Class: Mammalian
Order: Primate
Planet of origin: Earth
Current homeworld: Gohem
Range: The Gohem Assembly, small population within the Compact of Humanity in Assembly and Metisian Republic.
Orags are a species of humans related sapiens. They are descendants of a small population of Homo Neanderthalis individuals transplanted some fifty thousand years before the Interstellar Era. The unknown party that transported them placed them on a world now called Gohem. Gohem and its star system is nearly identical to Earth with a similar-sized world with large satellite, Menh, and roughly the same atmospheric makeup and a comparable surface ratio of land vs. water.
Orags considered themselves humans but preferred to differentiate themselves from sapiens. With wider noses and a distinct brow ridge, as well as a squat frame, they stood out amidst sapiens. Their skin was overwhelmingly pale or light brown, in keeping with their Eurasian roots.
Because the initial population on Gohem was so small, Orags developed a rather homogenous culture. Their primary language, referred to as “Orag” in Humanic, bore many similarities to proto-Indo-European, though the latter language evolved several thousand years after the original Neanderthal population left Earth.
Orags greatest achievements were in in longevity medicine and space travel. As Menh orbited Gohem at a mean distance of 306,000 kilometers, Orags reached their moon a full century before sapiens set foot on Luna. Additionally, because of a protein they possessed in their biochemistry, they discovered indefinite rejuvenation (amortality) with relative ease.
Gohem itself possesses a deified monarchy, in which the khreg (or qeneg if female) is not permitted to rejuvenate. In realilty, when the khreg/qeneg reaches a certain threshold in aging, they fake their death in order for an heir to take their place. Usually, the leader than takes a somewhat humble position far from the homeworld. As Orags fanned out across the galaxy, many emigrated to Earth as Orags could blend in with sapiens. One qeneg, once rejuvenated, moved to Earth and worked as a server in a diner.
Orags are partners with sapiens on Thule in the so-called Thulian Project, an effort to render all humans amortal.