Vermen

''Currently, races are not yet implemented in game. What you see below is a representation of our future intentions, and is aspirational''

Vermen are one of races in SotE.

Vermen are an extremely generalist rapidly reproducing rodent race.

Poem From the Eons



They live in places in between,

In places dark, and rank, unclean,

Prefer not ever to be seen,

The Vermen find a way.

They steal from both the weak and strong,

You’ll hear them by their squeaking song,

You’ll know they’ve come by what is gone,

The Vermen take it all.

They’ll squeeze themselves in to your stores,

For every one you see, there’s more,

You’ll kill them ‘till your sword arm’s sore,

The Vermen will return.

And when the world has seen its end,

When soils erode and turn to sand,

When life is left to rot and rend,

The Vermen rule the world.

Description

Vermen are a relatively small, rapidly reproducing and maturing race of rat folk. A race of extremes, Vermen are one of the most generalist races of the SotE world, as well as the most r-Selected. This makes them exceptional at rapidly invading virtually any highly disturbed environment, and will be a persistent nuisance to all others. Vermen are omnivores who can eat a broad range of foodstuffs in almost any environment (including cannibalizing their own), and because of their smaller size and meager protein/calorie needs, they can squeeze into almost any marginal environment or small ecological patch. They have a tendency to overpopulate, but when their population “crashes” it tends to be a soft crash, as they frequently resort to cannibalism on such occasions. Not only serves does cannibalism serve as a food resource, but doubles as a means of culling their numbers.

A Vermen’s rapid reproduction and maturity comes at an extreme disadvantage. Not only are Vermen frequently born with moderate to severe birth defects, Vermen are among the frailest of all intelligent races when it comes to enduring physical trauma. Their poor ability to fight is also accompanied by considerable cowardice, though they can sometimes be feared for their mass, chaotic hit and run tactics. When in groups, a Vermen “army” will crash and recede repeatedly on enemy ranks like an organic wave, probing for weaknesses. However, Vermen are more of a threat to settled societies due to the goods they steal and the diseases they carry than as a formal, organized invading force. If Vermen assert this pressure on their neighbors for long enough, it can spark or accelerate a society’s collapse, allowing the Vermen to move into to ruins which are left.

Vermen are impressively resistant to infectious diseases related to crowding, but utterly vulnerable to chronic ones as a Vermen’s high probability of succumbing to violence or overpopulation means there was very little selective evolutionary pressure to prevent organ failure and cancer. Most Vermen will die from violence or Malthusian constraints before they reach their second decade, but failing that, they are highly likely to decline from chronic disease by the age of 30.

A Vermen’s intelligence is often on par with that of other races, but the nature of their intelligence is quite different. Few Vermen--- if any--- have ever been praised for their wisdom. When integrated in a civilized setting, however, they are famous for their frenetically quick wit. They are also very playful even into adulthood, and known to enjoy creating and solving riddles. Vermen are also obnoxious, unrelenting slapstick pranksters.

Sadly, few Vermen who do enjoy an advanced intellect will be able to enjoy it for long. Neurological deterioration midway through life--- or congenital mental retardation at the beginning of life--- is extremely common among Vermen. Most Vermen females have behaviors to induce them to cannibalize offspring with visible birth defects, but mental defects at birth generally go unnoticed. The end result is that there are about as many sound minds in Vermen society as there are dumb or insane ones. Thus, despite tremendous population density, Vermen--- as a society--- are poor innovators.

It is not uncommon to have some brilliant individuals arise in Vermen society, but the most pragmatic path for that intelligence is not scholarship and invention, but manipulation of their peers and dominance by guile. Planning and analysis most often revolves around elaborate heists to steal from others.

Vermen have very acute social instincts due to their default tendency to aggregate together, but they have extremely weak familial bonds. Vermen have no concept of marriage or monogamy. Neither do they gravitate toward tight, multigenerational family units. Vermen produce offspring in so many multitudes that attachments to any given one is impractical in a Darwinian sense. One of the only enduring social bonds tends to be between individuals born in the same litter. Vermen success in the world at large tends to revolve around an exceptional litter exerting control over large swathes of other Vermen by guile or intimidation, with the extent of that control deteriorating as members of the litter die. These litter cohorts are often accompanied by similar dress, mannerisms, and subculture.

Vermen rarely wear clothing if they are not in contact with other intelligent races, as a Vermen’s coat will adapt in fur density based on the weather. However, if Vermen witness other races wearing fine clothes and other goods, they will voraciously covet such finery for themselves as an expression of status among their peers. As a result, high status Vermen will (incompetently) emulate whatever fine fashion exists among the civilized folk next door with pilfered, frequently damaged goods from said civilization. While the civilized folk who invented such fashion will look upon a well dressed Vermen with some mix of humor and disdain, lower class Vermen will look upon him with reverence.

Vermen males in positions of power are generally deeply suspicious of their own children, as Vermen sexual behavior makes paternity certainty very difficult. A powerful father will almost always assassinate some of his children, and the reverse is just as common (commonly at the behest of the offspring’s mother).

The most reliable relationship among Vermen to circumvent this phenomenon is the incestuous breeding relationship between brother and sister born in the same litter. In such a circumstance, paternity uncertainty is mitigated by the fact that the litter still bears a large proportion of the male’s genes regardless of whether he is the father or not.

For all the reasons mentioned and more, Vermen society is extremely chaotic and difficult to organize into an advanced settled society. Most Vermen social endeavors revolve around Vermen gathering together to pull off some short term scheme or plot. As a result, Vermen excel at the feral life. However, they are also exceptional at rapidly invading new environments and quickly developing “low civilization” involving primitive subsistence farming supplemented by hunting small game, gathering, and theft. It’s very common for Vermen to create low level agricultural “auras” around more advanced civilizations, who themselves find the land undesirable.

One of the few instances in which Vermen might be known to create large, organized, stable and settled civilizations on their own is when they develop a draconian cultures in which all individuals expressing mental or physical frailty (roughly 2/3rds of all Vermen) are ritualistically culled. Advanced civilizations of Vermen also generally require a plutocratic soldier caste which enforces order on the masses with extreme violence, including eugenics policies geared toward mass castration of all males not in the plutocratic soldier caste. Thus, sustainable Vermen civilizations of this nature are very poor innovators despite their many minds. Beyond that, such societies are also perceived as profoundly evil by the standards of other civilized races, even though Vermen themselves aren’t innately disposed to evil.

On other rare occasions, a wise, intelligent, and genetically fit brother and sister might develop a scheme to forgo their own short-term reproductive success and enter into a life-long monogamous arrangement. The result is repeated litters in which all members are “true siblings” of extremely close genetic relatedness. Such a large cohort of mutually interested siblings will likely go on to dominate over the other Vermen around them, and the civilized world should tremble in fear.

Statistics

Note that Humans are a baseline of 100 on most statistics Primary statistics

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