GARMANS Planet: Jace

Very little is known about the Garman race (outside of their home planet), and when it is known, it is often misunderstood. They are a humanoid race, with copper-based blood, slightly green-tinted complexion and notably smaller ears. Garmans, like humans, are a very diverse race, and as such there are many different people with many different cultures, many different points of view. Jace is not a part of the Federation, though there are friendly relations between them. The Garmans have achieved early warp capabilities, similar to when Earth started deep space exploration. The decision to try to join in the Federation is a subject of hot debate, but the planet has far from reached a consensus on the matter. This has not prevented individuals of the race from leaving planet, possibly to join the Federation (although many Garman cultures look down upon people leaving the planet.) Like some other green blooded races, Garmans live longer lives compared to humans. One of the most distinctive features of the race is that they are disexual. Garmans carry the DNA makeup to be both male or female, and with a very limited chameloid ability, they morph between the genders many times throughout their lives (but never both at the same time.) Individual Garmans are not two different people, nor are they androgynous (two common misconceptions.) While female, they are 100% female, while male, they are 100% male, with all the qualities, attributes, and functionalities usually ascribed to each gender (like body weight distribution and the ability to bear children). As such, Garmans tend to be aware of people's genders and their differences, but not to define individuals by it. Being so different from other species has sometimes made other races regard Garmans as freaks and outcasts, objects of fear and distrust. This animosity is not easily understood by Garmans, since the change is as natural to them as any other physiological change that happens over time (like the changes that come with puberty or old age.)

The exact causes or reasons for this unique ability is mostly unknown to sentients outside of the Garman race. Even among the Garmans, its origins are wrapped in history, mythology, and religion. What many scholars believe happened is this: millennia ago, the old Garman race had both genders separate, like most races. They were also technologically advanced. However, there had long been a strong class distinction between the sexes, with one treated much worse than the other. For a long time, people just accepted this inquality, thinking that is just the way things are. But over the years, more and more people thought it wasn't right, that the system should be changed. Eventually, the tensions mounted into an all out civil war. Some wanted women to be dominant, some wanted men to be dominant, and some thought that neither one should be dominant; that both genders could be given equal respect and equal opportunities in society, despite their differences. But this kind of understanding seemed unattainable, and the fighting continued. Eventually, a group of extreme radicals decided to use technology to force people to understand. They developed a device that would change people from one gender to the other. They thought that if people could spend time as both genders, each gender would stop treating the opposite so poorly, and peace would arise. In a twisted way, their plan worked, but at a terrible price. The device operated on a global scale, affecting every Garman on the planet. The morphing killed 5/6 of the population. The pain and death led to mindless rioting and unparalleled destruction. The remains of their societies plummeted into very dark ages, and the Garman race was on the edge of extinction. But there were those few people whose bodies were able to adapt to the change, (albeit painfully.) Those survivors eventually bred, and with each generation, the morphing became more and more regular, more and more stable. A new society grew and developed. It took many thousands of years, but eventually, the Garmans were able to return.