Description:  Zaishan are worm-like in appearance.  Roughly 9' long and 2.5' in diameter, a zaishan is not an attractive sight to behold (at least, in humanoid eyes).  Its upper side is covered by dense flesh, whereas its belly is very soft.  Along the bottom sides of the rear half of its body are a dozen small legs which provide it with movement (the legs are so small that the creature's rear body usually drags on the ground).  Its front half bends upwards, so the zaishan appears like a letter "L".  Zaishan have two 3" thick tentacles extending from either side of their upper body.  Each tentacle has three small pseudo pods extending from it, allowing for manipulation of tools.  The head of the zaishan contains four small black eyes, each placed equally around its huge central maw, which is filled with many small sharp teeth.  The central maw is also ringed by eight small thin pseudo pods, used simply for pulling food into the mouth.  The zaishan do not talk through their maw, but rather through a small opening on their underbelly, about a foot down from their maw and sensory organs.

History:  Not much of zaishan history remains intact.  From what little we do know, they followed a brutal religion, emphasizing purity of form above all else.  If it deviated from the zaishan physiological standard, it was bad and had to be wiped clean.  Not much else about their culture could be discovered.  Their warriors killed themselves in battle rather than be taken alive, and if they faced overwhelming odds in battle, they would evacuate their colonies and detonate the massive central fusion reactor, thus erasing any information we could have learned about them.  Although we could have possibly learned more about them, Captain Dellan destroyed all hope of that when he bombed their home planet into radioactive hell.

From what we have observed after the bombing, the zaishan have culturally devolved in most parts of their world to a primitive level, roughly at the Stone Age.  Although there are a few small areas that seem to be a bit more advanced, none are higher than PL3.  From our satellites orbiting their world, we have learned that their old religion is nonexistent.  Now, various tribes have created new beliefs, cults have started, and some areas have become godless.  More or less, most of the tribes are peaceful, although there are a few warrior tribes who bully the others.  Their once united (although severely misguided) society is now shattered, and a hundred or so different factions have risen from the ashes.

Psychology and Culture:  Because they aren't a united people, it is difficult to write about their society as a whole.  Certain tribes value certain traits over others;  there are warrior tribes, nomadic herdsmen, civilized town dwellers, and a host of other types.  They have become extremely diverse.  As a result, it is almost impossible to sum up their psychology and culture.

Racial Characteristics for Playing a Zaishan:
STR 6-15
INT 4-14
WIL 8-15
DEX 4-10
CON 8-16
PER 4-12

Advantages
All zaishan have excellent immune and healing systems.  They benefit from a -2 bonus to all Stamina-Endurance. Also, if a zaishan makes a Stamina-Endurance check with Amazing success, 1 mortal point is healed due to its regenerative biology.

Disadvantages
All zaishan suffer from the primitive flaw.  They must start with either primitive with +2 penalty, or +3 penalty.  They may buy this off later in their careers.
All zaishan suffer from the poor looks flaw when dealing with humanoids.  This is permanent and may not be removed ever.

Zaishan make good combat specs.  A fair number of zaishan tech ops exist, but practice primitive crafts such as blacksmithing, etc.  Diplomacy is not a zaishan's strong point, and likewise one would be hard-pressed to find a zaishan free agent.  Zaishan were never known to use mindwalkers in the zaishan war, but their physiology would definately allow them to develop psionic talents.