Ikeshti
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Ikeshtis are a hardy race of lizardfolk native to the deserts and hills of Akiton. They have a convoluted life cycle and changing physiologies.1
History
Palaeontologists believe that the evolution of intelligent humanoids on Akiton, like ikeshtis and ysoki, was facilitated by the collision of an ancient meteor that killed off virtually the entire Akitonian megafauna.2
Ecology
A brood of ikeshti young will eat any organic matter they come across. As they grow and their brains develop, they learn speech and feeding habits from brood-minders. Such broods sometimes operate as garbage disposals for large settlements, or are taught to graze that leaves the local biosphere intact. If left to their own devices, they seek out areas rich in organic matter and devour it all.1
After 5 years and 3 feet of growth, ikeshtis leave their brood-minders and band together with other adolescents of various ages. After 10 to 20 years, ikeshtis begin to rut, becoming voracious, violent and single-minded in the urge to fight and mate. If they find a willing partner, they mate and give birth to a large clutch, then fight each other to the death. If the male wins, he becomes a brood-minder. If the female wins, she becomes a congregant. Those that fail to find a partner grow ever larger and more aggressive, becoming the bestial riveners.1
An almost religious order of ikeshtis based in Gantim have staved off their rutting instincts long past their normal reproductive cycle. They attribute their success to deep meditation and focus on intellectual pursuits.3
Society
Thanks to their group-oriented life cycle, most ikeshtis are born on Akiton. They have long lived on the fringes of civilisation, in part because their ravenous young can inflict lasting harm on settlements. Ikeshtis often clash over territory against the ysoki, who have increasingly exploited space travel as a means of avoiding competition.4
Many ikeshtis seek out opportunities elsewhere in the Pact Worlds system, sending substantial remittances back to their brood-mates on Akiton.4
Dal Dawat, a monument of two intertwined reptiles carved into a ridge overlooking the Irkonian Sea, is a sacred site for ikeshtis, who view it as a monument of fertility and a reminder of the warring instincts that sleep within themselves. Ikeshtis who cannot find a mate make pilgrimages here to breed, though many succumb and become riveners before they can do so.5
Adolescents
Adolescent ikeshtis are at their most social, preferring opportunities for the mechanically inclined, seeking jobs as technicians, wreckers or traders of technology. Travel abroad often disrupts an errant ikeshti's reproductive cycle, and many of their crewmates have seen them transforming into riveners.4
Brood-minders
Brood-minders quickly regain their prior knowledge and personalities, but their temperaments become somewhat phlegmatic and standoffish, driven by strong urges to manage as big of a brood of young as possible, sometimes killing weak ones to make room for stronger candidates. Brood-minders live a solitary life, herding their broods.1
Congregants
Congregants instinctively feel the need to ensure the success of their people. Some form groupings, while others become adventurers off-planet to bring wealth and fame to the ikeshtis as a whole.1
Riveners
Riveners have lost their mental faculties and personalities to the brew of hormones, remembering only the rudiments of language and caring about little more than killing and food. Riveners are considered a shame to other ikeshtis, who often go out of their ways to put them down.1
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 . Alien Archive, 64–65. Paizo Inc., 2017
- ↑ . Pact Worlds, 49. Paizo Inc., 2018
- ↑ . Pact Worlds, 55. Paizo Inc., 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 . Pact Worlds, 51. Paizo Inc., 2018
- ↑ . Pact Worlds, 54. Paizo Inc., 2018