Spludd

Spludd is a plant-like organism that produces a fruiting body commonly consumed as a food. The exact origins of spludd are obscure, it likely originated among the old core worlds of the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, where it is a popular food.

The fruiting body of spludd contains small seeds that are normally eaten with the flesh of the fruit. The spludd fruit (simply called spludd), is reminiscent of bread, of pudding and of meat, combining the textures of all three. It has a unique sweet and savory flavor and is high in both protein and short-chain carbohydrates.

Humans first encountered spludd on New Promise in the hills northwest of New Denver. Archaeological findings in the area suggest that the Convergence had been in that region sometime before humans first arrived in GSC 130.

Life Cycle

Spludd grows from a seed, like most plants. Upon sprouting it first grows leaves and a short stalk, then develops the fruiting body. The juvenile fruiting body is covered in a sweet nectar and pollinated directly by insects without going through the flower stage typical of most plants.

A spludd bud, at this early phase of development the fruiting body is considered inedible due to high levels of tannins.

A more mature fruiting body, this one is not quite fully ripe, but getting close.

The spludd fruit right after harvest.

After cleaning and preparation. Spludd can be eaten raw, or cooked into a wide variety of dishes.

A popular recipe featuring spludd as the main ingredient is this sweet and spicy cake.

Pictures made with ArtBreeder.

Dionysians

Description

Dionysians are the native inhabitants of the planet Dionysus. Outwardly, they very closely resemble humans, except for some prominent ridges on their foreheads. Dionysus is a tropical world with a very mild climate, a plentiful abundance of edible plants, and few large predators. As a result the Dionysians faced relatively low survival pressure, and didn’t develop high technology.

Dionysian brow ridges likely evolved due to the warm temperatures of their home planet. In the tropical climes of Dionysus, the Dionysian body perspires considerably more than a similar human. Their brow-ridges act as an effective mechanism for channeling perspiration away from their eyes, while also being permeated by a substantial quantity of blood-vessels, so that they act as radiators to more effectively shed body heat.

Dionysians tend to have a relatively optimistic psychology compared to humans. Because of their tropical home-world, Dionysians tend to have slightly darker complexions than humans do. Dionysians and humans tend to be about equal in terms of height and weight.

The large areas of physical and psychological similarity between humans and Dionysians make relations between the two species particularly warm and close. Even though the two are separate species incapable of producing offspring together, there is a long history of intermarriage between the two. A common turn of phrase among humans in the old core worlds is to describe a spouse married for companionship with no intention of having children as a “Dionysian Wife”. (“Dionysian Husband” is also used, though less frequently.)

History

Before contact with the outside world, most Dionysians lived in small, nomadic bands, living off the land, with a few permanent settlements. Among these wandering groups were a very wide range of languages, religions and cultures. There was enough variety among these groups that picking a single name to describe the people and their world was rather problematic. Overall, most of the Dionysian cultures were peaceful, as resources were plentiful and life was easy. Warfare was uncommon, and short lived when it did occur.

Some of the early xenographers to study the Dionysians arrived at a time when most of the groups they visited were in the midst of a season of festivals, and their early reports commented on the “Dionysian” ways of the revelers. This turn of phrase was quickly picked up, and became the default descriptor for the people and their world. Also a factor in the rapid uptake of this name is the fact that Dionysus is also home to a number of trees that produce alcoholic fruit, most notably the del-brikki.

First contacted by scouts of the Astrophysical Survey in GSC 155, the Dionysians were relatively quick to join the Planetary League. Most Dionysians were favorably impressed with these outsiders and their alien technology. Within about a century of first contact, most of the various cultures had formed an ad-hoc government that quickly joined the Planetary League officially.

Early on, much commerce with the Planetary League and other outsiders centered around the del-brikki and other alcoholic fruit. This allowed many local gatherers to achieve a level of wealth previously unknown on their planet. As time went on, alcoholic fruit production became systematic, and as era-1 drew to a close, powerful corporate interests muscled their way in and began exploiting the local land and population for profit.

Squidbeast

Description

The Squidbeast is a large predatory animal native to New Promise. Terrifying the settlers, and preying off of smaller native animals, the largest populations of these creatures are found on the arid steppes, roughly in the triangle between Franklin City, Annan City, and Alexandria.

Vorgons

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History

Vorgons evolved on New Albuquerque, (the original vorgon name for the planet has been lost to time) the lone native life-form that we would consider to be properly intelligent. Early in their prehistory, however, a large cosmic impact left their home-world largely arid, and the species which had evolved to live in a tropical, rain-forest-like habitat had to adapt to deserts and scrubland. Life was hard for the early vorgons, and as a consequence, their strength and stature diminished considerably.

New Albuquerque is a rare planet in that it exists as a habitable world in the midst of a stellar graveyard. Many of the planet’s neighbors are white dwarfs, black holes, or neutron stars. As a result, the region is constantly subject to cosmic storms, and is the site of a remarkably large number of shipwrecks. As a result, the vorgons learned, early in their history, to be scavengers and engineers, using the available cast-off materials to maximum advantage.

About 50,000 years ago, during the height of the 1,000 Years war, a fierce battle was fought on and around New Albuquerque by the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, and the forces of Troniac. The battle of the three moons left many additional scars on the planet, and saw many vorgons conscripted into the imperial army, or subjected to various genetic engineering experiments. Most of the vorgons who live beyond the confines of New Albuquerque are the descendants of the diaspora from this period. After the war, the Empire made New Albuquerque into a scrap and salvage -yard.

Later, the lost colony ship Garcia’s Hope from the newly-formed Planetary League crash-landed on New Albuquerque, giving it the name that it bears to this day. In the meantime, the descendants of the vorgon exodus were gradually spreading tenuously throughout the galaxy, often serving as engineers aboard the vessels of the Nomad Armies and Breakaway States that cut loose from the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns around the time of the 1,000 Years War.

Biology

Vorgons are carbon- and water- based life-forms, like most in this galaxy. Omnivorous in diet, they still prefer a carnivorous cuisine. In desert environs, though, they will eat basically whatever presents itself. They have two biological sexes, of which, only females posses hair (usually black in color). Vorgons tend to be nocturnal in habit.

Names

Download: Vorgon Name Generator for Windows

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“Oh, goody! I jus’ finded this beautiful golden ring jus’ rattlin’ aroun’ out here in the junkyard. Finders keepers!”

The Dogarri

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History

The Dogarri were an intelligent species from a planet that was ejected from their solar system when their technology was comparable to that of the United States in the 1980s. For centuries they drifted through the void, surviving underground off the geothermal energy of their home-world, Dogar-dann. As the human race was starting to expand into the galaxy, around the time of the first Convergence war, human scouts discovered Dogar-dann in interstellar space, as it was also the target of Convergence aggression. Soon after the Dogarri and the Planetary League joined in an alliance for mutual defense. Dogar-dann maintained its independence, but many Dogarri joined the League.

Biology

Dogarri are short and compact compared to humans, with powerful muscles and stronger skeletons due to Dogar-dann’s relatively high gravity.

Engineering culture

Dogarri culture emphasizes engineering and construction as important fields. This is due both to the high gravity of their home-world requiring sturdy construction techniques, and to the fact that they were beset by cosmic catastrophe. Survival underground on a frozen planet caused the Dogarri to value these endeavors even more. The Dogarri are known throughout the galaxy for their prowess at architecture and engineering.

Egg-beer

Dogarri egg-beer is made when the eggs of a Dorrik-braagh (a large, birdlike animal) are slow-fermented in a broth made from vort-grass. The results are remarkably similar to Earth-beer, plus you get a tasty alcohol-saturated egg to eat at the end. (This does not taste as bad as it sounds.)

Bravaxian Grunkle-fly

The Bravaxian Grunkle-fly is a species native to Bravaxia (home-world of the Bravaxians).  Grunkle-flies are diurnal omnivores with three sexes (like Bravaxians, and most other animal species from Bravaxia).  Grunkle-flies are semi-buoyant in Bravaxia's thick atmosphere, and their main mode of locomotion is to fly on four paddle-shaped wings.  They have six eyes, and breathe through a series of small openings that run down the length of their bodies on both sides.  

Life Cycle

Grunkle-flies hatch from eggs laid by a female, and fertilized by both a left-male and right-male.  They mature over a period of about five weeks, and are about the size of a watermellon when fully grown.  They typically live as adults and reproduce for three Bravaxian years, occasionally living an additional year in old age.

Hunted for Food

Before the arrival of the Convergence on Bravaxia, the Bravaxians hunted Grunkle-flies for their diaphanous flesh, which has the odor and flavor of rotting fish.  Greys in the Convergence prize Grunkle-fly meat for this flavor (which Humans find repellent).  Along with Grabage-fruit, it was one of Bravaxia's major exports during the Convergence occupation.  Grunkle-fly meat is edible by Humans, though few actually enjoy it.  Bravaxians also use the sharp teeth of the Grunkle-fly as spearheads.

The Grand Nalaxian

The Grand Nalaxian was a series of modified Nalorgian spawning pools, created by the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns shortly after the conquest of Artanis 4.  The Grand Nalaxian was based on several other such pools that had started to develop a sort of autonomy, and had influence over the Nalorgians of their regions, but the Grand Nalaxian was vastly more complex and had its own consciousness.

The Grand Nalaxian was intended as a planetary governor, a role which it served well, but it also transcended its original purpose and became a vast repository of knowledge.  One of its most notable achievements was the creation of the Nalaxian Code, an algorithm that could protect robots from the influence of Troniac, during the 1,000 Years War. 

A huge palace was built around the Grand Nalaxian after it was established on the largest continent of the Artanis system, and beings from across the Spozak gathered there to exchange knowledge and seek the advice of the Nalaxian.  Nalorgians entering the pools could directly exchange memories with the Grand Nalaxian, and it was home to the most elite of the symbiotes. 

During the War of the Empires, the most productive and intelligent sections of the Grand Nalaxian were secreted away by the imperial government, with help from the Yatagarasu, and eventually became part of the nascent Galactic Republic on the planet Tartarus.

The conscious existence of the Grand Nalaxian stretched from the early days of the E1MS until it joined the Galactic Consciousness, midway through Era-2, giving it the longest living memory in the recorded history of the galaxy, even longer than the famously long memories of the Gorox.

Bravaxians

History

Bravaxians are an intelligent species from the planet Bravaxia.  They lived at a stone-age (paleolithic) level of technological development before they were discovered by the Convergence (about 5000 years ago).  

The Bravaxians were enslaved by the Convergence as farmers, growing certain plants and animals from their home planet that the Convergence valued as food.  Chief among these were Garbage-fruit, and the Grunkle-fly.

The Convergence controlled the Bravaxians by creating "gods", bio-engineered beings with cybernetic brains, designed to resemble gods from various Bravaxian religions.  

Believers flock to see Oovex Snirk, one of the gods created by the Convergence. Snirk was a god of the hunt, and was used to teach the Bravaxians agriculture as well as to collect sacrifices of valuable foodstuffs.

The Convergence also came to utilize the Bravaxians themselves as a food source, (as an extension of the Bravaxians' own cannibalistic practices), and this was facilitated by having the "gods" demand sacrifices.  Bravaxian flesh is prized by the Convergence, because it has a narcotic effect on Greys.  The Greys who oversaw and harvested the Bravaxians always made a show of being the servants of the "gods" they created.

During the third Convergence War, the Planetary League liberated the Bravaxian home-world, which became an independent world.

Biology

Bravaxians are oxygen-breathing, omnivorous vertebrates with three sexes.  

Their skeletons are made of a cartilage-like tissue that is softer than the skeletons of most life-forms.  

Their mouths are bordered by a set of four prehensile tentacles that give them a limited amount of fine manipulation ability.  Bravaxian saliva is dark blue, but also slightly phosphorescent.

Their short legs make them slow, and easy targets for predators, which drove them to work together for mutual defense, causing them to develop culture and language.  

Female Bravaxians lay eggs, which are then fertilized by one parent of each of the other two sexes ( "left-male" and "right-male").  Female Bravaxians make up about 20% of the population, while left- and right- males each account for about 40%.   To untrained human eyes the three sexes of Bravaxian appear indistinguishable.  They are mainly identified by scent among themselves, but subtle variations of coloration and tentacle length can reveal the sex of a Bravaxian as well.

Culture

Before the coming of the Convergence, Bravaxians lived in small tribes and villages with polytheistic and animistic religions.  They lived in simple covered nests, and subsisted by hunting and gathering.  

Cannibalism is fairly common among Bravaxians, usually by one's own family members after a violent death (they avoid eating family who died of disease).  Bravaxian flesh is sweet-tasting, but mildly toxic to humans. 

Bravaxian writing was traditionally accomplished via tentacle, using saliva on pieces of wood.  Their saliva being dark blue, yet phosphorescent remains visible in both light and dark conditions, which is useful in the flickering light of the forest floors where Bravaxians live.  In Bravaxian culture, a written statement isn't considered authentic or sincere unless it is written in the author's own saliva.  This was initially a problem for the Convergence in their dealings with the Bravaxians, as Greys (like humans) have transparent saliva, meaning they were seen as inherently untrustworthy because things written in it could not be seen.  The Greys who dealt with Bravaxians on a regular basis genetically modified themselves to have Bravaxian-style saliva, in order to circumvent this problem.  After long subjugation by the Convergence, little remained of traditional Bravaxian cultures, and most learned to write in Convergence Script.

Each of the sexes generally exhibit one of two genders.  The genders are defined largely by what role they play in daily life, either tending the nests or hunting/gathering.  The majority of female Bravaxians are of the nest-tending gender, (being both relatively rare and biologically important as egg-layers, there is a lot of social pressure to keep them safely at home), while left- and right- males both tend to take up the hunting/gathering genders.

Habitat

The natural habitat of the Bravaxians is the floor of the wind-forests of Bravaxia.  These forests are dominated by tall trees.  The leaves of these trees are constantly agitated by the wind, creating constantly flickering daylight on the floor of the forest, which bravaxian eyes are highly adapted to.  After their liberation, when Bravaxians were able to build their own technological civilization, this adaptation to flickering light found expression in the form of their light fixtures which are designed to flicker constantly, much to the annoyance of other species.