Saurtara Errant
Scaled humanoids with various reptilian features, most prominently a tail, claws and a snout but otherwise very varied. The only males of their race with a strong instinctual drive to wander and roam the world, typically to prove themselves worthy mates to a Matriarch. Like all saurtara, they were gifted with a strong will by Murrthir while the Matriarchs tend to instil with them a natural adaptability, although some instead breed more specialised or exotic variations of Errant.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Due to their unique biology saurtara are an incredibly varied race, with even saurtara of the same caste in the same colony sometimes looking drastically different depending on the whims of their Matriarch.
At their most basic, Errants are bipedal, reptilian humanoids with snouts, scaly skin and a tail but they can display a wide variety of other reptillian features such as claws or horns. They are also typically much taller than most of the other races.
Genetics and Reproduction
Saurtara reproduction is nothing short of bizzare, in part due to their whole society effectively reflecting something like an ant colony, but mostly because so much of their reproduction is bound up in the whims of their Matriarchs.
First of all, there are only two fertile castes of saurtara: the female Matriarchs who rule their race and the male errants who roam the world visiting other colonies. Every other caste is often technically considered female, however they're not just infertile but outright lack reproductive organs and consequently don't have any sort of reproductive drive.
Matriarchs are shapeshifters, not just of their own body, but with an innate ability to pick and choose the various traits of their potential children by mixing and matching it with the any traits that they have inherited - either from their own parents or from a mate. This is not something they can do quickly, as a Matriarch does so slowly during the course of their entire pregnancy (see below) and they can't really change their mind at the last minute unless the change is relatively minor.
Despite how much control and power a Matriarch has and despite being skilled shapeshifters, they need a mate in order to give birth to true saurtara, however they can give birth to so-called "lesser" or "feral" saurtara, which are effectively animalistic beasts of burden and not really considered "true" sauratara even by their Matriarch mothers. Matriarchs do this by magically inducing pregnancy within themselves without having mated, making them their only parent, which typically takes half as long as a 'true' pregnancy.
Matriarch pregnancies don't really effect them all that much in the first trimester (roughly six months) except for a greatly increased appetite, with them barely noticing or showing their pregnancy in that time, however this quickly accelerates and begins with them being locked into their draconic forms from their second trimester on as their young rapidly grow during the remainder of the pregnancy (and need that space to do so). This 'clutch' can be anything from a dozen to a little over a hundred saurtara, depending on the Matriarch's size, with each individual saurtara having been tailored to one degree or another by their mother, even if only to assign their castes.
During the third trimester (the last two months) Matriarchs become incredibly withdrawn, effectively vanishing from public life, and typically spend the remainder of their pregnancy in a trance-like meditative state almost akin to hibernation, although they can still be conversed with (not that many would reccomend disturbing a Matriarch at this stage).
At the end of their pregnancy Matriarchs lay their clutch of eggs, with a typical clutch being 20% errant, 20% soldier, 40% drone, 20% worker and, at most, one Matriarch regardless of the clutch's size (although most clutches don't have a Matriarch).
Growth Rate & Stages
Saurtara typically spend somewhere between two to three months as eggs before hatching, but at this point they are more like toddlers than newborns, quickly picking up languages and starting to at least crawl about, if not (more or less) walk.
Errants reach adulthood very quickly after this point in the mid-lower teens (typically considered around about fourteen), shortly after which they are typically given some basic equipment and supplies and leave their home colony.
Ecology and Habitats
Errants are found all over Triumve.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Errants are adaptable and versatile omnivores, although individual Errants might have preferences.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Errants are the oddity of their race, with saurtara society generally being very regimented and ordered, while errants are typically more individualistic and varied. This often means that they butt heads with other saurtara, especially in their youth, but afterwards there is little that unites them together beyond an instinctive drive to mate, but even that is not the same for every Errant.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
While some Errants might display different senses, for the most part they share only a heightened senses of smell.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
See Saurtara.
[DM Note - As a rule of thumb, if you start with a greek (or greek-ish) name and add/exagerate the s's/s's or otherwise give it a bit of a hissing quality then you won't go far wrong.]
[DM Note - As a rule of thumb, if you start with a greek (or greek-ish) name and add/exagerate the s's/s's or otherwise give it a bit of a hissing quality then you won't go far wrong.]
Beauty Ideals
See Saurtara.
Gender Ideals
See Saurtara.
Courtship Ideals
See Saurtara.
Relationship Ideals
See Saurtara.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
See Saurtara.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Most saurtara are raised not to refer to themselves in the first person (I, me, etc.) or to contract proper nouns (names, place names, etc.) as it is considered egotistical (for the former) and rude/disrespectful (for the latter). Not all Errants continue to observe this after leaving their Colony (if they even cared about observing it then) although many do.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Errants have a complicated history with most races, especially as the saurtara in general have dominated for vaste swathes of history. On the one hand, they are often viewed with the same distrust or even hatred as those who enslaved others, making interactions difficult, while it is unlikely that Errants were involved much in such Empires, at least in the way most assume.
On the other, it is not unheard of for Errants to seek out different means of satisfying their drive to mate without having to impress the often fickle and selective Matriarchs. Humans in particular have often been the target of Errant attention, both wanted and unwanted, as they are uniquely capable among the other sentient races of bearing their young, even if the resulting child will be a tarran rather than a saurtara.
As a result, Errants often find themselves unwelcome, distrusted or otherwise viewed upon negatively wherever they go, although most simply view this as another challenge to overcome and prove themselves against. How exactly an Errant feels about other races themselves varies a lot depending on their Colony, upbringing and education.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
60-140 years
Average Height
6'7"
Average Weight
235lbs
Related Ethnicities
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