Harivi

The Harivi are a humanoid sapient race from planet Hjara, which has waged a decades-long war against the invading Orien.

Harivi Biology
The thing you might notice upon greeting a Harivi, is the two tentacle-like appendages from the sides of their heads, called Harvisti. While it is partially unknown while the race possesses these, it is believed it helps with their toleration of the frigid climate of Hjara. The interiors of the Harvisti link into their sinus tract, and are used to produce excess mucus to keep their nostrils warm and functioning even in sub-zero temperatures.

Another thing you'd likely notice is how often they sniffle, due to the excess amount of mucus in their sinus tract as compared to other races. They don't blow their nose often, as it is completely natural for them to be a bit stuffy especially during blizzards or other storms. Those who are annoyed by sniffling sounds rarely visit Hjara, and try to avoid the Harivi, because it is an EXTREMELY noticeable trait they have. Some are slightly startled by it, as it sometimes sounds like they are gasping for breath due to the larger amounts of mucus that clog parts of their sinus tract.

Their ears are large, downfacing and have pointy tips that get thinner the closer you get toward the end of them. Although it isn't entirely known all of the benefits of having ears like this, it is believed it is to increase their hearing as the Harivi are known to have incredibly sensitive and precise hearing. Another noticeable feature of the Harivi is their predatory, slit eyes like that of a larger predatory animals. This is due to the Harivi being predators, although still prey of their rough environment. They needed to be excellent at hunting in the frigid and barren conditions to survive, as plant life was very minimal on Hjara, usually found near volcanically active areas.

Their eyes are also a reddish to orange color, the color rarely varying from either of those two though it has been recorded of Harivi with yellow or even brownish-green eyes, but not quite hazel colored. Interestingly enough, the Harivi are unable to see several colors that other races would find quite prominent. The Harivi are entirely incapable of seeing the color purple, it is seen as a dullish gray color. Blue blends with green, so they are incapable of seeing the actual color, more of a dull green color than blue. It isn't known why the Harivi are incapable of seeing certain colors, but little research has been done into the subject.

The Harivi also possess thinner and sharper canine teeth than most races. It is believed to be helpful in scenarios where it'd be necessary for them to eat raw meat, which was fairly common in their early history.

The Harivi are a 'hyper-social' race with incredibly fast pregnancy rates, the average number of children by one couple is 11, and the Harivi consider family the most important thing in their lives. One family household consists of siblings, mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and any other relatives that wish to live with them. Within a week of no social contact, a Harivi would have already suffer from minor depression. They often decorate their walls with yellow-red-green rugs, as it keeps out the cold air, provides a homey feeling and they enjoy the vibrant patterns and colors.

Harivi History
The Harivi are a relatively young race, a bit older than The Neraavians. Their early history involves thriving communities near volcanic vents, with cold lakes as the plates of their homeworld ever-shifted. When the plates stopped their age of sparked activity, most of the internal heating was cut off and the volcanic vents died down in heat. Communities froze, or died of dehydration as the conditions of Hjara returned to the state it was in 9 million years prior. Estimated 45 million Harivi died after the volcanic activity dip, over a quarter of their population on Hjara at that time.

Those that remained became stronger, more agile, more resistant to starvation, dehydration and the cold. They became better adaptable to Hjara in just about every way, and soon their race wasn't going to take Hjara's jabs lying down. The Harivi went on to thrive, in spite of the cold. They flocked to what few volcanic valleys and mountains were left, building massive yet tight-knit communities around them with vast empty canyons, ice plains or frozen seas between.

Brave adventurers would go on to cross these vast distances and form more communities that'd go on to thrive. Eventually, communities became sovereign states. With sovereign lands, came wars and with wars came allies. Eventually, the Harivi decided it was best if the majority of countries decided to ensure peace with one another. Over 83 of these communities/countries signed onto it, and open trade began between all of them. The Harivi achieved spaceflight, but not FTL travel as they began to explore the cold, relatively empty system that awaited them.

When the clouds cleared they always saw the brightest object in the sky, which was a neighboring gas giant. They'd go on to set up orbital stations to extract gasses from the planet's upper-atmosphere, which was used to fuel their cities or even dumped into Hjara's atmosphere to kick-start a heating process. Not much change came to Hjara, however they made friendly contact with a nearby Garze exploration vessel and were introduced to the Atlas Races. They were given access to technology, and opened up an embassy on the station. People were free to travel, but rarely did. All was well for nearly 5 decades of the Harivi being a member, but then the Orien escapades began.

They exiled the Elorden, decimated entire races' and attempted to execute the Kadravi. When the Orien Occupation Zone was declared a sector of Orien control, their space was tugged along with it. The Orien sieged the few colonies they had, and drove them back to their home system. They managed to maintain military bases on their sister planet's moons, they resisted their potential captors who'd hoped they'd shut up and let them take over. But they didn't, they fought back but their forces wouldn't be able to hold all of their bases long enough to destroy the main Orien force.

When they sought help from Atlas, the races decided against it for fear of sparking a war with the Orien. The Harivi had no choice but to close their embassy, withdraw all of their ships from Allied Space and fight with all of their might against their invaders. Their outposts on nearby moons were mostly crushed, though some remain in their desperate struggle event to this day. Daily raids on Hjara are held, as the Resistance struggles to destroy Orien outposts that've been placed in remote areas of Hjara. Millions upon millions of Harivi fled into Kadravi Space, where they were promptly turned around and sent back home. The Harivi as of now appear to be losing the war, and often request the Allies to send a fleet in, which they always refuse.