Dolve Rho[
Geographical information]
Dolve Rho is suprisingly similar to Earth: most of the planet consists of water, leaving about 28% being land. Its gravity and climates are much the same, though Rho's temperatures tend to be a bit more extreme and it is much smaller. Its polar regions are practically uninhabited, especially by its dominant species (of which Riff belongs to). Originally most of its people lived in its temperate climate zones, but long periods of war -of the chemical and occasionally nuclear variety -have left most of it more uninhabitable than its polar caps. As a result its dominant species (and the only mostly humanoid one) lives in the Equatorial zones. These areas are extremely hot, but they have a lot of variation climate-wise. There are expanses of rainforests, deserts, and savannahs, as well as tropical beaches.
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Culture]
Despite the climate variation, its people do not have very diverse cultures. For one thing, there aren't that many of them. Originally, as all planets, the populous started out as the origin species. Through experimentation with advanced technology and bioengineering, this origin species turned itself into what would remain as the planet's dominant species: The Metahvas. The Metahvas, for lack of a better term, are Robo-Organic beings. Comparable to androids, they are less robot and more human. You could not cut one open and find wiring or metal, as these are intrinsicly melded into the origin species' systems.
The Metahvas typically value practicality and logic over flight and fancy. They are not stoic, but rational. Marriage is common, but it is mostly for procreational purposes. Homosexuality is not persecuted, but it is frowned upon, especially with men. Arranged marriages are completely normal, as well as deigned "necessary". Like most living beings, the number of males should have been larger than the number of females in Metahvas society, but the effects of chemical and nuclear warfare, in addition to their own industrial pollution, affected their genes. Not only were males being born less and less, but the entire population had grown increasingly sterile. Sterile Metahvas and fertile Metahvas by law were not allowed to marry by law, for fear of lack of procreation would lead to eventual extinction. Eventually marriage became more of a civic duty.
Metahv society is organized by socio-economic classes: Dolve, En-in, and Hyr, the upper, middle, and lower classes, respectively. Instead of countries, the Metahvas are devided into self sufficient city-states and small nomadic clans. Slavery was not entirely unusual, and the trade of it was run by the Nomadic people, the Aymett. Slaves were from rival city-states, and were mostly sterile. Fertile slaves were usually only owned by rich families, and were generally part of some sort of harem.
Like the origin species, Metavh society believed itself to be vastly superior to others. The name of their planet itself shows this: "Dolve" is a descriptive word which can be translated as new, but more accurately has strong connotations of "higher status" (thusly why it shares this title with the upper class). "Rho"'s meaning is less clear, though it has connections to cult religious figures of bounty and harvest. The Metahvas, being focused on advancement and technology (though much of it has been lost or outlawed, to prevent extremely destructive warfare), do not have any large religions, excepting the Aymett.
While they may have petty issues and distrust for eachother, the city-states are very much alike. The only cultural group that truly differentiates itself from the norm are the Aymett. They are less centered on logic and rationale, and believe in instinct more than scientific exploits. They do not trust technology as openly, wary of the effects of what it can bring. They are the only society with a religion followed by its majority. The city-states deem their polytheism to be "cult worship". Oddly enough the Aymett seem to have the best fertility rate, but whether this is because they kidnap fertile citizens of the city-states and assimilate them into their society is unknown.
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Physical normalities of the dominant species] It is practically impossible to differentiate the original Metahvas from humans outside of a laboratory. The Metahvas from the time of the Scientist had evolved and progressed, and so were far more easy to distinguish from human.
Perhaps their most defining feature is the dark color of their eye balls, contrasting with their extremely light irises. When nuclear war had broken out and effectively blackened and dimmed the atmosphere for a long time, the Metahvas' eyes changed to be able to draw in light better. Oddly, as the atmosphere changed back to normal over time, their eyes did not change back. It did result in their skin becoming tanned -though a bit oddly. Perhaps due to exposure to harmful agents, their skin seems to lack vibrant, healthy color that is apparent in tanned peoples. For whatever reason, their hair color often matches the color of their irises. Like humans, their body types are varying.
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Other Species]
Initially, Rho was teeming with life, even before the origin species' arrival. Many animals were domesticated as livestock, and even pets. Because of the war, most of the planet's animals were wiped out. The Metahvas have domesticated animals for food and other use, but house pets are very rare.
