Hussir

The Hussirs are a small race of humanoids from an unknown planet.

Biology
The Hussirs are only about half the size of Humans, with big heads and large pointed ears sticking straight out on each side, with thin legs and thick tails that help balance themselves. Though smaller than humans, a single male Hussir is strong enough to overpower an adult Human female and even hurl them away. However Hussirs had poor night vision compared to humans, and relied on lamps at night to see, whereas the latter could easily adjust to the dimness. Hussir language is mostly composed of whistling, but they are capable enough to speak Human languages.

Culture and society
The Hussirs are a feudalistic race, living in various castle keeps that depend on trade with the major cities. Their technology level is around the Neolithic Age, as they mostly use polished wood blocks for their architecture with stone being the highest prestige material.

Most of their technological advancements were due in thanks to the Human descendants that their ancestors captured. From them they learned to make glass and writing.

Slavery
Despite humanity's greater size and strength, the Hussirs were thorough in their subjugation. Physically nothing prevents the enslaved humans from rebelling as the restrictions used by their masters only entailed to being chained to posts or corralled in pens or stables.

Millenia of enslavement made the Humans totally dependent on their masters, losing most of their ancestral history and unable to conceive any life beyond servitude. The Hussirs of effective at breaking the beings from the stars as over the generations, to maintain their power over their Humans, the Hussirs used fear to keep their Human herds in check.

The only threat to the system was the existence of the Wild Humans, who defied their roles as beasts in Hussir society by wearing clothing, using tools and living free. Due to this Wild Humans were hunted by Hussirs but for generations had been unable to eradicate them. To prevent their ideas of freedom from spreading among the rest of the human race, the Hussir tighten their control over their slaves. They achieved this not only through physical threats but by spreading lies that the Wild Humans that lived free were cannibals to dissuade escape. Thus reinforcing the concept that humans were nothing but animals and a future outside the boundaries was non-existent for their kind.

Their propaganda was successful as Humans under the rule of their Hussir masters would never fathom of retaliating even under the harshest of punishments as such actions would be retaliated with the perpetrators being butchered for meat. Escape likewise was also deemed an impossibility as the world beyond the fence was perceived as a death sentence where cannibals would devour them or be recaptured at more crueler masters. The indoctrination was so deep as displayed when all the town Humans that lived in Falklyn stayed loyal towards the Hussirs and turned on their Wild Human brothers and sisters.

The Hussirs deprived the Humans of every basic right as sapient beings. They strictly forbade Humans from wearing clothes to maintain the conception that they were merely as beasts, though town Humans were given more liberties as they lived closer to their masters. Men and women who lived in towns were given privileges such as being given free reign outside their pens, permitted to enter homes, time off, and wear patches of cloth on their bodies.

Hussirs from the castle ranches frowned upon this, as they believed putting clothing on Humans might give their slaves the idea they're Hussirs. In addition the Hussirs worked hard to suppress their culture, whipping those that dared sing their ancient songs, due to it being a symbol of hope for humanity's freedom. In addition the Star Tower that was situated in Falkyn, the Hussirs capital, was open to the public and served as a tourist attraction.

However it was expressly forbidden to all Humans. The only times they were allowed was at the perimeter of the park that surrounded either when they had time off or were chained outside by their riders. A Human who was unattended and unchained around even the permitter of the park was quickly met with a whipping.

Males were used as steeds as transportation and labor. Females were used as breeders and dairy producers. Humans were taught the Hussir language, but it was forbidden for them to use the tongue, unless to reply to direct questions. Humans still possessed their own language and spoke amongst themselves to avoid scrutiny of their masters. However there were some Hussirs that could understand the human language and even speak it as some slave masters believed that they could better control their slaves when they could listen in on their conversations.

The Hussirs also pressured and rigidly enforced mating seasons unto the Humans, segregating the genders, preventing formal family relationships, for there were no social traditions behind people who for generations had been nothing more than domestic animals. Men and women who lived in the ranches were separated by wooden fences that while could be easily scaled, the threats from their Hussir masters were enough to cow them into obedience to prevent any secret interaction.

Human children of both genders normally stayed in the fields of the women, for young men they are switched to the men field on their thirteenth birthday. Both genders would not be allowed to meet except during the mating seasons which were rigidly enforced by the Hussirs. On such occasions, the Hussirs allow the men at the ages of eighteen years and above to be allowed in the women field to mingle and hopefully impregnate the women.

Town Humans however were able to ignore some restrictions in coupling. The Hussirs in the towns, lacking barriers to separate the human genders, allowed leniency with their slaves in mingling with other genders during mating season. Couples were allowed to be with one another discreetly outside their pens, though in public such interactions would be looked on as suspicious.

Ancient history
Thousands of years ago a rocket ship from Earth landed on the Hussir homeworld containing a dozen or more men and women.

Historical records are uncertain, but according to the traditional teachings of the Refuge, the Human settlers befriended the primitive Hussirs, who saw their powers to be great and strange. The Humans gave them technological wonders such as glaz (glass) and writing.

Enslaving the Humans
Rather than being grateful to the Humans, the Hussirs saw a potential use to exploit these creatures from the stars. The Hussirs being more populous overwhelmed the explorers through sheer numbers. The little aliens stripped the Humans of their clothes and technology, enslaving them, capturing the rocket ship which they named the Star Tower.

Three of the party managed to escape into the mountains and created the Haven or later the Haafin, a resistance group of Wild Humans that desired to take back the Star Tower and send for help.

From men to beasts
The descendants of Human settlers have since then been reduced to beasts of burden and livestock, their numbers bred exponentially by the native Hussir.

Legends still persist of their greatness, however they are considered to be just stories by the enslaved Humans. Except for a small band living wild, who have a couple of ancient artifacts and nursery rhymes linking them to a more glorious past, a past to which the Star Tower stands a mute testament in the Hussir capital city of Falklyn.

Among the artifacts left in the care of the Wild Humans was a Silk scarf that contained a Morse code message meant to be delivered to the Star Tower. The true purpose of the code on the scarf was lost to time, but the members of Haafin believed that if the Scarf and a Song that was handed down from generation were brought to the Star Tower, all humans in the world would be free.

And while the Wild Humans of Haafin remained free from the Hussirs control, their numbers were too small to oppose the race and the established order. Many times have been tried by the Wild Humans in scaling the fences of the Hussir ranches to lead their enslaved brethren to freedom. However the slaves having grown up believing the fairy tales of the Hussirs just raise a clamor upon seeing strangers in their midst resulting in the Hussir capturing the Wild Humans.

Thus the Wlld Humans were forced to relay on trained zirds that parrot the message of freedom and attract any who were brave and curious enough to leave their enclosures on their own. Though this method proved inefficient as the runaways that Haafin took in were not always healthy.

Attack on Falklyn
A young boy named Alan risked all to flee his abusive owner, and was able to summon the courage to listen to a zird and climb the fence enclosure. He then made his way into the Haafin through the aid of a Wild Human girl named Mara. After being acclimated as a new member of Haafin, Alan planned an assault on Falklyn with the intent of freeing his fellow Humans, as the city only numbered ten thousand Hussirs while forty thousand Humans existed in the city.

The Hussirs had the advantage unfortunately, their lies of the Wild Humans won over the hearts of the city Humans who turned on their would be liberators. Luckily Alan realized that they could hide in the mob and so the Wild Humans stripped themselves of their clothes and vanished into the crowd of City Humans who were unable to distinguish them from the masses. Alan and Mara being separated from their fellows, took refuge in the home of Hussir, They were confronted by owner of the house armed with a spear. The Hussir was suspicious of the pair, but Alan managed to speak in Hussir and come up a with story that he belonged to a Hussir merchant. Coincidentally the Hussir knew the merchant of which Alan spoke of but the young man managed to correctly answer the Hussir's questions. When the Hussir directed his queries to Mara on her ownership, Alan answered for her to avoid the fact Mara could not speak Hussir, but after being told that they were a mating couple and seeing Alan's scarf it was enough to convince the Hussir that they were Town Humans.

The duo then left the house to make their way out of the city. To avoid suspicion they kept their distance from each other in the streets. However instead of heading towards the outskirts of the city, as they planned, Alan and Mara accidently managed to safely infiltrate into the heart of Falklyn, where the Star Tower was located.

Whilst the other Hussirs were occupied chasing the Wild Humans trying to flee the city, the guards around the Star Tower was reduced, leaving it vulnerable. Rather than try their luck to escape Falklyn, Alan not wanting to waste an opportunity like this, believed that he could fulfil the prophecy of freeing all Humans if he brought the Silk to the Star Tower. Using the cover of darkness the couple infiltrated the park, and thanks to the poor eyesight of the Hussirs easily evaded the patrols. The two managed to come behind the base of the Star Tower's ramp where two guards were stationed.

Despite being only two Alan knew that the Hussirs could overtake them still. They lacked weapons but Alan managed to find an arrow to use. Mara created a distraction on the side of the ramp to give Alan time to kill one of the Hussirs. Mara attempted to enter the Star Tower when a patrol of three Hussirs arrived, one managed to grab her and hurl her away from the entrance while the other two tried to kill Alan. Alan and Mara managed to fight off the initial Hussir wave and get into the Star Tower, until more guards arrived from around the park. By chance Alan pulled the lever that operated the door mechanism of the structure, sealing the door from the inside.

Hope
Using the ancient nursery rhyme they were able to proceed with the launch sequence of the Star Tower and use the medical ward to enter suspended animation for a return journey to Earth. What occurred next is speculation, but it is likely that the pair will reach Earth and the Hussir age of dominating the Humans on their world will come to an end once help from Earth arrives after they awaken the pair and decode the message on the Silk.

Appearances

 * The Silk and the Song, by Charles Louis Fontenay