Calatian

Calatians are a humanoid, shapeshifting species originating from the planet of Calatia IX. Calatians are the dominant species of the Crawraek Dynasty.

Biology
Bipedal Calatians, on average, stand at roughly 6 feet tall, though when compared to humans, their extra height comes from their digitigrade legs and stacked pectoral muscles. In general, Calatians have brightly colored skin that can be of almost any hue, black hair and fur (though they are incapable of growing hair anywhere besides their head and legs), and horns. Their pupils are slit, giving them above average night vision, with their irises being the same color as their skin with black sclera. Calatians can vary heavily between individuals. While most have four arms and an equal number of breasts, they can very rarely have have two or six. While all four arms are roughly equal in strength and dexterity, by habit Calatians tend to specialize their upper and lower arms for those purposes respectively. And while most Calatians have four eyes, three eyes are decently common as well. From the waist down they can have even more variation. Most Calatians have furry, hooved, satyr-esque legs in caprine, equine, or cervine styles (with caprine legs being the most common). The three main styles of legs have a tendency to also influence their build: with equine Calatians being more heavily built and muscular, cervine Calatians being skinnier and more nimble, and caprine Calatians striking a balance between the two. In contrast to their furred legs, their tails are bare, long, and tapering. While extremely prehensile, they are also often tipped with a retractable venomous stinger. However some occasionally have a simple mouth, cluster of tentacles, or [REDACTED] instead. Because of their variation and relative genetic instability, birth defects tend to be relatively common, however in many cases these are simply fully-functional oddities such as extra tails, heterochromia, an odd number of arms, mismatched legs, centauroid anatomies, eyes in abnormal locations, or unstable hormone levels as examples.

Respiratory
While Calatians have a single set of lungs, they possess a number of spiracles between 2 and 8 on either side of their midriff that allow them to breathe, in addition to a more typical respiratory system.

Circulatory
Similar to their respiratory system, Calatians have two hearts. Again, mostly for efficiency and as a backup. A Calatian's blood is, rather unsettlingly, thick and black. This color carries over to their flesh and areas like the inside of their mouth.

Skeletal
A Calatian's skeleton is very sturdy, and appears black and glossy. This is best exemplified by their horns, which like the rest of their body, varies greatly between individuals in terms of style. Overall, while their skeleton is still prone to fracture, it is most well suited to allowing Calatians to give devastating headbutts and to fall from higher locations without injury.

Reproduction/Genders
Calatians have what can be considered three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. As well as typical male and female genders and anything in between. In general, the ratio of male, female, and hermaphroditic sexes is more or less even. Calatians have very little sexual dimorphism between the three sexes. Because of this, while in most cases hormone levels are consistent with primary sex characteristics (with hermaphrodites developing to resemble either males, females or a combination of the two), occasionally hormones can sway in a way that a Calatian will develop secondary sex characteristics of the opposite sex. With all this considered, Calatians can be considered to have six primary and secondary sex combinations: male, female, male-hermaphrodite, female-hermaphrodite, andromorph, and gynomorph. Unlike most species, the terms "mother" and "father" refer to the reproductive role of a Calatian, and not the gender. Calatians have a normal lifespan of about 120 years.

Shapeshifting
The Calatians' most impressive feat is that a large percentage of their population has the ability to alter their appearance and anatomy at will, however doing so requires a lot of practice and a lot of work. When compared to Proteans, another shapeshifting race, even skilled Calatians can take a considerable amount of time and energy to alter their anatomy. As a benchmark, the average Calatian takes roughly a minute to transform into the form of a human. Aerith Crawraek, one of the highest-skilled shapeshifters in recent times, can do the same in 10 seconds. Compared to a large Protean, which can completely mimic a human in 3 seconds. Complexing many biologists, while Proteans are stuck to their exact mass, Calatians are capable of increasing and decreasing their mass at will to mimic larger or smaller forms, though doing so takes exponentially more skill as they stray away from their original mass. Despite this, there appear to be hard size limits even skilled Calatians can't overcome: for example any species larger than a Densadron or Taurid, or any species smaller than a Mackriki. However while Proteans' slime-like composition limits their shapeshifting to superficial only, Calatians can make use of many "sub-abilities":

Body Modification
Within Calatian society, the most common use of shapeshifting is the ability to make modifications to their body either temporarily or in a more permanent manner. A Calatian with fine control of their anatomy can attach and detach normally permanent cybernetic enhancements without need for surgery, as well as simply remove objects lodged in their body such as bullets or arrows. In addition, this permits Calatians to rearrange vital organs, contort to fit into tight spaces, as well as sprout additional sensory organs and limbs as needed.

Mimicry
The most infamous use of their abilities is the act of mimicry. Using nematocyst-like structures in their fingertips and physically touching another individual, they collect a DNA sample from their target. From this sample, a Calatian can not only fully mimic the target's species, but the individual themselves, however while a Calatian can mimic a species this way, in order to mimic an individual, a visual reference is also needed for details not in the target's genetic code such as hair styling, scars, and tattoos. Because of this, most Calatians default to reimagining themselves as the target species, sharing many details between forms. This has its drawbacks, however, as Calatians are incapable of mimicking plantoid and lithoid species, as well as non-anatomic details such as clothing and piercings. In addition, while Calatians are held to the strengths of the form they mimic, they are also affected by its weaknesses. However when used with body modification techniques, Calatians can take aspects from other species and incorporate them into their own anatomy either for combat or fashion purposes.

Regeneration
A side effect of Calatians' shapeshifting abilities is an increased regeneration rate. While by default Calatians have a slightly heightened regeneration, using their abilities, Calatians can heal themselves simply through a form of body modification. This allows particularly skilled Calatians to regenerate limbs or close wounds in mere minutes. However the main limiting factor to this is concentration: since this regeneration is not passive, a Calatian must exert themselves to heal themselves. If the individual is unconscious, dazed, or overwhelmed, they can easily succumb to their wounds. As expected, Calatians can not regenerate from being killed instantly. However a possible option via regeneration is the ability to constantly reset to a younger age, allowing a Calatian to hypothetically live forever save for injury, mental instability, or other health problems.

Mitosis/Assimilation
By far the most taxing and dangerous skill for Calatians is the ability to not only alter themselves, but others. While considerably more difficult than regular reproduction, skilled Calatians are capable of reproducing via mitosis to either create a child or duplicate themselves. While useful in its own right, if done correctly, a Calatian can create a clone to multitask and can simply reabsorb the clone at a later time. If done incorrectly, however, the individual's mind could split: killing the original's consciousness and replacing them with two new individuals with some or all the original's memories. In addition to the threat of a clone rebelling against its creator. Likewise, Calatians are capable of doing the opposite with the same dangers: merging their mass with another individual to create a larger organism. While doing this with another Calatian shapeshifter is easiest, a non-shapeshifter can also be on the receiving end with some difficulty. When sufficiently merged with a Calatian, a non-Calatian's appearance can be altered by the Calatian, however this is an extremely slow and painful process for both parties. While it is possible to convert an individual into a shapeshifting Calatian themselves, this can only be undertaken by the most skilled shapeshifters.

History
It is widely thought by biologists and Calatians themselves, that the species, along with the similar Aludrans and Arkabids, were the result of an ancient genetic engineering experiment to create a bioweapon, explaining the Calatians' abilities and potentially high reproductive rate. As well as the lack of an evolutionary tree on their homeworlds.

Culture
From an outside observer, Calatian culture appears highly militarized with a large portion of the able population in military reserve and wielding the required combat skills. However underneath this "warrior culture" façade is a carefree and light hearted society. During peacetime, much of the employment on Calatia IX is provided by the agricultural sector, and as a result, much of the population is rural or lives in small communities. One of the most jarring aspects to outsiders on Calatia is that Calatians, even in formal occasions, lack much modesty due to the warm climate of their home world, and as such their clothing choices range from elaborate togas, to loose and open tunics, to nothing at all. However in consideration, Calatians will usually cover whatever is needed when meeting with foreigners, and will bundle up in warmer clothing in even temperate environments. Another result of their agricultural status has also given prevalence to many forms of tea and recreational drugs. While smoking is common in Calatian society, the industry is extremely regulated with addictive ingredients outlawed and requirements to keep health impact below what Calatian regeneration can handle. Due to their shapeshifting abilities, planetside security is extremely high and would be considered intrusive to outsiders, in an attempt to combat the constant threat of identity theft. Despite this threat, most amateur shapeshifters find amusement in not only playing pranks, but also taking cosplay to another level. Calatians also tend to modify their bodies for fashion purposes, applying attributes like gills, fur, or ears from other species to in some cases enhance their image. As expected, the theater industry on Calatia is very prevalent, due to the ability for actors to transform into any role as needed. While a religious society in their early years, Calatians have since grown more and more towards atheism and agnosticism. Believing death to be permanent, in general Calatians hold sentient life to a high regard, and nowhere is this more apparent than their military. With considerable research into non-lethal weaponry, robotics, and armor, Calatian military doctrine emphasizes not only reducing casualties in their own army, but opposing militaries as well. While not completely unwilling to kill when alternatives are not available, Calatian commanders often face hesitation when forced to do so. While generally cooperative and isolationist, Calatians prefer to use their abilities for collecting intelligence rather than assassination or unnecessary sabotage. However when faced with a neighbor committing genocide or participating in slavery, their isolationism quickly turns to aggression.

Counter-Tactics
Calatians are extremely deadly at close range. Their primary weapon is their stinger-tipped tail, which secretes a poison, while not pain inducing, causes disorientation in small doses, sedation in medium doses, and total organ failure from a full dose. And not to mention the potential of their shapeshifting abilities to make any part of their body into a weapon. Therefore, the best way to kill a Calatian is to simply shoot one with an energy weapon. While Calatians can regenerate an open wound, it takes a great deal of time and cauterizing the wound makes regeneration harder. In addition, the loss of both hearts or their brain will, in fact, kill them instantly. While an individual's leg style will net mixed results, Calatians tend to be terrible swimmers and unable to climb some ladders due to the small surface area of their hooves. In addition, chemicals do exist that temporarily retard a Calatian's shapeshifting abilities, making it easier to contain them.