Encephaloids

Throughout history, the size of the human head, and the brain has been limited by biology.  With the invention of the artificial womb, late in era-0, that limit was lifted.  Over many generations, this development led, with some assistance from genetic engineering, to the emergence of a subspecies of human, known as the Encephaloids.

Encephaloids mainly consisted of a large brain with just enough of a body to keep it alive.  Most spent their lives connected to large information systems, and frequently life-support assistance equipment to support their vestigial bodies.  Encephaloids usually took on careers that involved large amounts of information, as their large brains, and vestigial limbs made them uniquely unsuited for physical labor.

Many ships with an Encephaloid crew member had a special room, commonly known as “Mother’s Basement” that was built to house them in a supportive fluid matrix where they could spend all their time doing computational work attached to the ship’s computer system with all of their biological needs cared for by machines.

During the Great Reckoning, Encephaloids nearly went extinct as the Holy Empire of Man hunted them, because they were percieved as abberrations.

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.

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. 

Lantern-vine

Of the unique life-forms of Aldebaran 2, the lantern-vine is one of the most popular.  It is a climbing vine that bears large, bio-luminescent flowers. 

In the wild, lantern-vine pollination is dependent on nocturnal insects attracted by the vine's glowing flowers.

The flowers only bloom for a few days during the warmest part of the summer.  Aldebaran 2 has a rather long year compared to most inhabited worlds, but the lantern-vine adapted rather easily to worlds with shorter seasons, making it a popular ornamental addition to gardens throughout the galaxy.

In places where lantern-vines grow in abundance, people often have evening festivals and parties to enjoy the illuminated blossoms of the plant.  The summer blooming is considered a romantic eventfor couples to go out together. 

Bravaxian Garbage-fruit

Bravaxian garbage-fruit is a large melon, notable for its pungent odor (similar to rotting garbage).  The Melon's skin is bright red with white spots, the flesh is pure white, with small, black seeds.  The foul scent of the melon can be removed by steaming off the skin.

Garbage-fruit grows on short vines with square leaves that grow in the marshy quarters of the Wind-forests on Bravaxia.  The garbage-fruit vine has small, deep-red flowers.  When the Greys arrived on Bravaxia, garbage-fruit was a commonly gathered food. It turned out to be relatively easy to domesticate, and became a cornerstone crop of the agricultural economy.

Even when de-scented and carefully prepared, garbage-fruit is unpalatable to humans due to its bland flavor and soggy, pulpy texture.  The experience of eating it is said to be similar to eating wet cardboard.  Greys, and Bravaxians on the other hand thoroughly enjoy garbage-fruit, savoring its odor and texture. 

Growing garbage-fruit was one of the main occupations of Bravaxian slaves during the Convergence occupation of Bravaxia.  Even after the occupation ended during the third Convergence War, Garbage-fruit remained one of Bravaxia's chief exports.  For Bravaxians, garbage-fruit is a staple of their diet.  Among Greys, garbage-fruit is a sought-after delicacy.  On human worlds, its pulpy texture made it useful for the production of cheap paper, and its low price often made it a foodstuff of last resort for the desperately poor.

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.

Spire Trees

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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.