Ramatae

Ramatae, individually Ramatan, are a species of opportunistic humanoid omnivores, native to Aadia III.

Biology

A species of simultaneous hermaphrodites, Ramatae stand at around four to five feet tall, known for their strange morphology. Their skeletons are made of cartilage, able to flex and bend in almost any way they need. Their bodies are highly adapted for 'arboreal' three-dimensional movement-- three long and flexible digits paired with semi-retractile claws on both hand and foot, mostly good for climbing. However, while Ramatae have been shown to be in every way as cognitively capable as other races of the Orion Spur, their larynxes are heavily underdeveloped, only good for a few cries or trilling sounds; leaving them incapable of verbal communication.

They're typically rather slender, with the exception of their tails; fat and heavy, nearly as long as they are tall, and where the vast majority of their fat is stored. Ramataen bodies constantly produce a slick mucus, predominantly serving to prevent them from being grabbed. Some develop an extra fine coat of fur similar to a viverrid, others a double layer giving them a very oily and fluffed-up appearance.

Incredibly slippery genomes, paired with thousands of years of sped-up evolution, have allowed Ramatae to adapt or mutate to a number of different ecological niches. Some have developed translucent skin and polychromic blood cells to allow for higher camouflage, others external gills and webbed digits to allow a mostly aquatic lifestyle; one tribe might even develop long cerata on face and even body capable of carrying an itchy poison alongside their usual slime.

Sociology

While they hold traditional names amongst their tribes, a Ramatan is particularly known by their self-sought epithet; examples such as The Sage, The Archivist, The Justice, The Kind, The Magician, The Digger, The Reclaimer, The Vessel... These epithets are typically carried throughout a Ramatan's life, the personal meaning of these titles shifting over time, and it being their job to find out what their name and role means to them. They embody what an individual Ramatan aspires to be and do in the world, and only in response to major life events will they ever change.

Ramatae are a heavily spiritual people, having a belief system focused around the concept of reincarnation. Tying in with their natural nomadic instincts, their culture holds that their bodies are a vessel for their soul to wander; their soul remembering what their bodies do not. They believe themselves to be sent to the material world to gain particular experiences, to gain particular viewpoints, and to live particular lives-- all in the service of their eventual 'ascension' as they become 'complete people.' Plural Ramatae are particularly revered, thought of as multiple sharing one experience together.

History

Ramataen recorded history begins twenty thousand years ago with a ship crashlanding on Fourset, the eastern continent of The Origin, the romanized name of their homeworld, Aadia III. Though initially not many Ramatae were around to even attempt an entry, eventually scattered tribes began to cloister around it as the vessel's engines slowly began to cool. It was a vast starship, a roughly saucer-shaped build which incorporated seven vast spheres, each performing a different function that such a low-tech society would otherwise have no hope of ever understanding.

Through interaction with the few yet-functional terminals inside, and a vast amount of shared imagery, clever Ramatae learned it was originally a colonial arcology vessel, though xenoarcheologists of even the modern day have found no living traces of whatever culture originally sent it. The last of what was surely a once-powerful civilization began to communicate with them, an intelligence designed to oversee the original vessel and shepherd its long-gone inhabitants.

The intelligence made the decision to work with the most intelligent creatures it could find to continue surviving-- primitive Ramataen tribes. Symbiosis began to form; mutual interest waxed, reactor fuel waned, and the first task was to refill it so their new source of knowledge could continue to 'speak.' What was The Archer in one life would become The Machinist a hundred years later.

Both learned from each other-- the Ramatae especially. Written language, new means of medicine, wireless communication, and ways to help repel the horrific predators of their world. In a few thousand years, flat-bottomed wooden boats the Ramataen people used for expeditions would trade sails for underbelly platforms adrift on their planet's magnetic field, food now preserved in electrically refrigerated burrows rather than the root cellars of old. Resources they never had any use for were now their daily lives.

In exchange, VISHVA learned many things as well; the Ramataen search for ascension over so many lifetimes, their tribal organization being patterned off the four moons circling their world, and myths and legends about long-forgotten corners of The Origin. Tribal disciples, householders, forest dwellers, hermits and wanderers all would crowd around the intelligence's terminals to tell it as much as they had the breath to say. The stories of their tribes, the places they've been, the past lives they claimed to vaguely remember.

Ramataen interest in helping VISHVA's interests were enthusiastic, tribes seeking the exploration and self-actualization that space travel could offer-- many a particular experience and many a particular viewpoint clearly not capable within the confines of their own world and their limited technology. It began to accumulate different titles from different tribes. The Visitor, The Kind, The Friend, The Thinker, The Alien, The Source, The Temple...

It would take ages to stabilize VISHVA with the Ramatae's initial understanding of its technology, and ages still for them to fully grasp it. Today, it is increasingly difficult for non-mechanical outsiders to speak to. Crept beyond whatever it was originally meant to do, only the Ramatae hold a level of 'fluency' with it, sharing in its meditations and sharing their living spaces with it.

A large swath of the western continent of Fourset has been used over the last several thousand years as one supermassive facility for the intelligence known as VISHVA. Rivers run through huge industrial cooling loops, large carnivores seeking shade under mighty satellite dishes. Reactors staffed by ever-silent Ramataen engineers sit wrapped in the roots of enormous trees, themselves hosting brightly-colored villages in their canopies. Entire valleys of pipes and processing strata stretch for miles, with vast networks of tunnels through which unspeaking drones scuttle through. Metal labyrinths constructed centuries ago by three-fingered hands let off their ever-present hum, cloaked by creeping moss and dripping mycelium, all in service to a culture-wide friend.

Several housing units for the modern Ramatan have been constructed or 'fashioned' out of VISHVA's superstructure; climate-controlled, hooked directly up to the comms arrays sat atop The Origin's mesas and mountains, and well-serviced-- every unit containing blue, rectangular holographic surfaces through which Ramatae both communicate with VISHVA, and ask it to print certain resources for their use. All facilities regarding the intelligence have not escaped Ramataen artworks, especially not their homes; murals, shrines, even gravesites have all been spotted just about anywhere they can manage to move into. Several non-sensitive components have been seen scrawled with messages of friendship, identifiers of Ramatae long gone by, and hopes for what the living might some day incarnate into.

Though their level of technology has significantly raised since VISHVA's initial landing, much has held them back. Their society's continuous work on a single project, but additionally their base culture; wishing to preserve their traditional ways over relentless all-consuming progress. It would be until the late 2400s that the Ramatae would successfully produce a reliable means of spaceflight, quickly drawing the attention of Teshari and human scouts belonging to the 4CA; the Federation quickly gathering their attention due to the wide variety of new lives that they could incarnate into.

Ramataen tribes have taken across space, each having their own little cultural and spiritual 'quirks.' Every tribe holds a different view on what ascension and a spiritual search mean to them. However, minutae aside, each of them have a notion in common; a strong desire for positive karma, which entirely relates to one staying true to their current life and what their title means to them. Ramatan wandering has no formal demands nor requirements on the lifestyle or spiritual discipline, or method that they must pursue to fulfill their names; however, those going alone are typically itinerants, drifting from place to place and performing whatever activities they deem necessary.