Taloni
Race: Taloni
Description: Biped, thin but muscular, 4 long arms, lower set equipped mainly for swimming with webbed fingers, shortened length overall like over evolved fins, upper set with long thin fingers. Their heads are elongated in a narrow dagger like snout filled with rows of serrated teeth. Their bodies are covered in a thin downy coat of blue gray fur, the flesh beneath a pale blue color. The combination provide camouflage in their native oceanic environment. This race is known to utilize cybernetic modification widely as a status symbol, as well as an aid for the time their duties take them among the galaxy.
Culture: The Taloni are a warrior caste style of society, divided into 6 High houses, and 23 lower houses. The High houses are the ruling group for their civilization and are selected by a trial of champions every 6 years in which all the houses compete. The tournament is carried out in the traditional style utilizing the native Ollusk bone swords crafted from the ribs of the massive whale like native creatures of their homeworld. Each house is dominated by a single family, which makes up the core, and a series of vassal families which makes up the bulk. Their culture has developed along the lines of personal combat, from blades to fighters their warriors dedicate their training to the art of the duel and small unit tactics. In the past the Taloni utilized submarines for their own internal wars, but upon discovery by the Empire they were shown a world beyond their own, and thus have expanded out to the ranks of the fighter pilots. Their sense of honor and flair is well suited to that of the pilot, and the common view is those who command larger ships are either honored elders whose instincts have faded, or craven cowards to consumed by fear to take the fight in at proper ranges. Upon the fall of the original Empire, the Taloni were largely forgotten, only recently rejoining the ranks upon rediscovery by the VE.
The Original explorer force that had discovered the Taloni homeworld was heavily augmented with prosthetic limbs and implanted survival equipment, giving the relatively primitive people of Talonesk the image of Gods come to bring their people to the stars. Thus the Taloni see cybernetic prosthetics and equipment as a sign of prestige, both for the signs that they have faced the foe with their faces to the enemy and come away wounded only to be repaired and sent to the front once more, or that they have rated enhancement to improve their abilities to serve on the front lines.
Homeworld: Talonesk: Their home is a Ice locked world far to rimward in an area of space claimed and patrolled by Ve forces. The surface is glacier locked with select sections maintained as embassy and factory for their limited space based influence, most of the manufacturing taking place in a ring of stations in orbit. The subsurface a fluid ocean in which their main cities are built, and the majority of Taloni live their daily lives. Talonesk has 3 minor moons, 4 companion planets, and a pair of suns.
