Information about Jastins

When Quarace was first discovered, it was seen to be home to all manner of plant and animal life unlike anything seen on Earth, with the most notable being a family of animal-oid species referred to as Quaroids, since they came to be the species most associated with the planet. Quaroids come in all shapes and sizes, indeed they probably have little in common physically, save for a few features: first, all have a lightweight yet amazingly strong bone structure. Second, all Quaroids possess tough, leathery skin with very similar luster and texture. Third, all Quaroids seem to be able to communicate by means which cannot be measured by any human instrument. Some believe that they utilize a form of extrasensory perception, while others dismiss the mystery to oversight and await the discovery of the method by which Quaroids can communicate, believing that this could also someday be utilized by humanity. When speaking of Quaroids, most often the subject of debate is the nature of the Jastin race, whose activities have plagued humanity for centuries upon centuries. Their nature continues to mystify humanity, primarily since only a handful of intact specimens have ever been captured.
Jastins are the perfect predators. They are lightweight, airborn, and possess three natural weapons. Their reflexes are lightning-quick, even for a creature of Quarace. They possess quite thin, humanoid bodies with tri-segmenteddigitigrade legs, leathery wings, and a long tail. Blades, which they habitually sharpen on the rocks where they dwell, can be found on the tip of the tail, the tips of the wings, and three large claws adorn each foot, with two pointing forward and one backward. Each performs a different function- the talons are perfect for ripping and for gripping prey. A common Jastin attack revolves around swooping from above and thrashing with their talons. The Jastins' wing blades are a thrusting weapon, used by collapsing the wing to bring the tips together, and thrusting the apparatus forward, far beyond arms' reach. The tail blade performs two functions- it is useful as a slashing weapon and provides limited rear coverage, and also aids stability during flight.
Despite their amazing ability to attack, this species does have weaknesses. For all their natural weaponry, Jastins lack very much physical strength, and their fragile organ structure is easily pulverized. Jastin attacks normally are centered around the idea of quickly incapacitating prey before they get too close for comfort- Jastins are loathe to engage in prolonged combat, preferring to strike quickly and lethally. Since flight is their default mode of transport, they are very cautious of their wings, which are the most sensitive part of their body. They prefer to dwell in high ground, where none can attack from above.
Jastins gained dominance over their surroundings in much the same manner that humans did, albeit in a more carnivorous manner. Their main predator besides disease consisted of the larger Quaran species, who could easily disrupt Jastins during flight. However, once Jastin speech evolved, they were able to overcome these predators by communicating in language more complex than the raw, oblique emotions communicated by ESP. Over time they became sentient, and their culture is quite simple, yet peculiar.
Jastins are the perfect hunters, and their natural hunting ability, they recognize, is what made them the dominant species on Quarace. Their culture is centered around the hunt, which for them is a sacred ritual carried out daily, with the utmost care. Jastins also recognize that hunting is a violent act, and that all life would perish if all Jastins hunted constantly. Killing, to them, is different to Jastins than for humans. Whereas humans regard killing as a vile act sometimes performed out of necessity, Jastins believe that their skills with killing were bestowed upon them by the divine, and the frivolous use of the emotions which fuel it is a violation of this divine gift- in a sense, killing without purpose or honor is an ungrateful act.
Jastin culture is centered around the honorable slaughter of worthy opponents. Jastins spar constantly in an effort to hone their skills. Hunting a more adept creature, for them, is a sign of great sophistication- a Jastin who preys on small, helpless animals is seen as lacking in honor. Like human Buddhists aspire to eventually achieve enlightenment, Jastins are constantly preoccupied with finding the ideal way to hunt and kill prey. Their psyche is constantly engaged in analytical thought, in a constant cycle of searching, stalking, slaughter, and feast, a cycle which they see constantly reflected in their own lives. Never, under any circumstance, is it considered honorable for a Jastin to use their skills to kill another of their own species- this is ungrateful.
Jastin society is loosely structured. By day, they scatter in search of prey, if they are hungry. If a Jastin is not hungry at the beginning of the day, then they will chose to sleep until the next day, when their hunger will better drive their hunt. Jastins never store extra food, since feasting is considered a necessary part of the hunting cycle (Search, Stalk, Slaughter, Feast) which cannot occur but after slaughter.
Additionally, Jastins associate their ESP abilities with divinity, and have noted that animals with more developed intellect, although none are more developed than their own, give off greater extrasensory signals during combat. More developed feelings are projected from larger, more developed animals, especially other predators. These signals are considered a sort of divine revelation, and in these moments the Jastin feels called to be completely focused on the matter at hand, and therefore these signals are associated with a closer connection to the divine, the ideal.
When human beings first came to Quarace, they were relatively unconcerned with the Jastins, considering them to be simple, primitive animals. However, when human expansion progressed into common Jastin hunting grounds, the creatures responded, and began to hunt the human beings, fascinated by these new animals and their many machines- however, the humans did not react pleasantly to their kind falling under attack by savage local creatures.
Herein lies the problem between Jastins and humans: when the Jastins kill a human being, they mean no ill will by this. After all, there are animals which prey on Jastins as well. Hunting is a natural part of the world, right? However, the humans were outraged by the apparently calculated killing of human beings, the creatures which would stalk a man for days before making a sudden strike. Loose efforts, in the manner of bodyguards and neighborhood militia, were organized to defend the human settlements from the Jastins. However, this proved ineffective as, since they are masters of the hunt, the Jastins responded by simply finding new ways to get at the humans. As the conflicts continued to escalate, the Jastins responded by coordinating team efforts to contend with the organizing humans.
The human-Jastin conflict continued until finally local armies were determined to drive out the Jastins by any means necessary. But the problem was not that the Jastins were killing too many humans- actually, there were far more murders taking place by humans daily- but that the Jastins were, in most cases, simply too wily to be killed. Their ESP sense was very sensitive to the minds of the Jastins, and the sentient rage produced by humans during fighting fueled the focus and drive of the Jastins- no other animal on the planet produced a broader mental signal than human beings, and the Jastins could indeed use these signals to anticipate a human's next move, a quality they could only recognize in each other, not any other animal.
The fight continued savagely since to both races, the conflict was entirely different in nature. To the humans, Jastins were a threat to their safety, indeed their own lives. Jastins were mere animals to human eyes, primitive in nature yet fierce. Not having explored the entire planet directly, humans had not yet observed the organized aspects of Jastin civilization, and did not understand that these creatures were civilized, just like humans were. Jastins were wild, untamable animals to be subdued by any means possible. On the other hand, the Jastins reveled in the continually escalating challenge posed them by the humans. They considered humans to be a race of hunters like themselves, and they interpreted the conflicts as being a contest of sorts, and the conflict escalated only to provide them with new challenges, and increased hatred and mental projections on behalf of the humans led them to greater understanding of the cycle of hunting, and the divine meaning of slaughter. They had no idea that the mental projections of humans were actually the manifestations of hatred toward their kind. The Jastins were also unaware that humans would wipe them off the planet if they had the means. Jastins, as a sentient race, respected every living thing on the planet- why wouldn't humans do the same?
This ignorance to the greater human plan was not thwarted by the humans' performance against them- almost all human tactics employed against them were utterly useless, and humans themselves are slow-moving, heavy creatures compared to most life on Quarace. They were generally easy prey, but humans' emotional intensity during fighting and their ingenious use of weapons and technology, something the Jastins were unfamiliar with, was of great intrigue to them, something which could be studied greatly by hunting the human beings- and so the conflict went on.
Meanwhile, the humans, led by great money-grubbing corporate executives- had a planet to colonize, and later, a civil war to fight. After the early efforts to fend of f the Jastins had proved utterly ineffective, the humans chose to simply avoid Jastins by dwelling where the species avoided- on low ground. In coastal regions of Quarace there lay a different set of land-roaming predators, but these animals lacked the cunning and intellect of the Jastins. And so for many hundreds of years there was a relatively peaceful co-existance between the two species. Jastins only rarely ventured down to the coastal human cities, and humans dared not wander into the highlands.
But the peace didn't last. Ruled by corporations who settled Quarace to take advantage of its natural resources, the humans again began to wonder what lay in the highlands, and about the true nature of the native creatures which at this point had risen to almost mythic status. Early expeditions into the highlands and mountainous regions revealed shocking information: the Jastins had adopted human technology and weapons, and had apparently become mastered with their use. Even stranger, these weapons were slightly different than conventional human technology, and made for use by Jastins specifically. Not only had these creatures embraced human technology, they had adapted human industrial and manufacturing techniques to their advantage as well, although none could find the location of their production facilities- weren't these creatures nomadic?
The animals which were once thought only to possess a primitive set of instincts were, in reality, intellectually advanced, even civilized. It came as a shock, and a horror, to the entire human population of Quarace.
Thus, a second war between the two species began, with the human race this time motivated by their horror at the adoption of their own technology, somehow, by these malicious animals. The humans now attempted to use all of their power to find a way to successfully fight them, but it was of ho use- even against armored airships, the Jastins had become adept with ranged energy weapons and missiles. Although their belief in the supremacy of the individual as the ideal hunting force prevented them from developing armored vehicles on their own, they adopted the human technology as a means of dealing with larger-scale, more destructive human war machines. Through careful study, the Jastins determined where the massive human airships and tanks were weakest, again defeating them through the classic quick-strike method which had served them for millennia.
Humans, for the first time in their species' history, were dominated by another species. Cities were built in the highlands, either buried inside the mountains or covered in automated defenses designed to disintegrate anything crossing their path. Mining and manufacturing operations were carried out and massive arcologies became part of the mountain landscape, but no efforts could be made offensively against the Jastins- all efforts, it seemed, were futile. After a decade of fighting, humans ceased to even imagine new ways to fight the Jastins offensively.
Meanwhile, a popular sentiment united the Jastins- the observation of the nature of human beings. Within a single millennium, these creatures had populated the planet and were actively stripping it of its beauty, turning the planet's beauty into terrible destruction. "Is this race really that similar to ours?" The began to wonder. Some even argued that it may be the duty of their race to subdue this nefarious species.
Two hundred and thirty-three years after the end of the second Human-Jastin conflict is where the stage is set.