Petrakin (pet-rah-kin)
Basic Information
Anatomy
Petrakin are a humanoid species, possessed of a stone-like skin, glass-like eyes, and surprisingly normal hair, save its unusually smooth texture. They are quite distinctly uniform in appearance, being almost minimally sexually dimorphic, but possess a significant dimorphic difference within the species.
Firstly, petrakin exist in both 'lesser' and 'greater' variants.
Lesser petrakin are universally small and stockily built, possessing thicker muscles and broader builds. They are often thought as tinier versions of most humanoids, owing an endearing quality in the minds of most other species.
Greater petrakin are at the upper end of medium, and often large, in stature. They possess fantastically lithe proportions, with their legs and arms becoming abnormally long compared to the rest of them. Their greatest distinction is their head and neck–the neck itself becoming many times longer, enough to let their heads reach their own waists. Hair often trails down from the tops of their heads to down their necks, stopping right above the shoulders. Indeed, their otherwise human-like face maintains an ordinary look, despite the utterly disturbing disconnection it has from the rest of their body.
A bipedal species of humanoids, petrakin possess elongated legs, and a flexible tube-like tail that can be up to twice their own body length. Their hair grows in a naturally smooth, semi-fixed manner, as if styled in a certain way automatically. Their hands have disproportionately long fingers and their feet tend to resemble even slimmer, four-fingered hands than actual humanoid feet. In many senses, they move and carry themselves with a predatory gait reminiscent of lizards, leaning into running and walking. This in turn means they have a dynamic range of motion in their limbs, at home being horizontal as much as vertical.
Their skin is hardy and smooth, resembling polished rock and giving them a pristine, unblemished appearance. If one didn't touch them, it would be easy to mistake them for statues or other inanimate objects. Rocky growths may appear on their skin, resembling pebbles, gravel, or other messy, semi-crumbling stone work.
There is almost no sexual dimorphism in the species: male and females look nearly identical, save the female's enlarged breasts. Both possess fairly wide hips, and the male's genitals neatly retracts into the body. Thusly, it is easy to confuse a petrakin's sex if one doesn't have the ability to discern their chest region.
Their colors are often veltron-centric, resembling rocks, ores, and other stone work. This can be particularly bizarre when one encounters petrakin who are made up of raw, uncut gems, appearing as if such valuable things are growing out of them. It is thought of that no two petrakin--even parents and their children--resemble each other exactly.
There is always a unique distinction to their physical makeup, becoming a sort of fingerprint of identity in and of itself. As far as their eyes are concerned, their glass-like clarity (not to be confused with dragon gem-like clarity) is visually captivating, if somewhat alien feeling. Eye colors are shared in familial lineages fairly often, and so many petrakin societies regard bloodlines through their eyes.
Biological Traits
Resilient Bodies – Petrakin are troublesome to kill, shrugging off wounds others might be crippled by. They can also survive with minimal food and water quite well, though they by no means thrive doing so. Ultimately, this has let them have a high environmental adaptation rate.
Low-Light Vision – Their eyes are well suited to seeing in low light, and only a true pitch-black environment can blind them.
Incredible Tongues – The petrakin tongue originates deep in the esophagus, and possesses segmented musculature that helps roll food down their gullets. It is not uncommon for their tongues to reach up to two feet outside their own bodies, but that does strain them. The muscle itself is highly flexible to an extent, letting them reach into places otherwise inaccessible.
Lesser Telepathy – Petrakin primarily communicate to each other through their unique mind-speak. Non-petrakin, excepting fathered petrakin hybrids, have an intense difficulty in hearing these telepathic thoughts, making it largely useless for communicating to the other species.
Greater Petrakin Only – Instinctual Magic; these unique petrakin are able to access magical power at an instinctual level, making them disturbingly adept at picking up magecraft.
Petrakin feel everything with their bodies–quite literally, their hands, tail, tongue, feet, chest, and so forth. They are viscerally sensual and (to some) invasive in these explorations. This is not a wholly erotic activity, leading to many bizarre scenarios of the petrakin rubbing or caressing themselves against inanimate objects. This has led to some safety concerns, particularly in areas with chemicals or machinery, but the petrakin are usually reserved enough to not be that dangerous with themselves. Still, to many non-petrakin, this way of experiencing the world is quite bizarre to behold.
Genetics and Reproduction
Hybrids do not exist among this species: female petrakin only birth true petrakin. Male petrakin do not pass on any distinct or unique traits to females of other species.
Civilization and Culture
Relationship Ideals
Lacking most of the norms of the other species, Petrakin have no concept of personal space, and gladly invite themselves in to explore potential partners. Smell, appearance, physique, capabilities–all the primal aspects of a would-be mate are examined by them. They do not particularly care for 'the best of the best', but rather, seek something compatible to themselves. A lazy petrakin who prefers to read books, for example, will find someone of a similar nature.
Thus, if welcomed in, they are surprisingly sensual, and focus much of their attention on erotic touching, massages (both by their hands and by rubbing their bodies/tails on someone), and tasting with the tongue. In a vein similar to their abhorrence reaction, settling with a mate(s) redirects much of their attention into living harmoniously with that person(s).
Curiously, there are observable changes in petrakin partners over time–they become more self-confident, capable, and otherwise improved in their daily lives. While most attribute this to mere relationship success, the sheer consistency of it happening where their entire species exists has raised some eyebrows.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
From the most desolate mountains and deserts, and to the wealthy shallows of oceans, the soft-spoken and stoic petrakin are anything but. Their limited telepathy has shifted much of their dialogue and societal happenings to the mindscape, leaving their true mannerisms unreachable to others. One could stand in the middle of an intense theological debate, only to hear the sound of shuffling limbs, swallowing mouths, and breathing. In turn, they have difficulty expressing themselves with facial and bodily gestures that make sense, as only half their conversation is ever being brought to the surface. It is highly necessary for a petrakin to learn–often, quite difficultly–to communicate with non-telepathic people, making their spoken dialogue and physical mannerisms exaggerated and child-like.
Highly communal, and often possessed of a tribe-like governmental structure, the omnivorous petrakin approach the world with a 'peace first, eat later' attitude. If a greater petrakin is present, they almost always constitute the ruling class or nobility. Their higher mental capabilities impresses most of their lesser kin to follow these natural born leaders, and almost every great sage of their race is a greater petrakin. Still, the emergence of a greater petrakin is itself a notable event.
Always interested in forging friendships and ties with others, wars are typically more a result of self-defense, then perhaps genuine anger or resource needs. This has both aided and hindered them, as the more dominant species eagerly exploit the petrakin's peaceful attitude. They are all, however, extremely mindful on how they do so.
The 'eat later' attitude of the petrakin is, in many ways, a bipolar reaction to dangers or things they come to hate. Petrakin are viscerally violent when driven to do so and abhor, in true earnesty and without any false pretense, things that would hurt them or be disgusting. To the petrakin mind, it is better to utterly destroy the offending thing and be free of it forever than potentially have to be alongside it. If they cannot do this, they will migrate away elsewhere gladly. Suppressing this instinct is difficult in the extreme, and has landed them in bloody conflicts time and time again. It wouldn't be a stretch to suppose the history of petrakin wars largely derive from this extreme 'do not back down' response.
In a sense that is regarded as bizarre, the petrakin seem unfazed by the presence of emerging technology. The wonders of humanity do not impress them, though they readily make use should any be in their living areas. Coupled with their 'arguably barbaric' writing system, the higher learned species look down upon the petrakin wholly, regarding them as savages or quaint primitives. The lack of any major infrastructure or settlements on their part–as petrakin substitute entirely off what the land itself naturally provides–has only reinforced this view point.
Nonetheless, where petrakin are involved, they fit themselves into with a disturbing ease. No matter the environment, culture, or living space, they make it their own, appearing as natural as the sky is to the veltron. Each and every day they live, and they live, and they watch the world around them, moving with a purpose others simply don't understand.
History
The petrakin have been synonymous with dragon kind since time immemorial. A species naturally at home in the dragon's native environments, for many centuries they were regarded as a subjugated people. Indeed, there is no shortage of malevolent dragons abusing their underlings, but these outliers do not adequately convey the depth of the relationship. It is within the petrakin that dragons first found other sapient life, and the two walked down a path of cooperation that suited both their natures. The dragons, who lived large and grandly, shook the veltron and broke the skies as they pleased. The petrakin took care of everything else, ostensibly as servants, but more as a people following in the wake of great powers.
Or so it is spoken of, in common understanding.
The truth is the petrakin are a living mystery, one that has vexed even the profoundest of ryujin minds. As one of the first peoples of the world, the dragons found the petrakin already walking across Veltrona. Who are they, and where did they come from? Do they predate even the Great Convergence itself? Not even the petrakin themselves knew, seemingly. Not one oral tradition or bodily-inked tattoo story foretold of their origins. In fact, the lack of any creation-centric myths at all confounded any effort to actually piece together a narrative.
Humanity found this quite irritating, as they are ever curious about past, present, and future. Many of their scholars have taken to committing petrakin oral and tattoo stories to written memory. This transcription, however, runs into problems time and again because of how complex both are. Petrakin societal memory is quite literally written on their bodies. Their strange, line-and-geometric-shape centric language is both artistic and specific, conveying meaning in a few strokes others need pages to describe. The most memorable and noteworthy events are carried by individuals, who, regarded as great sages, visit the various petrakin tribes to spread the histories they've seen. The deaths of these sages, or the erasure of old knowledge to fit in newer information, means there is a permanent loss of their living history.
It remains possible a sage may have actually known, but neither oral tradition nor inscription survived through the ages. For the petrakin, the death of a sage is a permanent loss of knowledge, for there is often nothing else that contains their information. For them, who knew not of what they lost, did not care for what it may have been. Once gone is gone, and the petrakin continued on, their fixed gaze upon the future rather than the past. Despite this, many are interested in the stories for they often possess color, depth, and description far more vivid than most can find elsewhere. The petrakin do not just record events or bullet points, but entire worldly views and perspectives, a journey through the mind that can be relived.
This has resulted in some rather interesting historical discrepancies. As the petrakin often live with other species in close proximity, their recollection of some major events can be quite different. The resulting friction has, for better or worse, seen them ejected out of some civilizations to avoid undermining the ruling powers. In these areas of the world, they are regarded as a nuisance and unwanted. Thus the petrakin migrate until they find another home, and so bring with them their unique truths they know.
Comments