About The Ehrban
The Ehrban are a roughly humanoid species, approximately two meters tall at adulthood. They are digitigrade bipeds possessing six limbs total; the rear pair used for locomotion, the fore pair used for manipulation, and the middle pair resembling wings, a vestigial legacy from airborne ancestors. They also retain a prehensile tail from their ancestors, used now largely for display only, in conjunction with the wings. The body plan of the Ehrban's clade derives from a centipede-like, segmental, acquatic ancestor; most major bodily features derive from the modified fins of that ancestor, including the ribs which line the torso, and all six major limbs. Each major limb consists of three major segments, consisting respectively of one, two, and three bones each. The last three bones of each major segment then diverge into six smaller digits (two for each bone in the last major segment), which consist of three further single-boned segments each. Embedded within each digit are short, straight claws, which are naturally retracted but can be extended when curling the digits; a vestige of their treeborne and carnivorous ancestors.
Their bodies are feathered but largely naked, their bare flesh resembling hairless human skin, light and pale in tone and ranging from orange to azure in hue. Their only significant plumage is long, flexible, hairlike feathers on the scalp, wings, and tail, and a variable degree of down on the spine, shoulders and hips, though in those respects there is much variation between individuals. The wings also retain a significant amount of dorsal plumage, and occasional dorsal feathers on the head and tail are common in some lineages.
The Ehrban's skull is derived from the limbless front segment and the frontmost eight limbs of their segmental ancestors. The spine lines the back of the skull over the crown and down to the forehead, where a central eye-like organ sensitive to frequencies from longwave microwave through most of the radio spectrum is mounted. Signals from this central eye perceived similarly to echolocation, smell, or the skin's heat sensitivity, rather than as human-like vision, and stimuli via this organ strongly affects their more primitive, basal emotions and appetites. The "limbs" of the next segment form the brim of the skull, and mount two more conventional eyes in a triangular formation below the first eye, which are sensitive to a continuous spectrum of colors from the infrared through ultraviolet frequencies (rather than vision broken down by a number of distinct types of cones each sensitive to a different band of light, as in humans and other terrestrial animals).
The Ehrban have no ears, but their highly sensitive skin picks up atmospheric vibrations in their stead. They likewise have no noses, and breath exclusively through their mouths, which for evolutionary reasons connect nervously and vascularly through the first segment which mounts the central eye, but in species like the Ehrban is positioned below the secondary eyes amidst the "limbs" of the second through fourth segments, which form the jaws and tongues. Their two tongues contain olfactory sensors, which give the Ehrban the ability to "taste" the air, allowing them to effectively smell their environment or not at will.
Though they have human-like lips, the Ehrban lack the teeth of terrestrial mammals, having instead a beaklike structure in its place, adapted for their omnivorous diet. The frontal, central portions of the beak are thin and smooth-edged like mammalian incisors, while the rear, lateral portions are wide and rough like mammalian molars; the intermediate portions thus being thin and jagged like a serrated blade, similar to a series of cuspids. This beak structure is derived from the same cartiliginous material as their claws, their jaws being the long-ago modified limbs of their second and fourth body segments.
The Ehrban are versatile omnivores with highly efficient digestive systems, and can digest most biomass available in their native environment. Though they descend from largely carnivorous ancestors, their present diet is predominantly herbivorous, consisting especially of the nutritious reproductive parts of plants: fruits, nuts, beans, etc. To supplement this they also consume a variety of grains (in later cultures largely processed into breads and cereals); and while they are still fully capable of hunting and consuming other animals, their culture has over time reserved such foods to significant traditional ceremonies, and in later periods of their history many eschew even these, or consider them barbaric customs. In times of need they can scavenge nearly any biomass available, having both a powerful digestive system and a powerful immune system; but as a sapient species they prefer a fresher diet as previously described, although certain specialty foods are fermented or otherwise age-processed.
The primary fuel substance of their metabolism is methanol, which is generated from the food they consume by hardy symbiotic intestinal flora. The methanol in their bodily fluids helps to both denature their food for easier digestion and to defend them against less-hardy invasive microbes, greatly enhancing their immune system. Excess methanol in the body can become toxic to the Ehrban, so it is sealed away for later use in a jelly-like substance stored in two breast-like lobes on the chest. (The size of these lobes is thus an indicator of a full diet, and thus of good health, social status, and attractiveness. In some later cultures this is inverted, with large breasts being seen as a sign of decadence and sloth.) Because their digestion depends on these symbiotic intestinal flora, young Ehrban are initially unable to digest food for themselves, not having acquired such flora yet; and so, like other species of their clade, adult Ehrban nurse their young from these breasts as well. Nursing is biologically possible at any time, not only perinatally, and not only between adults and children, but it is considered an extremely intimate act and between adults is most often a prelude to sexual activity.
The Ehrban dissolve all consumed and inhaled materials into the blood, and perform all filtering of wastes at the capillary level via sweat-like glands lining the surface of the skin. (Some related species have adapted this into a defense mechanism, for anything attempting to prey on such a species must bite through a layer of toxin-laden tissues before getting to the clean meat below). As such, the Ehrban and related species do not defecate, urinate, or even exhale, and consequentially do not need to eat, drink, or even breath very frequently, as anything consumed or inhaled remains in the bloodstream available for use unless filtered out by the skin; and the efficiency of the Ehrban metabolism means that very little in terms of mass needs to be filtered out. These "sweat" glands also filter and exude whatever hormones remain in the bloodstream after passing through the rest of the body, which serves not only as an olfactory signal to others, but interacts with their plumage to produce color changes and even bioluminescence in response to their emotional state. Their plumage, like that of all feathered species of their world, is in fact symbiotic flora feeding off of the waste products exuded through the pores of the skin. For this reason it is considered in some cultures a sign of a full diet (as the individual consumes enough that their waste can support this symbiotic flora), and thus of wealth, beauty, and social status; while in other cultures it is considered a sign of poor hygiene (as the plumage is technically a parasitic growth) and thus the opposite of all the above.
All sexually reproducing species on Ehrba are hermaphroditic, sexual reproduction having evolved initially as a form of viral, parasitic reproduction which, given the selective pressure for the host to survive, eventually evolved into a less violent, mutually beneficial act. In early ancestors, "sex" consisted of nothing more than one individual forcefully injecting, though a pair of modified limbs adjacent to its own vagina (which eventually evolved into the penis-analogues of Ehrban fauna) a virus-like variant of its own gametes into another individual, which then proceeded to hijack the machinery of the host's cells to construct a pseudo-clone of the aggressor inside its victim, slowly killing the host in the process. The resulting child was not a true clone of the aggressor, as the hijacked cells retained much of their own genetic material; the child thus being truly the offspring of both aggressor and victim. Eventually an immune response evolved whereby the infected cells were isolated within a shell and ejected from the host body in the same way that asexual offspring were produced.
Later still, sexual behavior evolved whereby one individual would voluntarily take another's "sperm" within its body (orally, evolving by way of the "mother" defensively biting the penis of the "father"), sparing the host the injury of forceful "infection", resulting in a fitness advantage for, and thus a predominance of, voluntarily sexual species. As with this history no separate sexes ever evolved, all sexual life on Ehrba is hermaphroditic, capable of both impregnating and of being impregnated. Due to the nature of such reproduction, one individual can be impregnated by several individuals simultaneously, which in some species more often results in multiple pregnancies but in others, such as the Ehrban, more often results in chimeric offspring. Because of this, the sexual behavior of the Ehrban is promiscuous, and consequently the concept of the nuclear family does not extend beyond having a shared "mother"; the entire tribe serves the role of "father", paternity being difficult to discern and often times shared.
Like most species of their world, the Ehrban do not give live birth but rather lay eggs. Asexual reproduction through self-impregnation remains possible even amongst sexually reproducing species, and in most species, including the Ehrban, occurs spontaneously at death, the still living "sperm" generating an egg from the organic material of the deceased individual. But whether the eggs were fertilized sexually or asexually, whether laid live or borne from a passed-on parent, they behave far more like what we on Earth consider seeds than what we know of as eggs; for all plant and animal life on Ehrban is related not only by common evolutionary descent but through much more immediate alternation of generations. An egg laid by an animal, such as an Ehrban, extends roots into the ground and sprouts stalks or vines, complete with leaves, and flowers, which then ripen into fruits which eventually develop into the precocial young forms of the animal which originally laid the egg, being revealed by the blossoming of the enveloping flower pedals.
Because of this interrelation between plant and animal forms, the Ehrban distinction between "plants" and "animals" is in fact between primitive plants which do not have motile, oxygen-metabolising fruits, and more advanced plants which do. The latter sort of plant are cared for the way that young animals (or our own infants) are cared for by humans, while the former are mere flora just as plants are here on Earth. Ehrban animals also retain the photosynthetic abilities of their vegetative forms well into their motile adulthood, reducing (but not eliminating) their need to feed on other organisms. Many Ehrban species are therefore fond of sunbathing.
The clothing of Ehrban civilization consequently tends to leave the upper body exposed, barring mitigating circumstances. The core of Ehrban dress is in legwear, consisting mostly of tighter-fitting pants for laboring and sports, and looser-fitting skirts for more intellectual and leisurely activity, which are respectively loosely correlated with lower and upper economic classes. Upper-body clothing, in different times and places, has had connotations both of higher class (as indicating sufficient food sources so as not to need to supplement eating with sunbathing, allowing the use of protective garments), and lower class (as indicating sufficient leisure time to sunbathe, and comfortable enough accomodations to not need protective garments). Four general social classes of clothing thus exist: the poorest of the poor wear pants and no shirts, the working poor wear pants and shirts, the professional class wear skirts with shirts, and the leisure class wear skirts with no shirts.
Ehrban psychology has a curious familial quality to it, the biological nature of which was not understood until very late in their scientific development. Every individual possesses from childhood a voice in his head, like a secondary personality, which most individuals do not consciously distinguish from their own thought processes. This voice possesses the combined memories and personality traits of the individual's "maternal" ancestors; though as the voice is a distinct personality from that of the individual, it would not be accurate to say that the individual himself possesses an inherited personality or inherited memories. However, self-reflective individuals can come to know this inner voice better than more mundane individuals do, and in doing so access a wealth of inherited information (as well as other advantages discovered only later in their scientific development), and further still, influence the development of the inherited personality within themselves, and pass that development on to their children. In Ehrban culture, the family name corresponds to the name of this "maternally" inherited personality, e.g. "Keius" is an individual's name, "Meij" is the name of his inherited personality, and the individual is referred to formally as "Keius Meij".
These inherited inner voices are the cornerstone of all Ehrban religious traditions. The earliest religious practice, found throughout all ancient Ehrban cultures and continuing down throughout most of their history until the dissolution of what could accurately be called religion in their society, was simple meditation. Independent ascetic philosophers would enter into deep meditation and commune with these inner 'spirits', and thereby attain great wisdom. Some of these wise men developed followings amongst the more mundane citizens, and in this way various ascetic schools began to develop. Though most such schools throughout history emphasized teaching the method of attaining this inner communion, rather than any doctrine of belief developed regarding the experiences had in such communion, some such beliefs became widespread and historically significant. The first of these, developed spontaneously throughout schools across the world, was the belief that the voices heard in such meditation were the ethereal spirits of one's ancestors (living or dead); and that the spirits of deceased ancestors continue to live on (being accessible through these inner voices) so long as they are remembered and accessed. Related to this is the belief that the spirit of an ancestor or even an unrelated person can be summoned within a child's mind and become their patron or guardian spirit; this practice often being related to the naming of the child, i.e. a child would be given the name of the desired patron spirit. This belief, and the attendant ancestor worship, became the most widespread religious belief across Ehrban history. Eventually, a number of subsects developed from a simpler form of ancestor worship to hero worship, and then elevated their venerated heroes to the status of great pantheons of gods. These polytheistic religions went on to become the official religions of most ancient Ehrban empires.
But another school of thought developed out of the still-extant ascetic schools. Some particularly reflective individuals came to claim to have become one with their inherited personalities, and in doing so attained personal immortality, as it is the inherited personality, not the individual personality, which lives on so long as it is remembered. A further subsect of such people came to claim that in their state of oneness they could hear not only the inner voices of other individuals, but a greater voice, a distant roaring thunder which dwarfed any single individual; a voice they call "Geiana", meaning roughly "cacophony" (from "gheie", silence, stillness, clarity, or tranquility; and "-anous", lacking the quality of). They believed this voice to be that of their creator-god, and took the pain, anger, sorrow, and anguish apparent in its voice to be a sign that they had disappointed their creator; for behold, there were brief cries of joy when peace and goodness briefly overtook the world, and further rage and pain during times of war and great evil. This religion thus became the most proselytizing of all Ehrban religions, and sought to bring morality to the world so as to appease Geiana and spare the world her vengeance. While the most vocal core of the Church of Geiana eschew all foreign beliefs and traditions, the vast majority of church members retain the earlier ancestor-worship traditions, and the vast majority thereof still retain many elements of the polytheistic religions which the Church supplanted in its rise to power, with their "gods" once more reduced to heroes and saints. Furthermore, those of all religions who wish to become religious leaders (and are not descended from former religious leaders, thus inheriting the appropriate attributes from their ancestral spirits), still turn to the ascetic schools for meditative training. The exception to this is the fundamentalist core of the Church of Geiana, who devoutly follow only the chaste, asexually-produced descendants of the original founders of the church, who (due to both Ehrban biology and the mysterious inheritability of personality) are more akin to, and believed to be, reincarnations of their parents, rather than normal children.
The truth of all these varied beliefs, and the exact biological nature of these inherited personalities, would prove to be the key element of later Ehrban history...