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41971a.jpg
Lady Twilight Bud
41971a
And now: Scellorverse aliens!
From left to right.
Hetketten, or martians, were resurrected by Humans who had discovered the remnants of their long-extinct civilization deep beneath the surface of the red planet. The ecosystem from which they had evolved had drawn its energy from the heat of Mars' molten core, and died when it cooled. As a subterranean race, their technology had developed along far different lines, but in some respects they were more advanced than humanity was at the time. These more advanced elements were, of course, ripped off without qualm, leading to the development of fusion power for the human race, among other advances, and somewhat of a social/cultural revolution. Using information left in ancient long-storage devices, some humans revived the people of mars through cloning, though the first few generations had some rather terrible health problems. Hetketten - the original name for themselves, discovered after long and difficult translation efforts - are blind, unable to sense light but equipped with echolocation, a strong sense of smell and heat pits in place of eyes to allow them to "see" temperature. Their cloning caused a huge ethical stir, but fortunately as a race they're naturally rather peaceful and cooperative. In time, humans and hetketten (though the latter remain a tiny minority compared to the human population) developed basic gravitic technology and produced a rudimentary system of FTL travel, which was only really useful for in-system travel but attracted other aliens to the solar system. Thus they are technically considered to have developed FTL without assistance, which is a prestigious achievement in the galactic community.
Thorr Worms developed intelligence solely for social interaction, with one worm capable of communicating with hundreds of others at a time through vibrations, thanks to their unique segmented brains. Discovered by aliens, a small number of thorr worms volunteer (or are coerced) to be fitted with cybernetic implants that allow them to participate in the rest of the galaxy's modes of communication, and live profitable lives as living communication nodes, dealing with tasks that require observation and coordination on massive scales. Unfortunately, since these implants have to go on the outside, augmented worms can no longer dig. Thorr worms are hermaphrodic and don't involve themselves with each other much to mate; one worm leaves a package of genetic material for another to use, usually by arrangement, but they don't particularly care so long as the general population remains high.
Cybolds are somewhat mysterious. Even they don't know where they come from originally, but they're spread through the galaxy, living rather short and careless lives in nigh-religious servitude to technology. Many's the time explorers have landed on new worlds to discover pieces of ancient technology being thoughtlessly maintained by semiferal tribes of cybolds. The prevalent theory is that, long ago, they were discovered and modified into cheap workers by some advanced race. Though occasionally thought of as vermin, and sometimes treated with sympathy, most people are happy enough to have cybolds running underfoot, exploiting them for inexpensive maintenance and repair drudgework, and cybolds are usually content to be exploited, particularly by artificial intelligences. All cybolds are equipped with a thought port, an implant which allows them to "telepathically" communicate with machines, and seem to consider it "lucky" to suffer accidents which give them an excuse to replace their limbs or organs with cybernetic parts.
Leficars were once members of an ancient race who "ascended" to beings of pure thought more than two billion years ago. After a few thousand years, however, they discovered that their thought-bodies were degrading, and they needed to inhabit flesh-and-blood bodies to maintain themselves. Most of their race became the Law, making contracts with other beings to inhabit their bodies and lend them massive psychic power, in return for service as a peacekeeping force for the galaxy. Some, however, chose to break from their fellows, and possessed the scientists of several advanced races, bringing them together to design and create powerful artificial bodies for themselves. None now understand how these bodies work, but in their "natural" form, they resemble masses of inky black goo that contain glowing pearlescent orbs in various bright colours. Leficars can shapeshift into almost anything, and can even mate with other species, somehow, to produce half-leficar offspring. In time, such children are hunted by their parent and devoured to sustain their nigh-immortality, but some have succeeded in overpowering their progenitors and consuming them instead... and, in so doing, become full-fledged leficar themselves. As if their shapeshifting abilities and near indestructibility were not enough, leficars are also powerful psychics; however, they are rare and prefer to live among other species rather than having much to do with each other. Obviously, they do not get on with the Law, and so tend towards lives of crime.
Scellor, I think, you know.
Space Doobies have also been discussed before.
Ruut-truut are semiaquatic creatures, with a stiff but pliant shell over their upper body to protect several organs and allow them to withdraw their tentacle-like upper limbs. Their air-breathing organs are inefficient and require a higher oxygen concentration in the atmosphere than most species, so most individuals carry breathers around to take an extra gasp every couple of minutes; once settled in a work or living space, they'll generally demand the life support controls be adjusted so that they can breathe easy. They're closely related to the creature that quoddles were based on.
Routenites are floating gas bags, like flying jellyfish, whose vital organs hang underneath them, amidst their many tentacles. Some of these tentacles have venomous barbs, but routenites who live among other species usually get them surgically clipped; they grow back after a few months. They have no eyes, but strong senses of smell and a sensitive electromagnetic sense. They drink a lot of booze.
Shenchenii, who should actually be called Hirudin for the species name (Shenchen is their government), are interesting biological oddities, and notable for being from another galaxy, accessible through an ancient portal device. Hundreds of millions of years ago, their ancestors were created by a species that had thoroughly messed up their world with chemical pollutants, and were designed to adapt to harshly contaminated environments in order to suck up harmful substances and convert them into benign and useful products. While they waited for the world to be fixed, that ancient race moved to another world... where, for unknown reasons, they went extinct themselves. Eventually, the leech-like creatures they had left behind evolved into several other species, one of which became a sentient, tool-using race. The hirudin are living chemical factories who can produce a vast range of organic and inorganic compounds, but any one individual can develop only so many internal organs. Thus, depending on diet, environment and other factors at key stages in childhood and adolescence, individuals are guided into different roles, leading to a society strictly divided along family lines. They cannot speak, and use voice boxes to translate their own scent-based language for other races.
Krantikes concentrate all their vital organs into their ribcage, which in their case is more like a thickly armored ribshell, aside a few in/out tubes. They have a long tail with grasping claws on the end, and similar appendages that extend from the back of their shell. So long as their vital organs remain protected, they can regenerate from most injuries (though on a far more realistic level than space doobies), and are considered great soldiers, though they don't have any more particular cultural inclination towards the military than most species.
Heimogena are another semiaquatic species; the beak-like protrusions on the back sides on the head (and another larger one on the back) contain large gills for breathing underwater, and close shut in the open air to protect them from drying out. Like krantikes, they can walk on all fours if they wish, and of course are adept swimmers, making them highly mobile in a range of environments. When two heimogena want to mate, they engage in a fight to the death; while the defeated lies dead or dying, the other lays eggs in their body and removes the corpse to somewhere safe, where they'll protect it until the children are born, having consumed their weaker parent. Though the words do not translate exactly, a heimogen that is victorious in the consummation of their kill-lust prefers to be referred to as female, as they donated the larger gametes and take a lot of trouble to raise their offspring, who usually come in clutches of five to eight. Referring to an individual as male implies they're more the type to get killed, though this is not exactly insulting, as many heimogen dream of eventually being gloriously murdered; in fact, it's considered rather a tragedy for them to die any other way, so much that doctors are encouraged to sexually euthanize their patients if they're going to die anyway. The whole process carries a lot of prestige and romance for heimogena; repeated victors with lots of children become famous and desirable, and the race's media follows their lives with a great deal of pageantry, producing an amalgamation of reality tv, celebrity gossip shows, professional wrestling and snuff pornography.
Other species feel kind of weirded out by all of this.
Aside from the killing each other, however, heimogena are very civilized and were quite advanced when they were discovered; they are hard workers eager to embrace innovation in order earn repute for them and theirs. They feel an intense attachment to their kin, and their society is ruled by the interaction of powerful aristocratic families. Arranged marriage-duels are still a popular way to cement political alliances. Many heimogena still believe that the spirit of their dead parent lives on through their descendants, though psychics like the scellor say there's no truth in it, since the individual's psychic pattern doesn't survive. However, a clutch of heimogena children will profess an attachment to the friends and family of their dead parent, and often demonstrate uncanny talent with skills they possessed; the current theory is that the children somehow absorb such information directly from their deceased parent's brain.
Kohrahng are large, furry, mostly quadrupedal creatures from a world where most of the habitable space takes the form of isolated, geothermally warmed pockets amidst icy but volcanically active mountain ranges. They're keen warriors, massively strong and tough, and possess deep, powerful lungs that allow them to unleash a powerful blast of air, strong enough to stun prey, knock enemies to the ground or send lesser creatures flying off a cliff. Besides their legs, they possess a pair of more dextrous hands on arms underneath their bodies, and they can walk on their hind legs if necessary. They're technically hermaphrodites, but develop at different stages, becoming viable males first, slowly growing larger over their lifespan and eventually going through a second puberty in which they become even larger and tougher and develop their female organs, with which they can have their vast litters of offspring. These females (though still also males) become less mobile but earn an instinctual subservience from younger, merely male kohrangs. Though intelligent, kohrangs were primitive when discovered and were employed by other species for military service.
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