Spire Trees

View fullsize

Spire trees growing in the Shadowlands of Neo-Jalisco

Spire trees are tall, thin, genetically-engineered relatives of cypress trees that evolved to inhabit the low-gravity and perpetual twilight of the Shadowland Bogs on Neo-Jalisco.   The low light levels of the tree's natural environment made its needles grow black, in order to absorb all available light.

They were engineered as living security devices, designed to repel or kill intruders on the grounds of the estates of minor nobility in the star kingdoms of the Sagittarius Rim.  Spire trees are sensitive to infrared, which allows them to detect intruders.  When this happens, special growths under the branches of the tree release clouds of a potent neurotoxin.  In small doses, the toxin induces nightmarish hallucinations.  At higher doses, it kills the victim.  Spire trees are generally planted as defensive windbreaks, so if an intruder gets too close, a small dose of toxin is released.  If this does not deter the intruder, the other trees in close proximity release enough of the agent that it should kill any vertebrate unprotected by full-environmental armor.

Wuxria

Wuxria (singular form is Wuxrian, as is the adjective) are native to the planet Scharlaff in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.  They are an intelligent species who never achieved a technological culture on their own due to a lack of fine manipulation ability. 

View fullsize

Physiology

Wuxria are large and pear-shaped. They do not have heads separate from their bodies.  Their ears are large flaps that hang down the sides of their bodies. 

Their arms are long, flat tentacles without hands. 

Wuxria have short, stocky legs, and broad feet that give them a waddling gate. 

Wuxria have only one eye; however its motion while walking provides an amount of depth-perception comparable to what would be expected if they had two.  The downside of this arrangement is that they lose depth-perception while standing still.

Male Wuxria are mottled brown and grey in color, and are larger than the females.  An average adult male would weigh about 800lbs in Earth's gravity.

Female Wuxria are smaller than the males, an average adult female would weigh 500lbs on Earth.  Female Wuxria are bright pink in color, but as they age, their skin gradually darkens to purple.

Culture

Before they were conquered by the E1MS, the Wuxria were omnivorous pack hunters who lived in small villages for mutual defense.  Their structures were simple arrangements of stacked stones and logs.  While their languages were well-developed, they had only a rudimentary writing system, due to their lack of hands.  Most Wuxrian languages combine spoken and gestural elements.  This has caused most xenographers to classify the pre-contact Wuxrian culture as a storyteller civilization.

After conquest, the Wuxria were afforded only a low-caste standing in the empire, largely due to their lack of technical savvy.  They were valuable; however, for the large amount of physical labor they were able to do, due to their large size.

It became common for young Wuxria to have a neural interface implanted as a right of passage, as this would allow them to control robotic limbs, letting them participate in a technological culture that expected its members to have hands.  Members of several fundamentalist religious sects refused this custom, preferring the old ways.  Some influential families had gene therapy procedures done to give their future descendants biological hands.

Wuxria also adapted to life in the empire by taking to wearing pants.  Their lack of hands left them unable to make clothing on their own, and after being introduced to technology the fashion was to wear pants with integrated shoes as the primary article of clothing.  Wuxria seldom cover their upper bodies.

Wuxria spread throughout the empire, and many even joined the various breakaway states and pirate bands that left the empire.

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.

View fullsize

“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.

View fullsize

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.

Fire-grass

Fire-grass, also known as "Settler's Surprise", is a short, perennial grass native to the arid regions of New Promise.  Fire-grass has light blue-green leaves, and in the early summer produces small, white flowers.  Its most notable property is that which gives it its name.  The leaves of fire-grass contain a chemical that reacts violently with uric acid, bursting into flames when coming into contact with the substance.  Most animals in the regions where fire-grass grows do not excrete uric acid. 

When New Promise was first settled, several explorers, answering nature's call outdoors, were surprised to discover that they had inadvertently started grass-fires by doing so.  As farming and ranching operations expanded on the planet, extra care had to be taken to avoid the placement of animal-pastures in areas with fire-grass, and anyone needing to relieve themselves out-doors had to be careful of the vegetation. 

Fire-grass became a profitable export for the planet, being sold dried in sealed packets in kits of survival gear, as a means of starting a fire in an emergency. 

Saurexian Rock-Toads

The Saurexian rock-toad is descended from common toads from Earth, that were on board the colony ship that crashed on New Albuquerque.  Over the years, these toads evolved to survive the conditions of their new home. 

One of these adaptations caused their cells to produce a chemical commonly used by the Holy Empire of Man in their nano-weapons.  As a result, refugees from the Planetary League, fleeing the Great Reckoning, who had been inoculated with defensive nanotechnology, and came into direct contact with these toads were treated to a bizarre sight.  The defensive nanobots would disintegrate Saurexian rock-toads in a spectacular fashion.

See:  Tail of the Toad God

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.

View fullsize

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.

Ool-Tyr

Description

The Ool-Tyr are an intelligent life-form from the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns that evolved in zero-gravity.  When the first explorers from the E1MS reached the nebula known as Ool-Tygnoth (home of the Ool-Tyr, and one of the early systems explored by the E1MS), the Ool-Tyr lived in a pre-technological state, hunting and gathering the plants and animals that grow there.  After they were conquered by the Empire, the Ool-Tyr often took on the role of piloting spacecraft, for which their lives in free-fall made them uniquely well suited.  Eventually, many Ool-Tyr ended up buying or stealing their ships, and setting out on lives of piracy.  In fact Ool-Tyr pirates became so successful, that they helped drive the Empire into a defensive stance, and an over-reliance on star-gates for interstellar travel and trade.  

An Ool-Tyr's body is spherical, with four large tentacles in a tetrahedral arrangement, and four large eyes, also in a tetrahedral arrangement.  Eating, breathing, reproduction, and removal of waste are all handled through body orifices, which are between the tentacles.  The tentacles are used for locomotion (both by grappling, and by expelling inhaled air through orifices in the ends of the tentacles), and for speech (through the same orifices).  

Ool-Tyr vary in color from light blue to dark purple.  As they age, their color gradually fades to grey or beige.

At birth, an Ool-Tyr is about the size of a basketball.  Since they live in free-fall, gravity imposes no limits to an Ool-Tyr's size, and they continue growing throughout their life-cycles.  The oldest of them can be quite impressively large.

View fullsize

Greys

Description

Long ago, before the 1,000 Years War, the Greys split off genetically from the Cielioid Grey Subspecies.  The Cielioid Greys are specialized trash collectors and scavengers, and as such tend to work at night.  As a result of this, they lost their photosynthetic pigmentation, and took on fungal characteristics.  They also developed specialized organs for communicating non-verbally using radio waves.  Greys lack the dual-metabolism of Cielioids, and as a result are pure oxygen breathers, like humans.

When the Greys split from the Cielioid Greys, they lost their beaks.  They speak rarely, using only simple language.  As a replacement for speech, their brain-to-brain radio linking ability took over to the point that they freely form hive minds among themselves.  Individual Greys have only vestigial personalities.  Because of this, they are sensitive to radio interference, as it disrupts their ability to think.

Sensitivity to radio interference drives Greys to seek out isolated parts of space, far from other technological civilizations.  Greys tend to take a hostile view toward civilizations that produce a lot of radio noise, but this hostility tends to be expressed passive-aggressively in the form of information and psychological warfare tactics.

Grey cuisine tends to be in the form of mushes and soups made of scavenged and recycled organic waste.

Greys reproduce asexually, through spores, and have lost the outward manifestations of their reproductive organs.  The spores are released through small pores located near the center of the abdomen.  These spores are deposited in communal nurseries, where they form a mycelium-like structure, and are tended by designated caretakers.  In time, the mycelium develops a fruiting body that grows into a new Grey.

Some Greys still live in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, but the majority of them left to form The Convergence, one of the first of the Breakaway States, well before the 1,000 Years War.

Notable Subspecies

The Brute is a subspecies of Grey engineered for physical strength.

The Convergence Node is a subspecies developed within the Convergence that acts as a communications hub.

The Spring-heeled Jack is a subspecies of Grey engineered to hunt down the enemies of the Convergence.

View fullsize