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Skrell

2021-09-16T12:25:19Z

Limette: Quick Review 1

<div style="float:left; padding:10px">__TOC__</div>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px; padding-right:0px">{{SpeciesBox
|name = Skrell
|image = Skrell_med_64px.png

|playable = Yes
|antag_only = No
|combatant1 = Earth
----
|height = 5'5" to 6'3"
|weight = 75lbs to 180lbs
|other_phys_label =
|other_phys_data =

|home_system = Qerr'valis
|home_planet = [[Qerrbalak|Qerr'Balak]]
}}[[File:Flag.png|thumb|The Qerr'Kal'ol Oligarchy Flag]]</div>
The '''skrell''' are a species of communal and logical amphibious humanoids hailing from the now broken world of Qerr’balak, constituting one of the greatest empires of the known galaxy.

Older than, more advanced than, and more widely extant than humanity, skrell place great importance on tradition, honor, and knowledge, attempting a more methodical approach to most issues they face.

If you are new to playing skrell or wish to understand them better, make sure to check out the [[Skrell Guide|Roleplay Guide.]]
==History==
''Main article: [[Skrell History]]''

The Skrell trace their origins to the system of ‘Qerr’Vallis’, which translates to ‘Star of the Royals’ in their language. ‘Qerr’Balak’, their homeworld, was a place of vast marsh-plains, shallow sea-oceans teeming with life, and vegetated mangrove swamps containing massive predatory lifeforms. Slightly larger and denser than Earth, it possessed a high relative temperature and increased surface pressure, conditions modern skrell find quite comfortable. The skrell count themselves among the Galaxy’s ancient peoples, a role they now share only with their ancient enemy, the Ascent. Predisposed both to curiosity and rationality, they possess a cultural and scientific fascination with other civilizations, and a deep-seated protectiveness of their own traditions and culture. The skrellian identity and mindset strongly supports the value of groups over the individual, and is deeply concerned with matters of stability and order, often to the detriment of forward progress.
===Origins===
{{Wipnote|Pending. Requires a complete rework of the origins section. We will tackle this one later as it will be time-intensive}}
===Kali’r War===
The last true war fought by Skrell kind, the Kali’r war was a prolonged conflict against the Ascent following an incursion by a mantid automated strip-mining fleet in the system of Kali’ruuk. This prompted a counter-offensive by the skrell, followed by the destruction of a mantid hive, and then an Ascent counter-offensive which resulted in the partial annihilation of their species and the loss of Qerr’Balak, which, even today, continues uninhabitable.

Lasting over seven hundred years, losses were incredibly high on both sides. It was only on the last two-hundred years of war that the skrell managed to start recapturing their territory, and five hundred years more for the reconstruction of their infrastructure and before their population reached the same heights. Skrell historians tend to agree that the start of the informal cease-fire and the end of the war was achieved after the system of Kali’ruuk was taken back, in 1012 CE.

Even today, the Kali’r war is widely remembered with empire-wide holidays such as the Xiq’Mak-pli’a, where the skrell mourn the lives lost during the conflict, and remember the horrors that such a large-scale conflict encompasses in this solemn occasion.
===Epsilon Directorate===
One of the newer ‘Factions’ of skrellkind, the Epsilon Directorate is considered a safe-haven for Ue-Katish, with its ‘hub’ far away from skrell territory in the system of Gi’krall-Xix, a meager 15 LY from Fomalhaut and another 25 LY away from Sol.

The existence of the Epsilon Directorate has many negative and positive implications for Skrell, the more traditional of which often refuse to acknowledge its existence as much as possible. Founded under the principles of a less bureaucratically-burdened research method, the original Malish-founded Directorate was eventually the target of an empire-wide embargo by their kin due to the dangerous and sometimes unethical research processes carried by them.

This forced the Epsilon Directorate to associate itself with Ue-Katish and Ue-Katish Pirate elements, along with the Qerr’Glia in order to trade for much-needed resources. The discovery of humanity has certainly helped the Directorate, as they now have a new trade partner to satisfy their need for manufactured goods and other supplies, allowing them to finally begin expanding their industry.
==Biology==
''Main article: [[Skrell Biology]]''

As a species of amphibian humanoids, the skrell share certain similarities with humans. They are, however, vastly different due to the intricacies of the environment they evolved into, which was not the same as humanity.
===Anatomy===
Skrell are amphibian humanoids with average heights ranging from 5’6 to 6’4. Skrell have webbed hands which allow them to swim faster, and their respiratory system is a complex combination of vestigial cutaneous breathing, lungs, and gills placed at the back of the neck and protected by headtails.

Their blood is a light blue colour and carries hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. Life expectancy ranges around 200 years on average. Skrell hatch from eggs as tadpoles and assume their ‘adult’ shape one year after hatching. Their tail only fully disappears after they are thirteen years old, and they continue to grow and mature until they are fully developed at twenty years old. Fifty skrell are generally birthed at the same time, but it is rare that more than five survive to infancy, due to the fragility of a tadpole’s immune system, among other factors.

A Skrell’s skin can have many different colors. They are also able to breathe through it (A vestigial trait from their tadpole state), which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Due to this, Skrell always take care to keep their skin moisturized and healthy. Skrell do not take tattoos like humans do, but may sometimes use temporary, bio-compatible paints to certain events, in order to show good-taste.
===Diet===
The Skrell are herbivorous, as indicated by their large, molar-like teeth. Not only are they unable to absorb animal protein, but doing so is likely to get them sick and nauseous, with food poisoning being possible if meat is ingested in too large quantities. Skrellian traditional foods are heavily based on the fungi-like organisms found on Qerr'balak, with these being the main ingredient for the common populace. More advanced dishes might utilize a variety of aquatic ingredients, from corals to algae to even limited use of fish.

Despite an extremely low resistance to alcohol, Skrell have otherwise developed a high tolerance to a large amount of chemical substances, a result of their homeworld's flora being generally poisonous as a defence mechanism. Consequently, skrellian food, and many of their medicines and herbal remedies are generally too harmful for human consumption.
===Psionics===
Skrell, with the exception of some Ue-Katish, posses the ability to interact with an exotic field of mechanical influence, akin to gravity, inertia, or electrical magnetism, known as ‘Psi’ by humanity or as ‘Investiture’ by the Skrell. Although a relatively poorly-understood phenomena even for skrell, it is still widely used in their civilization and incredibly common-place. As skrell grow up, they are able to ‘shape’ their PSI which will grant them different abilities as they age. The general type of their abilities is also based on their caste. Malish are able to extract information from their surroundings, Kanin are able to interact with their surroundings with different degrees of strength and precision, Talum are able to imbue feelings and emotions into the mind of others and into mundane objects, and so on.
==Society==
''Main article: [[Skrell Society]]''

Skrell are incredibly communal on the whole, especially in comparison to humanity. This greatly contrasts with the way they handle things such as politics. Throughout time, they have been called a meritocracy, a monarchy, an empire and so on by human historians, and the truth is a little bit more complicated than that.
===Politics===
It is true that modern skrellian society is built around concepts similar to those of constitutional monarchies, oligarchies or of aristocracies, but there are quite a few noticeable differences. Skrell do not view ‘nobility’ the same way humans do, and, although they do have kings, high-kings and an emperor figure with absolute powers, they serve as representatives and tie-breakers more than anything. The Qarr-Skria, who is the image of the entire skrell civilization, for example, exists to represent their species and guide the debate of the Qerr-Qerria assembly, as well as acting as a tie-breaker when necessary rather than ruling over their species with an iron fist and machiavellian policies.

Qerr-Katish lack the individualistic modus-operandi of ‘Staying in power at all costs’. They will allow their heir to take over the moment they notice they are not able to rule properly anymore, even with the help of the Qerr’Koal, who are advisors of each caste to the King.

It is important to remember that skrellian city-states are all very different from one-another, and although they always have one single representative, which is given the title of Qrii-Skria, or ‘king’, the way a city-state handles its laws and policies is always in change.
===Economy===
The Skrell empire has a very diverse economy. Different city-states specialize in producing different products which they often export to other city-states.

Currency is, notably, the same on the entirety of the empire. Bills are printed with expiration dates due to the fading bioluminescence of the mushroom used, which incentivizes the spending of the money. A number of security measures are also used which precludes the production of bills by individual skrell, but that goes without saying.

If a Skrell wishes to preserve money for future projects, or simply for financial safety, their only recourse is to loan that money, without interest, to the City-State, for a set duration decided at the start of the loan. When the government gives back the money, the bills are freshly printed for a new 2-year long period of use.
===Language===
The common skrell language — Common Skrellian — can be best described as a series of hums, warbles, and croaks; while it would not make sense to other species, the Skrells intricacies of communication can display a wide variety of emotion and meaning that many human languages cannot.

With other languages, such as Zurich Accord Common, Skrell take on the accent of the person who taught them the language.

Talum often consider their language to be an art in itself, and the sentiment is often shared by the other castes, especially where relations with other species are concerned. There are a number of variations on the ‘skrellian’ dialect and different accents and emotion tones exist depending on the region of the empire where it is being spoken. A more divergent branch is the so-called Ue-Katish Cant, a shock-language used mainly by Ue-Katish pirates and sympathizers which is filled with slurs and anti-honorifics.
===Education===
Skrellian education is the basis of skrellian society and viewed as an investment by Skrell. Tadpoles are educated by their parents and interactions with the other Tadpoles of their Bonding. When a Skrell enters their “adult” shape, they first enter the first level of academic life, called by the Skrell the Mi-Gloa, or Early Enlightenment. At this point, they learn basic logic, elementary sciences such as mathematics and low-level physics, and skrellian history. All the Castes share the same lessons, except for the Qerr-Katish, who are taught apart from the rest of society and groomed for leadership.

At the age of 8, the Skrell leave the Mi-Gloa and enter the Qlor-Gloa, the Focused Enlightenment, where the different Castes are separated in different paths of teaching. Here again, the lessons are generalist and leave plenty of specialisation to be done later.

When they reach the age of 15, the Skrell choose the path that will determine their future work: They enter the Keri-Gloa, the Ongoing Enlightenment, for it is believed a Skrell never truly stops learning from that point. From there, a Skrell, called a Keri-Glo’i as long as they are in this system, can leave the Keri-Gloa at the age of 18, which means they will be a Qrri-Mog, a low-class worker, taught but not truly enlightened, or at the age of 25, making them a Qerr-Mog, a fully-fledged skrellian mind, expert in their area of work. Only the “Qerr-Mog” can hope to one day become Qerr-Koal, experts of their castes and counselors to their King.
===Castes===
The caste system has been in place for millennia in skrellian society, taking its current form after the founding of the first cities in Qerr’Balak. While the specifics of the system vary from city-state to city-state, the core five castes and their organization are common to almost all Skrell societies. This is reinforced by the significant degree of partial speciation created by millennia of directed breeding, resulting in low fertility rates in cross-caste breeding. It is also further reinforced by the psionic nature of the skrell, as different castes, today, are predisposed towards a certain psionic potential. Due to this, cross-caste breeding can often result in a tadpole who completely lacks any psionic potential, or, very rarely, one who acquires the psionic potential of both of their progenitors.

Five castes exist:
====Qerr-Katish (High Caste)====
Considered as the leaders of skrellkind, the Qerr-Katish are the face and soul of skrellian society. Managers, diplomats, lawyers, they are notably the only caste allowed to fulfil the role of Qerr-Skria, Qrii-Qerria and Qerr-Qerria. Representatives of the skrell, Qerr-Katish are highly social beings, sophisticated and organized. They tend to be rather conservative, although progressive ideas regularly grow within the caste, as a stagnant society is a dying society.
====Malish-Katish (Caste of the Mind)====
If the Qerr-Katish are the face of skrellkind, the Malish-Katish are its brain. Scientists of all sorts, they are the ones who allow skrellian society to grow, be it technologically or ideologically. Highly inquisitive, they are among the more progressive skrell. However they are not very social, and their emphasis on methodical thinking makes them less capable of acting quickly under pressure and handling their feelings in public.
====Kanin-Katish (Caste of the Builder)====
The main workforce of the Skrell. With activities ranging from goods production to services and engineering, they occupy the largest and most diversified sector of skrellian activity. They are a very tightly knit community, both within their families and with their co-workers. Very traditional, they hold rather conservative views on the world, and their pack mentality dampens most individualism. Their families are frequently large, three or four bondings. As such, they are often among the less wealthy skrell, but they do not seem to mind, as their work is the life and blood of skrellian civilization.
====Talum-Katish (Caste of the Artist)====
One would be mistaken to think skrell do not consider the arts much. This important sector of skrellian society is handled by the Talum-Katish: artists, chefs and entertainers. They compete with the Qerr-Katish’s role as representatives of skrellkind, although in a different way. They are in fact frequently on the public scene. The Talum-Katish are the most individualistic members of skrellkind, though they enjoy busy social lives. They are the free-thinkers of skrellian society, often at odds with conservative castes. They tend to reproduce a lot, multiplying their encounters with various partners.
====Raskinta-Katish (Caste of Warriors)====
Rarely seen outside skrellian society, they are the ones who ensure the safety and stability of skrellian civilisation, both against internal and external threats. The military caste of the Skrell, most end up working for the various city-states, either in the police or as career soldiers, although some of them end up working for private security or as entertainment fighters. They are very conservative, deeply committed for their community, caring very little for self-development and personal satisfaction. Their martial training leaves very little time for indulgences, and they are trained to be expert tacticians and possess organisational skills second only to the Qerr-Katish. Uniquely among Raskinta, loss of a headtail is not seen as disfiguring, especially if it was lost in battle.
====Ue-Katish (Casteless)====
While not technically a ‘Caste’ by itself, the Ue-Katish make up an incredibly small but always growing fraction of the total skrellian population. Born to unions of skrell of two different castes or two Ue-Katish, the Ue-Katish typically have no place in the regimented society of the Skrell. Many work in various forms of dangerous, unpleasant, and low-paying labor, and although they are still skrell and individuals with rights, discrimination still ends up being extremely common. Many Ue-Katish try to imitate other castes in an attempt to pass as a Kanin, a Malish or another caste, or leave for a more tolerant life either inside human territory, nomadically, or as pirates. Ue-Katish are often not discriminated against as much in the colonies that are closer to the human border as a result of ‘cultural bleed’ and pure necessity on these less populated worlds, but they are still viewed with mistrust.
===Military===
The Skrell possess a highly diverse military, with different levels of organisation, expertise and various duties dependent upon who it is organised by.

The most common military forces seen operating in the interior of the skrellian territories are the local reserves of each kingdom. Tasked with local defence against internal threats and policing, those forces are known as the Qrii-Morr’Kon, and have a heavy focus on policing and combating smuggling. Different Qrii-Morr’Kons belonging to kingdoms in the same planet or system often cooperate with each other, especially where criminal activity in near-space is concerned. Although trained for general offensives against their enemies, the particularly small numbers of the Qrii-Morr’Kon limit their effectiveness in times of war.

To compensate for this issue, the skrell formed what they call the Skrellian Defence Task Forces, or Qarr-Morr'Kon. SDTFs are independent entities formed by several City-States who pool together resources and manpower for their common safety. Once such a group is formed, they gain some independence from their creators,but they are still formally bound to them as they need the City States as a source of recruitment and financing. Private corporations also have a part to play with the SDTFs, as they often sign contracts with them to sell equipment and ships at preferential prices. For the corporations, it is mostly a way to advertise themselves: The prestige of a partnership with an SDTF, along with the fact that such groups only procure the best equipment generally means a major boost in sales based on the reputation of the SDTF.
===Crime===
As a millennia-old civilisation spanning across thousands of star systems, it would be foolish to think the skrellian territories manage to stay free of criminals and illicit organisations. All across the territories, smuggling rings, extortion rackets, underground science labs engaged in gruesome experiments and organised crime can be found, operating behind the scenes.
==Culture==
''Main article: [[Skrell Culture]]''
===The Arts===
For obvious reasons due to their biology, skrell give a lot of importance to music: It is actually quite rare to meet a Talum-Katish who does not at least possess average singing skills. While it would be impossible to describe their entire musical history, a few major points can be mentioned; First and foremost, skrellian music has abandoned tonal considerations, both in harmony and melody, centuries ago. While the skrellian artists are still looking to produce enjoyable music, they prefer to avoid the restrictions of a codified system, allowing them more freedom in their creations, at the cost of more work to develop proper musical structures. Secondly, rhythm. While it is still very much existent in skrellian music, rhythm too went through a long phase of deconstruction in the musical process. In the last few centuries, the trend has been to subtly (sometimes not-so) shift the rhythm of their music over time, meaning a musical phase that starts as slow can finish very fast. The process is, however, not random. Lastly, voice plays a very large role in their music. Because of the specifics of their written language, Skrell did not develop a printing system until very late in their development, meaning knowledge had to be spread either by handwritten books or orally; in the latter case, songs quickly became the norm to transmit that knowledge. Skrell do have a large array of musical instruments, most electronic, to serve as a support to the vocal lead, but generally, voice stays at the forefront of mainstream skrellian music.
===Fashion===
Despite having a very pragmatic society, Skrell are still concerned about showing good taste and leaving a good impression on others, and this is especially true for Qerr-Katish and Talum-Katish due to the nature of their castes. Their fashion is mostly composed, today, of different fungal silks and fabrics, along with jewelry and bioluminescent mushroom patches sewn into their clothing.

Skrell often have very varied clothing styles when they are not at work. Against the common misconception of some, Raskinta can (and often will) dress casually when they are not at work. Similarly, Kanin will not spend their entire days in their trusty but often not very comfortable overalls. Skrell know what clothes to use and when.
===Family===
The Skrell are non-monogamous, preferring a large panel of sexual partners for the purpose of reproduction. As such, the notion of human monogamy is alien to them, although some skrellian border colonies have seen more radical skrell toying with the concept. Despite this, skrell need and enjoy a family structure, leading to another form of union, that the Skrell call Bonding. Instead of forming a constant familial structure to which offspring will automatically be attached, skrell make a punctual Bonding when a couple produces a shoal to attach the children to this couple, and only this couple, making them, in effect, a family. This allows legal and social recognition of the progeny by both parents while letting them explore other reproductive opportunities.

The parents rarely stay together after a Bonding, one being designated as the Qarr-Maqa, the main parent, responsible for the children, while the other becomes the Qrri-Maqa, who has more of a support role, financially and materially supporting the Qarr-Maqa

With such a focus on pragmatism and widespread reproductive partners it would be easy to assume that skrell do not form long term intimate relationships. This is, of course, incorrect, and skrell are very much capable of feeling love for another on the level of a life partner; there is simply no sexual attraction to this particular relationship.

Typically, skrell do not engage in the production of offspring with those from castes other than their own. When this does happen (which is exceptionally rare) the offspring take the label of Ue-Katish.

For the skrell, gender is an entirely foreign concept, and one they often struggle with understanding when in human space. Biologically, sex itself is fluid for them, as they shift between male and female as needed.
===Religion===
As a civilisation with a long history and a large and diverse population, it would be surprising if the skrell did not develop, at some point, some form of religious thought. Science being such a tenet of skrellian society, however, skrellian religions are generally focused on the metaphysical study of the universe rather than the mythological aspect of religion. As a result, most skrell hold particularly agnostic views, believing that the existence or the lack of an all-powerful being could not be proved, while most religious skrell hold a monist view of the universe, with their beliefs often being akin to one form or another of pantheism.
==Relations with other Species==
{{Wipnote|Pending Other Lore}}
==Credit==
Partially written by Warbidon, Limette, Memed Hams and Kaksisilma. Based on work by Eckles, Skeeveo and Polaris/Baystation 12/Aurora users Searif, Sweedle, Phosphorus, Memescope McGee, Paradoxon, Elgeonmb, FtangSteve, ParadoxSpace, and any other people who, over the years, contributed to the above.

[[Category:Species]]

User:Limette/Sandbox

2021-09-08T17:14:15Z

Limette:

User:Limette/Sandbox

2021-09-08T17:13:50Z

Limette:

<div style="float:left; padding:10px">__TOC__</div>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px; padding-right:0px">{{SpeciesBox
|name = Skrell
|image = Skrell_med_64px.png

|playable = Yes
|antag_only = No
|combatant1 = Earth
----
|height = 5'5" to 6'3"
|weight = 75lbs to 180lbs
|other_phys_label =
|other_phys_data =

|home_system = Qerr'valis
|home_planet = [[Qerrbalak|Qerr'Balak]]
}}[[File:Flag.png|thumb|The Qerr'Kal'ol Oligarchy Flag]]</div>
The '''skrell''' are a species of communal and logical amphibious humanoids hailing from the now broken world of Qerr’balak, constituting one of the greatest empires of the known galaxy.

Older than, more advanced than, and more widely extant than humanity, skrell place great importance on tradition, honor, and knowledge, attempting a more methodical approach to most issues they face.

If you are new to playing skrell or wish to understand them better, make sure to check out the [[Skrell Guide|Roleplay Guide.]]
==History==
''Main article: [[Skrell History]]''

The Skrell trace their origins to the system of ‘Qerr’Vallis’, which translates to ‘Star of the Royals’ in their language. ‘Qerr’Balak’, their homeworld, was a place of vast marsh-plains, shallow sea-oceans teeming with life, and vegetated mangrove swamps containing massive predatory lifeforms. Slightly larger and denser than Earth, it possessed a high relative temperature and increased surface pressure, conditions modern skrell find quite comfortable. The skrell count themselves among the Galaxy’s ancient peoples, a role they now share only with their ancient enemy, the Ascent. Predisposed both to curiosity and rationality, they possess a cultural and scientific fascination with other civilizations, and a deep-seated protectiveness of their own traditions and culture. The skrellian identity and mindset strongly supports the value of groups over the individual, and is deeply concerned with matters of stability and order, often to the detriment of forward progress.
===Origins===
{{Wipnote|Pending. Requires a complete rework of the origins section. We will tackle this one later as it will be time-intensive}}
===Kali’r War===
The last true war fought by Skrell kind, the Kali’r war was a prolonged conflict against the Ascent following an incursion by a mantid automated strip-mining fleet in the system of Kali’ruuk. This prompted a counter-offensive by the skrell, followed by the destruction of a mantid hive, and then an Ascent counter-offensive which resulted in the partial annihilation of their species and the loss of Qerr’Balak, which, even today, continues uninhabitable.

Lasting over seven hundred years, losses were incredibly high on both sides. It was only on the last two-hundred years of war that the skrell managed to start recapturing their territory, and five hundred years more for the reconstruction of their infrastructure and before their population reached the same heights. skrell historians tend to agree that the start of the informal cease-fire and the end of the war was achieved after the system of Kali’ruuk was taken back, in 1012 CE.

Even today, the Kali’r war is widely remembered with empire-wide holidays such as the Xiq’Mak-pli’a, where the skrell mourn the lives lost during the conflict, and remember the horrors that such a large-scale conflict encompasses in this solemn occasion.
===Epsilon Directorate===
One of the newer ‘Factions’ of skrellkind, the Epsilon Directorate is considered a safe-haven for Ue-Katish, with its ‘hub’ far away from skrell territory in the system of Gi’krall-Xix, a meager 15 LY from Fomalhaut and another 25 LY away from Sol.

The existence of the Epsilon Directorate has many negative and positive implications for Skrell, the more traditional of which often refuse to acknowledge its existence as much as possible. Founded under the principles of a less bureaucratically-burdened research method, the original Malish-founded Directorate was eventually the target of an empire-wide embargo by their kin due to the dangerous and sometimes unethical research processes carried by them.

This forced the Epsilon Directorate to associate itself with Ue-Katish and Ue-Katish Pirate elements, along with the Qerr’Glia in order to trade for much-needed resources. The discovery of humanity has certainly helped the Directorate, as they now have a new trade partner to satisfy their need for manufactured goods and other supplies, allowing them to finally begin expanding their industry.
==Biology==
''Main article: [[Skrell Biology]]''

As a species of amphibian humanoids, the skrell share certain similarities with humans. They are, however, vastly different due to the intricacies of the environment they evolved into, which was not the same as humanity.
===Anatomy===
Skrell are amphibian humanoids with average heights ranging from 5’6 to 6’4. Skrell have webbed hands which allow them to swim faster, and their respiratory system is a complex combination of vestigial cutaneous breathing, lungs, and gills placed at the back of the neck and protected by headtails.

Their blood is a light blue colour and carries hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. Life expectancy ranges around 200 years on average. Skrell hatch from eggs as tadpoles and assume their ‘adult’ shape one year after hatching. Their tail only fully disappears after they are thirteen years old, and they continue to grow and mature until they are fully developed at twenty years old. Fifty skrell are generally birthed at the same time, but it is rare that more than five survive to infancy, due to the fragility of a tadpole’s immune system, among other factors.

A Skrell’s skin can have many different colors. They are also able to breathe through it (A vestigial trait from their tadpole state), which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Due to this, Skrell always take care to keep their skin moisturized and healthy. Skrell do not take tattoos like humans do, but may sometimes use temporary, bio-compatible paints to certain events, in order to show good-taste.
===Diet===
The Skrell are herbivorous, as indicated by their large, molar-like teeth. Not only are they unable to absorb animal protein, but doing so is likely to get them sick and nauseous, with food poisoning being possible if meat is ingested in too large quantities. Skrellian traditional foods are heavily based on the fungi-like organisms found on Qerr'balak, with these being the main ingredient for the common populace. More advanced dishes might utilize a variety of aquatic ingredients, from corals to algae to even limited use of fish.

Despite an extremely low resistance to alcohol, Skrell have otherwise developed a high tolerance to a large amount of chemical substances, a result of their homeworld's flora being generally poisonous as a defence mechanism. Consequently, skrellian food, and many of their medicines and herbal remedies are generally too harmful for human consumption.
===Psionics===
Skrell, with the exception of some Ue-Katish, posses the ability to interact with an exotic field of mechanical influence, akin to gravity, inertia, or electrical magnetism, known as ‘Psi’ by humanity or as ‘Investiture’ by the Skrell. Although a relatively poorly-understood phenomena even for skrell, it is still widely used in their civilization and incredibly common-place. As skrell grow up, they are able to ‘shape’ their PSI which will grant them different abilities as they age. The general type of their abilities is also based on their caste. Malish are able to extract information from their surroundings, Kanin are able to interact with their surroundings with different degrees of strength and precision, Talum are able to imbue feelings and emotions into the mind of others and into mundane objects, and so on.
==Society==
''Main article: [[Skrell Society]]''

Skrell are incredibly communal on the whole, especially in comparison to humanity. This greatly contrasts with the way they handle things such as politics. Throughout time, they have been called a meritocracy, a monarchy, an empire and so on by human historians, and the truth is a little bit more complicated than that.
===Politics===
It is true that modern skrellian society is built around concepts similar to those of constitutional monarchies, oligarchies or of aristocracies, but there are quite a few noticeable differences. Skrell do not view ‘nobility’ the same way humans do, and, although they do have kings, high-kings and an emperor figure with absolute powers, they serve as representatives and tie-breakers more than anything. The Qarr-Skria, who is the image of the entire skrell civilization, for example, exists to represent their species and guide the debate of the Qerr-Qerria assembly, as well as acting as a tie-breaker when necessary rather than ruling over their species with an iron fist and machiavellian policies.

Qerr-Katish lack the individualistic modus-operandi of ‘Staying in power at all costs’. They will allow their heir to take over the moment they notice they are not able to rule properly anymore, even with the help of the Qerr’Koal, who are advisors of each caste to the King.

It is important to remember that skrellian city-states are all very different from one-another, and although they always have one single representative, which is given the title of Qrii-Skria, or ‘king’, the way a city-state handles its laws and policies is always in change.
===Economy===
The Skrell empire has a very diverse economy. Different city-states specialize in producing different products which they often export to other city-states.

Currency is, notably, the same on the entirety of the empire. Bills are printed with expiration dates due to the fading bioluminescence of the mushroom used, which incentivizes the spending of the money. A number of security measures are also used which precludes the production of bills by individual skrell, but that goes without saying.

If a Skrell wishes to preserve money for future projects, or simply for financial safety, their only recourse is to loan that money, without interest, to the City-State, for a set duration decided at the start of the loan. When the government gives back the money, the bills are freshly printed for a new 2-year long period of use.
===Language===
The common skrell language — Common Skrellian — can be best described as a series of hums, warbles, and croaks; while it would not make sense to other species, the Skrells intricacies of communication can display a wide variety of emotion and meaning that many human languages cannot.

With other languages, such as Zurich Accord Common, Skrell take on the accent of the person who taught them the language.

Talum often consider their language to be an art in itself, and the sentiment is often shared by the other castes, especially where relations with other species are concerned. There are a number of variations on the ‘skrellian’ dialect and different accents and emotion tones exist depending on the region of the empire where it is being spoken. A more divergent branch is the so-called Ue-Katish Cant, a shock-language used mainly by Ue-Katish pirates and sympathizers which is filled with slurs and anti-honorifics.
===Education===
Skrellian education is the basis of skrellian society and viewed as an investment by Skrell. Tadpoles are educated by their parents and interactions with the other Tadpoles of their Bonding. When a Skrell enters their “adult” shape, they first enter the first level of academic life, called by the Skrell the Mi-Gloa, or Early Enlightenment. At this point, they learn basic logic, elementary sciences such as mathematics and low-level physics, and skrellian history. All the Castes share the same lessons, except for the Qerr-Katish, who are taught apart from the rest of society and groomed for leadership.

At the age of 8, the Skrell leave the Mi-Gloa and enter the Qlor-Gloa, the Focused Enlightenment, where the different Castes are separated in different paths of teaching. Here again, the lessons are generalist and leave plenty of specialisation to be done later.

When they reach the age of 15, the Skrell choose the path that will determine their future work: They enter the Keri-Gloa, the Ongoing Enlightenment, for it is believed a Skrell never truly stops learning from that point. From there, a Skrell, called a Keri-Glo’i as long as they are in this system, can leave the Keri-Gloa at the age of 18, which means they will be a Qrri-Mog, a low-class worker, taught but not truly enlightened, or at the age of 25, making them a Qerr-Mog, a fully-fledged skrellian mind, expert in their area of work. Only the “Qerr-Mog” can hope to one day become Qerr-Koal, experts of their castes and counselors to their King.
===Castes===
The caste system has been in place for millennia in skrellian society, taking its current form after the founding of the first cities in Qerr’Balak. While the specifics of the system vary from city-state to city-state, the core five castes and their organization are common to almost all Skrell societies. This is reinforced by the significant degree of partial speciation created by millennia of directed breeding, resulting in low fertility rates in cross-caste breeding. It is also further reinforced by the psionic nature of the skrell, as different castes, today, are predisposed towards a certain psionic potential. Due to this, cross-caste breeding can often result in a tadpole who completely lacks any psionic potential, or, very rarely, one who acquires the psionic potential of both of their progenitors.

Five castes exist:
====Qerr-Katish (High Caste)====
Considered as the leaders of skrellkind, the Qerr-Katish are the face and soul of skrellian society. Managers, diplomats, lawyers, they are notably the only caste allowed to fulfil the role of Qerr-Skria, Qrii-Qerria and Qerr-Qerria. Representatives of the skrell, Qerr-Katish are highly social beings, sophisticated and organized. They tend to be rather conservative, although progressive ideas regularly grow within the caste, as a stagnant society is a dying society.
====Malish-Katish (Caste of the Mind)====
If the Qerr-Katish are the face of skrellkind, the Malish-Katish are its brain. Scientists of all sorts, they are the ones who allow skrellian society to grow, be it technologically or ideologically. Highly inquisitive, they are among the more progressive skrell. However they are not very social, and their emphasis on methodical thinking makes them less capable of acting quickly under pressure and handling their feelings in public.
====Kanin-Katish (Caste of the Builder)====
The main workforce of the Skrell. With activities ranging from goods production to services and engineering, they occupy the largest and most diversified sector of skrellian activity. They are a very tightly knit community, both within their families and with their co-workers. Very traditional, they hold rather conservative views on the world, and their pack mentality dampens most individualism. Their families are frequently large, three or four bondings. As such, they are often among the less wealthy skrell, but they do not seem to mind, as their work is the life and blood of skrellian civilization.
====Talum-Katish (Caste of the Artist)====
One would be mistaken to think skrell do not consider the arts much. This important sector of skrellian society is handled by the Talum-Katish: artists, chefs and entertainers. They compete with the Qerr-Katish’s role as representatives of skrellkind, although in a different way. They are in fact frequently on the public scene. The Talum-Katish are the most individualistic members of skrellkind, though they enjoy busy social lives. They are the free-thinkers of skrellian society, often at odds with conservative castes. They tend to reproduce a lot, multiplying their encounters with various partners.
====Raskinta-Katish (Caste of Warriors)====
Rarely seen outside skrellian society, they are the ones who ensure the safety and stability of skrellian civilisation, both against internal and external threats. The military caste of the Skrell, most end up working for the various city-states, either in the police or as career soldiers, although some of them end up working for private security or as entertainment fighters. They are very conservative, deeply committed for their community, caring very little for self-development and personal satisfaction. Their martial training leaves very little time for indulgences, and they are trained to be expert tacticians and possess organisational skills second only to the Qerr-Katish. Uniquely among Raskinta, loss of a headtail is not seen as disfiguring, especially if it was lost in battle.
====Ue-Katish (Casteless)====
While not technically a ‘Caste’ by itself, the Ue-Katish make up an incredibly small but always growing fraction of the total skrellian population. Born to unions of skrell of two different castes or two Ue-Katish, the Ue-Katish typically have no place in the regimented society of the Skrell. Many work in various forms of dangerous, unpleasant, and low-paying labor, and although they are still skrell and individuals with rights, discrimination still ends up being extremely common. Many Ue-Katish try to imitate other castes in an attempt to pass as a Kanin, a Malish or another caste, or leave for a more tolerant life either inside human territory, nomadically, or as pirates. Ue-Katish are often not discriminated against as much in the colonies that are closer to the human border as a result of ‘cultural bleed’ and pure necessity on these less populated worlds, but they are still viewed with mistrust.
===Military===
The Skrell possess a highly diverse military, with different levels of organisation, expertise and various duties dependent upon who it is organised by.

The most common military forces seen operating in the interior of the skrellian territories are the local reserves of each kingdom. Tasked with local defence against internal threats and policing, those forces are known as the Qrii-Morr’Kon, and have a heavy focus on policing and combating smuggling. Different Qrii-Morr’Kons belonging to kingdoms in the same planet or system often cooperate with each other, especially where criminal activity in near-space is concerned. Although trained for general offensives against their enemies, the particularly small numbers of the Qrii-Morr’Kon limit their effectiveness in times of war.

To compensate for this issue, the skrell formed what they call the Skrellian Defence Task Forces, or Qarr-Morr'Kon. SDTFs are independent entities formed by several City-States who pool together resources and manpower for their common safety. Once such a group is formed, they gain some independence from their creators,but they are still formally bound to them as they need the City States as a source of recruitment and financing. Private corporations also have a part to play with the SDTFs, as they often sign contracts with them to sell equipment and ships at preferential prices. For the corporations, it is mostly a way to advertise themselves: The prestige of a partnership with an SDTF, along with the fact that such groups only procure the best equipment generally means a major boost in sales based on the reputation of the SDTF.
===Crime===
As a millennia-old civilisation spanning across thousands of star systems, it would be foolish to think the skrellian territories manage to stay free of criminals and illicit organisations. All across the territories, smuggling rings, extortion rackets, underground science labs engaged in gruesome experiments and organised crime can be found, operating behind the scenes.
==Culture==
''Main article: [[Skrell Culture]]''
===The Arts===
For obvious reasons due to their biology, skrell give a lot of importance to music: It is actually quite rare to meet a Talum-Katish who does not at least possess average singing skills. While it would be impossible to describe their entire musical history, a few major points can be mentioned; First and foremost, skrellian music has abandoned tonal considerations, both in harmony and melody, centuries ago. While the skrellian artists are still looking to produce enjoyable music, they prefer to avoid the restrictions of a codified system, allowing them more freedom in their creations, at the cost of more work to develop proper musical structures. Secondly, rhythm. While it is still very much existent in skrellian music, rhythm too went through a long phase of deconstruction in the musical process. In the last few centuries, the trend has been to subtly (sometimes not-so) shift the rhythm of their music over time, meaning a musical phase that starts as slow can finish very fast. The process is, however, not random. Lastly, voice plays a very large role in their music. Because of the specifics of their written language, Skrell did not develop a printing system until very late in their development, meaning knowledge had to be spread either by handwritten books or orally; in the latter case, songs quickly became the norm to transmit that knowledge. Skrell do have a large array of musical instruments, most electronic, to serve as a support to the vocal lead, but generally, voice stays at the forefront of mainstream skrellian music.
===Fashion===
Despite having a very pragmatic society, Skrell are still concerned about showing good taste and leaving a good impression on others, and this is especially true for Qerr-Katish and Talum-Katish due to the nature of their castes. Their fashion is mostly composed, today, of different fungal silks and fabrics, along with jewelry and bioluminescent mushroom patches sewn into their clothing.

Skrell often have very varied clothing styles when they are not at work. Against the common misconception of some, Raskinta can (and often will) dress casually when they are not at work. Similarly, Kanin will not spend their entire days in their trusty but often not very comfortable overalls. Skrell know what clothes to use and when.
===Family===
The Skrell are non-monogamous, preferring a large panel of sexual partners for the purpose of reproduction. As such, the notion of human monogamy is alien to them, although some skrellian border colonies have seen more radical skrell toying with the concept. Despite this, skrell need and enjoy a family structure, leading to another form of union, that the Skrell call Bonding. Instead of forming a constant familial structure to which offspring will automatically be attached, skrell make a punctual Bonding when a couple produces a shoal to attach the children to this couple, and only this couple, making them, in effect, a family. This allows legal and social recognition of the progeny by both parents while letting them explore other reproductive opportunities.

The parents rarely stay together after a Bonding, one being designated as the Qarr-Maqa, the main parent, responsible for the children, while the other becomes the Qrri-Maqa, who has more of a support role, financially and materially supporting the Qarr-Maqa

With such a focus on pragmatism and widespread reproductive partners it would be easy to assume that skrell do not form long term intimate relationships. This is, of course, incorrect, and skrell are very much capable of feeling love for another on the level of a life partner; there is simply no sexual attraction to this particular relationship.

Typically, skrell do not engage in the production of offspring with those from castes other than their own. When this does happen (which is exceptionally rare) the offspring take the label of Ue-Katish.

For the skrell, gender is an entirely foreign concept, and one they often struggle with understanding when in human space. Biologically, sex itself is fluid for them, as they shift between male and female as needed.
===Religion===
As a civilisation with a long history and a large and diverse population, it would be surprising if the skrell did not develop, at some point, some form of religious thought. Science being such a tenet of skrellian society, however, skrellian religions are generally focused on the metaphysical study of the universe rather than the mythological aspect of religion. As a result, most skrell hold particularly agnostic views, believing that the existence or the lack of an all-powerful being could not be proved, while most religious skrell hold a monist view of the universe, with their beliefs often being akin to one form or another of pantheism.
==Relations with other Species==
{{Wipnote|Pending Other Lore}}
==Credit==
Partially written by Warbidon, Limette, Memed Hams and Kaksisilma. Based on work by Eckles, Skeeveo and Polaris/Baystation 12/Aurora users Searif, Sweedle, Phosphorus, Memescope McGee, Paradoxon, Elgeonmb, FtangSteve, ParadoxSpace, and any other people who, over the years, contributed to the above.

User:Limette/Sandbox

2021-09-08T17:12:22Z

Limette:

<div style="float:left; padding:10px">__TOC__</div>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px; padding-right:0px">{{SpeciesBox
|name = Skrell
|image = Skrell_med_64px.png

|playable = Yes
|antag_only = No
|combatant1 = Earth
----
|height = 5'5" to 6'3"
|weight = 75lbs to 180lbs
|other_phys_label =
|other_phys_data =

|home_system = Qerr'valis
|home_planet = [[Qerrbalak|Qerr'Balak]]
}}[[File:Flag.png|thumb|The Qerr'Kal'ol Oligarchy Flag]]</div>
The '''skrell''' are a species of communal and logical amphibious humanoids hailing from the now broken world of Qerr’balak, constituting one of the greatest empires of the known galaxy.

Older than, more advanced than, and more widely extant than humanity, skrell place great importance on tradition, honor, and knowledge, attempting a more methodical approach to most issues they face.

If you are new to playing skrell or wish to understand them better, make sure to check out the [[Skrell Guide|Roleplay Guide.]]
==History==
''Main article: [[Skrell History]]''

The Skrell trace their origins to the system of ‘Qerr’Vallis’, which translates to ‘Star of the Royals’ in their language. ‘Qerr’Balak’, their homeworld, was a place of vast marsh-plains, shallow sea-oceans teeming with life, and vegetated mangrove swamps containing massive predatory lifeforms. Slightly larger and denser than Earth, it possessed a high relative temperature and increased surface pressure, conditions modern skrell find quite comfortable. The skrell count themselves among the Galaxy’s ancient peoples, a role they now share only with their ancient enemy, the Ascent. Predisposed both to curiosity and rationality, they possess a cultural and scientific fascination with other civilizations, and a deep-seated protectiveness of their own traditions and culture. The skrellian identity and mindset strongly supports the value of groups over the individual, and is deeply concerned with matters of stability and order, often to the detriment of forward progress.
===Origins===
{{Wipnote|Pending. Requires a complete rework of the origins section. We will tackle this one later as it will be time-intensive}}
===Kali’r War===
The last true war fought by Skrell kind, the Kali’r war was a prolonged conflict against the Ascent following an incursion by a mantid automated strip-mining fleet in the system of Kali’ruuk. This prompted a counter-offensive by the skrell, followed by the destruction of a mantid hive, and then an Ascent counter-offensive which resulted in the partial annihilation of their species and the loss of Qerr’Balak, which, even today, continues uninhabitable.

Lasting over seven hundred years, losses were incredibly high on both sides. It was only on the last two-hundred years of war that the skrell managed to start recapturing their territory, and five hundred years more for the reconstruction of their infrastructure and before their population reached the same heights. skrell historians tend to agree that the start of the informal cease-fire and the end of the war was achieved after the system of Kali’ruuk was taken back, in 1012 CE.

Even today, the Kali’r war is widely remembered with empire-wide holidays such as the Xiq’Mak-pli’a, where the skrell mourn the lives lost during the conflict, and remember the horrors that such a large-scale conflict encompasses in this solemn occasion.
===Epsilon Directorate===
One of the newer ‘Factions’ of skrellkind, the Epsilon Directorate is considered a safe-haven for Ue-Katish, with its ‘hub’ far away from skrell territory in the system of Gi’krall-Xix, a meager 15 LY from Fomalhaut and another 25 LY away from Sol.

The existence of the Epsilon Directorate has many negative and positive implications for Skrell, the more traditional of which often refuse to acknowledge its existence as much as possible. Founded under the principles of a less bureaucratically-burdened research method, the original Malish-founded Directorate was eventually the target of an empire-wide embargo by their kin due to the dangerous and sometimes unethical research processes carried by them.

This forced the Epsilon Directorate to associate itself with Ue-Katish and Ue-Katish Pirate elements, along with the Qerr’Glia in order to trade for much-needed resources. The discovery of humanity has certainly helped the Directorate, as they now have a new trade partner to satisfy their need for manufactured goods and other supplies, allowing them to finally begin expanding their industry.
==Biology==
''Main article: [[Skrell Biology]]''

As a species of amphibian humanoids, the skrell share certain similarities with Hhmans. They are, however, vastly different due to the intricacies of the environment they evolved into, which was not the same as humanity.
===Anatomy===
Skrell are amphibian humanoids with average heights ranging from 5’6 to 6’4. Skrell have webbed hands which allow them to swim faster, and their respiratory system is a complex combination of vestigial cutaneous breathing, lungs, and gills placed at the back of the neck and protected by headtails.

Their blood is a light blue colour and carries hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. Life expectancy ranges around 200 years on average. Skrell hatch from eggs as tadpoles and assume their ‘adult’ shape one year after hatching. Their tail only fully disappears after they are thirteen years old, and they continue to grow and mature until they are fully developed at twenty years old. Fifty skrell are generally birthed at the same time, but it is rare that more than five survive to infancy, due to the fragility of a tadpole’s immune system, among other factors.

A Skrell’s skin can have many different colors. They are also able to breathe through it (A vestigial trait from their tadpole state), which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Due to this, Skrell always take care to keep their skin moisturized and healthy. Skrell do not take tattoos like humans do, but may sometimes use temporary, bio-compatible paints to certain events, in order to show good-taste.
===Diet===
The Skrell are herbivorous, as indicated by their large, molar-like teeth. Not only are they unable to absorb animal protein, but doing so is likely to get them sick and nauseous, with food poisoning being possible if meat is ingested in too large quantities. Skrellian traditional foods are heavily based on the fungi-like organisms found on Qerr'balak, with these being the main ingredient for the common populace. More advanced dishes might utilize a variety of aquatic ingredients, from corals to algae to even limited use of fish.

Despite an extremely low resistance to alcohol, Skrell have otherwise developed a high tolerance to a large amount of chemical substances, a result of their homeworld's flora being generally poisonous as a defence mechanism. Consequently, skrellian food, and many of their medicines and herbal remedies are generally too harmful for human consumption.
===Psionics===
Skrell, with the exception of some Ue-Katish, posses the ability to interact with an exotic field of mechanical influence, akin to gravity, inertia, or electrical magnetism, known as ‘Psi’ by humanity or as ‘Investiture’ by the Skrell. Although a relatively poorly-understood phenomena even for skrell, it is still widely used in their civilization and incredibly common-place. As skrell grow up, they are able to ‘shape’ their PSI which will grant them different abilities as they age. The general type of their abilities is also based on their caste. Malish are able to extract information from their surroundings, Kanin are able to interact with their surroundings with different degrees of strength and precision, Talum are able to imbue feelings and emotions into the mind of others and into mundane objects, and so on.
==Society==
''Main article: [[Skrell Society]]''

Skrell are incredibly communal on the whole, especially in comparison to humanity. This greatly contrasts with the way they handle things such as politics. Throughout time, they have been called a meritocracy, a monarchy, an empire and so on by human historians, and the truth is a little bit more complicated than that.
===Politics===
It is true that modern skrellian society is built around concepts similar to those of constitutional monarchies, oligarchies or of aristocracies, but there are quite a few noticeable differences. Skrell do not view ‘nobility’ the same way humans do, and, although they do have kings, high-kings and an emperor figure with absolute powers, they serve as representatives and tie-breakers more than anything. The Qarr-Skria, who is the image of the entire skrell civilization, for example, exists to represent their species and guide the debate of the Qerr-Qerria assembly, as well as acting as a tie-breaker when necessary rather than ruling over their species with an iron fist and machiavellian policies.

Qerr-Katish lack the individualistic modus-operandi of ‘Staying in power at all costs’. They will allow their heir to take over the moment they notice they are not able to rule properly anymore, even with the help of the Qerr’Koal, who are advisors of each caste to the King.

It is important to remember that skrellian city-states are all very different from one-another, and although they always have one single representative, which is given the title of Qrii-Skria, or ‘king’, the way a city-state handles its laws and policies is always in change.
===Economy===
The Skrell empire has a very diverse economy. Different city-states specialize in producing different products which they often export to other city-states.

Currency is, notably, the same on the entirety of the empire. Bills are printed with expiration dates due to the fading bioluminescence of the mushroom used, which incentivizes the spending of the money. A number of security measures are also used which precludes the production of bills by individual skrell, but that goes without saying.

If a Skrell wishes to preserve money for future projects, or simply for financial safety, their only recourse is to loan that money, without interest, to the City-State, for a set duration decided at the start of the loan. When the government gives back the money, the bills are freshly printed for a new 2-year long period of use.
===Language===
The common skrell language — Common Skrellian — can be best described as a series of hums, warbles, and croaks; while it would not make sense to other species, the Skrells intricacies of communication can display a wide variety of emotion and meaning that many human languages cannot.

With other languages, such as Zurich Accord Common, Skrell take on the accent of the person who taught them the language.

Talum often consider their language to be an art in itself, and the sentiment is often shared by the other castes, especially where relations with other species are concerned. There are a number of variations on the ‘skrellian’ dialect and different accents and emotion tones exist depending on the region of the empire where it is being spoken. A more divergent branch is the so-called Ue-Katish Cant, a shock-language used mainly by Ue-Katish pirates and sympathizers which is filled with slurs and anti-honorifics.
===Education===
Skrellian education is the basis of skrellian society and viewed as an investment by Skrell. Tadpoles are educated by their parents and interactions with the other Tadpoles of their Bonding. When a Skrell enters their “adult” shape, they first enter the first level of academic life, called by the Skrell the Mi-Gloa, or Early Enlightenment. At this point, they learn basic logic, elementary sciences such as mathematics and low-level physics, and skrellian history. All the Castes share the same lessons, except for the Qerr-Katish, who are taught apart from the rest of society and groomed for leadership.

At the age of 8, the Skrell leave the Mi-Gloa and enter the Qlor-Gloa, the Focused Enlightenment, where the different Castes are separated in different paths of teaching. Here again, the lessons are generalist and leave plenty of specialisation to be done later.

When they reach the age of 15, the Skrell choose the path that will determine their future work: They enter the Keri-Gloa, the Ongoing Enlightenment, for it is believed a Skrell never truly stops learning from that point. From there, a Skrell, called a Keri-Glo’i as long as they are in this system, can leave the Keri-Gloa at the age of 18, which means they will be a Qrri-Mog, a low-class worker, taught but not truly enlightened, or at the age of 25, making them a Qerr-Mog, a fully-fledged skrellian mind, expert in their area of work. Only the “Qerr-Mog” can hope to one day become Qerr-Koal, experts of their castes and counselors to their King.
===Castes===
The caste system has been in place for millennia in skrellian society, taking its current form after the founding of the first cities in Qerr’Balak. While the specifics of the system vary from city-state to city-state, the core five castes and their organization are common to almost all Skrell societies. This is reinforced by the significant degree of partial speciation created by millennia of directed breeding, resulting in low fertility rates in cross-caste breeding. It is also further reinforced by the psionic nature of the skrell, as different castes, today, are predisposed towards a certain psionic potential. Due to this, cross-caste breeding can often result in a tadpole who completely lacks any psionic potential, or, very rarely, one who acquires the psionic potential of both of their progenitors.

Five castes exist:
====Qerr-Katish (High Caste)====
Considered as the leaders of skrellkind, the Qerr-Katish are the face and soul of skrellian society. Managers, diplomats, lawyers, they are notably the only caste allowed to fulfil the role of Qerr-Skria, Qrii-Qerria and Qerr-Qerria. Representatives of the skrell, Qerr-Katish are highly social beings, sophisticated and organized. They tend to be rather conservative, although progressive ideas regularly grow within the caste, as a stagnant society is a dying society.
====Malish-Katish (Caste of the Mind)====
If the Qerr-Katish are the face of skrellkind, the Malish-Katish are its brain. Scientists of all sorts, they are the ones who allow skrellian society to grow, be it technologically or ideologically. Highly inquisitive, they are among the more progressive skrell. However they are not very social, and their emphasis on methodical thinking makes them less capable of acting quickly under pressure and handling their feelings in public.
====Kanin-Katish (Caste of the Builder)====
The main workforce of the Skrell. With activities ranging from goods production to services and engineering, they occupy the largest and most diversified sector of skrellian activity. They are a very tightly knit community, both within their families and with their co-workers. Very traditional, they hold rather conservative views on the world, and their pack mentality dampens most individualism. Their families are frequently large, three or four bondings. As such, they are often among the less wealthy skrell, but they do not seem to mind, as their work is the life and blood of skrellian civilization.
====Talum-Katish (Caste of the Artist)====
One would be mistaken to think skrell do not consider the arts much. This important sector of skrellian society is handled by the Talum-Katish: artists, chefs and entertainers. They compete with the Qerr-Katish’s role as representatives of skrellkind, although in a different way. They are in fact frequently on the public scene. The Talum-Katish are the most individualistic members of skrellkind, though they enjoy busy social lives. They are the free-thinkers of skrellian society, often at odds with conservative castes. They tend to reproduce a lot, multiplying their encounters with various partners.
====Raskinta-Katish (Caste of Warriors)====
Rarely seen outside skrellian society, they are the ones who ensure the safety and stability of skrellian civilisation, both against internal and external threats. The military caste of the Skrell, most end up working for the various city-states, either in the police or as career soldiers, although some of them end up working for private security or as entertainment fighters. They are very conservative, deeply committed for their community, caring very little for self-development and personal satisfaction. Their martial training leaves very little time for indulgences, and they are trained to be expert tacticians and possess organisational skills second only to the Qerr-Katish. Uniquely among Raskinta, loss of a headtail is not seen as disfiguring, especially if it was lost in battle.
====Ue-Katish (Casteless)====
While not technically a ‘Caste’ by itself, the Ue-Katish make up an incredibly small but always growing fraction of the total skrellian population. Born to unions of skrell of two different castes or two Ue-Katish, the Ue-Katish typically have no place in the regimented society of the Skrell. Many work in various forms of dangerous, unpleasant, and low-paying labor, and although they are still skrell and individuals with rights, discrimination still ends up being extremely common. Many Ue-Katish try to imitate other castes in an attempt to pass as a Kanin, a Malish or another caste, or leave for a more tolerant life either inside human territory, nomadically, or as pirates. Ue-Katish are often not discriminated against as much in the colonies that are closer to the human border as a result of ‘cultural bleed’ and pure necessity on these less populated worlds, but they are still viewed with mistrust.
===Military===
The Skrell possess a highly diverse military, with different levels of organisation, expertise and various duties dependent upon who it is organised by.

The most common military forces seen operating in the interior of the skrellian territories are the local reserves of each kingdom. Tasked with local defence against internal threats and policing, those forces are known as the Qrii-Morr’Kon, and have a heavy focus on policing and combating smuggling. Different Qrii-Morr’Kons belonging to kingdoms in the same planet or system often cooperate with each other, especially where criminal activity in near-space is concerned. Although trained for general offensives against their enemies, the particularly small numbers of the Qrii-Morr’Kon limit their effectiveness in times of war.

To compensate for this issue, the skrell formed what they call the Skrellian Defence Task Forces, or Qarr-Morr'Kon. SDTFs are independent entities formed by several City-States who pool together resources and manpower for their common safety. Once such a group is formed, they gain some independence from their creators,but they are still formally bound to them as they need the City States as a source of recruitment and financing. Private corporations also have a part to play with the SDTFs, as they often sign contracts with them to sell equipment and ships at preferential prices. For the corporations, it is mostly a way to advertise themselves: The prestige of a partnership with an SDTF, along with the fact that such groups only procure the best equipment generally means a major boost in sales based on the reputation of the SDTF.
===Crime===
As a millennia-old civilisation spanning across thousands of star systems, it would be foolish to think the skrellian territories manage to stay free of criminals and illicit organisations. All across the territories, smuggling rings, extortion rackets, underground science labs engaged in gruesome experiments and organised crime can be found, operating behind the scenes.
==Culture==
''Main article: [[Skrell Culture]]''
===The Arts===
For obvious reasons due to their biology, skrell give a lot of importance to music: It is actually quite rare to meet a Talum-Katish who does not at least possess average singing skills. While it would be impossible to describe their entire musical history, a few major points can be mentioned; First and foremost, skrellian music has abandoned tonal considerations, both in harmony and melody, centuries ago. While the skrellian artists are still looking to produce enjoyable music, they prefer to avoid the restrictions of a codified system, allowing them more freedom in their creations, at the cost of more work to develop proper musical structures. Secondly, rhythm. While it is still very much existent in skrellian music, rhythm too went through a long phase of deconstruction in the musical process. In the last few centuries, the trend has been to subtly (sometimes not-so) shift the rhythm of their music over time, meaning a musical phase that starts as slow can finish very fast. The process is, however, not random. Lastly, voice plays a very large role in their music. Because of the specifics of their written language, Skrell did not develop a printing system until very late in their development, meaning knowledge had to be spread either by handwritten books or orally; in the latter case, songs quickly became the norm to transmit that knowledge. Skrell do have a large array of musical instruments, most electronic, to serve as a support to the vocal lead, but generally, voice stays at the forefront of mainstream skrellian music.
===Fashion===
Despite having a very pragmatic society, Skrell are still concerned about showing good taste and leaving a good impression on others, and this is especially true for Qerr-Katish and Talum-Katish due to the nature of their castes. Their fashion is mostly composed, today, of different fungal silks and fabrics, along with jewelry and bioluminescent mushroom patches sewn into their clothing.

Skrell often have very varied clothing styles when they are not at work. Against the common misconception of some, Raskinta can (and often will) dress casually when they are not at work. Similarly, Kanin will not spend their entire days in their trusty but often not very comfortable overalls. Skrell know what clothes to use and when.
===Family===
The Skrell are non-monogamous, preferring a large panel of sexual partners for the purpose of reproduction. As such, the notion of human monogamy is alien to them, although some skrellian border colonies have seen more radical skrell toying with the concept. Despite this, skrell need and enjoy a family structure, leading to another form of union, that the Skrell call Bonding. Instead of forming a constant familial structure to which offspring will automatically be attached, skrell make a punctual Bonding when a couple produces a shoal to attach the children to this couple, and only this couple, making them, in effect, a family. This allows legal and social recognition of the progeny by both parents while letting them explore other reproductive opportunities.

The parents rarely stay together after a Bonding, one being designated as the Qarr-Maqa, the main parent, responsible for the children, while the other becomes the Qrri-Maqa, who has more of a support role, financially and materially supporting the Qarr-Maqa

With such a focus on pragmatism and widespread reproductive partners it would be easy to assume that skrell do not form long term intimate relationships. This is, of course, incorrect, and skrell are very much capable of feeling love for another on the level of a life partner; there is simply no sexual attraction to this particular relationship.

Typically, skrell do not engage in the production of offspring with those from castes other than their own. When this does happen (which is exceptionally rare) the offspring take the label of Ue-Katish.

For the skrell, gender is an entirely foreign concept, and one they often struggle with understanding when in human space. Biologically, sex itself is fluid for them, as they shift between male and female as needed.
===Religion===
As a civilisation with a long history and a large and diverse population, it would be surprising if the skrell did not develop, at some point, some form of religious thought. Science being such a tenet of skrellian society, however, skrellian religions are generally focused on the metaphysical study of the universe rather than the mythological aspect of religion. As a result, most skrell hold particularly agnostic views, believing that the existence or the lack of an all-powerful being could not be proved, while most religious skrell hold a monist view of the universe, with their beliefs often being akin to one form or another of pantheism.
==Relations with other Species==
{{Wipnote|Pending Other Lore}}
==Credit==
Partially written by Warbidon, Limette, Memed Hams and Kaksisilma. Based on work by Eckles, Skeeveo and Polaris/Baystation 12/Aurora users Searif, Sweedle, Phosphorus, Memescope McGee, Paradoxon, Elgeonmb, FtangSteve, ParadoxSpace, and any other people who, over the years, contributed to the above.

User:Limette/Sandbox

2021-09-08T16:45:12Z

Limette: Created page with "<div style="float:left; padding:10px">__TOC__</div> <div style="float:right; padding:10px; padding-right:0px">{{SpeciesBox |name = Skrell |image = Skrell_med_64px.png |playab..."

<div style="float:left; padding:10px">__TOC__</div>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px; padding-right:0px">{{SpeciesBox
|name = Skrell
|image = Skrell_med_64px.png

|playable = Yes
|antag_only = No
|combatant1 = Earth
----
|height = 5'5" to 6'3"
|weight = 75lbs to 180lbs
|other_phys_label =
|other_phys_data =

|home_system = Qerr'valis
|home_planet = [[Qerrbalak|Qerr'Balak]]
}}[[File:Flag.png|thumb|The Qerr'Kal'ol Oligarchy Flag]]</div>
The '''Skrell''' are a species of highly logical amphibious humanoids hailing from the now broken world of Qerr’balak: Before, a hot, humid planet with numerous swamps and jungle, and now, a sad testament to a bygone era of turmoil and desperation.

More technologically advanced than humanity, Skrell place great importance on tradition, honor and, above all, knowledge, attempting a more methodical approach to most issues they face.

If you are new to playing Skrell, or wish to understand them better, do make sure to check out the [[Skrell Guide|Roleplay Guide]]
==History==
''Main article: [[Skrell History]]''

The Skrell trace their origins to the system of ‘Qerr’Vallis’, which translates to ‘Star of the Royals’ in their language. ‘Qerr’Balak’, their homeworld, was a place of vast marsh-plains, shallow sea-oceans teeming with life, and vegetated mangrove swamps containing massive predatory lifeforms. Slightly larger and denser than Earth, it possessed a high relative temperature and increased surface pressure, conditions modern skrell find quite comfortable. The Skrell count themselves among the Galaxy’s ancient peoples, a role they now share only with their ancient enemy, the Ascent. Predisposed both to curiosity and rationality, they possess a cultural and scientific fascination with other civilizations, and a deep-seated protectiveness of their own traditions and culture. The skrellian identity and mindset strongly supports the value of groups over the individual, and is deeply concerned with matters of stability and order, often to the detriment of forward progress.
===Origins===
{{Wipnote|Pending. Requires a complete rework of the origins section. We will tackle this one later as it will be time-intensive}}
===Kali’r War===
The last true war fought by Skrell kind, the Kali’r war was a prolonged conflict against the Ascent following an incursion by a mantid automated strip-mining fleet in the system of Kali’ruuk. This prompted a counter-offensive by the Skrell, followed by the destruction of a mantid hive, and then an Ascent counter-offensive which resulted in the partial annihilation of their species and the loss of Qerr’Balak, which, even today, continues uninhabitable.

Lasting over seven hundred years, losses were incredibly high on both sides. It was only on the last two-hundred years of war that the Skrell managed to start recapturing their territory, and five hundred years more for the reconstruction of their infrastructure and before their population reached the same heights. Skrell historians tend to agree that the start of the informal cease-fire and the end of the war was achieved after the system of Kali’ruuk was taken back, in 1012 CE.

Even today, the Kali’r war is widely remembered with empire-wide holidays such as the Xiq’Mak-pli’a, where the Skrell mourn the lives lost during the conflict, and remember the horrors that such a large-scale conflict encompasses in this solemn occasion.
===Epsilon Directorate===
One of the newer ‘Factions’ of skrellkind, the Epsilon Directorate is considered a safe-haven for Ue-Katish, with it’s ‘hub’ far away from skrell territory, in the system of Gi’krall-Xix, a meager 15 LY from Fomalhaut, and another 25 LY away from Sol.

The existence of the Epsilon Directorate has many negative and positive implications for Skrell, who often refuse to acknowledge its existence as much as possible. Founded under the principles of a less bureaucratically-burdened research method, the original Malish-founded Directorate was eventually the target of an empire-wide embargo by their kin due to the dangerous, sometimes unethical research processes carried by them.

This forced the Epsilon Directorate to associate itself with Ue-Katish and Ue-Katish Pirate elements, along with the Qerr’Glia in order to trade for much-needed resources. The discovery of humanity has certainly helped the Directorate, as they now have a new trade partner to satisfy their need for manufactured goods, ship hulls and so on, allowing them to finally begin expanding their industry.
==Biology==
''Main article: [[Skrell Biology]]''

As a species of amphibian humanoids, the Skrell share certain similarities with Humans. They are, however, vastly different due to the intricacies of the environment they evolved into, which was not the same as Humanity.
===Anatomy===
Skrell are amphibian humanoids with average heights ranging from 5’6 to 6’4. Males are almost always shorter than females and occupy the lower ends of the height spectrum. Skrell have webbed hands which allow them to swim faster, and their respiratory system is a complex combination of vestigial cutaneous breathing, lungs, and gills placed at the back of the neck and protected by headtails.

Their blood is a light blue colour and carries hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. Life expectancy ranges around 200 years on average. Skrell hatch from eggs as tadpoles and assume their ‘adult’ shape one year after hatching. Their tail only fully disappears after they are thirteen years old, and they continue to grow and mature until they are fully developed at twenty years old. Fifty skrell are generally birthed at the same time, but it is rare that more than five survive to infancy, due to the fragility of a tadpole’s immune system, among other factors.

A Skrell’s skin can have many different colors. They are also able to breathe through it (A vestigial trait from their tadpole state), which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Due to that, Skrell always take care to keep their skin moisturized and healthy. Skrell do not take tattoos like humans do, but may sometimes use temporary, bio-compatible paints to certain events, in order to show good-taste.
===Diet===
The Skrell are vegetarian, as indicated by their large, molar-like teeth. Not only are they unable to absorb animal protein, but doing so is likely to get them sick and nauseous, with food poisoning being possible if meat is ingested in too large quantities. Skrellian traditional foods are heavily based on the fungi-like organisms found on Qerr'balak, with prepared food being the average meal for the common populace.

Despite an extremely low resistance to alcohol, Skrell have otherwise developed a high tolerance to a large amount of chemical substances, a result of their homeworld's flora being generally poisonous as a defence mechanism. Consequently, skrellian food, and many of their medicines and herbal remedies are generally too harmful for human consumption.
===Psionics===
Skrell, with the exception of some Ue-Katish, posses the ability to interact with an exotic field of mechanical influence, akin to gravity, inertia, or electrical magnetism, known as ‘Psi’ by humanity or as ‘Investiture’ by the Skrell. Although a relatively poorly-understood phenomena even for Skrell, it is still widely used in their civilization and incredibly common-place. As skrell grow up, they are able to ‘shape’ their PSI which will grant them different abilities as they age. The general type of their abilities is also based on their caste. Malish are able to extract information from their surroundings, Kanin are able to interact with their surroundings with different degrees of strength and precision, Talum are able to imbue feelings and emotions into the mind of others and into mundane objects, and so on.
==Society==
''Main article: [[Skrell Society]]''

Skrell are incredibly communal on the whole, especially in comparison to humanity. This greatly contrasts with the way they handle things such as politics. Throughout time, they have been called a meritocracy, a monarchy, an empire and so on by human historians, and the truth is a little bit more complicated than that.
===Politics===
It is true that modern skrellian society is built around concepts similar to those of constitutional monarchies, oligarchies or of aristocracies, but there are quite a few noticeable differences. Skrell do not view ‘nobility’ the same way humans do, and, although they do have kings, high-kings and an emperor figure with absolute powers, they serve as representatives and tie-breakers more than anything. The Qarr-Skria, who is the image of the entire skrell civilization, for example, exists to represent their species and guide the debate of the Qerr-Qerria assembly, as well as acting as a tie-breaker when necessary rather than ruling over their species with an iron fist and machiavellian policies.

Qerr-Katish lack the individualistic modus-operandi of ‘Staying in power at all costs’. They will allow their heir to take over the moment they notice they are not able to rule properly anymore, even with the help of the Qerr’Koal, who are advisors of each caste to the King.

It is important to remember that skrellian city-states are all very different from one-another, and although they always have one single representative, which is given the title of Qrii-Skria, or ‘king’, the way a city-state handles its laws and policies is always in change.
===Economy===
The Skrell empire has a very diverse economy. Different city-states specialize in producing different products which they often export to other city-states.

Currency is, notably, the same on the entirety of the empire. Bills are printed with expiration dates due to the fading bioluminescence of the mushroom used, which incentivizes the spending of the money. A number of security measures are also used which precludes the production of bills by individual skrell, but that goes without saying.

If a Skrell wishes to preserve money for future projects, or simply for financial safety, their only recourse is to loan that money, without interest, to the City-State, for a set duration decided at the start of the loan. When the government gives back the money, the bills are freshly printed for a new 2-year long period of use.
===Language===
The common Skrell language — commonly known as skrellian — can be best described as a series of hums, warbles, and croaks; while it would not make sense to other species, the Skrells intricacies of communication can display a wide variety of emotion and meaning that many human languages cannot.

With other languages, such as Zurich Accord Common, Skrell take on the accent of the person who taught them the language.

Talum often consider their language to be an art in itself, and the sentiment is often shared by the other castes, especially where relations with other species are concerned. There are a number of variations on the ‘skrellian’ dialect and different accents and emotion tones exist depending on the region of the empire where it is being spoken, with one of those being the so-called Ue-Katish Pidgin, a shock-language used by Ue-Katish pirates filled with slurs and anti-honorifics in skrellian.
===Education===
Skrellian education is the basis of skrellian society and viewed as an investment by Skrell. Tadpoles are educated by their parents and interactions with the other Tadpoles of their Bonding. When a Skrell enters their “adult” shape, they first enter the first level of academic life, called by the Skrell the Mi-Gloa, or Early Enlightenment. At this point, they learn basic logic, elementary sciences such as mathematics and low-level physics, and skrellian history. All the Castes share the same lessons, except for the Qerr-Katish, who are taught apart from the rest of society and groomed for leadership.

At the age of 8, the Skrell leave the Mi-Gloa and enter the Qlor-Gloa, the Focused Enlightenment, where the different Castes are separated in different paths of teaching. Here again, the lessons are generalist and leave plenty of specialisation to be done later.

When they reach the age of 15, the Skrell choose the path that will determine their future work: They enter the Keri-Gloa, the Ongoing Enlightenment, for it is believed a Skrell never truly stops learning from that point. From there, a Skrell, called a Keri-Glo’i as long as they are in this system, can leave the Keri-Gloa at the age of 18, which means they will be a Qrri-Mog, a low-class worker, taught but not truly enlightened, or at the age of 25, making them a Qerr-Mog, a fully-fledged skrellian mind, expert in their area of work. Only the “Qerr-Mog” can hope to one day become Qerr-Koal, experts of their castes and counsellors to their King.
===Castes===
The caste system has been in place for millennia in skrellian society, taking its current form after the founding of the first cities in Qerr’Balak. While the specifics of the system vary from city-state to city-state, the core five castes and their organization are common to almost all Skrell societies. This is reinforced by the significant degree of partial speciation created by millennia of directed breeding, resulting in low fertility rates in cross-caste breeding. It is also further reinforced by the psionic nature of the skrell, as different castes, today, are predisposed towards a certain psionic potential. Due to this, cross-caste breeding can often result in a tadpole who completely lacks any psionic potential, or, very rarely, one who acquires the psionic potential of both of their progenitors.

Five castes exist:
====Qerr-Katish (High Caste)====
Considered as the leaders of Skrellkind, the Qerr-Katish are the face and soul of skrellian society. Managers, diplomats, lawyers, they are notably the only caste allowed to fulfil the role of Qerr-Skria, Qrii-Qerria and Qerr-Qerria. Representatives of the Skrell,Qerr-Katish are highly social beings, sophisticated,and organized. They tend to be rather conservative, although progressive ideas regularly grow within the caste, as a stagnant society is a dying society.
====Malish-Katish (Caste of the Mind)====
If the Qerr-Katish are the face of Skrellkind, the Malish-Katish are its brain. Scientists of all sorts, they are the ones who allow skrellian society to grow, be it technologically or ideologically. Highly inquisitive, they are among the more progressive Skrell. However they are not very social, and their emphasis on methodical thinking makes them less capable of acting quickly under pressure and handling their feelings in public.
====Kanin-Katish (Caste of the Builder)====
The main workforce of the Skrell. With activities ranging from goods production to services and engineering, they occupy the largest and most diversified sector of skrellian activity. They are a very tightly knit community, both within their families and with their co-workers. Very traditional, they hold rather conservative views on the world, and their pack mentality dampens most individualism. Their families are frequently large, three or four bondings. As such, they are often among the less wealthy Skrell, but they do not seem to mind, as their work is the life and blood of skrellian civilization.
====Talum-Katish (Caste of the Artist)====
One would be mistaken to think Skrell do not consider the arts much. This important sector of skrellian society is handled by the Talum-Katish: artists, chefs and entertainers. They compete with the Qerr-Katish’s role as representatives of skrellkind, although in a different way. They are in fact frequently on the public scene. The Talum-Katish are the most individualistic members of skrellkind, though they enjoy busy social lives. They are the free-thinkers of skrellian society, often at odds with conservative castes. They tend to reproduce a lot, multiplying their encounters with various partners.
====Raskinta-Katish (Caste of Warriors)====
Rarely seen outside skrellian society, they are the ones who ensure the safety and stability of skrellian civilisation, both against internal and external threats. The military caste of the Skrell, most end up working for the various city-states, either in the police or as career soldiers, although some of them end up working for private security or as entertainment fighters. They are very conservative, deeply committed for their community, caring very little for self-development and personal satisfaction. Their martial training leaves very little time for indulgences, and they are trained to be expert tacticians and possess organisational skills second only to the Qerr-Katish. Uniquely among Raskinta, loss of a headtail is not seen as disfiguring, especially if it was lost in battle.
====Ue-Katish (Casteless)====
While not technically a ‘Caste’ by itself, the Ue-Katish make up an incredibly small but always growing fraction of the total skrellian population. Born to unions of Skrell of two different castes or two Ue-Katish, the Ue-Katish typically have no place in the regimented society of the Skrell. Many work in various forms of dangerous, unpleasant, and low-paying labor, and although they are still Skrell and individuals with rights, discrimination still ends up being extremely common. Many Ue-Katish try to imitate other castes in an attempt to pass as a Kanin, a Malish or another caste, or leave for a more tolerant life either inside human territory, nomadically, or as pirates. Ue-Katish are often not discriminated against as much in the colonies that are closer to the human border as a result of ‘cultural bleed’, but they are still viewed with mistrust.
===Military===
The Skrell possess a highly diverse military, with different levels of organisation, expertise and various duties dependent upon who it is organised by.

The most common military forces seen operating in the interior of the skrellian territories are the local reserves of each kingdom. Tasked with local defence against internal threats and policing, those forces are known as the Qrii-Morr’Kon, and have a heavy focus on policing and combating smuggling. Different Qrii-Morr’Kons belonging to kingdoms in the same planet or system often cooperate with each other, especially where criminal activity in near-space is concerned. Although trained for general offensives against their enemies, the particularly small numbers of the Qrii-Morr’Kon limit their effectiveness in times of war.

To compensate for this issue, the Skrell formed what they call the skrellian Defence Task Forces, or Qarr-Morr'Kon. SDTFs are independent entities formed by several City-States who pool together resources and manpower for their common safety. Once such a group is formed, they gain some independence from their creators,but they are still formally bound to them as they need the City States as a source of recruitment and financing. Private corporations also have a part to play with the SDTFs, as they often sign contracts with them to sell equipment and ships at preferential prices. For the corporations, it is mostly a way to advertise themselves: The prestige of a partnership with an SDTF, along with the fact that such groups only procure the best equipment generally means a major boost in sales based on the reputation of the SDTF.
===Crime===
As a millennia-old civilisation spanning across thousands of star systems, it would be foolish to think the skrellian territories manage to stay free of criminals and illicit organisations. All across the territories, smuggling rings, extortion rackets, underground science labs engaged in gruesome experiments and organised crime can be found, operating behind the scenes.
==Culture==
''Main article: [[Skrell Culture]]''
===The Arts===
For obvious reasons due to their biology, Skrell give a lot of importance to music: It is actually quite rare to meet a Talum-Katish who does not at least possess average singing skills. While it would be impossible to describe their entire musical history, a few major points can be mentioned; First and foremost, skrellian music has abandoned tonal considerations, both in harmony and melody, centuries ago. While the skrellian artists are still looking to produce enjoyable music, they prefer to avoid the restrictions of a codified system, allowing them more freedom in their creations, at the cost of more work to develop proper musical structures. Secondly, rhythm. While it is still very much existent in skrellian music, rhythm too went through a long phase of deconstruction in the musical process. In the last few centuries, the trend has been to subtly (sometimes not-so) shift the rhythm of their music over time, meaning a musical phase that starts as slow can finish very fast. The process is, however, not random. Lastly, voice plays a very large role in their music. Because of the specifics of their written language, Skrell did not develop a printing system until very late in their development, meaning knowledge had to be spread either by handwritten books or orally; in the latter case, songs quickly became the norm to transmit that knowledge. Skrell do have a large array of musical instruments, most electronic, to serve as a support to the vocal lead, but generally, voice stays at the forefront of mainstream skrellian music.
===Fashion===
Despite having a very pragmatic society, Skrell are still concerned about showing good taste and leaving a good impression on others, and this is especially true for Qerr-Katish and Talum-Katish due to the nature of their castes. Their fashion is mostly composed, today, of different fungal silks and fabrics, along with jewelry and bioluminescent mushroom patches sewn into their clothing.

Skrell often have very varied clothing styles when they are not at work. Against the common misconception of some, Raskinta can (and often will) dress casually when they are not at work. Similarly, Kanin will not spend their entire days in their trusty but often not very comfortable overalls. Skrell know what clothes to use and when.
===Family===
The Skrell are non-monogamous, preferring a large panel of sexual partners for the purpose of reproduction. As such, the notion of human monogamy is alien to them, although some skrellian border colonies have seen more radical skrell toying with the concept. Despite this, Skrell need and enjoy a family structure, leading to another form of union, that the Skrell call Bonding. Instead of forming a constant familial structure to which offspring will automatically be attached, Skrell make a punctual Bonding when a couple produces a shoal to attach the children to this couple, and only this couple, making them, in effect, a family. This allows legal and social recognition of the progeny by both parents while letting them explore other reproductive opportunities.

The parents rarely stay together after a Bonding, one being designated as the Qarr-Maqa, the main parent, responsible for the children, while the other becomes the Qrri-Maqa, who has more of a support role, financially and materially supporting the Qarr-Maqa

With such a focus on pragmatism and widespread reproductive partners it would be easy to assume that Skrell do not form long term intimate relationships. This is, of course, incorrect, and Skrell are very much capable of feeling love for another on the level of a life partner; there is simply no sexual attraction to this particular relationship.

Typically, Skrell do not engage in the production of offspring with those from castes other than their own. When this does happen (which is exceptionally rare) the offspring take the label of Ue-Katish.

For the Skrell, gender has no significance outside of reproduction. Skrell stopped having gender-specific roles before humans invented the wheel. Sex itself is just as fluid as a concept, with Skrell shifting sex as needed for the purpose of reproduction.
===Religion===
As a civilisation with a long history and a large and diverse population, it would be surprising if the Skrell did not develop, at some point, some form of religious thought. Science being such a tenet of skrellian society, however, skrellian religions are generally focused on the metaphysical study of the universe rather than the mythological aspect of religion. As a result, most Skrell hold particularly agnostic views, believing that the existence or the lack of an all-powerful being could not be proved, while most religious Skrell hold a monist view of the universe, with their beliefs often being akin to one form or another of pantheism.
==Relations with other Species==
{{Wipnote|Pending Other Lore}}
==Credit==
Partially written by Warbidon, Limette, Memed Hams and Kaksisilma. Based on work by Eckles, Skeeveo and Polaris/Baystation 12/Aurora users Pybot, Searif, Sweedle, Phosphorus, Memescope McGee, Paradoxon, Elgeonmb, FtangSteve, ParadoxSpace, and any other people who, over the years, contributed to the above.

Skrell Biology

2021-09-02T17:23:41Z

Limette:

== Anatomy ==
[[Skrell]] are humanoids with an average height ranging from 170 to 190 centimeters tall, Their feet and hands are webbed to support locomotion in water. Their respiratory system is a complex combination of vestigial cutaneous breathing, lungs, and gills placed at the back of the neck and protected by headtails. Their bones are made of cartilage, and as a result, far more flexible than human ones, making them less likely to break under shock but also weaker. Their blood is a light blue colour and carries hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. Life expectancy ranges around 200 years on average.

The skrellian life cycle starts as a tadpole, hatching from eggs after the female’s eggs are fertilized by the male. During the next six to nine months, said tadpole will grow and develop its adult limbs, along with gills and headtails during the later stages of development. During this phase, the skrell is forced to live underwater, and is very vulnerable: illness, environmental changes, and even the most minor wound will brutally disturb the tadpoles growth. Out of the fifty spawn generally birthed at the same time, it is rare that more than five of them survive to infancy. The transition to their next stage of growth is progressive. The skrell is around 30 centimetres long at this point and doubles in size over the next month. Underwater, the gills start functioning to compensate for a now insufficient cutaneous respiration system, and their now-developed lungs allow them to take their first steps on land. Once past the tadpole stage, skrell growth steadily plateaus. The tail only disappears fully after they are twelve years old, and Skrell reach proper adulthood after twenty years, with no further radical change to their physiology.

A skrell’s skin can have a large variety of colours, ranging from dark blues and vivid reds to bright greens and jet black, with shades of various shapes across the body. It is slightly translucent in areas, especially the headtails, and exudes a thin layer of slime making the skrell appear somewhat gelatinous at first sight. As a vestigial trait from defense mechanisms of primitive skrell, their slime has minor hallucinogenic properties. This slime has the added benefit of protecting the sensitive skin of a skrell, preventing minor injury and irritation from chemical and gaseous substances out of the water. However, this skin can still become itchy and even crack in dryer atmospheres, leading to many skrell on human vessels self-moisturizing by pouring water on themselves, taking regular showers, or swimming in available pools. Despite being insufficient to fully supply the skrell in oxygen, their skin still retains its respiration capabilities: should one of the lungs fail, the skrell can normally function, albeit with some difficulty. While they are used to heavy pressures like on their homeworld, the fragile organ that is their skin makes them extremely vulnerable to lower ones; in tolerable amounts, it will only lead to large hematomas while lower pressures will inevitably lead to external and internal haemorrhages and air embolism, causing far more damage faster than a human would suffer. It also allows chemicals to travel easily through the skin, making Skrell somewhat vulnerable to cutaneous contact with chemicals; many drugs developed in skrellian culture are used this way. The skrell's sense of touch is overall more sensitive than a humans, but also more crude, lacking in detail. A common misconception held by humans is that a skrell's skin can scar. This is, in fact, incorrect, as they breathe through it. Skrell will simply re-generate their skin instead when necessary.

Skrellian heads are comparatively simpler than human ones. In place of a nose are simple slits, lips are almost nonexistent and while it has as many facial muscles, most of them are located in the lower area, significantly decreasing the skrell’s ability for facial expressions. Skrellian ears also lack an auricle, its function being taken over by a complex inner canal. Their eyes are far larger than human's, generally occupying half their face and entirely black when observed from the outside: Their size and their position, being further apart than on human faces, gives the skrell a broader field of view. They also allow the skrell to see better underwater and in the dark, although they are very sensitive to bright lights and fast changes in luminosity. Skrell see colours more vividly, with blue being a predominant one and ultraviolets being partially visible. In addition to the eyelids, the eyes are also protected by a nictitating membrane, most often seen when the skrell is underwater. Skrellian hearing is, in most regards, far superior to humans. Their hearing range is close to a dog's, and while they have more difficulties identifying the location of a sound, they do not suffer from a decrease in ability under water. While their sense of taste is very delicate, allowing them to detect potential dangerous substances in their food, their sense of smell is underdeveloped, both lacking in sensitivity and scent distinction. Their vocal cords, accompanied by internal vocal sacs, give them a very large range of pitch, the upper levels being inaudible to humans.

The aforementioned headtails vary in size, based on caste. A thinner skin allows the veins to be seen, much like hands. Their biological purpose is to protect the gills from external aggression, such as dust and microbes when outside of water. The sterile, dark and humid area quickly led skrell to store their fertilised eggs between the neck and the headtails, the slime preventing them from falling off except in case of violent movements. Later in their history, skrell started decorating their headtails with jewellery and various decorations, despite this practice sometimes leading to infections near the gills.

These headtails are mostly composed of fatty and muscular tissue, with many nerve-endings which make them somewhat sensitive parts. This muscle control does not include fine control, though one can generally raise, position, and often wiggle their tentacles. These are also used for emotional displays and gesturing, albeit not frequently.

The skrell's physical appearance leads to the more xenophobic elements in human societies calling them frogs, salamanders, squidheads, and other less pleasing names, although the Skrell pay little attention to these remarks born of ignorance and false assumptions.
== Diet ==
The skrell are vegetarian, as indicated by their large, molar-like teeth. Not only are they unable to absorb animal protein, but doing so is likely to get them sick and nauseous, with food poisoning being possible if meat is ingested in too large quantities. Skrellian traditional foods are heavily based on the fungi-like organisms found on Qerr'balak, with prepared food being the average meal for the common populace.

Despite an extremely low resistance to alcohol, skrell have otherwise developed a high tolerance to a large amount of chemical substances, a result of their homeworld's flora being generally poisonous as a defence mechanism. Consequently, skrellian food, and many of their medicines and herbal remedies are generally too harmful for human consumption.
== Psionics ==
Those known as "psionics", "psions", or "mentalists" possess the ability to interact with an exotic field of mechanical influence, akin to gravity, inertia, or electrical magnetism. This field, known primarily as "Investiture" by skrell, appears to possess poorly-understood interactions with the other primary mechanisms of the universe, and is rendered torpid in the presence of living entities or complex mechanical systems, creating gravity-like wells of accumulation and competing influence throughout space, both individually and in the case of larger collections of machines or organisms.

The ability to perceive this field, and thus basic awareness of it, is fairly common throughout the universe- some simple lifeforms have been observed producing crude organelles that use field density to detect prey or flee from far-away predators, and it has long been theorized that the secondary "Navigation brain" of Stellae Xenocarpio uses the field as a geolocational tool with which to navigate three-dimensional space in a vacuum.

For reasons unknown even to the most experienced and well-studied skrellian Physicians, Biologists, Historians and Paleontologists, Skrell are able to both perceive and interact with this exotic field through their mind, to varying degrees of control and usefulness which depends both on the individual in question and on their caste, while also allowing them to sense those who share a degree of control with this field and those who do not.

Despite their advanced technologies, psionics are still an not entirely understood phenomena even for skrell. In spite of this, research and development laboratories all over the skrellian territory work tirelessly to develop new technologies which incorporate psionic potential into technology, with Kale’Kale Manufactures making some of the most important breakthroughs recently. Although mostly crude and unrefined, psionic-based technology sees an increasing presence in the core skrellian territories, and some speculate as to a possible new industrial revolution by merging their current manufacturing systems with psionic technology.

Skrell Roleplay Guide

2021-09-01T20:35:43Z

Limette:

The '''Skrell''' are a species of amphibious humanoids hailing from the world of [[Qerrbalak]], a hot, humid planet with numerous swamps and jungles. More technologically advanced than [[human|humanity,]] their ancient society is now stagnant and threatened by the fast growth of their new allies.

The following is a bullet pointed roleplay word soup to help you understand Skrell, how they are, how they act, and so on. It is not exhaustive. Skrell are diverse and complex people.
==Tips and bits, and how not to behave like Human +==
*In a human environment, Skrell may sometimes avoid making use of their psionic abilities due to laws or simply because it may be shocking and offensive to other aliens. Similarly, they do not have a desire to 'show off'. They understand that they are gifted and that this is not a reason to dick-wave other species.

*Skrell value society over the individual as a whole, especially when it comes to the progress of the sciences and work. They do, however, value individuality of the person on a creative and personal level, especially where more recreational and hobbyist pursuits are concerned. This can be to a lesser or negligent degree with some castes (Kanin and Raskinta.)

*Skrell politics is dissimilar to human politics. There are not true "activist" Skrell because Skrell tend to accept that by their caste based system each drifts toward that at which they are competent. There is little drive for mass change in the general population as a result. However, there is constant debate, legislation being put forward and change and politics at the academy level, the true home of a city-state's political machine. While the monarch may rule, the academy is often where the law of the land comes forth, and the scientist-politicians engage in endless debate, political machinations, and the occasional assassination to keep their city-state on the cutting edge of power and prominence. This does not mean that the monarch (The Qerr-Skria) and the academy are separate, however, and is quite the opposite, as it is important to remember that the Qerr-Skria is the ultimate authority of the city-state, and embodies the executive, administrative, judicial powers of state. They hold great sway and influence over the academy, with its director typically serving on the monarch's Qerr-Koal.

* Skrell are, contrary to belief, highly emotional. They feel their emotions much more deeply and much more keenly than humans, and how they express that is the main differing factor between Humans and Skrell. For humans, the expression of emotion utilises facial expressions as much as other body language. Skrell, having rather bland faces in comparison with fewer muscles or other attributes for expression, do not. This can result in a Skrell seemingly just staring when they are, infact, expressing emotion. Skrell express emotion through body language and the spoken word. Whereas humans may go quiet when highly emotional, Skrell talk. They explain their emotions, how they feel, and their body language supports that. With humans, however, they acknowledge that attempting to explain their emotions during conversation is not typically useful, or necessarily even worth the time, as attempting to convey those feelings through alien languages can seem pointless. Thus, Skrell dealing with humans will instead mostly express emotion with body language.

* Apart from body language Skrell also use a variety of vocal or other audible cues of various pitches that indicate how they're feeling. Pitch and timbre modify the meaning of each sound, as in their language in general. Warbling is essentially the catch-all, all-purpose noise that Skrell make; it can fit nearly any indication depending on tone. Trilling will usually represent sadness or happiness in lower and higher pitches respectively, whilst croaking would be curiosity or anger. A Skrell might hum when bored, eager, or otherwise searching for something to do. More sounds exist, such as cooing, but are not as strictly defined in meaning.

*Skrell are able to learn how to express themselves with emotion on human languages, as well as how to use body-language more intensively. This obviously requires years of practice and fluency, and they might still lack a certain 'Je ne sais quoi' that humans have. Similarly, Skrell can attempt to mimic smiles and other facial expressions, but they will look incredibly eerie and odd due to the different muscle distribution in their face.

*Skrell society has long achieved a good social safety net and general equality of opportunity (within what is acceptable for a caste, of course). All Skrell get basic living and habitation provided to them (Somewhat above average by human standards), though this can vary from caste to caste, with the Qerr-Katish having relatively good facilities from the get-go to Raskinta instead living in communal barracks with only those more aged, senior and less-militarily involved Raskinta living in more private quarters.

*While Skrell tend to retain the basic systems across worlds and city-states (Monarchy political system, castes, etc) the individual culture and minutia of the way of doing things tends to vary drastically from one city-state to the next.

*Skrell do not get tattoos. This is because their Skin is a sensitive organ and still retains a tertiary respiration trait allowing Skrell to "breathe" through their skin. Thus, Skrell are very protective of their skin as it can be easily damaged when dry and a Skrell can have immediate issues in air with generally toxic properties as their rate of absorption is much higher than it would be for a human. On the flip side, many Skrell medicines are developed to be ingested via their skins cutaneous breathing function, with what appear to be simple poultices having excellent healing potential on a Skrell. Skrell take care of their skin, is the point. Furthermore, Skrell do not scar - why would a creature that breathes through their skin evolve to scar?

*Many Skrell do not work directly for human corporations. They are "on loan" to them via exchange programs with Skrell companies and organisations, lending their skills, expertise and experience in exchange for valuable trade or connections between organisations while giving the individual Skrell the opportunity to experience alien culture and also acquire human currency.

*The Skrell justice system is different to humanities myriad of ones. The judiciary is not independent, and is woven into the monarchy and law enforcement arm of a city-state. Guilt is established before the trial by the investigating Raskinta. There is no way to protest guilt once at the trial stage. The trial instead exists to determine how to proceed with the offender. In some cases, due process is skipped entirely and a Qrii-Skria may simply have someone assassinated.

*Skrell do not use whacky things like supermatter, and instead rely on highly advanced super-efficient fusion reactors, solar panels, and so on.

*Skrell FTL technology relies on advaced psionic-fed drives that convert influence over the 'Investiture' to motion.

*Contrary to belief, not all Skrell are allied, or even friendly, with humanity, with some being warily distant to others being subtly,but not directly, hostile. This lack of cohesive friendliness from the Skrell is often lost on humanity, who do not tend to realise just how decentralised they are.

*Skrell typically do not take offence to insults given to them by humans. Baseline insults or insults relating to physical appearance are typically ignored. There are of course, notable exceptions. Skrell tend to be more offended when their skill in a particular discipline is insulted in a non-constructive manner, related to their chosen career. A Raskinta who is called a poor team player or combatant, a Qerr whose diplomatic skills are called into question, a Malish whose scientific method is criticised, and so on.

*Skrell do not have the same insults as humans, and do not say "fuck" in skrellian, for example. They tend to be a bit more creative, with their insults being something uniquely crafted for the situation or a more generic utterance of "stars above," rooted in Vallis Qall. Other expletives are often drawn from belief systems. The exception to this are Ue-Katish Pirates, who often seek to insult through shock value.
==The Castes==
===Qerr Katish===
*The Qerr Katish are generally a little more aloof then the rest of the Skrell, partly a result of job function, partly as a result of upbringing. Qerr are typically taught and raised very separately from the other castes, which may school together up to a certain point, or even share multiple classes depending on their education.

*Qerr value social ability and diplomacy above most other things, and tend to be more graceful and careful with their words.

*They can take a paternalistic view toward other Skrell, especially those of the same city state.
===Malish Katish===
*Malsih tend to be the least socially adept of the castes, though this is typically a result of their focus on higher theoretical learning to such a point that other skills suffer.

*Perhaps more than other castes, and often to their own detriment, Malish Katish enjoy complexity and problem solving and tend to bore easily when they do not have something to focus on solving.
===Kanin Katish===
*Kanin tend to be practically minded people with a focus on pragmatism above strict adherence to procedure, though this usually translates to them being more willing to sacrifice personal health and safety in order to get a job done rather than a willingness to compromise on mechanical safety in order to gain efficiency. That is, while you will see a Kanin go out of their way to skip a number of personal safety measures in order to handle something in an efficient manner, you will not see them push a reactor to nearly explode just to squeeze extra power out of it.

*Family people, above all else, is a good way to view Kanin. They have large families, are community minded and generally care deeply about the concerns and wellbeing of their peers.
===Talum Katish===
*Independently minded in the extreme, especially compared to the other castes. Talum like to get the most out of life. They are free thinkers, travellers, artists, musicians. Some Talum even take a bardic approach to life, traveling, performing, writing, learning. For a Talum, whatever they decide to do is an art. A performance to be put on display for others, or a personal challenge within which they must excel. They tend to be less inhibited by the pressures of social norms and go on progressive ventures.
===Raskinta Katish===
*Close knit and communal, Raskinta are always about the whole over the individual. They barrack together, eat together, train together, work together, socialise and sport together. There is no facet of a Raskinta's life that can be considered wholly individual, especially when young. Older Raskinta tend to be more independent, though this is often a result of the burden of command or the necessary distance between them and subordinates, though they still participate in much of the communal activity that the others do. Raskinta are trained from their youth to be a warrior.