Physical --
Height + Weight; K'thari are quite tall and can appear menacing at maturity, however they are generally speaking hollow-boned, and as they descend from flighted species their weight doesn't appear to match with that height at times; those with leather wings tend to run much heavier than their feather-winged counterparts
Male Immature to 6’, to 250#
Male Adult 6’5” - 7’8”, to 400#
Fem Immature to 5’8”, to 250#
Female Adult 6’2” - 7’5”, to 360#

K’thari are found on three out of the four habitable moons of the gas giant Mahar, which is near the old galactic core -- a former spot dominated by scientists, scholars and artists. This planet and its moons have gone downhill since before the Clone wars, at which point apparently most of those scientists went into exile. Two of the moons are hilly forest, with some swamplands, and river systems, the third is dominated by craggy mountains, deserts and extreme temperatures at the poles, but with a small belt of tropical islands. On this world also are the largest ruins of cities, and archaelogists drool over them. K’thari keep clear of the ruins, religiously. The fact that they are not necessarily space-faring in this current era tends to make biologists believe they were either seeded on those other worlds, or have been isolated only recently after having been space-worthy once. They still all speak approximately the same dialects, with some local distinctions even across the different moons. When asked whether they know of their counterparts on the moons above, they will generally nod but not elaborate on how or why they know.

It is unknown if this race is engineered, but likely since their human aspects greatly resemble those racial attributes normally found in standard Humanity. They cannot interbreed with humans, but they can be most easily engineered or test-tube spliced.

K’thari are bipedal Humanoids with a strange mixture of feline, human and avian features. They have a total of eight limbs plus a tail (used mainly for balance) -- two legs (the mostly-human facet of their appearance), four arms (two of avian and two of feline variety), and two wings (see below). The shoulder and back joints of the K’thari are intriguing at best, downright amazing at worst (imagine a three way joint?). They are towering and usually slender in build. Their bodies and legs are usually covered with a sparse human-like hair, in complimentary colors to their personal scheme (see below), with more furlike down covering their lower legs, absent on the feet. There is usually a stripe of fur leading down their neck to the tail and rump area. Skin tone varies by tribe and other features, but with interbreeding being common the standard tone will be a warm brown. Hair color varies with human racial features (from white-silver to black, red, browns and blonds) and of course can be dyed. Eye colors are seemingly attached to Avian features -- see below. Tail color is uniformly the same shade as the human head hair with a darker tuft at the end. While the females are slightly smaller they also are slightly more agile and while few tribes are actually able to fly, those most likely to be able to will be female because of their smaller weight.

K’thari are warm-blooded mammals with a single four valved heart, extremely gregarious, giving live-birth. They live to aproximately 200 years, some individuals have been recorded at over 250. Females become fertile at about age 25, but before then begin gaining their secondary sex characteristics of full colorations and body size. Males experience puberty at age 25-30, so it is not uncommon for females to look for much older mates. Gestation is approximately 13 months, and conception is usually following a week-long ‘heat’ during which the female is much more eager than usual for interaction. Female fertility continues generally until death, but some have begun to experience menopause around 20 years before then. Most births are single young, but depending on the tribe twins (maternal or fraternal) are common or the norm. (The non-human influence of ‘litters’ and ‘broods’ affects this, apparently.) A female may have four to eight children in her lifetime, but usually one or two pregnancies is average.

Taking care of the immature is done by both parents for the first 12 or so years, then depending on the sex of the child is done by the single parent of their same sex until adulthood. It is extremely rare if not unheard of for a female to be forced into pregnancy before she is relieved of her child-rearing duties. Pregnancy cannot occur during the ten years following the birth, at any rate. Lifespan is ‘mature’ at around age 40, and continues with the maximum physical abilities until around age 185 (given average lifespan of 200), after which the body begins to fail, fur and scales begin to fall out, feathers rot or are not replaced with molt, vision and hearing fail, and finally internal organs cease functioning. Most K’thari do not die of natural causes however.

They have a tribal culture consisting of a chief, medicine man/woman, elders, and the whole rest of the tribe. Other ‘jobs’ within the tribe can be warrior, farmer, scout, protector, translator, astrologist, or whatever. There is no sexism in their culture whatsoever, with the exception of raising the immature young into the world. They speak a variant on Basic which involves some slurred purring noises, chirrups, and whistles. Body language features prominently, as well -- wing position, tail lashing, arm placement. The tribes meet only occasionally, but usually on a friendly basis. Each pocket of a subtribe tends to live in certain climates, and usually their territory is over 3000 square miles, loosely protected by scouts and protectors. The best way to describe K’thari politics is apathetic. The chief status is given to whoever seems to fit the bill for the current crisis, and after that the tribe loosens again and goes on with whatever it was doing before. Those with anything to lose -- their life, their child, a good fishing spot -- will be overprotective of it, to the point of isolating themselves from the tribe and ignoring the goings on. In this manner, they have slowly become very obstinate, recalcitrant and generally if they do not see any gain in doing something, they will not do it. No matter what. This will eventually splinter the tribes and cause a complete loss of social identity, perhaps within a thousand years. (Remember that that is only seven to nine generations!)

The effects of the Empire on their world has been strong, and K’thari are -- when participating in the debate, only about 1/4 of the population -- equally as likely to become Rebels as Imperial subjects. Their worlds are ‘colonized’ by both, so exposure has definitely begun. Fortunately for them, the worlds are old, worn out, and mostly useless for Imperial purposes -- they’re not interested in the ruins, and the natural resources have mainly been plundered already. The Rebel forces find the ruins to be the best bet for old relics, educational tools, and Jedi heirlooms.

There are three distinct subraces of K’thari: Humanoid (the most populous), Leonid (the uncommon race), and Avian (the rarest). Humanoid individuals outnumber the other two subraces by three to one, and the Leonid outnumber the Avian by five to one.

ANATOMY

Wing Hooks -- on most breeds two, four on Aich’i and Ahalo, and none on Seslen

Wing Types – Feathered (on Seslen, Ahalo and Aphern main breeds, partial on Heli and Apthi, and on all Avian tribes), or Leathery (on Aich’i, Chiroko and Daioko main breeds, partial on Heli and Apthi, and on all Leonid tribes)

Body Types – humanoid body with a slender frame on long-winged tribes, stockier on shorter winged (in general)

Arms – One pair distinctly avian (scaled skin with talon fingers) and one pair distinctly feline (furry skin and stubby fingers with claws)

Wing Size – varies per Tribe and Breed, from too small to glide, to true flight capable

Tail – is uniformly feline in shape but with Tribal differences in tip (feathers vs fur)

Some K’thari wear shoes and some do not, depending on how much contact with humans and other spacefaring societies they have individually encountered.