Doss

The Doss are the oldest currently known race, having expanded from their home world into the neighboring star systems around the same time that the earliest known mammals had started to evolve on Earth. Hailing from a world with a gravity substantially weaker than that of Earth and with a heavy, toxic atmosphere laced with high concentrations of Cygnium that make it inimical to most other forms of life, the Doss have formed a culture that venerates the technology of their ancestors and its use in the exploration of the observable universe over their long lifespans. As a whole, the Doss are a highly intelligent species driven by their need to find others out in space besides themselves. This, in combination with a world lacking any real form of predatory threat, has made many Doss very naive about the intentions of other species, especially in scenarios without a historical precedent to form the basis of the interaction.

Despite the inimical conditions of their homeworld, Doss have been able to modify their species over time to survive in an extremely wide range of gravities and atmospheres, with modern Doss after to survive a large range of terrestrial or artificial environments. While possessing the technology to modify their species further, most contemporary Doss, and particular the Preserver sect of their society, have heavily discouraged the practice for the last several millennia.

Despite the recent signing of the Cygnium Accords, very little is known about the location of the original Doss homeworld beyond its name - Dos-Ohsa. Doss culturally do not prefer to speak about it, and it has been repeatedly implied as part of the ongoing cultural exchange that the world may no longer be actively inhabited by the race it spawned.

Description
While Doss adapted for heavier gravities long term are stockier, with proportions easily confused for human, a majority of the Doss tend to be gracile in body and lithe of limb. Human researchers suggest that this body type might possibly be the result of having had no natural predators on their homeworld, but another dominant theory is that these features developed as the result of millennia of generational space habitation.

However, their species' most notable and defining feature is their lack of a conventional nose and mouth. The area that would be occupied by the mouth and nose of most humanoid races is completely blank for members of the Doss.

Instead of a mouth, they have small slit “vents” for respiration along the sides of their chin, neck and upper torso, which they will usually try to keep partially exposed or only lightly covered so as not to impede breathing. They may also imbibe fluids or even powders, pills, and small foodstuffs through these vents, though many Doss - particularly amongst their highest ranks - perceive eating in a public setting of any kind to be culturally taboo.

Instead of communication using vocalization made possible via a mouth and laryngeal system, the high exposure to Cygnium on Dos-Ohsa pushed their race's evolution along a psionic path; Doss communicate with other races and each other through a weaker and less directed form of Burner telepathy, not vocalization.

With the signing of the Cygnium Accords and the unprecedentedly high levels of interaction with members of other races that has caused for sections of Dossan society, it has lately become fashionable (even mandatory, in some areas) for Doss to cover the lower regions of their face in various different ways while in the presence of non-Doss. Their ‘blank’ appearance, coupled with the telepathy has been widely noted to make members of most other species uneasy.

Depending on their place of origin, Doss tend to have darker or lighter skin, similarly to humans. Unlike humans, however, who mostly come in varying shades of brown, darker skinned Doss tend to have a purple or greyish tinges to their complexions.

Depending on the caste they serve, Doss will often adorn themselves with ritualistic tattoos on the forehead, forearms, shoulders and hands. Subcastes with slight variations on these tattoo patterns have also been observed.

Civilization
The Doss have a storied history regarding their relationship with technology, having created and subsequently destroyed a number of sapient species in their ongoing quest for knowledge and new experience.

The only intentional creation that has not either self-destructed or revolted against them are the Anemi, and the resulting relationship has been the driving force of Doss cultural and technological advancement since the Singularity Conflicts. As a result of such conflicts, they tend to have a very conservative approach to the development of new technologies, instead preferring to trust only pre-existing technologies, usually with underlying principles dating back to the “Cygnium Age”, prior to the Desecration.