Resources for playing a hanar?

So, I'm playing a hanar character, and I'd like to take some time to flesh his/its background out a bit more. However, there doesn't really seem to be a lot of information either in canon or on the CDN wiki about what hanar society is like. While hanar characters don't seem to have been very common on the old site, I know at least some existed, so my question is: is there anything written down anywhere - threads, reference material, backgrounds - that could serve as resources to help me develop my character's background?

I can always just make things up, but I worry about treading on people's toes.

Asides from CDN wiki and the Mass Effect wiki, we also had a few threads that fleshed out the galaxy. Here for example. Just take a look around the old forums and you can find a few things that we added to our fanon.

When I created my hanar character, I took a look over the old forums and managed to find a few threads about hanar literature, sport, etc, that gave me a sense of how CDN was interpreting the species. I've tried to keep Laykalar consistent with what I found. On the CDN wiki I believe there's an overview of sorts for the Illuminated Primacy, and there's a lengthy description of a hanar sport. I think on the whole we can just make things up, but I try to keep informed of what others have established. Like yourself, I didn't want to tread on the toes of more established members.

Interestingly enough, I'm having similar issus with my elcor character, since we haven't had much in the way of elcor culture...

This thread is amazing! I'm very sorry I didn't see it before.

So I've been playing a hanar for two and a bit years now, and here are my thoughts on the subject:

Hanar are the most alien species you could possibly play. You can't simply 'be polite' and use 'this one' and 'it' in place of 'I' and 'me'. The Codex says they do that because they think it is too egotistical. The concept of the individual is something very different to a hanar tahn it is to a human. It still exists - the hanar aren't a hive society and they aren't the K'kree from Traveller (where 'mine' idicates the herd). A hanar still has things that are theirs (remember there is that one that has a mistress, which idicates some form of marriage/bonding, which implies mutual ownership, he said controvertially) but the concept is a little more fluid.

When creating aliens, the best way to think about society is their Dunbar number (what's the average size a community, and what is the maximum amount of people an individual could really care about) and their Monkeysphere attitude (how do they react to people outside that coummunity). Humans have a Dunbar number of about 150 and have quite a cold attitude on the whole to people outside their sphere (see: racism, nationalism, tribalism). Asari, I reckon, have quite a low number, but have a warmer attitude. As I've always played it, hanar have a high number (their ancestors lived in large swarms), and a very cold (if generally non-violent) attitude to people outside their sphere (good god they are racist - but I'll get to that later). In an effort to make it interesting, I've always imagined the Primacy is fractured into traditions, sects and cults (pure technical terms based on size) instead of nations (although physical proximity is likely).

These divisions basically govern themselves. But I imagine a running theme is the desire for security over freedom. Hanar live in a dangerous environment that not even 360 degree vision can help with. They listen to hanar (as opposed to aliens - remember the Preaching Hanar thought the anti-prolysterilysing laws didn't apply to it) they see as more authoratative. The protheans didn't uplift the hanar out of the goodness of their own hearts. I imagine it was a prestige thing, and the hanar would eventually be servants to the Empire (really polite and unlikely to violently rebel - perfect servants). I imagine being told what to do is somewhat ingrained in their psyche. But the concept of a hierarchy is somewhat alien. Everybody is equal. There might be one or a few who are more equal than the others, but they know what they are doing, so we'll just get on with it.

As much as a hanar may not like another person (be it because of a slieght, they believe the wrong thing or, most offensively, are a compeletly different shape and species), they won't say a thing, generally. Because doing so would be impolite. Other hanar will become involved and they will judge you. Not openly. Silently. They'll tell everyone you know what you did, as objectively as possible. And they will judge you. Don't say anything. Be nice. Who needs secret police when your family and neighbours can create a much worse punishment for you?

Finally: Sex. Hanar have sex to make polyps. Sedentary polyps can either be put into nurseries, or, much more K-strategy, be atatched to either parent. There are males and females, but the difference is small. A hanar can tell, but it is not really anything to make a song and dance over. They don't see the distinction as important enough to have genders.

tl;dr: Hanar are agendered not-quite-jellyfish that live in large communities where everybody is really concerned for one another, quietly (or not so quietly in the case of some cults when it comes to aliens) hating anybody not in their community (until they learn not to). These communities are based around how to worship their gods, who really did create them and give them the gift of language. They were created to be effectively slaves, but for the 50,000 years they have been masterless and left to their own devices. They do not have the same concept of individuality as we have.

But that's just my non-edited, stream of consciousness 0.02 credits.

Very nice, Haseri :).

@Haseri: Wow, thanks! That's going to be a really helpful way of looking at things. I had taken some of that into account while originally designing my character, but most of it had never crossed my mind, especially some of the stuff about communities (which will be very useful in developing some of its subconscious issues).

Did your hanar have any particularly significant/defining threads on the old forums that I could take a look at?

No, Haseri wasn't a very active character, and I basically made stuff up as I went along in loads of different threads.

Hanar still have wants, which is the genesis of a good character. In all honesty, Haseri isn't a very good character because he doesn't really want anything, at least nothing connected to the boards. But that's OK, because I don't RP that often: I'm a terrible procrastinator and when I start to type, I start to edit, I start to doubt and things never get done.

But that's going off topic. Here are three threads on the old forum, one IC, two OOC, that I think pretty much sum up the important parts. I was reading the second one while writing my bit yesterday, there was something I would disagree with, but I can't remember.

One of the biggest questions facing a hanar today, and I really should have explored this more in the retrospectives (maybe a news article), is just how divine were the Enkindlers? What constitutes an Enkindler? Having an actual living prothean messes up the entire system. But does it only appear that way from the outside? The Enkindler doctrine has had 50,000 years of essentially nothing to oppose it in the hanar mind. For thousands of years, it has been known the Enkindlers built the relay network. Last year, the actual relay builders came back and tried to wipe out the galaxy. Are the Reapers the Enkindlers? Are the protheans? Do the Enkindlers exit only as a divine entity? If so, that removes a lot of sureness, because hanar have never had to believe in the Enkindlers, they had proof of existence. Aliens accepted they existed! What happens if the Leviathans come back? /fnord

I think the hanar are heading for a species-wide crisis of faith. That should be interesting.

I'd seen that thread about the nature of the Primacy (and the information building on it on the wiki, regarding different branches and sects of the hanar), and it certainly informed how I built a sense of the hanar as a whole. :) Of course, Laykalar's not your normal hanar...I'd be interested quite what you think of him, actually. Does he work for you at all?

He works fine. I probably went in the wrong direction with Haseri's laconicness. Hanar like words and I very much like your aquatic-themed phrases. Plus, I don't really feel like it's my place to comment on anyone's character - I'm not an authority in any way. Laykalar is probably more typical than you might think - hanar have to have special lessons to make them less offended by aliens and be less polite. Unlike other species, who can just hop on a shuttle to anywhere else in the galaxy, it takes effort for a hanar to leave the Primacy. The desire to learn about other species is quite possibly a common reason to leave Kahje. It would be little different for a colonial, but there is still that effort.

I'm glad to hear it. You've clearly put a lot of thought into the hanar and I wouldn't want to deviate too wildly from what was pre-established on CDN. I'm glad my approach to the character seems to be working.

Just want to thank you all again - this has been really useful in helping me to flesh out Teilhard.