Kaleshi
The Kelashi were once an extremely proud, wealthy, and powerful race that ruled over a vast space empire in another corner of the galaxy, hundreds of years ago. Due to their own intense hubris, they drew the ire of a Majin Lord who was charting the space for his own dreams of conquest. He played the Kelashi against each other, using their legendary greed, and exploited the incalculable potential energy that resulted from the following civil war to permanently, magically change the Kelashi. This twisted spell rendered them nearly inverted versions of themselves, driven insane by an inexplicable need to spend every moment serving others. The majority of the crippled race was corralled by the Majins, and they exist today as self-driven slaves of countless Majin. Some, however, maintained enough of their sanity to escape the Majin's net to search the galaxy for other masters.
Physiology
The Kelashi are descended from several species of closely-related, fleshy humanoids with subtle, insect-like qualities who coexisted and evolved for eons. Because the subspecies divide still exists in their race to a subtle degree, not all Kelashi are exactly alike in anatomy. They all have many traits in common, however, to the point where it is not difficult to identify any Kelashi for their race from appearance.
Kelashi are hatched from buried eggs, rather than birthed as most mammalian species are, but the eggs are fertilized in a manner similar to human conception. They are all humanoids, or mostly humanoids, that possess a shale gray skin that is similar in texture to a lizard's scales, but much finer. Their most noticeable common quality is usually the horns that emerge from their heads at various points. The number, coloration, size, and shape of these horns vary from one member of the species to another. Kelashi who are of higher castes in their society tend to be born with longer and more elaborate horns, and the bigger these horns are, the more the person they belong to tends to prize them as a symbol of their pride. Longer horns are sometimes forcibly styled into unorthodox shapes during their youths, so as to project the individuality of their owner. Their eyes are yellow, with universally black pupils, which have the ability to see into the infrared spectrum -- allowing them to see perfectly well even in places where most would see only pitched darkness. This also allows them to see anything that has heat as though it was glowing. Their mouths are full of pointed teeth, and many have long fangs for canines that protrude slightly even when their mouth is closed. Their hands and feet, while usually mostly human-like, are usually adorned with claws, which sometimes are attached to venom sacs.
Kelashi blood varies in color across the visible spectrum, and was once used to gauge the caste an individual was born to. Those closer to red were of lower rank, while those closer to violet were the most respected. This was primarily because those with redder blood had more physically superior genes, while those with more violet blood tended to be more cunning, and possessed of natural psionic talent.
Variations in Kelashi have been known to include, but not be limited to adaptations to aquatic environments (allowing some to exist entirely underwater), extraordinarily refined taste that can actually "see" better than their eyes, specialized reproductive systems that can custom-breed swarms of lesser organisms, increased numbers of limbs, and glands that can excrete useful substances, like a spider's silk.
