Codex: Roehm

Whom to where gluttony is not a cardinal sin, but a way of life.

Name (Singular & Plural): Roehm

Sexes: 100% Hermaphrodite

Height: Adults reach 6' 4" height, 9' length avg.

Weight: 330 lbs (150 kg) avg.

Hair: None.

Skin Color: Naturally many different shades, from bright blue and red stripes, to dappled black, to uniform yellow. Different skin color confers no distinct physical traits.

Eyes: One pair. Conjoined double pupil to accommodate a wide field of vision and six color cones overall.

Antennae: Roehm have no ears, and are instead reliant on a pair of flexible, seven-inch long antennae that sprout from the top of their heads. These antennae are sensitive to touch, vibration and minor changes in movement, which along with their excellent sense of sight enables the roehm to functionally perceive speech.

Lifespan: 200 years avg.

Appearance

The Roehm are gastropod analogues native to the watery world of Hdar-Roe. They have long, wide, serpentine lower bodies and an upright upper body that supports two arms and a head. Aside from their antennae and lack of ears and hair, roehm have facial features similar to the galactic norm. In voice and feature they appear female. Unmodified, however, they do not have breasts. They instead sport six nipples on the top of their tails, indiscernible from their skin dapples in normal circumstances. When carrying young or sufficiently aroused, these become erect and can produce a milk-like substance.

Under normal conditions, Roehm sweat a lightly fragrant, oily substance, which facilitates the muscular contractions they use to move and their heightened ability to sense pheromones and other chemical release through their highly porous skin. This gives their coat a noticeable sheen and requires them, unless sufficiently modified, to remain in reasonably humid environments.

Reproduction and Sexuality

Roehm spend most of their lives female infertile, only becoming fertile one year out of every ten. They take around five years to reach adulthood, experiencing their first “full year” at the same time. They have a low sexual drive, relatively speaking, outside of their mating cycles; however, they still happily engage in sex for pleasure outside of it, an activity heightened by their cultural preponderance towards pleasure-seeking (see below). Roehm are capable of successfully mating with many other species.

A roehm has two highly reactive sexual organs; one found towards the bottom of her front, the other at the tip of her tail. When not in heat, these are similar in appearance to human or ausar vaginas, aside from the fact the front mounted one appears to sport a clitoris whilst the other, although more spacious and flexible, does not. When in heat, the vulva and clitoris become swollen and its lubrication heightens noticeably. Similarly to leithans, roehm in heat exude pheromones designed to excite nearby males and other roehm, and they themselves become more sexually aggressive.

Roehm clitorises are actually the tips of their penises, which in normal circumstances are kept housed. In the presence of sufficient amounts of female pheromones, roehm can produce 8-inch erections and act as fully-functioning males in coupling. Their penises are slightly soft but muscular and flexible, tentacle-like with small antennae-like sprouts on the head.

Roehm have a single, connected womb, and can effectively couple with both their front and rear vaginas. After a month-long gestation and regardless of where impregnation was achieved, roehm give live birth to 1-3 young from their secondary vagina, located at the tip of their tail and usually kept hidden. Traditionally roehm carry their young on their back, where they can feed, until such time as they can fend for themselves. This is regarded as a quaint practice in modern times, similar to human mothers tying their children to their backs.

The roehm seem to have developed their reproductive habits as a result of their long, slow-paced lives. Whilst a lack of natural predators and a generous lifespan meant the roehm never felt any great need to breed quickly, once the window of the “full year” opens most feel a great urge to both breed and travel, finding as many different mates as possible. This has carried on into modern times, where many roehm take the opportunity of their fertile cycle to sightsee the galaxy, indulging in as much sex as possible at the same time.

History and Culture

Long-lived and physically incapable of moving fast, the herbivorous roehm are renowned throughout the galaxy as being incredibly, sometimes frustratingly, laidback. Apocryphally, their uplifting during the sixth galactic rush took two decades purely because they saw no need to rush it. Their influence in the larger galaxy unsurprisingly took a while to spread - but they have had many centuries of relative peace to accomplish it. A naturally peaceful and social people, they can be found anywhere their relatively high maintenance bodies allow them to be.

The roehm are highly sensitive in a literal sense: They are able to see more colors than most, and their antennae and sensitivity to chemical change allow them to perceive shifts in body language, atmosphere and hormonal release that others cannot. Superstitious claims that they can read minds are false, however the roehm do have a highly tuned empathic ability, able to tell things about others nearby that even they themselves may not know.

Their constant need to take in moisture and nutrients to support their sweat production means the roehm eat and drink a lot more than the norm, particularly in non-humid environments. It is fairly unusual to meet a roehm when she is not munching on something, and they have a long history of producing the finest vegetarian chefs the galaxy has ever known.

A natural bend towards eating, drinking, sensitivity and year-long bouts of sex has led the roehm to develop a pleasure-seeking society, and they are often found at the heart of restaurants, saunas, bars, theatres and drug cartels, preferring to stay well away from official power and more utilitarian concerns. They enjoy gene-mods and often rework their bodies to appear more appealing to others, or to decrease the amount of maintenance they require. An incredibly difficult race to insult, the roehm largely do not mind, indeed sometimes encourage, their fond galactic image as complacent, gluttonous sybarites.