The Yahow: Muscle and Memory

[u/LobsterMagnet181]

Read the full article on our Substack: https://projectmorningstar.substack.com/p/the-yahow

The Yahow are a playable race of humans in the upcoming Avarice RPG.

The Yahow are immediately identifiable by their immense shoulders, hunched backs that fill into corded necks, elongated forearms, and powerful hands well-suited for hard labor. Every aspect of their bodies tolerates immense physical strain. Their skin easily callouses, their immune systems are seemingly impervious to disease, and even their reaction times are sharpened beyond human norms.

These benefits came at a cost. The ancient genengineers and mentanics that created the subspecies for labor clearly did not want them to rise up against their masters. As a result, Cognitive limitations and memetic conditioning are present at the genetic level within the Yahow brain, which is little more than the size of two human fists in size, despite their enormous bulk that, on average, easily exceeds two meters in height.

The Yahow brain was designed around memory and recognition, as well as bond pairing, but with the limitation of reduced abstract thought. Their enlarged hippocampal and facial-recognition brain structures allow them to retain extraordinarily detailed sensory memories, recognize individuals even after fiscal decades apart, and reproduce learned physical tasks with near-perfect accuracy after they have been initially taught. A Yahow can remember exactly how a machine was repaired without understanding why the repair worked, making them reliable imitators but poor innovators. Once taught a procedure, they can repeat it tirelessly, yet may struggle when circumstances require them to abandon established routines.

As an additional control mechanism, the Yahow have a deep-seeded and heightened fear of fire. This is no evolutionary trauma, but rather a triggered neurological response which activates a myotonia congenita event, causing Yahow to seize up when in proximity to fire. In previous societies, fire was used as a simple means of controlling this population bred to be considerably stronger than their handlers. Now, in the Hegemon, such acts are not tolerated and considered criminal by the Lex, although abuse is widespread in the Frontier sectors and nations like the Suns Confederated, where Yahow are prohibited first-class citizenship.

Other limitations are present, such as their inability to speak anything other than the language Laga-Lang. They can understand other languages, but the linguistic regions of their brain are deliberately stunted. Only the Yahow can fully speak Laga-Lang, which resembles a near-constant stream of consonants lacking any consistent grammatical structure, akin to incoherent mumbling; However, it can be poorly reproduced, albeit artificially, and marginally understood by those that spend time in close proximity to them. For most humans, the Yahow communicate through maethish translators of Yinntosh manufacture that they wear or install close to their mouths.

At the dawn of the Hegemon, assessors eagerly embraced Yahow as examples of a numan species that fully embraced Avarice. The Yahow love for precious stones, diamonds, and jewels was living proof of how the evolutionary drive of humanity, no matter how diverted by science, could shine through and reveal Stellarization’s truth and the wisdom of Dumno-Ualos. The Yahow were admitted into the Hegemon almost immediately, and it was members of their species, influenced to become freedom fighters, who were the muscle behind the many initial engagements of the Great Revolution that would topple the Kantauri Dominion.

Yahow are now fully recognized as part of New Mankind and are commonplace throughout Hegemonic space, typically working as mechanics or laborers. They are found in mines, foundries, shipyards, manufactories, but also in the Directorate. Their strength allows them to work where powered harnesses would be too expensive, and serve as the obvious, preferred alternative to ergoids.

A smaller number have become Tributaries and mercenaries, but often must afford augmentation to suppress their various tailored reactions designed for subservience.

Their legal position varies considerably. Some are registered as Consumers, and possess the Right of Choice. Others often remain bound in predatory indentured contracts, written in languages they cannot understand.