The Erbians ( Lepus Aedifex , The Legacy Building Hares ), are a mammalian analog species of the Milky Way Galaxy and are among the core client races of the Shil'vati Imperium. Their home world, Myr, is counted among the core worlds of the Empire and the species themselves are one of the largest sources, outside of the Shil'vati race itself, for members of key administrative and institutional roles.

Erbians reached a post-industrial age and developed quickly past steam technology and adopted early philosophies regarding renewable energy, sustainable harvest, and learned early of the cost of widespread ecological wipe outs. Atomic energy was explored to a limited degree, and then restricted to very narrow applications. Erbian society invested heavily in renewable energy sources and depletion limiting design in infrastructure.

As Erbian’s moved into space exploration, efforts to develop ecological recovery strategies and technologies saw competition for prestige among the Erbian city states (which developed from the massive extended family compounds called Warrens which continued to be common). In this era Erbian’s managed to culturally replace warfare with sport. Warrens sponsored champions to compete in order to break diplomatic stalemates in a way which could be publicly recognized and widely enforced by other Warrens. As Warrens were directly tied to family, the personal cost of war would always have been extremely high, and the capacity to manage a large Warren meant that the city-states were either comprised of a single Warren, or of several cooperating Warrens.

At the time of first contact with extra-planetary civilization, Erbians had completed part of their first ‘Life-Station,’ a fully self sufficient space station meant to act as a waystation for interplanetary travel.

They were annexed peacefully as the Erbian international committees were replaced by Shil’vati governance systems and the Warrens were codified into Shil’vati law as the preferred form of local governance for Erbian only communities.

• A prototypical Erbian home will if at all possible either host their own or participate in a co-op version of a produce garden, a mending room, beds big enough to sleep at least three adults, staircases with a higher rise-run ratio, and at least one master suite on the ground floor intended to house a older relative or two.

• They stand between 5.5 feet tall and 7 feet tall, not counting the ears which if upright can add up to another 12 inches in height.
  
  
• Rabbit-like ears may be upright or lop-down, narrow or rounder dishes. Generally the fur of the ears will continue in a sparse undercoat under the hair and then grow denser to spread across the shoulders and down the back. Some Erbian’s shoulder coat will connect all the way to their small fur covered tails, but not all.
  
  
• Unlike humans Erbians feature a digitigrade bipedal stance, their tarsal and metatarsal bones longer versus what is seen in human anatomy.
  
  
• The average hearing of an Erbian is more sensitive than an average Human, but there is significant overlap between moderate Erbian standards and a highly sensitive and highly trained human ear.
  
  

• A placental mammal with much the same features of human function and anatomy, like homo sapiens their average gestation period is nine months.
  
  

• Evolved along similar human lines to being opportunistic omnivores.

• Ospun Nectar
  The Ospun beetle was semi-domesticated by Ancient Erbians for their nectar nests. The nests are made of a hard wax and half-filled with a sweet honey, and partly filled with brood pockets filled with eggs. In the wild, Ospun beetles will make dozens of small nests over the summer and fall. The adults die over the winter, and then the new beetles will hatch in the brood pockets. The larvae in the brood pockets eat each other, dig through the wax, eat the honey until they develop into adults, and repeat the cycle. Ospun Nectar could be fermented. It has the necessary sugar content. Might be like Tequila though, in that there's a traditional expectation of a 'worm' at the bottom, really just a beetle larva, which would only be present in the sloppy moonshine version of the mead.

• Abie Tea
  The old leaves of this near-polar bush are harvested just after the first freeze after the summer months, just before the bush would naturally shed them. The leaves are mashed and the mash frozen in small pucks to be melted into tea. The tea is aromatic and slightly salty, and traditionally served with preserved meat or fish and fresh fruit.

• Shieldtop Tea
  This rhizomal herb is harvested, the leaves dried or gently roasted, and the results brewed. The leaves produce a molecule which with the application of heat, bonds with water molecules to produce a mild depressant. While the depressant has no effect on humans or Shil'vati, Erbians and Rakiri experience a high, and a diuretic effect.

• Eppaleaf Tea
  This fruiting tree produces a hard fruit with a thin peelable rind and a large pit. The wood of the tree is soft but hardens and darkens to a gray patina with age and exposure to oxygen. The blossoms can also be brewed into an aromatic tea, and were traditionally brewed, sweetened with Eppafruit preserves, and served to children and the infirm as a treatment for sore throats and colds. The tea itself has no properties which make it any more suitable for illness than any other warmed and sweetened beverage.

• Adaptable to most climates but most comfortable in warm temperate environments.

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• Necklaces for a husband might be a particularly romantic gift, especially as having a collection of necklaces suitable for a variety of necklines would have been one way of displaying wealth.
  
  
• A couple would likely remember the flowers used in the decorations or worn on their wedding day, and might recreate that for special occasions, plant them in their home gardens, or for particularly sappy couples get them printed as wallpaper/linens or other home goods.
  
  
• A formal and traditional Erbian betrothal would include having the prospective bride 'fight' her way through a warren to reach her beloved. Family members would stand at strategic cross halls and challenge her to feats of fitness. As she wins challenges, defeated family members may choose to follow her and compete on her behalf in later challenges.
  
  
• A Warren generally lives, if possible, in a multi-generational family estate or residence. In a wealthy or historied family, this may encompass the land and nature of a city-state.
  
  
• Familial inheritances and family association are negotiated and agreed upon prior to the finalization of a marriage. Which family name is taken by the couple/polycule, and whether they live alone or reside in Warren provided housing is not dictated by sex.
  
  

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• Cultural beauty standards in women focus on body ratios, particularly with scrutiny paid to the ratios between the shape of the woman’s derriere, the length of her legs, and the difference between her waist and the widest measurement of the hips. Contemporary clothing styles may pad through the hips, thighs, and buttocks in order to achieve a more idealised silhouette.
  
  
• In contemporary Erbian fashion, the nape of the neck is a sexual focalpoint (at least when looking to attract another Erbian). The fur at the shoulders in particular should be well cared for and visibly smooth and silky. Clothing styles emphasize the line of the shoulders and the nape of the neck. Strapless structured tops, falling sleeves, wide shallow necklines, necklines which drape a structured shawl neckline down off the back of the neck are very popular.
  
  
• In fashion design and production, Myr Warrens regulate fabric and dyes to be natural in origin and decomposition.
  
  

• Human levels of variety. For tattoos of particular note, see the Religion section below.

• Given names follow a generational theme that cycles through a well known cultural pattern, allowing people to estimate relationships within a Warren.
  
  
• Erbian nobility is Academy based and social and political rank is tied to degrees and certifications. An Erbian is introduced by the following formula Title, Given Name, Surname, Academic Recognition. Political and Social title is not hereditary, but children of titled persons are more likely to have opportunities to pursue their educational titles from an early age. The Shil’vati recognition of hereditary titles does complicate the matter, although generally an untitled Erbian with a Shil’vati title but no Erbian educational title would be politely addressed by other Erbians without their Shil’vati title.

• Erbian religion recognizes no Gods, per se, except perhaps an abstract Creator. Past that Erbian spiritualism may be divided into two things: a linguistic quirk where any living or greater natural feature is addressed with honorifics. Anything that was created and named may be destroyed. It is not the mountain Fuji or Scruffy the cherry tree, it is Mr. or Lord Fuji and Mistress or Lady Scruffy.
  
  On the other hand, Erbian philosophy/theology regards natural processes, like photosynthesis, fermentation, putrefaction, fusion, and the malliard reaction as greater spirits, or something akin to angels. Something set with a specific task. To trick an angel is to do magic by defying physics.
  
  
• There is a closed order of Erbian nuns who practice tattooing in the shell of the ear as a means of identification. The tattoos themselves are geometric and abstract in nature, but do correspond to general information other nuns can understand. Seniority, specialised skills, participation in major events, that sort of thing. A little like rank pins, a little like chest ribbons, a little like maori and inuit facial tattooing.
  
  The order pre-dates extra-planetary contact, and pre-dates the growth and establishment of widespread peace on the planet. Their monastic vows include a dedication to the site of their monastery, and thus they are by their vows forbidden from leaving. Information between the monasteries originally relied on the travel of novitiates who have not yet chosen their avowed home, and thus freely travel between the monasteries. Since the advent of wireless video calls, the monasteries have become more connected, as with the support of nearby settlements they can arrange video calls between monasteries.
  
  What is not generally known is that the tattoos are not limited to the ears, but in fact are also made in other places on the body. Those, however are usually places covered by their traditional uniforms.
  
  When the Shil’vati Imperium annexed Myr, this order of monastics struggled to comply with Shil’vati governance. Some monasteries were lost in the transition, as efforts to integrate and educate Erbians on Shil’vati law, taxes, and custom forced nuns to violate their vows and leave their dedicated areas. Those monasteries which survived largely did so either through a particularly compassionate Shil governess making concessions and accommodations for the nuns vows, or through the intercession of their Erbian communities in finding ways to comply with Shil edicts in unexpected ways that protected the nuns, their work, and their vows.

• Korovii Leaping
  A single athlete faces off against a korova, a 2000 pound ant-like beast, with six hooved legs with elk-like antlers and a humped back which stand up to 12 feet tall. The athlete attempts to bait the beast into charging, at which point the athlete dodges or ideally vaults over the beast to safety. Points are scored based on acrobatic skill displayed, lack of injury sustained to either the athlete or the beast, and time spent in the ring until the athlete is forced to retreat to safety.

• Khoulii Running
  An individual begins a run through a set wild environment, leaving small piles of flour as a trail, and as few as three or as many as twenty numbered markers. After the runner’s head start time is complete, a team tracks the individual, gathering numbered markers. Points are awarded to the team based on speed and completeness of the markers gathered.

• Orienteering
  Called Footfinding by Erbians, this navigational sport is practiced in both solo and team formats. Pre-pubescent Erbians will play the sport on a flat open field, but adolescent and adult leagues will play in more challenging terrain.

• Erbians come in every color morph found in earth rabbits, which includes a Ruby-Eyed White variant, which can commonly be mistaken for albinism. Which means that between blue-eyed-white linked deafness, and the light sensitivity of true albinos, white Erbians were more commonly disabled by a small but noticeable margin in the warring period the choice to support or abandon disabled Erbians was one of general strife. With some strong gendered implications: a disabled female, particularly with a disability like deafness where a clear genetic and inheritable trait was present, would find it incredibly difficult to join a marriage. Some city states had laws discouraging, penalizing, or outright barring marriage for disabled does. In some states an undisclosed inheritable disability was grounds for divorcing a wife from a marriage, though the marriage.