Description
Cielioids are the founding species of the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, and until midway through Era-2, were the most common intelligent life-form in the galaxy.
Cielioid physiology is highly variable, due to an early mastery of genetic modification. Most are plant-like humanoids. They evolved from carnivorous plants on a planet where animal life only developed to the level of insects. The average height for the majority of Cielioids is around 2 meters, with some subspecies varying drastically. Typically, each of a Cielioid's hands has two fingers and a thumb. Their feet have no toes. A Cielioid's mouth is covered with a chitinous beak. They can mimic all the phonemes used by humans, and can produce sounds humans are physically incapable of. Typically, the speech of Cielioids sounds like the chirping of a bird to human ears. Cielioids have an internal skeleton composed of a tough wood-like tissue, and skin similar to that of an Aloe vera plant.
Notable Subspecies
The Boxer is adapted to heavy labor and hand-to-hand combat.
The Brain is adapted for high intelligence and memory.
The Centaur is adapted to industrial work and carrying heavy burdens.
The Cielioid Grey is adapted to sanitation and waste collection.
The Philosopher is adapted to mindfulness and logic.
The Pilot is adapted to the operation of spacecraft.
The Poet is adapted to creativity and intuition.
Evolution
Cielioids evolved from a tumbleweed-like plant species. Here is a brief evolutionary history of the Cielioid race.
Nutrition
Their skin is typically slightly photosynthetic, and young Cielioids have vestigial root systems. Despite this, Cielioids derive most of their nutrition from eating food. Cielioids are omnivorous.
A Cielioid needs to breathe an atmosphere containing both Oxygen and Carbon-dioxide, because Cielioid metabolism has both plant-like and animal-like components. These components do exchange by-products, which makes their metabolisms efficient and highly adaptable. In a low-oxygen environment, a Cielioid will seek out light sources to stimulate photosynthesis, and in an environment with little carbon-dioxide, a Cielioid will tend to eat and exercise more to make up the difference.
Life-Cycle
After a Cielioid seed-pod is planted in the podding-ground, it is tended by caretakers as it matures over a period of months. When the pod opens, the juvenile Cielioid is fully formed, but rooted to the ground, where it remains for several months before learning to walk. The young Cielioid is watched over by the caretakers at the podding ground until it is old enough to start formal schooling, a couple years later. School continues for a period of time, and in subjects both determined by subspecies. Cielioids typically reach physical maturity in about fifteen years. After finishing school, the Cielioid joins the workforce as an adult. Cielioids typically live about one hundred fifty years, depending on subspecies.
Going to root
“Going to root” is a rare phenomenon that happens when a Cielioid is under great stress, or occasionally brought on by old age. They take root in the ground, and their skin turns woody, with branches growing out, rather like a tree. There is no known cure, but the Cielioid often retains some limited consciousness, and has a limited ability to hear and speak. Ceilioids who have gone to root will often live a longer lifespan, commonly surviving centuries in an immobile state.
Reproduction
The Cielioid reproductive system is sexual, but nearly all Cielioids are hermaphrodites. (Even so, self-pollination is rare.) The pods on their torsos are essentially large seeds, and families plant these seeds in communal "podding grounds".
Once a year (the year of the Cielioid home-world is around 500 Earth-days long) , adult Cielioids go into “Season”, when their pods are ready for pollination. This state is visibly apparent, because their skin changes coloration. This color change always happens in the area around the pods, but can extend over the entire body. The colors and patterns Cielioids take on during their Season are genetically determined, and vary greatly by individual. (as a result of this feature of their biology, Cielioids have a sexual reaction to tie-dyed t-shirts)
Cielioid "in season"
After their Season has passed, if one or more pods have been pollinated, the Cielioid loses their normal coloration, and becomes a “Pod bearer”, as the pod uses up the mother’s nutrients. The number of pods that get fertilized varies, but usually it is only one. Some Cielioids have more than two seed-pod attachment points. This is a special genetic modification for the children of individuals who have made some great achievement as a way to encourage them to have more offspring. There are few things more attractive to Cielioids than the appearance of a long row of seed-pods down the torso of a prospective mate. Ceilioids bearing more than two fertilized pods at once often suffer medical complications, and tend to need special medical attention.
The fertilized pod grows, attached to its mother for 2-3 months, until detaching, and being planted in the family Podding Ground. The parent then regains a normal coloration, and over the course of the next year new pods grow to replace the old. If, at the end of the annual season, the pods haven’t been pollinated, they fall off, and new pods start to grow back in their place.
pod-bearing Cielioid
After a certain age, Cielioids stop producing new pods. The pollen producing organs are capable of producing pollen year-round throughout the adult life of a Cielioid.
An important turning point in early Cielioid history was the time when they stopped relying solely on pollinating insects, and began mating directly. This was shortly before the founding of the E1MS. The idea of direct mating spread with the help of a famous painting, known as "The Touch" which depicted the practice, but was not considered explicit because it did not show the seasonal colors of either of the partners. Cielioids tend not to view reproduction as obscene or dirty, and tend to treat it in a frank and forthright manner.
On rare occasions, two Cielioids become deeply emotionally attached to one another. This is highly unusual, as Cielioids, as a species do not tend toward strong, passionate emotions. In those cases when an emotional attachment develops, the pair often become "life-bonded". This is both a social and a biological phenomenon. Life-bonded couples have a chemical treatment administered by a doctor that synchronizes their seasons. They live together, and spend much of their leisure time together. Life-bonded Cielioids tend to live on the fringes of society, but most of the official schools of philosophy in the E1MS hold them in a special protected status. As a result, most life-bonded Cielioids live the simple lives of devotees in monasteries.
Psychology and Emotion
Most Cielioids see themselves as members of their families and societies first and individuals somewhere after that. Individualism is a relatively rare motive among this species.
The range of emotions experienced by them runs the gamut from joy to rage to sorrow, the same as humans, although the things that bring these emotions on are substantially different.
When angered, or otherwise affected by strong emotion, some of the chromatophores that produce their “seasonal colors” will activate, particularly around their necks and faces.
Death
Cielioids typically bury their dead beneath their family's podding ground, if possible. If it isn't possible, the dead are interred beneath public podding grounds set aside for orphans and outcasts. In this way, the ancestors of the race become the nutritional feed-stock for the next generation. The young of the family are generally taught about the lives and histories of the more notable ancestors buried beneath their podding ground by their caretakers. "You have grown from the soil of your ancestors!", is a compliment frequently paid to young Cielioids. Cielioids live highly individual lives after reaching maturity, and as a result mourning and grief are minimal. Friends and acquaintances may gather for an informal get-together to commemorate the deceased. The size and scope of this gathering is typically directly proportional to the deceased's status in society.
