The Janya

The Janya (“Janes”, pejoratively) are the civilized folk of the Solar System. They possess art, culture, science, as well as a supernatural rapport with vastly powerful beings of energy (which is the basis of their theosophy). They have spread throughout the system, colonizing as they go. An immigrant species, the Janya are not, in fact, native to Mitra.

At the physiological level, there are several different genetic expressions on Janya heredity. All are essentially interfertile with each other, although offspring are always of one of the existing castes (there are no hybrid or partial caste Janya).

Description

The Janya tend to be tall and slender, with cinnamon colored skin and dark brown or black hair. The Nobility caste, with a genotype more suited to low gravity, tend to be taller and thinner still. They also tend to naturally have much less body hair, and what nature doesn’t address the nobility augment with ritual hygiene. Skin tone variations are frequently tied to social status; with higher caste families tending to have a deeper reddish tint to the skin, darker skin tones emerging over time with exposure to solar energy (the closer the world to Surya, the greater the effect), and eye pigments darkening to pitch black with Sādhanā interactions with solar Shakti.

The Nobility Caste have been known to paint their foreheads with Path markings denoting their specific religious affiliation.

Janya Noble Lineages

Accha, Anga, Asmaka, Avaha, Avanti, Bajji, Banga, Chedi, Gandhara, Kalinga, Kamboja, Kashi, Kochcha, Kosala, Kuru, Ladha, Magadha, Malavaka, Malaya, Malla, Matsya, Moli, Padha, Panchala, Sambhuttara, Surasena, Vaccha, Vanga, Vatsa , Vriji, Yona.

Physiology

The Nobility Caste and Cleric Caste possess similar genetic expression to each other (but not the other castes). Their physiology is a variant most at home in low gravity situations, with average height exceeding two meters, but the mass remaining approximately the same as the Artisan Caste (65-85kg). Sexual trimorphism is a factor, in that the Cleric and Nobility castes express three distinct reproductive roles and the related anatomy to support them. All three roles are not biologically required for reproduction (Nobility and Cleric Caste children are still occasionally born to Artisan Caste parents with only two sexes), but participation of all three increases the chance of Cleric caste children by an order of magnitude.