User: [Ravenclaw]
Name: Sojana (So-yah-nah)

Age: 54 cycles (Average Vidian lifespan: 150 years, active military service 47)

Occupation: Soldier, former sniper corps

Planet: Vidia

Species: Vidian

Description: She stands at about 5'4" when relaxed, but at full extension she can add at least another foot or more to her height. Her skin is made up of a tight network of silvery gray scales, intermingled with varying shades of blue and green.

Upon her arrival to Scelira she quickly noticed that most Vidians take on a much more relaxed, humanoid posture to seem less threatening. Sojana adopted this behavior shortly after serving along side humans.

Personality: Sojana doesn't like to get too close to people, her long military career has caused her to see too many close friends die. She's often closed off around any species. She's more apt to revert to sarcasm or cold humor rather than heartfelt emotional sentiment. Above all she values the usefulness and dedication of a good soldier and it's something she looks for in everyone, even non military personnel.

Species Traits:

As is typical of the Vidian species construction, they are mainly humanoid in appearance, but rather than bones, their skeletal structure is comprised of cartilage. Their evolution has granted them the ability to manipulate their own cartilage and muscle placement, allowing them supreme agility, speed and strength when needed. A Vidian can even become quadrupedal if the occasion calls for it. This evolutionary gift is also applicable under water, making the Vidian species supreme predators in almost any climate.

Vidians, strictly carnivorous by nature, do not have the digestive systems to process cooked meat and often hunt for recreation. Sometimes they will eat certain fruits and in the rarest of occasions, pastry. Sugar was not introduced to Vidia until trade routs with Scelira had been established and has since been outlawed due to it's mind altering effects. Though it can be enjoyed in small doses if one is off world. Sugar consumption in abundance can even kill a large male, though before death; if medical treatment is not applied, a Vidian will experience hallucinations in rampant abundance. "Sweet Death" as it is refereed to, is the most common vehicle of suicide for the elderly and irreparably disgraced.

All Vidians are ambidextrous, but most do not shoot with the hand they write with and it is the same for most tasks. Their hands have two main fingers, one thumb and two prominent claws which remain folded against the palm when not in use. Their index finger is longer than the second and both fingers and thumb are tipped with small, sharp claws. As for the main claws, the "pinkie" is smaller, roughly the same length as the thumb. All claws continuously grow very rapidly and maintaining adequate length and sharpness is a common practice. Most Vidians keep grooming kits at all times to ensure this. If a claw is broken it is simply sharpened to a point and allowed to grow, though made of compressed hard cartilage, it is not common for them to break. Vidians do not generally use tools for writing, ink and claw has remained the common practice for centuries.

Their feet have three main toes tipped in claws and an opposable thumb like toe with a more prominent claw. Essentially they walk on the balls of their toes and the "thumb", in place of a heal, does not touch the ground. Vidians can use their feet nearly as deleteriously as their hands and the few scholars of the species often learn to write with their feet.

The tail, roughly the same length as the torso, is broad and tapers to a point near the end, much in the same way of the large prehistoric reptiles of Scelira and Vidia. Mainly used for balance in all occasions, when running a skilled Vidian can change direction frighteningly fast, using the tale as a rudder. Loss of the tail or majority of it is the most common injury among those in military service and is often seen as a badge of honor. Since the tail is needed for balance, even for walking, prosthetic tails are constructed for these battle veterans. Surgical removal of the tail is still a common practice performed on career criminals, though prosthetic tails are not allowed among this lower class of Vidians. These individuals are essentially cripple and many take the Sweet Death once they've been released from prison.

Males; called drakes, tend to grow much larger than the females (known as hens), at least one or sometimes two feet taller than the average hen. Constructed much broader and heavier than hens, they have more prominent cranial protrusions, longer scale frills and their reproductive traits are prehensile, unlike the males of most species. This is so to navigate the hen's very complicated reproductive system, a trait caused by evolution to ensure future generations will only be sired by the strongest of drakes. Vidian social structure has always favored drakes, they tend to be the first promoted to any station, military or otherwise. Hens are generally better hunters, having supported a sort of pack or pride family structure in the early stages of their evolution. Drakes where intended to protect hen groups, thus their size and overwhelming strength, while hens where the prominent providers of food for family groups. Even still it is quite common for drakes to have more than one hen in their household and families can grow quite large due to this. Though households built out of wedlock are supremely frowned upon and it is always the hen's choice to join a family. Drakes do not chose their wives, it is at the discretion of a hen if she chooses to join a drake in marriage. In some cases a drake with more than one wife is more likely to gain a third. It is understood that if a drake can make two wives happy and provide them with strong children, then he can do the same for another. If this is not the case, even the bond of marriage cannot stop a hen from leaving a family and taking her offspring with her. In this instance a drake has one solar year to regain her confidence before the marriage is dissolved and she is free to remarry.

All Vidians also shed their skills threw certain stages of their development, hens more so than drakes. Shedding often reveals new scale patterns and shades and depending on the area in which the Vidian resides, their scales may reflect their surroundings to some extent. A hen may become fertile around the occurrence of their 20th shedding, which occurs around the fifteenth year. After each consecutive shedding (quarterly threw out a solar cycle) the hen will enter a fertile state, lasting roughly two weeks. During this time her body will develop an egg, whether the egg is fertilized or not, a laying process will occur shortly after. Consumption of the unfertilized embryo reintroduces nutrients back into the body, not doing so may cause severe dementia and psychosis. Problems that do not occur in the event the embryo is fertilized. Though the egg may not be consumed while the shell remains soft. Two days must pass while the shell hardens and the contents have had time to culture properly. It is during these two days that theft of the egg may occur. They are seen as delicacies on many other planets and egg theft, even once, is a tail removing offense. Many Vidian religions center around the laying cycle, so much that their most popular deity is both hen and warrior.

History: Born predators, Vidians are known for their superb infantry forces. Military service is valued greatly amidst Vidian social structure. Coming from a military family it was only logical that Sojana, like her twelve brothers before her decide to serve as well. With a strong desire to prove herself, she quickly rose threw the ranks and earned exemplary marks after being recommended for sniper and special forces academy. She was a Sergent with special forces by her 30th.

She's spent some time on Scelira and with humans, but she's not overly fond of them. They tend to be pretentious and overbearing, though she knows that not all of them are the same. She's met very few humans who's company she's actually enjoyed.

Other: She likes to read, from actual books, not information cubes like on her home planet. She found books fascinating when she visited Scelira and finds them a useful tool for learning how humans think.

Even though her favorite food is Cardacian Antelope, Sojana enjoys pie. It's one of the few things she values human ingenuity for. She sees it as confectionery genius at it's finest and is the only means in which she will ingest sugar. Due to sugar's effect on Vidians she often reserves consumption of pie when she takes at least three days of leave time, which she does vary rarely.