Thonane

A sophont species, a Minor Race native to Balchik (Vanguard Reaches 1508).

Physiology

Known to Humans as "Snow Ghosts", the pale-skinned Thonane are manta-like flying carnivores. They are the apex predators on Balchik.

While the world's gravity is only 0.39 standard, the 100-kilogram Thonane still find it difficult to fly in the thin atmosphere. The Thonane are thus ground-effect fliers, riding a curtain of air compressed beneath their wedge-shaped bodies. They are cartilaginous, lacking an internal skeleton.

History and Background

Society

A band of 40–60 Thonane forms the basic societal unit. The band will hunt together, set up camps and organise more complex activities -- including mining and refining metals for hunting implements. In the autumn, bands join together in clan gatherings, with thousands of Thonane, sharing stories, establishing new pairings, and engaging in religious observances.

No higher organisations than clans exist, but researchers have identified at least seven different cultural blocs. Some live year-round in the snowy biomes (which on Balchik stretch nearly into the tropics) and others spend summer months in the shrublands covering the equatorial regions.

References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Geir Lanesskog. The Spinward Extents (Mongoose Publishing, 2022), .