Myrr

This felinoid species is perhaps best known for its cruel domination of other alien races, an active slave trade, a caste system revering nobles, warriors, and spies. It is also the only Species that maintains an independent galactic government from the Empire, despite any number of military actions to conquer it.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Genetically descended from great hunting cats, Myrr have a feline facial structure with eyes, ears, and nose particularly suited for sensing prey; a tail that often betrays their mood; and skin covered in soft for of varying coloration and length. Males sometimes grow a mane of long thick hair on their heads. They possess strong upper-leg muscles and elongated, raised feet, giving them a supple agility. Instead of forepaws, they have articulated fingers and a thumb, though they retain the furry texture on every digit except the underside of the last one, which has a dark, leathery toepad. Myrr stand 1.5 to 2 meters in height, with males generally taller than females.
With a mouth filled primarily with canines and incisors, they survive on a diet of meat supplemented by processed starches. They have no appetite for sweets, vegetables, or fruit; Myrr customs actually proscribe such foods as inhibiting the natural will to dominate others. Their build can range from slim and lithe to large and strong. Myrr are considered physically attractive by most mammal-descended species. Both male and female Myrr take pains in their appearance.

Genetics and Reproduction

Myrr reproduce sexually. Females give birth to broods as large as five kitts, although some do not survive the often-competitive upbringing. Parents of kitts born with obvious defects quickly and discreetly eliminate them and any traces of their existence.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Myrr have eyesight, hearing and taste similar to that of Humans. Myrr develop mystical aptitude at a similar rate as humans.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Myrr have a given name and are born into a House, which they use as a surname. When they come of age to be tested for their aptitude for a particular trade, which defines the clan which they will join and be trained in. This becomes their "middle name", such that every Myrr is known by the given name, clan name, then House name. Example: a Myrr female named Noh that was born into the noble House Diore and tested as a Shasa-Vaht clan member would be known as Noh Shasa-Vaht Diore.

Major Organizations

The governing body of the Myrr Confederation is the Regal Conclave, which governs both as a legislature as well as executive. Every Myrr noble House is represented in the Regal Conclave, although their representation is influenced by the size and power of their House as to how many votes they may hold.

Common Dress Code

Myrr will often dress in loose, flowing clothes that leave their arms, legs, and tail exposed and unencumbered. Myrr women tend to enjoy thin fabrics such as silk or cotton over bulkier cloth for their garments. While traveling, or in space, Myrr will wear skintight clothing that covers and protects against the elements. Jewelry, while favored by both genders, is mostly worn around the neck, although larged bracers or cuffs covering the forearm have come into style, particularly when combined with a commlink or computer.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Myrr are mentally as devious and manipulative as they are physically agile. Myrr have a competitive drive to dominate, whether in sporting events, games of chance, or simply conversation. Although the Myrr surround themselves with opulent architecture, lavish furnishings, and sumptuous fashions, cruelty plays a central role in their entertainment. Combat sports remain the primary diversion for most Myrr. Gladiatorial games pit slaves against beasts, other captives, or the most renowned Myrr warriors. Races using conveyances from simple riding beasts to hovercraft encourage fierce and deadly competition between participants. Nobles enjoy hunting a variety of beasts on their estates' enormous preserves, and warriors sometimes toy with doomed slaves before delivering their ultimate demise. Even more sophisticated entertainments like lavish operas, formal balls, and orchestral events have elements of domination woven into their themes.
Confederation-born Myrr are taught that their race is superior to all others, and that the act of enslavement is a boon to lesser races by giving them purpose and value. Culturally, Myrr enjoy the facets of luxury in their life, often never knowing deprivation. Even the poorest Myrr is better off than many Species that live in the Mid or Outer Rim of the galaxy. However, several basic freedoms, such as speech and travel, are restricted, and the strict caste system and rigid social class system prevent Myrr from changing careers or marrying above or below their station. While many Myrr chafe at these restrictions in their society, there is little call for change, in no small part due to the fear of reprisal.
Myrr society is governed by House, then clan. A Myrr is born into a house, although adoptions after birth sometimes occur. Houses are matrilineal. As a Myrr comes of age, they are tested for aptitude, which determines their clan. Clans are organized by profession:
Konadel (noble clan): The Konadel are the highest regarded clan in traditional Myrr society.  They are the administrators and legislators of Myrr government and society, as well as managers of the many slave-driven industries comprise . They supervise overall manufacturing operations, run the government, and set policy. They reap the benefits of a highly productive economy and live in splendor and relative safety. Konadel stand at the head of every house and in key positions of government and industry.
Hetador (warrior clan): The backbone of the military forms the most populous clan. Members of clan Hetador serve in both family Myrr units and the Myrr Confederation armada. Soldiers maintain Military Sectors on Myrr planets, work with slavers as boarding parties and armed guards, serve as honor guards to prominent nobles, and patrol factories, mines, and other industrial faculties staffed by slaves to prevent rebellion and maintain productivity.
Nolskudir (shadow clan): The smallest Myrr clan works in the shadowy underworld of criminal activity and espionage. The Nolskudir Clan are members of every House and impersonate every other clan, serving their House and the Regal Conclave as spies, monitoring and reporting intelligence on both internal security and external diplomatic developments. There is rumored to even be a noble House that is actually a front for the Regal Conclave’s espionage network from Zelairre. The Nolskudir Clan also interacts with the organized criminal element both within and without the Confederation, trafficking in stolen good, acting as fences and information brokers, and performing assassinations.
Midlanni (merchant clan): The Midlanni Clan, while lowest in social status in Myrr society, is one of the most essential parts of any Myrr House.  This clan engages in all trade operations, buying and selling goods and services.  As a good deal of trade occurs with species outside of the Confederation, they must interact with other, (to their mind) lesser races. Other Myrr regard them contemptuously for just this reason.
Shasa-Vaht (mystic clan): When a Myrr shows metaphysical ability, they enter and are trained by the Shasa-Vaht clan. The name, in Myrrish, means both “instant” and “eternal” and has no direct translation in any other language. The Shasa-Vaht clan are in many ways the exception to the rule of House loyalty. While many trained Shasa-Vaht clan Myrr return to work for the good of their Houses, just as many choose to sever their connection and instead either wander or seclude themselves in a monastic fashion. It is said that the Shasa-Vaht clan focus their power towards controlling the flow of time.
Myrr born outside the Confederacy, but on a Myrr-dominated world, will often still follow this tradition of House and clan. However, other Myrr are vehemently opposed to such rigid social structuring and reject such constraints.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

All Myrr enjoy basking in warm light, a tradition stemming from a primitive sun-worshipping religion. Although the theology was long ago forgotten in the face of a luxurious material culture, they still retain an affinity for languishing lazily on basking platforms, on cushioned beds in glass conservatories, and beneath lamps that simulate the sunlight from their home world.

History

The Myrr race evolved from large hunting catlike mammals on their home world of Zelairre, a world of grasslands and prairies, alongside several other sapient species. With their ruthless cunning, fierce combat ability, and will to dominate, they quickly conquered the planet and enslaved the other indigenous races. They built their civilization on the backs of subjugated peoples, breeding more servants, offering limited vocational training, brutally crushing revolts, and keeping their slaves in a pitiful state of near-poverty.
While isolating their servants in industrial quarters and slums, the Myrr cultivated most land on Zelairre into lush estates complete with lavish palaces, hunting preserves, recreational facilities, and meticulously maintained gardens. Defensive structures such as barracks, gunnery emplacements, hangars, launch pads, and training facilities near or within slave territory employ looming, bleak architecture reminiscent of oppressive prisons. The military buildings on Myrr estates conceal their true, brutal nature behind tasteful architecture engineered to blend into the natural terrain.
The Myrr drove Zelairre's indigenous enslaved species almost into extinction during the push to develop space flight. Upon invention of the hyperspace drive, the Myrr started their initial campaign to enslave neighboring worlds. This fueled a culture centered on conquest to provide slaves and resources to serve industry. Having exhausted the native slaves and natural resources on their home world, the Myrr quickly moved to explore and conquer neighboring systems and planets and enslave the indigenous races they found there. Many galactic species still in existence today were once slave races of the Myrr and their galactic government, the Myrr Confederation.
The Myrr’s continued expansion was first blocked by humanity’s own conquest of the stars. On the ocean world of Sargalea, one of the Second Breath’s most famous despots, Aardyman the Terrible, rose to power. His conquest of neighboring systems was swift and brutal. It was inevitable that his nascent empire would clash into the Myrr Confederation. The Myrr, complacent in their belief that no species could threaten their empire, was unprepared for the ferocity of Aardyman’s forces. The Confederation lost several systems before they could fashion a strategic response. The war between Aardyman’s forces and the Myrr Confederation lasted for 8 years before Aardyman himself was killed on a desolate moon by the Myrr’s latest slave army of Lagarts. The Myrr never recovered the systems they lost in that war, but instead extended into unknown reaches of the galaxy.
The final blow to the Myrr Confederation’s expansion was the Lagart uprising within their own ranks. The loss of their most puissant soldiers, coupled with rise and expansion of the nascent interstellar government that would become known as the Republic, dashed the Myrr’s imperialist plans. The Myrr Confederation, despite entreaties to do so, never joined the Republic. During the Republic era of the Second Breath, several outpost Myrr worlds chose to leave the Confederation and join the Republic. In response, the Confederation constrained interstellar travel and outlawed any Myrr emigration.
Today, the Myrr Confederation stands as an independent collection of approximately 37 systems with heavily controlled borders. Slavery is still legal within the Confederation, and Myrr slaver ships will often make “unauthorized” sorties into civilized space to continue their brutal trade.

Common Myths and Legends

Myrr had a polytheistic religion in its pre-galactic history.  While most Myrr do not practice any religion in modern times, vestiges of several of their gods and goddesses still remain.  Perhaps one of the most well-known is Larani, the Myrr goddess of honor and redemption.  During the Second Breath, a small group of Myrr dedicated themselves to the goddess.  Calling themselves Contrition Knights, they blazed a trail of heroic and charitable actions across the galaxy, claiming that their works were to done to redress the wrongs they had personally done, but also the wrongs done by their Species.
In response to this movement, the Regal Conclave outlawed worship of Larani and ordered shrines to the goddess destroyed.  Outside of the Confederation, Myrr worlds maintained the shrines and the Contrition Knight movement began to spread.  Contrition Knights now count among their numbers every Species in the galaxy.  While Contrition Knights are not outlawed inside the Myrr Confederation per se, they are closely watched and persecuted if they are found "promoting an outlawed religion" by word or deed.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

At present, the Myrr Confederation has no formal diplomatic relationship with the Empire; as such, Confederation-born Myrr are viewed with great suspicion and hostility on major Imperial worlds.  Free Myrr, born in the Empire, get along well with most other Species, although they tend to be hesitant about Varnskyr.

Attributes:
6 HPs
Myrr start with two Traits:

• Acrobatic - You gain Advantage when Testing to do acrobatic tricks such as tumbling, long-distance jumps, climbing, and maintaining balance.
• Charismatic - You gain Advantage when attempting to convince someone of something or otherwise influence them.

Myrr suffer from Disadvantage when making any Test involving strength.