The noctras are a mammalian species of Kin that can be found all throughout the Ealdremen System; originally hailing from the temperate areas of Gerualdi, noctras were widespread long before the arrival of Estvoldian explorers and colonists to the point where early foreign documentations of them wondered if it might ever be possible to truly identify their "homeland". Although in the modern day this homeland is understood to be around the Gerualdian nation of Nicta, it would be a disservice to suggest that even a majority of noctras would identify with the nation, as the noctras' shorter lifespans than many Kin of comparable size and biology can lead to generations of noctras living in an area in a timeframe considered "short" to other species.
Overview
Most noctras are covered in a thin layer of short fur, though some individuals or even entire subspecies are partially or entirely furless, which makes the folds of skin similar to pouches across a noctra's body readily apparent. These folds can be used to carry objects; however, because the pouches are too small to carry even a newborn noctra, they are thought to have no evolutionary link to similar anatomy found in the ligvoel species or in animals that carry their young. A noctra's head is tapered to a short snout that is often dotted with sensitive whiskers, and they have large, typically rounded ears that help compensate for the species' relatively poor eyesight. Noctras have some of the most dexterous hands of all species throughout Ealdremen with five fingers, and they are further assisted in manipulating objects with their long and flexible tails that can carry objects or even operate simple machinery with training.
Because noctras have short gestation periods and tend to have multiple offspring in each pregnancy, they can be found in large numbers wherever enough of them have settled. Biosociologists have suggested this biological quirk has given the species a tendency towards equal parts cooperation in managing potentially limited resources and competition to ensure those resources go to certain people — social traits that have translated themselves to complicated business hierarchies and social webs in the modern day. It is rare for a noctra to be found in isolation, both due to their naturally social tendencies and the prolific numbers of their species, and cultural stigmas against "loners" can be found across noctra communities all throughout Ealdremen.
Due to their large population and prominence in Gerualdian positions of power, noctras are often viewed as a major part of the Gerualdi Union, and some historians and political analysts would go so far as to suggest that its very structure of governance is rooted in originally Nictan philosophies on the nature of power, which in turn most likely arose from its predominately noctra population.