Graytch

Ga-ray-cha

The arboreal Graytch have six legs. Their two arms are quite short and weak, but the hands are very flexible and delicate. Graytch bones are made of crystalline silicon, and their muscle fibers, working in both directions, give them both great dexterity and great range of motion. Though slower than humans on flat surfaces, Graytch are supreme in 3-D environments, often moving through trees faster than human runners on the ground. Graytch mass from 75 - 125 kg, stand some 1.5 - 1.75m from ground to head, and extend about 2 - 2.25 m from snout to rump.

Graytch grow up quickly, reaching physical maturity a mere 7 months after birth and the age of majority within 2 years. Almost all Graytch follow the non-violent teachings of Say-ta-chu, but each of the several sects looks down upon the others . Graytch are intensely curious about other aliens, and are adaptive and tolerant in their minglings with other races, cultures, and beliefs, even suffering when they are alone. Two or three times in life a Graytch may become absent-minded and mistake-prone as they enter a thirteen-month parenting phase, but their culture has evolved to deal with these occasional sabbaticals. They may become confused in off-world dealings, since Graytch legal codes treat almost all crime as an example of mental illness, and hand out banishment as one of their most substantial punishments