Content:Percusa (Concept)

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Name: Percusa (pur-KYU-suh)

Main Weapons: A Percusa is never truly unarmed. In flight they often use their sharp talons to tear into unsuspecting prey below. On the ground, or when diving, a Percusa can shoot venom from the five hollow spikes that are on the end of their tails. Because these spikes are hollow, they're not much good for stabbing, but scratches and cuts made by these venom-soaked bones are slow to heal and quickly infect.

Location: The Percusa live on Velara, (vel-ARRH-uh) the 3 or 4th planet of their solar system. Velara's orbit exchanges their position with another planet named Lemnos. Every six years or so, the two planets pass very close and exchange positions in orbit around their sun. The climate of Velara is roughly similar to Earth.

[edit] Religion

The Percusa believe that everything has a spirit, the land, the trees, animals, other Percusa, et cetera, et cetera. The most powerful spirits reside in deceased, ancestral Percusa. They believe that it is their purpose to master and control these spirits, becoming stronger than ever, and one way of doing this is by consuming the flesh of the pack leaders and other dominant Percusa after their demise. This belief leads to the ritual eating of a Percusa by its most dominant children or grandchildren after its death; it is a most honorable thing to do for a dying Percusa to give their strength to the next generation in this manner. In contrast, a shameful 'funeral' would be if their body were purposely left to rot or be feasted upon by scavengers. This is the prescribed ritual for a 'weak spirited' Percusa, as consuming a weak spirit will make you weak. Another detail about this form of worship is that the Percusa believe that a Percusa's spirit becomes stronger if it has many successful, strong offspring and that any weak offspring make their own spirit weaker.

Consuming certain organs, such as heart, liver and kidneys, of a prey animal also lends to spiritual strength, while eating the fat and gristle takes away from their strength. This belief stems from the fact that the fat and gristle are less nutritious than the protein and iron rich organs. Bones, especially skulls, venom spikes and teeth also play an importance; necklaces made from teeth or venom spikes are said to lend strength to the wearer.

As gory as this may seem, no Percusa are killed outright for their strength, as it is said that a murdered Percusa's strength is tainted beyond use.

The Percusa define murder as the unprovoked killing of a strong, healthy or otherwise useful pack member.

[edit] Government

The early Percusa developed a 'pack' way of life; allowing only the smartest or strongest to breed. This lifestyle has spilled over into the government for the Western Percusa.

The Western Percusa are governed by 1 male leader and 1 female leader from each pack; these leaders are called Loklow. These 80 or so individuals are chosen at an annual gladiator-style championship fight called Ksotsdo. It's basically like a mix of the Olympics and a presidential election. Also during this tournament, various, lesser positions are fought for. At the end of it, each female will choose a male of her rank to be mated with for the rest of the year; this is how inter-pack alliances are formed. Often a female will choose the same male year after year.

Only Loklow-Rank Percusa may have children. There are usually 1-3 children per litter, and 1 litter per year.

[edit] Lifestyle

When a Percusa is 3 years old, it will shed it's fuzzy red feathers and grow the plumage of an adult. If they are the eldest child of their litter, they are taken to the Midway Oasis Military Base to be trained as a soldier. If they are not, they are taken to the Civilian Academy where they will live until they are an adult. At the Civilian Academy, a young Percusa will learn how to hunt, fish, read, write, make clay pottery, communicate with reathlers, play the flute and harp as well as husbandry and the basic Percusan law.

After five years of teaching, young Percusa leave the academy, or opt to stay on as instructors and be supported by tribute from the several dozen packs who send their young to this academy. Older Percusa are also sometimes allowed to become instructors when they can no longer breed, and are thus uninterested in dominance roles. After graduation from the academy, A Percusa is formally an adult, and is adopted into a pack, who they'll live with for the rest of their lives; this is not necessarily their birth-pack. Each pack is a sort of people unto its own, although they are led by a Loklow representative.

[edit] Military

The Percusa have a strictly conscript military. When the oldest child of a litter reaches three years of age, he/she is taken to a Military Academy in the desert, formally known as Midway Oasis. A young Percusa will spend 8-10 years learning various weapon arts and military strategy. They are also tested for various skills. At the age of 15, A Percusa is formally a soldier, and is given a rank and duty according to his/her skills and ambition. Percusa must earn military rank through bravery or deed. Any Percusa who ranks higher than lieutenant is allowed to breed.

[edit] Reathlers

Pronunciation:REETH-ler

They are the slaves of the Percusa. Centuries ago, they were a great empire in the north, but were defeated when they began to encroach upon Percusan Territory. After the war, most of them were exterminated, but a few queens and workers were kept alive to produce strong, hard working slaves for Percusan use. The great Civil War was between the Eastern Percusa and the Western Percusa began because of the issue of Reathler slavery.

[edit] Physiology

There are 3 classes of Reathlers; the Hunter, the Soldier, and the Queen. The Hunters are males, the Soldiers and Queen are females.

[edit] Hunter

The food gatherers and main forces of the Reathler hive. Hunters make up about 80% of any given hive's population. They are smaller than the Percusa, about 4 ft long (no tail), whereas the Percusa are about 12 ft long. The Hunter wingspan is about 12-14ft. Their skin is a black, leathery hide that is very thick and tough to break through. Their bones are hollow, for better acrobatic ability and speed. They have two small, beady little bug eyes on either side of their head. Hunters have a large beak, very sharp and deadly. This is not a curved beak, but more like a sharp cone. It is also black; In fact, all Reathlers are black except for their eyes, which are bright red. The Hunters have sharp talons. Their talons and beaks can pretty much crush any unfortunate thing they happen to find in them.

Many thousands of years later, it will be discovered by top Percusa scientists that the pressure a Hunter Reathler's jaw has is in the area of 2000 lbs per square plig (equivalent to 1 sq inch) crushing power. Hunters are built for speed, not acrobatics (like the Percusa) and cruise at about 120 mph. In a dive, a Hunter can reach speeds of up to 250 mph, although most Hunters who achieve this speed don't hold it very long before their fragile bodies are crushed by the speedily approaching ground. A more common diving speed is 200-220 mph. The Hunters' other four legs have atrophied (or never evolved, I'm not sure) away to non-existence, leaving only the two talons on inverted knee joints(like a normal Earth bird). Hunters are practically blind but use an advanced radar system, like bats.

[edit] Soldier

Soldiers make up pretty much the rest of a hive's population. Soldiers are the females who are not allowed to breed (I'll get to that in a minute). A typical Soldier Reathler is about 6-8 ft tall, weighing in at about half a ton. Needless to say females cannot fly, their wings atrophied into non-existence a while ago. For an easier visualization, think of a small elephant, only creepier. The Soldiers' heads are not attached to a neck and are mostly made up of two giant, multi-lens eyes; again red. Each eye is huge, at about 2ft in diameter. Female Reatlers have solid bones; how this evolutionary marvel ever occurred, we will never know. Once again, thick, black, leathery skin, very uninviting. The six legs are pretty weird, too. The legs are about like elephant legs; thick, round and massive. Each leg is spaced how you are probably picturing it, like an ant's or a bumblebee's with a couple major differences: the legs come out of the body of the elephant in the middle at a 90 degree angle. It's easier to see with a drawing but, unfortunately, I have no scanner. Each leg has 3 joints, rather than an elephant's two; the ball-socket "shoulder", the second ball-socket "shoulder", and a "knee" below that. Females don't have feet.

Soldiers have the unique ability to excrete a deadly noxious gas into the air. There is a gland located near each leg-body joint that secretes this; however, the gas does not so much "secrete" as it does blow up. Soldiers use these poison glands mostly as a defensive weapon, or whenever anything within a 24 ft radius becomes annoying to it. These toxins proved very difficult to combat in the Great War, as it would instantly kill any Percusa 24 ft above the Soldier when it was annoyed. Soldiers move very slow but are able to "charge" at enemies at about 20 mph, if needed. The poison gas can only be used once every few hours, as it takes time to replenish the supply.

[edit] Queen

The Reathlers live in hives (not a bumblebee hive, but I'll explain that later), and their leaders are Queens. There is only one Queen per hive, and are fairly easy to pick out. First of all, they are much bigger than Soldiers; and secondly, they are the only Reathler that can reproduce. The Queen is basically a beefed up version of the Soldier - about 12ft tall, weighing a ton or so and lacking poison glands. She also lays an egg about every hour to hour-and-a-half. She is very fat and cannot move under her own will. When, for extreme reasons, she needs to change locales, Soldiers are required to push her.

[edit] The Great War

One day, one way or another, the Forest Percusa, as they were once called before being assimilated by the Plains Percusa, got into a fight with the Reathlers. A war eventually erupted and many things were invented in order to kill off the Reathlers. The Percusa finally defeated the Reathlers through a series of night raids on their hives, killing thousands of women and children in the process. They decided to let the remaining Reathler hives live (all 2 of 'em) under strict rules:

1) Every year, Percusa are to take a census of the Reathler nests.
2) Every year, the Percusa receive 5% of the Reathler population in larvae as sacrifice.
3) Every five years, a Queen is sacrificed to the Percusa.
4) Reathlers are to live and hunt only in land allowed by the Percusa.

[edit] Maps

These are all courtesy of Miroku_of_Nite1 from GameFaqs.

Here is a higher up view of our starting lands. [1]

A center shot. [2]

Western Lands of our starting lands. [3]

Eastern Lands. [4]

Full map. [5]

Central Lands Central. [6]

Cental Lands Eastern [7]

Central Lands West [8]

Eastern Waste [9]

Far East Lands [10]

Northern Lands [11]

Northern Lands West [12]

[edit] Miscellaneous Information

Picture: This image was drawn by Pengel_Master of GameFaqs. I am aware that there is another official image out there drawn by BleuMarine of GameFaqs, but for some reason I can't get it to work; sorry BleuMarine.
Homesite: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=926714. Just look for any topic Titled "Percusa".
The Percusa game is on hiatus indefinitely, and may not be seen on the boards again anytime soon.

[edit] See Also

Percusa: Percusa background, Percusa: IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX