Zagrie Grjene
The Zagrje Grjene: the Zagrjene are a technologically advanced, space traveling species, insectoid and multi-limbed, with two legs and four arms, and some minor cannibalistic habits. Zagrjene is often used for conciseness. Due to their interstellar and interplanar travel, there have been occasional skirmishes between Githyanki and Zagrjene exploratory vessels. Githzerai have occasionally exchanged information and educational advances with the Zagrjene, though these instances are far and few between. Where exactly the Embracers come from is uncertain.
Technologically advanced, though they prefer melee combat, they have great ships capable of interstellar and interplanar travel. Their primary weapons tend to be four swords, with common variations being two swords with spears, axes, or maces in the secondary set of hands. For those who do prefer ranged, throwing knives the size of what would equal daggers for most other races, dual long bows which generate their own arrows, or for those who prefer being able to hide things, small compact energy pistols the size of hand crossbows which pack the punch of heavy crossbows.
They have wings on their back, inside wing casings similar to locusts or grasshoppers, and their faces are gaunt and long, with six small eyes in place of two, and no protruding nose. Their mouths are hybrid of mandible and mammalian masticating mechanisms. The average height for a Zagrjene is 6 ft 5 in. The birth-givers, known as “davarojn”, tend to be half a foot to a full foot taller and then the fertilizers, known as “voj-gno”. Their reproductive cycle is not unlike a hybrid of human and insectoid in which one carries the fertilized egg internally and then gives birth to live young, typically 7-15 at a time. The reason the davarojns are so much taller, is due to the incubation chamber being so large, able to hold up to 15 Zagrjene young at a time. However, one notable difference is that an egg can be fertilized then injected into a host at which point it will change its genetic makeup to be that of the host species but still retain many Zagrjene qualities. These include enhanced speed, enhanced strength, and a tendency towards melee combat. If the implanted race does not have either wings or 4 or more limbs, the Zagrjene, mutate so that their body does, though the additions will be retractable so that the Zagrjene can blend in with the host race. A grouping of Zagrjene young is referred to as a brood.
The strange and most interesting aspect of Zagrjene reproduction is the Nox. Nox are very rare, very powerful, genetic variants of the race, often possessing supernatural abilities for energy manipulation, even greater speed, and strength, as well as a passive ability to detect the thoughts of nearby Zagrjene. The Nox are their commanders, their spies, their most powerful and elite members. Whilst all Zagrjene speak Common, the Nox speak all languages fluently, able to pick up languages just by being nearby other individuals, with a less intense psychic connection. This also means that they tend to pick up speech practices and accents from those nearby when they first learn a language. This also comes into effect the first time they come into contact with a native speaker of a language that they have learned through study or innate ability, so a Nox may have an accent from another planet due to them being the first contact point for common or some other language that the Nox knew inherently but had not yet made a native speaker. (So, a Nox who has not been around any other creatures that speak Common crash lands into the Deep South, and they will most likely end up with an intensely hick accent when speaking Common)
The other strange thing about The Nox is their birth process. The Nox are also known as “The Deadly Stillborn”. This is due to the fact that, due to their importance, they have evolved to subvert the growing up process. Whilst new Nox are born rarely, more often than not, a Nox birth is due to a Nox being slain or dying of natural causes, and their soul is searching for a new body. In this state, they will inhabit the most recently formed Zagrjene fetus within a couple hundred lightyears and will be carried to term by the davarojn or injected host. They will be born much like any other of the race carrying them, until they open their eyes some five minutes after they are born. For Nox in the process of rebirth, once they open their eyes, the first sapient that they make eye contact with will die. The Nox will cause their brainwave activity to cease, and replace its brainwaves with the Nox’, effectively replacing its thoughts and mind with that of the newly reborn Nox. At this point the infant body will cease all biological functions and be sent to the recyclers, or “rezjkon”. The Nox don't care if a body has been injured by time or age, for they can heal these things, so it does not matter to The Nox who they are replacing , and in fact they are unable to stop this process even if they wished to. Therefore it is commonplace for elder Zagrjene to be the ones in charge of midwife-esque duties and attending the newborns, so that if any Nox are born, it will hopefully not be somebody of inordinate significance that gets replaced and killed. There is no way to tell if a davarojn is carrying a Nox or another normal Zagrjene before the birth which is why they have this protocol. If it is the nearest fetus, a Nox will go into an implanted egg that is not a member of The Zagrjene species. Once fully formed and ready to be born, said Zagrjene will rapidly age to the point of maturity for said race, in the span of about six months, regardless for the normal rate of maturity for the species.
The primary significant trait of a Nox, is that they do not lose memories whenever they are reborn or killed. This means there are Nox that have memories from near the beginning of the species, or at least once they had developed to the point of becoming the Zagrjene that are known today. This is what makes the Nox so incredibly valuable to the Zagrjene, before and above all else.
The Zagrjene also abide by strict code of rules that dictate how they handle different situations. For example, if a prisoner has challenged their captor to a fight for their freedom, both parties are considered in a duel, up until the actual event takes place. Therefore, if at any time either side dies before the actual physical contest, the other side will be declared the winner by default. Normally, it is not the Zagrjene that dies outside of the duel, if nothing else they have time to wait, frequently living at least two centuries, Nox living until something external takes them out.
As a society they are vaguely matriarchal, similar, as some have pointed out, to humanoid evil bees or wasps with a queen, known as the Etherea, that is both a davarojn and a Nox. The rest of the structure largely depends on what the Etherea decides is important and necessary at the time, creating structures and substructures and dissolving them as they see fit.
The Zagrjene have no real concept of gender other than the physiological differences between davarojns and voj-gnos, everyone being equal aside from the Etherea and the Nox. The physiological differences between the davarojns and voj-gnos have not led to any psychological differences, other than the davarojns being able to tell exactly how much time until they are going to give birth. The voj-gnos have no such mental ability as they do not have any time sensitive biological functions. The main identity or differentiation for The Zagrjene come from their role in their society and their function. A scientist will be of higher stature than a janitor or a foot soldier, for example. Most of these stations are assigned at birth, as often reproduction is not done for sake of perpetuating a family legacy or name, but because two Zagrjene have features that the Etherea wish to combine in the offspring.
Pronunciation:
Davarojn: dah-vah-RONE
Etherea: EETH-ear-EE-uh
Nox: knocks
Rezjkon: ray-zuh-con
Zagrjene: Zah-grain
Zagrje Grjene: Zah-gray g-RY-un
