Dazh

Dazh children are indistinguishable from human children (boys have brown hair and brown eyes, girls have blue eyes and brown hair), but once they hit puberty (between 8 and 13 for both genders), a dazh undergoes a transformation far greater than any other race in addition to the changes that humans go through. The exact change is different based on gender.

A male grows spikes on the back of their arms, their legs become far more muscular, and their irises change from the child's brown (all dazh boys have brown eyes) to the adult's black. They cannot tolerate bright light without special chemical treatments, but this limits the visible color spectrum to only seeing colors between yellow and blue. Their hair also turns a bluish black and becomes very coarse. Their upper and lower arms extend until their fingers are able to touch their knees.

A female grows horns that run parallel to the scalp and begin to grow downward like hair before they turn forward again, just above the shoulders. Their hair turns black and their irises turn a deep red. The bones in their spines begin to sharpen and extend, eventually piercing through the skin (painlessly) to form a ridge of spikes down their back, with elders having spikes up to a foot long. Their fingertips also extend to form short claws (this pushes their fingernails off).

Dazh have naturally sharp teeth and slightly longer canine teeth, but it is barely noticeable until puberty, when they grow an additional 50%. Both genders also grow to be the height of normal adult humans.

Because of each gender's spikes, it is nearly impossible for them to wear human clothes after puberty. Females find it even more difficult, as they cannot wear anything that covers their backs. Females must be dressed by someone else, but this is easy to accomplish since each dazh is paired with another of the same gender at birth and they never part, even if one dies; if one dies, the other dies instantaneously because of the psychic bond shared between the two.

Their "birthpartner" is either born before them (and that one had no partner) or after (and this one had no partner before them). It's very rare that they're born at the same time, but it's not really an important factor; what matters is that they all have a partner of the same gender. Skinship (close bonding by means of intimate contact (not necessarily sexual, though it's not frowned upon in Dazh societies)) is not only very, very common, but necessary to maintain their psychic bond. The dazh can sense the emotions and senses of their birthpartner. The more skinship is shared between birthpartners, the stronger this bond is; near-constant contact can even lead to minor telepathy, but this bond fades if they don't have content. A year without a birthpartner is enough to dull even the most powerful senses shared between them to their most basic levels (pain, happiness, hot, and cold). As stated before, if one dies, the other dies, as well, usually from cardiac arrest. However, if they've been apart for too long (the limit varies based on how much skinship they had), it's possible that it may only weaken the heart or have no effect at all. While most humans would prefer this, dazh feel they are worthless without their birthpartner. This is for good reason; they can only be at most half as happy (they get used to feeling the happiness of two dazh) and they feel completely empty. Other dazh (particularly the superstitious) believe that one who has lost their birthpartner (or at least the bond) has no soul.

Other races tolerate the Dazh, even though they often think of them as nightmare creatures. They are tolerated because they have very fun-loving personalities and love everyone. In fact, they are often viewed as being TOO trusting, often letting people into their homes, even if they look dangerous because they only see the good in people.

Dazh have no government because they are too carefree to rule anyone and any government run by a dazh, in theory, would only have one law: Mandatory fun, punishable by forced entertainment. They don't really need a government to tell them how to live, nor do they need police; they're too busy not caring about anything and having as much fun as they can each day to get into trouble.

Dazh eat the same foods as humans, in smaller amounts, but they make sure to enjoy the food while they have it.

Dazh live in hastily-built, but high-quality small homes with just enough room for a large bed in the bedrooms, a small table for food near the floor with no chairs, and the largest room they save for whatever they find most entertaining at the time.

While normally, a dazh would have no need to go adventuring, they will do it (and enjoy it very much) if they feel that their way of life is being threatened.

Dazh hairstyles are very ornate combinations of dreadlocks, braids, straight, and curly hair, sometimes all at once. This is mostly unintentional (except the braids, but these are randomly placed in the straight hair).

Dazh live roughly as long as humans (usually dying between 80 and 100 years).

Interspecies breeding is possible with any other race with human-like genitalia (Humans, Consati, Nyane, and Voshi) and occasionally encouraged. They feel that they should love everyone. There are no taboos about it and the children are viewed as being just as much of dazh as any pure-bred dazh. There are no real benefits to this, but it does alter the appearance of the children:

Dazh-Human (Haelus) - There is no physical difference, but their puberty is delayed by two or three years.

Dazh-Consati (Caevus) - The skin of a caevus is slightly greener, but otherwise, there is no difference.

Dazh-Nyane (Nyaku) - Nyaku appear almost like a separate race. They do not grow in height at puberty and retain typical Dazh child hair and eye colors. They have nyane fur on their arms and legs. After puberty, the males' arm spikes stick out through the fur. The legs of a male still become more muscular after puberty, but their eyes do not change at all. While their head hair does not change, their nyane fur becomes the bluish black and stiffens to be almost like hedgehog spikes. The horns of the female do not grow parallel to the scalp, instead growing forward and curling up. The claws of the females alse extend past the nyane fur on their arms and their back spikes grow out half the speed and blacken at the tip. Instead of the canine teeth being longer and sharper, all the front teeth are.

Dazh-Voshi (Valis) - Valis develop exactly like other dazh, except with the skin pigmentation of the voshi parent.

Famous Dazh
Kala Mievnal, a dazh gypsy in one story and a treasure hunter in another; in both, she is searching for her birthpartner, Yena, who was kidnapped while Kala was in prison (though she wasn't guilty of anything but being a dazh).