Dze

Dze
Scientific classification
Domain:	Polykariota
Kingdom:	Amidraloanimalia
Phylum:	Orthochordata
Class:	Trimetrodonta
Order:	Tenacitheria
Family:	Tenacitheridae
Genus:	Tenacitherium
Species:	T. terrible
Binomial name
Tenacitherium terrible

Dze (Tenacitherium terrible) are the most abundant of the Tenacitherians, speficically belonging to the bipedal Tenacitherium, a genus that only contains it and it's closest, all extinct, relatives and ancestors. Characterized by their large brain cavities, enhanced sensory abilities and their face appendages, they developed speech and culture on par with humans and around the same time lapse. They are relatively social creatures that evolved a loose but well mantained system of organization between different comunities and social structures that allowed for a unique form of civilization to arise. Although culturally conservative, or slow-changing, they are an intelligent species with a natural sense of curiosity that has allowed them to fully develop amongst the native sapient races of Sparkalia.

The only extant member of the Tenacitherium family, it seems to have evolved from a more basal member of the genus, Tenacitherium Anthropopsius, by around 350.000 years ago, with behavioral modernity achieved around 200.000 years ago. The Dze were a fairly local species in the biota of the area, only spreading further into the lands nearby them around 50.000 years ago after the Late Dze Neolithic Collapse, but once they reached their territorial maximum, they have become the dominant species in the lands around North-central Pythia; similar to humans, despite their superficial differences, any two Dze are at least 98.8% genetically similar no matter their background.

Dze are omnivorous creatures, known for their particularly efficient and strong digestive system, that can eat basically anything they propose themselves to with a regenerative dentin to protect the teeth from wear and they are well versed in the usage of fire and boiling for cooking of foods. They are diurnial creatures, with an average sleep of 6 hours a day, however they are able to switch between diurnal and a tetraphasic lifestyle, able to sleep in 2 cycles of 3 to 4 hours. They are a race with little to no sexual dimorphism asides the basic biology, however males do retain more a muscular build.

Etymology

Although many a naming convention exist for the Dze, the meaning of their endonym is "Stargazer", denoting their cultural affinity for the night sky, whilst their scientific name, Tenacitherium Terrible means "Terrible tenacious creature", a name given to it by scientists after the discovery of the corpse mounds and the origin of them, denoting their warring capabilities.

Dze comes from Old Dze, the meaning noted above, which in turn comes from the reconstructed Proto-Dzenic *d͡z "to stargaze" and it's the endonym most commonly used to refer to the entire species, akin to "Humankind" in english.

Evolution

The Dze are a Tenacitherian species of Orthochordates, the lineage that gave rise to them, Tenacitheria, split from the rest of the Trimetodontians around 80 million years ago, whilst the Tenacitheridae themselves evolved around 30 million years ago. The genus Tenacitherium was fully split from the rest of the family by 8 million years ago with the first of their species, Tenacitherium Alpinum seemingly evolving from the more basal Eotenacitherium Niveum around that timeframe.

History

Until about 26.000 BR, all Dze lived as Hunter-Gatherers in the lands of North-Central Pythia. The Late Chalcolithic saw the rise of Animal Husbandry and hints of early agriculture, though the practice seems to have been mostly abandoned in its early stages around that time. All of this led to the rise of more complex cultures by the 10th millennium BR after the recovery from the Chalcolithic Dark Ages and the beggining of the Siderolithic (Iron) Age, where humans entered the ranges of the Dze, with an early displacement of these between the 8th and 7th millenniums BR until the Dze slowly began to recover their lands over the course of the following centuries.