Ramumis

Small animals popularly known as ‘Vilani rats’.

They are found throughout Imperial space and beyond. Their eggs are the core ingredient in many Vilani dishes, suggesting that they may have originated on Vland, but their ancestry is disputed. There are no records of ramumis on Vland prior to discovery of the jump drive, although this was about 10,000 years ago so absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

At some point training these animals to sing was adopted as a tradition; ramumi-sung hymns were composed to mark the Ziru Sirka’s founding, a few of which were sung much later for Cleon I upon the founding of the Third Imperium.

Ramumis bred for song are slimmer, longer-lived, more colourful, slightly more intelligent, and less frequently laying than ramumis bred for egg production. Their high pitched tonal squeaking is known on worlds from Gashikan Sector (where certain groups have them sing as part of ceremonial executions of Vargr) to Banners Sector (where they are traditionally hidden from Aslan guests).

References and contributors

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.

• Matthew Sprange. "Bestiary." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society volume 4 (2020): 125-126.