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

The Dze (Common: d͡ze) (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 and quick learning 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 500.000 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' genetic similarity, despite their superficial differences, any two Dze are at least 99.5% 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 the muscular build more easily.

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 solarian scientists after the discovery of the corpse mounds, their origin and after accounts of the Battle of the Kǫǫluj River were brought back by the second solarian expedition in 1611-1612 AR.

Dze comes from the aptly named Dzenic languages, the meaning noted above, specifically from the reconstructed Proto-Dzenic *d͡z "to stargaze" and it is the endonym most commonly used to refer to the entire species both by themselves and outsiders, akin to "Humankind" in english. The plural forms are either an unconjugated Dze or a formal and very much situational Dzeii, almost entirely confined to refer to specific ethnic groups and not as a denotation of a group of Dze.

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 60.000 BR, all Dze lived as Hunter-Gatherers in the lands of North-Central Pythia. The Late Paleolithic saw the rise of Animal Husbandry and hints of early agriculture, though the practice seems to have been abandoned in its early stages around that time. All of this led to the rise of more complex cultures by the 40th millennium BR after the recovery from the Late Dze Neolithic Collapse, which lasted until 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. From the 6th millenium BR onwards specially they quickly overpowered humans in the central and northern regions, completely driving them off any eastern holdings. By the 1st millenium AR the Dze had even expanded upon their original ranges by reaching what is known as the Polykariote-Eukariote Limes, a series of natural features which demarcate the land border between these two domains of biota and by the time of the Great Reset they had achieved total dominance of their biospheric reaches, with humans confined to small pockets and only those who descended from the groups allied to the Dze.

Habitat and population

Dze live exclusively a semi-nomadic lifestyle as pastoralist herders, however being dependant on water sources, specially in the harsh winters. The Dze themselves forsook a sedentary lifestyle, which they discovered when first encountering humans, yet they have adapted to optimize their lifestyle as much as possible, as well as bring what comfort may be had in such a way of living. Confined to the P.E.L., the Dze produce some of the best isolating materials and clothing there is, as well as having superb craftsmanship due to their brain, slightly larger than that of a human, and their perfectionist nature. Despite being the dominant species in the P.E.L. itself, they number only near 7 million by modern estimates.

Biology

Anatomy and physiology

Dze are vaguely homologous to humans in terms of anatomy and physiology, being bipedal and possessing 2 arms as well, however, there are several differences in many aspects of their appearance; most notable of all are their two appendages that appear in the upper cheek near where a human's beard would be and a smaller pair further below in the sides of the chin, coloquially known as the Echomasterans, these serve the function of aiding in the Dze's hearing by detecting soundwaves of frequencies humans would not be able to hear, with a hearing and speaking range of 10 Hz to 40 kHz and a decibel range of 15 to 230 Db; aiding this is a special tissue that protects the ears with the higher frequency sounds, as the Dze also possess a Larynx and a Syrinx, giving them the ability to use Bitonic and Tritonic speech, that is, with infrasound, Human-audible sound and ultrasound, called Qiŋuq by themselves.

Dze, in contrast to humans, do not possess a vestigial tail and they have four hand digits, one of them being an opposable thumb, with a fifth vesitigial one in the lower side of the arm that served as a claw in their earlier evolution. Dze dental formula is of 2.2.2.1, with four different types of teeth distributed in both the upper and lower jaw. Their mandibles are also reinforced with muscles which allow for an average biteforce of 500 PSI.

Another interesting biological aspect of the Dze is their ability to shut off nearly all their bodily functions in cases of severe illness, most predominantly during their final stages of their life, however by that point the ability works more as voluntary euthanasia than a coma, as the body by then is so weakened the shut off is able to completely finish it.

Genetics

Like all animal and plant lifeforms on these lands, the Dze are Diploid and Polykariotic, having on average a 99.5% genetic similarity amongst themselves, with even monozygotic twins having significantly larger genetic differences than in humans and each somatic cell has a 29 pairs of chromosomes. Both their mithocondrial and Y-DNA's last common ancestor were found out to have lived around 300,000 years ago.

Life cycle

A Dze will usually live, if not killed by disease or third parties, until around 130 years, with the period of maturity being achieved at around 20-25, while adulthood generally ends at 90, giving way to their conception of elderly. By 130 years old most, if not all, Dze develop a mostly unknown and poorly understood chronic mental condition akin to Dementia or Alzheimers' Syndrome depending on the individual which slowly eats at their brain's functionality, by 140 most die from the condition or choose to surrender their life away voluntarily by entering a state of self-induced coma that, at that stage, kills them after a few hours.

Diet

The Dze are omnivorous and have access to a vast and diverse diet of local plant and animal life, with an average caloric intake of 2,800 kcal and around 100 different sources of edible food depending on the area.

Biological Variation

Dze don't have many outward physical differences between eachother, with most, if not all, Dzeii having a tan to brown skin colour; however there is marked diference in blood types, eye colour, height and build across their range; most Dze range between 1.8 and 2.1 m (5ft 10in and 6ft 10in) and it is one of the few homogenous variations among Dze. One of the most un-usual traits of the Dze is their low diversity in haplogroups, both Y and Mithocondrial, compared to humans and their much more prominent genetic diversity, which indicates an early spread and later bottleneck in their population, possibly several, which split populations for a large period of time.