relationships find themselves trapped, as freeing their partner to seek a new mate opens the possibility that the new mate will report the violent activity. Because barast physical strength is much higher than that of a gliksin, any physical violence between them is almost certain to result in death or serious injury. They thus lack any direct physical confrontation sports and martial arts (the second is lacking additionally because barasts do not have many conflicts; they have had only one war in their recent history, with the loss of 83 people being considered a horrendous tragedy). Past political assassinations did not even require weapons, given their physical strength, since a barast could simply murder their target using their bare hands. Any physical violence, if reported, results in immediate imposition of castration. However, because the punishment is so severe, these incidents are not always reported officially, and if the injured party is willing to forgive, and the aggressor undertakes counseling for anger management, an incident may go unpunished. Such incident is admissible in a future legal hearing as evidence of a prior disposition to violence, however. Legally, if an accusation is not formally made, there can be no trial. Humans told of this practice are usually disturbed, given Earth's history of eugenics. Though the main purpose is to purge genes that could lead to criminality, it was once mentioned they had also sterilized people with low IQ in the past too, and raised theirs a standard deviation as a result. Environment Lower population levels and the absence of large-scale agriculture mean that many species exist which are extinct on the gliksin version of Earth. These include not only birds such as the passenger pigeon, but also megafauna such as the woolly mammoth. Also, forests are much more extensive because there was no need to cut them down on a large scale. Barasts have domesticated wolves as companions, but have not bred them into the many varieties of the domestic dog. A gliksin may become fearful upon seeing a barast dog, thinking it a wild wolf. A barast, seeing a gliksin's dog such as a dachshund, may wonder if the creature really is a dog. It is heavily implied that the barast did not spread to large areas of their world until after they had achieved a high level of civilization. One scene has a gliksin and a barast ancestor looking across