Helia was raised by her extended family in a secluded tribe of the Larian people, the native sentient inhabitants of the world Leander.  She showed great promise as a youngling and her family was requested to enter her into the "traveller" program at the age of 7, when she reached her age of initiation.  (This is approximately 14 years earth-standard, which is puberty for the Larian people).  She, and one volunteer adult from her family were slated to move to the special Larian settlement that has been established by the Junoit corporation on the top of San Serif (known as Mt. Arrarat to the Junoits).

Before Helia travelled to Mt. Arrarat, she was given background information about the Larian relationship to the Junoits and began her training as a mission specialist for the Larian people.  Her mission for the Larian people is to gather information and knowledge about the universe outside of Leander.  The Larian believe that they are special people, with a destination that the great one has yet to reveal, but they want to be prepared for whatever opportunity that the great one presents to them.  The arrival of the Junoits, and their subsequent establishment of a small colony, principally a monastary and hospital, was declared to be a favorable sign to the Larian people.  The relationship between the Junoits (who are people of a variety of races) and the Larian is warm and friendly. The Junoits call the Larian "cousin", and believe that the Larian may have a background evolved from the human race.  The Larian senior council believe that this supposed relationship is a sign of favor from the great one and have developed a close working relationship with the Junoits.

In spite of their friendliness, there are some things that the Larian senior council have withheld from the Junoits.  The Junoits believe that the Larian race numbers somewhat less than 100,000, primarily living in the vicinity of Mt. Arrarat.  The truth is, there are close to a million Larian scattered around the face of Leander.  Many of these people live in the lower, denser areas that the Junoits believe are borderline habitable for Larian.  The Larian senior council has abided by the wishes of tribes that their presence remain secret to outside peoples.  Additionally, Larian tend to have very similar looks and many appear to be identical to one another to the Junoits.  With the Larian naming convention, this misidentification is actually amplified.  Larian are often named after family members that they resemble.  The names are tripartate, but the Junoits only know the two "open" names.  Helia, for example, was named for an older aunt whom she strongly resembled, her aunt Helia Bar Sarina; additionally, she has three cousins that resemble her as closely as identical twins that bear the middle names Taer, Sounce and Karn.  Since Helia is the only one who is known to the Junoits, her cousins (and, indeed, her aunt) could represent themselves as she and the Junoits would not be aware of any ruse.

Helia's training at Mt. Arrarat school began as a general studies.  Like many Larian, she tested highly for intuitive mathematics, and was placed in an accelerated course of studies for mathematics, while being introduced to medicine (many Larian work in the hospital clinic in a wide variety of jobs), interspecies language translation, and a variety of traditional subjects.  At the age of 8, she was placed into the interplanetary studies program.  This program stressed the skills needed to become an interstellar navigator.  The special interstellar navigator school has been developed by the Junoits to train navigators for their fleet and the ships of people that they trust.  The Junoits treasure Larian navigators, because the mathematical abilities required for navigation are very rare in most races, but seem to be an almost intuitive ability in this race.  Intuitive navigation, common among Larian interplanetary students, has provided the. The Larian are just now beginning to realize how rare this ability is, and the traveller program has been initiated apart from the Junoit awareness so that the elders may learn more about the outside world.  Larian are rarely seen by outsiders, a decision reached by the Larian senior council and the Junoit leaders.

Because of their appearance, Larian often inspire intense scrutiny from other races.  They appear to be what humans call "pixies."  Many of the women resemble a famous pixie from an ancient human tale called "Peter Pan," and the men are also small, lightly built and attractive according to human standards.   Approximately 1 meter tall at full height, they are unusual because of the large wings on their backs.  The wings can be tightly folded, and appear to be indestructible, but cannot be completely hidden from sight.  At this time, they have been seen so rarely outside of Junoit-related space that they remain a rumor to most races.

Junoit research has found that it bears a striking DNA resemblence to the silk produced by large creatures that live in the deep valleys between the mountaintops that cover Leander.  Larian refer to the creatures as "spiders," even thought the spiders bear a striking physical and DNA resemblance to earth bears.  The spiders weave webs of silk in order to trap creatures for feeding.  Spidersilk is routinely harvested by the Larian.  They make special journeys down the mountain during the summer season to collect silk; in addition to being a wonderful material for clothing and other materials, it removes webs that could trap younglings that are learning to fly.  The material can be cut by knives made of an obsidian-like material found on the planet.  Because of the planetary atmosphere and the ferocity of the spiders, Larian control the collection and distribution of the spidersilk.  This fabric has not excited the interest of the Junoits, because there are a number of similar synthetic products produced throughout the known universe.  Larian generally wear clothing made of spidersilk for its endurance, resistance to dirt, and the wide range of temperatures for which it is useful.  They generally are brightly colored, like the native plants.  The space uniform is generally a spidersilk jumpsuit, worn with a variety of vests to add color as suits the moods of the wearer.  Helia prefers her vests to be in primary colors, with an affinity for strategic touches of purple.

Helia trained until she was 10, and was then assigned to be an apprentice on a ship ???.  She has worked a variety of positions, most recently on a private yacht, and is now working as the navigator for Marquis Mark.
 

• One or two children per family
• stable population
• live to around 150.
• fix years
• Marky Marc met her when doing business w/captain, and the Junoit felt it would be useful for her to go with him. (J's interested in his research, e.g.)

Player characters

• STR --  low d6 + d3
• DEX -- high 6 + d6 + d3
• END -- 2d6
• INT -- 2d6
• EDU -- 2d6
• SOC -- 2d6
• PSI -- ????
• Skills?
• Maturity at about
• Adolescence at about
• Common skills (automatic): Flying, Craftsman
• Background skills (rolled for): from
• Experience skills...?

• Apprentice as Merchant, one term, four skills plus astro-1.
• work as Courier or Merchant
• Courier:
• Merchant
• Regular school from 3 - 7, usually read/write/math by 3.
• Special school from 8 - , interplanetary studies.
• Fill some of this in from sheet.

• There's 800 humans on the world.  200 at each of three mountain-top "monasteries", plus another 200 involved in support, trading, etc..
• They think there's about 3-5000 pixies and that they're restricted to a limited area.  There's a lot more, and the naming scheme adds to the confusion.
• Everyone has a common name and a clan name; the common names are often repeated so that offworlders get confused between various pixies.  In the pixie language, there's a "clan" name that differentiates them uniquely, but they don't use that with humans.
• The original explorer had an epiphany while hiking in the mountains, and Leander has since attracted a certain type of spiritual people.
• The pixies are somewhat nomadic; they live among the peaks of  the high mountains in the hot "summer", and fly down to lower altitudes in the colder "winter", and to harvest spidersilk and various types of food.
• Omnivorous, but with a primary diet of fruit, nuts, and grains.  Insects provide proteins in the diet, and are hunted on the wing -- the pixies' manoeuverability while flying is remarkable.
• The terrain is hard to travel on foot; air travel is required to cover any sort of distance, vertical or horizontal.
• The deep valleys have a denser atmosphere and prolific jungle life.
• Average adult is 4' tall, approx 60lbs
• They are very attractive by human standards.  They appear to look like pixies from Terran literature.  They do not, however, appreciate being called Pixies.
• Social structure is very fluid.  Family groups may have between 2-12 adults, humans have yet to understand the relationships.
• Babies are born in sets of 2 or 3 as often as singly.
• While the race isn't technologically advanced, they enjoy intricate dames.  The appear to be able to almost instantly understand electronic gizmos and intricate engineering.  They seem dismissive in their attitude toward acquiring such devices, except as "toys".
• Some members of the race have a native ability to do complex mathematics.  Rumour has it that certain members of this race have been recruited to work as elite astrogators.