Shirren

• Build deep and powerful bonds with your comrades.
• Enjoy your freedom and delight in the opportunity to make your own decisions.
• Dislike violence and prefer seeking peaceful compromises that benefit everyone.

• Count on you to mediate disputes and act as a voice of reason.
• Believe you overvalue and overthink simple choices.
• Are disconcerted by your insectile physiology and telepathy.

Shirrens are arthropods with antennae, compound eyes, and chitinous exoskeletons. Shirrens walk upright and have three sets of limbs with three-clawed hands. The lower, weaker pairs of limbs are generally kept concealed and only used for ceremonial and reproductive reasons. Shirrens vary in appearance based on the colony they descended from, and some have vestigial wings, segmented thoraxes, or stingers.

Shirrens have three sexes with roles in reproduction: male, female, and host. Female and male shirrens provide eggs and sperm respectively, and hosts incubate the fertilized eggs. In some shirren communities, a single host incubates for many partners, while three-party unions are common in others. Shirren young spend their first 2 years in a wormlike larval form. A parent might carry their larval child in a protective container to let them safely experience the world until they reach the pupal stage. Pupae undergo a second metamorphosis around eight years old before settling into their mature form a few years later.

Shirrens value individual choice and rights, having escaped from the Swarm thanks to an adaptation to their physiology that causes pleasure when they make choices for themselves. Shirren culture is built around this love of choice, encouraging shirrens to adapt themselves to a wide variety of beliefs, philosophies, and professions. Shirrens are highly communal and tend to feel lonely unless they're part of a group. Once a shirren chooses a community for themself, they often settle into a specialized role. When times are tough, they pitch in for teamwork and prioritize what's best for the group over what only benefits them as individuals, as long as they retain their autonomy.

Shirrens define themselves by their choices and bristle against all forms of oppression. They enjoy cultural exchange, and while most eagerly adopt the deities and practices of other communities, others hold passionately atheistic worldviews that reject divine worship in favor of centering secular mortal experiences. Many shirren communities pay homage to Hylax, a benevolent deity believed to be the progenitor of their species. Hylax's faith is in turn shaped by her shirren followers, who believe her to be the pinnacle of unity without conformity.

Popular Edicts make your own choices, try to solve problems peacefully, work for the greater good of the group
Popular Anathema inflict thoughtless destruction, take away another's right to make choices

Cesca, Chk Chk, Halicon, Izenzi, Jchk, J'scib, Keskodai, Kinnik, Korskal, Philt, Schect, Thast, T'sen, Xylit, Zenka, Zigvigix

10

Medium

Constitution, Wisdom, Free

Charisma

One regional language of your choice
Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent on your home world).

You can communicate mentally with creatures within 30 feet. You can communicate only with creatures that share a language with you. This doesn't give you any access to their thoughts, and it communicates no more information than normal speech would.