The Kai’Siri — Exohumans with Badassitude

The Kai’Siri, humans of Sirug, are relatives of Terran humans, evolved for a carnivorous diet and aggressive temperament in parallel to their Terran sister species. Classified as species Homo ferox, their ancestors were taken from Earth millennia ago by the mysterious Strangers and genetically modified for their adopted homeworld in an isolated region of the Sagittarius spiral arm of the galaxy. They are powerful, violent, and technologically advanced, and, most dangerously, they’ve learned to regulate and channel their aggressive nature to promote, not endanger, their own survival as a species…

The Kai’Siri are the default alien race in my Gods of Terra setting; they are the standard by which other species are measured, and their language is used as the primary naming convention for the other aliens. Theirs is a civilization predating our own, having accelerated to its current state of development by war, conquest, the struggle for dominance with the alien predators native to Sirug, and the harsh conditions found there.

But while they are innately aggressive, they are also wise to a degree, for they’ve learned to get along with each other, and sometimes, with their former enemies. While the Kai’Siri could be characterized as a warrior-race, this is too simplistic a description. They have many other aptitudes besides fighting and conquest, and their aggression and drive sees vent in a number of fields, including sublimation in the sciences, the arts, and oddly, diplomacy.

They have developed social mechanisms to prevent self-extinction.

The Kai’Siri are the former employers of the Mirus, in the latter’s role as Enforcer Prime. Former employers.

On the Kai’Siri homeworld, most of the vegetation has certain biochemical quirks in the nutrients, like the native starches and sugars, making them inedible to humans – often causing severe toxicity and allergic reactions if eaten directly – but the native animal life is, with a little cooking skill, readily edible, the animals having already metabolized the dangerous vegetable toxins into substances fit for human consumption.

This has led to the humans, then newly transplanted to Sirug, to evolve into a carnivorous species and to make best use of the available native food supply.

Kai’Siri have certain ‘ethnic’ features Terran humans may find strange; subtly pointed ears, those being a bit flatter against the sides of the head; canine teeth slightly pointed and sharper than in Homo sapiens, just short enough not to protrude over the lips, but obvious when smiling – for this species a threat gesture, and rude in polite company; eye shades unusual for humans, but here common – ruby, violet, gold – and all the typical eye-colors of Terran humanity, with those being less common; Hair and skin tones tend to be darker shades, due to the high ultraviolet output of Sirug’s stellar primary, Emulael Enza; Facial features tend to resemble those common to South Asia and Southeast Asia on Terra, with about 50% of the population having epicanthic folds in the eyelids; Thorough genetic intermixing between regions and populations have resulted in a good blend of dominant traits and a robust species.

Some terms in their language follow, with phonetic spelling to aid in pronunciation:

Digmas Binigarul (DÏĝⅿəś bĭｎĭgəŕool) – (noun) “Way of the Exarchs” A powerful and ancient Kai’Siri religion which worships the Strangers as creators of the Kai’Siri race and the teachers of civilization – recently, a secular movement has arisen that criticizes the precepts of this religion as baseless, superstitious and insulting to human dignity and ingenuity. They are not well-loved by believers.

Dinat Aru-Tasuul (DÏnät Əroo-Təsool) – (noun) “Null-Dancers” trained assassin/warrior/MMA performers trained to hunt down and destroy dangerous, powerful, psionic, and highly intelligent prey, and look damn good doing it on live holographic vidcast. Their ‘hits’ are often netcast live to millions of online viewers.

Talotaa frang (Təlōtə-Fräng) – Typical spoken Kai’Siri greeting, often but not always spoken both upon meeting and upon parting. It means “Be strong and well, be brilliant as the stars.” and is spoken with a slightly tongue-in-cheek raising of the lip over the tips of the upper canine teeth in a mock threat gesture, implying the one seeing it is expected to fear no threat.

Much more needs to be done to develop this species, and further will be posted on them. As the standard by which all other species are assessed, they require more coverage than I’ve given here, and that shall be forthcoming, including information of the bestial ferals, the product of Kai’Siri genetic engineering gone horribly wrong.

Talotaa frang.