stargirldraws

[stargirldraws]

Homeworld: Ghobaad

Gravity: 3.7 m/s

Description

A small and unusually dense planet, ghobaad is scorched constantly by its three suns in a complex dance that draws the battered planet dangerously close. It is one of the last places one would expect to find multicellular life but indeed this planet does thrive in its own way. A small ocean covers only 20 percent of the surface but clinging to its shores is a surprisingly abundance of pale flora which reflects the stars' harmful rays. Beyond the forests and grasslands of its lone sea there is mostly scorched wasteland only broken by the occasional desert spring or miraculous rainfall. These open rangelands are made further worse by frequent solar flares. Skittering through the rocky crags and vegated highlands of this world were small ancestors of diminutive sophont, the first rhuv began their journey on this improbable world. 

Average lifespan: 30 years

Age of adulthood: 4 years

Weight: 1- 2 ounces

Size: 7 to 10 inches tall

Biology: 

The galaxy’s smallest sophont, rhuv are diminutive people.Their stiff bodies are pill shaped and covered in a tough chitin shell which protects them from the harsh elements of their homeworld. This shell is typically yellow or brown with stripes or spotted patterning. Their eyes are large and hardened with a strong smooth surface similar to their chitin shell. That being said, their pupils can move independently of one another which allows them to have a wild field of vision. Their beak is short and strong with 2 moving parts which horizontally oppose one another. 

Rhuv poses two ovular openings on the side of their shells which protect 6 flexible tendrils that they use for locomotion and manipulation. These tendrils are supremely adapted for life on their low gravity homeworld and could not support them well in higher gravity conditions. 

Despite their small size, the rhuv grow in a way that would be expected of a much larger organism. On their homeworld, the largest species are no larger than 20 or 30 pounds, making the small rhuv relatively large. This leads to them having much longer lives and longer childhood than would be expected. 

Communication

The rhuv communicate mainly through touch and sound. Their sounds are somewhat frog-like with chips, clicks, croaks, and bellows that are used in communication. Additionally, snout-to-snout contact is an important part of conversation and rhuv often vibrate their bodies to convey additional nuance to their spoken words.

Rhuv dance culture is quite famous throughout the pact as their impressive agility allows them to perform complex moves. 

History

The rhuv’s technological development happened rather quickly. Their planet’s hostile and variable conditions forced them to adapt with skilled use of technology. Although, rhuv are highly social and more prone to conflicting tribalism than many other species. But luckily for them, their world’s low gravity and their extremely small size made early space exploration much easier than it is for larger species from higher gravity worlds. This led to an odd mismatch in their technology in which they had ships and aircraft before they made many of the technological advances usually considered necessary for these things.

But the rhuv understood the ecological fragility of their world and made a dedicated effort to expand into space to supplement their own world's meager resources. 

In the Galaxy 

Rhuv usually prefer cramped spaces, their communal housing structures are dizzying networks and tubes and tunnels that contain the small rooms where they relax, work, and enjoy themselves. Though they also enjoy having time outside where they can move more freely and bask in the sun. As a mesothermic species, their metabolism is tied to ambient temperature so sunlight or a good heat lamp leaves them feeling energized and ready.

Like many relatively small species, rhuv also make use of mobility assistance vehicles to help them navigate spaces built for people much larger than themselves. These small vehicles are equipped with anti-grav drivers to allow them to be comfortable even when external gravity would crush them. 

[stargirldraws]

The Chull

Homeworld: Lethras

Gravity: 18 m/s

Description

A large and highly geothermically active planet for its size, Lethras is a stunning world with vast oceans covering over 85% of the planet’s surface. The planet’s high gravity and dense crust leads to it being overall flatter than earth and thus its oceans are shallower. These shallow seas allow the planet’s brighter starlight to reach large sections of the ocean floor. This abundance of light fuels huge aquatic forests that thrive in Lethra’s shallow seas. It is these shallow forests which the chull have their humble beginnings.

Average lifespan: 70 years

Age of adulthood: 8 years 

Weight: 6-8 ounces

Size: 6 inches long, 4-6 inch wingspan 

Biology: The galaxy’s only aquatically respirating sophont, the chull are truly a people of the sea.  Chull “gills” are unlike what is typically expected in many other species as they are capable of using a form of biological electrolysis which allows them to extract far more oxygen from the water and thus power their large brains. This bioelectric capacity is available due to their extremely sophisticated nervous system which allows for precise control of their movements and allows them to sense electromagnetic fields at a distance in the water. Additionally, their nervous system allows them to generate their own electromagnetic fields which are both used in communication and defense should the need arise. Chull can release powerful electric pulses that stun organisms with a nervous system much larger than themselves. 

They also have vision from their 2 eyes located at the end of short eye stalks in a way which gives them a snail-like appearance. Their mouths are usually closed and only seen as a vertical slit on their head but can open to reveal rows of crystalline needle-like teeth. 

Chull are have smooth nudibranch-like skin which is usually green, blue, or purple with lighter patterns on their fins. These fins allow them to push through the water in waving motions which grants them excellent maneuverability, allowing them to turn on a dime, hover, and even go backwards with ease. 

This mobility is aided by their two small arms which are usually folded under their body when they skin but these boneless limbs possess amazing manual dexterity which is further enhanced by the four fingers on each hand. 

Communication: 

While they do possess written language, spoken communication is a strange concept to many Chull. Like sharks, chull have a strong sense of electroreception and can sense subtle changes in this electromagnetic field of other organisms at distance(especially in water). Their natural bioelectricity allows them to use this as a form of rapid communication. Bioelectric communication allows them to convey thoughts, ideas, and feelings directly to one another in a subtle and complicated way. Using this method of communication, chull’s conversations with each other are usually brief with large amounts of information being able to be shared quickly. 

Unfountaly, this communication method does not work well with other species. For chull, conversation with others via sign language or translation of their bioelectric impulses into spoken words is something laborious and slow. This is one of the main reasons why chull tend to prefer the company of their own kind more so than other species. 

History

Early in their history, the chull started making heavy use of modified organisms to perform tasks for them. They selectively bred a wide variety of species and developed genetic technology quickly and rapidly and used it to produce the early versions of the “bio-machines” which they use in the modern day. Being able to directly communicate with these organisms via electric impulses allowed them to develop rapidly and gain use of fire and metal which they incorporated into their “organic” technology. 

Spreading out into space, the chull thrived and diversified into oceans across the stars and retained their own species government for a long period of time before finally joining the Pact after the events of the Horror. 

In the Galaxy 

More so than most other species, chull tend to prefer the company of their own. Their unique communication and aquatic lifestyle are less compatible for cohabitation, not to say impossible by any means. Those that don’t live in the warm oceans of settled worlds life in large “tanks” which are essentially just buildings with multiple rooms where chull can freely swim. These buildings are often connected by tubes or water-filled transportation vehicles in air-filled cities. 

When venturing individually, chull will often utilize personal vehicles that allow them to comfortably breath and move outside of the water. For many, these vehicles are the only way they personally interact with chull outside of signing to one through the transparent barrier of a tank. 

[stargirldraws]

The Auruk

Homeworld: Jallmina

Gravity: 36 m/s

Description

Jallmina is a colossal rocky planet which is tidally locked to small red dwarfs. The planet does not rotate relative to its star, instead the same area is always facing the sun with the planet having a distinct day side of perpetual light and a night side of ever present darkness. It is a world of amazing diversity with vast deserts, mysterious twilight forests, and night cloaked tundras. Despite the high gravity, organisms on Jallmina reach mythical size and make ready use of the planet’s abundance of natural resources to grow to immense size in its competitive and diverse ecosystems. While the Auruk’s impressive size and strength may be surprising to other species, on their world they are simply one of many giants and even still, they are dwarfed by the largest of beasts. 

Average lifespan: 800 years

Age of adulthood: 60 years

Weight: 10-16 tons

Size: 13-15 feet tall, 40-45 feet long 

Biology: 

The Auruk are a people who possess immense size and strength even for their size. Their strong bones are made of magnetite and their polymer muscles give them impressive speed. Their twelve sturdy legs as well as the sides and top of their body have a thick shell which is usually dark purple in corporation while the softer parts of their body like their face and underbelly are pink. They have three compound eyes which allow them to see and perceive depth quite well. This enhanced depth perception is very useful as Auruk use their four 10-14 foot long oral tentacles to experience the world. Despite their thinness these possess high dexterity and strength and allow them to manipulate objects with precision while also being able to lift and throw vehicles should the need arise. 

While their vision is good, Auruk usually rely on the smell to navigate the world as well as a hidden sense in their feet. Lacking external ears, auruk are deaf by traditional definition in a similar way to snakes and spiders. Instead, organs in their feet allow them to detect and produce infrasonic vibrations which travel through the ground like those utilized by elephants. 

Communication 

Auruk mainly communicate via infrasonic rumbles which they produce in rapid succession to make a morse code-esque language that can allow adults to communicate with each other up to 30 miles away without any technological aid. At closer ranges however, Auruk can also rhythmically strike the ground with their feet to produce noise. This is known as “far-speak” and “short-speak” with short speaking usually being used for communication at close ranges and is considered a more intimate thing which is better able to communicate nuances ideas. 

When communicating with other species auruk almost always use sign language which they can easily perform their tentacles. 

History

The ability to communicate over such long distances and share information made the auruk’s history much more peaceful and cooperative than those of other species. Being large and slow reproducing herbivores, conflict always resulted in losses that were simply not sustainable so the march of the Auruk’s civilization was slow and steady. Much of this progress was tempered by something the auruk didn’t understand at first. Jallmina has an odd distribution of natural resources, lacking large concentrations of accessible metal or fossil fuels. 

It was not until their first explorations into paleontology that the auruk realized they were not the first sophonts on their word. Another species, commonly called “the first ones” lived on their world roughly 30 million years ago. They mined much of the planet’s resources and used most of its fossil fuels before dying out to war and climatic collapse. Knowledge of their existence and failings informed much of the slow progress of the Auruk who were unified as a people early on in their history. They knew to look before they lept and be wise to avoid the mistakes of their progenitors. 

In the Galaxy 

The Auruk are a somewhat enigmatic species who are generally rare beyond Jallmina and its close settlements. But over the course of their long lives, many auruk will travel the galaxy to see its wonders before returning home. They see cultures rise and fall, ideas and people stream past them. This tends to give them a longer term perspective which leads people to see them as wise individuals and traveling auruk are usually open to speak to others to share their ideas and learn from the world around them. 

The Auruk’s size isn’t much of a barrier as in the known galaxy most public spaces are built to accommodate the largest species. This design is integral to most pact architecture as the auruk are the pact’s founding species, although now they are one of many.