bridge the gap, they live to build... anything. Each settlement has at least one 'building house.' These structures vary as much as the items created inside them. The Toa Tor are driven to create as much as they are required to eat.
This creativity is coupled with a drive for neatness and organization. Everything is tidy inside and around a Toa Tor village. As a species they work tirelessly to stay alive, build new things, and find a way to make a bridge to the other ring. In these goals they have found efficiency is superior to chaos.
In defense of their work Toa Tor wield weapons that are massively oversized for their 3ish foot statures. Over the generations they have found that the bigger the weapon, the more damage it does to their larger foes. Toa Tor are not violent by intent, as it would interfere with their creating and building. They do train endlessly to assure that threats can be dealt with quickly so their species wide quest can be given the maximum amount of effort.
BASIC INFORMATION
Anatomy
Toa Tor look like shrews found on earth. Except they are about three feet tall and can weigh up to 60lbs. The other major different is their eyes. Unlike earth shrews, the eyes of a Toa Tor come out of their head a bit for better vision.
Their ears are large relative to their body size. Ears are stiff and stick up, generally, at all times. This is another evolution for safety of living above ground.
Toa Tor can walk and run in both bipedal and quadrupedal stances.
They are significantly stronger than their size would indicate. This comes from generations of martial training with comically oversized weapons.
Genetics and Reproduction
Toa Tor are mammals with fairly high reproduction rates. The magics of Ring World occasionally manifest in the genes of Toa Tor granting them various talents.
Growth Rate & Stages
The Toa Tor are born completely blind and helpless. This stage is rather short and within a 3-4 months Toa Tor are walking and talking. Their physical growth never slows to keep pace with their slow mental growth. By age three, Toa Tor are done growing physically.
Their mental growth does not come rapidly. While it varies a great deal between individuals, most Toa Tor do not gain 'adult' mental capacity before their 25th year. Throughout the years a Toa Tor is continuously improving mental skills through practice, rote skill building, plus both supervised and completely free creative expression.
While violence is not innate to the species, all Toa Tor begin training as combatants around their 15th year.
Ecology
Toa Tor can, and do, live anywhere. Their geographic location fuels physical changes to suit the environment. Some of these changes happen in just a season or two while other take generations.
Cold dwelling Toa Tor tend to be larger, covered in huge amounts of light colored fur, and wear significantly more clothing. Tropical Toa Tor are swimmers with more oily fur and thinner bodies. Swamp and marshland inhabitants form camouflaged furs in dark colors.
Diet
Plants and bugs make up the entire Toa Tor diet. Food forests run in and around all settlements. There are few formal feasts so most Toa Tor go about their day picking what they need from the Food Forests as they get hungry; or need something for a project!
Addition Information
Social Structure
Settlements are focused completely around the Building House(s). All Toa Tor wish to spend as much time creating and building so the rest of their duties are done with no wasted effort. The daily tasks are well understood by the entire community and a few elders see to it that everything is properly stocked and secured.
Leadership within the Toa Tor is pure meritocracy. Efficiency is paramount here as well as the leaders have the same strong desire to create as the rest of the tribe. Roles also rotate as needed.
Farming leaders might vary per season or even task. In other settlements the same Toa Tor might lead all farming efforts year round.
Geography
Ring 3 and Ring 4 - Living anywhere they can get a foothold and building material.
Mental Characteristics
Highly advanced spatial skills. High Empathy amongst the species, little towards non-Toa Tor.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Toa Tor evolved as smaller, above ground creatures. Given this they have excellent senses which contribute to their survival.
Culture
Naming Conventions
Toa Tor have a unique name, at least within the settlement they were born into, followed by the name of their birth settlement. The settlement names tend to be functional or engineering based.
- Valla of Falling Rocks and Flying Rocks
- Heses from Floating Wood
- Domedo of High Desert
Language
Toa Tor speak their own language. It is a precise language filled with multi, specific terms related to building.
Common Dress
Dress for the Toa Tor is focused around pockets. They dress in heat appropriate clothing festooned with pockets and places to put things.
Comments