Alium

Population: About 4 million on Aropria, some 3% of the total
Origin: Extraterrestrial. Their colony ship came down long ago and was never found
Appearance: Hairless, grey-skinned, elongated limbs, star-speckled eyes
Speech: None. Alium have no vocal cords and communicate by projected telepathy
Range: Roughly 60 feet, or to one person by touch
Language: Gibblang. The original tongue was lost centuries ago
Nation: Kende

The Alium are a species of extraterrestrial beings that crashed onto this planet long ago. Their colony ship and true destination was lost, and the Alium did their best to assimilate into this new world. There are about 4 million Alium on Aropria, making up 3% of the total population. They all speak Gibblang, having lost their original language centuries ago. A few scraps of writing remain but few can translate it.

Description

Alium look surprisingly human for being extraterrestrial, although you could never mistake one for a human. They are universally hairless and somewhat grey skinned, with elongated limbs and bulbous eyes that are full of speckles of light like stars.

The most distinct feature of Alium is their lack of vocal cords. Although they have mouths, they cannot speak. Alium communicate through telepathy exclusively, although they cannot read minds. They project their words in a roughly 60-foot area. If they make physical contact with someone, then they can project their words to that person alone. Most Alium can track two mental conversations at once, with some Alium able to track up to four.

Gender

Alium appear androgynous to human observers, and all healthy Alium have the ability to bear children and impregnate others, although fertilization rates are lower than humans, keeping their population relatively stable. Alium present gender in whatever way suits the individual, and there are no culturally defined roles. They live to be older than humans, averaging around 150 years.

Attire

They often dress in bright colors and wrap long swaths of fabric around themselves and around their heads. Little knowledge remains of their homeworld, but it’s agreed that it must have been a much warmer place than Aropria, because they are always cold. This is why their city of Besok is wrapped around a volcano.

Younger Alium often cover their bodies with intricate, colorful tattoos using a temporary dye. Some are family signifiers, some are bits of poetry or favorite lines from their strong oral tradition, but most are just beautiful, intricate designs.

Midwinter Festival - Lesofāssa

The Alium have one major festival at midwinter: a festival of lights and feasting called Lesofāssa. Alium return to their ancestral homes (if they ever left them) for two weeks of cards games, endless food, music, plays, and listening to elders tell the same stories of their youth over and over again.

Communities

In general, they live on the edges of larger cities in boroughs, if only to avoid the tedious questions of humans. The humans around these boroughs are only somewhat comfortable communicating with them. Some Alium settle in farming communities, which spread out from each other, allowing them more privacy than their city dwelling cousins.

Most Alium families are close knit and self reliant, where children are strongly encouraged to follow the paths of their parents and ancestral shipboard duties. Alium farms and businesses are generations old, run by uncountable generations. Some can trace their lineage back to the colony ship itself and the roles their ancestors had on the ship or were destined for on the destination planet. As always, there are detractractors and teenagers who shed off those lineages and seek a bold new future for themselves. It is rare for these rebels to receive community support, and they often fall in with humans, who appreciate such rebellion.

Religion

The Alium across Aropria follow many different religions along with the other species. Many though, especially those in Kende, follow the Religion of the Alium.

A fanatical cult seeks to contact their homeworld and return home. Knowledge of space travel, advanced technology, and almost all knowledge of the homeworld itself has faded from Alium memory over time. Most still remember the name of the homeworld itself, and the cult is on the hunt for any book, scroll, or record of the coordinates of the homeworld.

This cult, as well as plenty of Alium adventurers, seek out the crashed colony ship that originally brought them to this place. Rumors drift through communities but have yet to pan out.