#so that's why i don't expand further on the pantheon despite some ideas

[astorythatwritesitself]

@korblez I'm counting it as close enough to 'you asked', here's a chunk of drell thinks in general xD

And the realization I've had recently that... I think I've unconsciously been developing them as a sort of... foil?? Parallel? to the asari xD Which was probably running with the designer notes of 'this entire species based on creating a single individual of Pure Fanservice'.

But yes there's elements like:

Biotics! I HC Rakhana as an eezo rich planet, and most native life had biotic potential... but it never really developed beyond that. Unlike most contemporary sapient species, drell had no prothean ruins- the most alien tech present on the planet were a handful of discarded Dragon's Teeth style items from cycles long past, knowledge of which only survives in folklore today. Once introduced to the wider galactic community though, all refugees were identified as having biotic potential, and the few who remain on Rakhana do as well. Subsequent generations have markedly lower degrees, but there is a very distinct correlation of biotics born following pilgrimage trips to the homeworld.

Rakhana is actually still inhabited... but yeah it's rough. While there were offerings to try terraforming techniques to restore some of the ecosystem, they were refused- drell are creatures of memory, after all, and future generations must be allowed to see with their own eyes what unchecked progress for progress' sake wrought. Pilgrimage, for them, is mostly a matter of seeing their own ruin: here were once verdant oases teeming with life, now dried into dust, displays of flora and fauna driven to extinction, that sort of thing. The more spiritual/hardcore sorts have a parallel journey that stops at several temples, ruins, and natural formations. Traditionally, it's done on foot with no navigation equipment, following ancient migration paths still passed down through various songs, poems, and family histories.

Drell have an absolutely unmatched oral tradition and no one will ever convince me otherwise, The Oddesy ain't got shit on some of the drell epics xD However, this comes with an unfortunate drawback, especially with the climate crisis- there was a sharp lack of written works, and when communications/storage failed, they lost an enormous amount of information.

Their lifespan being around 80 years is... Flawed. Prior to evac, it was close to current human standards, but got skewed extremely hard once Kepral's became commonplace. It's starting to climb again, thanks to improving treatments, and there are high hopes for a widely available preventative gene therapy soon. (I choose to play it as - oh, it's severe, nasty to treat/prone to reoccurring... but it is treatable, especially with early diagnosis. Also, it's not an important hc, but I imagine Dr. Saleon had a lot of drell patients back when he was active...)

Gender/sex is interesting for drell - the closest Earth analog is a trioecy system, ultimately most drell unions can potentially produce offspring (and there's been around half a dozen known cases of parthenogenesis), but on the whole, birth rates stay fairly low without intervention. Certain environmental conditions (light, temperature, & diet) can have a masculinizing or femininizing effect, but in the current day it's a lot easier to go for direct targeted hormone treatment if you're dead-set on going towards an extreme end. (As far as presentation goes: earthy/warm tones have more of a feminine association, bright/jewel tones more masculine- kind of playing off the alleged bird inspirations lol, and fashion/cultural intricacies are all over the place- if there's much of a divide in the first place. They & the hanar got lucky, neither being a species with a hard binary situation, it was a lot less fun trying to figure out how to get things to translate well with others...)

The most widely practiced branch of polytheism (particularly on Kajhe) is actually more accurately labeled a semi-omnism, drawing deities and spirits from many drell religions; an attempt to preserve as many elements of their cultures as possible and a declaration of unity as a people in the face of a broadened universe and their own near demise. Younger generations haven't held onto that so much, and there's even some who espouse an attitude of 'whatever gods we had, we killed', while others lean towards a pantheistic/siari deal. While practice isn't totally discouraged on Kajhe, it's hard to find more than a household shrine; several high-profile priests died under... questionable circumstances within the last twenty years or so, and funerary procedures are almost exclusively drawn from Enkindler doctrines; a drell enclave on the Citadel is the current hub for the more devout.

There was/still is a serious thing with debt/gratitude in drell culture- there's no convenient 'oh I forgot you did that!' lol. You treat people well, because they will remember! This is partly what led to the Compact- refugees who felt they owed the hanar a genuine life debt, and a few families feel it lingers through subsequent generations- after all, they wouldn't be there otherwise, right? Thane's family were among that group, so as far as he knew, that was just how things worked. He... never entirely reconciled Irikah's pointing out that it was one thing for first generation- or even present adults- to make that choice, something else entirely to give up a child just developing their permanent memory. (But hey, he agreed to keeping Kolyat out of it, so... progress?)

Drell cuisine tends to go wild on flavour/seasoning, and a major part of post-evacuation culture has been food-oriented- learning new dishes, adapting old ones, fusion cuisine is a massive hit, and if you're invited for a visit, you are getting dinner and extra for the next night.

On the whole they lean towards fairly social- multigenerational households are the norm, and especially around Kajhe and the Citadel, you'll often find otherwise unaffiliated single adults meeting at a dinner table. Even the more introverted will tend towards lurking in crowded spots. (Part of this may have developed due to the slippery nature of their memories- those who slip hard into something alone may be hurt or waste away, staying near crowds ups the chance of someone maybe helping bring you back to the present.)

Ok this one seems to go against a common take I've seen, and it's that drell can handle (relative) temperature extremes either way- I imagine Rakhana tends towards hot days and cold nights, so it takes a fair bit for either cold or heat to get to them. (That said, heat tolerance > cold tolerance, but it's still more than most humans can take xD)

Aaand I think that's all I got for now xD