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Description
Commissioned from the awesome

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The Hunters
Scientific Name: Gorgonops Erectus "Upright Gorgonops"

"We call ourselves Hunters because hunting drives us and defines us. The hunt for prey or battle, the hunt for new worlds or civilizations, the hunt for truth or beauty, the hunt for knowledge or ideas, the hunt for love or greatness - to yearn for this is what it means to be a Hunter." - Matriarch Shadowclaw, Supreme Matriarch of the Great Tribal Fleet.

Physiology
Hunters are the gorgonopsid descendants of desert and plains-dwelling carnivores.
They are covered with soft, smooth, multi-colored scale-like skin, and the color and patterns of their skin varies among the numerous ethnicities and sub-species. Skin color typically range in shades of brown, grey, blue, and green.
Hunters are endothermic and have sweat glands in their skin, enabling them to cool down by sweating.

As highly evolved mammal-like reptiles, Hunters reproduce through placental vivipary. Usually, a mother gives birth to two children per litter. These children are nursed with the milk produced from the mother's mammary glands, usually for about a year.

Vision is the primary sense of the Hunters, as they've evolved to hunt mostly in clear areas, such as plains and deserts, where the ability to spot prey is more important than hearing or smelling it. Genetic vision-impairment is almost non-existential among their species, they also possess excellent night vision, as well as tetrachromatic vision and can see into the ultraviolet spectrum.

Their sense of hearing and touch are comparable to those of humans. However, they have a sensitive sense of taste and smell, comparable to those of dogs or wolves. Though, as obligate carnivores they are incapable of tasting sweetness, as sugars are not part of their natural diet.

Similar to humans, they communicate primarily verbally. Their body-language on the other hand is more sophisticated and is intricately tied to all spoken languages to the point where half of the meaning is lost without the visual components. Though, the vast majority of this body language is expressed through the whole body, rather than being centered on the facial muscles like with humans.
An interesting aspect of this is that a Hunter do not only possess a verbal name, but also a body-name. The concept of the body-name means that a Hunter places very high value on the aesthetics of its own appearance, and it views its appearance as an expression of its identity.

Societal Characteristics
Most Hunters live in bands of four to ten adults, though many also live solitary lives or in groups as large as twenty. The reason for this is because their homeworld lacked the resources to sustain large groups.
The members of a band are typically related, though it's not uncommon for outsiders, even members of other species, to be accepted into the band. A band is led by a matriarch or, very rarely, a patriarch, who is the most experienced member of the group.
In a sufficiently prosperous environment, bands often unite into tribes.

Hunters are slightly prone to the belief that them themselves or the group to which they belong is superior to those of others. However, they do not take this to the extreme humans do.
They are good at concentrating on most lengthy mental tasks to the exclusion of other activities. However, they tend to ignore everything else while obsessed, and usually fail to notice interruptions in such situations.
Hunters tend to be curious to the point where others might view them as being nosy or to be prying.
They tend to be proud, especially regarding their choices, actions, and accomplishments.
They are sensitive to the feelings of others, and are good at placing themselves in the positions of others and understand how they think. This is partially an adaptation to their predatory nature - the better they understand their prey, the better they are at hunting it.
Although individuals are quite capable of working together in groups, they tend to be introverted and often prefer to be alone. They tend to have a gruff nature, and they feel miserable when in a large crowd.
Hunter's are highly imaginative creatures and tend to come up with a lot of ideas, but they are prone to daydreaming whenever they're not concentrating or partaking in activities they enjoy.
They tend to be brave and hard to intimidate, and are not afraid of new things, surprises, or change.
Recreation is extremely important to Hunters and they feel a need to indulge in it for several hours, every single day. However, they consider hunting, fighting, sneaking, and obstacle passing to be recreational activities.

Courtship and Family
Although Hunters are sexual and social creatures, and can develop deep emotional attachments, they do not form pair bonds. In fact, they can be described at best to be naturally promiscuous.
Hunters reproduce through placental vivipary and their pregnancies typically last for about 12 months. Mothers usually give birth to two children per litter, and they nurse them with milk produced from their mammary glands.
Solitary mothers raise their children on their own. Once the kids are old enough, they either stay with their mother and form a group (known as a band) or they leave off on their own.
In a band, the children are raised communally, and every member of the band invest time and effort to hand down knowledge to the next generation.

History
252.28 million years ago in our universe, the Permian-Triassic extinction event killed off all gorgonopsids, along with 70% of all land organisms and 90% of all marine species. It was the largest mass extinction event in Earth's history and the level of biodiversity of life would not recover until well into the Jurassic period 75 million years later.

In their universe, this extinction event never occured and gorgonopsids along with many of the species which had gone extinct in our world flourished.

Gorgonops Erectus emerged during the Late Cretaceous as a highly evolved tool-using nomadic predator. The climate of their world made agriculture nearly impossible and they were too predatory to even consider animal domestication. As such, Gorgonops Erectus, or "the Hunters" as they referred to themselves, were stuck in a perpetual stone age.

That is, until the arrival of the Sky Children - travelers from the stars who had come to colonize the Earth. The Hunters welcomed them at first, and for a time the two species lived in harmony of each other.
But the Sky Children's advanced technology led them to dominate the planet and as their settlements expanded, the Hunters grew more hostile towards the colonists.
It was inevitable, however. Many Hunters were integrated into Sky Child society, while the rest were eventually forced to live in reservations.

For centuries the Hunters lived in the Sky Children's shadow. But as space travel matured, it led to the Hunter Exodus - millions of Hunters leaving the Earth, not to colonize other worlds, but to forge their own destinies in deep space.

The space-faring Hunters never settled anywhere, rather they formed nomadic Tribal Fleets, explored, traded, hunted, and fought.
The Hunters became an integral part in the galactic stage as the civilizations of the Milky Way developed. They became the principal traders, surveyors, and warriors of the galaxy. However, they never became conquerors, because the Hunters never had an interest in owning territory. Rather, the Hunters fought for diplomatic and financial gain.

This part in galactic society made the Hunters influential and powerful, sparking their cultural and scientific revolution. They diverged into a multitude of different traditions and philosophies. Many chose to live in space, while others chose to live like their ancient ancestors did, still others chose to live among other species as bounty hunters, mercenaries, or pathfinders, and yet other chose to hunt other sapient species deemed inferior for sport.

As their technology and culture progressed, the drive to explore led the Hunters to developed time travel and intercosmic travel.
At the height of their species, the Hunters had ties to countless worlds, eras, and realities. At this point, many Hunters desired to live in prospective hunting grounds and turned their backs on their advanced technology in favor of using those of the locals, the reason for this being so that they didn't spoil the hunting grounds by advancing the local technology.

The height of the Hunters ended with the Pandimensional Cataclysm, which caused the species to fragment as groups became separated and isolated. Many Hunters lost the technology once known to their ancestors, leading to the decline of their species as a whole.

Description
Commissioned from the awesome

-----------------------------------------------------------

The Hunters
Scientific Name: Gorgonops Erectus "Upright Gorgonops"

"We call ourselves Hunters because hunting drives us and defines us. The hunt for prey or battle, the hunt for new worlds or civilizations, the hunt for truth or beauty, the hunt for knowledge or ideas, the hunt for love or greatness - to yearn for this is what it means to be a Hunter." - Matriarch Shadowclaw, Supreme Matriarch of the Great Tribal Fleet.

Physiology
Hunters are the gorgonopsid descendants of desert and plains-dwelling carnivores.
They are covered with soft, smooth, multi-colored scale-like skin, and the color and patterns of their skin varies among the numerous ethnicities and sub-species. Skin color typically range in shades of brown, grey, blue, and green.
Hunters are endothermic and have sweat glands in their skin, enabling them to cool down by sweating.

As highly evolved mammal-like reptiles, Hunters reproduce through placental vivipary. Usually, a mother gives birth to two children per litter. These children are nursed with the milk produced from the mother's mammary glands, usually for about a year.

Vision is the primary sense of the Hunters, as they've evolved to hunt mostly in clear areas, such as plains and deserts, where the ability to spot prey is more important than hearing or smelling it. Genetic vision-impairment is almost non-existential among their species, they also possess excellent night vision, as well as tetrachromatic vision and can see into the ultraviolet spectrum.

Their sense of hearing and touch are comparable to those of humans. However, they have a sensitive sense of taste and smell, comparable to those of dogs or wolves. Though, as obligate carnivores they are incapable of tasting sweetness, as sugars are not part of their natural diet.

Similar to humans, they communicate primarily verbally. Their body-language on the other hand is more sophisticated and is intricately tied to all spoken languages to the point where half of the meaning is lost without the visual components. Though, the vast majority of this body language is expressed through the whole body, rather than being centered on the facial muscles like with humans.
An interesting aspect of this is that a Hunter do not only possess a verbal name, but also a body-name. The concept of the body-name means that a Hunter places very high value on the aesthetics of its own appearance, and it views its appearance as an expression of its identity.

Societal Characteristics
Most Hunters live in bands of four to ten adults, though many also live solitary lives or in groups as large as twenty. The reason for this is because their homeworld lacked the resources to sustain large groups.
The members of a band are typically related, though it's not uncommon for outsiders, even members of other species, to be accepted into the band. A band is led by a matriarch or, very rarely, a patriarch, who is the most experienced member of the group.
In a sufficiently prosperous environment, bands often unite into tribes.

Hunters are slightly prone to the belief that them themselves or the group to which they belong is superior to those of others. However, they do not take this to the extreme humans do.
They are good at concentrating on most lengthy mental tasks to the exclusion of other activities. However, they tend to ignore everything else while obsessed, and usually fail to notice interruptions in such situations.
Hunters tend to be curious to the point where others might view them as being nosy or to be prying.
They tend to be proud, especially regarding their choices, actions, and accomplishments.
They are sensitive to the feelings of others, and are good at placing themselves in the positions of others and understand how they think. This is partially an adaptation to their predatory nature - the better they understand their prey, the better they are at hunting it.
Although individuals are quite capable of working together in groups, they tend to be introverted and often prefer to be alone. They tend to have a gruff nature, and they feel miserable when in a large crowd.
Hunter's are highly imaginative creatures and tend to come up with a lot of ideas, but they are prone to daydreaming whenever they're not concentrating or partaking in activities they enjoy.
They tend to be brave and hard to intimidate, and are not afraid of new things, surprises, or change.
Recreation is extremely important to Hunters and they feel a need to indulge in it for several hours, every single day. However, they consider hunting, fighting, sneaking, and obstacle passing to be recreational activities.

Courtship and Family
Although Hunters are sexual and social creatures, and can develop deep emotional attachments, they do not form pair bonds. In fact, they can be described at best to be naturally promiscuous.
Hunters reproduce through placental vivipary and their pregnancies typically last for about 12 months. Mothers usually give birth to two children per litter, and they nurse them with milk produced from their mammary glands.
Solitary mothers raise their children on their own. Once the kids are old enough, they either stay with their mother and form a group (known as a band) or they leave off on their own.
In a band, the children are raised communally, and every member of the band invest time and effort to hand down knowledge to the next generation.

History
252.28 million years ago in our universe, the Permian-Triassic extinction event killed off all gorgonopsids, along with 70% of all land organisms and 90% of all marine species. It was the largest mass extinction event in Earth's history and the level of biodiversity of life would not recover until well into the Jurassic period 75 million years later.

In their universe, this extinction event never occured and gorgonopsids along with many of the species which had gone extinct in our world flourished.

Gorgonops Erectus emerged during the Late Cretaceous as a highly evolved tool-using nomadic predator. The climate of their world made agriculture nearly impossible and they were too predatory to even consider animal domestication. As such, Gorgonops Erectus, or "the Hunters" as they referred to themselves, were stuck in a perpetual stone age.

That is, until the arrival of the Sky Children - travelers from the stars who had come to colonize the Earth. The Hunters welcomed them at first, and for a time the two species lived in harmony of each other.
But the Sky Children's advanced technology led them to dominate the planet and as their settlements expanded, the Hunters grew more hostile towards the colonists.
It was inevitable, however. Many Hunters were integrated into Sky Child society, while the rest were eventually forced to live in reservations.

For centuries the Hunters lived in the Sky Children's shadow. But as space travel matured, it led to the Hunter Exodus - millions of Hunters leaving the Earth, not to colonize other worlds, but to forge their own destinies in deep space.

The space-faring Hunters never settled anywhere, rather they formed nomadic Tribal Fleets, explored, traded, hunted, and fought.
The Hunters became an integral part in the galactic stage as the civilizations of the Milky Way developed. They became the principal traders, surveyors, and warriors of the galaxy. However, they never became conquerors, because the Hunters never had an interest in owning territory. Rather, the Hunters fought for diplomatic and financial gain.

This part in galactic society made the Hunters influential and powerful, sparking their cultural and scientific revolution. They diverged into a multitude of different traditions and philosophies. Many chose to live in space, while others chose to live like their ancient ancestors did, still others chose to live among other species as bounty hunters, mercenaries, or pathfinders, and yet other chose to hunt other sapient species deemed inferior for sport.

As their technology and culture progressed, the drive to explore led the Hunters to developed time travel and intercosmic travel.
At the height of their species, the Hunters had ties to countless worlds, eras, and realities. At this point, many Hunters desired to live in prospective hunting grounds and turned their backs on their advanced technology in favor of using those of the locals, the reason for this being so that they didn't spoil the hunting grounds by advancing the local technology.

The height of the Hunters ended with the Pandimensional Cataclysm, which caused the species to fragment as groups became separated and isolated. Many Hunters lost the technology once known to their ancestors, leading to the decline of their species as a whole.