The Kepek

The Kepek’s four eyes all work together to create a single, large field of vision. With both their primary (front) eyes and secondary (side) eyes, they can see almost everything around them with the exception of one small blind spot behind their heads.

Their primary eyes both have a single pupil, which is shaped like two overlapping circles. When the eye contracts, they become thin and star-like in shape. This is especially noticeable in the Tabiri and Nabrai Kepek, whose eyes appear to be constantly contracted. The pupils in their secondary eyes meanwhile are shaped like a single cross, which when dilated, makes a circle shape. There is no clear line between their iris and sclera. The sclera is either black or a darker shade of their iris colour and is rarely visible.

Arms and Hands

All Kepek have four arms. The top pair, closest to the neck, are called the primary or superior arms, while the lower pair are called the secondary or inferior arms. The primary arms have hands with three fingers and a thumb that ends in fleshy pads. The hands on their secondary arms have the same pads but only two fingers and a thumb.

Most Kepek are naturally ambidextrous to some extent, while they usually do have a favoured hand, they can easily swap between all four for most tasks with relative ease.

Legs and Feet

Most Kepek have digitigrade legs, two large, fleshy toes and a third smaller toe at the back of the foot. Where one would expect to see a single femur, the Kepek's legs have two bones that split into two and bend outwards. This bow in the bone should make their legs considerably weaker, especially on high-gravity planets, but instead, the bones seem to be able to compress under force, acting like natural suspension. In Kepek who originate from space-dwelling cultures, there is usually a hole between the bones that is visible externally, however, in those from planetary colonies, this hole is covered by skin and other soft tissues that give additional support.

Prehensile Tail

All Kepek have prehensile tails. The tails aren’t particularly dexterous, so a Kepek wouldn’t be able to do a task such as write with it, but they can use it to grab and hold objects. The tip of the tail is a bit broader than the rest, but like the pads on the fingers, is very squishy and assists with keeping a grip on things.

Abdominal Pouch

All Kepek have an abdominal pouch. It’s not really known why or how the pouch evolved, some theorise it was to carry clutches of eggs and offspring. others say it was to help with the collection of food back in their foraging days. many think it was a combination of the two. Either way, it’s a useful little evolutionary quirk they seem to have hung onto. Most Kepek cultures wear clothing that will leave their mid-sections exposed so they can still get access to their pouches.

Scales and Proto-feathers

Most Kepek have small keratin scales all over their bodies that come in a variety of colours. They shed fairly regularly, during which time they can be generally pretty irritable and cranky as they tend to get very itchy during this period. Only one group of Kepek, called the Ikta, lack scales. Instead, the they're covered in downy proto-feathers, which better help them to stay warm on the frozen planet they call home

Sexual Variation

It is a common belief that the ancestors of the Kepek lived in large-scale colonies, similar in structure to bees and other eusocial insects on earth. This resulted in them developing three separate sexes - female, male and a third sex they call braxa.

Female Kepek are the tallest and tend to have an overall rounder body shape due to extra fat. They often have long, dangly ornamentations on the tips of their ears, antennae that face backwards, and small fibres around their noses that resemble whiskers that grow longer with age.

Male Kepek are smaller than female Kepek, but tend to be stockier in build. They often have smaller eyes, thinner ears, and two dangly structures on their chins that also grow with age. On the bridge of their noses are 3 to 6 ridges and their antennae are usually forward-facing. 

Braxa Kepek are those without secondary sexual characteristics such as the structures on the ears of female Kepek or on the chins and snouts of male Kepek. They are typically the shortest of the sexes and are not usually able to reproduce naturally. Their overall body shape is usually rather lean and wiry and their antenae can be either forward or backwards facing.

While these are the 3 most common sexes, intersex Kepek are also common. The three trinary sexes are seen more like the ends of a spectrum, and intersex Kepek can fall anywhere in between the three points, rather than them being three separate categories.

A Note On Sex Vs Gender

Please note this section is talking about sex, not gender. As a general whole, Kepek see gender as much more flexible and fluid,. While there are 3 trinary genders (man, woman and brax) based loosely on the 3 ends of the spectrum mentioned above, and many Kepek's gender identities do align with their sex, just as many do not. transgender and non-trinary Kepek are extremely common in basically every Kepek culture, with the Tabiri being the only notable exception where it is not as widely accepted.

Rapid Adaptation

The Kepek have a rather unique ability to evolve and adapt to their environment rapidly, much faster than they should be able to given their long lifespans. Looking at the different Kepek cultures, especially those from planetary colonies, would lead one to believe they had been there for millions of years with how much they have diverged in appearance and even abilities, but even the oldest colonies are only 10,000 years old. This should not be long enough to account for these differences, but no one has been able to find a solid reason behind their rapid evolution. Many theorised the radiation from their home star, Alea, a blue supergiant, altered their DNA to allow for these rapid changes, but if that were the case, we would also expect to see this trait in the Eberanu who's home world also orbits a blue star.

Kepek Civilisation

While every Kepeki culture is different and unique, there are some similarities and traits that are common among them.

Kepek History

The Kepek originate from the planet Xebrik. They were relatively prosperous, but according to the few remaining accounts from so long ago, their population was growing faster than their home world could support. So the Kepek began their search for new planets to call home to expand to. Their colonisation efforts had been unsuccessful, but their technology allowed them to stay in space, safely within their ships for as long as was required, and over time the ships became self-sustaining colonies of their own. However, for reasons still shrouded in mystery to this day, the denizens of Xebrik were forced to evacuate their home suddenly around 10,000 Bektep orbits ago. Historians theorise Xebrik and its entire star system were swallowed up by a rogue black hole, forcing the Kepek to flee, though this is just one of many theories.

Since then, The Kepek have lived a semi-nomadic existence. The original evacuation fleets dispersed in search of new planets to call home. While they were successful in establishing planet-based colonies, by the time any were founded, multiple generations had lived and died aboard the ships, leading many to choose to stay on board permanently. The ships were converted into Interstellar Colony Flagships and eventually, The Bektep Space Station was created as a meeting point for the fleets, which, along with the planetary colonies, collectively became known as the Kepek Commonwealth.

While the Interstellar Colony Fleets travel and frequently stop at their settled planets, they all return to the station every 10 Bektep-Orbits so the Kepeki leaders can discuss matters of galactic importance.

Major languages and dialects

Most Kepek in the Kepek Commonwealth are taught to speak a common language, Xebriken. While each fleet, station and planetary colony has its own dialect, strongly influenced by the localised languages, most are similar enough that Kepek from entirely different regions of the galaxy could understand each other relatively easily.

Courtship, Relationships and partners

Most Kepek will choose to engage in some form of romantic relationship in their lives, but what makes for a good partner varies wildly between cultures. The number of partners in a relationship varies greatly, with polyamory being just as common and accepted as monogamy in almost all cultures. However, Kepek are extremely family orientated by nature and as such, while it is important to most Kepek that they can connect deeply with their romantic partners, it is also important that the partner gets on with and is accepted by the family as a whole.

Family Structure

In their evolutionary past, it is believed that the Kepek were eusocial creatures, living in large groups like a hive. While modern Kepek are much more independent, there are some leftovers from this period in their past. One of the major ones being how families are structured. Specifics vary from culture to culture, but in the cultures that do care for their own children and stay together as families, it is common for the entire family to live together in a single building or unit complex. It's not uncommon to see multiple generations all living together, and they all help in raising the children.

In cultures where biological parents don't raise their own kids, like the Tabiri, the children are often raised by an organisation who are specifically chosen and trained to raise the children, so they rarely know who their biological parents are and it rarely matters to them. They grow up in communities of individuals around the same age as them called cells, and are looked after by their pre-selected carers until they come of age. In both these cultures, Kepek are strongly encouraged to stay with these communities throughout their lives. They are also told that they should keep their choices for romantic partners within this pre-selected group to avoid any accidental relationships with biological relatives.

In both cases, it is uncommon for a Kepek to leave their group or family and live on their own. In many cultures doing so is taboo and those who choose to leave are often not looked upon kindly by wider society.

Beauty standards

As with many other subjects, the Kepek standards of beauty depend largely on culture, but generally, space-faring Kepek idealise long and slender features, often giving them a more dainty appearance. Planetary Kepek however, tend idealise stockier, more muscular builds, especially on planets where gravity is more intense.

Kepeki Fashion

Kepek fashion is different throughout the galaxy but there are some consistencies. Most Kepek prefer shirts or dresses with shorter sleeves that don't restrict their movement. Their chosen clothes also tend to have an opening at the front to allow access to their abdominal pouch or they will wear something that leaves that part of the body exposed. Their pants and skirts, likewise, usually lean towards shorter lengths and are often made out of thin materials. The exceptions to these rules are, of course, on planets that require protective clothing, such as what can be seen in the Ikta and Gavradi

Kepeki Ethnicities