(Art by Atza-n-Jeeray)

The Tulmari are bipedal, amphibious humanoids that evolved from the aquatic life on their home world. Standing around two meters tall on average, the Tulmari are known for their lithe and agile forms, with thin limbs and bodies that hide surprisingly dense muscles perfect for swimming. They are easily distinguished from other humanoids by the long bundle of tentacles that hang from their heads as well as their lengthy tails, both of which can regrow after being dismembered like a lizard's tail. Their unique physiology, combined with their tragic history, has made them quite hardy in spite of their peaceful demeanor. The Tulmari also come in a staggering variety of skin colors and patterns, ranging from bright primary rings to sharp neon stripes and everything in between, which tend to develop once the Tulmari reach their physical maturity.

The Tulmari evolved to sentience on their homeworld alongside a larger, more aggressive race of beings known as the Kaj, and as far back as the history books record, the Tulmari had been enslaved by their more powerful counterparts. While the Kaj were a divisive race with many different leaders and polities dating back to their earliest days, nearly all of the Kaj kingdoms were universally cruel to the Tulmari people. Some bright spots of mercy and resistance dot the pages of the Kaj Oppression, as later historians would call it, but up until Kaj began what could be comparable to the modern age, the fate of the Tulmari people has been little other then tragic. Slave labor and forced conscription were all too common, as well as stories of Tulmari used as human shields in battles, forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of their overlords, or even slaughtered en masse as part of an initiation ceremony for Kaj boys becoming soldiers. Yet in spite of their horrific treatment, the Tulmari people and their way of life survived and grew under the Kaj rule, and by the time the Kaj began industrializing the Tulmari began to see themselves as not just a race but a unified culture as well. Some even began to dream of independence from Kaj rule.

Meanwhile, the Kaj continued with their own dreams of conquest and power, and as they ushered in a new age of industry and advanced technology, the great Kaj polities began to arm themselves with horrific new weapons as they prepared for a grand new war, while the Tulmari prepared for what would undoubtedly become the worst slaughter that they had ever encountered in their dark, tragic history. But that war never came. Instead, something far worse crept over the horizon like a virulent slime. The Kaj name is lost to history, but the Tulmari called it the Sickness. With an origin as mysterious as its name, the Sickness emerged and spread through Kaj cities like a wildfire, reducing healthy young men to feeble shells within days and killing them just as quickly. Once prosperous city centers were vacated as the Kaj leaders who still clung to life tried desperately to maintain order in the face of rapid depopulation and mass chaos.

The Tulmari, meanwhile, were immune to the Sickness that killed off so many, and as the Kaj society devolved in the face of potential extinction, the Tulmari began to organize into dissident movements. Some Kaj granted freedoms to the Tulmari in a desperate attempt to remain in power but it was too little too late. The scattered slave revolts turned into a full-blown civil war between the Kaj Remnants and the Tulmari, who organized themselves under what became known as the Collective. It was a bloody conflict fueled by centuries of cruel mistreatment and oppression, but in the end the Kaj, despite their superior technology, were too devastated by societal decay and the Sickness to ever have a hope of victory. Experiencing their freedom for the first time, the Tulmari Collective finally toppled the last great Kaj warlord, and what little Kaj were left fled into exile where the Sickness finally drove them to extinction several hundred years before the present day.

Newly independent, the Tulmari Collective reorganized itself into a republican-type government, based on the principals of freedom, equality, and mutual cooperation. With the Kaj Oppression a distant memory, the Tulmari experienced a cultural and technological revolution unlike anything ever seen before, allowing the Collective to expand its influence and unify the Tulmari under one planetary government. Despite some growing pains and trials that came with self-governance, the Tulmari Collective has thrived and now seeks to become an interplanetary power. Whatever challenges lie ahead, the Tulmari will face them, emboldened by their independence and ready to explore what lies beyond those stars.