The Fauns

Two Fauns representative of distinct ethnic groups. The man on the left comes from the West Takari Plainer tribe, while the woman on the right is of the tundraic Iacynivyri people.

Life-bearing planets are a rarity in the vast universe, and sapient lifeforms are even more scarce. Although the abundance of sophonts in the Fraternity, including ourselves (humanity), may indicate a vast quantity of sapient life in the galaxy, and the possession of warp technology does make the discovery of new life significantly easier, it has been estimated that the sophonts of the Fraternity may constitute a staggering 43% of all the sapient species that can hypothetically exist the Milky Way. Furthermore, according to the metrics of Fraternity historians, it can take anywhere from half a century to nearly a millennium for new sophont species to be discovered. Typically, a sophont-bearing planet harbored a single fully sapient species, with some extinct relatives and a few intellectually advanced animals.

Athyrmagaia stands out as an exception to this otherwise fairly consistent statistic—a pre-industrial "medieval" world hosting nearly a dozen closely related sapient species. Among these, the Fauns (Astutocentaurus cosmopolitans) stand out as the most prevalent. While not the largest or strongest of their kind, the Fauns hold a unique position as one of the most geographically dispersed peoples on Athyrmagaia, populating all known landmasses and thriving in various climates. Their regular encounters with human researchers also makes them the most extensively studied of the planet's diverse inhabitants. Over time, some Fauns have even ventured beyond their homeworld, becoming themselves members of the very Fraternity that discovered them. Their widespread presence makes it challenging to characterize them uniformly, given the diversity in their lifestyles, cultures, and appearances mirroring the lands they inhabit. Their vast distribution does little to inhibit their less populous cousins, however, as they are known to actively cooperate and even form joint societies with them.

Etymology

A mythological faun, as depicted by Hungarian painter Pál Szinyei Merse. 

The Fauns get their human-given name from the fauns of Roman mythology. In the context of these human myths, fauns were the lesser extensions of the Roman fertility god Faunus, and were originally depicted visually as naked men. As the Romans started adopting the Greek pantheon as their own, however, fauns were retroactively conflated with their Greek equivalents, the satyrs, being depicted with the upper body of a man and the legs and horns of a goat. The usage of the term "Faun" in reference to Astutocentaurus capiodon is more or less a result of perceived parallels with the fantasy creature, particularly their seeming preference to avoid conflict.

Fauns are known by an even wider variety of names on their home planet, too many to count. In some of their own tongues, they have been known to refer to themselves as r̊oivwoi (/ˈʁɔɪ̯βwɔɪ̯/, lit."lean-folk"), weu̯e̯wao̯a̯ˈwu (/weu̯e̯wao̯a̯ˈwu/, lit. "grass-people"), and dobastuyo (/doˌbastuˈjo/, lit. "collar-person"). The Uerco of the Heveccan Empire often demeaningly refer to them as c'aut'at'c'auda (/ǃɑ̰ˌǂa̰ǂǃɑ̰ˈda̰/, lit. "running-meat"), a slur that has roots in the Age of Terror, though more tolerant individuals prefer to call them c'aut'at'tzatdach (/ǃɑ̰ˈǂa̰ǂtz̰a̰tˈda̰ʧ/, lit. "running-people"). Shovelfolk, in their ancient tongue, refer to the Fauns as lichren (/ˈlicren/,lit. "tall-sibling"), a name that reflects the strong sociopolitical allegiance they have with the Takari Plainers; They even have gendered variants of the word, such as lichél (/licél/, lit. "tall-brother") and litré (/litré/, lit. "tall-sister").

Anatomy & Physiology

The Fauns trace their lineage back to a more recent, anatomically modern offshoot of Astutocentaurus that emerged approximately 400,000 years ago in the Borean Central Savannah. They share a more recent common ancestor with the Satyrs (Astutocentaurus gnathocornis) and Uerco (Astutocentaurus capiodon). Despite being a relatively young species, the Fauns are considered to be very good model organisms of the genus as a whole, showcasing traits present in most, if not all, other Astutocentaurus species. Therefore, we will delve into fairly detailed descriptions of their anatomy and physiology.

In general, Fauns typically boast tall statures, averaging between five to six feet in height when upright, exhibiting slender yet robust physiques. Their faces are rounded with a hint of leonine features, characterized by reduced brow ridges, prominent foreheads, and expressive eyes. Their auripods (equivalent to ears in Athyrmatherian anatomy) are large and highly emotive. Notably, they sport bone-cored keratinous horns or tusks protruding from their chins, serving as defensive weaponry. Their bodies are covered in a striped pelt of short, close-fitting fur, with sparsely furred patches on their faces, undersides, and extremities designed for efficient heat dissipation. Most Fauns exhibit longer hair or hackles on their heads, which they can style akin to human hair. An average Faun possesses eight hearts and lungs, each with corresponding pairs of spiracles. Their facial spiracles function as nostrils for scent detection, while the thoracic spiracles located on their necks' sides serve as their primary vocal organs.

Regarding their form and posture, Fauns definitely live up to their genus name. They are obligately quadrupedal hexapods, keeping their thorax in a "centauroid" posture and walking solely on their second and third pairs of locomotors. Their front locomotors, freed from acting exclusively as legs for walking, are their primary manipulators and terminate in highly dexterous tridactyl hands. However, they tend to support themselves on all six limbs when galloping at full speed and climbing, and particularly steep downward grades often make it necessary to clamber down backward. Indeed, they are highly cursorial creatures, having heavily calloused skin on the knuckles of their medial locomotors for extra traction, and hind locomotors that bear weight mainly on the first and second toes rather than the whole foot while running. Although they are rather front-heavy due to their erect posture, an especially flexible and stabilized "waist" characteristic of their genus allows them to easily shift their center of gravity to variations in terrain. In addition to being excellent runners, Fauns are also very good at climbing, as they evolved from an arboreal early ancestor.

The structure of their front locomotors somewhat mirrors the anatomy of the human shoulder girdle; their scapula bones are oriented at a lower position than those of non-sapient Simicentaureans, which makes them exceptional at throwing and hurling things, and the abundance of slow-twitch muscle fibers allows them to perform delicate, high-precision tasks. Their hands, while ungainly at first glance, are surprisingly nimble. The first and second fingers are biramous, with bifurcating distal phalanges that double as small pincers for grasping small, hard-to-reach objects. The middle phalanges also form a paired bone structure that allows the pincer-like fingertip to both pronate and supinate, like a forearm and wrist. In contrast, their third finger is uniramous and highly opposable, functioning as a thumb to allow for complex tool use and grasping. At the center of their sternum, Fauns have a smaller third arm called a "sternal claw," formed from two limb buds that fuse in the middle during pupal metamorphosis. The claw is commonly used for grooming, though Fauns have also been seen using it to hold and manipulate objects while their hands are already occupied.

 As Athyrmatherians, Fauns are colonial organisms, composites of four highly codependent zooids that can both detach and reattach at will, functioning in unison as a single complete organism. Although they are technically four individual organisms and have four separate nervous systems, a "single" Faun only has one personality and identity, with the entire system being interconnected by a series of neural conduits. The actual brain of the gestalt is housed within the cranial zooid, serving as the seat of their consciousness and personhood. That being said, however, their composite nervous system is still somewhat decentralized: In addition to the primary brain in the head, they also have a specialized thoracic ganglion, a sort of non-sapient "secondary brain" inside of their chest cavity which works closely in tandem with the former. The thoracic ganglion functions as a sort of "backup storage" for memory, and a secondary motor cortex for fine control over the voluntary functions of the other post-cranial zooids. It also has a rudimentary, animalistic consciousness, which only awakens when the cranial zooid is detached. If this somehow occurs, the thoracic ganglion will eerily commandeer the headless body to retrieve and re-attach the cranial zooid, returning to dormancy as soon as the head is correctly re-attached.

Diet

Fauns are generalist omnivores that descend from a frugivorous ancestor. A relatively large portion of their diet consists of red meat, starchy tubers, fruit, and Sphondamycete "fungi", supplemented by bioplastic foliage as a source of fiber. To process such a wide variety of foods, their labrum and gnathopods work together to act as a robust and tortoise-like beak used for cutting and nipping. Like the beaks of tortoises (and to some extent the teeth of rodents), the beaks of Fauns grow constantly, so they often keep this growth in check by chewing on "wood," bones, or using files. Just behind their beak lie their mandibles and hard palate, which bear hard, keratinous ceratodontes used for chewing. As is the case for most Athyrmatherians, Fauns also possess a crop preceding their stomach, which is used as a temporary storage compartment for food and plays a small role in pre-digestion. This adaptation benefits a plains-dwelling lifestyle, allowing them to stave off hunger between protein-dense meals by eating nutrient-poor roughage.

Biodiversity & Phenotypical Variation

Although they are a singular species, Fauns boast a surprisingly high physical and phenotypic variation due to their cosmopolitan distribution. Depending on geographic ancestry, different populations of the species exhibit adaptations in their external features that allow them to live more easily in climates that differ from their temperate, plains-dwelling baseline. In sociopolitical terms, these have often been referred to as "races," although just like the human equivalent, the perceived differences between Faunish races are purely skin-deep, not indicative of taxonomically or biologically distinct groups. Indeed, all of the variety expressed by Fauns exists within a single shared gene pool, and anyone of any race is capable of interbreeding without any complications.

The most immediately noticeable variations between Faunish peoples are their skin and pelt coloration. With each ethnic group, the quantity of dermal melanin increases or decreases depending on the amount of sun exposure in their native latitudes, and their fur patterning and color is usually influenced by a combination of environmental and cultural factors. For example, the ancestral condition, as seen in the temperate climate Takari Plainers, is a tan skin tone with white or blonde hackles, and brownish green-flecked fur with beige countershading and cream-colored stripes that allow for more effective camouflage in the tall star grasses of their home range. Tropical and subtropical populations, however, namely those living in the continent of Comedia, usually exhibit much darker skin tones for additional protection from the equatorial sunshine and tend to have larger quantities of biliverdin in their coats to blend into dense tropical foliage. Taiga-dwelling populations further north have paler complexions to maximize vitamin D synthesis in a less sun-exposed environment and tend to have monochromatic coats that are black and white.

Due to their tendency to associate and ally with their sister species, Fauns have a rather large quantity of introgressed DNA from other Astutocentaurines, both extant and extinct, due to interbreeding. Experts have likened this to the small amounts of introgressed Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in anatomically modern humans. For example, most populations have DNA inherited from Shovelfolk (Astutocentaurus alluvium), with the percentages being the largest in the Plainer tribes whose ranges regularly overlap with their diminutive kin. Faun populations living in Borea's northern forests tend to have introgressed genes from Satyrs (Astutocentaurus gnathocornis) and vice versa, and a variety of coastal cultures exhibit introgression from the Mer (Thalassocentaurus sirenius), despite the relatively distant relation of the latter compared to other Astutocentaurines.

The Fauns' propensity for diversity occurs not only on a broader population level, but also on a more personal individual basis. Fauns have a notable degree of variation in their facial features, with each person having a unique likeness that allows them to easily identify each other just by the looks of their faces. Features such as eye and hair color, eye width, brow and cheekbone definition, snout profile, and even auripod curvature have been known to vary considerably, determined in large part by genetic factors that are passed down from parent to child. This is extremely similar to the facial variety seen among humans, which evolved for more or less the same purpose.

Psychology, Senses, & Communication

Fauns, alongside their sister species, converge rather heavily with hominins in terms of psychology and sensory perception. They are very visually oriented creatures, possessing trichromatic vision with a visual acuity that tends to average at 20/20, and they are very good at recognizing and associating meaning to visual patterns and color combinations. They are also very good at recognizing faces, as it is one of the primary means by which they identify each other. Their hearing range tends to fall between 20 to 20,000 hertz, and they are also able to detect infrasound frequencies through their hind feet. The frontal connection surfaces of their zooids also have heat pits that provide a sort of thermal "vision", though these are only used when the zooids are detached from one another. Due to this, much of their learning, pattern-seeking, and communication ability relies primarily on the visual and audio spectrum.

Like humans, Fauns communicate primarily through spoken language. The vocal element of their speech is made possible by complex vocal structures situated within their thoracic spiracles, which allow them to produce a variety of sounds that can be used in different combinations to form words. They can even emulate human speech, a physical ability many other sophont aliens have difficulty with. A pair of synchronized ball muscles roughly approximate to tongues to produce lingual consonants, while well-muscled "lips" at the spiracular openings are used to produce plosives and modulate vowels. Their voices are noted to have a very broad range of tone; When speaking, they tend to do so in a sequence of gentle honking, hooting and bleating tones, which are often remarked as sounding vaguely like the vocals of caprines and panines arranged in a birdsong-like pattern. Much like human speech, however, the cadence of their speaking voices changes in accordance with mood.

As an inherently social species, they also have a variety of non-verbal vocalizations that they use to communicate their mood in a way that transcends language barriers; When outwardly agitated or annoyed, they utter a low growling noise not unlike that of a leopard, which gets louder and accompanied by hisses and beak claps if it escalates to outright anger. When displaying aggression or fighting, they may let out loud, hacking screams and roars, which are more than enough to scare off an unprepared human. When in a state of despair or mourning, they often emit subtle whining and whimpering sounds, with occasional outbursts of melancholy howls that seem to be analogous to a weep. Moments of contemplation and deep thought, however, are often accompanied by low, throaty hums and drums. They even have an equivalent to a laugh in the form of braying and hooting vocals that they emit when they are amused.

An expression chart displaying the basic facial expressions of Astutocentaurus. Despite the chart depicting a Shovelperson (Astutocentaurus alluvium), it is applicable to Fauns as well.

Although their communication is predominantly verbal, there is also a non-spoken, visual element to their communication. Spoken words are often supplemented by hand gestures and gaze direction to emphasize meaning, and much like hominins they express emotion through semi-involuntary facial expressions.

Sexes & Reproduction

A diagram of the Faun reproductive system, showcasing both the gonads and the frontal claspers.

Fauns exhibit a mild degree of sexual dimorphism, enough so that a casual observer can easily distinguish between the two sexes. Men and women tend to be similar in size, with the former bearing slightly more robust builds with longer tusks and the latter having shorter tusks and wider lower abdominal zooids. Men in particular tend to grow fringed hackles around their shoulders, which is seen as a sign of virility. Despite a convergently mammal-like appearance, Faun women entirely lack breasts or mammary glands, and do not lactate in a traditional sense. They do, however, secrete a sort of nutritious womb-milk to sustain developing larvae (more on that later). As is typical for Athyrmatherians, Faunish men and women have gonads that are internalized within a lower abdominal cloaca, with men having retractable lymphatic penises. In addition to their true gonads, however, the Fauns and their close kin also possess a set of forward-facing, secondarily erogenous organs on their upper abdominal zooids, right between their medial locomotors. While these aren't true sex organs like those of the lower abdominal zooid, these secondary erogenous zones nonetheless play a role in sexual stimulation in both reproductive and non-reproductive contexts. In men, the organ develops in the form of a bristly, foldable frontal clasper ("clavis"), whereas in women it invaginates into a corresponding clasper pouch ("clausura"). Due to the more frontal orientation of these false sex organs, Fauns and other Astutocentaurus often mate while lying down face-to-face, in an odd recapitulation of the human missionary pose.

The chrysalis of an infant Faun.

Fauns are ovoviviparous creatures with highly altricial young. Their particular strategy differs from other live-bearing Athyrmatherians, however, in the fact that they retain both a larval and a pupal stage, and the larval quadruplets hatch from separate eggs in-utero. After feeding on sufficient amounts of womb milk and joining together, the conjoined larvae molt to become a chrysalis, which is then "laid" like an egg to be looked after by the mother and her family. This strategy seems to have co-evolved with their social behaviors, as it encourages tightly-knit family bonds. The chrysalis is essentially a hard, baby-shaped shell of keratin-sheathed bone, containing a soup of liquefied tissue that progressively reorganizes itself into that of the imago stage. The fat accumulated by the larvae is used to develop the brain of the cranial zooid, while the calcified cores of the outer shell are gradually broken down to build the long bones of the developing limbs. As the chrysalis gets closer to hatching over a period of six months, the baby inside becomes progressively more active and aware of its surroundings, the caps over its eyes becoming transparent so that it can see and, therefore, imprint upon its caretakers. Eventually, the shell of the chrysalis becomes so thin that it splits open easily, allowing the small, kitten-like child (also known as a "cub" or "calf") to emerge. Although altricial, Faun babies are capable of eating solid food from the moment they are born, since they emerge with an already well-developed beak. They usually tend to eat the outer shell of their discarded chrysalis first.

Society

Fauns are naturally very communal creatures. In particular, their mode of social organization strongly resembles that of humans and other great apes. They live in complex, highly cooperative fusion-fission societies that range in scale from simple band societies to whole-scale feudal nations, each with their own distinct cultures and institutions. Larger communities usually exhibit a distinct social stratification and can be divided into different sub-groups based on labor specialization, wealth, reputation, and power. The degree of social mobility can vary rather widely, but it generally tends to fall within a range equivalent to that of human societies.

As is the case for humans, kinship is integral to the Faunish social organization. All societies associated with the species are known to classify social relationships based on consanguinity (children, siblings, parents, grandparents, etc.) and affinity (marriage), as well as fictive family connections. These familial ties are among the main determining factors for transmitting inheritance and status, as being the spouse, sibling, or child of someone makes one more likely to share or inherit the latter's status. Like all sapient species that recognize a family dynamic, Fauns also have incest taboos, and sexual exchanges between consanguineous and fictive relatives are almost universally regarded as unsavory. Uniquely, Fauns and other Astutocentaurines recognize an additional form of kinship: When two unrelated persons exchange zooids with each other, they are considered to be members of the same family on the basis that they now possess pieces of each other. These are known as "swap-relatives".

Being a sexually dimorphic species, Faun societies typically have concepts of gender. Abroad, the Faunish perspective of gender is primarily binary, distinguishing between characteristics that can be culturally perceived as masculine or feminine and setting different standards for acceptable behavior based on those attributes. Generally speaking, their particular gender binary is very comparable to that of H. sapiens, so terms such as "man" and "woman" are fairly appropriate terminologies. That being said, the swappable modularity of their bodies does give them additional mobility in terms of gender identity compared to other diecious species. A person who doesn't feel content with their body could easily change their sex by quite literally trading their abdominal zooids with another person who is facing similar issues. As such, stigmas against gender dysphoria within Faunish cultures are rare both in modernity and antiquity. Fauns tend to be patriarchal; men are expected to be the family breadwinners and have roles in leadership, whereas women, while not entirely barred from leadership or working roles, are often less dominant socially. Some countries, such as Tinria, have a much more egalitarian attitude toward gender roles, with men and women having much more equality in terms of job opportunities.

Like many Astutocentaurines, Faunish cultures utilize utility vessels, the still-living headless bodies of their deceased, to supplement their employed workforces as well as a source of medical implants. Although they are practically vegetables, the thoracic ganglion is sophisticated enough that utility vessels can be trained to perform basic tasks, and the individual zooids themselves are ideal donors for the implantation of limbs or even entire body segments. As such, when a person who has agreed to donate their body undergoes self-death, their remaining vessel is cached in a body shop with a multitude of others, where it awaits future use. Although this seems unethical on a surface level, in truth the practice is just as much of a funerary rite as it is a source of revenue. In most Faunish cultures, utility vessels are treated with the utmost respect and reverence and are often paid for their services in much the same way as a fully living employee would. Once the utility vessel finally passes on, it is often buried in the same grave as the person's head, and the money it has earned throughout its tenure is usually either inherited by the person's family or buried alongside them as a token of good fortune.

Religion

Due to their cosmopolitan distribution, Fauns have so many religions associated with their species that it is impossible to tar their belief systems under a single brush, as the range of diversity expressed by these ideologies is not unlike the variation of human religions. Their religions can be classified into larger groupings based on shared geographic origins and mythological commonalities, though even amongst these the variation is quite prominent.

The most widespread religions amongst Fauns, particularly those indigenous to the continent of Borea, are the Deleuewean religions. Although these religions have some significant disparities in terms of philosophy, they are grouped together by their shared pantheons and creation myths, as well as the mention of a figure named "Deleuewe" in their respective scriptures. Many gods exist in the Deleuewean pantheon, but creation is attributed to three principal deities. Irir-Ihurhuh, the unisex god of reality itself, is responsible for creating the universe and all of the planets within it. They are also the singular parent of the pantheon's two other principal deities, Irir-Iu and Irir-Iwiche. Irir-Iu, the eldest brother, is the god of the sun, the day and life, and is tasked with bringing light to the world and giving sustenance to all that live on it. Irir-Iu's dance is slow and graceful, and as he does his waltz, whatever side of the planet he occupies is lit by the radiance that glows from deep within him. Irir-Iwiche, the youngest brother, is the god of the sea, the moons and the night, and is tasked with bringing light to the night sky and keeping the oceans alive through waves, currents and tides. Irir-Iwiche's dance is faster than that of his older brother, and as he spins around with his bolas, he causes the oceans to rise at whatever side he's occupying, with the tides being at their highest when his bolas swings closest to the surface. While his own light is often overwhelmed by Iu's during the day, it lights up the night with a dim, yet beautiful glow. The cycles of day and night and the rising of tides are said to be caused by these brothers doing an eternal, circular dance around the planet, and it is through this process that life is sustained and renewed.

Tool Culture, Technology & Science

While the spacefaring Fauns of the Fraternity have access to advanced technology and spaceflight, those who remain on Athyrmagaia live in a perpetual pre-industrial era, ranging from small hunter-gatherer communities to larger-scale feudal nations. Overall, they and the other contemporary Astutocentaurines are considered to be in their own respective equivalent of the Renaissance era. However, this is a very rough comparison, as they also have rather novel materials, resources, and technologies that other pre-industrial aliens do not.

Like many sophonts, Fauns are natural tool users, and have a sophisticated tool culture. Some of their tools are easy to recognize, such as throwing spears, axes, hammers, knives and swords, which can come in one-handed or two-handed variants. They even make use of rather familiar-looking eating utensils that can be described as "spoons" and "forks". Unlike humans, of course, Fauns have a total five manipulatory appendages; Two arms, one sternal claw, and two medial locomotors that, while mostly used for walking, can also serve as hands if needed. This abundance of manipulatory limbs provides them with many more free hands with which to use tools, and indeed, many of their tools are designed around this anatomical quirk. Among such creations is a menagerie of unique "three-handed" tools. Some, such as the thrust hammer, puck hammer, and pole chisel, utilize the combined strength of both hands and one of the medial locomotors to add extra force and power when striking low objects. Others, such as hand-cranked drills, spring-loaded crossbows and various musical instruments, are wielded in both hands while the sternal claw adjusts the device's mechanisms.

Fauns and kin utilize a unique form of long-distance communication that, while restricted to the planetary surface, is nonetheless impressive in that it comes from an unexpected source. In place of manmade radio towers that require electricity to function, Fauns use ramblers, a selectively bred species of clonal vine-like plant that uses shortwave radio signals and sounds to relay information. Thanks to this, word gets around much quicker on Athyrmagaia than in most other pre-industrial societies. There are at least two known cultivars of rambler that see regular use. The "broadcast" cultivar operates similarly to a radio tower, with a larger, more dominant "listener" plant dispersing shortwave radio frequencies to a nearby scattered array of smaller "speaker" plants. The "communication" cultivar, however, functions more or less like a telephone, with two plants that function as both "listeners" and "speakers" transmitting messages to each other via a linear array of sprawling vine colonies. The communication cultivar is the most abundant, as it is often grown in long, continent-spanning arrays not too dissimilar to telephone lines. Ramblers, as effective as they are, do have some disadvantages compared to their mechanical counterparts, however. Although they grow very quickly and can take root in a broad range of soil qualities, they require regular maintenance to ensure that they function properly and do not endanger the ecosystem through overgrowth. Furthermore, although analogous to a radio, the broadcast cultivar is often locked onto a single frequency and cannot be tuned to different "channels." Individuals who specialize in the cultivation and maintenance of ramblers are referred to as "ramblesmiths".

Some examples of bioplastic tools and objects produced by Astutocentaurines.

Surface metal deposits are relatively sparse on Athyrmagaia, as many of them have been depleted by previous iterations of advanced civilization over the past 3 million years. As a result, metals such as iron, copper, silver, and gold are highly sought-after building materials among Astutocentaurines. The Fauns, of course, are no different. While they have enough access to metals that they could learn metallurgy from the Shovelfolk and use it regularly in construction and engineering, it is rare enough in nature that people are encouraged to recycle their metals as much as possible. To supplement the relative scarcity of metals on their planet, Fauns also use a rather surprising material: plastic. Their native plant life, the Olekirkophytes, naturally produces polylactic acid in their cuticles, a bioplastic that is normally manmade in most contexts. This has given the Fauns (as well as other Astutocentaurus) a significant head start in polymer science compared to other known pre-industrial aliens, and they harvest the material from plants to mold objects such as utensils, bottles, and even transparent food containers. Due to the high availability of such a material, a majority of known Faunish cultures have been known to practice plastic molding techniques or utilize bioplastic in at least some capacity, including the simplest of tribesfolk.

Despite their pre-industrial status, Fauns are surprisingly well-developed in their fields of science. By the time of first contact, they had already independently discovered the theory of evolution through observations of both extant life and their own fossil record, and had invented their own system of taxonomic ranking. This system is often referred to as "Nounian taxonomy", in honor of the late Tinrian biologist Noun Rich Rorhu, and it is vaguely similar to Linnaean taxonomy in terms of its arrangement of organisms into nested hierarchies. Although their phylogenetic tree has been greatly expanded upon through cooperative research with Fraternity researchers, the traditional Nounian system of classification very much remains dominant in Athyrmagaian academia. Their innovations in medical science are also noteworthy; They inherited their own equivalent of germ theory from the Shovelfolk, and although they are naturally capable of swapping their zooids, they are also competant surgeons, as they have learned how to transplant non-detachable components such as limbs, fingers, and even some organs. This is made possible thanks to a specialized cultivar of tumeofauna, which produces stem cells that are compatible with Astutocentaurine tissue. By applying the substance to a wound before re-attaching a lost limb, the severed nerves, muscles and blood vessels will reconnect twice as fast as they would under normal circumstances.

Domestication & Agriculture

A mock ox (Xenobos borealis). This animal is a direct ancestor to the domesticated shazoo (Xenobos borealis neodomesticus).

Throughout their tenure on the planet, Fauns have utilized a wide array of domesticated animals as companions, mounts, labor, clothing, and food, and continue to do so in the present day. Some of these animals are domesticates of their own creation, while others are more or less "hand-me-downs" from previous iterations of Athyrmagaian civilization.

Their most ancient companion is the beakhound, a dog-like Cynorhynchid that has ancient roots in the First Iteration. Much like our dogs, beakhounds have been selectively bred into a variety of morphs used for a multitude of purposes, such as hunting, guarding, or even just simple companionship. It is not entirely certain how beakhounds came to be domesticated by the Fauns, though evidence suggests that they were inherited simply as a result of how ubiquitous they were in ancient times.

Sedentary cultures are also known to make use of livestock; Depending on the region, one of the most common livestock animals is often the Shazoo, a Xenobovine not unlike our own cattle in terms of its utility. Although it does not produce milk, it is raised for its meat and skin, and in some cases it can even be used for physical labor and transport. The modern shazoo, as it is known in the context of Faunish civilization, is believed to have been developed through the domestication of the wild mock ox. Another common livestock animal is the crawpig, an omnivorous fauxungulate known for its broad diet and strong claws. Although they, too, are occasionally used as a source of meat, they are primarily raised for their unfertilized eggs. They are also rather useful in hunter-gatherer societies as aids in foraging. The Fauns inherited the crawpig from their oldest allies, the Shovelfolk.

Instead of motorized vehicles, Fauns rely on mounts for long-distance travel. The hippogriff is easily the most iconic of these mounts, a giant flightless pachyalatan that has exchanged its wings for powerful, hooved forelegs. Hippogriffs have been a staple of Athyrmagaian transportation since the First Iteration, and it's theorized that the Fauns obtained them through the re-domestication of feral populations. Like the Terran horse, the domestic hippogriff makes for a steadfast companion, forming a lifelong bond with its rider.

Like with any sapient species, the Faun's establishment of sedentary civilization is founded upon agriculture. It is believed that the Fauns inherited their understanding of the practice from the Shovelfolk, since they evolved in the same region and utilize many of the same crops. One of their most commonly grown crops is réhä, a starch-heavy species of star grass. Much like wheat, réhä is ground into a fine powder and used to make bread. Hetūt, an edible root, is also fairly common in their cuisine, being used as a side dish or an ingredient in more complex recipes. Zhėgel, a more aquatic herb, is grown for sugar that is used in pastries. Some cultures also cultivate edibles species of tumeofauna and sphondamycetes, with the former being a favorable substitute for slaughtered meat among cultures who abhor violence.

Interactions with Other Sophonts

Fauns are the latest sophont species to be legally established as citizens of the Fraternity. Unlike many other sophonts, however, the Fauns' introduction to the Fraternity was actually the result of a freak accident. Due to the notion that pre-industrial societies weren't "mature" enough to cope with alien contact, the human team sent by the Fraternity originally intended to study the planet discretely, to ensure that the civilizations of the planet advance in a natural fashion. This secrecy was maintained successfully during the first five or so years, but was cut short when a rogue piece of space debris struck a manned orbital craft, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Lakefront, Tinria. Although both the crew and others involved survived, the incident happened to occur during the merchant town's busiest hours, right before the eyes of hundreds of people. Culture shock quickly disseminated across the native populace as knowledge of alien life spread like wildfire. At this point, it was too late to ethically suppress the news that was spreading so rapidly, so it was decided that the Fraternity would make proper first contact with the species. Despite the language barriers at the time, and a less than favorable first impression, this more proper introduction went over very well, and the initial fear and uncertainty was quickly set aside by curiosity and enthusiasm. Eventually, both parties knew enough about each other that Fauns were seen as eligible for citizenship in the Fraternity, making them the very first pre-industrial aliens to do so.

Despite their pre-industrial heritage, Faunish immigrants were very quick to integrate and adapt to the interstellar, high-tech society of the Fraternity. Although they are a minority group compared to the Fraternity's other sophonts, they are not marginalized by law; Since the Fraternity's form of social stratification does not discriminate based on species, Fauns enjoy sociopolitical equality alongside the other client sophonts, and are granted the same job opportunities as their peers. Their status as a minority group is merely due to their relatively small interstellar population, as they have only become involved in the Fraternity rather recently.

As far as the Fraternity's social circles go, sociopolitical relations between humans and Fauns are perhaps the most idyllic. This is mostly due to the fact that it was humanity that they first made contact with, but it also has to do in part with their own physiology and social dynamic. Fauns are notable for the fact that they are among the few known extraterrestrial sophonts that have a DNA-based biochemistry like that of Terran organisms, and are known to thrive in Fraternity habitats that are otherwise made for a human majority. Barring the unique influences of their body modularity, their general social structure is also very similar to ours, which makes it much easier for the two species to comprehend the nuances of each other's cultures through comparison. It is also due to these factors that a majority of mixed-species marriages tend to be pairings between humans and Fauns.

Although Fraternity Fauns thrive among their alien allies, sociopolitical relations between homeworld Fauns and the Fraternity can be rather complicated. Due to the strictly anti-colonialist process by which sophonts join the Fraternity, the governments of Athyrmagaia maintain much of their political autonomy from the former, and many live their lives without heavy alien political influence. As such, many people planetside, despite being aware of the existence of aliens, are not entirely accustomed to interacting with them. Even amongst homeworlders who do regularly work and interact with aliens, there's a notable preference for working with humans or even fellow Fauns specifically, due to being the most familiar with them. As such, Fraternity researchers who are stationed on Athyrmagaia are often recommended to be issued with Faunish guises.

As for their interactions with the other sophonts of their own planet, the Fauns are noted to have a rather interesting and variable dynamic with their contemporaries. Although occasional bouts of interspecies violence are not unheard of, Fauns generally seem more prone to befriend their fellow Astutocentaurines than they are to war with them. Indeed, especially in modern contexts, they are known to form joint societies with these other species, living side by side under a shared cultural and ethnic identity. That being said, they do have rather strained relations with the Uerco (Astutocentaurus capiodon) of Hevecca, due to the latter's brutal acts of colonialism during the Age of Terror.