Help creating a Racial Template

[Kesendeja]

I've got the biological fluff down for the race, but I'm having a bit of a problem stating them.
It started as a writing excersise but quickly got out of hand, like putting the cart before the horse.
It's a long post, but I'll put what stats I have in quotes to break it up a bit. Any help would be appreciated.

Physical Appearance
They physically follow the standard humanoid body design. Adults stand near two meters, with little variation in size between the sexes. Their bodies appear proportioned, with elegant elongated lines. All of them were slender, and possessed little body fat.
Their facial features are fine and delicate, but more angular and elongated than a human.
The eyes are almond shaped, and possess a slit pupil. Colors cover a wide spectrum, as wide, if not wider, than those found in humans. An intriguing feature found is that the iris is often several colors formed into concentric rings. It can range up to three distinct shades.
Another distinctive feature is their ears which sweep upward into sharp points, and are slightly larger than a humans.
Skin tone ranges from a slight blue tint to a true medium blue.
They have lost virtually all body hair, other than that on their heads. Even then males seem incapable of growing facial hair. Nearly all wear their hair long. Colors vary, but most have black hair, or in rare cases silver, white or a shade of blue.
Their hands, and by extension feet, are also shaped differently than a humans. Hands are long and narrow, with three fingers and an opposable thumb. Each of the fingers, including the thumb, has three joints. The toes are longer, beginning about mid foot. Their nails are thicker, and sharper than a human’s. They seem closer to the talons of their avian ancestry.
But by far the most striking feature are their wings. Large feathered appendages that give them a wingspan of close to three times their height. The shape of the wing is rounded with deep gaps like an owl. This makes them almost silent in the air.

Biology

Hormonal Systems
Noradrenaline far outweighs adrenaline in their responses. This allows them to stay calmer and focus better when confronted with danger. It does not make them fearless, simply allows them to manage their fear better.

Cerebral Mass
Their brains share few similarities with humans, being far more complex in structure. It is multi-lobed, with extremely dense concentrations of neural matter. It also has structures whose functions are completely unknown. One of which is a central, ridged growth with several ganglia.
Among the recognizable features, is the fact that the mid brain area is more active. It contains approximately three times the nerves and capillaries for its size compared to a humans. Nearly sixty percent of the brain's mass is located here.
They also possess strange biological crystalline growths within their nervous system. So far it remains unidentified, but seems to speed neural reactions.

Electromagnetic Communication
Their bodies produce an intense field of energy that they send and receive on a constant basis.
Cheosai can communicate using this energy field. At its most common level, it serves as a subliminal sense of those around them, their presence, and emotions.
With training it becomes usable at a much wider range, and far clearer. Other races would consider the effect to be close to telepathy.
If a member of another race can perceive the same type of energy they can “overhear” a Cheosai. Though interpreting the signals would, at best, be extremely difficult.

Optical Systems
The makeup of their eyes closely resemble that of a slit pupil avian.
Their eyes are flatter from front to back, which gives them a greater field of focus. The fact that their rods and cones are also densely and uniformly distributed adds to this as well.
A higher concentration of rods gives them exceptional night vision, but makes their eyes glow from reflected light.
Their color vision is also exceptional, as a result of densely packed cones, and a unique system of pigmented oil droplets. Their perception of color is far sharper than a human, including the near ends of the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum; it also helps them to polarize light.
Their eyesight is also two to three times better than a human, but it leaves them vulnerable to eyestrain headaches.
A nictitating membrane forms a clear inner eyelid that protects the eye from environmental hazards. It also serves to polarize light, protecting them from bright lights and glare.

Circulatory System
Cheosai blood is a deep rich blue color in the arteries and as colorless in the veins. This is caused because the oxygen carrying compound of their blood is haemazure, which is based on copper, but in much smaller forms than that found in hemocyanin.
This seems to have increased the bloods ability to carry oxygen to near that of hemoglobin, while keeping the advantages present in hemocyanin. Their blood is slightly thicker, than humans, but possesses several key advantages.
It can carry more oxygen per unit, making it more efficient overall. Additionally it maintains that high level of efficiency in wider environments than hemoglobin. Such as lower oxygen environments and a wider range temperature variations such as -20C (-4F) to 40C (104F) with no determinable effect.
They are also immune to carbon monoxide poisoning since the gas does not destroy the cells like it does hemoglobin.
Their heart is slightly larger for their size, about 1.10% greater than a human of the same size. It is located in the center of the torso directly behind the sternum.
It beats between 90 and 126 times per minute, where a humans pulse ranges between 60 and a hundred beats per minute. This gives them a higher blood pressure.
Since they do not possess bone marrow in the traditional sense, the production of new blood cells takes place in a specialized organ called the Myeloid located just under the heart. In an adult Cheosai it is roughly oval shaped and average 22 cm in length and 2-2.5 cm thick, and weighs approximately 500 grams. It is composed of soft, spongy tissue surrounding numerous veins and arteries.
The Myeloid forms the blue blood cells, platelets and immune cells, which are analogous to the white blood cells of a human.

Skeletal System
In basic form their skeletal system is analogous to a human, but there are several major differences.
Apparently they are descended from a hex-limbed creature. They possess a second, set of shoulders positioned on their backs, slightly lower than their arms. These form the connectors for their wings.
Bone composition seems based on a mix of crystallized titanium, boron, and an unidentified element formed into a honeycomb structure. The material and arrangement allows for bones that are much lighter while maintaining a similar strength. In total their bones weigh only a third of a human’s skeleton.
The layered structure of the bones suggests that they are formed by the solidification of an organic liquid.
Their entire system is designed for maximum flexibility. The joints are often more complex than a human, for example the spine is a series of intermeshed segments surrounded by densely packed muscles.
The ribcage is made up of wide plates that arch from the spine, meeting a wider sternum.
Their skull is narrower, and slightly elongated, with the teeth being outgrowths of their jaw.
They will continue to grow throughout their lives. They only have twenty eight teeth, lacking a set of rear molars. The canines are also pronounced.

Muscular System
Their muscles are ectomorphic in nature, which means that they are focused more on speed rather than strength. So while they are not built for power, they make up for it in precision and speed.
This compact nature of this structure is part of the reason they appear so deceptively delicate.

[Kesendeja]

Respiratory System
Their lungs are nearly ten percent larger than a humans and contain fifteen percent more tissue and capillaries. They are also highly efficient, replacing almost all of the air with each breath.
These factors, combined with effectiveness of their blood in carrying oxygen makes them very well suited for high elevations, and thin atmospheres.

Vocal
They possess astounding vocal abilities which are due to an unusual nature of their vocal cords. Instead of a larynx, which would lie on the top of their trachea, their voices are produced by a syrinx, which is found on the bottom, where it connects to both bronchial tubes. As an interesting aside, this means that they cannot have a visible adams apple.
The syrinx, which is actually a twin system, is where the structures rest between the main bronchial branch and the bottom of the trachea. Each side is equipped with separate sound producing membranes.
Their use of the air that passes over their syrinx is also highly efficient, using nearly all the air that passes over it, by contrast humans use only two percent of the air that passes through their larynx.
The neural connections also appear to be separate, allowing them to produce two separate sounds at once. This gives their voice a distinct hollow echo.
With training some can also sing out of one side of the syrnix while sneaking breaths with the other creating a constant song. Or the truly talented can sing two different melodies at once.
Their range is also significantly wider, reaching into the near edges of infrasonic and ultrasonic ranges, low and high frequencies respectively.

Auditory System
Their outer ears are larger and sweep back to end in a sharp point which helps to funnel sound into their inner ear.
Their inner ear contains three separate eardrums, each of which handles a different set of frequencies. The information is then passed on to the brain where receptors process it into useful data. This area of the brain is densely packed, having over twice the number of neurons as a human.
This allows them to hear and understand a wider range of sounds, including the near edges of infrasonic and ultrasonic ranges, low and high frequencies respectively.

DNA
Cheosai biology is founded on a system that functions in a very similar manner to a humans system of DNA.
The main difference is that their DNA system is arranged into a triple helix, which gives them sixty nine chromosomes that are divided into twenty three triads. Sixty six of these form the genetic blueprint of the Cheosai and the last three which determine the sex of the individual.
Another differences is that they possess nine base factors instead of four found in humans. They have been given the names; Auanine, Gurine, Kuranine, Fyenine, Duanine, Niraine, Mirasine, Rysosine, and Zyrine. They are arranged in triades of AGK, FDN, MRZ There is evidence that their DNA has been altered in the past creating an extreme level of stability. It is not prone to mutation or malfunctions. This stability has removed the dangers of inbreeding.
The DNA seems to be able to re-sequence itself under extreme circumstances. It takes a long time, but is still fast enough to keep them synch with the normal environmental changes. This allows them to overcome the genetic stagnation that their long lives and low birth rates would normally have on the race.
The full extent of this adaptability has never been fully documented, but it lets them live comfortably in extreme environments, providing of course, that it could originally support humanoid life.
This adaptability, and the fact that their basic physical structures have not deviated seems to strongly suggest that at some point in their evolution their genetic profile was heavily modified. By who or what is unknown.

Gender
They have a binary reproductive system, with male and female genders. The outward appearances of the sexual characteristics are similar to a human.
In males the main differences is that the testes are internal.
The primary sexual characteristics of both genders are internal. Their secondary features, primarily the enlarged breasts found in females, are present but are smaller and less developed.

Aging
Up until they reach puberty, their physical development is comparable to a human. A Cheosai child of ten is roughly the same size and have similar levels of mental and emotional maturity as a human child of ten.
Puberty will drastically slow this development down. Cheosai begin sexual development slightly later than a human, thirteen to fifteen for a male, and fifteen to sixteen for females. By their early twenties they should be fully developed.
Both will still appear to be in their late twenties.
After their physical development is complete they stop the aging process. A Cheosai of two hundred is physically identical to one of twenty seven.
The full extent of their natural lifespan has never been documented, but if rumor is to be believed it can be in excess of at least several centuries.
Their cells have reached a state of equilibrium, being replaced at the same rate they die.
Nature has blessed them with a timeless life, one free of the ravages of disease, pain, infirmity or atrophy that plague other races due to age.

Reproduction
The egg contains one third of the required DNA sequence and sperm another third. This requires that an egg be fertilized twice for a successful conception to occur.
While a single male could possibly provide both sets, it is a far more reliable method to have two sires.
Females are normally only fertile three or four times a year, between every ninety and one hundred and five days.
When a partial conception occurs, fertilization by only one sperm, the egg will remain viable for the second stage for up to two months.
Pregnancies normally last around three hundred and twenty days, almost eleven months, and usually pass with little discomfort or difficulty.
Birth is also relatively easy. Several sign during birth offer glimpses that the earliest Cheosai may have been oviparous, or egg layers. Infants are born inside of thick birth sacks called cauls. These protect their fragile limbs during delivery.
Identical twins are not an uncommon occurrence; one in every twenty pregnancies will result in identical twins. They also possess an extremely strong bond with each other.
Fraternal twins on the other hand are almost unheard of.
As a side note, most females tend to wait for their first century before starting to reproduce. If desperate, they can start safely as soon as 80, any earlier raises the risk to mother and child.

Diet, Metabolism and Digestion
Cheosai are omnivorous with a cultural bias towards vegetarianism.
Their metabolism is endothermic, and extremely high, which consequentially gives them a high body temperature. Somewhere between 104 and 111 degrees Fahrenheit (40-44C).
An increases temperature causes nerve impulses to travel faster, improving reaction times. It also causes an increase in the tensile strength of muscle fibers.
A long intestinal tract improves the body’s ability to remove almost all of the water and nutrients from their food using a process of nitrogen catabolism, like what is found in some avians.
The efficiency of the system is necessary because they do not seem to have much tissue substance analogous to body fat for energy storage. What they have is located in an extremely thin layer under the skin, and in the breasts of females. But its ability to store energy is minimal, and the cells do not seem to replicate easily, making it a poor choice for an energy supply.
However they do possess a type of cells called Stoma, which are the most efficient thing to an emergency energy reserves the Cheosai possess. It is deposited inside of the bones, much like bone marrow would be, and can be broken down for a short term supplement. Their unusually efficient metabolism makes it rare that they need to use this reserve or the thin layer of fat they possess.
This means that the best signs of an Cheosai in the early stages of starvation is that their bones will become very brittle.
Uric acid is the end product of digestion, and is excreted in feces as a dry mass. This minimizes liquid loss, and as an additional side effect means that they leave little spoor to make their passage.

Healing and Immune System
While not fully immune, they are highly resistant to most human diseases. There are, however, some purely Cheosai diseases to which most other races are immune. The most common of theses affect their nervous system.
They also heal exceptionally well. It does not mean they heal any faster, just with less long term side effects.

[Kesendeja]

Temperature Tolerance and Heat Management
They are less affected by temperature extremes. With only minimal discomfort they can function in extremes of up to 100F and down to 32F. Past these temperatures they suffer the same ill effects that plague other races.
They rarely tan, and seem to suffer milder side effects from exposure to the sun.
While they have very few sweat glands they can radiate large amounts of heat directly through their skin in hot environments. In extreme cases they can even resort to panting.
In cold environments they depend on shivering to generate heat. Failing that they constrict blood flow and transfer heat from arterial blood to the cooler veins. This system lets them reduce up to 90% of heat loss.
In extreme cases of cold they can enter torpor, which is a state of regulated hypothermia, that can last for a few hours to several months. During the warmer parts of the day they can maintain normal activity, but their temperature drops during the rest to conserve energy.

Sleep Cycle
Their biology has geared them to be most active during twilight, or night.
They need very little sleep, only about six hours of rest per night.

[AlexanderHowl]

You could not have twice the lung capacity of humans in only 10% greater volume without severely limiting the strength of the lung tissue (our lungs tissue is about as thin as it can be without causing problems). I also question the ability to radiate heat from the skin without sweat, the ability to sweat is a major advantage for horses and humans.

DNA cannot have a triple helix, the chemical bonds do not work in that fashion, though they could have a triple helix genetic structure similar in function to DNA (though it would probably be highly vulnerable to mutation because they would need a minimum of six base pairs for their genetic structure). They would be completely alien to Earthlife though, as our amino acids only work with our base pairs, and there are no known proteins that could come from such a genetic structure.

[Kesendeja]

I'm not a doctor, I can only go with what the bird books I was reading said about avian physiology. I'll amend the lung capacity down.

As for the triple helix, the history was that they were a hybrid race designed to interact with humans. They bridge the gap between an alien species and humanity.

[AlexanderHowl]

Which is fine, but they will not be able to eat anything that humans eat in a semi-realistic campaign (and visa versa). If they were artificially created to peacefully interact with humans (or to militarily conquer human world), I would think that their creators would have made them more biologically compatible with humans (at least to the point where they could eat some of the same food), but that may just be a human-centered bias. It may make more sense if the aliens who created them possessed a triple helix genetic code (which would probably only be stable in temperatures too cold for humans to survive), and their alien creators made them to interact with races who lived in temperatures too warm for their masters (for example, the triple helix genetic code of the masters might make sense for an ammonia-based race that breathed methane).

In that case, Doesn't Breathe (Oxygen Storage), high levels of Nictitating Membrane, high levels of Temperature Tolerance (Cold), the Sealed advantage, and some form of non-vocal communication might make sense so that the aliens could interact with their masters in an environment comfortable for their masters (visual communications, such as shifting colors in their feathers, would be my choice). Their masters could be very alien, but might have choose an avian form for interacting with humans because the avian form is familiar to humans but possesses useful features. With visual communications, they could potentially audibly converse with humans while simultaneously visually conversing with their masters.

The masters may be native to a planet that orbited a M-type star that possessed an ammonia atmosphere. With the fact that M-type stars make up over 80% of stars in the galaxy, they might have happily ignored the K-type and G-type stars because they would think that their planets would be too hot to be habitable. They may have been shocked when they ran into humans because they may have assumed that water-based life that breathed oxygen would not have developed intelligence.

[jason taylor]

I should think there would be far more males then females to allow for more fertilization. I should also think that would affect the social dynamics, possibly making it matriarchal. There would need to be enough not only to fertilize but to handle tasks that are traditionally assigned to males. Among humans males tend to handle hunting and warfare, and among kin-based peoples, females often handle diplomacy. Cheosai don't seem to have the luxury of assuming that Men Are The Expendable Gender.

Possibly children will be raised avuncularly in a clan-based system rather then with a patriarchal/matriarchal partnership. I am not sure why but that seems a likely response to this sexual dynamic. Or maybe I am just blowing steam with that idea. Though if there is ever a shortage of adults raising that will surely be needed.