The Dutiful Hive
Gokiburi are born to serve their colony. From simple nymph to grand elder, they live in a world where the greatest honor is ensuring the stability and peace of their next generation. If this is a result of social upbringing, insectoid behavior, or pheromonal mind control none can quite say what is certain is that a group of gokiburi are exponentially more dangerous and determined that one alone.
The gokiburi are said to have evolved from a race of desert insects called blattodea, or at least a common ancestor to them. Quickly mobilizing their presence upon the land, they avoided infighting due to constant battles with the ocean-dwelling sister race of brachyurans, a battle which established their dominance as the primary race of planet Gokia. Working together, the society, the colony, the nation, and other secular groupings took charge over religious bearings, the patriot's zeal taking the place of paladins in other lands. For better or worse, it has made them into an effective cosmic power, but one which can also be out of touch and sometimes without mercy. Traveling the stars for the sake of exploration, trade, and expansion, gokeburi could easily become either friends or foes.
Gokiburi Anatomy
External Anatomy
Gokiburi are certainly alien in form, sharing more traits with insects than man. Quadrupedal, with an additional set of limbs which functions as both hands or legs, they are extraordinarily stable. Their bodies are compact and round, with slender and sensitive antenna curving off of their backs, and a long trunk which ends in a three-parted mouth, and a single short eyestalk. Their chitinous bodies are coated in a thin rubbery layer of skin which usually comes in various earth-tones, and limbs possess four joints, each tipped in three-digit fingers and toes.
Gokiburi vision is relatively poor compared to other races, only having one eye. However, the single eye's pupil is split into three slits which can expand and contract independently. Gokiburi vision is said to be "strange", and they view blue colors with more vibrancy than the average human, sight extending into the low-ultraviolet range. The eyestalk has a direct connection into what constitutes the base of the brain stem, allowing its vision receptors to be so relatively distant from the location of its brain.
The gokiburi mouth performs the same function as a human mouth would, possessing teeth in a ring around its throat like a lamprey, with three large and pointed teeth at each of the bases of the jaw for grabbing and pulling in meat. Gokiburi are omnivorous and have a heavy diet of meats and fleshy flora, such as fruit. A great deal of digestion actually occurs within the length of the throat, where grinding nubs pummel any solid objects into mash as it travels to the stomach. Within the mouth itself, around the corners where one jaw meets another, slits within the fleshy lining open and close, acting as nostrils as well as the location of its scent and taste receptors, simultaneously acting as both tongue and nose. Gokiburi lack an actual tongue, but the slits, as well as the various muscle contractions within the throat and the clicking of teeth and bone, allow the gokiburi to speak in a hissing and chittering manner.
Gokiburi antennae are the most sensitive part on a gokiburi body, and function as the creature's ears. Able to direct small vibration, in older times they aided the survivability of the race by warning them of danger. Later, it allowed them to become vicious night hunters, where they could "see" through sound when others could not. Because of their sensitivity, a gokiburi who feels they are in danger seems skittish. They have a direct connection to the gokiburi brain, and subsequently the legs, to start into immediate action. Unlike the rest of their body, the antenna are the only part of the body a gokiburi is capable of regenerating naturally. Of course losing an antenna is certainly traumatic enough, removing half of their audio sensitivity.
The body of the gokiburi houses many organs, but besides hosting the base of the antenna, legs, arms, and trunk, it is rather bare of features. A gokiburi's reproductive organs in both genders are covered by a flap of skin which protects them, situated on the lower-backside of their forms, the pocket facing backward in females and forward in males. In males the flap merely is a covering for the male organ until use (male testes are internal), but in females the flap serves as a womb. In the event of pregnancy, the skin flap soon seals over, becoming half of the leathery egg case for newborn nymphs. A female gokiburi carries around the ever-enlarging egg case for 4 months until it finally drops off and continues to grow on its own for another 4 months. Pregnancy ends within 8 months resulting in a clutch from one to three gokiburi nymphs. The skin flap regrows shortly after laying the egg.
Internal Anatomy
Internally gokeburi are extremely strange, even less human than before. The various limbs and trunk are relatively simple in comparison to the body, which hosts the majority of the gokiburi vital organs. The gokiburi have exoskeletons, with exception what may be called a "skull and spine", the skull forming a layer of hard bone around their main body, and their spine extending from the body down to the end of the trunk and mouth.
The gokiburi brain is a dome found on the top of their bodies, with wings which extend down into the antenna on the sides, and a brain stem which travels along the spine to the eyestalk at the tip of the trunk. The brain stem is biologically optimized for high speed communication between the two ends, having no additional limbs far from the brain to worry about. A strange organ called a kryptokardiac node is situated within the brain, at the front-top just before where the trunk meets. Small and curiously bright blue, the nature of the organ is yet unknown but may somehow be connected to psionics, as the psionically gifted among them have unusually vibrant or large organs.
Below the brain, within a three lobed ring at the connection of body and trunk are the lungs, matching the nostrils within the end of the mouth. The esophagus runs directly through the center of the three lobes to the stomach within the lower-center area. From stomach, food spirals down in a complex coil into small and large intestines, exiting the anus situated at the lower back of the creature just above the reproductive flap. Gokiburi waste only comes in one form, a semi-solid slurry of waste liquid and undigested material.
Just above the stomach, and below the brain lies the gokiburi heart, a three-lobed ring shaped organ which pumps blood to the rest of the body. Gokiburi blood is red, possessing many of the same compounds as humans do. Additional organs such as livers, kidneys, and various glands litter the back end and spaces between other organs, all held in place by a web of cartilage to separate them.
Gokiburi Life
Gokiburi are born from pillow-sized and shaped leathery egg sacs in groups of one or two at a time, chewing through the nutrient-rich skin until it bursts out and clambers into the world, its soft and pale-white exoskeleton hardening and turning dark after a few hours in the sun. Gokiburi young, called nymphs, remain fairly pale and grow gradually darker and darker until they are nearly black by the time they reach maturity at age 8. Nymph skin is thin, allowing the exoskeleton to peel off with the exoskeleton remains as it grows. When an adult, the exoskeleton grows so slowly that any sloughing of skin is done at a microscopic and gradual rate. By any time between age 11 to 15, they are considered mentally adults as well and are allowed to pass through a ritual, which varies from colony to colony, as a passage into adulthood. While in the past these were usually physical tests, of late mental abilities have been prized just as well.
Gokiburis typically live and serve in their colony for up to 70 to 90 years before retiring. Old gokiburi often become teachers and bastons of wisdom, or take care of the youngest generation growing up. A gokiburi can live up to be 145 years old under good circumstances, though several pass on before that, for the gokiburi are an expanding, and militant, race. Colonization is dangerous, and when war breaks out, gokiburi are relentless, resulting in high casulaties on all sides. Gokiburi, as a rule, are not devoutly religious as the matters of colony and nation often take all of a gokiburi's zeal and effort. However they both recognize gods and do not prevent worshipers from worshiping their collective gods, so long as the interests of the divine leave the colony be.
Gokiburi Diet
Gokiburi are omnivorous, but favor meat and fleshy fruits over vegetables, using the latter for little more than seasoning and side dishes. They are capable of consuming meat raw, but find the flavor of cooked foods intruging. Gokiburis seem to favor sweet, sour, and "meaty" foods. Gokiburis found on Earth-like planets seem to have found a love in lemons, limes, pineapples, oranges, and various melons, as well as red meats and fish products. Gokiburi can endure hardship slightly longer than humans, needing food within 12 days and drink within 6 days before expiring, but they also consume slightly more food than the average human.
Gokiburi Houses
Gokiburi society is ultimately split into castes. While mobility is likely and one is not born ito a caste, their parents often expose them and ultimately end up drawing them into the ranks of their number. To this end, the gokiburi are split up into nine "houses", to denote their position within society. Sometimes a gokiburi may make a career change from one house to another, and they retain the titles bestowed from all houses they have entered. Thus it is an honor to be from more than one house. With the ritual of adulthood ultimately comes the naming of a house for the young gokiburi.
House Baas: The leaders of the gokiburi, they constitute both political leaders and management of a different sort at all levels. If your job is to cordinate the efforts of many, you have position within House Baas.
House Tongere: The thinkers of the gokiburi, they consist of scientists, judges, astronomers, and all jobs secular dealing with the mind and processing of information gained.
House Solidus: The warriors of the gokiburi, they make up the vast majority of military positions, as well as police, and rarely professional sportsmen of more violent nature are considered part of House Solidus.
House Meter: The caretakers of the gokiburi, they extend this rank to both mothers and fathers and to the medical profession. Jobs which consist of the upkeep of young, the health of the old, and the maintainance of society walk under the bannar of House Meter.
House Merx: The merchents of the gokiburi, they keep the economy running and the distribution of goods flowing throughout the colonies they serve. Out of all houses, those of House Marx are the most likely to be friendly with other beings, seeking opporunity.
House Iwar: The enlightened of the gokiburi, the term is broadly applied to thinkers who bring their thoughts to the metaphysical. The religiously devout, the philosophers, and the seekers of spiritual fulfilment are part of House Iwar.
House Crescere: The crafters of the gokiburi, they differ from House Merx in that they create what is to be sold. The house is largest of them all holding farmers, construction workers, mechanics, painters, and more as members.
House Avis: The performers of the gokiburi, they are crafters of a different sort, crafting that which cannot be held or kept. They craft experience, through acting, musical talent, and various enjoyments which take the form of events, rather than objects.
House Alius: The outcast of the gokiburi, the house technically covers the rare niche of one who is among no house at all. More often it covers those who, for some reason or another, cannot or do not contribute to society. Because this is usually associated with criminals and the exiled, House Alius is seen more as an insult than an actual house.
Gokiburi Paragon Prestige Class
Gokiburi Paragon (3.5e Racial Paragon Class