Harat-Shar
A libertine society, part of Team Cat.
Has their own system Defense Force (Homeguard), has the only legal slavery in the Alliance.
Vital Statistics (At a Glance)
Pronounced (??)' pronounce here (??)'. Singular is Harat-Shar. Possessive is (??). Plural is Harat-Shar.
- Species Type: Pelted (primarily feline influences, based on big cats)
- Origin: Engineered
- Frame Type: Bipedal; some Harat-Shar are digitigrade and some plantigrade
- Average Height:
- Average Lifespan:
- Gravity Preference:
- Homeworld: Harat-Sharii
- Native Language:
Appearance and Physiology
Appearance
Because the Harat-Shar segregated based on what the physical characteristics of “wild catness," they are less homogenous in form than the other Pelted. They can be either digitigrade or plantigrade; can have humanoid faces or true muzzles; can have four fingers and claws, or five fingers and nails. These traits are linked: the more humanoid one looks, the more humanoid one’s characteristics; but one can have short, feral-looking Harat-Shar, and tall, human-like ones. Harat-Shar can be almost any wild cat pattern. Cheetah-patterned Harat-Shar are rare, have a specific phenotype (gangly, delicate, or rangy), and because of arguments during the Exodus are subject to some discrimination.[1]
Harat-Shar refer to their intraraces by the big cats they most resemble: lionine, tigraine, pardine, pantherine, cheetahine, and so on. As Reese explains, "“Tigers are animals. Tigraines are people.”[2]
Physiology
Society
An Alliance species. There is a notable cultural split between homeworld Harat-Shar and colonyworld Harat-Shar. Colony world has a much more standard sexual attitude.
Homeworld Harat-Shar
Stereotypes
- Will jump anyone who is willing. (Hey, just because it's true doesn't make it not a stereotype!)
- Knows all about kinky activities. (This one is less likely to be actually true.)
- If there are Harat-Shar behind a door and you wonder whether they're engaging in carnal activities, best to assume the answer is "yes". (Again, just because it's true...)[3]
The Harat-Shar are infamous for being the hedonists of the Alliance. They are gregarious, outgoing, and sensual people, notoriously libertine (and practical) about sexual arrangements, and their homeworld boasts multiple styles of family, the most common of which is polygamist and (often) incestuous, the latter abetted by the Alliance’s ability to reliably prevent conception in almost all of its members (and its ability to correct genetic flaws). Harat-Shar are open-hearted adventurers who dive into almost everything: experimentation is good! And have a casual attitude toward relationships that many of their Pelted brethren find alien. Even their most common religion is polytheist: a griffin-like “angel” of battle for every intrarace of the Harat-Shar, these intraraces being specific types of wild cat-patterned Harat-Shar (lion, tiger, etc). Their warm-weather (mostly, certainly in the inhabited parts) planet of choice seems to encourage what out-worlders call indolence and Harat-Shar insist is “a healthy respect for relaxation.”
Common Family Structures
- Harems (one man with multiple wives) - children consider all of the wives their mothers, and have many words for "mom" as a result.
- More general polygamy (two men and two women, for example[4])
Religions
Many Harat-Shar worship the Battleangels, a group of griffin-like beings, one for each of the intraraces (pardine, tigraine, etc.). Part of the reason that the cheetahines sometimes suffer discrimination is that they forked this religion, adjusting it into one that features a Christ-like figure named Kajentarel.[1]
See also Harat-Shariin Religions.
Native or Common Dress
- Females in harem-style marriages often wear face veils.
- Slaves wear no clothing.
- Non-slaves like wearing their birthday suits, too, if they can get away with it.
Naming Conventions
Names "are usually Middle-Eastern (particularly Arabic) or Russian. The surname issue is convoluted; traditional Harat-Shar technically have 'train' names (which are associated with each large polygamous families), but rarely use them unless pressed."[5][6]
Colonyworld Harat-Shar
Stereotypes
Since people don't wear labels identifying them as colonyworld or homeworld, non-homeworld Harat-Shar have to contend with all the same stereotypes as their homeworld kin, with the added difficulty that in their case, they often don't apply.
Naming Conventions
First names are Middle-Eastern or Russian, same as homeworld Harat-Shar. "Non-traditional Harat-Shar will sometimes claim surnames like other first generation Pelted."[5]
History
Famous Figures
Characters
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pelted Guidebook
- ↑ Laisrathera, chapter 4.
- ↑ "I've lived with Harat-Shar for years. Even if you don't think you should knock, you knock." "Honorless Wounds" short story
- ↑ Irine, Sascha, Narain, and Narain's cousin Nina
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Naming Conventions article on Patreon
- ↑ Either Side of the Strand, Chapter 10