Avio
Avio are an extremely outgoing race of bird-winged people who want nothing more than to have a good time and make friends.
They are one of the Rendi races, believing they come from the first-born sister Cia’Aln in the Rendi Origin tale.
Avio have a very unique brain structure, meaning they process thought differently to any other Sentient. They tend to be very literal and are likely to misinterpret metaphors and jokes if they are not explained in detail.
This brain structure has many benefits to the avio, despite their frequent miscommunication with non-Rendi races. Their memories are better than other races’ and they rarely forget anything; especially when it comes to faces or facts about other people. This suits their hyper-social nature perfectly and helps them manage their large communities.
Physical Traits
Av. Height: 5’4”
Avio present themselves in a way that is considered very feminine by other cultures. Both men and women lather themselves in makeup and jewellery and always try and make themselves as bright and cheery looking as possible.
Like the majority of Rendi races they have feathers instead of body hair and their bones are hollow.
Avio have colourful feathered wings coming from their back just under their shoulder blades. These wings are an avio’s proudest body part; they will spend hours on end cleaning their feathers and maintaining their wings.
Their wingspans are relatively large, usually twice the length of their arms or longer, giving them decent flight strength and gliding abilities.
An avio’s feet are small and taloned with an anisodactyl structure; three toes in the front and one in the back. Sometimes avio will have an extra toe, though it is not common. Their feet have scaly skin that forms from their ankles down. This skin is generally a different colour from the rest of their body.
Instead of hair, avio have feathers covering their body. Any body hair they may have is replaced by soft, downy feathers. They also have ruffs of feathers around their wrists and ankles.
The feathers on their head are longer than their body feathers; generally resembling the semiplume feathers of a bird. Alongside their head feathers they have a crest of longer, stronger feathers that they use to display their emotions.
All avio are born with a unique piece of cartilage in their throat, usually visible near the collarbone. This piece of cartilage is known as the kowco, or the “speaker” of the avio.
An avio’s speaker is full of muscles that can expand and contract at will to form almost any shape. This gives them the ability to mimic any noise exactly as they hear it— or change it if they wish. Because of the shape of their speakers, avio are able to speak on both exhale and inhale; leading to avio conversations being a string of sentences without break.
Most avio use their speakers to create sounds, not their mouths. This means they usually just open their mouths and full sentences come out without the avio having to move their tongue or lips. This is rather unsettling to other races, so avio who have had experience with other races may attempt to mimic the look of speech; this is usually worse as their lip movements never match what they are saying.
Mixes of avio and other races are able to inherit this speaker, as it is lower than the thyroid cartilage and doesn’t risk replacing it.
Avio have no teeth or gag reflex and swallow their food whole without chewing. Their jaws are built so that getting things too large to swallow stuck is hard, but somehow they still manage to jam things in at the wrong angle far too often.
Some avio families are born with patchy skin pigmentation very similar in appearance to birthmarks; they have a patched appearance with two different skin colours. However, these marks are different from regular birthmarks as the patterns are never inherited or consistent inside a family. Avio with this type of skin pigmentation are adored and often referred to as “extra decorated” by their peers.
Avio eyes can be any colour, and commonly avio are born with heterochromia.
Sometimes avio have a condition they call “kisani mvali sisi” (KMS syndrome) or, translated, “pretty eye changes.” This condition means that an avio’s eye pigments change and that their eyes can be several different colours over their lifetimes. Sometimes this is a fast process; where an avio will have a different eye colour every month, or sometimes it will be slower, only becoming noticeable every few years.
The feathers of an avio, like their eyes, can be any combination of colours. They’re usually very bright colours and their wings tend to be the same colour as (or at least a similar colour to) their main head feathers or their crest colours. It is possible for wing and head feathers to be different colours, though it is not common.
Sex and Gender
There aren’t many visual differences between male and female avio. However, there is a major difference in the male/female birth rate, with the male birth-rate being significantly lower than the female birth rate.
Males avio have large, beautiful feathered manes around their necks and shoulders that they can puff up and display. These manes are brightly coloured like the rest of their feathers, and larger manes are considered more attractive than smaller ones.
The difference in birth rate is believed to be the reason for the male’s mane of feathers: not for protection, but so they are easily recognised by their women.
Other than their manes, the only difference between male and female avio are their genitalia.
The genitalia of avio woman are referred to as the “yimistica” in their native tongue, though most Sentients simply use the term vagina. The yimistica has large bald lips and between 3-5 layers of labia that vary in sensitivity. Generally, the entire area around the yimistica is sensitive to touch, including the thighs and stomach, and avio women find it very easy to get aroused without any direct contact to their genitals.
Avio women have a “sperm pouch” inside their yimistica that stores semen from men until they ovulate. The egg is deposited directly into the sperm pouch before moving into the womb; meaning the chances of getting pregnant are extremely high. Sperm can survive in the pouch for up to a year, though women are able to physically expel all contents of the pouch, with some effort, if they wish to.
Avio men also have all-internal genitalia. They have a slit between their legs that resembles the woman’s yimistica, though unlike the yimistica it is covered in a thin layer of protective feathers. This slit is called the “kaplishkam.”
The outside structure of the kaplishkam looks almost identical to the woman’s genitalia, with a multi-layered labia and visible urethra. The biggest difference is that there is no clitoris; instead, the men have a third hole in their genitalia which secretes a sweet-smelling sexual lubricant. The kaplishkam’s opening is also slightly larger than the yimistica’s.
Avio men constantly produce sperm, which stores in their internal testes until release, when it will all come out in one orgasm. This causes a problem called “bloat,” when a man hasn’t had sexual release in so long he visibly bloats and becomes ill. This is more common in avio who spend their time in foreign countries than avio found in the Rendi, where sex is considered a recreational activity.
Common Disabilities and Health Issues
The Fall Overs
The fall overs, also known as fall over syndrome, is caused by a deformity in the skull that affects an avio’s coordination, muscle memory, and vision. This deformity is visible on the back of the head whenever feathers are shaved; it is a large lump on the occipital bone that puts pressure on the brain and spine and can’t be removed.
Avio with the fall overs have trouble walking, flying, and completing other day-to-day tasks.
They also struggle to control their speaker cartilage. Some may not be able to use it at all and have to learn to speak with their mouth like other races. This gives them an unusually deep voice for an avio, with a slowed and slurred tone.
Relationships and Life Stages
Relationships and Sex
Avio naturally form strong bonds with a single partner, who they affectionately refer to as their “sisi asa mi misi,” or their “kissed one.” Most of these relationships are between two women, as the low male population makes it difficult to find a partner of the opposite sex.
Though their bond with their partner is strong, avio see sex in a very casual manner. They have no issue with their partners having sex with others, and many don’t discuss it beforehand as open relationships are inherently built into their culture; and sexual monogamy is considered unusual.
This has caused some clashes with avio and their non-avio partners, as avio do not know much about how monogamy works and assume that other races have the same relationship structures that they do.
Avio orgies are considered a form of bonding for close friends and a great way to introduce people. They are not treated as a serious matter, and often-times avio get distracted. An infamous orgy that took place in the late 4,000s somehow turned into a large stage-play and over 30 avio were hospitalised due to injury.
Avio sexual habits have been the cause of some negative Rendi stereotypes. Oftentimes other Sentients try to take advantage of the kindhearted avio’s casual practices.
Life Stages
Avio are not mammals and do not produce milk. Instead, they are egg-layers who protect their unborn young in large communal hatcheries.
These hatcheries are enchanted by the best avio enchanters to be fireproof, waterproof, and to always be the perfect temperature for incubation. The hatcheries are also enchanted to be unfindable by anyone besides the hatchery caretakers and parents’ whose eggs are inside.
Internal gestation lasts for about 6 months before avio mothers lay large white eggs (about 3 per clutch). These eggs incubate for another 4 months before hatching into fragile children that are completely reliant on adults for survival.
Avio are born completely bald and slowly grow in colourful downy feathers in place of their adult feathers.
Though they do not produce milk for their young, avio children can have trouble swallowing solid objects. Because of this avio give their children hyper-nutritious blends of fruits, vegetables, and animal milk.
Children are raised communally, with everyone taking part in their care, though their strongest family bonds are with their parents and siblings and it is their parents who choose things such as where they should get their education and how far from home they are allowed to play.
Because of avio sexual habits, it is more common than not for avio to biologically unrelated to one of their parents. This doesn’t affect how they are raised, however, as avio have the strong belief that the ones who raise you are your parents regardless of biological relationship.
Avio development is rather slow until their 3rd eclipse when they have their first growth spurt. This growth spurt speeds up their development for a year. This is when they lose their downy feathers and develop proper head crests and flight primaries; though their wings are too small to fly.
At 7 eclipses they have another large growth spurt until they turn 9. By the end of this growth spurt, avio should be starting to learn how to fly and showing signs of hitting puberty.
Puberty in avio slows their development to about half its usual rate but allows for the development of their sexual organs and finer processing skills.
Their development doesn’t speed up until they are about 17 eclipses; when they have their last growth spurt.
They are considered adults at 19 eclipses, when their ageing process even out with most other Sentients.
Despite being considered adults at 19, they generally hold off having children until they are at least 21 eclipses.
Lifespan Facts
• The average lifespan of avio is 90 eclipses, though the oldest avio have known to be over 140 eclipses.
• Avio have a 3:1 female-to-male birth rate average. Sometimes, however, it has been known to be as dramatic as 5:1.
• Most avio females have roughly 12-20 children over their lifetimes. Though some may have less, is very rare for avio to not have any children at all.
• Orphaned children are adopted by the hatchery caretakers and raised in the hatcheries, often choosing to become caretakers themselves.
Culture
The avio culture is a very friendly and social one. They are extremely sensitive to each other’s moods and build their lives around caring for one another as best they are able.
Hyperactive Brains
Avio brains have developed specifically for hyper-social situations and they are able to comfortably socialise with several hundred people at once.
Because all of their thought processes go towards specialised social skills and memory, their impulse controls are naturally inhibited and they often put themselves at risk or (in the opinion of other Sentients) overreact to small situations. They may also struggle to understand metaphors and have a very literal interpretation of the world.
However, they are fantastic at maths and other difficult equations. With their brains able to register and retain massive amounts of information at a glance, they can solve difficult formulas in seconds with minimal effort.
They also love to tell jokes and create riddles. Most other Sentients struggle to understand their unique sense of humour, however, and riddles avio consider simple are nearly impossible for other races to solve.
Another part of their brain structure is their inability to knowingly do wrong. Avio simply cannot create the thought processes that allows them to be deliberately evil or cruel, and instead they have the urge to be kind and helpful whenever possible.
A negative side to this is that they cannot process evil done by others, either, and they tend to be taken advantage of by other Sentients. This inability to process wrongdoing can be deadly; some avio who have been wronged have had such trouble comprehending what was done to them that their brains shut off and they died.
Natural Environments
Avio naturally gravitate towards living in forests and jungles; usually near sources of clean water and fruit. Because of this they rarely go hungry or find themselves in drought. They make communal gardens, store food as a community, and share what they gather openly with each other.
They weave nest-like platforms into the tops of their home trees to sleep in, which they decorate with rainbow ribbons. These ribbons are rarely visible through the scattered flowers, fruits, and feathers that find themselves in the avio’s trees.
In the rare instance an avio feels threatened, they will instinctively hide in the trees for camouflage. The bright colours can be very confusing to non-avio and it is easy for the native avio to find refuge from intruders or animals in their thick forests. Though it is much harder to hide from other avio and hide and seek is a well-loved game, with many avio being able to spot anything that tries to hide in the trees quite easily due to practice.
A Giving Culture
Avio do not often use money or trade in their day-to-day life as they prefer to support each others’ needs without asking for anything in return. Only when they join other cultures do they consider money a necessity; and even then, they are more than willing to share what they own with those who need it.
Because of their urges to do good and the usual over-abundance of food in avio homes, their communities are maintained by selfless gifting. Avio with specialised skills such as making clothes or cooking will provide their services for free, and though they do not ask for anything in return they will often receive things that they would not be able to create or obtain otherwise.
Language
The avio language is very specific. No words have multiple meanings, and there are usually multiple words for things to describe very subtle differences. A good example of this is the emotion “happy”; the avio have over 400 words for happy, each one describing a different level of happiness.
Avio speak in very high, excited-sounding voices. They speak very fast, so much so that most Sentients have to ask them to slow down, and will sometimes scream in the middle of sentences to express joy; they explain it as the excitement building so much they cannot physically keep it inside.
Many avio words are impossible for other Sentients to pronounce due to the unique structure of the avio speaker cartilage. Likewise, avio find contractions hard to understand and most find it almost impossible to use them correctly. This gives them a very unique-sounding accent when they speak in International.
Avio questions will end with a spoken question mark, which is pronounced as the letter “Q”. In written International questions are ended with both the letter Q and a question mark, usually after a comma. (E.g, “What is your name, Q?”)
Avio laughter is loud and high-pitched. It tends to have one quick note that repeats quickly, like a very fast “ah-ah-ah” or “eh-eh-eh” that blends together.
Their toxin immunity grants them the ability to consume contaminated food and water, though they much prefer fresh food. Soulstone is one of the only things they cannot safely ingest.
Their immunity is believed to have come from their habit of swallowing fruit whole; as their ancestors never checked the quality of the food before eating, their bodies learnt to adapt.
Avio are one of the few Sentients that are able to interact sexually with mud seces with no risk of ill consequences, as their natural immunity to toxins extends to the mud seces’ poisonous body fluids.
Naming Conventions
Avio names are two (generally very pleasant) words that have literal meanings, separated by an apostrophe. The first letter of both names are capitalised and there are no spaces. Whether or not the words are in Avio or another language is up to the parents, though the most common languages to use are Avio and International.
There are names such as Apple’Cloud, Cute’Riddle, and Bird’Joy in the International language, and in their native language there are things like Cor’Bala (Smile’Kiss), Kala’Verso (Happy’Love), and Ze’I (Little’Treasure).
Growing up in other cultures such as Heck’ne may give an avio a name that may sound dark out of context, such as Setani’Selina (Strange’Prisoner), but the intended meaning behind their names is generally a positive one (eg; though Setani’Selina’s literal translation is “Strange’Prisoner” the less literal translation is “One who Serves the Outcasts,” with its meaning intended to imply “someone who helps those most in need”).
They also have the prefix “Se,” which means “to be” when attached to the start of words in a name. If you wanted to change the name “Happy’Love” (someone who is happy and who loves a lot) to “Happily’Loved” (someone who is loved with a great amount of happiness) it would be “Sekala’Severso”.
Avio do not traditionally have surnames, though because of their polyamorous lifestyles they often inherit them from non-biological parents.
Common Religions
Avio believe in a mix of all the common religions. Their strongest beliefs lay in the Animon and Har’py religions, however, as they both directly correlate with the Rendi Origin.
Clothing
Avio love wearing skin-tight clothing. Most of the clothes avio wear are made from light, breathable materials that can stretch far without tearing.
The upper sections of these outfits tend to only cover a small portion of their torso, being things such as crop tops, tank tops, and low-cut shirts.
As for the lower torso, most avio will only wear short shorts, underwear, or low cut skirts that barely reach halfway down their thighs. Some will wear knee-length leggings, though these are usually at least partially see-through.
Underneath their skin-tight clothes avio will wear lots of mesh netting. This isn’t restricted to tights; they will wear mesh turtlenecks and shirts underneath their tight clothes.
Their favourite types of netting are fishnet and open mesh.
It’s difficult to buy dark coloured clothes in avio-owned countries as most avio prefer bright colours.
Avio also love to decorate themselves with jewellery; lots of gold and silver metals, with bright coloured gemstones attached. There is also the more intimate form of jewellery; feathered jewellery gifted by partners or family.
Other
Bar’tark Civil War
There has only ever been one known war in avio history: the Bar’tark civil war. In the early 3,000s the royal family had an argument after the death of the queen and a war between the two heirs of the throne was officially declared.
However, due to the avio’s pacifist culture, nobody was injured and no casualties were suffered.
The war was officially resolved when the kingdom was split into two and a secondary kingdom known as “Bar’tana” was created. This kingdom didn’t last long, though, as after only three years Bar’tana and Bar’tark merged and the heirs of the throne agreed to rule side-by-side.
I’reka
The best-known country populated by avio is I’reka— however, despite the popular misconception, I’reka belongs to the zokex and not the avio. The avio simply settled in I’reka and live under the laws of the zokex royal family.
People often mistake I’rekan culture for avio culture and most avio stereotypes come from I’rekans. However, these stereotypes are inaccurate as I’reka has shared parts of cultures from all over the world.
Toxin and Virus Immunity
Avio have natural toxic and virus immunities that protect them from poisons and diseases. They rarely get sick and have the ability to digest almost anything.
This natural immunity to disease, their kind nature, and their fast-working brains means that they have become some of the planet’s most impressive healers. They have no fear of catching illnesses from their patients and so are able to take a very hands-on approach to illnesses that most other doctors are unable to handle.
Misc
Most avio never have trouble telling identical twins apart. Even ones they barely know.
Once an avio city shut down for 4 hours because a child dropped his ball into the river and came home crying. The rest of the city were so moved by the child’s upset that they themselves began to weep.
It is very rare for there to be missing persons in an avio-owned town or country. In the case someone goes missing, everyone will go out in search of them; not stopping until they are found.
The worst case of bloat known was in the Gallamor, when a half-avio man’s sperm ducts became blocked and he was unable to relieve himself. Unaware of bloat due to being raised solely by his felinic mother, he nearly died from his illness and, after surgery, produced over 4 litres of sperm.
An avio boy is featured in the story of Mo’ay’a’s Oasis as the first soul she uses her water to save. He encourages her to practice her powers and plays with her in the I’rekan desert until he is retrieved by the adults of his community.
In the late 13,000s the very first murder committed by a full-blooded avio was recorded. A woman named Kee’Sisi was taken into custody after murdering a family of wolvens. She attempted to use statistics to justify her actions and, once it was proven to her that her reasoning was unsound, she suffered a severe mental break and died.