The Iarutu are a race of flightless birds. They are found across many sectors, but they favour mountains and a cool climate. The Iarutu are collectivists and live in large communes.
A commune is usually ruled by a single family, though outstanding members of the lesser families may be taken into it as well as blood relatives. The authority of the principal family — the nest family, as the Iarutu themselves put it — rests on its ability to keep the lesser families prosperous. Should those families decide the nest family cares too little for them, they may well rise up and overthrow the current ruler. The succeeding family then generally takes the name of the old nest family, preserving continuity between generations.
There are several Iarutu states: thanks to their fairly high fertility these are large powers controlling many planets. The Iarutu are omnivorous, but prefer plant food or cooked insects.
The race's sacred number is four — in the Iarutu tongue the word also means “God”. And so the fourth floor is the most prestigious in any Iarutu house, while cities and whole planets are often divided into four regions.
At the imperial level the organisation of Iarutu communes differs little from the racial one. An empire is headed by the family of the Great Iarutu; below them come the so-called lesser families, who hold the posts of the state apparatus, while military matters are as a rule the business of a few particular families.
Iarutu society is not marked by much social mobility. The class of serfs is substantial, and they are generally barred from leaving their home region. The rare exception is a great military campaign, when troops are levied in mass: an Iarutu who distinguishes himself in the field may then change his family allegiance for a more prestigious one.
The priestly class matters a great deal, holding in its hands not only religion but science as well. For the Iarutu the two are inseparable, and the newest fruits of technological progress often become objects of cult worship.
The reason is that, by Iarutu belief, scientists invent nothing — it is the god of progress who places his revelations in their heads. The religious summit of Iarutu society wields very considerable power.
Because their society is so strictly divided into families, the Iarutu differ from one another even in appearance: members of the noblest families have an altered beak, with a horn-like growth above it. Feather colour differs too.
Just how differently the estates look can be seen on the plate from the book of countries, which sets a representative of a nest family, a noble Iarutu, a priest-scientist and a serf side by side.
