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Aliens: Jherani
This race is one of the few pre-NoSaNoOs civilisations which didn't change significantly by being brought under NoSaNoOs rule. their world was, in fact, the host for the `conference' of beings who devised and built the Coordinator which later became NAPAI. The Jherani were an old civilisation even then and had accepted the idea of genetic engineering whole-heartedly early in their development, primarily as a means to free themselves of the restrictions of gender, and later, form. No-one has ever been able to ascertain what the standard Jherani shape is, or even if there is one any more. Innately secretive after their earlier disastrous involvement with the NoSaNoOs, the members of this race tailor their forms to deal with each other civilisation they encounter; when dealing with the bureaucratic, insectoid Parkry for example, their representatives look very much like Parkry. When dealing with Bythians, they are taller and thinner than the forms which deal with the Parkry, and so on. Covert analysis of the Jherani by borderline anarchist groups such as the Tendeysharhi reveals that each different Jheran form has a similar, if overly complicated, genetic make-up. The Jherani make no secret of the fact that they are able to exchange genders at will and that this is something that their race has been capable of for thousands of years, certainly long enough for the principle to deeply affect the way they see society. They appear fascinated with what is left of human society and seem to enjoy pointing out archaic left-over ideas from humanity's past (such as calling someone `mister', clothing biases and the few entrenched ideas that humans retain with relation to bringing up children). The forms that the Jherani take when they deal with humanity are only approximately humanoid; tall, thin and bipedal, draped in many layers of loose grey cloth from which their hands emerge. Their heads lack eyes and ears; there is an abbreviated nose and a mobile, feminine-looking mouth which is usually curved into a sardonic-looking grin, even when they are distressed or upset (or whatever the Jherani equivalents of those emotions are). The most common things a Jheran will say to a human in a discussion are `This finds your words interesting' and `Why is that?' They are masters of subtle manipulation and seem willing to adopt pointless rituals from just about anyone; they will spend an hour in elaborate preparation of a cup of tea, then let it sit and cool on the table without drinking it, seeming to derive satisfaction from the process of making the tea. Their most commonly noted characteristic is their fascination with observation; you can charge the Jherani almost anything to watch you do things. Seeing them try to walk down a street is almost comical; they will stop every few steps to watch something. |
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