Mesarthrim
From ExodusWar
The Mesarthrim (homo mesarthes) are descended from Terrans who emigrated from their homeworld in the 21st Century in cold sleep. Before they arrived on their intended destination, Kalmar, their vessel was intercepted by an alien species known as the Anderung. The sleeping colonists were all abducted and their vessel was hurled into Kalmar's star. They were taken to the planet Mesar and awoke into a life of slavery. They suffered almost three centuries of enslavement, warfare, and atrocities, an experience which molded them into a culture of war and death.
The colonist were named "Mesarnak" by their overlords. The derogative name meant "slaves of Mesar". The rebellion against the Anderung was the first group to adopt the name "Mesarthrim", which means "death of Mesar."
Before awaking the colonists on Mesar, the Anderung studied and adapted the Mesarthrim genome to suit their needs, creating a race of "super slave" for their own use.
By the end of the Mesarthrim Civil War, the term Mesarthrim was used exclusively to refer to those of German descent, while those whose bloodline did not come from German backgrounds tended to keep the Mesarnak title.
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[edit] Appearance
The Mesarthrim are almost entirely of German descent, but the original Mesarnak were taken from several European Terran stocks, noteably from the British isles, France, Germany, and Spain. All Mesarnak come from Caucasian stock of one sort or another; any additional diversity among the original seed population was either lost or has become assimilated into the population.
Among Mesarthrim, the "Aryan" racial appearances are particularly noticeable.
[edit] Skin Tone
All Mesarthrim have pink-white skin, and tend not to tan easily. Some are even pale beyond what would be considered normal among their Terran forebears.
[edit] Hair Color
Because of their German heritage, Mesarthrim tend to have blonde or very light brown hair. Some Mesarthrim come from marriages between colonial nationalities and can have darker hair, or even reddish hair, but 90% of Mesarthrim are nearly pure German and have hair colors typical of their heritage.
[edit] Eye Color
All Mesarthrim and Mesarnak have genetically-enhanced eyes. The Mesarthrim eye has an additional lens beneath its surface. By squinting hard, Mesarthrim can force the lens forward, effectively "zooming" their focus forward by a factor of four to eight times. Mesarthrim see farther and in greater detail with the naked eye than their human ancestors could. The iris and pupil can also dilate or constrict to a much greater degree than most humans, allowing them to see in the dark to a greater degree or look directly into a light source without suffering damage or discomfort.
These genetic advantages caused several cosmetic side effects. The added control of the eye was caused by the genetic addition of fifteen additional ocular muscles in each eye socket, requiring increased blood supply. The blood flows from a major arterial and veinal group which is visible in stark contrast on their faces, giving the area around their eyes a "spiderweb" appearance of darker skin.
Additionally, Mesarthrim eyes are colorless--white eyes. The eye actually loses its color over time, when a baby Mesarthim is born, their eyes appear colored like most other human eyes, but as they grow older, the separating lenses begin to cloud over and become entirely white. When a Mesarthrim child hits puberty, their eyes will periodically bleed as the eye finishes growing, and reaches its final size. If the eye does not properly grow, it will need to be surgically bled or they will begin to experience ruptures in their ocular blood veins, which can permanently scar or blind them.
[edit] Circulatory System
While tweaking the human genome, the main goal of the Anderung was to enhance the strength and endurance of homo sapiens into a powerful and efficient slave. Ideally, the end result--homo mesarthes--would be able to do twice the work in the same amount of time.
To achieve enhanced endurance, the Anderung altered the Mesarnak heart. The genome was altered to add two additional chambers. The heart's increased blood capacity could not be supported by the existing pulmonary arteries. The lungs' blood systems were doubled, then a second aorta was added to allow additional bloodflow. This redesigned circulatory system allowed oxygenated blood to effectively and efficiently flow throughout the body.
As a population and behavior control mechanism, the Anderung built a "failsafe" into the Mesarnak genome, which caused a degenerative heart condition to set in between the ages of 45 and 50. For centuries, Mesarnak and Mesarthrim would suffer cardiovascular difficulty, frequent cardiac arrest, and eventually total cardionecrosis by the age of 50. The Anderung had a medication which staved off the effects of Mesarnak Syndrome, which they shared with favored slaves who cooperated in controlling other Mesarnak. The syndrome was removed from the Mesarnak and Mesarthrim genome in 2306 as the result of a retroviral treatment developed by doctor Mark Edge.
[edit] Metabolism
The average Mesarthrim eats more in a single meal than a normal human eats in an entire day. Despite an almost ravenous appetite, it is difficult to find a fat Mesarthrim. Their naturally high metabolism burns energy so quickly that fat does not form easily, and most nutritional substances that humans do not digest well, such as sugars, are burned or eliminated rather than being stored. As a control mechanism, the Anderung wanted Mesarnak to rely on daily calorie intake. Once separated from a regular food source, Mesarthrim and Mesarnak quickly starve to death. A benefit of their altered metabolism is extraordinarily efficient protein processing. Mesarthrim can build more muscle mass from less strenuous activity than most humans.
[edit] Lifespan and Reproduction
The Mesarthrim and the Mesarnak have similar lifespans. They are genetically the same species, homo mesarthes. Culturally, there are often differences in their life cycles, but typically only five to ten years.
Mesarthrim reach puberty by eleven to twelve years, and full adulthood by twenty years. Mesarthrim females are fertile from the time they reach puberty until they are about sixty years old. Mesarthrim males can sire children from about two or three years into puberty until they are about seventy-five years old.
The Anderung wanted a numerous slave population, so they artificially boosted the homo mesarthes genome to have an increased sex drive and fertility rate. While Mesarnak and Mesarthrim embryos still gestate for nine months, the mothers recover within days and are fertile again almost immediately afterwards. During ovulation, the female Mesarthrim's hypothalamic system releases ultra-heightened levels of gonadotropin, estrogen and progesterone. Mesarthrim women become agitated and extremely aggressive when fertile. Mesarthrim males have a constantly heightened level of testosterone, four times that of a typical homo sapiens. This causes unusualy heightened aggression levels in Mesarthrim men at all times, a side-effect the Anderung did not expect, which may explain the downfall of their control over their slaves in the Mesarthrim Rebellion.
Although the Anderung intended to create slaves, they ultimately designed a species built to fight and to breed - granting them the strength and endurance to carry out their bloodlust with brutal efficiency, and the fertility rates to outbreed their slave masters.
[edit] Behavior
The behavior of the Mesarthrim and the Mesarnak are the logical result of their design. By most human standards, left unchecked, a Mesarthrim is a common barbarian, thinking of nothing but reproducing and fighting.
Throughout their history, the instincts of the Mesarthrim and the Mesarnak have been held in check by some form of outside control. Before the rise of the Mesarthrim, the Mesarnak were completely controlled by the Anderung slave masters. The United Mesarthrim Clans introduced the state church and the rigid clan structure.
Since the dawn of the clan structure, Mesarthrim society adopted a rigid code of honor, mostly upheld by the United Mesarthrim Clans government. This is simply another example of external control, not a natural behavior of their makeup.
Without strict control, it is impossible to say if the Mesarthrim will uphold the ideals of honor introduced by Otto Tischler, or if they will degenerate into a barbarian menace.
