Adnerem

Adnerem are a tall, slender, dark-gray species dominant on the planet Adner. The Adnerem's head is triangular with a wide brain pan and narrowing face. At the top of the head is a fleshy-looking lump, which may apear to humans to be a tumor. It is, in fact, a firm, hollow, echo chamber which functions as an ear. Adnerem are bald, except for a vestigial strip of hair at the lower back of the head. Female Adnerem often grow this small patch of hair long and decorate their braids with jewelry.

The Adnerem hand is four-digited and highly flexible, but lacks a true opposable thumb. Adnerem can grow exceptionally long and sturdy nails, and the wealthy and influential often grow their nails to extraordinary lengths as a sign of their idleness. Their eyelids are narrow to protect against the overall brightness of Adner's twin suns and the eyes are lightly colored, usually blue or green.

Adnerem are decended from a scavenger/hunter precursor species. Their distant ancestors were semisocial and banded together in tribepacks of five to 20. This has carried on to Adnerem today, influencing their modern temperament and culture. They remain omnivorous and opportunistic.

Outwardy calm and dispassionate, inwardly intense, the Adnerem are deeply devoted to systematic pragmatism. Each Adnerem increases his position in life by improving his steris(Adner's primary socio-economic family unit; plural steri). While some individual Adnerem work hard to increase the influence and wealth of their steris, most do so out of self-interest.

The Adnerem have no social classes and judge people for the power of their steris and the position they have earned in it, not for accidents of birth. Having no cultural concept of rank, they have difficulty dealing with aliens who consider social position to be an important consideration.

Adnerem are fairly asocial and introverted, and spend a great deal of their private time alone. Social gatherings are very small, usually in groups of less than five. Adnerem in a group of more than 10 members are almost always silent (public places are very quiet), but two interacting Adnerem can be as active as 10 aliens, leading to the phrase "Two Adnerem are a party, four a dinner and six a funeral."

Sometimes a pair of Adnerem form a close friendship, a non-sexual bonding called sterika. The two partners become very close and come to regard their pairing as an entity. There is no rational explanation for this behavior; it seems to be a spontaneous event that usually follows a period of individual or communal stress. Only about 10 percent of Adnerem are sterika, Adnerem do not usuallly form especially strong emotional attachments to individuals.

Adnerem steri occasionally engage in low-level raid-wars, usually when the goals of powerful steri clash or a coalition of lesser steri rise to challenge a dominant steris. A raid-war does not aim to annihilate the enemy (who may become a useful ally or tool in the future), it seeks simply to adjust the dynamic balance between steri. Most raid-wars are fast and conducted on a small scale.

For the most part, the Adnerem are a stay-at-home species, preferring to excel and compete amongst themselves. Offworld, they almost always travel with other steris members. Some steri have taken up interstellal trading and run either large cargo ships or fleets of smaller cargo ships. A few steri have hired themselves out to corporations as management teams on small- to medium-sized projects.

The Adnerem do not trust the whims of the galactic economy and invest in maintaining their planetary self-sufficiency rather than making their economy dependent on foreign investment and imports. They have funded this course by investing and entertainment industries, both on-planet and off. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and thrill-seekers flock to the casinos, theme parks and pleasure houses of Adner, which, after 2,000 years of practice, are very adept at thrilling and pampering the crowds. These entertainment facilities are run by large steri with Adnerem management and alien employees.

RPG D6 Stats
Homeworld: Adner Attribute Dice: 12D DEXTERITY 1D/3D KNOWLEDGE 1D+2/4D+2 MECHANICAL 1D/3D PERCEPTION 1D+2/4D+2 STRENGTH 1D/3D TECHNICAL 1D/2D Special Abilities: None. Story Factors: Behind the Scenes: Adnerem like to manage affairs behind the scenes, and are seldom encountered as “front ofﬁce personnel.” Move: 10/11 Size: 1.8 - 2.2 meters tall