Coalition Universe Species

[Graham Kennedy]

SPECIES : THE TURGRANS

PHYSICAL

Turgrans are a Humanoid species. There is a significant degree of sexual dimorphism in the Turgran species. Most famously, the Turgran male is non-sentient (though there is some debate on this subject), significantly smaller and physically weaker than females. The females 215 cm in height, and are distinguishable primarily by their colouring; pale skin, pure white hair, and solid red eyes. Their hands also have six digits, four fingers and two thumbs.

The Turgran body contains a greater degree of redundancy than its Human counterpart. There are two hearts, one located in the upper centre of the torso and the other above the left hip. These feed two circulatory systems, one supplying the head and vital organs, the other supplying the limbs and less important organs. The two circulatory systems are normally cross connected at nine different points, allowing blood to flow between the two, but these joins can be sealed off to allow one system to continue in the event of a failure in the other. The beating of the two hearts gives the Turgran pulse a distinctive beat pattern.

There are three lungs; the primary pair are placed much as human lungs are, with the heart between them in the centre of the torso. The secondary lung is smaller, located below the heart. The major windpipe feeds the primary lungs, with a second windpipe feeding the secondary lung. The vocal chords are located at the upper end of the secondary windpipe. The primary and secondary lungs feed the respective circulatory systems. The throat is complicated compared to a Humans, giving the Turgran voice a distinctive reverberation effect.

The pupils of the eyes are slitted vertically, and are significantly larger than a Human pupil. However, the cornea is reflective to red light and this hides the pupils completely, giving the eyes a solid red colouration. As a result of this reflectivity the Turgrans are unable to see beyond the near orange part of the spectrum.

Turgrans are most comfortable at a temperature of -5° C, but their ability to generate internal heat is significantly superior to a Humans and they can tolerate temperatures down to -22° C without serious discomfort. Their ability to shed excess heat is markedly inferior, however. There are no sweat glands, and Turgrans become uncomfortable with temperatures above 3° C. Prolonged exposure to temperatures above 10° C can prove fatal. As a result all Turgrans must wear some form of coolant device whilst in a standard environment. This generally takes the form of a thin suit under their uniform which has a coolant system built into it.

Turgrans are omnivorous by nature, but meat is by far the preferred food source and some of the species have adopted a carnivorous diet as a lifestyle choice. Turgrans are evolved from scavengers, and are naturally adapted to eating frozen food. They have a very poor sense of taste and rarely bother to cook their food.

Turgran genders and reproduction do not follow the Human pattern very closely. The initial stages are similar to Human reproduction; the female produces the eggs which the male fertilizes in a sex act essentially identical to the Human equivalent. However, as soon as the embryo is fertilized - typically thirty to forty minutes after the first sex act - the females reproductive system will 'invert' itself. Another sexual act then takes place in which the male is penetrated and the fertilised egg deposited in a womb-like organ in his body. It is the male who then carries the fetus to term.

Because a second sexual act in rapid succession is critical to the breeding process, evolution has driven Turgrans females to instinctively be very possessive towards males.

CULTURAL

Present day Turgran culture has been shaped by three major events in their history. The first occurred some 6,500 years ago when a reduction in the output of the local star, Syteen, triggered a catastrophic global climate change. Prior to the change the Turgran's home world of Kororra was comparable to Earth in climate. Within less than forty years sheet glaciers covered twenty percent of the planet, and within seventy there was no liquid water left anywhere on the surface. The sudden ice age led to a total collapse of organized civilization on the planet.

The second event was the discovery of an ancient cache of knowledge by the Yadenek family-clan some 1,800 years ago. The store allowed that group to develop simple chemical explosives and projectile weapons in an age when the rest of the world was using bronze swords. With these and other devices they conquered the world over the next fifteen years, ultimately founding the Turgran Imperium which endures to this day.

Today the basic unit of Turgran society remains the family-clan. A family will typically center around a matriarchal figure who will usually have several 'husbands' - there is no limit on the number, though five is normally considered appropriate. The female will produce offspring with each male - as with Humans there is a 50/50 gender split in the offspring produced. Female offspring normally continue to live within the household until they reach fifteen standard years of age, whereupon they will leave to form a family of their own. In the past the mother would procure a male for each of her daughters to found their new family with, either purchasing one directly at a market or bartering one her own male offspring. In more recent times many females prefer to find or buy their own male, though more traditional families still exist. Male offspring who are not sold or traded in this manner will usually be sold as general servants on reaching twenty years of age.

The clan is a more loosely defined entity. Normally a clan will consist of the original matriarch's household, plus the households of her immediate daughters, There is thus a lot of overlap between clans since any given female can be both part of her mother's clan and the the head of her own. In modern Turgran society family and clan structure have begun to erode somewhat. One trend is to found households without males at all, using methods such as artificial insemination for procreation and immediately selling off male offspring. Combined clans in which there are several matriarchs and their offspring choose to pool resources are rarer, but still far from unusual, and there are many variations on these and other themes. It is generally considered impolite to inquire too closely into the precise arrangements at work within a family, and highly rude to subject them to open criticism.

Turgran culture tends to be extremely conservative and slow to change. The average Turgran is superior to a Human in intelligence, but "genius types" tend to be far rarer. The overall rate of scientific and cultural evolution is thus very slow, and the Turgrans benefit heavily from their close relationship with other Coalition members in this regard.

RELIGION

The state religion is called Vedrine. Vedrine is a hybrid mono/poly thestic religion. In its mythos there was originally a single god but over time she became bored with being alone and decided to divide herself into two parts. The two eventually had a disagreement and warred with one another, eventually landing a blow so great that it "shattered" both into many parts which represent the modern pantheon of Turgran gods. A major belief of Vedrine is that proper worship of the gods can and eventually will cause them to reunite, recreating the original god who will then bring about a paradise.

Technically it is illegal to follow any religion other than Vedrine on a Turgran world, but although significant cultural bias does remain on this matter in some parts of the Imperium, this law has never been applied to aliens and over the last century it is rarely pursued officially even amongst Turgrans. It is likely that the law would be struck down if it ever came before the Coalition constitutional court, and it is perhaps telling that no test case has made it that far. It is estimated that perhaps twenty percent of Turgrans have formed alternate religions, adopted alien religions, or become atheist or agnostic.

[Teaos]

I am both suprised and impressed you include religion in your universe.

As an athiest your self I figured you would go with the standard, advanced civilisations are smarter and athiests thing a lot of sci fi does.

You didnt make it totally clear, were the Turgrans always adapted to cold or was it only over the last 6,000 years they evolved to it?

I also find it interesting that you make them similar to humans is make up. Its one of the biggest complaints laid against sci-fi is that so many aliens are bipedal human like aliens.

[Graham Kennedy]

In the Coalition Humans are largely secular, for reasons I've gone into before I think, but may again. Turgrans are generally a very religious people though, and religion is common in many societies. I may be an atheist but only a fool would recognise the appeal that religion has for most people.

A few thousand years isn't enough to adapt to anything much, evolutionarily speaking. The cycles of the star are a natural part of what it does, and life on Kororra is adapted to have a "cold climate mode" that kicks in when the ice comes and goes away again when it does.

Yeah, human-like aliens can be annoying. I did want to have at least one fairly humanoid species though. I comfort myself with the fact that a seven foot tall woman with white hair, red eyes, and six fingers could never realistically pass for human.

[Graham Kennedy]

Here's a thing about me. I can't draw people. Can draw ships and guns and vehicles and machines all day long, but I can't draw faces, and I have a tough time with bodies and things biological. So the pictures I am going to post of aliens should be taken as what they are - rough sketches that I'd dearly love to see replaced by far better versions.

This is a Turgran next to a Human.

[Teaos]

I'd hit it.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'd hit it.

I think those are pretty damn decent sketches, Graham. I'd be hard-pressed to do any better.

[Tsukiyumi]

[Graham Kennedy]

SPECIES : THE ZAKETH

PHYSICAL

The Zaketh are best described as a centaur version of a triceratops, and indeed the term "tricerataur" is a common nickname for this species amongst Humans. One of the largest sentient species known, the average Zaketh stands over four metres tall and is nearly five metres long. There are two major racial divisions within the species; the 'greens' and 'reds'. The terms refer to the skin colouration which is one of the two major differences between the races. Green Zaketh are also referred to as 'common', 'base', or in their own language 'nishtal'. Reds are referred to as 'Royal' Zaketh, or 'Zantar' in their language. As well as the skin colouring, Royal Zaketh are easily distinguishable by the prominent triceratops-like crest on their heads. Reds are also about 25% larger in all dimensions, on average. Approximately 95% of the Zaketh species are greens.

The Zaketh are immensely strong and robust. Their skin has natural armour plating similar to that employed by many dinosaur species, making them virtually immune to attack unless by a significant weapon. Injuries such as the loss of a limb regrow within weeks, while the Zaketh tolerance for pain is legendary.

CULTURAL

The Zaketh Empire is widely recognised as the strongest of the active galactic powers. They are deeply conservative, and are very strong supporters of the various galactic customs and conventions - many of which they are believed to have originated.

Their territory spans some fifty thousand light years an they are believed to occupy in excess of half a billion worlds. Within the Empire the Zaketh culture is organised along strict class lines, with the reds forming the aristocracy and the greens the lower classes. Inbreeding between the two races is illegal, with an automatic death sentence for both transgressors and any offspring of mixed blood. It is not unknown for greens to give birth to a red. Possibly this is a result of some freak mutation, but many outside observers consider such cases indicative of illicit interracial relationships involving a red powerful enough to be beyond questioning. Such individuals are either killed at birth or removed from their parents and fostered by a red family.

Most Zaketh are conservative and nationalistic to the point of fanaticism. There is a deep cultural belief that theirs is a superior form of life with a natural right to rule over everything within their power. Their history has spanned some six million years, and during that time their power has waxed and waned periodically - though it is not a good idea to suggest that they have ever been less than the most powerful and respected race in the galaxy to the Zaketh themselves. The present empire evolved some one hundred thousand years ago and reached its zenith ten thousand years ago. Although the empire spans a similar volume today as it did then, it is considered by most analysts to be in an accelerating state of decline. The same cultural conservatism which spurred early expansionism long ago reached a stage where it has strangled artistic, scientific and political innovation almost totally. The outer worlds and subject species of the empire are gradually becoming more and more cut off from the center, and many of the fringe worlds have effectively seceded from the empire. The Zaketh central worlds will rarely admit to this process, and indeed it is questionable to what extent they are actually aware of it. The Zaketh themselves regard discussion of this subject as an insult coming from others and treason from their own people.

Several of the previous empires have indulged in the building of Type I and II Dyson spheres, usually shortly before a widespread recessive period. Most of the spheres have long been destroyed through neglect or in civil wars, but the current empire maintains a handful of spheres of both kinds. There is always talk within the empire of building further spheres, though this has not been attempted in known history and most question whether the Zaketh retain the ability to properly maintain the ones they have, let alone construct new ones.

Historically the Zaketh's major implement for the projection of power has been the Zaketh Imperial Navy, a fleet which is composed of more than a hundred million vessels with a total firepower many thousands of times that of the Coalition navy. However, like the empire as a whole the service is plagued by problems. Most importantly, within the civilian and military sections of the empire careers are hereditary rather than merit. This has inevitably lead to a great drop in the quality of personnel in all areas. The last few centuries has also seen a shift towards the building of gigantic super-dreadnoughts as prestige assignments for the more politically connected officers - at the time of writing the pride of the fleet is the "Emperor's Dignity", a ninety six kilometre long vessel which is quite possibly the single most powerful military unit in the galaxy. While this trend has massively boosted the overall firepower of the fleet, it has reduced its mobility and flexibility drastically. It is a telling point that the Zaketh navy rarely conducts fleet operations beyond its own borders any more.

Despite these shortcomings the sheer size and firepower of the Zaketh fleet still make it the most powerful single military force in the Milky Way, on those rare occasions when the will to use it can be gathered.

[Reliant121]

Very good on the Zaketh. i like the decadent imperialism that seems to be going on, sort of a highly magnified Centauri republic. And the biology itself is excellent.

[Graham Kennedy]

The Centauri could almost be a model for these folks, except that I made the Zaketh up before I ever saw B5. Their inspiration was the British Empire of course, though in their case the rot hasn't brought them low as yet. They also embody the theme of repeating cycles of civilisation which I mentioned earlier, although in their case they cycle between being the biggest of the galactic powers and a fairly weak collection of localised but still interstellar powers and then back again.

[Teaos]

The species its self is interesting, I'd be interested to know what their technology and cities are like to support creatures that large, they dont look like they could use an iTouch very well

But considering they are supposed to be the most advanced civilisation in the galaxy, I dont know, I guess they see a little tame. Millions of years to expand their scientific knowledge, even if they did have falls, many and large, thats still a lot of time, I would expect their technology to be massive, travel to other galaxys, speed so fast that it seems almost instant ect.

Also do these guys interact with the coalition much or is the coalition to far bellow them?

[Graham Kennedy]

Zaketh technology is pretty fierce; they'd kerbstomp the Coalition in five minute flat if they put their mind to it. They may well have travel to other galaxies, I haven't thought about that really. There are... reasons that I won't go into why I don't really want the denizens of my galaxy to explore the rest of the universe. They'd see things that they shouldn't...

The Zaketh do interact with the other major powers. They happen to be quite close to the Coalition so we see more of them than most do, but not all that much at that; they are more than a little disdainful of this newbie group with pretensions of player status when they've only been around a century or so at that.

[Mikey]

I happen to think it's fantastic that you didn't just have an uber-tech capable race that's just withdrawn for it's own indefatigable purposes, like most such bit-player races in sci-fi. You have provided an actual, reasonable reason within their own society why these folks aren't just out kicking a** and taking names.

[Monroe]

I love the Triceratop race. You said they were the oldest of the active in Galactic politic races. This mean there are races with Empires out there a billion, two billion years old? It'd be wild if there was say a race or two out there that old.

Also we don't know telepaths and hive minds don't exist. What if say a species' thought processes released a small scent that the hive mind could detect and analyze and then send back a scent to control. You'd have a hive mind then.

You also said there was a huge distrust of AI:SI organisms. There any regional or even super powers of artifical life out there? You mentioned Skynet senerios but any of them have a successful Empire afterwards?

[Graham Kennedy]

There are hive species that function along the lines of insects, using chemical markers and such, but that doesn't make them a single mind or a single being.

In my universe there is no such thing as telepathy, nor any other "mental power". They simply do not exist.

The Zaketh are the most powerful of the active races. There are older ones around, but one of the premises of my universe is that species mostly follow a cyclical path, risisng to power and then declining and collapsing back to savagery, over and over again. There are planets which have had intelligent life on them for a billion years - many of them in fact - but in the large majority of cases what you would find there are stone age tribes living in the decayed ruins of a few hundred past civilisations piled one on top of the other.

Galatea is the only SI civilisation out there. There have been "Skynet scenarios" attempted before now. If it happens on an interstellar scale, the major powers step in to destroy the SIs as soon as they start trying to take over. An individual planet might fall to SI systems undetected and subsequently go many years without being noticed - something like the Terminator or Matrix movie scenario. But again, as soon as a passing Major noticed what was going on it would stomp the planet flat. Galatea only survives because the SIs there know not to try and accumulate any physical power for themselves, they know to make themselves useful by acting as a think tank for others, and the Coalition provides protection for them.