Avethellan
One of the most cultured races of the Scattered Worlds
Avethellans look somewhat like feathered alligators, bipedal and with long arms and legs. They have six fingers on each hand.
It is thin and tall, and moves like tranquil waves on the lake. Somehow both graceful and ungainly, the entity is overall a deep forest green, its leathery skin bristling with multicolor filaments like thin bright feathers. There are eyes, green and slitted, and a toothless snout…or is it a broad beak? Overall, the being looks like the happy offspring of crocodile and flamingo, although its four limbs are more reminiscent of s spider monkey’s appendages. A rainbow crest of flowers flows down its back and emerges in a long spray quite birdlike.
Avethellans are generally telepathic. They are excellent linguists and translators.
Avethell's matriarchal culture was rich, although somewhat spare. Poetry and music were much valued. Avethellans tended to be long-lived, in excess of several centuries (whether this was their natural lifespan, or their lives were extended by technology.
There is evidence that psi played some part in Avethellan culture. Telepaths were much more common than in Human populations.
The period of Avethellan rule, especially after the conquest of Diebethar, is considered a Golden Age by succeeding cultures.
The Avethellan language has both informal and formal modes.
Avethellan Names:
Usually given in matrynomic form, the word "delv" (formal-mode, "delvar") being analogous to the Arabic "ibn" or the Hebrew "ben." The mother's name is usually given first, unless the father is of higher status. In very formal circumstances, both parents are given, as in the following example:
Quelnarri delvar Mesticcan ak Depithari
The element "ak" is the formal-mode Avethellan for "and."