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The mammalian Ikunkuma have a reputation as hoarders and scavengers across known space, and are often poorly regarded by the authorities. On many worlds, they are called 'trash puppies' or 'garbage dogs', and many have taken these names to heart and respond to them proudly. Originally from the Kumana System in the Julius Sector, their nomadic freighter flotillas can turn up virtually anywhere, loaded with all manner of junk and some useful goods for trade. Ikunkuma are naturally driven to experience the universe and find interesting things to treasure, trade or boast about. They organise themselves into small tribes, usually consisting of a dozen or so family groups who consider their property to be shared amongst each other, although often these tribes are splintered across many ships and crews, especially among individuals that leave their tribal freighter convoy to travel the starts with other species. Their society is generally fairly cooperative, and tribes tend to meet regularly and share useful things – a legacy of their home-world’s sparse natural resources. When they discovered FTL travel, the species spread out across the local sectors, travelling and trading in small groups, accumulating things that they found interesting and valuable and occasionally bringing their hoards back to their home world of Ikuna.
Ikunkuma have an inclination to pick up and take things that they see as just lying around, and cannot really understand the concepts around personal property that other species hold. Although most spacefaring members of the species understand that others get upset when they take things that are still in use, they have little problems with taking things that have been thrown away or discarded. In a short time, an Ikunkuma tribe can accumulate a vast hoard of material and junk, with a few functional and useful treasures among it. Although their scavenging habits are considered somewhat irritating or unpleasant by many, an Ikunkuma tribe will almost always have something of use somewhere in their vast hoard of junk, and can be the saviour of a canny merchant or colony willing to deal with them.
Ikunkuma are scavengers at heart, and rarely pass up the opportunity to pick up things that others have discarded that might be valuable or useful later. Their culture is driven towards extreme conservation of resources, and anything that they see with the potential to be reused or re-purposed has value in their eyes. They are not as a rule dirty or unclean, but see no reason not to make use of things that are lightly damaged, or try to fix things that are broken. Many “trash puppies” feel drawn to the Engineer profession as a way of prolonging the life of things or using broken parts to repair or improve other devices. Ikunkuma society is quite communal and cooperative - they form close bonds with those they see as family, and consider group resources to be shared between everyone for the good of the group.
Ikunkuma tend to take pleasure in their senses and in the physicality of things – the smells of a cooked meal, the feeling of a well-made item. They like to touch objects and surfaces and get a feel of things with their fingers (although remember to keep the Conduct rules in mind when interacting with other characters).
Ikunkuma tend to dress in a manner similar to fashionable Free Union humans, in an attempt to fit in and participate in Free Union culture to a greater degree. However, their stylistic sensibilities seem to clash with their tendency to gather and hoard, and they often end up looking mismatched and scruffy. They consider it wasteful that lightly damaged or mismatched items are disdained by fashionable members of other species, and often end up wearing odd shoes or things with holes in or worn the wrong way around. Regardless of what they end up wearing, Ikunkuma garb always incorporates large pockets, perfect for stuffing with all manner of trinkets and baubles.
The Ikunkuma are a mammalian species, with furred humanoid bodies, large heads and pronounced snouts on their faces that somewhat resemble the canines of ancient Terra. Their fur is short and tends to be brown or grey in colour, with some paler spots or colour patterning that is passed down through Ikunkuma lineages. Ikunkuma display their tribal allegiance using elaborate patterns of tattoos on their upper bodies and sometimes faces – a single tribe will typically have a few recurrent motifs that can be found in multiple places across their bodies – concentric crescents, arrangements of diamonds, etc., scattered amongst an array of abstract shapes and lines. Although much of a typical individual's tattoos will be covered by clothing, generally at least some part of their tribal symbolism will be visible on an exposed area.
As Ikunkuma tribes have wandered the stars for many thousands of years, a certain amount of genetic divergence has occurred among their disparate peoples. This divergence manifests mainly around the variety of face and head shapes. While some lineages have short snouts and ears as well as strong jaws, others have long snouts and ears, and many fall between the extremes. All follow the same basic canid shape.
The Ikunkuma are a hardy species, and have 2 locational body hits and a Death Count of 400 seconds.
They have an innate fondness for objects and devices, and pick up all kinds of things in the course of their travels (sometimes without the permission of the owners). Most Ikunkuma are well-travelled, and are surprisingly good at identifying the origin of a given object based on its style, design or markings. In certain circumstances (when a Ref is present), an Ikunkuma who studies an object for a while can learn additional information about it. The player must inform a nearby Ref that they are using this ability, and there is absolutely no guarantee that they will learn any useful information at all.
In their travels, the Ikunkuma tend to pick up various bits and bobs of all sorts, and can sometimes acquire objects of real value or usefulness. Ikunkuma player characters can occasionally receive additional things in their player pack at the start of an event. These could be worthless knicknacks, useful game items, bizarre plot elements, stolen items that the owners are looking for, or potentially anything else – what they get, if they indeed get anything, is entirely random and at the whim of the Game Team.
