Mitanni (World Guide, Sapient Species) (Patreon)

Mitanni

When it comes to the cultural expression of bold individual overconfidence, the people of Mitan are arguably the most consistently exuberant of practitioners. Competitive to a fault, most mitanni see almost everything as a challenge to be faced down,  often regardless of the consequences. While this has served them fairly well in the interstellar sphere, it has also led to near disaster one more than one occasion.

The mitanni people are genetic descendants of a long extinct species of wooly mountain sheep native to their home world Mitan. The defining features of the mitanni are cloven hooves, long tufted tails, and ram horn which can rapidly regenerate should they be damaged or lost. Both sexes are tall, standing between 1.9 and 2.2 meters in height, on average. They are generally well built, though they are notable for having a softer physique that hides their powerful muscles.

All mitanni have skin colors that range from pale aqua to deep violet. Unlike many sapient species, skin color isn’t tied to genetic heritage, but rather develops over time dependent on the climate in which they were raised. Colder climates produce colors both pale and toward the aqua end of the hue range. Temperate climates produce blues and purples of middling intensity. Hot climates produce darker purples and violets. These color ranges hold true even for mitanni raised in areas with modern interior climate control. Mitanni raised in purely technological environments, such as aboard a space station tend to come out in the temperate color range.

The color of mitanni hair, tail tufts, and the hair above their hooves is tied to skin color. It will generally be darker in color, and trend in the direction of violet on the color scale. Thus an aqua mitanni may have a dark  shade of light blue, and a blue mitanni may have a dark shade of purple hair. Violet mitanni typically have dark violet hair, though for some the color tends to approach more of a very dark pink.

Male mitanni are covered in a thick, curly white wool that needs to be shorn every few months to keep it from interfering with daily life. Their ram horns tend to be much larger than those of females. They come much closer together on the forehead, and the tips of the horns extend well in front of the face.

Female mitanni have no wool coat. Instead, they have long, lush hair on their heads as well as patches around their ankles. Their ram horns are smaller. Female mitanni are often inclined to style their horns much like they style their hair. Various methods are available, thanks to their horns’ rapid regeneration ability. Most common are curved horns which roll back over the head, or run back and upward at a shallow angle. Far less common are handlebar horns, as they are often associated with the sort of submissiveness that mitanni culture abhors.

Generally speaking, mitanni culture is fairly ‘normal’ when compared to other major Fey’li Empire cultures. There are few hazards to unwary visitors to Mitan that aren’t equally present in places like Ashir or Fey’lin. These generally come from various expressions of naive, foolish individual boldness which a visitor might get caught up in should they dare to suggest that they’re as bold, or bolder, than the natives. With luck, this only involves getting embarrassed in some conventional way. Being that mitanni are well known for their taste for xenoexperience, however, there’s also a fair chance that proving one’s boldness might require acts that one might otherwise never contemplate.

Most believe that this aspect of mitanni culture dates back to the time when the key’vin’ta ruled Mitan. As with ever other sapient species that the key’vin’ta conquered, they were exposed to a high degree of conditioning. This was largely focused on enforcing the idea that everything their alien masters desired was desirable to them as well, no matter how outrageous or personally perilous.

It was the key’vin’ta who introduced the worship of the Nine Heavenly Hells to the mitanni as the ultimate part of the conditioning process. They came to believe that it was the ultimate afterlife, to be actively sought after regardless of the consequences. Of all those who the key’vin’ta used to power their temples, the mitanni were inevitably the most enthusiastic when given the chance, as it was a one way ticket straight to the Hells. So enthusiastic were they, that when the key’vin’ta removed themselves from the mortal realm in the ‘Great Extinction’, more than half the population of Mitan followed them.

In current times, the culture which the key’vin’ta imposed upon the mitanni tends to express itself in various games of fate. Xenoexperiences are partaken of by chance, or toyed with via various forms of peril play. Most of the time, these games are informal things done by individuals or small groups in an effort to see if they’re really ‘mitanni’ enough for a place in the Hells. At other times, more formal acts might take place, including the use of religiously blessed dice who’s roll upon encountering some xenoexperience will decide what the holder of the die is to do.

More recently, The Biogel Games have given mitanni an outlet for their competitiveness that satisfies their itch for imposing fates on willing individuals just like the key’vin’ta once imposed fates upon them. Biogel in general has allowed other sorts of competitive games to take on new, highly perilous aspects. As various other forms of xenoexperience become more commonplace, they too get added to the mix. Favorites include zexta jeweling, various rowa transformations, and even von’kin shrivelling.

One might encounter mitanni anywhere in the Fey’li Empire, but they are most prevalent in the Mitanni and Marian Drift Prefectures. Avoiding involvement in mitanni boldness culture is generally as simple as keeping one’s opinion to one’s self. This can become much more difficult with mitanni friends, as friends of the mitanni are often considered to have willingly made themselves part of mitanni culture.