Ashiri (World Guide, Sapient Species) (Patreon)

Ashiri

Originating on the world of Ashir, only about 250 light years away from the fey'li homeworld of Fey'in, the ashiri are a 'typical furless humanoid' most easily identified by their long, elf-like ears. Ashiri have skin that varies in color from light blue-gray to deep violet, with pastel shades of purple and violet being the most common. They tend to be of a slightly smaller than average stature, and are known more for their agility than their physical strength.

Ashiri tend to prefer various forms of form-fitting clothing, with a modern stylistic preference for shiny and/or partially translucent or transparent outfits. While older generations tend towards various stretchy natural and synthetic fabrics or rubbers, younger generations have shown a preference for so-called 'gelwear'. These are single-use outfits generated and disposed of using a closet-like home device that directly applies and removes a breathable gelatin of varying style, color, and transparency to the wearer's body. More recently, biogel has found itself quite popular among ashiri. Among the biogel wearing population, the ashiri are the second most numerous behind the fey'li, and just ahead of the mitanni.

In ancient times, the world of Ashir was a site of von'kir 'conquest'. The native ashiri population was completely converted to a faux-religion where being selected for transformation into a mindless, shriveled shu'riv 'pet' was the highest of devotional honors. It is now widely known that this religious conversion was just a means to gain enthusiastic compliance by the ashiri so that their bodies could be used for purely entertainment purposes by their von'kir masters. Despite this, many ashiri still hang on to the belief that being permanently physically and mentally corrupted, in such a seemingly unpleasant fashion, and in devotion to a fictional goddess, is a desirable life experience. As a result, thousands of ashiri become shu'riv every day on Ashir, and visitors to certain old temple communities are often strongly encouraged to join in the 'fun'.

As a result of their von'kir past, the ashiri tend to be much more culturally accepting of exotic physical experience than most other humanoid species. In addition to actively promoting the shu'riv transformation to their fellow humanoid races, ashiri are often found actively participating in other alien efforts to purvey physically transformative experiences among the population of the Fey'li Empire. Chief among these are the so-called digital gorgons of the zexta, travel to the zuka resorts of Zembax, and the development of nanitch capabilities into something more varied in order to help attract paying tourists to their hives.