The Iunnians
Under the spinning stars, Iunnians have come to believe that the cosmos and any wonders it may yield are forever beyond their ability to attain. Comfortable in an earthbound life, Iunnians tend to focus on the things that matter: love, family, community, and creativity. Iunn is a world isolated from the heavens as much as anyone can imagine--until one night in Zea's early adulthood...
Iunnians live, for the most part, in harmony with the land and life of their world, and with each other. The slow development of their technologically primitive civilization has eased the damages of rising populations, though they are not without their own crises.
While science and forethought are not lost on the most curious Iunnians, most would prefer to live their lives knowing only what they need in order to enjoy life and leave a legacy for their children. Like salmon, Iunnians never know their parents. Reproducing pairs must go through a lithification process, leaving their joined bodies seeded with stone-wrapped eggs. Siblings share a clan-like bond and usually work together throughout their lives.
Because of their reproduction cycle, Iunnian courtship develops over a lifetime, and only the eldest pairs make the commitment of self-sacrifice. Iunnian men and women seldom associate with each other, but occasionally share a strong platonic relationship. Men are three times more common than women, and, because of this, women are more highly esteemed in leadership and societal wellbeing.
Iunnian men and women share an inverse system of breath by which a man and woman can breath into each other's lungs in high altitudes to withstand otherwise lethal conditions. Iunnians also do this to show affection or social recognition, similar to how apes groom one another. Iunnian breath is immunologically regenerative to the opposite sex. Iunnian men and women can live without each other, but not without risking illness.
See below the three main Iunnian factions and the ways in which they have adapted to their chosen environments...
Iunnian Factions
Fun Fact: Iunnian language assigns proper nouns into the following categories: names of people are three syllabic characters, names of places are four such letters, and most things are five.
Fun Fact: Iunnian skin is the color of the rocks from which they are born, having been colored by their parents' bodies. Iunnians instinctively blanch the color from their skin to grey to blend in and avoid detection.
Mountainfolk
SNOW, STONE, & SPACE WIND
Hardy and blizzard-tempered, the nomadic Mountainfolk tend their herds, protecting them from notorious foxoxen and eagle-hornets. Their climbing skills are enhanced by textured soles.
In Iunn's most remote highlands and mountain ranges, people adapted to the thin atmosphere and exposure to the space wind eek out a living from tough lichens and herd mountain goatelope.
The most trained navigators and guardians among them are the Shleper'nin, meaning "herd-men," who specialize in defending the herds of goatelope.
Zed (deceased)
Amid Iunnians' original natural habitat, the Woodsfolk of the marshy, starchy forests live quietly in medium-sized communities. Snuggle-gliders make excellent food--but even better trail companions.
Living nearly exclusively without the augments of technology, the Woodsfolk are the most natural Iunnians. The people share the game trails with the many kinds of creatures that roam the forest floor. Even more scale the light-weight trunks and scramble through the shimmering canopies between rivers.
Ery (deceased)
TREES, TRAILS, & RIVERBANKS
Woodsfolk
Woodsfolk each choose a role in their community, such as trail finders, hunters, basket weavers, river-cheese makers, candlestick makers, fur tailors, starch cobblers, or as Shahm'nin, the "men of animal spirit."
Metalfolk
SPARKS, STEEL, & CITIES
Concentrated in isolated cities full of bustle and business, the technologically focused Metalfolk take advantage of the rich heavy metal deposits generated by 80 billion years of supernovae.
With fleets of metal-sail steam-engine boats, the Metalfolk's citybound existence ends with the Seyel'nin, meaning "wave men," who travel the world's waterways seeking treasures and trade with other Iunnians. Their innate Iunnian underwhelming ambition keeps them safe from most overexploitations.
Industrious and absorbed in finding mechanical adaptations of new alloys and materials, the Metalfolk award recognition to those who invent new gadgets, contraptions, or engineering solutions to the problems created by previous machinations.
