Artuvian

General
Artuvians are people that look mostly human, but have hawk wings and tails, some have taloned feet, but most do not. Hair and skin color usually matches up with the type of bird they are, though remaining in normal human parameters. Some of the new young are starting to show markings in even their hair, if their bird type has natural markings.

There are three large cities on the planet, these are the only places that have spaceports and are where they mix as a people. These cities are the image they present to outsiders, one would have to go out to the smaller villages to see how things really are. One of these cities is near their ocean and the mermaids come to trade there both with Artuvans and offworlders.

The villages are separated by the type of bird, Hawks in one village, eagles in another, swans in another. Only in the big cities do they merge and intermingle for more than quick business.

The villages usually work together to raise the young, though families are often seen working together in family run businesses where trades are passed down elder to youth. If a family has no child of their own, they have the choice to take in another's child as an apprentice if they show aptitude for the work.

They share their planet with mermaids, and are friendly with the fish people, since they provide from the sea and rivers.

It is rare to find an Artuvian that has a grasp on magic, though they seem to have a natural resistance to it's use on them. The ones who do have magic they can use, do not have this natural resistance and are seen as mutations. They are the lowest class in the race. Only 1 out of 500 has the ability to use magic, only about half of them receive training to use their magic.

The village of hawks was attacked in retaliation for a slaver ship being destroyed, though they are often attacked simply for being slavers. Only a few children were taken alive from the village, already sold to a lab that wanted to test the Artuvians for some reason.


Religion
Artuvians only believe in one god, Rycdos, God of the Sky. All follow the same god no matter the type of bird they are. The only exception are the magic users who claim they have actually seen their god. Rycdos is easy to follow, his rules boil down to bird people are better, since they cannot have magic used against them. This is also one reason those who can use magic are despised.

Saldes is the god of magic. The Artuvians do not even know he exists. Only those who can use magic know who he is, since they are the only ones that can see him. Every once in a while a 'pure' Artuvian will be able to see him without having magic themselves, but these usually have a sibling or parent with magic ability.

Culture
Artuvians do not stop traders, though when possible they will kill slavers. They do not mate outside their species and usually not outside their type. They cannot have children from other types or other races, with the exception of shapeshifters who take the form of their type of bird. Such unions are rare and frowned upon since it usually creates magic using children.

They have languages based on the type of bird they are, though they also learn common in school to be able to communicate outside their individual villages.

The planet is named Artuvia, it is located in the Arthurian System. It has one moon that has it's own tiny moon. They are called Rama and Catullus. Rama is habitable, and is used as a place to meet with strangers before they are allowed on planet.

It is an Earth-like planet with one major landmass and several small islands surrounded by one connected ocean. The ocean takes up about half of the planet. The planet has an under layer just under the crust that has many luminescent plants and creatures they farm and sell as oddities.

Ecosystems range from tropical rain forests to arid grasslands and frozen tundra (Yes there are penguin-people).

One of the port cities

hummingbird Artuvian


stands roughly 1 ft tall (can be anywhere between 30 cm and 40 cm when grown)
they have a fast metabolism, but not as much as their earth counterpart (a little better than human fast, but not as quick as a real hummingbird)
They love and eat a lot of sugar-filled foods.

Moone's theory on the 'gods' of her world.
She believes that both are one being, a keeper that has been hiding or watching over their world and that he took the two 'god' names so that he could play with the people and not be quite as bored with living there agelessly. She believes he comes and either takes the form of the type of bird or just makes the person forget he was there so that he could have kids to play with.

Canadian Goose Artuvians

females 5.5 to 6 ft, males 6 to 6.5 foot

Black/brown skinned
males have white beards and sideburns in the 'chinstrap' pattern, females have white streaks in their hair to mimic this.