#obviously some of this doesn't apply to rise!eshra

[so-called-yokai]

The Anavri

A basic (but probably still overly detailed!) overview of Eshra's species. This was originally written with the Mass Effect universe in mind, hence my efforts to keep it... biologically believable, as well as a few references to ME-specific things. It's also still something of a work in progress as I decide on or discover more aspects of the species. :)

Most of it is under the cut because as I was creating this post I realized holy hell, it's long.

SPECIES: Anavri HOMEWORLD: Laethis, Corus System, Heleus Cluster

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The anavri are a bipedal dromaeosaurid species, with a coat of short downy feathers, feathered crests, and long tails. Their upper limbs are unique, with a structure somewhere between Earth's bats and birds: like bats, they have five digits, with their opposable thumb and first two fingers forming a hand, but like in birds, the bones of their fourth and fifth digits are fused and form the structure supporting a feathered wing. Anavri never had the ability to truly fly, having evolved from a terrestrial ancestor akin to Earth's ancient dromaeosaurs, but they can glide proficiently on planets with lower gravity, such as their own. Their lower limbs are digitigrade, and each of their four toes, including the dew claw, is tipped with a sharp claw to assist with grip both on the ground and when climbing trees. They are a lightly built species in general, and average between 5-6 feet tall, with only exceptional individuals ever breaking 6 feet. Their shorter body feathers are various shades of white, black, gray, or brown, while the longer feathers on their crests, tails, and wings can be any of a wide variety of colors; most anavri tend towards bright jewel tones, aside from those few hailing from polar climes, where neutral colors are more prevalent.

Anavri are ultraviolet-sensitive thanks to a color receptor in their eyes that humans lack. Compared to humans, they have incredible vision, particularly for movement; an above average sense of smell; and average hearing. Anavri evolved to rely mostly on their vision, which allows them to both track their small, quick-moving prey, and to better read others' body language, particularly from a distance. While their sense of smell does help them to more easily forage for the nuts and fruit that make up part of their diet, its main purpose is to identify other anavri, in particular to avoid inbreeding in a culture where blended and overlapping families are common.

As Laethis is mostly tropical or subtropical, anavri evolved to be well-suited to hot, humid conditions, and for the most part they dislike climates that are dry, cold, or both, although they are perfectly capable of operating or even living in such conditions.

BEHAVIOR: Life on Laethis is dextro-amino-acid-based. Anavri are omnivorous with a preference for fish, insects, birds, eggs, fruit, and nuts. Laethis is primarily covered by oceans and massive forests, meaning a distinct lack of space for both agriculture and larger animals the anavri might prey on, although the latter isn't unheard of. A higher oxygen level also means invertebrates grow quite large; among forest-dwelling populations, arthropods often make up the bulk of an anavri's diet. As such, anavri have remained primarily a hunter-gatherer species, although the encouragement and tending of natural groves of fruit and nut trees is common.

Anavri mate for life, and polyamory is as common as monamory, with bonds being cemented and reinforced by the instinctual creation of a unique song. They are oviparous and lay a single, large egg at a time. While some anavri have come to prefer incubators, most still practice traditional nest-sitting, a duty shared by both (or all) of the egg's parents.

SOCIAL GROUPS: Having evolved from highly social pack-hunting predators, the anavri are a group-minded species. An individual anavri (the plural and singular forms of the name are the same) is part of what is still called a pack, usually made up of 6-12 individuals - although larger ones can approach double that - and consisting not only of family but often close friends as well. Packs living together usually end up forming a colony, which can be considered analogous to a human town or city. Colonies send representatives to the central Senate, and the Senate in turn is led by a small Council of members elected from the colony representatives.

The anavri are equally at home on the ground or above it, and this, combined with the lack of open land, means their colonies tend to grow up, rather than out. In addition, with the advent of space travel almost all of what little open land there is on Laethis has been devoted to ship construction and spaceports. As a result, the anavri population has stayed relatively small compared to other spacefaring species.

THE HAAN: Inside a pack, a few members might form a haan, a very close knit group of 3-5 individuals who are typically the same age and have often been together since fledgling-hood. The bonds usually last their entire lives, and any children born to members of the haan are considered children to them all. Thus, anavri routinely have more than two parents. Not all anavri become part of a haan, but it's common enough that the children of haans are as commonplace and unremarkable as the children of only a bonded pair.

When an anavri is the offspring of a haan, they use body language, such as feather position, to indicate which specific parent they might be talking about. This often creates confusion when communicating with species lacking understanding of anavri non-verbal communication.

(Eshra, for example, has three parents: his mother, who laid his egg; his father, who is pair-bonded to his mother; and his other father, who is the other member of their haan. His biological father happens to be his mother's bondmate, but that isn't always or even often the case, and Eshra certainly doesn't care which of his fathers actually sired him, nor does any other anavri child.)

CULTURE: A combination of Laethis' hot, humid environment and the anavri's need for freedom of movement has resulted in an overall preference for light, loose clothing that doesn't restrict their range of motion. Some species tend to view anavri clothing -- or lack thereof -- as unseemly, or even scandalous; humans in particular often have a negative reaction to anavri fashion, much to the confusion and amusement of the anavri themselves, for whom clothing is usually an expression of individuality first and protection second, with "modesty" rarely being on the radar.

TECHNOLOGY: Technologically, anavri are on par with the other species seen in Mass Effect, minus interstellar travel: they are a spaceflight species, but the Scourge appeared not long after they achieved it, cutting off their system from the rest of the cluster. As such, while they've managed to colonize two worlds and various moons in their own system, they haven't been able to venture further. Interplanetary travel is common.

While not common, it isn't unheard of for anavri visiting other planets to employ personal mass effect fields to account for higher gravity.

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER SPECIES: Once introduced to the cluster at large, anavri discover they have a harder time communicating with the other races than average, because so much of their communication is built around body language that most other species can't mimic: hands, tails, feathers, and even head position are all key parts of anavri communication. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this means they get along very well with the elcor, as the elcor's similar use of subtle body language allows them to pick up on it more easily than other species, while the anavri's keen sense of smell lets them read elcor pheromones with impressive accuracy.

Anavri also get along well with turians. While the anavri are far less militaristic than the turians, both species have similar group-minded cultures. Much common ground is also found thanks to anavri and turians being dextro-based lifeforms in a universe that prefers levo-amino acid.