AAnn

In contemporary English, nye is defined as a brood or flock and is most commonly attributed to birds.

Nye is also a term used by the AAnn of Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth series. In much the same way that a human would say man or men in conversation or description, one of the AAnn would use nye to less specifically describe one or more of his species. The AAnn are a race of reptilian humanoids described as lizard-like with strength, flexibility and speed superior to that of most men, although they are generally shorter of stature. Because they do not have the capacity to display emotions via facial expressions as humans can, their society has developed a very distinct and rich variety of gestures which are used to convey their emotions. These emotions are broken down into descriptions (i.e. anger, approval, respect) and into degrees of the same (i.e. third degree anger, first degree approval, fourth degree respect).

As with their other social graces and their form of government (an empire), these gestures appear to have evolved from necessity; the AAnn's more primal habits were not very conducive to the survival of individuals. Such being true, and very probably because war threatened to destroy them as a race, the AAnn government developed as a heirarchal empire. Though different from the broad capitalism seen in the United States, Britain, and other first world countries of today and for the most part the Humanx Commonwealth of their own time, the Aann heirarchy is just as open to personal growth.

More to come...