The Tribe

"Fight a war for your God. Seek death to quench your bloodlust. Enslave others to preach your idealism. What you do not do is serve your people. What you do not do is struggle for your future."

- Unknown Tribal

The Tribe, otherwise referred to as the Tribals and known as hnunghilhi within its own tongue, is a xenos civilization residing within the Sidonis Verge, located within the Veiled Region. An advanced empire in technological terms, the Tribe seeks to prosper itself further through expanding its territories due to harsh overpopulation within its domain and in order to dictate a larger influence within galactic affairs, a majority of which comprise almost entirely of war. Devoted towards the concept of advancement and technological progression, the Tribe cares little for the benefits of others due to constant religious turmoil and primitive barbarism which has since condemned many other, larger civilizations to an eternity of conflict; the Tribe avoids religion, with philosophy and science serving as the foundations for the Tribe's systems of belief.

The Tribe consists of a single species, known as the hnin within their native language, who are renowned for their adaptability and tenacity under the most pressurizing and fatal of situations. The hnin are also known to be innovative, developing much of their modern technologies as a means to compensate for their otherwise frail and vulnerable frames in comparison to many other races; the hnin stand shorter than a mature, baseline human while their physiology allows them to be slightly more overwhelming with various natural advantages, although physically they do not compare to more battle-hardened factions such as the Adeptus Astartes or the Orks. To overcome such problems that arise with stature, the Tribe uses advanced weaponry and employs both shock and stealth tactics in order to take their opposition by surprise.

Physiology and Psychology
The baseline hnin stands between 4.7 to 5.1 feet tall and are overall mammalian in almost every regard - light fur covers their bodies and varies in colour, their lungs are designed to breath oxygenated atmospheres through their nasals, and are embryonic, producing young through the birthing process, rather than oviparous. Hnin are of a digitigrade stance and possess five-digit, including a thumb, hands and four-digit feet, each tipped with a small claw the size of a human nail. Hnin are known to develop hair upon their heads which extend around their necks to their chests that form puffy, outstanding "manes" which fuse with the fur of the hnin and get larger with age. Hnin possess two eyes, with which comes an impressive amount of vision and allows them capability of seeing in dark and low-light environments, and long ears which are developed for impressive hearing, making hnin almost constantly aware of their surroundings and objects within it.

Hnin possess faces that stretch partially outward into a muzzle or snout, with thin, black lower lips while lacking an upper. Their teeth, by design, are used to chew and consume both meats and plant matter, and have evolved with purple tongues. Hnin blood is red due to hemoglobin found in a majority of oxygen-breathing species, although their blood is known for its properties of illumination; an evolutionary advantage in that predators and hnin corpses can be identified easily, allowing other hnin to escape although this makes wounded hnin more noticeable to their enemies. Hnin possess two pairs of canines, upper and lower, which are connected to glands within their mouth that create a form of necrosis-like toxin that can damage both xenos and hnin.

Before they gained their affinity with technology, a healthy hnin would reach the end of its lifespan within less than half a century, although a majority of hnin are now capable of living a minimum of a century of life with a reduced aging process. Hnin are, by nature, fond of procreation which has led to a large number within their civilization, with hnin families often having numerous, large batches of children. To many xenos, the only differences one can identify between most hnin are gender dimorphisms, with females often being slightly slimmer in build than a male and possessing a set of six to eight nipples as opposed to a male's four, although hnin usually identify between one another with pheromones which are unique to individual hnin in the way that faces are, which also act as a secondary means of communication between the xenos in order to express emotion.

Aside than their heightened senses, toxin glands and their illuminated blood, a hnin has little to no biological defense against its enemies other than their agility and their stamina, although the claws upon their fingers and feet can deliver surprisingly deep cuts and their legs are known to be powerful enough to deliver kicks that can launch and damage the bones of weaker species. A stereotypical hnin can be beaten in bodily endurance by a majority of baseline species, including humans, and are unlikely to be capable of physically overpowering them. Hnin are also more efficient and confident in groups as a result of their evolutionary process, while a majority of hnin are more likely to hide, flee, or panic when faced with danger on their own.