Araken

Araken are a sentient race of humanoid arachnids from the world of Tennon II. They are an older race in the Galaxy having achieved FTL travel approximately 2000 years before humans did. Despite the somewhat terrifying appearance of the male Araken the species as a whole has a friendly demeanor when dealing with others.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Araken have a body layout similar to humans. They are bipedal with a centralized nervous system originating from their brain located within their cranium.
Arken have a few significant anatomical differences that make them stand out among humans. The most obvious is that they have 6 limbs rather than the four that humans have, having a secondary pair of arms under the first. The second major difference is that male Araken retain a much more arachnoid head structure than the females do. The third major difference is that while Araken have an internal skeleton they still have exoskeletal features on their bodies notably the head, limbs and lower abdomen.

Biological Traits

Male Araken are typically larger than females and the upper pair of their arms end in heavy three digit claws that are less dexterous than their more human-like lower arm hands. Female Araken have a small abdomen with spinnerets located at the base of their spine.

Genetics and Reproduction

Araken reproduce sexually in a similar manner to Humans. The young are gestated internally for 5 months before the female gives birth to an soft shelled egg similar in size to an ostrich egg. The embryo inside the egg continues to develop for another 6 months which causes the egg to expand approximately 50% of its initial size. After the internal nutrients of the egg are used up the shell will become increasingly brittle over the course of a few days. When it become brittle enough the infant will break their shell with relative ease. Though they are capable of eating soft solid foods upon hatching they still require 6 months of milk feeding, provided by the female, to gain vital nutrients and antibodies.

Growth Rate & Stages

Upon hatching, the infant Araken resembles a human 1 year old in size and appearance, save the obvious features that differentiate between Humans and Araken. They then grow rapidly to the size of todlers over the course of 6 months while they are milk fed. From there they age at a similar rate to Humans, reaching physical adulthood around the age of 17. A significant moment in a young Araken's life is their First Molt, where they shed the smaller, more flexible chitin plates of their childhood for the more rigid plates they will have during adult hood. This is roughly equivalent to the loss of Human childrens' baby teeth for the larger adult teeth except over a shorter period of time.

Ecology and Habitats

Tennon II is a tropical world with evenly spaced continents between shallow oceans. There is an abundance of tropical rainforests and deserts, with more temperate regions towards the poles. Araken dislike cold places and are deeply uneasy around large bodies of water. Cities on Tennon II are built up, around, and inbetween the giant trees that cover the surface or deep under the desert sands. Urban sprawl to an Araken is more about the vertical space that gets used rather than the horizontal space.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Araken are omnivorous but heavily favour meat in their meals. By comparison to Humans, Araken females are by far the more aggressive when it comes to matters of food and eating, providing a strange contrast with the more patient males. One diplomatic incident between Humans and Araken occured when the ambassador from Tennon II and his wife attended a formal dinner with the prime minister of the CER. The ambassador ate calmly and slowly using his knife and fork while his wife had grabbed an entire beef leg and had proceeded to voraciously consume it, biting giant strips from the bone directly with her teeth.

Biological Cycle

Like many species with exoskeletal chitinous plates, Araken molt when their internal structures grow too large to be properly contained. Males can find this to be very aggravating due to their more extensive chitinous areas. Females find molting to be extremely embarrassing and go to great lengths to hide when they do.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Araken have a similar social structure to humans, with both genders being considered more or less equal to each other and fully capable of performing the same tasks baring those seperated by sexual dimorphism eg. Females laying eggs and producing milk.
Contrary to the human tendency to denote family through the patriline (male ancestry), Araken primarily trace family through the matriline (female ancestry). Though not as common as it once was, Araken males sometimes still take the last name of a female when they marry her.

Facial characteristics

Male Araken have eight eyes, while females have six. The male Araken eye is similar in construction to the human eye, only smaller, containing a light grey sclaera, irises varying between yellow to light brown and a black round pupil. One of the pairs that sees the normal colour spectrum are slightly larger than the other six and are set in a similar location to where a human's eyes would be. The female eye is slightly larger than the male with the pair capable of seeing the normal colour spectrum being the largest and set where a human's eyes would be. Female eyes have a solid black or dark maroon colour throughout.
Male Araken have tiny, almost unnoticeable ears on the side of their heads and consequentially have poorer hearing than the average human. Female Araken have a more human shaped head including a comparable ear, though it is smaller, chitinous, and lacks the ridging shown in the human ear.
Male Araken have mouths that appear very spider-like, with fanged chelicerae infront of a mouth of sharp, fang-like teeth. Surprisingly, male Araken have both a short, narrow tongue and molars for chewing. They have no incisors as they traditionally use their upper claws to rip bite-sized pieces off of their food rather than biting pieces off. Female Araken have mouths similar in make up to human females though their canine teeth are slightly longer (by about 30%) and with sharper points. The females' canines have hollow tubes that connect to small venom sacks located where the maxillary sinus is in humans. The venom is a non-lethal neurotoxin that stimulates the nerves that feed to the pleasure center of the brain.
Male Araken have no external structure for their nasal faculties save for two diagonal slits in their head carapace located where the human nose would be located. Female Araken have an external nasal structure like human females but have a weak sense of smell due to their venom sacks taking up the maxillary sinus location, reducing the area available for scent receptors.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Araken control a moderate amount of space with highly developed, semi-autonomous colonies. They favour living on tropical and warm-temperate worlds.

Average Intelligence

Sentient, Human level intelligence.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Sight - Araken have excellent eyesight with males having eight eyes, while females have six. Different pairs of eyes can see farther into the extremes of the colour spectrum, with the males having a pair for each extreme and two pairs to see in the regular spectrum with each being better tuned towards one end or the other. This makes it difficult for male Araken to differentiate between subtle shades of green. Females by comparison have a pair of eyes for each extreme and one pair for the regular spectrum. The male Araken eye is similar in construction to the human eye, only smaller, containing a light grey sclaera, irises varying between yellow to light brown and a black round pupil. The female eye is slightly larger than the male but has a solid black or dark maroon colour throughout.
Hearing - Male Araken have tiny, almost unnoticeable ears on the side of their heads and consequentially have poorer hearing than the average human. This is widely believed to be the source of their bombastic speech style, incorporating grand gestures and high volume. Female Araken have a more human shaped head including a comparable ear, though it is smaller, chitinous, and lacks the ridging shown in the human ear. Female Araken have better hearing than the males and are more inclined to speak softly and with more subtlety.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Due to the Araken language consisting of a large amount of clicks, hisses, and whistles in addition to more traditional vocal methods, many Araken will take on Terran sounding pseudonyms for other species to use as means of address. Males tend to favour traditional English sounding names devoid of nicknames or shortenings, while females favour shortened English sounding names or short exotic sounding names
Examples of male first names: James, Charles, Francis, Jeremy, Thomas
Examples of female first names: Jess, Lizzy, Sammy, Amaia, Anika, Clea

Major Organizations

The Araken government is called the Confederate Araken Queendoms, which is slightly confusing to outsiders as most political power now resides within the elected officials of each territory in Araken space rather than with the hereditary queens of the old nation states of Tennon II.

Average Technological Level

TL5

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Araken enjoy friendly relations with nearly all space-faring species, with a notable exception of the Skrawl, which the Araken hate with a passion due to the Skrawl actively committing atrocities on Araken colony worlds bordering the sector of space where the Skrawl primarily reside. Due to unconfirmed reports of Skrawl pirates butchering and cannibalizing Araken citizens, Araken ship captains maintain a "shoot first, ask questions never" attitude with Skrawl ships.

Scientific Name

Homo Sapiens Arthropoda (Wise Many-footed Man). Though not of the actual genus of Homo from Earth the title is used to denote that this species is recognized as have human equivalent sentience.

Origin/Ancestry

Arthropod, Arachnid

Lifespan

Similar to Humans, approximately between 70-110 years, females tend to have longer life spans than males.

Average Height

Males average around 2.2m in height. Females average around 1.8m in height

Average Weight

Males average around 130kg Females average around 95kg

Average Physique

Can vary similarly to humans, though females tend to stay closer to a lighter build while males have been known to grow particularly heavy set in the abdominal region.

Related Organizations

• Araken Arms Incorperated

Stars Without Number Player Character Modifiers:
Males:
+2 Strength
+2 Constitution
-1 Dexterity
-1 Wisdom
-2 Charisma

Starting Alien Focus - Natural Defenses - Araken Males have extensive chitin plates located all over their body, notably the head, arms and chest. This provides them with an innate protection against physical trauma and natural weapons for engaging hostile targets. Player Characters have a natural AC of 15 plus half their character level (rounded up). Additionally Player Characters can use an On Turn Action to make one Punch or Stab attack treated like a small primative weapon, dealing 1d6 damage on a successful hit.
Tough - Araken Males are particularly robust. When determining their hit points, the first d6 rolled is always treated as a six.

Females:
+1 Strength
+1 Dexterity
+1Wisdom
-1 Charisma

Starting Alien Focus - Innate Ability - Female Araken are capable of producing an amount of silk-like thread equal to their character level, that they are able to weave into a variety of simple patterns in a matter of minutes. Player Characters can ask the GM to perform an action using this ability provided they can describe how their character would attempt to succeed at that action. The GM would then decide what rolls would be needed to make to succeed. The player gets an extra +1 to any rolls using this ability.
Origin Skill (Administer, Fix, Heal, Program, or Work) - Female Araken are particularly talented with tasks that involve hand-eye coordination and digital dexterity, due to their abundance of eyes and four arms. Player Characters can select one of the skills listed above to gain an extra level in.
Unusual Movement Mode - Thanks to the combination of multiple arms, chitinous claws, and sticky threads female Araken can travel up and across shear surfaces with little effort. Female Araken can climb on walls and ceilings at half speed with no assistance.