Tomarai

Tomarai are vaguely human in appearance, but are biologically and genetically a different race entirely. Tomarai, like consati, could also be classified as sentient plants, but share more traits with humans. They have gender in a sense (they're all female, explained later) and are nearly completely human visually. Distinguishing features include a rounder face with no lower jaw. Their teeth are all equally as long and are all those of large cats. They do not use them to eat, however, as tomarai do not eat (they use photosynthesis to create food for energy). These teeth are purely for use as natural weapons.

Tomarai base their entire society around gambling. They are not greedy, however, which most races find confusing. They gamble only for what they need, not for greed, because they know that the more they gamble, the more likely they are to lose what they have. They gamble often for food and power, with their leaders making decisions, sometimes literally, based on the roll of a die. Their television stations air 24 hour game shows (if the setting is after the advent of the television), often with sun deprivation as a penalty for losing and a month of leadership as a prize. This sounds minor to most other races, of course, who prefer having a reliable leader for years, but the tomarai despise excess and ruling for too long can cause corruption of their values. Thankfully, they can gamble their way out of the deprivation (and most do).

Although tomarai gamble over everything, they are completely honest and never cheat. In fact, they value fair play over everything else (making the duelist the most common class for a tomara) and torture those who cheat them or destroy the ability to play fairly. This isn't to say they don't have games based entirely on deception. If it's the purpose of the game to deceive and everyone is given the same opportunity to do so, they will deceive each other until one comes out on top. None of them take it personally, so groups of friends having their own "liar games" (with one as a "referee" to keep play fair) are very common.

Tomarai wear the same clothes as humans, but prefer to wear yellows and reds.

Tomarai reproduce sexually in exactly the same way as plants, though structurally, they would be able to go through the actions of reproducing with any other race (though they would, quite literally, bear no fruit). The result of reproduction is literally a fruit at the end of their "hair" (which, while it LOOKS like dreadlocks are actually vines). These fruits are pear-shaped and orange with red swirls. They taste nearly identical to limes, but are the texture of a papaya inside (with a similar skin, as well). This fruit falls after a week and then must be cared for like a chicken's egg.

Tomarai have green eyes that vary from nearly black to nearly white. Their "hair" is usually the same color, though it is occasionally the inverse (i.e., dark hair with light eyes). Their skin tones are the same as those of humans, though they darken or lighten based on their sun exposure over the previous 24 hours (darker with more exposure).