Kirin

Physiology
Shorter than most humanoids: They average at around 155 centimeters for women, and 160 for men. Not very different from humans, Kirins differ from them by small physiological differences: They possess pointed but short ears, though unlike Vulcans, for example, their ears do not stick close to the head, but rather protrude, commonly “flopping” down when relaxed. As these have a wide range of motion, they are often a big part of nonverbal communication.

In those individuals living at the peak of the mountains, also known as the Yui-ren, these ears are often covered by fur, usually white or grey, but sometimes brown, beige or black. These confer them impressive balance due to their well-developed inner ears.

Built for climbing, their bodies have many small adaptations for this function, such as heightened lung capacity, robust bones and flexible joints. These same advantages can also be weaknesses: bones that can handle falling from a cliff won't necessarily be good at withstanding punches, and powerful inner ears can burden Kirins with an increased tendency to become sea, air or spacesick.

In terms of phenotypic variety, they are quite similar to Humans: Brunette Kirins are most common, followed by black-haired, blondes and gingers. Blonde and black-haired people are most likely to be from the snowy peak areas, as are paler skin, blue eyes and monolidded eyes. Dark skin is uncommon due to the relative lack of solar radiation-heavy biomes, though by no means absent.

Lifespan
On average, 140 for males, and 150 for females, though the Yui-ren  often have shorter lifespans due to the hostile environment if compared to their farther down cousins, the Mai-ren.

Medical Conditions
Like many other species, Kirins are prone to developing diseases, though none are too widespread or endemic. Occasionally, one may be born with underdeveloped inner ears compared to the species average, rendering them heavily impaired in climbing. In ancient times, these people would have headed down to the small valleys and plains and settled there, though nowadays, with advances in medicine and technology, these Kirins can live comfortably in the mountains with the others.

Pre-warp
During a significant part of their history, Kirin who lived in the peaks would have little contact with their cousins living further below and vice-versa, though some degree of commercial and cultural contact had occurred since very ancient times. With the Yui-ren exploring farther down and the Mai-ren climbing further up, cultural exchange became more and more prevalent, up to the point they were all a mostly unified network of tribes from both parts of the mountains.

First Contact
The first contact between Kiros and the UFP occurred shortly after the Kirin discovery and invention of warp drive by a team of scientists, with the ship Katsura which departed from Kiros in 2332. Shortly after, the Federation took notice of their kind, initiating first contact a few months later. Five years later, in 2337, Kiros became an official member of the Federation.

Warp
Kiros has access to all of the Federation's warp technologies, though before officially joining them they had reached up to Warp 2.

Beliefs
The dominant belief system in Kiros is pantheism, seeing manifestations of the divine in most living or nonliving things. Seeing life as a cyclical process of birth, life, death and transfer of spiritual energy, the ideal for all things is to return to the environment: remains of food are to be made into fertilizer, bodies are to be processed in a way that will make their remains into useful matter in a few years, eventually feeding and sustaining their loved ones.

Of course, after interacting with the Federation, other belief systems have been introduced into Kirin society, though so far there have been few conflicts related to such faiths.

Family
To Kirins, family is a complex matter. The tribes of old do still exist, though in a much more subdued manner than before: they've shrunk down into a system much more similar to a clan. These clans are largely seen as a distant extended family, but inter-clan marriage and breeding isn't seen as much of a taboo. Usually a clan is indicated by one, or rarely two, short syllables before a Kirin’s proper surname. These clans are led by a matriarch or patriarch, though they usually don't have much authority and have a more traditional role. These clans can have well upwards of a thousand individuals, though many smaller clans exist.

“Family” in the more traditional sense usually refers to immediate and close extended family, usually only going as far as grandparents and their siblings, as well as their children. Anything more distant than that is generally considered as part of a clan, not a family.

Society
Even though Kirin government isn't very centralized, but rather a descending web of more and more specific councils, they can reach agreements surprisingly easily and quickly, but of course not flawlessly: Being so social and close-knit, they are easy to become scared of strangers should they harm their social circle, whether that be their tribe, family or species.

With a language full of suffixes, affixes and honorifics, one would be lead to believe Kirins have a form of social hierarchy, but that's not the case: These have a goal to be mostly descriptive: just because a Kirin refers to another as older than them doesn't mean they respect them any more than other members of society: it's mostly seen as a statement of a fact. Someone who forgets to use these honorifics is just seen as particularly distracted, but it can also be seen as cute by many, and this habit is also often associated with youngsters, who grew up influenced by other languages such as Standard.

Behavior
In general, Kirin are a very social people, though the Yui-ren and Mai-ren express it in different ways. The Mai-ren are very talkative and gregarious, though typically only practice occasional physical contact: hugging, hand shaking, occasional kissing. The Yui-ren, meanwhile, may not talk as much, but they are impressively touchy-feely, originally out of a need to preserve heat, but now, with modern heating it's become mostly cultural. There's a saying that if you see a large Yui-ren, nine times out of ten it's two or more of them cuddling.

Rituals
Kirins have many rituals, that are less religious, but more like superstitious: There are ceremonies associated to most life events: Births, a child’s first climb, a child’s first proper Ha-sei song, dating and marriage, an elder’s last climb, and finally their death. Those are just some of the rituals, though they can be considerably shortened in times of need to simple tasks and chants.

Recreational
Climbing, of course, is a very common sport, as are forms of paragliding and rappelling. For almost every art and subject, there is a tradition of forming a circle and chatting: from musicians to scientists, almost all of them will share their works and knowledge in groups occasionally.

Language
Kirian. Most notably, Kirian has two main forms: Chi-sei or “Close-speak”, as would be the direct translation, and Ha-sei, “far-speak”: The first is ordinary verbal communication between people near each other, and the other is what one would use to communicate with someone across a valley.

Chi-sei has clearly defined syllables with at least one vowel and one consonant, though sometimes sounds can be added or omitted due to linguistic quirks. This is what would be usually referred to as “Kirian language”. Words are often composites of smaller base words, and in Standard writing these smaller words are often separated by hyphens or apostrophes.

Ha-sei, meanwhile, is much more musical and pitch-based than its counterpart, similar to Terran kulning or yodeling. As it directly depends on the Kirins’ high lung capacity, a species without a comparable breathing will struggle to produce it, having to resort to specially-made whistles often used for those who have lost their voices or haven't developed them yet, as in the case of children. Other species often call it “Kirin whistling”, though it is a misnomer, as it is nothing alike whistling, more like very loud singing.

Ships
Kiros has a small fleet of its own ships, most being geared for exploration and scientific pursuits. Though they do have a few military ones, they mostly rely on the Federation for protection.

Stations
They have three stations near Kiros with a capacity for five larger ships and ten smaller craft, totalling fifteen large ships and thirty small ones. Their moon also has a spacedock of the same kind.

Weapons
Not being a very warlike people, Kirin haven't made many advances in the field of weapons, though there are modernized adaptations of older hunting weapons such as bows and slingshots, as well as simplistic phasers.

Unique Technology
Instead of cutting edge technology, Kirin are known for their ability to create surprisingly complex machinery out of simple materials such as stone, wood and unrefined metal. For this reason, even if they may not have an advantage in modern warfare, they may fare well in guerilla-like, low resource warfare.

Overview
Located in a system with five other planets, Kiros has one moon, with its own smaller moon. It has a 23 hour day and four seasons.

Ecosystem
Kiros is known for an astonishingly mountainous environment: the planet has formed in such a way that plains, or even relatively flat terrain is quite rare. Not only are the mountains frequent, they're also tall: Kiros’ tallest mountains all have at least a few hundred meters in advantage if compared to Earth’s Mt Everest.

Government
Kiros’ government is a council who chooses a representative from their ranks every three years. Each of the council members leads another council, composed of the leaders of each of the further subdivisions inside it, and again for the smallest regions. Each of these council members has a team of advisors on the most diverse aspects such as science, arts and culture, among others. These advisors and the member they advise then make decisions for their communities.

Space Infrastructure
Kiros has a small colony on the Moon, as well as research stations in most planets of its system.

Ground Infrastructure
Cities litter the mountains of the planet: in the colder regions, they're underground, carved out of stone to keep close to the hot springs that provide needed warmth. Further down the mountains, their towns are still carved out, but now, the stones are shaped into buildings, or often are turned into bricks that then compose other buildings. They are intricately decorated, and Kirin stonemasons are regarded by many as some of the most talented in the region, and by the most enthusiastic, the entire Federation.

Due to the absence of large flat terrain, spaceship launching has been very dependent on aircraft carriers in early space exploration, largely replaced by spacedocks.

Important Landmarks
Their mountains are a quite popular travel destination, as well as their carved cities. Kiros’ capital is Katsura, which was the namesake for the first Kirin warp-capable shop.