Planet Zar: Nexus

Biology

Sapient aliens from Elmiria known for their acute empathy - both among their own kind and with aliens. Elmita lack complex vocal cords and are incapable of verbal speech, relying solely on telepathy and empathy to communicate with one another. Most cultures have varying forms of written language as well as signed language using both hands and tails for emphasis. Elmita continue to grow throughout their lifetimes, even after reaching adulthood and sexual maturity. The height of an individual is a good indication of their age. Young adults are typically around the 7' mark, whereas elders are closer to 10'.

Elmita are bipedal and digitigrade, with relatively flat faces and dentition that resembles earth's gorillas: with highly developed and strong canine teeth, but plenty of grinding molars to support a plant-heavy omnivorous diet. Elmita possess sensitive tendrils on their heads, instead of hair, which reaches maximum growth at adulthood. These tendrils are sensitive to physical touch, fluctuation in air pressure, and temperature. Elmita have a prehensile tail, long pointed ears that curve backward, and small slitted nostrils. Their eyes are a single dark color, with no visible difference between pupil, iris, and sclera. Black is the most common color, but deep blue and purple also occur.

Elmita come in a variety of colors, from soft whites to charcoal black and brighter shades of purple and blue. Head tendrils are always darker than the body.

Males posses spurs on elbows and ankle joints, but otherwise there is little sexual dimorphism. Females lack characteristic mammalian breasts outside of pregnancy & nursing young.

Elmita have tritanopia vision, which would be considered blue-yellow color blindness in humans. They see the world in shades of pink and cyan.

Physiology & Behavior

Incapable of verbal speech but not entirely mute. Elmita can hiss, snarl, squeek, and roar, but do not have fine control over their vocal cords and mandibular muscles. They are physically incapable of making complex sounds and words.

Rely on telepathy and empathy in order to communicate. They sense others' emotions as a baseline, which makes lying and subterfuge basically unknown to their species. Emotional honesty is the norm because otherwise is impossible. They find other species' habit of disguising their emotions horrifying.

Because their telepathy and empathy extends outside their species, Elmita are typically pacifists and hate causing harm - deliberate or otherwise - because they can feel the pain they're causing.

Elmita are a social species who tend to prefer the company of their own kind or other highly attuned empaths. Elmita form incredibly strong family bonds and almost always remain in contact with parents and siblings throughout their lives.

Mating and reproduction practices vary between cultures, but it is most common for Elmita to be polyamorous or "serial monogamist." Relationships change and develop and sometimes pairs drift apart or find other compatible mates. None of this is considered taboo for Elmita.

Elmita have a long gestation period and produce a single offspring at a time. Their new minds are especially susceptible to distress while they develop ways to understand and cope with the whorl of emotions around them. Infants and young children are kept carefully isolated from non-empaths and non-telepaths until they're able to handle the onslought of unregulated thoughts and emotions.

Elmita skin is highly sensitive, so while dress varies between cultures Elmita universally prefer loose-fitting styles made from exceptionally soft materials such as silk and fleece. Rough fabric (indeed, rough textured anything) is highly aversive to the elmita.