UnarsOnce upon a time, Unars were created by jfm@christa.unh.edu, but I really doubt he'd recognize them by now! Unars and their life-cycle (non-sentient neuter pre-adults, sentient neuter pre-adults, sentient gendered pre-adults, and sentient gendered adults) are fairly complex. Unar genders are hard to see - they can tell because they see a little further into the ultraviolet than humans (patterns are gender-linked in some ways), and because of the pheremones that adults give off. Unars lay eggs, mating with their "apprentices" (sentient gendered pre-adults) or sometimes other adults (that's considered perverse). The hatchlings usually have as many sires as there were matings, and some 10-50 eggs are laid (and then tossed out into the back yard, usually) at a time. Hatchlings are small, non-sentient, and considered little better than vermin. In time, they grow up and seek to attach themselves to a family group (apprentices who are taught by a Matriarch / Patriarch, the adult). The combination of immature gendered Unars and the mature gendered Unar pheremones cause changes in the neuter's biochemistry, and it will develop into a gender that is the same as the other pre-adults, and opposite the Adult's. (Either hanging around pre-adults only, or just a single Adult will trigger the change, but it's fastest if both pheremones are present.) Unars who don't make the change within a certain time (about 10 years, max, after becoming sentient) will die. When an apprentice is physically mature, he or she goes out into the world and gathers his or her own apprentices, and starts another family. "Siblings" work well together (a hold-over from the pack-hunting instincts of their ancestors), and usually have emotional ties with their "parent" / first mate. However, Unars are somewhat competitive, and enjoy both metaphoric and actual hunts. They're generally social loners, who only want the company of their apprentices, and sometimes a "sibling." Aside from their family structure (which many humans instinctively regard as incestous, despite the genetic diversity within a group), and their, well, cold-blooded research techniques, Unars are relatively easy to get along with. They are known for producing scientists (especially in the biosciences) and doctors of every stripe. Potential law-breakers are advised that Unar law allows certain kinds of medical experiments to be performed on convicted criminals - the worse the crime, the more drastic the experiments permitted. Unars are 33 points. Attributes:ST: 11 [10 points] Advantages:DR +1 (scales) [3 points]High Pain Threshold [10 points] (Back to A Common Background)
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