The Vir are a spacefaring race of humanoids who consider Itone to be their home world. However, most Vir live in off-world space stations and ships. Although superficially similar to humans, they have several fundamental differences:
- Vir anatomy mirrors human anatomy (e.g. - Vir hearts are located on the right side of the chest, not the left).
- Vir biology reacts to at least some chemicals in exactly the opposite way humans do. For example, rather than boosting alertness and suppressing libido, caffeine instead acts as a sedative and aphrodisiac, not to mention a mild hallucinogen.
- Vir are incapable of digesting meat. Their diets consist primarily of the drained life force of other lifeforms, as well as plant matter. Sapient creatures tend to "taste" better than simple animals. They are also apparently fond of strawberry milk, though whether this is actual milk or simply a soy substitute is not made clear.
Additionally, the Vir have advanced technologically far beyond human levels. Cybernetic augmentation with nanotechnology is common, granting an extensive array of powers, as well as increasing Vir lifespans out into centuries. These augmentations are at least somewhat compatible with human anatomy.
Origins
The Vir are not a naturally-occurring race. Rather, they were created by the Itoneians to serve as a warrior class for them. The Itoneians possessed a powerful empathic capability that made them excellent negotiators and mediators, but almost incapable of inflicting harm on other living beings. In an attempt to procure a military force for themselves, they engineered the Vir to be ambitious, intelligent, and severely limited in their capacity for empathy.
The resulting new species was a complete success, and it wasn't long at all before they had escaped their bondage and eradicated their creators. The Vir were so furious with their former masters that they wiped out any trace of Itoneian culture they could find. As a result, the extinct species is now largely forgotten and records of their accomplishments are almost impossible to find.
The following characters are Vir: