Codex: Vanae: History

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Addendum: History

The origin story of the vanae and sacae has a nugget of truth to it in that they did indeed "fall from the sky". Both species are not native inhabitants of Mhen'ga and actually come from a far-off world.

Both species started as a single race known as the octalia, originating from an oceanic planet in a neighbouring sector. The octalians had bodies adapted for living under extreme pressure and in almost pitch black darkness - the reason both races have white skin and bio-luminescence. The octalia hunted prey by luring them in the darkness.

At some point in the history of the octalia, a spacefaring mission was attempted. For unknown reasons the ship crashed on Mhen'ga. The male members were wiped out, leaving only the females to survive. The female crew, blind and struggling in the new environment, were raped by species such as the naleen.

Octalian genes are incredibly dominant, and the gender chromosomes are only carried by the same gender of their race (Only males carry the octalian Y chromosome template). Without male octalia or a similarly strong male species to impregnate them, the female crew gave birth to only female octalian children.

For a very long time, the female crew and their descendants were bred forcibly, leaving a scathing opinion of males that would later define their descendant's social structure. They survived by either crawling into the burning, fresh waters of Mhen'gan lakes and swamps, or climbing up into the trees and feeding off of fruit.

Over time, descendants of the octalia survivors split into two distinct subspecies - the water-dwelling sacae and the tree-dwelling vanae. Knowledge of their history was all but lost, grains of forgotten truths carried in their religious myths.

The original treatment of the octalia survivors led to both species being male-wary, female-respecting, and survival-focused. Over the centuries, vanae and sacae have gone to war with the various species of Mhen'ga. They have endured diseases and parasites other native species have long become immune to, weighed down by their strong, slowly adapting genes.

To this day, vanae are still the most sickly of all the races of Mhen'ga. To compensate for this, natural selection has pushed those with superior breeding capacity to the fore.