The Avians are the dominant intelligent lifeform of Latokeska. Though their cultures are vast and extremely varied, they are primarily famous as a species for their nearly-unanimous nomadic lifestyle, which has deeply affected their understanding of self-identity, community, and private property.
The term "Avian" is biologically-incorrect. During First Contact, Humans had a need for a name to give the Ekxina in various documents and database entries. At first glance, the feathers and large wings of the Ekxina are quite striking to the eyes, and so it was intuitive to liken them to birds on Kazhard. However, after the language barrier was broken, the name "Avian" had achieved such a wide reach, and had buried itself in the habits of Human conversation so deeply that the misnomer was not going to disappear in favor of "Ekxina".
Just to name some (not all) major differences from Kazhardi birds:
While "Avian" is technically incorrect, this article will continue to use it in favor of addressing a certain target audience. For versions of this article translated for Avian readers, the Kaskhoruxo name "Ekxina" will be used instead.
Most life on Latokeska began in the underground seas and caverns, and consisted largely of fish, crustaceans, bugs, and others.
Eventually, amphibians evolved to take advantage of dry sections of caverns for nesting. Around geysers and cracks in the cavern ceiling, plants had begun to grow upward to take advantage of sunlight, rather than rely on chemical-based nutrition in the dark waters below.
Similar to the evolution of amphibians, the evolution of lizards saw success by creating nests entirely outside of the caverns, as these locations were too dry and hot for amphibian competitors to survive.
On the surface, lizards were extremely limited in their mobility, as their cold-blooded bodies chained them to a stricter exertion budget. Those with larger budgets had the ability to travel longer distances, and survive more hostile encounters. Warm-blooded creatures began to find success in this role, but at a large cost: their warm bodies required a lot more food to stay alive, compared to all the life that had previously evolved, and most of the available food was still in the waters underground. This required warm-blooded creatures to have a method of staying warm in the cold waters, and stay cool in the dry surface heat, so that they could tend to their widespread nests, and still have access to the wealth of food underground. Unlike lizards, which only went to the surface to mate, these warm-blooded creatures had the ability to spend a lot more time on the surface as a regular hunting tactic. Because of this, warm-blooded predators also needed the ability to frequently scale up roots and rock walls to access the surface, as well as brains complex enough to remember these travel routes.
The major evolutionary feature which allowed this was the feather. Successful warm-blooded creatures were covered in feathers, which helped in body temperature regulation, and gave them access to hunting regions both underground and on the surface. This increase in competition on the surface likely resulted in the extinction of a lot of cold-blooded surface-dwelling species, and provided a wealth of food for feathered life, securing them as the dominant kind of life on the surface.
Plant life around geysers also continued to thrive, growing into dense pockets of jungle-like vegetation. This opened up a niche for feathered herbivores and omnivores, expanding the surface ecosystem, and largely sealing lizards away in the underground. At this point, both surface predators and surface prey were feathered, as they could afford the energy costs for competition.
It is here that we find the Proto-Avian: a social tree-dwelling feathered mammal which lives in the jungle canopy as part of a pack-like family unit. Proto-Avians were omnivores where the caretakers would tend to the nests and gather plants and fruit, and hunters would descend to the ground below to hunt small prey hiding in the dense root systems of the jungle floor, or coordinate to take on larger prey.
It is here that a major crisis occurred, resulting in next massive extinction event in Latokeska's history.
These jungle regions were (and still are) very small, limited largely by the effectiveness of roots sprouting from underground, or by the distribution of water sprayed from active geysers. This meant that as the Proto-Avian continued to be dominant and successful, it would also quickly deplete its food sources through over-consumption. Hundreds of thousands of jungles all across Latokeska have fossil records indicating legions of Proto-Avians dying of starvation within very short time windows.
This mass extinction forced the Proto-Avians to diversify their hunting grounds, and only those which did so could survive and reproduce. This is one possible explanation as to why modern underground waters have complex Avian-like seals, which are hunted by shark-like predators. If one branch of Proto-Avians fled underground to find food and found a niche there, then these seals could likely have evolved from them. In fact, many low-tech Avian cultures in modern day still live largely underground, only surfacing during times of harvest. These groups, however, are threatened by extinction due to historical exploitation and lack of development.
The evolutionary branch which would become the modern Avian, however, sought to travel far into the deserts surrounding the jungles, hoping to hunt some species of lizard which had yet to be discovered. These Proto-Avians, however, were facing the threat of extinction, and their numbers were few and shrinking with each generation.
For most jungles, Proto-Avian species had died out completely, and to this day, the order which Avians belong to is tenuous at best. In contrast, Humans have a large number of similar species within the order of primates. Biologists of Latokeska have yet to find a third suborder alongside the Avians, as the only other known one consists of Latokesko seals.
The Proto-Avians who survived, however, made a few essential breakthroughs in record time: tribal knowledge, awareness of environmental conservation, and mutations allowing for homeostasis in the vast deserts. Those which had tribal knowledge developed a method of communication and storytelling, and could warn future generations of famine. Those which had awareness of environmental conservation developed brains which could plan and budget for the future, adapting their lifestyles to the rhythm of the jungles. These first two of three essential breakthroughs resulted in a massive increase in brain size and intelligence.
The final major breakthrough, however, were a set of mutations which allowed an Avian to survive long travels in the desert, and these quickly caught on and saved the entire species from extinction. Proto-Avians slowly transitioned into prehistoric and pre-Ajokona Avians by developing two-layer feathers for temperature regulation, improved sight for distance, darker skin, and the ability to function in low-oxygen environments.
Around this time, the first successful trek across the desert allowed the first family of Avians to reach another jungle. These original nomads are likely also the first speakers of ancient Rosdaruxa, which would also explain the language's vast reach of dialects and its similarity to the global Kaskhoruxa language.
As the nomadic Avians steadily fought against extinction, a few groups had reached the famous Anhrorosorda mountain range, where the altitude allowed for frost during winter, and fresh water during the summer. This mountain range is the only known region where Avians have developed agriculture, and the population here exploded into a vast and rich society. The Rosdaruxa language developed further, and split into many smaller dialects across the mountain range, and one such dialect was spoken by a guild of explorers and cartographers: the original Ajokona tribe.
The Ajokona developed a series of carved glyphs for tracking jungle growth and highlighting various dangers and hazards. These glyphs would soon become the start of the Kaskhoruxa language. The Ajokona then sent exploration teams into the desert to locate the forgotten jungles described by mountain folklore, and make contact with the nomadic Avians of legend and myth.
Most exploration teams returned successful, and the Ajokona glyph language had been spread to the nomadic Avians, which had now soared to become the majority population of the planet, traveling with a intricate system of trade routes. It is around this time that the Avian species left pre-history, as both nomads and mountain-dwellers began to record history using the early Kaskhoruxa language.
Avian physiology, for the most part, is strikingly Humanoid in appearance.
Avians typically grow to a height of 160 to 270 centimeters tall (approximately 5 feet 3 inches to 8 feet 10 inches). Wingspan for an individual is typically just under twice their height, with most wings hanging just above the ground.
Ribcages are quite a bit larger than those of Humans, as Avians need more air per breathe to get the correct amount of oxygen. Avian ribcages are generally large enough that one arm reaching for the shoulder of the other arm will lay flat across the entire ribcage, allowing barely a fingertip to successfully touch the shoulder. According to Human proportions, Avian ribcages are about twice as deep, and almost twice as wide and tall.
Starting from inside of each shoulder blade, the wing begins with a muscular segment about hand long. The next segment is about the length of a forearm, and curves upward at the end in a sort of large knuckle. From here, the skeleton hangs down in a long three-digit lone finger which makes up the rest of the wing.
The feathers of the wing are different from those found elsewhere on the body. They are bright, colorful, and very fluffy. They do not shape the air at all like bird feathers of flight would, and instead flow like long hair would in the wind.
Their lower torso is remarkably thinner than their ribcage, almost half as wide, and the width of their pelvis meets between that of their ribcage and lower torso. All Avians have genital anatomy similar to Human females, and so the adult pelvis of every Avian widens during puberty to this standard size, whether their sex is able to give birth or not.
During pregnancy, and during the care of an infant, hormones are released which begin milk production in the mammary glands, found on the front of the lower torso. Each gland has a nipple located just under the ribcage, normally found flattened and hidden under feathers until the hormones are released, at which point it extends to become visible. During the final stages of pregnancy (and after complete activation of mammary glands), the lower torso expands forward (but not outward), almost enough to meet the front of the ribcage. Many Avians in this state report difficulty bending over to reach things.
Avian legs are formed by three even segments, similar to the hind legs of a cat. The first segment is the most muscular part of the limb, reinforced by gluteal muscles on the rear. The knee at the end of this segment bends forward, and the kneecap is very prominent, as it connects to the next segment's bone like a downward-facing scoop. This allows the kneecap to securely hold the next bone both in a standing and squatting position, and handle a great deal of force during a leap.
The middle leg segment slants slightly backward in what looks like two bones, one in front and one in back. In reality, the front bone is the only true bone in the middle segment, while the back "bone" of the middle leg is really just a massive tendon, aiding the Avian's ability to maintain a stable squat and powerful leap. The middle segment meets the final segment in a massive knuckle, suddenly widening the end of the middle segment, and creating a prominent elbow-like bump on the back side of the knuckle.
The final segment, often considered part of the foot, sweeps slightly forward, ending in a fused hand-like grasper. It is theorized that extinct ancestors of the Avians might have hade a pair of hands both on the arms and on the legs for climbing in and out of the underground caverns. However, as time went on, and Avians descended to become nomadic ground-walkers, the hands at the ends of the legs fused into feet to provide better support for standing and walking. This final segment is also where feathers tend to end on the leg, and the bare skin becomes visible. The skin here is much more like that of a gorilla than that of a chicken. Avians that live in the mountains or near the poles have very pale skin compared to the nearly-black color of other Avians throughout the world.
Each foot has three long toes in front which point forward, and one muscular toe in the back which points downward like a pillar. Together, the toes hold the "palm" of the foot slightly above the ground. Shoes worn by Avians will typically fill this space with a padding of some kind to reinforce the toes and reduce long-term strain. The two side-toes on the front are smaller than the middle toe, and branch outward to provide balance. The middle toe, however, is larger and made from what seems to be two fingers that have fused together, and provides the thrust necessary to walk forward.
When walking on the floor of a jungle, many Avians will remove their shoes, or replace them with specialized ones that lack palm support. This is because the jungle floor is comprised of tangles of thick roots, some as wide as an arm, and so Avians tend to move and keep their balance better by simply grasping the roots with their toes, like a hand might grasp a ladder rung.
The end of each toe ends in a pale claw, and can grow as long as 5 centimeters (2 inches). Unlike the claws of a cat, there are no nerves found in the claws of an Avian, and so many will regularly keep them trimmed and shaved down to something like a toenail.
The arms of Avians are remarkably similar to those of Humans, though they tend to be a bit longer. They are also wider near the shoulder, but taper out until the wrist size is almost that of a Human as well.
The hand is also nearly identical in both form and size, though Avian hands tend to be slightly longer. Feathers end at the wrist, leaving the skin of the hand exposed. Each finger ends in a claw, much like an Avian toe. However, these claws do have nerve endings, allowing an Avian feel vibrations, textures, and material hardness through them. Most Avians either keep their claws filed down to a smooth and dull point, wear protective gloves, wrap the tips of their fingers, or sheath their claws in a decorative plastic guard. Some Avians, especially those in military or counter-culture groups, will actually sharpen their claws to weaponized points. Modern Avian militaries will sometimes surgically remove the claws on each thumb, and replace them with prosthetic ones made from a strong metal blade, giving the soldiers natural cutting abilities. Outside of combat scenarios, the thumb blades are sheathed in a guard, as to not risk accidental injury, and it is due to this risk that this surgery is often controversial.
The head of an Avian is very similar to that of a cat or owl, and very unlike the skull of a Human.
Avians have two pairs of eyes; one upper pair and one lower pair. The upper pair is set wider, and has better peripheral vision. The distance between the upper eyes also gives them slightly more parallax vision, and so this pair is evolved for scanning the horizon of a desert for distant objects. The lower pair of eyes, in contrast, are set closer together, and are evolved for making out fine details in nearby objects, like inspecting sand for signs of hidden food.
The beaks of Avians are somewhat short, and point downward. This is not a feature unique to this species; most beaks found on Latokesko lizards tend to point downward as well. The orientation of the beak allows the nostrils of the Avian to face directly forward, possibly allowing for better tracking by smell. This might be a feature better served for their evolutionary ancestors, however, as an Avian's sense of smell is actually worse than that of a Human.
As Avians grow old, very fine and whispy feathers will begin to grow around the edge of the beak to form a sort of beard. This is the primary phenotype used to see the age of an adult Avian, and so this will often get trimmed to appear younger.
Their hearing, compared to their sense of smell, is quite a bit more acute, and is supported by large ears which sweep backward on each side of the head, almost like those of a rabbit.
On the forehead, above the eyes, a set of long thin stalks are found, averaging around 40 centimeters (1 foot 4 inches) long. Each stalk ends in a large ellipse-shaped feather. The number of these stalks will vary, based on the sex of the Avian (see "# of stalks" in the "Gender and Sexuality" table below).
The head meets the shoulders of the body with a short neck. When looking at an Avian from the front, the chin seems to either meet or pass the shoulder line.
The feathers of an Avian are shaped like a fan or clam shell, and are two-sided. The "over-feather" is more structured, resembling feathers of flight. These help Avians keep dry by running water off of their bodies. Their colors have an incredible amount of variety, stemming primarily from genetics, which in turn can be traced back to specific regions of the planet.
The "under-feather", meanwhile, is often hidden completely by the over-feather and is much more wispy, soft, and fluffy. The coloration of the under-feather also has much less variety, tending to hover around white or light tan. For polar Avians, both over-feather and under-feather colors are snow-white.
When an Avian steps out into the desert, blood begins to flow closer to the surface of the skin to cool the body off. This pushes on the feathers, standing them up until the over-feathers are obscured by the under-feathers blooming. The under-feathers help to channel body heat into the air around the Avian for cooling. Full-body blooming is triggered by either body heat surpassing some critical amount (the "overheating bloom reflex"), or by a sudden increase in light (the "sunlight bloom reflex"). This means that an Avian in a heated dark room will involuntarily bloom their feathers, or one will bloom in a cold room once bright lights are switched on. In a natural setting, the sunlight bloom reflex in particular is hypothesized to be activated when an Avian steps out of the shady jungle canopy and into the sunny bright desert, where the body will try to anticipate the coming dry heat of the new environment before the body feathers bloom from overheating.
This blooming reaction can also be triggered in specific localized regions of an Avian's body according to their emotions. When embarrassed, the feathers on the face will bloom; when scared or angry (and feeling adrenaline), feathers around the neck and chest will bloom; when aroused, the feathers around the groin and hips bloom. Unlike the overheating and sunlight bloom reflexes, these emotional blooms can be suppressed with training, meditation, and self-control, which is why they're typically labeled as "reactions", as opposed to "reflexes". Avians who partake in espionage or deescalation are often trained to suppress their bloom reactions, as to not show their true emotions. Avians wearing war paint will often brighten their necks and chests so that the enemy cannot tell from a distance which warrior is scared, calm, or under the influence of rage.
Mammals of Latokeska function on a three-sex system. A basic rundown of the comparable differences between Avians sexes can be found in the table below:
| Sex | Frequency | Feathers | # of stalks | Height | Social status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gi | Common | Colorful | 3 | Standard | Average |
| Xi | Uncommon | Vibrant | 2 | Tall | Great | Li | Rare | Dull | 5 | Short | Poor |
| Sex | Can impregnate | Can get pregnant | Min # of mates | Max # of mates | Voice pitch |
| Gi | Yes | Yes | 1 | 1 | Low |
| Xi | No | Yes | 2 | 3 | High | Li | Yes | No | N/A | N/A | Med |
Avians of the gi sex are called "gina" (IPA: /gina/). The stereotype of gina are that they are utilitarian, logical, and are supplementary assistants to xina as partners. The world is planned by xina and realized by gina. Because a gina can both become pregnant and impregnate others, it can also clone itself. However, this is not enough to sustain a population and causes extreme genetic drift, causing collapse later down the line.
Avians of the xi sex are called "xina" (IPA: /ʃina/). The stereotype of xina are that they are stoic, powerful, beautiful, and role models. The life of a traditional xina is wrought with pressure, but also gifted with privilege. Families with a xina often have three or more adult members, as it takes a minimum of two gina or lina to impregnate a xina.
The modern dynamic of the sexes is a lot more equitable and free compared to the traditional one, but the traditional model still has effects deeply carved into Avian cultures, so it's still worth discussing. It's also worth noting that the traditional dynamic also includes lina, but this largely consists of excluding lina from every possible facet of the dynamic at all times, and so their part is explained further in their own section.
The traditional dynamic comes from the family unit of prehistoric Avians. Here, the gina would care for the home and children, and would forage nearby for food and medicine. Meanwhile, the xina would be the family leaders, go hunting, and protect the family. The xina was expected to birth a new child for each gina in the family.
Sacrifice and identity are primary properties of the dynamic. Xina were expected to be strong solitary pillars of the family, and be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to serve the family. Meanwhile, gina were expected to be protected from making this sacrifice in favor of a different one: the sacrifice of their identities. Gina were often raised to be simple, uniform and replaceable. Essentially, the xina would handle external interactions (like being the face of the family), while the gina were tasked with the internal ones. The family was only as powerful, beautiful, and fruitful as the xina, but the family also only lived as long as the gina around xir.
Avians of the li sex are called "lina" (IPA: /lina/), and seem to be historically cursed.
Lina have a long history of facing systemic sexism, and are the frequent scapegoats and targets of cruelty from society. It's theorized that this systemic oppression is rooted in their "inherent infertility", as they are the only sex that cannot birth a child, and do not often have physical traits that are traditionally considered "attractive". When competing with xina and gina in a prehistoric setting, a lina's infertility would not have been ideal for starting a family or perpetuating the species, and may have been considered a curse or bad omen to give birth to a lino child.
Traditional wisdom claims that lina often bear more defects and disorders, and therefore are cursed with a life of misery that will be passed onto their families. Modern civil rights movements have accurately pointed out, however, that this is a logical fallacy of correlation, and not causality. The truth is that lina have traditionally been born into roles of taking abuse from the entire tribe, and that these lifelong struggles are what instill a wealth of disorders. Lina are not born with severe depression and malformed limbs; their depression stems from family rejection, and their malformed limbs are often caused by childhood injuries incorrectly healing, usually due to parental neglect or peer torment.
However, the existence of lina has not been phased out of the species, and it has not impaired the species into extinction, so whatever genes code for the birth of lina must therefore be "neutral". Certain eugenicists in history have tried to eliminate the possibility of lino births, but none were successful. These studies are extremely controversial in the modern day, and it's known now that lina are an inherent facet of complex Avian genetics; they cannot be removed without removing xina or gina from the species as well. Lina are just as integral to the identity of the Avian species as xina and gina.
This history of sexism is also not unique to Avians. Many social mammals on Latokeska demonstrate the rejection of lina in their respective species, and this systemic hatred for the sex might be tied to something deeply instinctual. That hypothesis, though, is also shaky at best. Recent studies have shown that children who were not raised with anti-lina sexism did not behave maliciously toward their lino siblings, while children who were raised with this sexism actively hated their lino siblings, often claiming them as the cause of all bad luck in life. From these studies, we can conclude that Avians have the capacity to better themselves and grow beyond this sexism, and not use this phenomenon in other animals as an excuse.
Avians of the ki gender are called "kina" (IPA: /kina/).
A fraction of the Avian population feels that their psychological identity does not match their physiological sex. This gender dysphoria happens most often in lina. A fraction of that gender-dysphoric fraction, however, does not identify by any of the three biological sexes at all, or identifies by some combination of them. For many of these Avians, the "ki" pronouns are used to refer to them, because they are gender-neutral.
The existence of kina can be found throughout history, but it's only after the Avian Information Age that the pronouns were created and officially recognized by the Kaskhoruxa Bureau.
Block