Xetharians are an insectoid species from the planet of Stygios.

Biology
Average Xetharians stand anywhere from 5 to 8 feet tall, queens are typically 8 to 12 feet tall. They live an average of 62 years, queens live an average of 150 years. They have a chitinous hide with a layer of fur down their back. This fur sometimes grows around their necks and, more rarely, on their dorsal abdomen. Their hide and fur tend to be matching or similar colors, usually a muted tone that blends in well with the environment they are raised in. All Xetharians are born with a grey hide and fur. Pigmentation develops over the course of 2 years. They mature faster than humans and come of age at 14 years old. Xetharians are omnivores, queens have a preference for meat. Queens are also uniquely venomous and have wings.

History
Millions of years before the emergence of the Xetharian species, Stygios was home to a well developed civilization of various species. The combination of a major solar flare and the eruption of a volcano led to the collapse of this civilization and the flight of its surviving members into space. The Xetharian evolved from large, feral insects in the aftermath of this collapse. Their civilization developed around the eroded ruins of the society that came before them. Structures were reused, materials were salvaged and lost technology was rediscovered. The Xetharians have been left to evolve for 90,000 years now, contact with intergalactic society occurring only in the past 10 years.

Social
The Xetharians are organized into clans, each led by a queen (though some clans have developed alternative governments, the queen is almost always kept as at least a figurehead). Unlike other eusocial insects, all Xetharian are allowed to mate freely, not just the queen. Focus is put on collective good over individual liberty. Individuals are expected to lay down their very lives for the betterment of the clan and their fellow clan members. Queens are known to engage in cannibalism on a semi-regular basis, since there is ever only one queen in a clan her whims are catered to closely.

Cultural
Xetharians have historically considered the culture that preceded them to be uniquely enlightened, at once point believing them to have been deities. As such, they have adopted symbols from this Pre-Xeth culture and interpreted them in their own ways. Factories are used as temples, radio towers become significant markers, degraded statues are assumed to be natural parts of the terrain. The majority of Xetharians are also animists. To a Xetharian every building, machine, animal and plant has a spirit of some kind. Particularly sacred is Pre-Xeth technology, said to be divine relics with especially potent spirits, given their age. The most sacred object a tribe possesses will almost certainly be the rustiest. These pieces of tech are divisive, as some clans believe in reverse engineering them while others consider them too holy to be tampered with, much less recreated by mortal hands. Even after the Xetharians made contact with intergalactic society most still held on to these beliefs. Only the most radical of their kind dare to diverge.