Weaknesses
The Vekimen lose individual combat effectiveness the further their target is away from them. Bright lights and sudden, intense noises can stun or even incapacitate them. The race as a whole suffers from Agoraphobia.


| Faction | Vekimen Defensive Task Force |

|Lifespan | 80-100 Standard Years((Unlimted without direct cause of death and adequate food))|

|Sexes| Male and Female |

|Sexual Dimorphism| Minimal |

|Intelligence| Similar level to that of humans |

|Blood| Dark Green/ |

|Strength| Slightly stronger than basic humans |

|Agility| Very athletic |

|Language| Vekimen |






The Vekimen is a race of intelligent lizards that has developed into Bipeds. Their legs are fashioned in a slight digitigrade formation, and they are naturally quite flexible. They are able to fit and work in spaces that would cause a naturally claustrophobic reaction in races more accustom to living in large areas. Given the race's tendency to be underground, they have developed an uncanny knack for mining. Most of their technology is geared towards underground work, including their personal weapons.




==== General Appearance ====

Vekimen are incredibly hard to distinguish from one another. Very little variation has been made in their genetics, and some think that all Vekimen are genetically identical. To distinguish Clans, many of the better off clans will wear Clan Sigils in the form of rings and broaches. However, very few Vekimen can afford such luxury at this point and have since gone to carving their Clan Sigil into their horns, close to the base. More artistic members even carve their names and if, in the Vekimen Defensive Task Force, they will carve their rank into their horn. Many horn carvings can be quite immaculate, giving lower class citizens a better natural appearance than the high classes more possession based culture.




All Vekimen have a delicate white snake like skin layer. Along the outer parts of their bodies such as shoulders, the back of their arms, top of their tail, and outer sides of their legs they have black scales. Their appearance can denounce an individual Vekimen’s health as healthy Veimen have a radiant shine to these scales. Finally, along with their sternum and under the tail, they have a matte grey bone like scale plates that protect their bodies from the most rugged aspects of mining. On males, these plates cover their full chest. On females, it is quite minimal, protecting the sternum and lower abdomen. All Vekimen have a thick, stiff mane surrounding their heads. In times of stress, this mane can expand, giving the individual a wild, ragged appearance.




All Vekimen are an average between Four and a Half feet and Five and a half feet. There has not been a Vekimen in recorded history to be over Six Feet tall, or under Four Feet tall. Their appearance is generally pleasing to the eye, however, due to their diet, their mouths can often be the cause of disgust within those that are not a part of the race. Their mouths are often too caked in their bacteria to come into contact with, and cleaning their mouths pose a substantial medical risk as it is an integral part of their immune system




==== Sleep Patterns ====

The Vekimen are primarily crepuscular, or nocturnal. Diurnal Vekimen are highly abnormal, given their preference for low light situations. The race is cold blooded and can be frozen solid, then thawed out without any major complications. Given the races fear of cold, however, their cryogenics program is non-existent.




==== Sight ====

Vekimen have two, light grey, slit pupil eyes on either side of their head. Similar that to a snake's head, only the skull leans towards the thinner side, not the flatter side. They are capable of seeing the colour spectrum. They can see red, blue, green, yellow, and many of the colours those colours in turn make. Show a Vekimen a Red Fire Truck and they will see what you see. A Red Fire Truck.




Vekimen however, can see the Infrared Spectrum. How they do this is not with their retina, but with separate organs, under their eyes following their muzzle. This allows them to sense infrared on a natural level. Almost exactly like that of a snake, though, this organ is connected with the Retina's so they do in fact see the Infrared Spectrum, how it looks isn't exactly clear.




When light just is not an option, Vekimen can still identify moving objects. While they will be forced to generally feel a new area out should they be without any visual stimulation, they can tell an approximate location of something through tremors in the ground. Primarily a skill used to tell if there are others nearby without the ability to visually confirm their location, this sense of "sight" sometimes inaccurate and will never give as detailed a picture as visual confirmation.




While sight is one of the most important senses to a Vekimen, it can also be their greatest weakness. Vekimen have a strong disdain for Sunlight, Full Spectrum UV Lights, and Bright Lights in general. A visual overload could stun, or even temporarily blind a Vekimen. This can cause a large amount of distress for the Vekimen, causing several reactions from panicking, t the violent ejection of bodily fluids.




==== Scent ====

The Vekimen sense of smell is oddly set up. Their olfactory is placed in their muzzle, connected to their nostrils as it would most creatures, but their nostrils are not designed to smell. Their tongue is connected to their olfactory with a higher density of connections than their nostrils are, allowing them to taste the smells around them. Vekimen often make it a habit to examine things with their tongue, due to the sensitivity of the organ. They do not find many things to "taste" bad, given their noxious diet, but those things do exist.




==== Hearing ====

Vekimen don't have ears in the same sense that most creatures have. While they do have an inner ear, that is about where the similarities stop. Because of the interesting way they developed and evolved, a Vekimen feels sound rather than hears it. While the sound is translated the same why, the vibrations of the sound hitting their body travels and interacts with their inner ear through their skin, muscle, and even bones. This sensitivity to vibrations is a prime factor in their ability to "see" others without sight.




==== Speech ====

With how sensitive the Vekimens hearing is, it isn't a shock that their speech is just as capable. A Vekimen has a drastically broad vocal range, and a control over their voices so fine, they can mimic sounds and voices around them with a casual ease. They can be glorified speakers for music, able to sing all parts of a song, vocal and instrumental, at the same time. Their language is impossible for anything biological to understand so far, as the Vekimen have yet to meet anything natural that could pick out the various minor changes in their tones. Able to create sounds from 5hrz, all the way up to 100,000 hrz, and able to identify the differences between frequencies as little as 2hrz apart. Because of this highly complex way of speaking, Trade to Vekimen translators often make the speaker sound slow, or mentally challenged to other Vekimen.






==== Reproduction ====

Despite their reptilian, cold-blooded bodies, they do produce offspring in a mammalian fashion. Due to this, the females bone plates are both minimalistic, and can shift enough to make room for the growing infant/s. This makes gender roles common within the Vekimen social structure. Females will often be seen within Administration, and as officers within the Vekimen Defensive Task Force. Males, given the sturdier bodies, will more commonly be seen in Labour roles. Some exceptions apply.




Male Vekimen have internal genitalia. Females have protective folds to protect their genitalia, giving all Vekimen a rather modest appearance when unclothed. While they do have nipples, unless they are in the process of feeding young they are very hard to notice. Discovering the sex of a Vekimen is relatively easy despite their Agender appearance when unclothed. Males will have wide bone plates covering a vast majority of their frontal torso while females have very obvious mammary glands and rather minimal bone plates on their chest. They copulate the same way Mammals would normally and give birth in a similar fashion.




On rare occasions, a Vekimen may be born with both a set of male and female genitalia. While rare and odd, these Vekimen have little problems reproducing. They can only reproduce with one set of genitalia, dependent on if they are born with Ovaries or Testicles. A Vekimen with one of each are sterile, incapable of giving birth. Either gender appearance can be born with both genitalia, but it is more common in females than males.




Reproduction is controlled by the Military VIA simple Intrauterine Implant, making a female Vekimen sterile until the Military is sure they can support additional population.




A Female Vekimen is in the most danger during labour. Due to this, the VDTF requires all pregnant females to inform them of pregnancy as soon as possible. During labour, Female Vekimen are at their highest chance of pregnancy. An odd function of the body, but said changes causes the female to release pheromones that will alert males and often drive them into a rage. Males in this rage are extremely territorial, and will often kill the child in a fit of primal jealousy. For this reason, the Maternity Den can only be entered via Airlock that cycles the pheromone out of the air, and are guarded by armed, often Kiraten Females. Males are not permitted near the Maternity Den, regardless of Rank or Social standing.




===Cross-Species===

Vekimen have rather interesting qualities about them when it comes to inter species relations. Naturals are often affected quite heavily by this. The pheromones of the Vekimen can have addictive qualities, but it is how these pheromones are released that make them unique. Female Vekimen have a weak, scent based pheromone that can cause temporary bouts of arousal. They are short lived, and are inconsistent, some being affected more than others.




Male Vekimen on the other hand, have a contact pheromone. The natural lubricant they produce is filled with it, and while it has a husky smell to it, the smell does not carry the pheromone. The pheromone only works if absorbed through a mucous membranes directly. It has been noted that this pheromone has the ability to change the hormonal balances of a non-vekimen female to increase their libedo and decrease inhibitions if a large enough dose is absorbed. It also causes females to go into a heat the Vekimen are attracted too. Lingering in the system, it causes males or females to suffer from an itch they cannot scratch without the pheromone being present in intercourse. It is moderately debilitating depending on the person, but the effects can be subdued with hormone correcting drugs. It can also be removed immediately with a system flush, or naturally, if the person goes 2-5 weeks without absorbing more of the pheromone.




Male Vekimen are also unique, in that they can get females of other species pregnant, while females cannot get pregnant by other species without technological help. A Vekimen crossbreed has yet to be seen.



== Maturity ==

Vekimen Clans are very unique. Each one has very distinguishing features about it that normally can't be seen. They can, however, be studied. Vekimen age of maturity fluctuates vastly from Clan to Clan. A Kiraten will stop growing and be a biological adult around four and a half years, whereas a Sivaro will stop growing and become a biological adult at about 13 years of age. Laderen are biologically mature at about 8 years of age.




Given this vast fluctuation, and the fact that the Military needed a standardized system, Age of Majority within the Vekimen Race is 10, and the Age of Consent is 4.5. At this point, the Military will add the citizen to the VDTF Draft record, allow them to apply for officer positions, and put them to work officially, instead of the "Training" they had been doing previously.




==== Healing ====

The Vekimen, having grown accustom to life in hazardous conditions have evolved to be able to take an extraordinary amount of physical abuse and bounce back. Given the extremely dangerous task of mining, loss of limbs and other non-vital aspects of their body. Legs, Arms, Tails, Minor Organs such as eyes and IR Pits. This process does take time and vast amounts of rest and nutrients to complete in a timely manner.




Within ideal parameters, a Vekimen will be able to regenerate their limbs/organs at this rate.




Tail: 1 Week

Hand/Feet: 2 Weeks

Arm/Leg: 2 1/2 Weeks

Eyes/pits: 1 Month




Within Regular, mundane parameters, a Vekimen will be able to regenerate their limbs/organs at this rate




Tail: 1 Month

Hand/Feet: 2 Months

Arm/Leg: 2 1/2 Months

Eyes/pits: 6 months




Within less than ideal parameters, a Vekimen will be able to regenerate their limbs/organs at this rate




Tail: 1 year

Hand/Foot: 1 1/2 years

Arm/Leg: 2 years

Eyes/pits: 3 1/2 years




In conditions of extreme poverty and starvation, Vekimen could take decades, or never regain their limb/organ at all. Given the fact that biology cannot be timed to such accuracy, all times mentioned should be considered an average.




The process visually has never been seen without extreme issues caused. Gradually a "cast" of cells that form in a web create the approximate shape of the limb. This takes the longest time, as the limb uses this web as a biological scaffolding to build to and protect the limb similar to a scab protecting a healing wound. When it comes to the eyes or pits, there is generally no change in appearance, as the process takes place within the body. It has been discovered to follow the same process however when autopsies are performed on deceased who have lost these organs.




It is crucial the cast of limbs is not damaged. Should any damage occur to the natural cast, permanent damage could be caused to the limb, resulting in the Vekimen needing to lose the limb a second time to let it grow back how it should. Due to this, Vekimen have designed casting material to add a second outer layer of defense to the limb, working hard to ensure the Vekimen can return to duty within their clan, and further-more, the Military.




=== Lifespan ===

When it comes to lifespan, Vekimen are like simple, reliable machines. If you give them what they need to run and treat them with a modicum of care, it will never stop working. The Vekimen are much like this. If they have food to eat, time to sleep, and other core needs of any living creature, their cells will continue to reproduce. They do not have any aging trigger. Without an abundance of food, a Vekimen will slowly, gradually starve. Their scales will grow dull, they will grow weak, skin will sag, and so forth. This is because their cells are not given what they need to continue to reproduce with the efficiency they are capable of. An old Vekimen can have their youth restored, simply by feeding them. Food and bedrest is all a Vekimen needs to reverse their aging.




==== Digestive System ====




The Digestive tract of a Vekimen is remarkably simple. Food enters their mouth, where bacteria starts to degrade the content. The Vekimen don't chew their food, and the bacteria causes severe necrosis in flesh not part of the symbiotic relationship, so a Vekimen will wait for the bacteria in it's mouth to do most of the work at breaking it down to a near liquid state. The food become 100% inedible to anything once a vekimen starts to eat, and it can be unpleasant to be around them as their muzzles are not good at sealing in liquids so their meal may sometimes drip out of their mouths. The smell of this can be so bad it is hard to be ear a Vekimen while eating.




Once swallowed, the bacteria in the stomach continues to eat away at everything. As it eats, it turns the food the Vekimen eat into sustenance they can process, similar to the production of alcohol with yeast. The stomach holds no acids, nor does the Vekimen body process any. It is however were a vast majority of the bacteria they use for digestion resides.




Once the bacteria eats away the entirety of the Vekimens meal, the by product, high in Calcium, Protine, B12, Creatine, D3, Carnosine, DHA, and other important nutrients. This thick sludge like mixture slips into the intestinal tract where it gets processed by the body and used by the body. Some Bacteria gets pulled into this part of the body, dies, and also gets absorbed by the Vekimen. Due to all the efficient processing the body does to bring food down to it's base nutrients, bodily waste is often thin, scentless, and sterile.




Vekimen have a strong natural reaction to highly processed sugars. The bacteria cannot do anything with it, and is rapidly absorbed by the system. The initial shock of energy will cause a Vekimen to seize up for a minute or two. Afterwards, the Vekimen will enter a state similar that to what alcohol, morphine, or other opioits would cause. This effect can last several hours as the body tries to reset.




Sugar having this ability is helpful to the Vekimen in social situations, as Alcohol is poison to them. Vekimen hate the smell and taste of alcohol, so never fear accidentally killing a Vekimen house guest after unwittingly offering them a drink.

==== Venom ====

Vekimen are Venomous. They also have a strong desire for raw and often rotting flesh. This desire only appears once a Vekimen can properly digest such food. Until the digestive tract and bacteria become powerful enough, they will feed off their mothers. Their venom only develops once the Bacteria has developed.




There Venom is more akin to a Spider Venom than a Lizard Venom. Minor effects of the Venom include Loss of Muscle Control, Breathing problems, severe pain and inflammation at the bite location, and in some instances painful erections that can cause impotence within males. If untreated, the flesh around the bite location will start to rot. This effect will travel and can lead to death. The Venoms effects are due to a neurotoxin that they create, mixed with the bacteria their gut creates. Only the Bacteria cause necrosis of the Flesh. The Venom alone is survivable unless given a dose that exceeds what a single healthy Adult can produce. Vekimen have the ability to “dry bite” so as to not waste their Venom. Their Venom takes a large amount of time and energy to replenish.




A bite from a Vekimen will not initially hurt. Instead, the bitten location will have a hot, stiff, throbbing feel. very shortly after, respiratory distress will start to set in. The Victims airways will start to close up, and the resulting panic will allow the venom to travel around the body faster. A few minutes after this happens the Victim will start to lose control of their extremities. While the Venom is doing its work, the Bacteria left at the bite location will have started to eat away at the flesh. The bite will start to fester and rot quickly once the victims limbs start to become inoperable. While this is happening, the pain around the bite location will gradually become more and more severe.




Chances of surviving a single Vekimen bite is 100% if the bite location is sterilized immediately. If the bite was a very slight bite, a victim has between 75 and 90% chance of survival, if not treated immediately. If a Vekimen bites you long enough to inject their full store of Venom, chances of survival are <5% without immediate treatment. Sterilization of bitten area will assist in survival chances, but once the bacteria have time to fully enter the bloodstream, very little other than advanced medical treatment will totally remove the chance of death.




Their mouths are also beneficial to a bite victim. The Saliva of the Vekimen in who bite the Victim can be used as an Anti-Venom is the bacteria is killed. This will greatly reduce not only the duration of the venom's effects but also the severity. Be careful, as their saliva must enter the blood stream, and if not properly sterilized it can compound a new issue.




Alternatively, their Saliva can be used as a last ditch effort to get away from assailants. They can spit into the faces of attackers. The smell alone is enough to dissuade many would-be attackers, but the bacteria is dangerous when in contact with the eyes.



===== Culture and History =====

The Vekimen Culture was once quite broad. Their planet was filled with different Clans of Vekimen. Clans were a source of pride, as well as a source of hatred. Clan Wars were often long and grueling in both a physical and political sense. Their technology was advanced through many clans expending resources to out advance other clans. Many clans became enveloped by larger clans.




Politically, Clans would have born leaders, similar that to a monarchy. These leaders would, when needed to, meet for a Clan meeting to settle problems between feuding Clans should the conflict spill over and disturb other Clans not affiliated with the conflict. Once the race became advanced enough, they as a collective started funding a Space Program. This program gradually started to boom. After quite some hardship convincing Clans to leave their underground sanctums to reach for the stars, they finally managed to enter the frontier of space.




It did not take long, however, for conflict to find its way into the black. Clans started fitting their ships with weapons and defensive systems. Several small wars were fought between Clans trying to obtain dominance. Three of the most predominant Clans of the planet, however, refused to deal with such petty squabbles. The Laderen, Kiratan, and Sivaro Clans understood as a collective that there was more to space than just what was around their sun. Within Centuries they managed to beat down those Clans who used Space as a new Battle Field, bringing peace and industrialism to the system.




From there, their culture molded into an industry and resource gathering focus, rather than the warfare focus they had or so long. Soon, their advances in resource acquisition allowed them to grow more and more advanced as the decades went on.

approved, didnt find the easter egg.