Description

Dionysians are the native inhabitants of the planet Dionysus. Outwardly, they very closely resemble humans, except for some prominent ridges on their foreheads. Dionysus is a tropical world with a very mild climate, a plentiful abundance of edible plants, and few large predators. As a result the Dionysians faced relatively low survival pressure, and didn’t develop high technology.

Dionysian brow ridges likely evolved due to the warm temperatures of their home planet. In the tropical climes of Dionysus, the Dionysian body perspires considerably more than a similar human. Their brow-ridges act as an effective mechanism for channeling perspiration away from their eyes, while also being permeated by a substantial quantity of blood-vessels, so that they act as radiators to more effectively shed body heat.

Dionysians tend to have a relatively optimistic psychology compared to humans. Because of their tropical home-world, Dionysians tend to have slightly darker complexions than humans do. Dionysians and humans tend to be about equal in terms of height and weight.

The large areas of physical and psychological similarity between humans and Dionysians make relations between the two species particularly warm and close. Even though the two are separate species incapable of producing offspring together, there is a long history of intermarriage between the two. A common turn of phrase among humans in the old core worlds is to describe a spouse married for companionship with no intention of having children as a “Dionysian Wife”. (“Dionysian Husband” is also used, though less frequently.)

History

Before contact with the outside world, most Dionysians lived in small, nomadic bands, living off the land, with a few permanent settlements. Among these wandering groups were a very wide range of languages, religions and cultures. There was enough variety among these groups that picking a single name to describe the people and their world was rather problematic. Overall, most of the Dionysian cultures were peaceful, as resources were plentiful and life was easy. Warfare was uncommon, and short lived when it did occur.

Some of the early xenographers to study the Dionysians arrived at a time when most of the groups they visited were in the midst of a season of festivals, and their early reports commented on the “Dionysian” ways of the revelers. This turn of phrase was quickly picked up, and became the default descriptor for the people and their world. Also a factor in the rapid uptake of this name is the fact that Dionysus is also home to a number of trees that produce alcoholic fruit, most notably the del-brikki.

First contacted by scouts of the Astrophysical Survey in GSC 155, the Dionysians were relatively quick to join the Planetary League. Most Dionysians were favorably impressed with these outsiders and their alien technology. Within about a century of first contact, most of the various cultures had formed an ad-hoc government that quickly joined the Planetary League officially.

Early on, much commerce with the Planetary League and other outsiders centered around the del-brikki and other alcoholic fruit. This allowed many local gatherers to achieve a level of wealth previously unknown on their planet. As time went on, alcoholic fruit production became systematic, and as era-1 drew to a close, powerful corporate interests muscled their way in and began exploiting the local land and population for profit.