Zeth

The Zeth are a race of early spacefaring sapients from the planet Aiston in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Physiology
Quasi-erect bipeds with a theropodal gait, Zeth physiology reflects their being a 'half-way house' between an arboreal and terrestrial creature. Their torso is angled forwards at approximately 45 degrees, so that their shoulders are around half a metre in front of their hips. To balance the animal and bring the centre of mass over the legs, they have a long, thick, and rigid tail.

The legs themselves are comprised of a femur and a single lower-leg bone, which ends in a digitigrade, clawed foot. Their toes, while previously highly dextrous, have atrophied to become rigid. The hip is a ball-and-socket joint, though the legs are naturally held under the body by their musculature. Zeth cannot do the splits.

Their arms are long and well-muscled, with both an ulna and a radius connected to the humerus. They are capable of pronation (rotation of the forearm where it connects the the humerus), but have no wrist joint. The fingers bear stubby, blunted claws, and have only two phalanges per finger (humans have four). Two fingers are set in opposition to a 'thumb' to provide an opposable hand.

The head of a Zeth is composed of a skull containing the brain and then three seperate mandibles attached to the front, which are capable of independently moving. Each mandible bears plates upon its interior, with tooth-like bony projections inside which constantly grow (the Zeth must gnaw on hard foodstuffs to prevent this from causing harm). Additionally, they have a bulbous tongue attached above the entrance to the oesophagus. There are two eyes set on the head, facing forwards, with rectangular pupils and irises which take up the entire visible eye. These are tetrachromatic- they can see all visible colours and some way into the near-infrared. However, their blue cones are far rarer than the other types, and so they are not adept at distinguishing between shades of blue, indigo, and violet.

Without an olfactory bulb, they have no sense of smell. Instead of having conventional ears, a large fatty bulb is present at the front of the skull which focusses sound onto an internal ear attached to the front of the skull. They have difficulty finding the location of a sound's source but are more sensitive to detected sounds. This also makes them more vulnerable to particularly loud sounds.

Government
Three nations exist on the Zeth homeworld, Aiston, with different governmental types. They have independent cultures, religious perspectives, militaries, and economies.

The largest is the Republic of Xelass, with a population of three billion. It is a representative democracy, having abolished its monarchy three decades ago. The parliament consists of two bodies, both democratically elected by region- the First House, with one hundred members, which is responsible for passing laws and acts, and the Second House with fifty members which can incorporate acts into the Xelass Consitution and is also responsible for the courts (though judges are employed independently).

Its main challenger is the Coalition of People's Republics (CPR), which is supposedly ruled by a High Council. However, following an earlier war with the Kassic Empire, the chairman was given emergency powers and has not yet surrendered them, leaving him for all intents and purposes as the head of state. The CPR has two billion citizens though a larger land area than the Republic of Xelass.

Finally, there is the Kassic Empire. A long campaign of unification, ending only three years ago, unified the various Southern states under an emperor. This emperor rules through local representatives, enforcing his power through his armed forces. It has a population of five hundred million.

Language
Though each nation has its own language (and some dialects so different to the state language that they may be languages in their own right), all Zeth nations are united in having some members with the ability to speak Aisish. Aisish is an artificial language, having been invented rather than evolved, and specifically designed to prevent misunderstanding and double meaning.