The Vorons

Name: The Vorons

Government: Hierarchical theocracy
The Vorons have a system of authority arranged around an ascending hierarchy of priests and scribes. On each of the five worlds there is a council of Senior Priests/Scribes under the authority of an Elder, who is elected for life. These all answer to the High Priest, who is also elected for life. In general, each world looks after itself, with the most senior members of each council coming together with the High Priest only for the gravest matters.

Current High Priest: Olorin Cavris

Majority Species:The Vorons.
. A mammalian species, the Vorons are covered with short, smooth brown fur that ranges from gray through dark brown, and is mottled in a camouflage pattern. Vorons possess six limbs, these being two arms, two legs and two wings. They are short in the torso, and long and lean in the limb, the legs and arms ending in long hands and feet possessing long, somewhat wiry fingers and toes ending in broad pads; with the exception of the great toe and thumb, each digit also have a tiny claw. The feet are webbed, and the legs rather frog-like in construction. The wings bear specialized hairs that are modified to function as feathers, similar to bird wings. They have longish snouts, pointed mobile ears, and large eyes. The males grow a goatee, as well as prominent bristle-like hairs growing from the eyebrows and jowls. All in all, they are adapted for life on cliffs, with superb agility and climbing abilities, fairly good flight capacity, and absolutely incredible jumping abilities, being able to leap ten times their own height upwards, and fifteen times forwards.

Vorons are telepathic and telekinetic, with the strength of these abilities varying from individual to individual. They are also stronger and more enduring than most other species, are better able to sustain injuries, and are more resistant to diseases and poisons. They possess impressive longevity, being able to live for up to 500 years. However, they also have a very slow reproductive rate; the average gestation period is about a year and a half, and it takes fully thirty years before children reach sexual maturity, and about forty for their telepathic abilities to fully develop. Because of this, large population losses can be extremely devastating to them.

Culture:
Voron culture, in many ways, is monastic in nature. Much of daily life is spent in prayer and meditation, and religion is an important aspect of daily life, their religion being monotheistic. The second most important part of their culture is the study and preservation of all aspects of their culture, knowledge and technology that was lost during the Great War against the Ra’thiran (see History section). All in all, they are quite isolated in regards to the rest of Valkarr, mostly keeping out of the affairs of others, while still keeping some tabs on current events. Although they typically don’t involve themselves in the affairs of others, they usually won’t turn down those who wander into their territory requiring assistance, unless said people are hostile.

Vorons tend to dress simply and plainly, with younger or lower status males wearing short-sleeved tunics that end in a kilt-like skirt coming past the knee; females of young age or status wear long, ankle-length skirts, and blouses whose sleeves are just shy of the elbow. Scribes, priests, and higher status Vorons always wear long, heavy cloaks, often with a hood. In all individuals, clothing is bound around the waist with a cord, and shoes are not worn.

Vorons are strict vegetarians, eating fruits, tubers, roots and edible succulents that they farm. Voron dwellings are typically carved out of cliffs, with their dwellings carved into the cliff face and straight back into the mountain.

Economy:
None, per se.

History:
About a thousand years prior to current events, the Vorons had an Empire that spanned close to a quarter of Valkarr. However, at the very heyday of their power, they found themselves faced with an enemy that was every bit their equal, a race they referred to as the Ra’thiran. So swift and devastating was the initial assault that it took fifty years for the Vorons to adequately mobilize to meet this threat, by which time, half of their empire had fallen. The ensuing war lasted nearly five hundred years, with horrific losses in technology and knowledge for the Voron, as well as the devastation to their own numbers. Many of the races that had existed within their empire were wiped out or driven back to the Stone Age. At last, after about five hundred years prior to current events, the Ra’thiran retreated back to wherever it was they had come from, and have not been seen since. The Vorons, now reduced to five worlds, have dedicated themselves to preserving what little they have left, as well as trying to rebuild as best they can.

It has been hoped by most Vorons that the Ra’thiran were as devastated by the war as them, and are unlikely to ever be a threat. However, it is said that one Voron t least has prophesied that the Ra’thiran have not been destroyed, and that they shall someday return.