Lin

Naming themselves after the god they worship, known as Lin’La’Se, the Lin largely resemble baseline Humans with one important difference: they have no mouths.

To better connect with their god, the first Lin to settle on the planet voluntarily underwent a genetic program to remove their mouths as a sign of their devotion to their god. As they reasoned it, only those who could communicate telepathically were deemed worthy of communion with the god. After a few generations, the unworthy were bred out of the Lin gene pool, allowing the Lin to concentrate more fully on developing their powers of telepathy. Due to this genetic manipulation, there is now only solid bone where one would usually find a jaw structure on a baseline Human.

While they are often considered to be some of the most naturally powerful telepaths in the modern galaxy, their devotion to the mind does come at a price. In order to sustain their bodies, the Lin must inject themselves with nutrients once a day to survive since they no longer have an orifice to feed themselves. Their bodies have become so reliant on these nutrient injections that any serious deviation from the formula will be incompatible with their systems.

Seeking to be pure of spirit by being pure of body and mind, Lin reject any kind of mechanical augmentation to their bodies, seeing it as a corruption of the biological forms the god Lin’La’Se gifted them with. It has been pointed out that the genetic manipulation of the first Lin could be seen as the same thing, however the Lin view this as a necessary “forced evolution” that was dictated by Lin’La’Se to create his Chosen People.

Lin will never strike first, preferring to react in response to aggression. This doesn’t necessary mean that they will wait to be attacked. They will strike at whatever they perceive to be a threat to them, be it physical or some other method. They will, however, always try diplomacy first before resorting to violence. The Lin are a generally peaceful people, welcoming all who seek enlightenment to their world. However, they are fierce warriors when provoked and won’t hesitate to defend themselves from hostile forces.

Due to their powerful telepathic abilities, many Lin also find work outside of Lin’La as diplomats, advisors, and even spies. However, the latter is heavily frowned upon by Lin society as contributing to prejudice against telepaths.