Average mass:	90 kg
Average length:	1.9 m
Thermoregulation:	Endothermic mesotherm, 30-39° C

Description

A Mant's head sits atop a highly mobile neck, and can turn nearly 180°. Two eye-paddles protrude from the head on short stalks. Behind each eye paddle are two iridescent panels used for visual signaling. These are fairly mobile, and can fold back or spread forward. The front panel colors can dim to a dull slate color or brighten to rainbow hues, the backs of the panel are the same color as the rest of the Mant's exoskeleton.

Mants may have acquired their name from a contraction of "man-ant" because they are hard working and live in ant-like colonies; or possibly because they resemble giant mantises.

Note: Mants are true arthropods, descended from the ur-arthropods introduced to Mantheim during the panspermia radiation caused by the Antecessors, 18 petaseconds (560 million years) ago. Unlike Earth arthropods, they have evolved a closed circulatory system and efficient respiration with lung-like organs, and are mesotherms with much higher metabolism than the insects and spiders we are familiar with.

Internal Anatomy

The thorax of a Mant houses one of its hearts, but is mostly taken up by muscle. All of its major limbs connect to the thorax, even though many of the legs reach back under the abdomen.

Detail of Mant mouth from below	Detail of Mant hands

Senses

The antennae of a Mant are multi-purpose sensors, giving the Mant information on odor, taste, humidity, orientation, motion, and air currents. The Mant's sense of smell is exquisite, and used to relay social cues and simple messages as well as identify objects and alert the Mant to the presence of objects.

Mants hear using tympanic membranes in the expanded disk-like portion of their upper thorax. Mant hearing is roughly equivalent to that of a human, although slightly better at hearing in the lower registers.

Communication

A sample of Mantspeak script from the Sacred Library, inscribed on traditional writing tiles, concerning the proper behavior of an obedient servant.

Mants signal to each other with scent marks, clouds, and trails. These can be used to deliver simple messages to those who smell them, or to lay trails that are simple to track. They also use their head panels to visually communicate moods.

Mants use reading and writing to communicate complex ideas across times and distances where speech is impractical. Mant travelers, diplomats, scholars and immigrants to the Human Verge have little trouble learning to read or write Human languages.

Traditionally, non-gendered Mants are referred to with the male pronoun in Human languages - "he" or "him" in English, 他 in hànzì, "él" in Spanish, and so forth.

Mantspeak: The primary language of the Zox Mants is called Mantspeak by Humans. It's buzzes, clicks, and chirps are difficult for other species to reproduce without mechanical assistance or computer translation, but non-Mants can learn to understand mantspeak when spoken by a Mant.

There are no other known native Mant languages. It is thought that all the other languages of Mantheim were eradicated when the Zox assimilated or genocided the Mant cultures they conquered.

Mantspeak writing uses lines and dots on a hexagonal tiling. The position of each dot and position and orientation of each line indicates a sound, the latter can be modified by flags at the ends of lines. The sounds of each tile are grouped together to make words. A bar on the side of each tile indicates the position of the next tile in the sequence to be read, meaning that tiles can be arranged with the writing read in any direction. Commonly, however, the writing simply scans in lines back and forth along one tiling direction, skiping over a line at the end of the block of tiles. Complicated reading patterns, however, are common in Mant poetry, puzzles, and artwork. Physical documents are usually recorded on paper-like sheets of fungal mycelium threads, although formal documents often use the archaic method of writing individual words on hexagonal ceramic tiles.

Mants speaking Human languages

Mantspeak modifies words to indicate grammar rather than word placement in a sentance. Consequently, native Mantspeak speakers often end up using words out of order in Human languages that rely on word order. Computer translators fix word order automatically, so this is not usually an issue except with those Mants that go the extra mile to learn to reproduce Human sounds.

Diet and Feeding Habits

Reproduction

If the reproducers of a hive die or are rendered sterile, other Mants from within the hive can take their place. This requires several megaseconds (tens of days), during which the selected Mants are exposed to pheromones and other stimuli to encourage the maturation of their reproductive organs and become either male or female.

Psychology

Mants prefer a harmonious and well-ordered environment, moving along predictable patterns with a clear understanding of their place and what they should be doing. A Mant will want to know its duties and responsibilities, when it can exercise authority and over whom, who has authority over it and in what circumstances, and the standard protocols, rules, and regulations that it must follow. Change makes Mants nervous; big changes that threaten to undermine society terrify them. Mere strangeness or unusual beings do not bother Mants so long as there are established procedures for dealing with it; it requires a threat of change to established routines, the natural order of things, or society. If a Mant senses that things are irrevocably falling apart and there is nothing it can do to change this, it may become confused and indecisive until it can find its place in the grand scheme of things once again.

Drones are the natural rebels of Mant society. Better able to handle uncertainty and ambiguity, they are equipped with the mindset to leave their home hive and make a future for themselves and their progeny.

Society

The current major Mant government is the colonial authority of the Zox Hierate for the Milky Way. The Zox Hierate is (or was) an expansive galaxy spanning empire from Triangulum that established a foothold in the Milky Way, where they met Humans and Gummis. The Zox believe that society should follow on the large scale the patterns of the hive on the small scale. Hives should exhibit unflinching devotion to the Hierate, with empire-wide direction made by a small group of decision maker hives (including the imperial hive, who founded the Zox) delegating authority to sector governors and continuing in a fractal pattern reaching to the local level. Their history has led them to believe that all knowledge can be found in the science of the Antecessors and the teachings of long-dead Mant philosophers from near the beginning of the Hierate. Consequently, they tend to reject new ideas and scientific findings, and look to established tradition and age-old regulations for their answers. The Hierate has excellent methods of indoctrination (for Mants, at least), leading to a near universal acceptance of their orthodoxy within Zox-controlled space.

Mants of the Zox place much emphasis on the honor of their hive. The appearance of correctness is more important than results, and displaying ignorance, weakness, or failure can lead to shame for one's entire hive. Respect given to one's hive is of the utmost importance. Therefore, it is better to remain silent than ask questions; to play it safe than to take risks; and to sugar-coat the truth or outright provide incorrect information that the Mant thinks a superior hive wants to hear - especially if the correct information would reflect badly on its hive's competence to carry out its assigned duties.

Not all Mants are this hidebound. Immigrants and refugees in the Human or Gummi occupied regions of the Verge will retain their old attitudes for some time, but the next generation of hives will adapt to the attitudes and customs of their neighbors and become more flexible in their methods. Even the original hive of immigrants may, over time, adapt as the old members of the hive die off and their young mature - but this takes considerably more time since the hive itself is responsible for education of its young.

Culture

Architecture

Art

Cuisine

Dress

Traditional materials for clothing production are fabric-like or leather-like fungal mats. Human-made materials using structural pigments are in high demand for these costumes, and are smuggled into the Zox Hierate. Outside of these special occasions, when Mants of the Zox wear clothes at all they tend to favor simple one-color jumpsuits with rugged boots. Immigrants to the Verge Republic or Gummi Space have used their new-found freedom to experiment with clothing styles, including stockings, vests, abdomen covers, and hats; as well as bright colors, patterns, and other adornments.

Mant cerimonial dance regalia

Music

Sports

Homeworld

Game Stats

Type Description: Mant Drone

	Start with the Mant type and then modify as:
	Cost Adjustment: +3 BP Limitations Remove Personality Trait: Hidebound +1 (1 BP) Remove Personality Trait: Metaschimatismophobia +2 (2 BP)

Note: Mants from the Zox Hierate are usually indoctrinated to have the Personality Trait: Hidebound 3 [-3 BP]. This Personality Trait increase does not count against the limit of a Mant's allowed Personailty Traits.

Trait Notes

Metaschimatismophobia - The fear of change, transformation, modification, or restructuring; specifically with regards to society. Those who transgress the social norms are threatening, as are outsiders and those whose ways are different. Large scale changes, or anything that disrupts established routines, hierarchies, and one's place in the world, are terrifying.

Hit Locations

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