02 May 2010

Dar Mien

Dar Mien are a race of what some humans may call zombies, though this is purely cosmetic. Dar Mien are controlled by a Hugae, or Master. This control is more than just perceived control of other races. The Hugae issues a command and they MUST follow it, as their body is under its direct control at that point. If they are not issued commands, however, they have free will until the Hugae wills them to do something.

Dar Mien cannot "die" in the usual sense. They do not die of old age (according to Consati research, anyway) and cannot be killed with weapons, restoring lost limbs and regenerating lost or torn flesh almost instantly. An explosion powerful enough may appear to spontaneously destroy them, though the particles will reunite after time. This may take a few hours to several millennia.

Dar Mien live in a single city. One report from a human scout claimed there were "easily thousands" of them, though the scout later admitted this estimate was a complete fabrication due to him not being brave enough to actually enter the "city of the dead".

Dar Mien have no known language to outsiders and do not, in fact, speak at all. They communicate amongst themselves through telepathy, but it is limited to only others of their race.

Dar Mien are a greatly misunderstood race, though the Consati have spent nearly two millennia studying them and have almost established a means of communication. Their appearance frightens most humans and even Consati loath being in their presence. Their name is actually from the Consati phrase "Kon vide nos dar mien legata.", loosely translating to "May the unjust fall to the ignorance they bring." Dar Mien therefore translates to "unjust fall", which is actually complimentary, contrary to the beliefs of the humans who adopted it.

Appearance
Dar Mien are much like humans, sharing similar body shape and hair colors, but have solid black compound eyes, similar in all but appearance to those of ants. They also have pale flesh that reddens where it folds, giving them their ghoulish appearance. They appear almost skeletal, having no lips and small waists. They have six fingers on each hand and only three toes on their feet. They wear no clothes, having no need to protect themselves from the environment and no sense of shame, being completely equal to their peers.

Dar Mien have no gender and appear to look somewhere between male and female humans. They have no mammary glands (therefore no breasts or even breast tissue) and almost impossibly skinny pelvises, only wide enough for the ball and socket joint of each femur to fit into. They also do not possess a tailbone, but have very small, very thin bones in their spines, possessing a total of 120 bones throughout it, which is almost all of the bones in their bodies. They do not possess a human-like ribcage, instead having two giant bones covering their internal organs; however, these bones are connected to the spine with muscles that allow them to move, which makes many humans and Consati squeamish.

Dar Mien stand at exactly 8' (2.4384 m) tall and weigh precisely 80 lbs (36.2873 kg). It is unknown to other races why they are so uniform.

Reproduction
No one knows how Dar Mien reproduce. A visitor to the city describes their stay:
"The home had three Dar Mien in it when I went in. They offered me something to eat" (The visitor acts out the offer; holding a plate forward, nearly lunging) "and watched me completely silently. They led me to a bed -it was very late at night- and I slept. When I woke up the next morning, there were six of them..."
While merely being an assumption of the visitor, it is unknown whether the Dar Mien reproduced or whether others were visiting the home. Their visitor did not stay long enough, citing fear as their reason for leaving.

Technology
Dar Mien use almost all the same technology as humans, but developed for their use. For example, guns, knives, swords, and other weaponry all have slightly shorter handles to make up for the slender hands of the Dar Mien, but are also much larger in girth do to their very long fingers. Homes are also built to accommodate for their height and narrow bodies, having doors only about 2/3 as wide and 7/5 as high. Of course, due to their lack of speech and ability to converse telepathically with one another, they have no need for phones or televisions (in theory, they can report news, send one Dar Mien to explore and report findings, and share creative ideas).

Cuisine
Dar Mien eat a nutrient-rich fungus they grow somewhere deep within their city, beyond where any visitors have seen. They eat nothing else, though human scientists theorize that this may be because external foods may contain foreign contaminants that could weaken their bodies, though this theory has yet to be tested. The Consati disagree with this theory, but do not wish to be near Dar Mien when they eat.

Relations
Dar Mien almost never leave their city for any reason, as they have no need for trade. They are extremely hospitable to guests, but most other races are too reluctant to visit. Most other races harbor fear of them because of their corpse-like appearance, but this is unnecessary as Dar Mien are kind and accepting of anyone who enters. Though their actions make them appear to be studying the visitors, it is unknown what they actually think.

The Human-Dar Mien War
This war lasted a single year roughly eight centuries ago. Humans attacked the city because they feared the Dar Mien were creations of the devil because of their frightful appearance. Until the last month, the humans attacked them relentlessly but couldn't get into the city no matter how hard they tried; the Dar Mien became a living wall around it that they could not pass. Then, the final month of the war, more Dar Mien came out of the city and attacked a single human camp each day, killing all in the camp with their bare hands. Fearing they had enraged the creatures, they surrendered, writing the Dar Mien Urei (Urei being the word for treaty or agreement in Consati. Though the Consati were not involved in the war, a Consati ambassador was put in charge of writing it as Consati have a better understanding of the Dar Mien and their desires).

Government
Dar Mien have no formal government. When they are commanded by the Hugae, they do as they are told. They have no crime because the Hugae can command them not to commit crimes.

Hugae
The Hugae is the master of all Dar Mien. No one knows what it looks like, what it is, or if it even exists. The Hugae may, in fact, be a code of conduct for the Dar Mien to follow or may be a collective consciousness. The word itself means "Master" in the language of the Consati, though this could also mean "Master Intelligence", another way of saying collective consciousness. The word was applied by a Consati ibanla ("scientist of the others") who was visiting in order to study their society. He described them as being "insectoid in their society, possessing a hive mind, and possibly having a master."

Dar Mien Cu
This is the city of the Dar Mien, which loosely translates from Consati as "unjust fall here". The name of the city is a compliment to the race, referencing the war between humans (which Consati view as unjust) and Dar Mien. The city itself is filled with vast architectural marvels, such as the "Tower of the Damned" (as humans call it. The Consati call it Kivas Nore, or Cathedral of Love), which is a dual tower connected with a living wooden arch that encases a great portion of one tower and the base of another, creating something like a symbiotic relationship with the Dar Mien inside. It is believed that the Dar Mien grow their fungus within the roots of the giant tree, but no outsiders have actually entered the towers, nor do they know what they are used for. There are many other marvels, but tourism doesn't exist within the city from racist fear of humans and other races.

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