The Myanarans Introduction Physical Description Psychological Makeup Social Conventions Relations With Other Races Brief History Introduction The myanarans are a race of mammalian sentients that have taken up residence on Earth in the year 2050, when events caused one of their colony ships to crash land on the planet. Stories of previous extraterrestrial contact notwithstanding, they represent Earth's first contact with a sentient species not from that world. While humanoid in physiology, they have many traits common to feline species. Their arrival on Earth has caused several changes on the outlook of the human, boomer, and youma races that call Earth their home. For one thing, it has driven into their collective minds the fact that they are not alone in the cosmos, as many have already suspected. However, aspects of myanaran history have caused consternation among some regarding other species out there. Physical Description As mentioned above, the myanarans are a humanoid race with feline features. These features include golden fur that is spotted not unlike a cheetah's, a tail, a pair of pointed ears that rest higher on the head than human ears would, retractable claws in both the hands and the feet, sharp teeth as befitting a carni- vore, feline eyes, and a muzzle in tan fur. They also have hands similar to human ones, feet that are slimmer and more arched than those of humans, and hair that is long and straight which ranges between red and brown in color. Myanarans are also somewhat taller than humans, reaching heights between 6 to 7 feet (1.8 - 2.1 meters) tall on average. Their average physique resembles that of a well-built human. Their sexual characteristics are also similar to or slightly more impressive than those of a human. However, while appearing similar in physique, myanarans are also remarkably stronger and more agile than a human, though not quite approaching the levels of certain boomer categories. Their senses are also remarkably more acute than those of a human, particularly in terms of eyesight, smell, and hearing. Sexually, they are compatible with other humanoid races, includ- ing humans and humanoid boomers. Such unions would not produce offspring due to genetic incompatibilities, but they are possi- ble. Psychological Makeup The myanarans as a whole tend to be aggressive in many ways. It is especially easy to start a fight with one, though unwise. Unless convinced or forced otherwise, they will continue fighting until their opponent is decisively defeated or they are. They are also very aggressive sexually. Due to the discovered sexual compatibilities, myanarans will pursue humans, and, to a lesser extent, humanoid boomers in addition to members of their races. However, such liaisons tend to be shorter-lived than typical myanaran-myanaran pre-mating relationships. For one thing, humans tend not to be able to keep up with a myanaran's needs and desires in that department, thus, a myanaran might not find the relationship satisfying. For another thing, they do sense a humanoid boomer's artificial status and quickly grow bored with the relationship, even though the boomer in question would be quite capable of standing up to the urges and drive of even the most amorous myanaran. This is not to say that the myanarans would shun such relationships. As long as the person in question is attractive in their eyes, they will pursue, even if the results are short-lived. On a related note, myanarans almost uniformly are psychologically incapable of grasping the thought of same-sex relationships and desires. It is deeply ingrained in their psyches the pursuit of the opposite sex, and anything else would appear to be a total waste in their eyes. The reaction of a myanaran to a person that is involved in such relationships will vary from individual to individual. Very few myanarans are accepting of the idea samesex relationships and are considered strange by their fellow myana- rans. Even fewer are those that have or have had involvement in such relationships first hand. That involvement is kept very secret in order to avoid shunning, but it is eventually found out. Another generality of the myanarans is their tendency to rash thoughts and actions. They are an action-oriented race, and will act on the first thought in their heads in a given situation. It is rare to find myanarans with more long-term thinking, and they realize it. Such myanarans are given great esteem amongst their people, and they are considered leaders among them. If they are convinced conclusively, they will also follow the directives of a human or a boomer. Convincing them, though, is easier said than done. Social Conventions The myanarans are very clannish, with great emphasis on their families. Mating, similar to human marriage, is for life and divorce is hardly even contemplated, let alone followed through on. Family leadership is on an equality basis, with both male and female parents on even footing. Even clan leadership is shared between the eldest mated pair. Myanarans favor an extended family structure, with an extended family keeping within the same neighborhood, almost as if it were a compound. While nuclear families (father, mother, and off- spring) occupy their own homes in that neighborhood, the extended family sticks close together. The patriarch and matriarch in the family tend to be given the best residence in the neighborhood as a show of honor and respect. The only times when a family member might leave the family neighborhood would be if one was going off to gain a higher education abroad, if one were shunned for some reason, of if a family was splitting off to form the basis of a new extended family. Myanarans tend to place family honor before their own individual honor. If one's own actions are found to be dishonorable or shameful, as defined by myanaran customs and standards, then those actions reflect on the family they came from. Likewise, if an individual achieves a great accomplishment or is found to be living an upright life, then it reflects on the family as well. Conversely, the reputation of one's family affects how other myanarans treat an individual. Relationships between myanarans are many before mating. This is due to their impulsive nature. Also, pre-mating sex is treated as a normal occurrence, and is quite common. If such a union causes the female to be pregnant, though, mating is strongly expected of the couple. As stated above, such occurrences would be limited to myanaran-myanaran relationships due to genetic incompatibilities between them and other races. Another aspect of their pre-mating sexual habits is that they tend to start earlier than humans in certain aspects. A typical myanaran will begin to experiment sexually when they hit puberty, but will not engage in intercourse until they turn sixteen. The myanarans themselves have determined that this is due to a racial instinct than out of social convention. Adolescent myanarans tend to limit their experimentation to close friends, but some will freely engage in such activity with a willing partner their age. As far as interracial relationships go, the myanarans are accept- ing of them. Once it was found, soon after their arrival on Earth, that myanarans were sexually compatible with humans as well as android/humanoid boomers, the myanarans simply treated such liaisons as natural. However, such relationships tend not to last too long. The reason is that while the sex would be briefly enjoyable, most humans don't have the endurance necessary to keep up with a myanaran. The typical myanaran has reflexes and strength that are superior to those of a human, thus only those humans in the best shape would even have a chance of keeping a myanaran satisfied. As for boomers, the myanarans tend to develop a vague dissatis- faction with them, even though a boomer can easily keep up (if not outpace in certain cases) with a myanaran. Researchers have theorized that myanarans that have been involved in such rela- tionships may have developed a minor complex about the boomers' artificial nature and find such relationships boring in the physical sense. The only relationships between a myanaran and a boomer that have lasted a significant amount of time were the ones where a boomer actually presented a challenge to the myana- ran partner. Even without the limitations mentioned above, interracial rela- tionships tend to be limited to pre-mating, casual liaisons. This is not so much of a racial snub as it is the myanaran emphasis of family. Since myanaran couplings with either humans or boomers will never produce children, myanarans seeking to begin a family (which constitutes the vast majority of the myanaran population) view interracial relationships as dead ends ultimately. The rare instances of myanaran matings/marriages with humans or boomers involved those who had little hope of starting a family in the first place. Relations With Other Races While the initial encounters between the myanarans and the residents of Earth were bumpy when the myanarans crash-landed in 2050, relations have smoothed out between the newcomers and two of the three races that called Earth home. The myanarans have learned to coexist with the humans and boomers that make up the majority of Earth society within a short amount of time, but they regard the youma as if they were blood enemies. Of the three other races now occupying Earth, the myanarans get along with humans the best. The myanarans were surprised at how accommodating the humans were when they were first stranded on Earth. While Captain Lekuris had mentioned sharing the planet with the humans while the colony ship was on a crash course for Earth, no one had made any mention of assimilation into Earth society. Soon after the crash and the myanarans were settled into survival camps close to their crash site, the humans had made the offer to make the myanarans equal citizens in the United Earth Federation. With very few alternatives other than living in some remote portion of Earth due to their being stranded, the myanarans accepted. When the humans made good on their word and made the myanarans equal to themselves in society, the myanarans decided that the humans were a race worthy of their respect and honor. As they stayed on Earth and learned more of humans and their ways, the myanarans found more to admire about the humans, such as a greater emphasis in long-term thinking and creativity. They also found things that made them curious to say the least, such as a tendency towards relative prudishness as well as their general preference to disregard some of their instinctual impulses. The myanarans are also on very good terms with the boomers, who are also made to be on an equal basis in Earth society two decades previous to their arrival. While initially uneasy about the fact that the boomers are of an artificial nature, the myanarans have gotten used to them over time and consider them to be admirable as a race. The myanarans especially appreciate the work ethic and adaptability of the Boomers, as well as their resiliency. The one race on Earth the myanarans dislike are the youma. This stems from a series of unprovoked attacks various youma groups carried out against the myanarans soon after their arrival. This alone had enraged the myanarans as a whole, and due to their tendency towards groupisms, have marked the youma for life as far as they were concerned. Once they were made aware of the past record of the youma on Earth, they were livid. To date, no myanaran has ever cooperated with a youma in anything. If anything, the vast majority of myanarans will attack a youma on sight, despite the risk such an act would bring. Brief History The myanarans came from a civilization that covered five systems that lay midway towards the galactic core from Earth. They were a colonial society seeking to expand their territory in peace due to their high reproduction rate. It was an eventuality that the myanarans would encounter other civilizations, despite the precautions they took in selecting worlds for possible colonization. Unfortunately, while the myanarans were relatively peaceful, they ran across a race that did not share that same sentiment. Sometime during Earth's fifteenth century, a myanaran scout ship ran across a colony planet of the zakis, a race of amphibians also bent on expansion. However this expansion came at the expense of the civilizations that fell before them. The myanaran empire put up a valliant fight to defend theirselves when the zakis came with a massive fleet. However, once two of their colony worlds were wiped out by the zakis fleet, the myanarans transferred all of the surviving colonial fleet to the colony world of Lemiris IV, the farthest colony world from the incoming fleet. Also transferred were the myanarans that were found to be most fit to carry on the race wherever they went. The myanarans were pressed for time as the zakis advanced. By the time the colonial fleet was readied and the precious cargo was loaded into the cryo-chambers on board, the myanaran home- world had already fallen and the zakis were on their way. In short order, the colonial fleet was launched, the ships taking scattered courses to various points in the outer rim. These destinations were hastily picked based on outdated scouting reports. The departure almost went smoothly, except that the zakis arrived earlier than usual, just as the last wave was preparing to enter subspace. That last wave did not make it and went down with the last world of the myanaran empire. Among the ships that made it to safety was the Zukara, commanded by Captain Lekuris. While the crew and passengers were in a cold, dreamless sleep, the Zukara went on its 600-year journey to what was reported to be a habitable world orbiting a small yellow star with no civilizations of note. Captain Lekuris was brought a few days prematurely out of cryo- sleep after the Zukara entered its destination system. Stepping onto the bridge with the rest of his hastily-awakened crew, Lekuris was informed by the ship's computer that the automated defenses went up and shot down several missiles that were fired its way. Further reports revealed that one missle got close enough to damage the maneuvering engines, locking it on a crash course with the destination planet. After a quick consultation with his crew, Lekuris determined that the reports from centuries ago were indeed wrong and there was indeed a civilization there...one that was most likely hostile. Lekuris ordered the repair crews to fix the engines, but it turned out that they were unable to do anything. The majority of the damage was only accessable from outside the main hull, and access to the outside was locked off by the main computer due to the high velocity of the ship. After two days of trying to find a way to avoid the collision or at least keep the casualties as low as possible, the crew was surprised when a small shuttle from that world had come within communications range and tried to contact them. It took a few hours to figure out how to adapt their communication systems to translate what the shuttle crew was saying. Once they understood each other, it was revealed to the myanarans that the ship was approaching a planet called "Earth", and that the missiles were fired in error since the authorities on Earth thought the ship was an asteroid or some other stellar body. Once a pair of teams from Earth was allowed on board the vessel, more information was exchanged. Commander Frank Darden and Starlight Ranger Hino Miyako informed Captain Lekuris that the ship was on a course that would cause it to crash in HyperTokyo, a heavily-populated city on Earth, following up with a request that the myanarans change course to avoid disaster. Lekuris told the Terrans that the ship was locked on course, thanks to the damage their missiles had inflicted on the ship. Lekuris offered to arrange for the survivors to coexist with the Terrans peace- fully in exchange for a place of refuge. After much consultation with Earth authorities once the ship came within communications range of the planet, refuge was granted. As this was going on, Hino was in communication with her superi- ors at the Magical Girl Corps and a plan was hatched. Captain Lekuris stood in disbelief when Hino relayed the plan to him, which was to focus the mystical energies present in most members of the MGC onto the ship to try to deflect it towards the ocean rather than have it crash into the city. Hino further informed him that she would be staying on board during the operation to act as a focus for the energies. Having little alternative, Lekuris agreed and the teams went back to their shuttle, leaving Hino behind as well as a Lt. Toriyama Katsuhito, who volunteered to stay with the young woman. Much to Lekuris' amazement, the plan worked and the ship was diverted slightly so that it landed in Tokyo Bay. The force of the energies involved also decelerated the ship enough so that most of the myanarans onboard survived. The plan came at great cost to Hino, though, as she lost her powers and was subjected to great pain. From that point on, Lekuris had the utmost respect for humans in general, and Hino in particular as well as Toriyama for staying by her side the entire time. The two are still honored among the myanarans to this very day. It took a few days to gather the myanarans (of whom 95% survived the ordeal) into an area just outside of HyperTokyo and to begin a crash course on the ins and outs of Earth society. After a few months, the newcomers were ready to be accepted and assimilated into their new home. Instead of giving them a separate land of their own, the United Earth Federation offered the myanarans citizenship and equal rights as fellow sentients. Overwhelmed by the generosity of the humans and boomers, the myanarans accepted and began the process of becoming permanent members of the United Earth Federation. In return, the myanarans offered to share what technology of theirs survived with their new neighbors. Early on during the assimilation period, the myanarans were attacked on several occasions by teams of another race that shared Earth, the youma. Learning all they could about the hostile renegades, the myanarans prepared themselves to deal with them and declared them to be blood enemies. Soon, the youma learned just how fierce the felines were in battle and brought the raids to a halt. The myanarans, for their part, supported all measures that opposed the youma from that point on. The myanarans also cooperated with the United Earth Federation in preparations for a possible invasion by the zakis. No one knew when the zakis would arrive, but the myanarans were sure that the ampibians would make their way to the outer rim in due time. It was decided that they would keep their ears open for any contact from any myanaran colony group that escaped the onslaught at Lemiris IV in order to establish an alliance. While unable to scavenge the FTL (Faster-Than-Light) drives that powered the Zukara, the technology that was able to be scavenged was put to good use. As of 2095, Earth had established thriving colonies on the moon and Mars, as well as a greater number of orbital colony stations. A fleet of ships capable of sublight speeds travelled throughout the system, establishing defense outposts and mines. Back home on Earth, the technology also improved life greatly. Cities began to sport arcologies thanks to myanaran architectural techniques. Agriculture also benefited, as well as communica- tions and defense. By 2095, the myanarans were well-established as Earth citizens and well into their second Earth-born generation. The zakis, who had forced the myanarans from their homeworlds centuries before, had not arrived, to the relief of all on Earth. However, no other myanaran colony has been contacted to date, and speculation goes on as to the fates of the other groups.