#laurelai audi

[rhobi]

The Audi

Homeplanet: Aodilea (Frontier) Habitat: Temperate Coastal Lifespan: ??? Diet: Mesocarnivore (50-70% meat consumption)

Evolving from ancient oceanic odontocetes off the northwestern coastline of the Frontier supercontinent, the Audi are gentle giants and reknowned for their pride, curiosity, and hospitality. Audi have exceptional hearing and tactile awareness to offset their incredibly poor eyesight that gets worse the older (and larger) they get. They also sport a handsome melon to assist in their own form of echolocation, a frequency too low for the human ear to parse. Species with more delicate hearing have often complained of Audi cities being the one of the most audibly overstimulating experiences due to this rumble being incessantly present.

Audi lack any form of dymorphism, as every individual has the capabilities to become pregnant and induce pregnancy.

More about the Audi life cycle under the cut.

The Audi are (assumedly) the longest-living species of sentient lifeforms in the Laurelai Galaxy. It is difficult to pinpoint age in any Audi due to their complete lack of any calendar system; Audi view time as constantly moving forward instead of cyclically repeating, and age records were never anything of value.

Because of their lack of birth dates, Audi categorize their lives into phases. Their first official phase is childhood, with their lack of an 'infant' category caused by the species having two fetal incubation periods: the first organic and the second synthetic. Audi give birth incredibly prematurely due to their narrow pelvic gap, and, to prevent damage and even death to the parent, birth is induced within a two-to-three month time period. Full fetal growth is achieved at ten to eleven months, with the second incubation period done with the asisstance of advanced medical technology that simulates a natural womb. Due to this technology, Audi's infant mortality rate went from 80% down to 25% with three out of four Audi infants reaching childhood.

The second phase is adulthood. What criteria needs to be met for this phase is up to speculation, as Audi seem keen on keeping that information private. What can be assumed is that it's personal for every Audi, and every Audi reaches adulthood at different times. Height ranges anywhere from 6'8" (203cm) to 9'11" (302cm) on average, with older individuals being on the taller end due to Audi constantly (albeit slowly) growing their entire lives.

The final phase is She, a coveted example of Audi excellence and potential. Reaching the phase of She takes an impossible amount of time and physical growth. Every She, of which there are currently six, has a leadership role, ranging from cultural preservation and the arts to science and engineering, with each She taking a 'mastery' of one of these core values of Audi society. An interesting note is that every She is referred to as 'She', making it difficult for outsiders to deduce which of the six She is being referenced. She cap out the Audi height range at an even 10' (304cm), though why this is considered maximum height or how they suppress growth past this point is still being studied.

[laurelaicoop]

Tenekaster is main metropolitan city in the LIPA Zone, which sits at the Frontier/Aodelia border.

Valatsïn became the first Audi to have a permanent residence there, making her pretty famous. They had to switch to terrestrial biology for the sake of convenience, but the Aodelian ocean is where her heart always lies. You can't separate an Audi from the ocean all life was born from!

[laurelaicoop]

Being the first non-native individual allowed into Aodilea in several centuries, Thu has spent the past five years cataloging the life and culture of the Audi to (with permission) show to colleagues on the outside. Sometimes they're not exactly up to professional standards, but not everything has to be business.

[laurelaicoop]

Satakis She displaying one of many, many performance outfits.

Even though Audi have very poor eyesight, they're still capable of seeing color, shape, and movement. Performance outfits are an integral part to Audi theater, with vibrant colors and sound-making accessories working in unison to make the experience more four-dimensional.

Satakis, being the master of the arts, has some of the more elaborate ensembles, with headpieces often weighing several hundred pounds.

[laurelaicoop]

Some of the main cast for my story-in-progress: Threshold People!

While on an under-wraps diplomatic mission on the planet of Frontier, professional translator Thu Đoan witnesses the violent crash of a mysterious mute stranger of dubious origins. Suddenly intertwined with his integration into society, Thu realizes this stranger is bringing more to Frontier's wild backcountry then just himself. It's only a matter of time when it, too, makes landfall...

Content Warning: Will delve into heavier themes including emotional/psychological/physical abuse and suicide, and will have scenes of violence and vulgar language.

[rhobi]

With only six She in the entirety of the admittedly small Audi population (last census read a little over 1.2 million individuals), each have quite a large weight put on their shoulders to keep their society running smoothly.

To help split the load, each She is given a certain important aspect of their culture to represent and gain a kind of mastery over. The load is split even more amongst their own personal entourages that predominantly consist of their multiple spouses, their children, and any immediate family. On rare occasions, a non-blood relation is let into the entourage if they show unique skill and promise in their chosen aspect.

Under the cut is a light dive into what each She represents.

Tsvisthi Au, the Social Organizer: (translation: the unwavering love of Us) community outreach, inter- and intrapersonal relationships, diplomacy, family planning, and marriage counsellor

Pasit, the Engineer: (translation: building, the home) city growth and planning, architecture, transportation, medical equipment, acoustics, audio devices, and patent review

Satakis, the Artist: (translation: energetic performance) theater, music, and tactile arts (works closely with Gyenivk Au)

Aodilmok, the Scientist: (translation: planet life) biological, geographical, and zoological sciences, physics, mathematics

Gyenivk Au, the Historian: (translation: the perpetual time of Us) anthropology, historical preservation, and storykeeper

Haamivsk Au, the Doctor: (tranlsation: the life of Us) prenatal care, medical clinics, genetics, developmental and evolutionary biology

An interesting note is that She did not give themselves official mastery titles until interplanetary diplomatic relations were established, as Audi can differentiate She by verbal context alone. Mastery titles were made to assist foreigners in 'putting names' to a group who all share the same name.

[laurelaicoop]

Places an offering a babies onto the table as I've been preoccupied with writing Threshold People for the past few weeks.

[laurelaicoop]

Time to put some clothes on these beasts, featuring Audi and Cosí Maran Spring Stylings!

Both appreciate the usefulness of baggier clothing, with the Marans having to accomodate both an extra set of arms and (generally) quadrupedal locomotion and the Audi simply finding loose sheets of cloth easier to finagle on their large frames.

[laurelaicoop]

Since Audi have a purely oral language, physical record keeping wasn't a large concern until relatively recently in their history. While Audi have impeccable memories, and oral histories and traditions have been ongoing for innumerable generations, issues arose when Audi realized one cannot simply be present for every single recital request on demand. Thus arose their first audio 'recording' device.

These devices are still enjoyed by Audi to this day, though they more as a performance piece then used as anything practical.

Acting similarly to music boxes, with raised bumps rotating on a brass cylinder and hitting specific keys, the first audio 'recording' device went a step further in replicating every sound possible in the Audi language. This results in over 100 unique keys made of a variety of materials to match the same mouth sounds, syllable by syllable, from soft labial 'pʲ's to trilling 'r's and everything in between.

The lines and bumps on the cylinder acting as early written language is a topic debated by modern scholars, with some saying it serves as physical symbols while others argue it's simple phonetic mimicry that only works with the accompaniment of sound.

While not a perfect system, and its upkeep incredibly time consuming and complicated (and some more complex cylinder systems being as large as steam rollers), the device is viewed as a work of art done by the hands of dedicated masters who found value in preserving even the simplest things, from daily diary entries to family recipes.

[laurelaicoop]

If anyone wants a frame of reference of what Audi language sounds like, look to Balto-Slavic languages with Lithuanian being where I'm pulling most inspiration from.

[laurelaicoop]

All of Laurelai's predominant languages in one handy graphic!

Travelers Jhabber is the 'standard' (or 'universal') language for all those who do authorized interplanetary space travel. It helps in having a common tongue between multiple species.

[laurelaicoop]

Anonymous asked: can we see some stuff about the planets you've introduced so far?

While I do have maps for the Maran homeworld and the Mahl twin planets, I'll just do Frontier for now since it's the most relevant due to it being the setting for Threshold People.

Frontier has a supercontinent with only two distinct countries, Frontier and Aodilea. Aodilea is purely Audi country, and due to the exceptionally small population they only inhabit the east and west coasts. Everything in between is wild country. For Frontier, it's been pimarily used as a home for displaced Marans affected by the 80-year war on Mara. Humans and Mahl have a place in the LIPA Zone, but Marans have the highest population overall.

Fun facts about the World Flag:

Only Frontier is technically part of the Laurelai Inter-Planetary Alliance. Partnerships with the Audi are still ongoing.

The inner seal is a mixture of the three Maran subspecies' main lines of commerce. The forging clamp represents the Cosí, the two needles represents the Èlais, and the closed mussel shell represents the Ysk. The white circle reperents the Amora, who consider themselves ghost children of Mara itself.

The flag is considered the first real symbol of collective peace and representation between the Maran subspecies, having an official truce in place nearly fifteen years sooner then Mara.