Narxoxicrar

The Narxoxicrar (//, singular also "Narxoxicrar") were a mammalian sentient species native to Shygyra in the. They were well known in the Golden Empire for their bright eyes, quasi-vampiric nature, and fantastically long names.

Biology and appearance
Narxoxicrar were roughly when standing erect, though they tended toward stocky, powerful builds with broad shoulders. Their arms were slightly longer than their bowed legs. They were capable of standing perfectly straight, but usually preferred to walk with a slight forward hunch. They could also walk and climb on all fours, and had enough arm and leg strength to hang vertically or even upside-down. Both their hands and feet had opposable digits which enabled grasping. Every digit ended in a sharp claw, and claws could be used for both climbing and fighting. Narxoxicrar had dark fur covering their dark skin.

The Narxoxicrar had large, perfectly circular eyes, and their eyes had, which both gave them superior night vision and made their eyes reflect light. They had large ears which came to gentle points, and short but very wide muzzles with small, damp black noses.

Narxoxicrar had a unique dental structure, not least because each jaw had an odd number of teeth. Their upper and lower jaws each had three pointed, hollow fangs, which Narxoxicrar used to puncture and consume various foods. Liquids consumed this way were transported to an entirely separate digestive system from food which was swallowed down the throat. Narxoxicrar drank a wide variety of liquids through their fangs, including fruit juices, water and other nutrients in other plants, and even blood in living prey.

After their hollow fangs, Narxoxicrar had sets of incisors, which they used to bite into and tear off pieces off food; when a Narxoxicrar bit off food in this way, it was accomplished with a sideways tearing motion, rather than a humanoid upward or backward pull. They had molars in the back of their jaws to grind food. If a Narxoxicrar's tooth broke, it would remain broken, but if it was pulled out entirely, the Narxoxicrar would grow a new one.

The Narxoxicrar were omnivorous and capable of eating almost any organic matter, though they had a fondness for eating snakes. Possibly as an evolutionary result, they were also immune to a variety of toxins and venoms.

Female Narxoxicrar birthed between one and three young after a gestation period of six standard months. Narxoxicrar reached full physical maturity by sixteen standard years.

Society and culture
Naturally nocturnal, the Narxoxicrar had a society oriented toward operation in the dark, which many alien visitors to Shygyra found disorienting. Though their eyes could handle bright light, they did not particularly enjoy it and had no need for it, and only in their busiest spaceports did they make any attempt to cater to offworlders with brightly lit buildings. Like the Sev'layas of Keliso, the Narxoxicrar built their societies to be traveled vertically as well as horizontally. Older cities were tree-based, while newer ones were constructed freestanding.

Family culture was unusual among the Narxoxicrar. Parents took great care of their children through maturity, but after becoming legal adults, Narxoxicrar routinely moved great distances away from their birth families and maintained only sporadic contact with them. Biological historians theorized this could be due to anything from Narxoxicrar ancestors being territorial predators to an inborn desire to diversify the species' gene pool as much as possible. Siblings were often closer with one another than any of them were with their parents. Spouses mated for life, and often traveled together, staying in cities and villages for only a few years before moving on.

Care for younglings ranged from the traditional, in which infant Narxoxicrar would cling to their mothers and feed on fruits and small snakes, to the modern, with baby Narxoxicrar in communal nurseries, hanging from ropes and beams and drinking from snake-shaped bottle analogues.

Narxoxicrar tended to dress minimally; males often wore kilts.

Most Narxoxicrar practiced a form of animism based on the presence of life forces in all living things. They did not believe in reincarnation, however, which played into their approach to naming.

Naming custom
Narxoxicrar tended to have very long names. This resulted from a belief that no two beings should ever share the same name, and that doing so would divide the life force of one being between the two. The Narxoxicrar believed that conflict between the two would be inevitable, and that the death of one would negatively impact the other (no matter who caused it). It was viewed as equally bad to give a living Narxoxicrar the name of a dead one, as this was believed to call back the spirit of the deceased into a new body, which could only be trouble. Some few instances occurred of Narxoxicrar giving their children the names of distinguished, deceased leaders and warriors, but the practice was generally looked upon with revulsion.

As a result, the Narxoxicrar gave their children long, complex names to make it almost impossible for any two to share the exact same name. After the planet was unified, the Narxoxicrar maintained an official registry of all names ever recorded.

History
Shygyra was regularly gloomy, with only a few hours of real daylight each day; biologists believed the Narxoxicrar became nocturnal because the majority of their prey would be active in darkness. Exactly how they came to prey on snakes particularly was something of a mystery. The first Narxoxicrar tree cities developed when the Narxoxicrar, like many other sentients, realized it would be easier to gather food working together rather than competitively.

The had located and catalogued Shygyra centuries before the Golden Empire made contact, but the  did not attempt to develop relations with the natives, and the Narxoxicrar dismissed their visit. The Empire, by contrast, was much more engaged. While Shygyra submitted to the Empire peacefully, most Narxoxicrar were not particularly interested in leaving their homeworld, nor in making it inviting to aliens.

In the galaxy
Wyriz (fully Wyriziniffichiyizzinchyirithytzkish) was a Narxoxicrar Novice of the Order of Keltrayu. Some Narxoxicrar who ventured off Shygyra found work in mining, exploration, and other low-light conditions.