Edris

Biologically speaking, the species has retained many traits from their more primitive evolution due to their mode of living and surviving for much of their history. They are humanoid in profile, two arms and two legs, and have a long tail that is largely furless. Their hands have three fingers and a thumb, and their foot structure places the toes and the ball of the foot below the "heel".

While humanoid, it is often more comfortable for the Edris to remain somewhat hunched, using all limbs as part of their locomotion, though they are completely capable of standing completely upright.

The species has standard mammalian live births, with a gestation period of about three months. Notably, they also tend to birth in litters of about four to seven.

The Edris are also perhaps the most quickly maturing sapient species in the known galaxy. Newborns reach physical adulthood at about 14 years. Mental maturity is reached, on average, at about 15-16 years for both male and female subjects.

The species is omnivorous, like most sapient species, but most of the population has a genetic predisposition towards a preference for vegetables and fruit and many Edris will feel quite ill upon consuming meat.

The social structure of the Edris is an odd mixture of meritocratic and democratic. Many occupations and roles in the government come with an assumed authority. The assumption of one's competence if one hold said role. Governors, generals, parents, are all examples of roles with "assumed authority" that is difficult to impeach without good cause.

Past these sorts of built-in rules, there are none. Edris society is largely a meritocratic one; with experience and knowledge trumping nearly any amount of time in a position.

Given names for the species tend to be short and harsh, while each individual has a longer more poetic formal name, to be used almost exclusively by their family and during special events like weddings and ceremonies. This falls in line with the dual languages of the Edris, where one is used in public and full of harsh but clear sounds, while the one used in private is said to sound almost like whistling the way that it flows.

The Edrin Clan Assembly is one of the oldest political organizations of the entire species, but also the debatably oldest of the galactic governments with a clear line of existence between the stone age Assembly and the modern incarnation.

Notably, the Edris lack nearly any monogamous ideal within their courtship rituals, and families will often consist of many amorous individuals that might share themselves with only a few specific individuals, or the majority. Relationships also tend to be somewhat fluid, with many clans having longstanding mating groups that have lasted for centuries, with new members being inducted over time, often by the youngest already existing members, resulting in a gradient of ages.

The original societies of Edris that formed on Rillov were scattered clans of Edris, huddling in carved tunnels and hollows, attempting to find shelter against their natural predators. These little knots of protection would form into the original Edrin clans, many of which survive directly or in some form even now. As populations expanded, these clans would come into greater and greater amounts of contact with each other which was, surprisingly, often positive. I suppose they had more things going on at the time.

The Great Clans would continue to grow over the centuries, becoming more and more ingrained in the social development of the species. While the clans would regularly interact with each other, they remained heavily partitioned from one another. This would cause a sort of bureaucratic interweaving between all these different groups, and that would eventually evolve into the the development of guilds that would act as a go between for the Clans as Edrin society started to produce larger numbers of craftsmen and tradespeople.

To give an example; if one were to watch the development of an Edrin colony, the descendants of the Great Clans and other minor clans would be the ones to arrive first, bringing with them the skills and resources that are their traditional wheelhouses. Some of the larger guilds would travel with the colonists, but the smaller ones would form naturally from need and desire on their new home.

In the modern age, the Edris are an industrial powerhouse in the galactic market. By and large, they make noticeable overtures to remain outside of the conflicts that other Sapients have gotten into, though they are caught between the other powerhouses on occasion. I do not wish to make it sound like the Clan Assembly cannot defend themselves, it can of course, but as you may assume they would struggle to mount a longstanding protective effort against the more war-aligned sapient species out there.

The clan structure of the Edris is deeply tied to the species' largest form of worship, Clan Guardians . An ancient belief that there are spiritual guardians that are tied to the clans themselves, protecting it's members and it's works.