Mantrid

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The Mantrids are a race of sapients from the planet Mantrus in the Viperius Galaxy.

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Following a long war with the Iridi and their Vrah and Detroni mercenaries, they were expelled from their homeworld, with only a few survivors.

Physiology

Mantrids are typically around 2m tall and mass around 90kg. They have long necks ending in small heads with large eyes like those of stomatopods, giving them good vision. The brain extends down the neck, and the majority of the important neural regions are not located in the head. Their sense of hearing is weak, relying on external cilia.

They have chitinous carapaces, around a centimetre thick, which are tough and hard. This is in addition to the internal skeleton, which is calcaceous and exhibits a honeycomb structure. They used to have wings, though these have atrophied and become a thick elytra which covers the front and back of the torso (meeting under the arms), adding another layer of chitinous protection in those regions.

They are very durable animals. A Mantrid can survive for three days at -10°C or eight days at +60°C. They can go without water for three weeks and without food for around four weeks, possessing very effective internal recycling systems. Mantrids have been recorded surviving in a vacuum for over twenty minutes without any adverse effects, as they have sealable lungs with large volumes and effective CO2 disposal.

Their powers of regeneration are also remarkable. They can regrow limbs, eyes and their elytra, though this requires weeks of high-nutrient diets and large amounts of sleep, though Mantrids can usually get by on three hours of sleep a day.

They have telsons for their front arms. These have bony claws and are known to be able to move extremely fast, extending to their full reach from from the body within three hundredths of a second. However, they are relatively fragile.

Diet

The Mantrids are omnivores, able to eat meat, fruits, and tubers.

Reproduction

Sexual, viviparous animals, Mantrids are able to reproduce after the age of eleven. Offspring gestate for seven months and are always born singly. They take ten years to grow to their full size, but rely on their mother's milk (from an organ below the abdomen) for their first five months of life.

Intelligence

The Mantrids are intelligent sapients, capable of complex thought and imagination.

Society

Mantrid society used to be a warrior culture, with an Emperor who ruled over all Mantrids. Under him were a group of around a hundred lords, who in turn each had power over a number of Chieftains, each who controlled a tribe of around a thousand Mantrids (sometimes far more and sometimes less).

Titles were hereditary, unless the Emperor intervened. Lords could create new tribes from those of their Chieftains.

Education was compulsory for all Mantrids between the ages of five and eleven. After this, they could choose to do further education, which would permit them to become scientists, engineers, and so on. These individuals were outside the normal tribe system and reported directly to their region's Lord rather than any Chieftains. The best educated Mantrids would be taken by the Emperor and report directly to him instead.

They now conform with the interspecies culture of the hub worlds.

Technology

Mantrids possess reasonably advanced technology.

Spaceships

There were several classes of Mantrid ship:

Cruisers were up to 200m long. They were the most common type of spacecraft, with mass cannons and torpedoes of several types.

Frigates reached a kilometre long, and were extremely fast and agile. They carried banks of mass cannons, various torpedoes, nuclear missiles, and a laser cannon.

Battleships could be ten kilometres long, and were not very manoeuvrable. Many turrets bearing mass cannons and flak guns were installed on their hulls, and they carried many kinds of torpedo and missile, as well as nuclear weaponry. There were two banks of laser cannons and a spinal railgun.

All had thick, spaced hulls and could travel at 0.1-0.5c sublight and enter Hyperspace.

Materiel

Ground weaponry was varied and advanced for the Mantrids. They had assault rifles, light machine guns, sniper rifles, SMGs, RPGs and mortars for infantry, with kevlar and shear-thickening layers for armour.

They had tanks, which were lightly armoured but fast with heavy machine guns, and helicopters, which carried several heavy machine guns and bombs and usually possessed multiple rotors.

Settlements

Mantrid settlements tended to be in the form of an enormous, well-defended and strongly built citadel surrounded by smaller houses. The citadel held the leaders, garrison, and factories and acted as a refuge for the populace.

Relations with other races

The Mantrids have become bitter in their exile. They harbour resentment for the races that defeated them- the Iridi, Vrah, and Detroni.

The get along well enough with other allied races, and like most are opposed to the Kerarans, Elisri, and Flesh Thieves.