The Zoctol were an aquatic species until relatively recently. Their full grown height is about that of a human, but their mass and volume is substantially greater due to their octopus-like form. They lack the sense of hearing, and rely on digital devices to pick up on vibrations and translate them into writing to understand spoken languages. Zoctari languages are gesture-based, and the Zoctol often learn a modified version of sign language when in broader society. Each of a Zoctol's eyes is connected directly to a small brain, each of which connects to it's neighbors. All these brains work together to make the Zoctol quite intelligent by human standards. Each Zoctol has a single large orifice located in the midst of their tentacles that serves as the main gateway for eating, breathing, waste removal and reproduction. Zoctari reproduction involves a female Zoctol laying an egg in a nest (the egg is about the size of a basketball, and gradually expands until hatching), then the male and female Zoctol take turns sitting on the egg, slathering it in a viscous solution of half-digested nutrients to feed the growing child. When human explorers first encountered the Zoctol, their technology was transitioning from the paleolithic to the neolithic level, and most Zoctol lived in scattered tribes along the coastlines of their home planet.
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.
Juffalope
Named for its discoverer, Dr. Argos Juffle, the Juffalope is a grazing, herd-living animal native to Fitzgerald's world.
Unique Traits
The fact that its home-world has no significant land predators has allowed the Juffalope to evolve several traits that would not survive in other environments:
-Its white skin is spotted in pastel hues, making it immediately visible in the landscape.
-The Juffalope's three long, feather-like tails would be easy for a predator to grab.
-Also, it's painfully slow gait is due to joints ill-adapted to running.
-The Juffalope's long, slender neck terminates in a comically small head. The Juffalope has no ears, making it completely deaf. The Juffalope's brain is quite small, which has the side-effect of making it remarkably easy to tame. The small mouth and slender neck of the Juffalope make grazing an almost constant activity (except during mating season), as it has a hard time swallowing enough food to power its body.
Life-cycle
Juffalopes gestate for a short three months. Mothers typically give birth to a litter of three or four offspring at a time. The young juffalope is quite small, only weighing about ten pounds, but begins walking and grazing almost immediately after birth.
Juffalopes grow to maturity quickly, being able to reproduce after only two local years. Adults can grow quite large, and specimens weighing over 2000kg are not unknown.
The average lifespan of a Juffalope is around 120 Earth-years, the most common cause of death being old age, although occasionally a disease or food shortage will devastate a population, felling entire herds.
Economics
Juffalopes found some market value as pets during Era-1. During Era-2, with its scarcity-based economy, Juffalopes also became livestock. Juffalope meat has an exceptionally mild flavor (often attributed to the low stress lifestyle of the Juffalope). Juffalope hide also became somewhat popular in clothing during Era-2 for its unusual coloration.
Takarrans
Biology
Takarrans are biologically most similar to amphibians. They have gills on the sides of their necks, and during early childhood live entirely underwater. Around the age of five Earth years, young Takarrans start breathing air, and gradually come to spend most of their time on land. The ability to breathe water is never lost, though, and in old age, many retire underwater.
Takarrans eat an omnivorous diet.
The Takarran reproductive system is very similar to that of humans. Mothers give birth to live young, and produce milk through mammary glands.
Takarrans have smooth skin, and come in two distinct ethnic groups, based on the color of their skin. All Takarrans have pale underbellies and faces, but their backs and limbs are either bright red or purple, except for rare takarrans of mixed heritage who’s coloration is a iridescent mix of red and purple.
Takarran ears project out of the tops of their heads, and, like those of a cat can be turned in different directions to listen or to express emotion.
A Takarran's eyes are nearly black in color, and are adjusted to a bluer spectrum than human eyes, as their home star is an F-class star.
“I’ll tell you what kind of work environment suits me best: the corner office.“ -Kurgun Dakk
The Lu'Tak are one of the two main subspecies of Takarrans, and their cultures tend to focus on ambition and power. Since the diaspora from their home-world, they are often found in the corporate states, plotting their ways up the corporate ladder.
Red-Takarran(Ki’Tak): Most Ki’Tak are trying to conserve their original cultures after their home-world was overrun by machine intelligences, as a result, the majority of Ki’Tak live in or near bodies of water.
History
Early in their history, Takarrans were separated by geographical barriers onto two separate continents. Those on the Eastern Continent became the Purple-Takarrans (known as the Lu’Tak in their native tongue), and those on the Western Continent became the Red-Takarrans (called the Ki’Tak). For tens of thousands of years these two groups lived in isolation from one another.
They advanced technologically at roughly the same pace, but with wildly different cultures. Red-Takarrans were relatively peaceful (when left to their own devices) with an emphasis on egalitarian principals and individuality. Meanwhile, the Purple-Takarrans developed a highly stratified society, where leadership was determined through physical combat.
When explorers from the Red-Takarrans first met the Purple-Takarrans, cultural misunderstandings rapidly escalated into war. Wars, genocides, raids, and other atrocities marred the relationship between the two groups for centuries, until one particularly bloody conflict ended especially badly for both sides. An uneasy truce settled over their home-world, and eventually developed into a cold war.
During the Takarran cold-war, an arms-race developed between the two sides. The focus of this arms race was on artificial intelligence and robotics, leading to the creation of the Cryptobots by the purple takarrans, and the Defendrons by the red takarrans. Combat robots from the two sides occasionally clashed in clandestine battles, hidden from public view. Over time, each side contrived to infiltrate its own combat robots into the other side's territory, disguised as innocuous pieces of civilian technology.
On the day the inevitable war broke out, civilians on both sides were completely unaware of the fatal threat hiding in plain sight. As cars, trains, toasters and even televisions revealed their true nature, whole populations were caught entirely off guard, and mercilessly slaughtered in a matter of minutes.
Very few Takarrans on either side survived the conflict. Most of the survivors were hunters and gatherers or subsistence farmers with little access to technology. Those who wandered too close to civilization died at the hands of the still-active robots, and so the survivors quickly learned to fear technology.
The robots of Takara Prime, never sure if reinforcements for the other side of the war would eventually arrive, continued to maintain the cities and farms where they were deployed. This left an eerie discovery for the first explorers from the Planetary League Astrophysical Survey (PLAS) , when they arrived in GSC 179. (See: Exodus) The Cryptobots discovered the possibilities of atmospheric flight and space travel from the arrival of the Planetary League, endangering the remaining red takarrans, and prompting a rescue mission from the Planetary League. Many of the Cryptobots also left the planet in the cargo holds of unsuspecting explorers, treasure hunters, and archaeologists. Then, after allying with General Zarlok, the Cryptobots turned on their creators, the purple takarrans, prompting a second rescue. The rise of the Cryptobots led to the beginning of the Second Robot War in GSC 184.
Eventually, the Planetary League was able to safely resettle much of the remaining population of Takarrans on other worlds. Gradually, the Takarran population started to thrive again in their new homes, but the lingering animosity between the red and purple races was slow to fade.
Sporlak
Sporlak on Albion4
Sporlaks are large, amphibious animals, native to Albion 4. Their build resembles that of a sauropod dinosaur. Sporlaks have a variety of adaptations for their native habitat, beaches and shallow seas. Their large, webbed feet are broad enough to keep them from sinking into the sand, and their gills allow them to breathe under water indefinitely. Their backs support a row of spiny projections, possibly vestigial remnants from a time when sporlaks were fully aquatic.
Diurnal in habit, sporlaks are omnivorous, mostly eating seaweed, but also opportunistically dining on fish and land animals alike. Sporlaks dig nests on the beach where they lay their eggs. Soon after hatching, the juveniles make their way to the sea.
Subspecies
Dwarf Sporlaks evolved after the crew of Zoe Bonnard's ship brought sporlak eggs they had collected as biological specimens when they crash landed on Bonnard's End. That planet's biosphere was relatively simple, and could not support full-sized sporlaks, so evolutionary pressure shrunk them considerably.
Exo-plankton
There is a thin veil of life permeating the galaxy. Most of it is lumped together under the category of "exo-plankton", a term that describes a wide array of simple life-forms found living in deep space. Human explorers first confirmed the existence of exo-plankton in the mid-2000's, when samples from the asteroid belt were found to contain simple viruses.
General types
- Organic molecules and prions
- viruses
- spores, and spore-like cells
- exo-bacteria
- other plant- and animal-like microorganisms
The more complex microorganisms are typically found near the frost-lines of stars where the temperature is in the range where volatile compounds can exist in liquid form. Typically, in the region closer to a star than the inner boundary of the habitable zone, the more complex forms are absent, with only viruses, spores and molecular types present.
Nalorgian Colony Beings
Inspired by an original concept by Fred Graves
Description
Nalorgian colony beings are not individual organisms, so much as the symbiotic fusion of four different species. They stand about 1.5 Meters high, and most of the component organisms live on average about 20 years, although the combined symbiotic organism can live substantially longer as new organisms replace those that die. Their "feet", and the ends of their "fingers" are suction-cup like organs that allow the Nalorgian to hold onto things. Nalorgians are omnivorous.
The symbiotic nature of their anatomy gives Nalorgians the distinct trait of being modular. If one of the constituent organisms dies, it can be replaced by another of the same gender and species.
Nalorgians are native to the planet Artanis 4, but have spread throughout the galaxy. Nalorgians lived at a level of technological development similar to the Victorian period when they were conquered by the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns. Many Nalorgians later joined with Ool-Tyr pirates, and together they formed the Nomad Armies, the fiercest and most dreaded enemies of the E1MS.
Anatomy
The body section, and the head section of the Nalorgian are the female, and the male members, respectively, of a semi-aquatic species, and live in a mated pair until one or both die. This species includes some different subspecies that give certain populations of Nalorgians distinct body plans.
The arm sections are from an aquatic, fish-like species, and they also live in mated pairs, which takes place through the mediation of the body section. The left arm is always male, and the right is always female.
The leg sections are a third, fish-like species that also live in mated pairs, joined by the body section. The left leg is always female, and the right is always male.
Finally, Nalorgia is a microbe that lives in special organs found in the three other species, and acts as a central nervous system, coordinating the others.
Life Cycle
The component organisms of a Nalorgian are all either aquatic, or semi-aquatic, and they start their lives in shallow ponds, like those that cover much of the surface of Artanis 4, their home-world. These ponds are teeming with the Nalorgia microorganism that permeates the others.
As they mature, the head and the body mate first. Then they are joined in the water by the arms, and finally the legs join the symbiosis, and the fully formed Nalorgian stands up, and wades out of the pond.
Adult Nalorgians spend the majority of their time on land, although they can live comfortably in the water as well. From time to time, adult Nalorgians seek out a pond to lay the eggs of the three bodily species, and to release some of the Nalorgia. If one of the component organisms dies, the remaining portion of the Nalorgian, (if viable), will seek out a breeding pond in order to find a new, compatible mate.
Related Life-forms
The Grand Nalaxian was a sentient complex of spawning pools that served as planetary governor, and created the Nalaxian Code.
Subspecies
The Climber is adapted to rough, mountainous terrain.
Thanians
Thanians are an intelligent, aquatic species from a planet almost entirely covered by water. The home star of the Thanians is an anomaly, as it burns primarily with green light, not overpowered by other wavelengths in the visible spectrum. The reason for this is unknown, as nature does not normally produce green stars, and the thanian home-world lies in remote, relatively unexplored sector of the galaxy.
Physiology: Thanian physiology tends to be fairly variable, largely due to bio-modification technology. What follows is a description of the most common traits. A Thanian’s head resembles a cephalopod, with two large eyes facing forward for hunting. Thanians tend to be blue-green in color. Thanians typically have a torso that resembles a human torso, but with four arms instead of two. Most Thanians do not have legs, but do have a tail, configured horizontally, like a whale’s. Thanians breathe water through gills, like fish. The gas-filled organ that Thanians use to control their depth is also capable of producing a wide variety of sounds, this is used both for communication and echolocation. Thanians are omnivorous, but are biased toward eating meat. Contact with the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns has introduced Thanians to bio-modification technology, which has produced a wide variety of forms, including land-adapted Thanians.
Thanians are an egg-laying species, and the physical characteristics that distinguish male and female Thanians are not immediately obvious to casual human observers. Thanians are similar to humans in proportions, with adults generally ranging from 1.5 to 2 meters in length, massing 50-100 kg.
Culture: Thanian society and culture had advanced to a state similar to that of the middle ages, before they were conquered by the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns. Government was based on a feudal model, with fairly large, settled kingdoms divided into smaller fiefdoms. There were also significant populations of nomadic Thanians. Like the middle ages on Earth, religion tended to dominate Thanian politics, with the largest religion wielding substantial power over the dealings of many of the larger states.
The largest, most influential Thanian religion worships a huge creature, said to be sleeping in the deepest part of the ocean. The trench where the creature is said to lie is so deep that the pressure is too high for Thanians, or even the most advanced submarines to descend. The faithful say that one day the creature will awaken, and ascend to destroy the world.
Tech: Thanian technology was primitive compared to their culture, due to the fact that the native environment of Thanians is underwater. Without fire, metal could not be smelted. Even though some wood-bearing plants could be grown in the shallower areas, wood was rarely used as a building material, and the manufacture of paper was basically impossible. Thanians also did not develop dyes, although the seaweed of their homeworld grew in a wide enough variety of colors for most purposes. Most Thanian tech consisted of stone, seaweed fibers, and the scales, shells, and bones of the local fauna. Bioluminescence also figures prominently in Thanian technology, as many deep-dwelling species produce some form of the phenomenon.
Thanian writing systems are typically achieved by tying knots in cords made of seaweed fiber, similar to the Incan system. Their arts include poetry, drama, and song, with the visual arts lagging behind due to technological limitations, although they do have some, mainly in the form of earthwork sculpture made from stacked earth and stone.
Thanian buildings are made primarily of stone. The first Thanian buildings were communal nests to protect their eggs from predators. These later had storehouses attached to them, and eventually developed into elaborate, underwater castles and temples.
Thanians tend not to wear clothing, but are biologically well adapted to a wide range of temperatures. Their blood contains a natural antifreeze agent.
Thanian warriors generally use two distinct weapons, a double-ended trident, and a net with weights attached around its perimeter. The tridents are traditionally carved from the bones of large fish, although after contact with the outside world, metal and composite models became popular.
