Shirisho, the

'''The opposites of the Gax. This species evolved on a planet only 3 jumps from the Gax and have been at war with them since they met.'''

'''Where the Gax are brutal and straight to the point, the Shirisho are cunning and indirect. The Gax are imperialistic and use their brutality to dominate their citizens and subjects. The Shirisho also seek to control and dominate others, but instead of doing so openly they offer them “freedom” and “rights” while the super elite do as they wish and control the masses.'''

'''The Shirisho Federation was formed after their ascension, when they “rescued” a species that the Gax Imperium was attempting to subjugate. While it is called a federation it is actually closer to a unitary state. The central federal government technically has total control of its member-nations, control is then delegated to their respective governments. In addition to this control from the top, several subversive agencies and secret armies work behind the scenes to wrestle control from each other or alter elections in their favor.'''

'''Shirisho have an aquatic/amphibian evolutionary background. Their home planet was almost entirely covered in water. Only a few small islands around the equator are habitable. It was only a marginal garden world, which sat on the cool side of the goldilocks zone. 18% of their planets mass is water which created very deep and vast oceans.'''

'''Evolving from aquatic vertebrates they moved up onto the islands to escape the many predators found in the oceans. They couldn’t live exclusively on land as there just wasn’t room for it. The land only had simple vegetation, and the Shirisho are carnivorous pack hunters. '''

'''physically, they are tall 7-8 feet, broad shouldered but fairly thin front to back. Thick rubbery skin provides insolation in and out of the water. While they can survive outside the water indefinitely they prefer high humidity or serious skin conditions can form. Humanoid in general shape, No ears or nose. Eyes are wide set almost bordering on the sides of their heads and are capable of looking in front of them converging approximately 3 feet in front of them. They can also see out to their sides all the way to 20 degrees off their own body. Their eyesight is comparable to ours. Primary communication and navigation is provided by echolocation. A large fatty deposit is located on their head which is was it used. Mouth is wide and flat. Cartilage fins come off the jawline. Over all the head is flat and wide. A tail like appendage comes off the head and usually is as long as they are tall. Fins are a foot off the end and are used to manipulate where and how the tail moves. The primary means of breathing is done by two openings at the base of the tail, however a secondary means is done by the tail. An opening on the tip permits breathing, even while they are still submerged. Neck, hips, knees, ankles are not actual joints, but super flexible portions of the spine. 3 appendages make up it’s primary locomotive unit for both land and sea. 2 of these appear like a humanoids legs. The other is a less developed, less flexible version of the other two. It’s also wider and flatter. It’s sits behind the other two and provides most of the power for swimming. Swimming is done in a vertical motion and utilizes the entire body to generate thrust. The arms evolved from a second set of jaws that had been used to thrust forward and spear/snatch prey and were mounted on the spine behind the skull. As they evolved bigger, they began to obstruct the peripheral view and fell prey to predators. A mutation which caused the jaws to sit further back allowed the species to survive. The jaws drew back so far that they sit approximately where a humanoids shoulders should sit. The “arms” are jointed at the “shoulder” and elbow, both are tucked close to the body with the “hands pointed forward while swimming, ready to attack. No wrists, the hands are evolved teeth. With 3 digits, 2 along the back of the hand with a third on the inside. The tips are barbed on each digit. The bones of the digits sit directly on top of each other to reduce damage when striking hard objects. The arms are designed to thrust forward and grab/impale prey at high speeds. Once attached the fingers “dislocate” and can move freely with the prey. The finger/teeth are also used for manipulation of objects, especially out of water. Their grip strength is very low, but their arms are tremendous. Arms are also quite long with elongated forearms. Coloration is varied through all visible light spectrums generally front/back with darker colors on the back and lighter colors on the front. Patterns occur and highly influence social status even into modern day.'''

'''Were around far longer than the Gax. Possibly evolved as a land/surface dweller during an ice age LONG ago, but returned to the sea when it warmed up. Their accession and that of the Gax were within 10 years of each other with First Contact between them only 10 after that. They are only homeworlds are only 4 jumps from each other. When they first met, it wasn’t language or politics or any sort of agenda that brought them to war. Gax cultural norm of being straightforward, abrupt and brutal infuriated the Shirisho cultural norm of being indirect, patient, and brutal and vice-versa. War erupted only 6 months after First Contact.'''