Ulk-Ra
The Ulk-Ra were one of the tribes native to a wooded planet with copper-sulphate oceans.
Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]
Though the Ulk-Ra evolved from an arboreal species, the only sign of their ancestry was a spine on their backs. They were hairless except for a thin strip of fur on the spine that was sensitive to wind and atmospheric-pressure. They had monochrome vision and human-level hearing, but their noses were sensitive to all types of chemicals.
By examining Ossu-hir's body, Zoe Heriot determined they were proto-mammalian. She guessed Ulk-Ra were either monotreme or diatreme and probably laid eggs, similar to the platypus. (PROSE: War Crimes [+]Loading...["War Crimes (short story)"]) They were "ape-like" and arboreal, typically hunting by "dropping down from above". (PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"])
Culture[[edit] | [edit source]]
The males of the Ulk-Ra were mindless warriors who could ignore their sense of pain. Females were highly rational thinkers, decision-makers, and battle strategists. They were physically smaller than the males.
Upon their coming to age, each male Ulk-Ra child would be sent into the forest to kill a beast and return wearing its pelt. Children that succeeded at this task were allowed to remain male and grow into warriors, whereas children that failed had their male organs removed and were forced to eat Issu-mul berries until they developed female characteristics. After initiation, the individual's name would be appended with the name of their new sex.
Core to Ulk-Ra society was the avoidance of Cho. (PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"])
The Rites of Foretelling were practiced by soothsayers upon the eggs of yet-unhatched Ulk-Ra, predicting their life-paths in advance with varying but generally serviceable accuracy. (PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
At some point in their history, some Ulk-Ra were removed from their planet and tested by the War Lords for possible use in their War Games. The Ulk-Ra were rejected for the games and sent back to their planet after being modified by the War Lords. One such returned Ulk-Ra, Ossu-male, was forced by his implant to kill a young male who was conducting his initiation. (PROSE: War Crimes [+]Loading...["War Crimes (short story)"])
This caused a deviation from established history, which called for Coloth to lead a long and glorious life among his people. Ugrith-female, an Ulk-Ra soothsayer, had predicted as much before Coloth's egg hatched; her prophecy being contradicted led to her shamed suicide, and, down the line, to the entire tribe losing their faith in "the old ways". Centuries later, a nation which "still traced its ancestry back to a certain humble forest-clan" would "go on to produce many of the Ulk-Ra's keenest scientific minds". (PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"])
