Tiamati

Overview
A twistedly proud draconic race concerned with wealth, industry and productivity above nearly all else.

Physical Description
Tiamati resemble hairless, mammalian dragons, and have medium-to-long, broad snouts with slit nostrils, long, pointy ears, and eyes with slit pupils which catch and play with the meager light of their planet. They have a thick, doughy and durable hide, as well as occasional fleshy, quill-like sets of spikes instead of hair or fur, and bear a thick saurian tail. Their hands have four clawed digits and an opposable thumb, while their flat feet have four short clawed toes, and resemble those of a crocodile. Tiamati average a height of seven to eight-and-a-half feet tall, and though they generally have a burly, thickset build, tend easily towards flabbiness and even obesity. Tiamati generally adorn themselves not only with jewelry and/or piercings, but with cosmetic mutations as well; these can range from rigid horns and spikes to extra quills, and, in the case of those more skilled with magic, can even include extra eyes, ears, limbs and tails. Tiamati metabolism uses copper compounds instead of iron, and so rather than red blood, Tiamati blood is a deep, purplish blue when carrying oxygen, and almost colorless and clear when traveling back to the heart.

Culture
From near the start of their civilization, the Tiamati commanded a respectable ability with magic, which only increased with their burgeoning skills in machinery and technology. As factories polluted their world further and further, they and few other creatures native to their world evolved to survive its growing levels of smog, toxins, soot and sludge. They came to believe that only what was meant to survive did, and through magical guidance and genetic engineering, developed immunities to the many poisons industry could create, irreversibly changing themselves and their world. The few species of wild creatures that remain are far warped from their original shapes and forms, and they and the Tiamati only barely resemble their distant ancestors. They take much pride in their acquired hardiness, and keep their assembly lines and alchemical furnaces running nonstop to maintain their unorthodox status quo within what’s left of nature.

Apart from their near-gleeful pollution of their world, Tiamati hold great reverence for and interest in wealth, productivity and creation for their own sakes, as well. Few jobs are considered distasteful enough to turn down pay for, and throughout deeper space, Tiamati are known widely for their eagerness to work the dirtier jobs, knowing that no pay is too much to hire workers willing to do the worst work; they are often found hauling garbage and waste, heading decontamination operations (scoffing at others’ vulnerability to hazmat all the while), and maintaining finicky equipment and reactors. Rather than feel ashamed to work in filthy, dangerous conditions, they see others who would turn down such an opportunity for easy money as unmotivated, cowardly and stuck-up.

Magical skill is widespread among Tiamati, to rather variable degrees; however, almost every Tiamati, spark or no, has a deep respect for magic and a religious streak. They worship the goddess Tiamat as their source of wealth and life, and every factory, chemical plant and place of production is dedicated to the Mother. Temple-factories in turn release sludge and chemicals into their surroundings to maintain the level of hardship they believe the Mother decrees life should be able to overcome. The largest such temple, built over the largest concentration of harmonic energies on their world, is the destination of a pilgrimage every Tiamati makes on the cusp of adolescence. A deep pool of sludge is maintained in the center, and it is there that they undergo the ritual that begins their maturation and gives them their full immunity to toxins.

Tiamati society heavily favors merchants, factory managers and property owners, though any individual able to work can generally earn a healthy living wage. Wealthy Tiamati are expected to show off their earnings, and on top of the heavier physique that comes easier to those with even modest wages, flaunt it further with jewelry and piercings made of rare metals and stones. Even the least beggar in the mud decorates themselves with colorful paints, often made from heavier metals and toxic pigments, and cloth is generally brightly dyed to stand out against the dingy browns and blacks of their world’s landscapes.

Though they are technically omnivorous, Tiamati eat mostly meat and very little vegetable matter. With such low biodiversity on their planet, most food is genetically manipulated and grown, from creatures continually harvested for meat, oils and fats, to plants cultured to produce sweet syrups and a gelatin-like protein. While their food could be considered edible to other species unseasoned, Tiamati have a rather warped palate that enjoys the taste of metals, minerals, sweets and oils; the typical dish could contain fried meats slathered in a leaded syrup, or a stew of bonemeal and tendon with iron powder, or even an agar jelly flavored with chalk, salt and copper.

Tiamati on their homeworld tend towards lighter, durable synthetic clothing due to the greenhouse effect caused by their polluted atmosphere. Having become endothermic over centuries of mutation, they wear relatively little in order to keep cool, generally making due with sashes, belts and baggy trousers, with little to no chest covering; in the slightly cooler bogs at the poles, more coverage is generally appropriate. Off-world, they tend towards more flexible astrosuits, tailored at appropriate cost to their body shape or girth, with filtered respirator masks to disinfect incoming air.

Tech Level
With little real care for its impact on their homeworld, the Tiamati have mastered a mix of mechanical industry and magical application that makes their technology suited for automation, mass production, genetic engineering and subharmonic space travel within their solar system. With a boost in technology from the Awakened, the Tiamati have upgraded their spacecraft with their own take on harmonic drives, as well as creating filtered respiration masks and environmental suits (largely for the protection of other races when off-world, but also to protect against extraplanetary pathogens), more advanced computer systems, and many other conveniences taken from other worlds and twisted to fit their own tastes.

Solar System
The Tiamati homeworld is located within the Tiamat system.

Star: Tiamat

Planets: Notable Space Stations:
 * Mussatur (uninhabited)
 * Usumgal (contains mining outposts, some factories)
 * Musmahu (home planet)
 * Mushus (extensive mining outposts, factories, partial terraforming)
 * Lakmu (mining outposts, factories, only initial terraforming)
 * Ugal (some mining outposts, low population)
 * Asteroid belt and dwarf-planet objects
 * Anshar Gateway: Orbiting the Tiamati homeworld of Musmahu, Anshar is a massive complex of docking bays, refineries, shipping offices and layover housing that overlooks nearly an eighth of the planet's surface area. It serves as the main port of entry for Tiamati mining ships returning from outposts, services trading vessels from other systems, and provides the majority of Musmahu's diplomatic mission and capabilities. Where Musmahu itself would be too inhospitable for proper interaction with foreign races, the station is a relative haven where those races could interact with the Tiamati with only the most minimal barriers (and disinfectant) necessary.
 * Anuki I-IV: The Anuki stations serve as the gateway depots to other inhabited outposts in the Tiamat system, as well as the point of government for Tiamati interests on each world. Anuki I orbits Mushus, Anuki II orbits Usumgal, Anuki III orbits Lakmu, and Anuki IV orbits Ugal. Anuki IV also acts as a base of operations for asteroid mining within the Tiamat system's outer belt.

Race Features
Poison Immunity: As a result of their coming-of-age ritual, mature Tiamati are immune to toxins and poisonous chemicals.

Radiation Resistance: Tiamati can use their affinity for magic to lessen the harmful effects of radiation on their bodies, reducing damage caused by tumors and ionization.

Mutations: Tiamati hold a fascination and appreciation for body alteration, using a cocktail of mutagens to guide mutations that other Tiamati find aesthetically appealing, or increase their physical utility.
 * Difficulty Points: [Awaiting Balance] The complexity or scale of a specific mutation determines how many difficulty points it costs. Simple mutations, such as extra quills, cost less; large-scale mutations, such as extra limbs, cost more.


 * [Mutations table, cost, bonuses]