The Bun'ari

Civilization: The Chosen Khanate
Capital: Briarton
Race: Bun'ari (Often known as Buns, or the diminutive Bunnies)

Description: The Bun'ari are humanoid creatures who exhibit traits of the common rabbit, though their origins are not entirely that of an evolved lagomorph. Largely pale of skin with some exceptions, they lack for the most part the fur and fuzz of their quadrupedal kin. Their bodies can range from the lean musculature of an Amazonian goddess to the almost debauched curves of a fertility idol, most fall somewhere in between. Through some quirk of biology, nine births out of ten end up females. Males of the race are prized possessions, and though they are rarely considered suitable for leadership, they do have a treasured status in society as keepers of the purest seed. Male Bun'ari aren't particularly masculine by the standards of other races, they are very virile and eager to giveth of their seed.

The gender disparity was the only thing keeping the population of the Bun'ari in check, as the traditional predators of their race have been warded off by warriors since the first Bun learned to sharpen a stick. In addition to being incredibly fertile, pregnancies only last 90 days, and children mature within a year of leaving the womb. Multiple offspring pregnancies are considered closer to the norm than an aberration, which further exacerbates the population control problem. Once resources diminish in their area, they move on, like fuzzy-eared locusts.

Brief History: The Bun'ari are a largely nomadic, tribal people, though recent evidence has given them reason to suspect that they haven't always been this way. The large, abandoned burrows of Briarton have been rediscovered, featuring paintings and statues of brave moments in Bun'ari history as recorded through oral tradition. No one knows when they moved out of this and similarly abandoned metropoli took place, but the Bun'ari have existed in tribal subsistence for at least the last five hundred years.

A young Bun by the name of Sweetheart, the name given thanks to a birthmark in the shape of a heart around her right eye, heralded a new era for the Bun'ari. Born with female traits but with male genitalia, she was immediately separated from her sisters. In a startling turn of events, her cock was found to work perfectly, and her seed was beyond the regular potency of her male kin. Insemination by Sweetheart was guaranteed to result in pregnancy. Increased testosterone and other anomalous elements lead to Sweetheart being unusually aggressive for her kind, easily overpowering males in the quest for breeding rights. She was the first in a new substrain of Bun'ari, known as Haremaphrodites The Chosen. Some of Sweethearts children were Chosen as well, and they displayed a similar virility and aggression.

In addition to the demanding pull to breed and eat, the Chosen felt another compulsion: conquest. Not just the wombs of their own kind, but the wombs of all the continent would be theirs! War had previously been little more than a pastime for the Bun'ari. Sweetheart and her kin made it into an occupation, and a deadly one at that. Mastering the bow, the spear, and the curved sword, the Chosen Tribe's horse and wolf cavalry encircled, overwhelmed, and crushed the forces of the other Bun'ari.

But the new Chosen proved to be effective leaders. Sometimes, they used males as bait to lure out fighters into traps. Other times, they attacked during times of particularly vigorous rutting. She was able to leverage a reputation of ruthless conquest into truces, then peace treaties, then full integration into a contiguous polity known to outsiders and the Bun'ari themselves as the Chosen Khanate, under the reins and iron grip of Sweetheart and her bedicked offspring.

Culture: Tribal hedonism and militant expansionism: together at last! The Bun'ari were a simple people, relying primarily on nomadic hunter/gathering to live. They had domesticated several varieties of animal, including horses and giant wolves. They have as of yet lacked the capacity to fully grasp the incredible usefulness of agriculture, relying instead on moving ahead of their own resource depletion to keep themselves alive. They raid, sack, steal, and sometimes even conquer their foes to fill their granaries and larders, rather than grow the food themselves.

The tribes themselves are part-family, part-cultural. Feverish rivalries have developed over a comparatively short amount of time, due to the hard and fast lives that the Bun'ari inevitably live. Alliances have been short and not particularly sweet. That is, until recently. Sweetheart's tribe was small and not very influential in tribal politics. By the founding of the Khanate, tribal politics were little more than simmering rivalries. Sweetheart tended to end feuds by both besting each side's warriors and impregnating the leaders of both tribes with her spawn, potentially making those Tribes' future leaders would be Chosen as well.

The Bun'ari have overactive libidos as a rule, so sex tends to be common and open among them. Sex for procreation is desired over all, but they successfully ward off their urges with other activities just as much, if not more. The Chosen have particularly powerful libidos, and can often be seen dripping with excitement if catching sight of a particularly desirable mate. Male on male sex is considered a waste of seed, and often they will invite a female third party to 'extract' any spent cum.

Religious beliefs in the Khanate are diverse. Many tribes have individual or groups of Gods they worship, denying the divinity or even the existence of others. The Chosen themselves see themselves, or at least portray themselves, as the heralded saviours of their race. Sent by Shan'tai, the Goddess of Change, many Chosen see their path of violent ambition truly as worship of their divine authority. Other traditions lean towards shamanistic rites and rituals, with the worship of nature and animal spirits popular among them.

Government: Khanate. Formally a series of disparate, warring tribes, the Bun'ari have been united under the banners of the Khan, Sweetheart the Terrible, First of her Name. Individual tribes within the Khanate are ruled by subleaders known as Noyon, who all must swear fealty on pain of sexual chastity to the great Khan.

Military: As previously indicated, the strength of the Bun'ari military lies in its cavalry. Mounted archers Harassers encircle enemy armies, and sword and spear-wielding Hussies chase down stragglers and enforce the will of Sweetheart and her Chosen. Occasionally, as during sieges or when ground is not favourable to horse warfare, the Bun'ari use infantry in the form of trained spear units known as Hoplites. Their Harassers are decent archers dismounted, but lack the mobility that makes them truly devastating while riding. Also seen are Carriots, war-carriages with multiple beasts of burden, who carry leaders and other important personnel to the battlefield.