Erians

are a race in the game.

A peaceful race that holds tradition in high regard, they are first-rate chameleons. That’s something they are very proud of and throw in the face of those whose skin always stays the same color. They love water, sky, and earth, and are very deferential to their own history and culture as well as that of others. They respect their ancestors and take care of the intellectually-challenged Drills.

Physiology
The first Erians left the water to become amphibians equally comfortable on land and back in their native habitat. They prefer a damp climate, and when in more aggressive climes they wear a protective outfit that keeps their skin from drying out. When the atmosphere of a planet is not conducive to them, their spacesuits are outfitted with a liquid reservoir. The water is absorbed directly into their skin, though some is set aside for gills that also filter out the planetary air.

The Erians’ native world resembles a water-logged jungle. The water itself is acidulous, while the air is heavy with moisture.

Their skin is fairly thin and fragile, changing color based on their mood. The emotions and thoughts being experienced by Erians are easy to read because of that, something that helps their opponents and sometimes gets them into trouble on their own account. Long story short, the Erians came up with a new branch of science: cosmetology.

They reproduce by laying roe in a wet substrate, with one of the parents staying near the nest and keeping the young moist as needed.

The mating games played by the Erians can be entertaining, and they are accompanied by a ritual that became much more diverse after they took off into space. A lack of gravity makes them act as if mildly intoxicated, and their behavior coupled with their show of colors makes for an interesting effect. Not many have had the pleasure of seeing the event with their own eyes, though those who have compare Erians mating to a salamander dance in the fires of the Big Bang. They say it is sometimes a collective activity, particularly around major holidays.

History
The Erians themselves, having once inhabited their entire planet of Erril, would never have thought to take over other worlds or jet off into space. They had no need to create vehicles to move around in given that they could easily swim and move over land. Logically, the idea of leaving the surface of the water and setting off into the sky could never have entered their green heads. Even the stars reflected in the water were thought to be living organisms living in the water, something like marsh fireflies.

Some say an alien spaceship landed on Erril. The newcomers gave the Erians the idea of traveling faster and across larger distances than they were used to, and so they began mining minerals and discovered a secret: the water and sky were completely different things. The Erian government rejects this interpretation, claiming instead that the sudden leap forward in development is explained by something from within the Erians. That interpretation leans on the story of Saint E, who would later become the first Erian king. He is thought to have sat for a long time deep in the water, where he saw things in visions his followers later tried their best to build. Their flailing attempts were a poor beginning, though a century later the Erians were already able to build their first aircraft using a steam engine. King E lived two hundred years and then suddenly vanished, something that implies some kind of relationship with an alien civilization. Obviously, the Erian government is hiding something. There are quite a few conspiratorial variations trying to get to the bottom of who those mysterious newcomers were. Another area of scientific research points to the swamp gasses as a driver for intellectual development, claiming them as the reason for the appearance of a highly developed civilization on Erril.

Culture
Erians are a refined people, considering themselves highly intellectual aesthetes. Everything they do is devoted to a single goal: emphasizing the grace and beauty of the moment.

Once they took off into space and encountered other, more warlike races, a group appeared in the Erian society that called for physical changes. In particular, they wanted thicker skin, hard appendages, and even barbs that would keep them safer in combat. Some scientists have also been conducting experiments to see if the chromatophore cells giving away their mood and emotions could be removed. So far, however, the Erian government has stuck to tradition and refused to approve those innovations.

Erian architecture grew from where water and land meet, explaining why it significantly differs from what other races exhibit. It’s worth visiting worlds colonized by the Erians if only to admire the buildings spreading through space, the flora dancing and leaping through the architecture, and the ever-present water vapor alive with the aroma of tropical flowers. Erians build serpentine towers out of white stone that look like vines drooping out of the sky because in their worldview the sky is on par with the earth and water. Ancient Erians, in fact, believed that the sky was simply a continuation of the water, and devoted half their artistic energy, as passed down by oral tradition, to it. Later, once the race developed writing, the heritage left by those ancestors was recorded unchanged, meaning that the roots of the civilization and culture as a whole can be easily traced. Erians believe they appeared when the water and sky curled into a scroll and merged with the land. When the scroll unraveled once more it left the first pair at the confluence of land and water: Errum and Erru. They would become the parents of all Erians. The sky symbolically separated once more from the land and sea after the race took to space, something some take as proof that the Erians need to divide as well. The resulting offshoot race would parallel that first pair’s appearance when land and water divided.

Erians adore pools and build them everywhere, especially in place where there are no natural bodies of water. Erian pools are absolute masterpieces—the pool on Errum is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Galaxy.

While they are considered a peaceful race, Erians nevertheless managed to create an empire. How they did so remains a mystery of nature.