Like Ferals, Sapients are Acaeans that develop and thrive independently, free from the influence and hierarchy of any prominent Hive. But like their imperial counterparts, many Sapients possess highly evolved intelligence, and some wield extremely sophisticated technology, although they are the only Acaeans to make use of conventional, non-organic tools and engineering.
Genetically speaking, many Sapients were not always Acaeans, and a huge percentage of the population is comprised of organisms from disparate species that were assimilated by the Acaeans and imprinted with their genes at some point in their distant past. Others are branches of the Acaean race that have experienced natural, dramatic, and by every scientific standard accelerated, microevolution over numerous generations living in a remote and unique environment.
Although they are every bit as physically diverse as Ferals and other Acaeans, many Sapients have developed vast civilizations, and they have historically enjoyed a position as the dominant race in their ecosystem. Accounting for a large percentage of all intelligent life, Sapients range in their technological development from extremely primitive, tribal societies to medieval, industrial, Æterno universe, Sapients are beginning to engage human Survivors and Verunasi Savages in brutal, territorial warfare with escalating frequency, as large populations of these wildly different species are increasingly forced to coexist in shared, isolated environments.
