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| The Indigene; The Aliens of Colonized Space | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 19 2008, 07:10 PM (1,251 Views) | |
| Reedstilt | Aug 19 2008, 07:10 PM Post #1 |
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Infant
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First, a distinction must be made between traditional uses of the word indigene. The indigenes are the native inhabitants of life-harboring planets, or in a broader sense, an indigene is the all-encompassing clade of a single world. For example, all the animals, plants, fungi, protists, and archaeans, and bacteria that have inhabited Earth, and all the organisms that have evolved from them on extraterrestrial worlds, compose a single indigenous group. Alternatively, in a colloquial sense, Indigenes, traditionally capitalized, are those members of an indigenous clade that are those species capable of human-like thought, including humans themselves. Since the majority of First Contact events have occurred when humans arrived on previously occupied worlds, this term is preferred over the archaic "alien." Here we will discuss only the Indigene themselves, of which there are slightly over a dozen in Colonized Space and its frontiers. We shall begin with the oldest known species of Indigene, the humans. Humans The genus Homo is one of the oldest, most enduring, and most adaptable form of life in Colonized Space. The genus was already over two million years old by the time it departed its ancestral Earth for other planets, and has persisted for over two-hundred million years since that time. As the genus spread away from Earth, it formed a 100 to 1000 lightyear thick sphere around the planet. This sphere slowly expanded as humans colonized a new planet, inhabited it for several thousand years and then moved on when it no longer could sustain them. Humans practiced limited terraforming and until recently did not possess the techniques necessary to stabilize planetary climates for extended periods of time. Typically, within less than a million years, the fragile planetary ecosystems they created collapsed and they would search out new planets to colonize, spending long generations in vast colony-ships drifting between stars. This pattern of colonization and migration in the face of severe climate change has preserved the genus relatively unchanged along the ever-expanding periphery of Colonized Space, which by definition, is the area humans have reached. Since departing Earth, this pattern has occurred enough times to expand Colonized Space to roughly half the Galaxy. Human expansion was hindered by the galactic core, and the presence of advanced Indigenes on either border. Eventually the sphere containing the genus Homo began to break up and thin into narrow bands, as old colonies died out or the local inhabits who remained behind adapt to unique local conditions. Humans and their descendants have been the dominant force in Colonized Space since they first departed Earth. Because of their activities, countless worlds now possess life that would not have otherwise, and from the wildlife they left behind on those worlds, nearly a hundred intelligent lifeforms have developed -- either through their own natural evolution or with the guiding hand of human geneticist. Recently, Colonized Space has been most influenced by three groups of human descendants. First came the Massah, a species of human of uncertain origin. The most well supported theory, based on similarities between technology, is that they descended from the extinct human lineage from Lamur. The Massah incorporated a vast array of technology into their biology. They crashed through a technological ceiling that had been holding humanity back for millions of years and devised ways around the speed of light by linking distant gravity wells with temporary wormholes. The methods they used to achieve this has never been understood by lesser minds, though a few species have managed to duplicate the technology without fully understanding it. The Massah forged a vast civilization, called the Kaldim, across Colonized Space. Worlds within the Kaldim were retained limited autonomy which ended at their planet's gravity well. The Massah facilitated the movement of people and ideas, and swore off interfering with local concerns unless it was an interplanetary concern or an issue between Indigene, in which case they would attempt to moderate an equitable solution. In exchange, the Massah received exclusive rights to the natural resources of all uninhabited worlds. This vast collection of resources was necessary to fuel and maintain their technological superiority. The lengthy rule of the Kaldim was broken when an offshoot of the Massah exceeded the technological capacity of their parent species. Known as the Triumphant, they earned their name in a brief terrifying war against the Massah. The reasons for this war are as inscrutable as the beings who fought it, but in the end the Massah had been utterly eliminated the control of Colonized Space fell to the Triumphant. When most people think of these beings, they picture the all-too-human public face of the Triumphant, but the "person" that interacts with others is just an avatar of a planet-sized world-computer. No one is sure where the Triumphant themselves are, but the avatar is connected to the vast consciousness of an individual Triumphant through micro-wormhole technology. Though the avatar is destructible (and various early assassination attempts ended catastrophically as the avatar's wormhole connection destabilized), the Triumphant themselves are, for all practical purposes immortal. During their million-year reign, the Triumphant used a particular branch of the genus Homo as their enlightened middlemen. This species possessed a unique genetic condition that predisposed their bodies to act as hosts for the nanotechnology swarms that formed the backbone of much of Triumphant technology. It is uncertain whether this genetic condition was natural or created by the Triumphant themselves. Regardless, the Numen Manitu, as they came to be called, were useful tools for the Triumphant. When the Triumphant regime fell, another interstellar war broke out. Traditionally, this war is attributed to the Numen Manitu overthrowing the Triumphant and liberating humanity and its descendants from the inhuman rule. Though this makes for an inspiring narrative, a more reasoned scenario based on what is known about the Triumphant is that these great beings simply tired of ruling Colonized Space, and most moved on to other projects, retaining a small portion of Colonized Space for those of their number that had not yet grown bored with the exercise of power. In the power vacuum that followed, the Numen Manitu rose up against each other and squabbled for dominance. In the end, Colonized Space collapsed into a great Dark Age, with neither the Massah nor the Triumphant to facilitate travel, and the Numen Manitu bloodlines diminishing and their technology waning in the absence of their masters -- as well as having their birthright stolen by genetic pirates that cracked the code and held the information random in exchange for power and technology. Today Colonized Space is collection of fractured polities. In those civilizations with a sizable human population, some variation or offshoot of the Numen Manitu always feature prominently. Other prominent groups of humans and their descendants throughout history include: The Aminwar -- a nomadic, zealous civilization. They patrolled a region of Colonized Space near Lamur until eventually defeated by the Lamuri. When they encountered a new civilization they took up the role of judge, inspecting the civilization and administering aggressive genetic manipulation of the local populations for whatever crimes the Aminwar perceived. Their sense of justice had a karmic poetry to it, re-engineering the local species into a form more fitting its chosen lifestyle. Most were unrecognizable as descendants of humans afterwards, such as the Kimnpur, which in all respects save a few key genetic appear to be intelligent rove beetles. The Kasata'a -- this species was the most reviled of the genetically manipulated species under the rule of the Anthropic Commonwealth, one of the polities that emerged briefly after the departure of the Triumphant. They resemble seahorses with large heads, mostly human like with a bulging cetacean-like melon. Their arms are thin, and their legs transformed into small flippers. The propel themselves, much like a sea horse, with a rapidly moving dorsal fin, and possess a long prehensile tail and gills. How the Kasata'a came to be is a matter of debate, but fossil evidence makes it clear that they evolved from more primitive forms that show no sign of tool use. Considering the other animals that inhabit the surface of their planet and the oceans, it seems that all large animal niches are filled with organisms derived from human stock. Whether this was the results of a whim, an intentional experiment, or a harsh necessity (for example, the popular apologist answer here is to hypothesize that the original colony-ship arriving to this world had suffered a critical systems failure and lost the storehouse of genetic material which is usually used to produce the organisms needed to great ecosystems for human habitation. As such, the colonists used their own genetic make-up to produce replacements.) The Anthropic Commonwealth used their homeworld as a internment colony for species of humans that had artificially altered their genetic structure -- with a certain amount of irony, they considered it improper for humans to interfere with their own evolution. Today, the Kasata'a and their allies form one of the major polities in Colonized Space. Khimur-Nayan Nomads -- this group of highly modified humans have spent the several million years in their original colony ship, The Golden Jubilee orbiting between a pair of stars halfway between Earth and the galactic core. They have allowed all but the most vital systems on the Jubilee to cease, and have adapted to the dark, low gravity environment within their vessel. Robotic resources gatherers established in two star systems await the Jubilee's return, delivering natural resources needed maintain the colony through another interstellar cycle and build new robots to replace those that have been damaged in the intervening time. The Khimur-Nayans have little contact with the rest of Colonized Space, and over their history overlapping polities have respected their autonomy. The Khimur-Nayans' way of life is currently threatened, however, by the advent of increasingly smaller vessels capable of wormhole travel. This has allowed small, independent operations to poach resources from the Khimur-Nayan robots while the Jubilee is away. The Sacred Consortium -- a group descending from the Numen Manitu by way of the Anthropic Commonwealth. They form the largest predominantly human polity in Colonized Space. Parish, the former capital of their interstellar empire, is located between the Perseus and Outer Arm of the Galaxy, as does most of the region they control. In addition these far flung rim territories, the Consortium has retaken Earth, which since the time of the Kaldim has been seen as the symbolic seat of power in Colonized Space. |
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| Reedstilt | Sep 4 2008, 09:41 AM Post #16 |
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Qabayol Of all the known species of Indigene in Colonized Space, the Qabayol, from the planet Yeriza, most resemble humans in purely biological terms. At first glance, they bare a striking resemblance to Terranl mammals, but many crucial differences separate the two groups. Much like Earth, Yerizan megafauna is dominated by vertebrates -- that is, animals with an internal skeleton. The most obvious difference between Yerizan vertebrates and Terran vertebrates is the Yerizans are primarily hexapods, rather than tetrapods. The Qabayol, specifically, have two arms and four legs, giving them a centaur-like profile. The heads are notably different as well. Yerizan vertebrates have six simple eyes and a single tympanic membrane, located near the base of the skull, for hearing. The Qabayol have weak vision, despite their many eyes and rely heavily on their sense of smell, which is well developed. They have a long snout and jaws, and a large ear-like flap surrounding their tympanic membrane. Each of the Qabayol's limbs end in three digits, though many Yerizan vertebrates have more up to a maximum of six. On the arms, these digits are dexterous fingers, while on the feet that are tapir-like hooves. Over their bodies they are covered in fur, which varies in thickness and color. Originally these differences were racial, but since the arrival of humans on Yeriza and the influx of technology, the Qabayol population has been so throughly mixed that such differences are now the result of genetic chance. While racial differences have largely been mitigated, the differences between the sexes are still noticeable. Males tend to be larger and more robust than females. The fur of males tends to be black, grey, or white, while females tend to be various shades of brown. All Qabayol are born female, and only after extended time away from a dominant male, will a female transform into a male. This transformation takes several weeks, during which time, reversed or terminated prematurely, if another male takes up residence in the area. Premature termination of the process results in a sterile eunuch, which were once highly regarded members of society. The process of forcing females to become eunuchs has largely fallen by the wayside since the arrival of humans -- humans have provided technological alternatives to most positions formerly held by eunuchs. The basic unit of Qabayol society is the harem. One male rules over a group of females, occasionally with a small entourage of eunuchs. As Qabayol societies advanced, various harems united in different ways. Some where on equal terms, while others adopted a feudal model, where prominent male took control of more territory than he could maintain, and allowed subservient males to arise form their own harems so long as they remained loyal to him and provided him with surplus goods. Male Qabayol have a troubling sense of entitlement, and naturally assume its their right to own whatever pleases them. This has led to considerable strain in the Qabayol-Human relations, most notably during the wars that followed the disappearance of the Triumphant. They desired the powers the Triumphant had gifted the Numen Manitu with and when the Numen Manitu refused to divulge their secrets, the Qabayol elected to take it by force. In time they took enough Numen Manitu prisoners, unlocked the mystery the Triumphant had written in their genome, and translated it to their own. Though a few other non-human species had managed similar feats, the Qabayol are the only Indigene to successfully assimilate the Numen Manitu technology. |
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| Saxophlutist | Sep 4 2008, 08:56 PM Post #17 |
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Adult
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I like the bit on the Sexual Dimorphism, and the gender changing |
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9:42 AM Jul 11