OVERVIEW:

The Torhei are intelligent creatures derived from insectoid stock. They form groups based on an extended family structure, and differentiate individuals in castes, which determine their individual purpose in life. The caste assignment is not hereditary, but is instead assigned in a ritual performed when the individual reaches adulthood at age 10 in Earth years. The Torhei Unity is a very controlled and regimented society that is very protective of its way of life. If they perceive another race as threatening they will use preemptive means to remove the threat.

PHYSIOLOGY:

The Torhei are a race of insectoid invertebrate animals similar to Earth's Insecta or Hexapoda class. They have three stages of development culminating in the adult stage, which is marked by development of three pairs of legs, a segmented body with three major divisions and usually two pairs of wings. Their eyes are located on opposite sides of their heads, giving them peripheral vision, which does not limit their forward vision. Their feet split into two toes - a larger and a smaller - with some extremely limited manipulative ability. They have a protruding spinal ridge, giving them a slightly hunchbacked appearance. The Torhei also have a highly developed chitin us exoskeleton which provides external protection and structure support to all vital internal organs. The Torhei are generally of an average humanoid build with exception to the caste selection. After caste selection, individuals develop pronounced physical and mental differences as different genetic programs are awakened by diet and environmental stimuli. Young leaders, for instance, experience a nearly 40% increase in brain size in the first year after casting. Torhei develop sexual organs and so on.

AGING:

The Torhei he reach adulthood at age ten and have a normal life expectancy of fifty to fifty-eight in human years. Some caste particularly Leaders and Elitist are capable of very long lives while others are relatively short lived.

FLYING:

The ability to use the wings which all Torhei have, for transportation, movement and recreation. Although all Torhei have vestigial wings, they are not developed in many of the individuals due to lack of ability or training. Many Torhei who are unable to use their wings for flight utilize them to glide. However this too depends certain factors such as strength, local gravity, and weight.

PSIONICS:

The Torhei have limited psionic ability that they refer to as the 'Sense'. These limit abilities manifest themselves in forms of telepathy and telekinesis. Only three of the caste receive psionic training and will know how to utilize this ability in varying degrees. These castes include: The Leader, the Elite and the Drone. In addition, all Torhei have the ability to cloud the minds of beings around them to render themselves invisible, to a range of about 500 meters. Psionic shields, sensor arrays and other means of electronic detection are unaffected. Otherwise the Torhei are invisible and inaudible, if they decide to be.

COMBAT:

Torhei are very vicious unarmed combatants using their strong mandibles and claw like appendages as weapons. However, they also fight as humanoids and can use energy weapons and blades. The Torhei do have a low dexterity and are severely hampered in combat if not of the Warrior or Elite caste. The also have a hollow bone structure which makes them susceptible to blunt weapon attacks to their appendages.

ASPECTS OF TORHEI SOCIETY:

THE CASTE:

The ritual, which determines caste among the Torhei, is a seemingly random drawing similar to the tarot, but utilizing disks made of latinum. These disks are called koens and are 40 in number, each engraved with a specific Torhei
glyph. A leader draws individual disks from a randomized pile and the symbol announced; this process continues until a disk with a caste type engraved on it is drawn. Supposedly the sooner the caste type is drawn the more powerful
the individual will be in that caste. Any koens drawn prior to the caste koen are taken to modify or enhance the caste koen. The following are the definitions of the caste:

The Worker:

Manual labor and mundane ordinary activity is the province of the worker. Workers aren't too smart, and are tempermentally suited to contentment with ordinary labor and subservient tasks.

The Warrior:

Trained for combat and possessing comparatively well developed muscles and reflexes, the warrior is the security troop, the soldier, the marine, and the policeman of Torhei society. They are common in frontier bases and less
numerous in-civilized areas.

The Drone:

Drones have a variety of purposes in Torhei society. They perform a reproductive role, which makes them both fathers and mothers to Torhei young, and they have roles in the ceremonies, which determine caste for maturing young. In addition, Drones comprise a sort of middle management caste, responsible for many of the routine functions in business, trade, and administration.

The Technician:

This caste is the science-oriented portion of Torhei society and is concerned with both research and practical implementation of technology.

The Elite:

Although the caste system of the Torhei is rather rigid, the Elite is the deliberate exception to the caste structure. Elite are special individuals who cross caste lines to become individual scouts, messengers, spies, representatives, and other occupations that require individual initiative or separation from Torhei society for long periods of time. An Elite is the most likely encountered Torhei away from the Torhei Unity.

The Leader:

Leaders are required to manage and direct Torhei society. They are ultimately responsible for everything that the Torhei as a whole do.

SOCIETY:

The Torhei refer to themselves as citizens and are very communal in their lives and make their homes out of native materials mixed with a natural secretion from their bodies which combines to create a very light, but very strong and durable building material capable of supporting structures hundreds of feet tall.

Torhei are virtually natural geneticists. They export many bio-engineered plants and animals that have been modified for demanding climates and conditions. They are highly advanced in their practice of genetic engineering and it is the foundation for all their technology.

The Torhei has one governing council that represents all the Families that make up the Torhei Unity. This council is referred to as the Ancients. The military of the Torhei is referred to as the High Guard and they are very skilled in the use of gravitics, ships tactics, demolitions, interrogation, recon, survival, and zero-G combat. There is no rank structure. It is possible to attain distinction, which carries a skill as a reward.

The Torhei use a very advance form of communication through bio-chemical secretion from their bodies and bioelectrical energy transmitted from their antennae. This allows them to communicate over vast distances and their
technology only enhances this for sub-space communications. Their spaceships are highly developed bio-engineered vessels that are more organic than inorganic. This bioengineering is evident in all their forms of technology. All the Torhei technology seems to enhance what is uniquely inherent in the species.

The Torhei home world is known as Sskreee. It is a class K 'adaptable' world. Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are adaptable for humanoid colonization through the use of pressure domes and
other life support devices. They are typically 5,000 to 10,000 kilometers in diameter. They have thin atmospheres. Small amounts of water are present. The Torhei maintain subterranean cities or 'nest' that are abundant in natural
resources.