Sussarian Racial Information

Related Rules

• Racial Overview
• Humans
• Darid
• Tyconian
• Neo-Human
• Kisha
• Character Generation Rules

Physiology

Height and Weight

The average Sussarian male is about 2.2 meters tall and masses about 100 Kg while the average female is about 2.0 meters tall and masses about 90 Kg.

Appearance

Skin coloration ranges through shades of green, brown, and gray. Rarely, it will include a nearly black color and a reddish brown. Sussarians are hairless. Eye colors are usually green, gray, brown, or mottled mixes. There seems to be a slight preference toward greens and browns in their color schemes.

Sussarians have a mirror symmetry to their bodies with the left and right halves being essentially mirror images of each other. They have two ears, eyes, arms, and legs and one tail, nose, and mouth. Each arm ends in a single hand with 4 digits. Each leg in a single foot with 4 toes. About 95% of Sussarians are right handed while about 5% are left handed. Less than 1% are ambidextrous. Their ears are mere openings on the sides of their heads keeping them streamline for swimming. Their nose is wide and nearly flat against their face. They have very thin, barely noticeable lips and pointed, sharp teeth. Each digit (finger/toe) ends with strong, sharp claws as opposed to the nails found on humanoid species.

Diet

Sussarians are technically omnivorous but a vast majority of their food is meat with some fruits and vegetables added in. Fish and other aquatic foods are their primary food sources.

Rest

The natural 'day' cycle for a Sussarian is 30 hours. A Sussarian requires about 6 hours of sleep per 30 hour period. Failing to get the required amount of sleep has fatigue effects as described in the fatigue rules.

Reproduction

Sussarians may only mate with other Sussarians. Their females lay eggs that incubate for 6 months before hatching. After hatching, the young are cared for by the female of the species. Multiple births are common with the typical birth consisting of 2 - 4 young. There is no tendency towards the child being of one gender or the other. Sussarian female have a limited window during which they can produce young and a limited period during a given year during which they can mate. Females between the ages of 15 and 25 become fertile during late winter/early spring (on Sussaria) and lay their eggs about 1 month later (if fertilized).

Senses

Sussarian have five basic senses: Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, and Smell. Their sense of hearing is worse than Human norm in air but better under water. Their vision is within normal Human limits but their sense of smell is better as is their sense of taste. In the air, they get a +2 to perception for smell or taste based tasks, normal for vision, and -2 for hearing based. In water, they get a +3 to all perception tasks.

Anatomy

Sussarians have completely alien anatomy as compared to Humans or humanoids. However, the biochemical basis is similar. They are significantly stronger than the average Human with greater endurance. On land, they are somewhat less dexterous than an average Human but suffer no penalties in water. As a species, they have few instances of psionically endowed members and the few that appear are very weak. In game terms, all Sussarians have a innate swim skill of 20 + STR + END. In addition, they can remain submerged for END x 10 minutes.

Sussarians have their own blood types designated S+/- and SX+/-. They can not share blood nor plasma with other species. Though not cold blooded, Sussarians are more sensitive to temperature than most humanoid species and prefer very warm and humid conditions.

Lifespan

A typical Sussarian lifespan is about 150 years. Sussarians grow much faster than Humans and reach independence at age 5 and are considered to be adults by about 8 - 10 years. Sussarian children are able to swim and walk at birth and typically talk after about 6 - 9 months. Consequently, they start their education at about age 2.

Psychology

Family

Sussarians don't have a concept of family in the Human sense. Parings tend to last for a few years at most though some long term paring have occurred. The female typically cares for her offspring, supported, in part, by the fathers and in part by society. Once the child enters school (at about 2 years old) it effectively becomes a ward of the state though contact can and often is maintained with the child's biological parents.

Status

The major motivation for Sussarians is acquisition of territory. In the modern society, this is sometimes replace by acquisition of wealth and material items but control of territory is still considered the most desirable acquisition. This goes toward the status of an individual. Sussarians go to great lengths to acquire and to flaunt their status.

Religion

Sussarians have a complex religious system involving numerous gods and demigods governing various aspects of nature and life. In the modern society, their religion has become more abstracted but other essentially unchanged. Despite having a complex religious system, most Sussarians place little reliance on their deities. Instead they value self-reliance and view their gods as judges or, sometimes, obstacles.

Society and Culture

Sussarian society is unusual in that there is no basic family unit. Groups tend to be temporary and exist only as long as there is mutual benefit to all members. Unlike Humans, Sussarians are very solitary and have little need for contact with others except for the purposes of mating.

What few cultural traditions exist tend to focus on nature and seasons. The Sussarian are very attuned to nature and sensitive to its changes, especially temperature. They tend to celebrate changes in seasons with feasts and elaborate rituals.

Status is very important to them as well. Their rituals are often geared toward elaborate displays of status, wealth, and power.