“Devilish in their ingenuity, humanity seems to have a rampant urge to twist themselves and rebuild the world in their own image. Their warped imagination, however, may sometimes yield unusual and interesting fruit.”
- - Senthi Leviticai, Radeon scientist and philosopher
The Tā, or homo sapiens lepus, are a posthuman race of leporid humanoids that reside primarily within the Milky Way Galaxy, with communities of Tā residing within the Andromeda Galaxy, that trace their artificial evolution to the cold world of Orphanage. One of the most populous and well-recognized descendants of mankind, the Tā maintain a great deal of influence and recognition throughout the Gigaquadrant due to their absorption into human, nearhuman and alien societies while effectively retaining the culture they had developed upon their surrogate world. They are known for their promiscuity, their tendency to act upon emotions and disregard laws and boundaries, and their distinctive aesthetic outline.
History[]
Prior to the 2100s, the island nation of Japan had been wracked with conflict over the course of several centuries, having endured a feudal era of warlords that was only brought to an end by intervention from the West which in turn resulted in the founding of the Empire of Japan, which would later come under fire from the West due to the nature of their participation in World War II. Once the Empire had been toppled by nuclear warfare insinuated by the United States of America, with American occupation within Japanese cities taking place shortly after, Japan became a hub for foreign media as it had adopted many practices from the West and raised them to its own particular method, creating an exotic reputation throughout the globe while also boasting prominent healthcare, social stability, and innovative technologies, with Japan being the first of a string of nations to use automated personnel in place of actual individuals. After several long, bloody decades of feuding between the Japanese government, royalty, and public brought on by the splintering of their allies in the West and in Asia as well as economic problems spawned from a wholely-automated workforce - leading to the creation of hundreds of Japanese private military firms and nationalist groups - Japan reconciled itself under a new government movement known as the Oriental Pact Organization.
The OPO was one of the first governments to officially develop and commercialize faster-than-light technology, manufacturing and selling it to other nations that had not recovered quite as swiftly as Japan had, and would be one of the first nations to establish colonies beyond Earth, the Moon, and Mars; Ganymede and multiple other Jovian bodies were settled by the Japanese populace. When World War III was brought on through yet more political turmoil, Japan primarily fought against and defeated a colossal conglomerate of Asian nationalist groups, the East Asian Coalition, and as a sanction they would come to occupy Chinese territories and maintain a firm hand in Asian politics, effectively using the EAC as a puppet, which allowed them additional resources and a much higher supply of personnel to fund and develop their FTL technology. While not revealed publicly, between the 2140s and the 2160s, Japan had launched a series of mass-produced vessels fitted with FTL drives intended for interstellar travel, developed with resources attained from the EAC, and had sent them beyond the reaches of the identifiable solar system to attempt colonizing extrasolar worlds - the OPO lost contact with tens of hundreds of their ships and several thousand volunteers from both Japan and nations within the EAC due to the shoddy design of the vessels, as the OPO had opted for quantity over quality and decided it had to act swiftly while the other national superpowers were occupied with their own conflicts so that Japan may lay claim to being the first interstellar political entity.
While many of these ships were condemned by the Japanese and EAC governments and erased from records to be forgotten, several dozen ships managed to locate a world a considerable distance away from their native solar system, although humans by this point lived much longer than they had during the 20th and 21st centuries so the children and grandchildren of the original crew of these ships managed to lay their eyes upon a particular extrasolar world that they would come to call Orphanage. Lost in space and incapable of returning to their original solar system, the joint EAC-OPO populaces settled in orbit of the world, occasionally sending automated personnel to gather resources, although eventually they came to recycle a number of their ships to build the first cities upon the world, which had been absent of sapient life prior and was instead ravaged by a terrifying variety of predators, adapted to the planet's arctic conditions. First Haven, as it would be called, was what became of those recycled ships and is treated as the a pseudo-religious site by the Tā for it was where the first of their biologically-modified number would spawn; the humans of Orphanage would modify the genes of their spawn and cloned embryos to better adapt to the arctic conditions and increase survivability, and within but a few generations, the first "true Tā" came into existence, with the baseline populace dwindling swiftly afterward as they could not keep up with the adaptability of the Tā despite their efforts.
The posthuman Tā, after some centuries, would be rediscovered within the mid-2600s by the rest of Humanity after having established a small interstellar domain of their own, their ships corrected descendants of the original, faulty designs of the Oriental Pact Organization, which had become the Yamato Intersolar Commune by this point in galactic history. Sparking controversy with the YIC and the EAC regarding the past and origins of the Tā, the posthumans swiftly integrated within various human societies and through these nations managed to contact nearbaseline and even alien cultures, such as the Dracogonarious Empire - now the Indoctrinate Collective - and more recently the likes of the Kindred Coalition, while some Tā have taken to the neighbouring galaxies, most particularly the Andromeda Galaxy, attaching themselves to the likes of galactic superpowers. Nonetheless, no matter where they are and which factions, cultures, and governments they identify with, all Tā will eventually make a personal pilgrimage to Orphanage, with the Eminence of Tā, a vast collecion of Tā representatives, leaders, and notable individuals, acknowledging that the Tā are not unified through political and cultural ideals but through racial heritage and the recognition of their past and origins.
Characteristics[]
Biology[]
The Tā retain a rather humanoid physiology from their baseline ancestors, possessing the standard structure of four limbs, a torso, and a head, although they have come to attain aesthetic traits akin to those of terran leporids; long ears, muzzles and snouts, short fur and hair that covers the entirety of their bodies, although they can and do grow head hair similar to that of baselines which can vary in colour, enlarged eyes, fluffy tails, and digitigrade legs with three-toed feet. Large clumps of fluff and fur gather upon their chests and crotches and in the place of standard nails, Tā make use of claws upon both their feet and their five-fingered hands. Much like the leporids that they have modelled themselves after, they possess acute senses and a commendable degree of maneuverability that is complimented by agility, and their sensitivity to sounds, smells, and sights allow them a great deal of survivability, capable of distinguishing such subjects and affiliating them with memories and experiences they have encountered prior almost instantaneously. Their stamina and sensitivity to their surroundings compensate for their nearbaseline strength and their physical durability, their bodies being as comparably vulnerable to those of baseline humans, although they are much more immediately adaptable to new environments.
Tā, like baseline humans, are omnivorous by default although their stomachs and enhanced immune systems are designed to nullify the effects of toxins and foreign bodies that they ingest and can consume a wider variety of raw materials such as meat, an ability lost within unaugmented humanity although the Tā are more likely to be seen enjoying prepared cuisines as much as other humans and posthumans. The Tā boast large family connections and reach sexual maturity earlier than baseline teenagers, allowing them to breed faster, and mothers are recorded to sporting litters of five to ten spawn at a time through gestation periods of roughly nine months, and can breed for decades afterward in quick succession until age restricts their bodies. The Tā keep the external and internal reproductive facilities of baseline humanity as well as an identical chromosome count, leading to the possibility of Tā-baseline and nearbaseline hybrids, which often result in stout, partially-furred humans. Tā possess mammary glands and use them to feed their young which are more often than not born fully-developed, possessing fur and opened eyes to increase their chances of survival within the arctic climate of their surrogate homeworld.
Prior to their rediscovery by mankind, the Tā maintained a common pigment in the form of shades of white and brown - an advantage within the environments of their homeworld in order to camouflage them from the potent carnivores - although in the modern era many Tā have taken to modifying their colours to distinguish themselves and their families, which are dubbed Ilks by Tā. While brown and white Tā are still a common sight, it is much more likely to witness Tā sporting yellows, reds, blues, and greens alongside a variety of patterns such as spots and stripes amongst others. Tā language extends beyond the verbal and they are known to express themselves through the release of specific pheromones and animalistic displays such as baring their teeth and snarling, and often use physical contact as a means to express themselves further, some displays of such appearing odd and bizarre to those not educated in Tā culture. Because of their heightened sensitivity to the environment around them, Tā tend to be energetic and jumpy creatures while also easily distracted and can be incapacitated through sensorial assaults, such as noxious scents, extensively bright lights, and high volumes of sound.
In addition to their enhanced adaptability factor, capable of acclimatizing to environments more efficiently than ordinary humans, Tā possess various natural defenses that had been grown in order to defend them from the predators of their surrogate home, most of which are still viable means of defense within more intimate and personal encounters; kicks from their legs are capable of shattering bone, their claws and teeth can easily pierce through tendons and muscle tissues, with their teeth capable of being regrown naturally an innumerable amount of times, and they can slow their breathing and heart rate to effectively deceive threats into believing that they are dead, making use of a combination of their pheromones and self-induced fecal production to create a volatile, corpse-like stench to further convince and keep predators from devouring them.
Behaviour[]
The Tā are capable of displaying all emotions that are affiliated with humans, although the means of which they express these emotions are considered far more unrestrained than those of baselines and nearbaselines; the Tā are a species that communicates through pheromones, body language, and touching as well as verbal interaction and are considered far more bestial than most human divergents, growling and snarling when angered or irritated, squeaking when excited, and whining when upset or frustrated, amongst other displays. Tā are universally curious and optimistic, although they are not ignorant to the dangers of the universe and thus prefer the presence of company as opposed to isolation, although there are divisions between Tā that desire to lead groups and those that wish to simply follow in the steps of others, leading to some competition within Tā communities and social circles which can result in in-fighting, although it is uncommon to witness Tā outright killing other Tā as they retain a respect for life and living things, and belief that displaying one's dominance instead of bloodletting is enough to demonstrate one's physical capabilities.
Tā, due to their affinity for life, do not discriminate towards foreigners as they are largely found within the borders of many human, nearhuman and alien territories and political spheres, although all Tā, despite the many differences in culture and political views due to this expansion of their kind, remember their origins and reaffirm the belief that even if Tā hold different views between one another, they are all nonetheless Tā. Tā prefer to impose diplomatic and passive solutions to problems rather than outright seeking violence despite their knack for acting upon emotional impulses, although should such solutions require violence to be accomplished the Tā are unlikely to be discouraged, and many Tā possess large groups of friends and acquaintances as a result of their outgoing nature and sociability. Regarding religion, Tā as a species do not worship any singular entity and thus retain a large amount of religious division among their kind, although all Tā treat their surrogate homeworld - Orphanage - in a manner similar to that of a religious site and all Tā must one day make a pilgrimage to it, even if they were not born there.
There are a variety of shortcomings to the nature of the Tā in that they are highly promiscuous, often regarding the potential for intercourse and procreation with those around them for long periods of time throughout their days, and are attracted towards many aspects that humans typically find appealing, thus they have been known to extend their libido towards even aliens that happen to coincidentally possess such traits. Tā are a largely polygamous and many treat the opposite sex as equals, although there are a number of Tā cultures that encourage monagamy, and the politics of Tā social circles are often dictated by sex. However it is due to this promiscuity that Tā possess such explosive numbers across the Gigaquadrant, even if otherwise heinous activities - such as incest and rape - are not uncommon occurences both within and outside of Tā communities, and there are a great number of intertwining Tā lineages due to those of the polygamous nature, sporting many bloodlines of Tā.
Abilities[]
The Tā possess a majority of the abilities of baseline and nearbaseline humanity, although they are far more agile and athletic than most human descendants and their bestial, animalistic sensitivity allows them to be just as maneuverable, without any requirement for augmentation either biologically or cybernetically. Their stamina allows them to move and accomplish tasks without faulting for perhaps days on end, reducing their requirement for long hours of sleep and rest, and the senses of hearing and smelling allowing them to detect both incoming and immediate threats to them at an impressively swift rate and act upon these detections almost as quickly. The sharp claws and teeth of the Tā are capable of rending through tough materials and can withstand more than baseline human nails and teeth, with their legs being strong enough to deliver kicks that can rupture tendons, damage bone and impair vital organs, and their digestive tract and immune system make them resistant to more questionable and dangerous sources of food, adding to their survivability and efficient capacity for adaptation.
Nonetheless, the Tā are not without weaknesses; many unaugmented Tā possess moderate human strength and their own bodies are equally as frail, leading to Tā to prefer avoiding damage than relying upon durability, and their senses can be agitated to a state that it can deal pain towards them - in more severe cases, such can even cause fatality amongst young Tā. When outside of groups, Tā often become more unnerved, unhinged and paranoid of their surroundings and ironically become less careful and more brash to act. It has not been unheard of for Tā to become incapacitated or die of bodily shutdown or cardic arrest as a result of prolonged psychological and physical stress, even in their prime, and due to their hyperactivity they require copious amounts of nutrients to sustain themselves each day and even then their bodies must undergo exercise lest they become fat and unhealthy.
Individuals[]
“Fight for your dreams and keep looking ahead because the future doesn't live in the past!”
- Name - Hachiman Shinha
- Affiliation - Indoctrinate Collective and Realm of Dreams
- Status - Active
Hachiman Shinha, otherwise addressed as Hachi, is a Tā that wanders the First Gigaquadrant and practices in the arts of Essence, primarily Dream Energy as he is both a chosen of the God of Dreams and a student of one of his children, Thea'Nhirara. Hachiman is a seeker of ordeals and has dedicated himself to the protection of the universe and the people that reside within it, having faced many challenges throughout his life in order to prove his worth and grow stronger so that he can succeed upon his path to his destiny, although it is not the thought of his destiny that has him strive to defend others; he is altruistic and is learning to uphold and wield the values of liberty and compassion to defeat those that seek to challenge them, despite his overly-promiscuous nature and his affinity for seeming naivety.
The son of a Tā mercenary upon the outskirts of the territory of the Yamato Intersolar Commune, Hachiman is a nomadic soul although he has been recognized and pledged as a full citizen of the Indoctrinate Collective, even if their politics do not influence his actions, and has been a major participant within the Second Borealis Galactic War, where he learned many of his skills and was augmented by the Borealis Grox Empire, and the Third Xhodocto War, as well as having been part of a group stranded upon a distant world, with his efforts assisting in their survival and eventual escape. Hachiman combines the natural abilities of the Tā with the capacity of his cybernetic augmentations and his affinity for Dream Energy, having been trained briefly under the wing of the late Macin Xermilin, and makes use of a vibrokatana, Shingen, granted unto him by his own late father. According to the prophecy surrounding him, Hachiman will find himself destined for great things in his future, although he does not consciously seek to fulfill the prophecy so much as savour and learn from the journey towards it.
“I'll drench my claws in your blood.”
- Name - Sanguine Daren
- Affiliation - Clan of Daren
- Status - Active
Sanguine Daren, formerly known by his numeral identification as Experiment 102, is a heavily deformed, mutated and imperfect clone of the individual known as Hachiman as well as a technical "child" of the demigod Zazane known as Kol Daren. Constructed from Hachiman's genetic data and information with gaps filled in by Kol's own material and Essence, Sanguine is capable of using Descension energy and Dark Chronoscopic energy as well as possessing an incredible amount of physical capability that extends to his strength, speed, agility and endurance to damage and pain. Sanguine, unlike his unknowing genetic donator Hachiman, is relentless and brutal although is not sadistic, preferring to kill quickly unless the fight itself is personal.
Sanguine retains a serious attitude at all times concerning missions and tasks he is given from his "Father" and is incredibly aggressive. He is not known to talk much to his foes or allies aside from Kol, remaining silent or without much opinion concerning most situations unless encountering a personal enemy. While he is powerful and aggressive, he can lose himself at times when fighting personal opponents that he is oblivious to the environment around him although this is not always the case and usually depend on how angry he is, becoming less aware with the angrier he gets. Sanguine seeks to impress Kol Daren in hopes that he would be seen as a "real" son to him, which involves killing Hachiman as the ultimate test.
Notes[]
Quotes[]
“Descendants of humans, yet different from them in many ways. The Dracogonarious have worked with the Tā for longer than the rest of Homo sapiens and have admittedly grown fond of them and their curious and active behaviour.”
“Yickes, where did all these Hachis come from?!... What do you mean they've always been here? I must've blacked out or something.”
- - Koluap
“*Long, extended scream*”
- - Agent Nu
“The Tā are a curious example of how under pressure, a sentient species might change its biology as drastically as possible in order to survive. We Cephalodian's program only consenting lifeforms to become our technology. Humanity doesn't have a good track record of modifying non-consenting life, though it seems the Tā are the exception.”
- - A Cephalodian
“During our first encounter with humans, the Yamato, we hadn't encountered a species before which had modified (or modified by others) its genes with so many examples like the Tā.”
“Found on any Playboy space station near you.”
- - Human media
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Tā as an identifiable species came into existence long after the creation of Hachiman, who was given the the designation of a "human descendant" before being given a race.
- The word Tā comes from the Chinese linguistic character that means "different" and was suggested by TheImperios as a name for the species.
- The Tā possess a high fantasy equivalent to themselves in the Fantasy Universe in the form of the Lagosi and their society, Min Lagosi.
