Okay, I am so incredibly excited to finally introduce you all to the universe I’ve been building.

If you love the "scary to everyone but intensely devoted to you" dynamic, you are going to want to sit down for this.

I’m dropping the official concept art below, but I want to give you the official rundown on my newest obsession: The Vrix, and our leading male, Xirik.

Who are the Vrix?

The Vrix are an apex predatory species from Vharis, a high-gravity super-Earth covered in dense, twilight mega-forests. Evolution built them for power, survival, and intense family bonding.

Here are the biological basics:

Four-Armed Physiology: Two massive upper arms for combat and heavy lifting, and two lower arms for fine motor control, tool use, and caregiving.

Built to Hunt: They feature void-like eyes for low-light vision, a long sensory tongue, and massive claws for ripping.

Venomous: They possess an unhinging jaw (like a snake) hiding fangs that deliver a powerful paralytic venom to subdue megafauna.

The Mane: Only males have those massive, fluffy manes. Females have big fluffy heads of hair more similar to humans. Think fluff around the neck = male, no neck fluff = female. Their big fluffy hair acts as thermal protection, disperses holds scent, and gives their hatchlings something to grip onto when riding on their shoulders or being carried.

Meet Xirik

Xirik is a prime example of a Vrix male. He stands at an imposing 7’2” and weighs 250 lbs of dense, high-gravity muscle. If you look closely at his art, you’ll notice he is covered in achievement tattoos, including a full tail sleeve, and wears functional shin guards and ankle support for his digitigrade legs.

Courtship & Culture

To a Vrix, words are cheap. Affection is measured in action. Courtship involves providing food, offering protection, building safe, comfortable spaces, and maintaining physical proximity.

The highest compliment a male can receive in their culture isn't about his body count in battle. It’s simply: "He keeps his Nest safe and provided for."

A Unique Evolutionary Twist

Because I know you’re curious about how a species like this handles families—the Vrix have a highly unique, deeply protective reproductive cycle.

To ensure the safety of the mother, the males are actually the ones who physically produce squishy, jelly-like eggs encased in a protective membrane. The male offers this clutch (typically 3-4 eggs) to the female. This gives her total control over offspring selection and clutch size. Once she chooses, the DNA is safely absorbed through the membrane to form the embryo in a self-contained life-support sac.

It is a biology built entirely around protecting the female and the offspring from the harsh realities of their world and to ensure survival.

I am so incredibly proud of how this lore is shaping up, and I honestly have so much of it. Feel free to AMA about the Vrix or Xirik.