Sororian

The Sororians were a humanoid race from the planet Soror, in the Betelgeuse system.

Physiology
The Sororians are indistinguishable from Sororians from Earth, albeit they possess golden skin and are physically fit, handsome specimens of Sororianity. Since their ancestors lost the pedestal as Soror’s dominant race, they have been reduced as savage naked animals, living in the wilds. They are omnivores subsisting on wild fruits like bananas and deer. Despite being separated from the vast gulf of space, humans and Sororians are compatible in sexual recreation as well as producing viable offspring.

History
Over ten thousand years ago, Sororians were a Sororian civilization similar to twentieth century Earth. The sciences employed by the Sororians were geared toward the biological disciplines. Apparently the men of Soror were very close to a cure for cancer. The Sororians employed apes in their culture as pets and servants. At one time the apes were on the verge of extinction, but for some reason spontaneously multiplied outnumbering their Sororian masters. Over the centuries the apes soon began to develop cognitive and speech abilities. Whereas the apes were experiencing an evolutionary awakening, simultaneously the Sororians began to suffer a cerebral regression.

While the Sororians stagnated, this evolutionary advantage allowed the apes to slowly take over Sororian civilization, driving many Sororians to the outskirts or flee deeper into the jungles. The men and women that remained in the cities soon had their roles as masters reversed as pets or animals. The cerebral regression that was affecting the Sororians caused most men and women accepted the transition with little resistance; according to the memory of a lady animal tamer of orangutans, from her contemporary descendant's testimony, she was more than willing to relinquish her role of a sentient being in favor that of a trained animal that performed humiliating tricks at her orangutans leisure. Relieved of the responsibilities and worries, majority Sororians accepted the regime, further devolving from rational beings.

The Sororians too lazy to coordinate a response to this revolution remained static on the fringes of their former territories. Some even surrendered themselves to the apes to relive their hunger. However the apes were not content with their former masters being so close to their new domains, that some of the gorillas began to actively hunt Sororians and drive them further into the jungles with whips.

The memory of the ancient Sororian civilization was eventually lost to time by the apes, who later became the sole masters of Soror. With their innate characteristics of mimicry, the apes reproduced the Sororians cultural works and sciences as their own.

At this time, modern simian civilization regarded this era as a dark age that lasted nearly ten thousand years. It became the era of the beginnings of ape civilization. Here no form of scientific progress had been made and curiously no records of any earlier 'older' achievements by apes were found leading to a mystery to many.

Culture
Ancient Sororian society civilization was geared towards medical sciences and was similar to 20th century Earth. Modern Sororian society, however has regressed and resemble gorilla colonies of Earth, living in nests as naked animals. They live in constant fear of ape hunting drives that raid their colonies at the edges of the jungles.

Endangerment
According to Ulysse there is a study proving that there are more men than apes on Soror. However the ape population is on the rise while former is falling in decline due to over-hunting by the gorilla clan for sport. Man serves as a valuable animal that fetches a high price on the market as they play an intricate part in medical sciences conducted by the apes. Unfortunately this status has also allowed the gorillas to conduct drives into the jungles, capturing specimens but at the same time indulging in horrific slaughter on innocent men and women for entertainment. Sororian hair is prized as a trophy, similar to the feathers of a rare bird. As an bizarre form of plume hunting, the locks of the best specimens, particularly women, are taken to decorate the hats of female apes.

While the elite specimens are taken to the medical industries, the surviving men and women from these drives are then sold to zoos and fairs for exhibition.

Behavior
Sororians have an innate hatred for apes and anything associated with them, clothing, articles of civilization causes agitation and fear in them. The mere sight evoking irrational violence. The apes, attempting to discover their evolutionary origins, once believed that apes were descended from man, however contemporary chimpanzee scientists now know ape and man are two separate branches of evolutionary that had evolved from a common ancestor. The stance for the apes for man's evolutionary process is that man was handicapped at birth, bereft with only two clumsy hands and thus unable to visualize and fully utilize tools as compared to apes. According to Zira, the men of Soror may have at one point attempted to relearn tool use, but failed miserably.

Intelligence
At one point its revealed that the Institute for Advanced Biological Study has succeeded in educating a man to accomplish many things. Sadly however his education was for not when the apes dissected his brain leaving him less than a stupid animal. When Ulysse intelligence was raised into question after he effortlessly succeed in passing numerous reactionary tests, the orangutans wanted to transfer him to the medical ward dealing with complex brain procedures. He would have most likely suffered the same fate if not for Zira's intervention.

However this would suggest that the men of Soror's failure to regain their status as intelligent beings may not necessarily be attributed to their mental shortcomings. But perhaps due to interference by the apes through not only territorial encroachment and over-hunting, but also through the abuse of their medical sciences. Promising specimens that could encourage the species' gene pool are killed in the wild by overzealous gorilla hunters; those kept in captivity that may show potential are studied until the apes deem their existence a nuisance to simian dominance and are eliminated in the name of science. It is clear that with the right motivation and minimal simian interference, man can rise through from their barbarity on Soror, as was shown with Nova, Soror's only Sororian to be successfully be uplifted.

Mating Habits
Sororians are monogamous, though officiating such a union requires an arduous courtship ritual. Before a pair can be considered spouses, they can leisurely engage with each other in physical contact without a courtship ritual. Due to the regression from civilized life, the males have developed a complex ritual in courting females. Through studies conducted by the chimpanzees at the Institute, it has been observed each man courted his woman before approaching her. He indulged in a display similar in every way to that executed by certain birds: a sort of slow, hesitant dance consisting of steps forward, backward, and sideways. He moved thus in an ever-decreasing circle, a circle whose center was occupied by the woman, who merely pivoted around without shifting from her position awaiting copulation that concluded these preliminaries.