Hyper-sexual, very fertile nekomimis
~~Ara ara clock-tan...nekomimis you say?
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babbysama The babby
Member
Seen
1 yr ago
~~Ara ara clock-tan...nekomimis you say?
4x Laugh
darkandstar
Member
Seen
8 yrs ago
Like your history. BOMB THEM BLOODY BRITS I SAY!
Yessir! We'll bomb 'em good, then enslave em, too! ;)
Isotope I am Spartacus!
Member
Seen
1 yr ago
ಠ_ಠ
On another note i'll have a WIP soon.
The Collective shall be weird in all your faces.
On another note i'll have a WIP soon.
The Collective shall be weird in all your faces.
ClocktowerEchos Friendly Neighborhood / Landmine Enthusiast
Member
Seen
2 yrs ago
<Snipped quote by ClocktowerEchos>
~~Ara ara clock-tan...nekomimis you say?
Most of my newer nations always have some mention of lewdness in them. Hell, I've gradually shifted away from using militaristic/industrial nations to those focused on entertainment... of all sorts~.
I'm probably one of the lewdest people you'll ever meet thb
@ClocktowerEchos Your people are ALWAYS welcome in the Federation....just the Nekos though... :P
Some of the Nekos might bring the four-armed pricks or the Not!Zerg with them, they're also like Asaris in a way that they can literally breed and reproduce with anyone. They also have quite the drive too :p
Here's what I have written for them atm since I feel like it would be easier to post this rather than explain it all
Humanoid, cat-like beings, the Fyrite have humanoid skeletal structures as well as some other similarities such as five fingers on a hand and red blood, however they had evolved from more feline ancestors. The most obvious difference is their tails and ears, which are both very cat like in nature; the ears of a Fyrite is highly sensitive to sound and very receptive (it should also be noted that they have no "human-like" ears on the side of their heads, their cat ears are their real ears). The skin color is typically that which resemble's humans and tans, albeit slower. However, it is rare to see a tanned Fyrite as they are actually quite susceptible to skin cancer and related diseases.
Their life cycles are remarkably quick, reaching sexual maturity around the age of 8, mental maturity around at the age of 14 and reach full adulthood at 16 before becoming elderly at age 50 with death typically happening in the 60's and 70's. As a sort of offset for their otherwise quick lives, the Fyrite's reproduction cycle is rather unique, sharing similarities with cats. Their pregnancy cycle is only a mere 3-4 months with anywhere from one to six children per birth. They can also have multiple births a year with little consequence.
Curiously enough, they are also able to breed with literally any other race, however the child will always look like the mother-race with some similarities to the father's race. This is due to as the Fyrtie provides two copies of their genes, one untouched and one modified to resemble the other race in a process known as "Communion" where the Fyrite consciously attunes their nervous system to their partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin, almost uniting nervous systems during intercourse.
Fyrites are also seen as one of the most promiscuous races, in part owning to their unique reproductive system and Communion, but also their flexible homeostatic abilities which is presumably why they can reveal otherwise revealing clothing with little temperate discomfort. While some will say that the promiscuity of the Fyrites is a stereotype, there is no denying that compared to other species, they are quite hyper-sexual with lewdness almost engrained into their culture and being. Some might say that Fyrite are capable of attracting and arousing any race through looks or through pheromones, but at the end of the day, there are probably a good deal of races whose young would love a night or two with some Fyrites.
1x Laugh
@ClocktowerEchos Sure, the Four-armed Pricks and Bugs are welcome too :) *walks off grumbling* :p
4x Laugh
Mardox An internet Dark Lord
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1 yr ago
@ClocktowerEchos Oh boy. I can already imagine the hybrids.
Arawak oZode's ghost
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5 mos ago
These nekos are a joke that you aren't actually going to use right?
Mardox An internet Dark Lord
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Seen
1 yr ago
These nekos are a joke that you aren't actually going to use right?
YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!
Arawak oZode's ghost
Member
Seen
5 mos ago
I don't like them because they're blatant fetish fuel (I get it Clock, you want to be the fanservice race, but why make it so painfully obvious man?) and make no sense. There is no single set of pheromones that you can attract every living species in existence with.
Not to mention, the implications of being able to be "sexually attractive to anything because pheromones" means they probably also are sexually attractive to creatures that can't make spaceships including elephants, dinosaurs, insects, orangutans, whatever lives in Europa, really anything. And they'd be able to make children with all of them... Somehow.
Not to mention, the implications of being able to be "sexually attractive to anything because pheromones" means they probably also are sexually attractive to creatures that can't make spaceships including elephants, dinosaurs, insects, orangutans, whatever lives in Europa, really anything. And they'd be able to make children with all of them... Somehow.
3x Thank
darkandstar
Member
Seen
8 yrs ago
I for one welcome our neko overlords.
But no, really, Arawak has a point.
But no, really, Arawak has a point.
ClocktowerEchos Friendly Neighborhood / Landmine Enthusiast
Member
Seen
2 yrs ago
@Arawak@darkandstarDon't worry, the nekos are only one of three races my NS will have, here's the species bit from my NS:
Also, these are the first drafts, so do expect changes to be made and such. If people really hate my stuff, then I'll just drop it.
Humanoid, cat-like beings, the Fyrite have humanoid skeletal structures as well as some other similarities such as five fingers on a hand and red blood, however they had evolved from more feline ancestors. The most obvious difference is their tails and ears, which are both very cat like in nature; the ears of a Fyrite is highly sensitive to sound and very receptive (it should also be noted that they have no "human-like" ears on the side of their heads, their cat ears are their real ears). The skin color is typically that which resemble's humans and tans, albeit slower. However, it is rare to see a tanned Fyrite as they are actually quite susceptible to skin cancer and related diseases.
Their life cycles are remarkably quick, reaching sexual maturity around the age of 8, mental maturity around at the age of 14 and reach full adulthood at 16 before becoming elderly at age 50 with death typically happening in the 60's and 70's. As a sort of offset for their otherwise quick lives, the Fyrite's reproduction cycle is rather unique, sharing similarities with cats. Their pregnancy cycle is only a mere 3-4 months with anywhere from one to six children per birth. They can also have multiple births a year with little consequence.
Curiously enough, they are also able to breed with literally any other race, however the child will always look like the mother-race with some similarities to the father's race. This is due to as the Fyrtie provides two copies of their genes, one untouched and one modified to resemble the other race in a process known as "Communion" where the Fyrite consciously attunes their nervous system to their partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin, almost uniting nervous systems during intercourse.
Fyrites are also seen as one of the most promiscuous races, in part owning to their unique reproductive system and Communion, but also their flexible homeostatic abilities which is presumably why they can reveal otherwise revealing clothing with little temperate discomfort. While some will say that the promiscuity of the Fyrites is a stereotype, there is no denying that compared to other species, they are quite hyper-sexual with lewdness almost engrained into their culture and being. Some might say that Fyrite are capable of attracting and arousing any race through looks or through pheromones, but at the end of the day, there are probably a good deal of races whose young would love a night or two with some Fyrites.
Perhaps the complete opposite of the Fryrites, the Siari are a race of ancient, long-lived beings while multiple arms and bright orange blood who stand at an impressive 7-8 feet tall on average. They lay a (debated) claim to the most intelligent beings, at least in their own eyes. Infamously snooty and arrogance, its could be said that it was their hubris which lead to the events that caused the current state of the MF. With four-fingered hands and long, lanky limbs, Siari are undoubtedly frail and their lack of significant muscle mass means that they also don't have great endurance or strength or speed.
The Siari have rubbery blueish-grey flesh, often tightly pulled across their thin bones. The have no internal lungs, instead having gland-like structures at the top of their heads and shoulders which pull oxygen from the air around them. As such, these areas are often mislabelled as "glowing bits" while in truth they are simply where the most oxygenated (thus brightest) blood is. Also as such, the Siari have quite the mask fetish out of necessity, in order to both protect their vulnerable heads (which also houses their enlarged brains) and to help purify the air around them, making them suitable for respiration.
Several styles of Siari masks
Capable for living centuries at a time, its not uncommon for some to even live up to a millennia or more assuming ideal living conditions are met, something that's rarely seen on the Memoria Fleet. Slow to age and mature, these creatures often only produce one or two offspring in their entire lives, the most fertile ever recorded for intraspecies breeding is 5 children. Of course, when breeding with a Fryrite, their offspring potential skyrockets but the natural low arousal rate, there is still a comparatively low rate.
While some might expect the Siari to maintain something of an "upper echelon" in society due to their high intelligence and long lives, its not quite so much the case, namely as the Fyrite easily out number them and the Aphid... well they're the Aphid. In fact, most Siari take less of a "leader" stance and more of a "mentor" stance, often working as teachers, aids, sages; only those with great drive, zeal and amibtion work in positions of power like company CEOs and politicians but by no means dominate the respective landscapes.
Benefiting their minds, it can be said that even if the Siari are the ones who caused the current situation, they are without a doubt the original founders of the old empire, being the first to venture into space and colonize as well as making AI robotics, of the most notable are the Archons, strange looking machines that no one quite remembers how the design was created as they certainly do not resemble any Siari. Some older Siari tell tales on how they first discovered the Fyrites when they where simply glorified cat tribes and the Aphids as giant, unintellignet bugs before genetically modifying them into what they were today for original use as soldiers and sex slaves. However, this tale has two major flaws: there was a very small market for sexual industries within native Siari soceities and the Archons where the ones who
Siari are also very long term thinkers, not put off by what would seem to most races as catastrophic failures or losses and more than willing to wait a few decades or even centuries for investments to pay off. That said, they are not oblivious to failure and there are times which they will act more impetuously.
Aphid Drone
Aphid Scourge
Perhaps the most alien and fear-inducing race aboard the Memoria Fleet, the Aphid are sometimes referred to as "hyper evolved bugs" as that's what they basically are. The Aphid in short are the stuff of nightmares, swift giant bugs that stand as tall if not taller than most bipedal species that whisk about on long, claw-like legs, covered in hard chitin and can are extremely venimous. They are mindless bugs with a hunger to devour entire worlds.
Or so the Siari and the Fyrite like to say.
While that description was certainly true at one point with some bits of it lingering on to this day, one could call modern Aphid more "civil" or "docile". Sure they still look creepy as hell and will probably make you shit your pants if you saw one in a dark hallway, but due to a lack of a hivemind, they no longer feel a compulsory need consume biomass. They still do possess quite an appetite if left unchecked and are still quite aggressive however. As such, the two other races of the MF like to toy with outsiders of how they "live with savage monsters on a daily basis", both as an ego boast and to chuckle as outsiders fearfully keep watch for such creatures as they make their way through ships.
Of course, the Aphid have their own take on this seeing as they are intelligent beings who have their own language based around clicks and chirps (although their "yelling" sounds a lot more like yodeling for some reason); the Fyrite and Siari inhabitants can understand said chirps and clicks in a way similar to how people understand droid beeps in Star Wars (the Fyrite's sensitive ears can pick up the variations in tone and thus they can "learn" the language while Siaris simply have translators in their masks) and the Aphids have the ability to understand the other speech patterns. In terms of actual intelligence, they aren't nearly as developed as the other two, but make up this lack of understanding through a pheromone-based collective intelligence. Basically, the more of them are in an area together, the smarter each individual becomes. Funnily enough, some of these pheromones can also put Fyrites into heat.
Born of eggs, the Aphid larva and hatchlings almost resemble purplish soft-shelled lobsters before they quickly begin to grow to full size. They can also completely forgo the hatchling process and come out as a young Drone should they have proper "incubation" (ie a machine or even a living host), but such process is nonexistent in the MF. Being genderless, Aphids will seek to grow and propagate. In the past they used to either seek out a secluded area or an unlucky host for their eggs to be directly transplanted into, but now a days there are Fyrites who are more than willing to act as surrogate mothers (they will simply deliver the eggs and not have to undergo the chest-bursting method of delivery).
Younger Aphids are called "Drones" and are the most typical of Aphids species. As they age, their chitin hardens and forms more spikes and plates as their claws and tips begin to turn a bright orange, the once glowing yellow eyes turn blood red with teeth and external mandibles becoming more prevalent. These older Aphids are commonly referred to as "Scourges", referencing their brutal past.
Although the Aphid are technically immortal, many of the older ones will either commit suicide or request death as they will start to feel an instinctual "completion" in their life cycle once they have laid enough eggs. This is most likely residual commands from the hivemind which told them that those too old to be as efficient as they once where, should give themselves up to feed the younger generations. It should come as no surprise that Aphids are veracious omnivores to the point they can be seen as space goatbugs.
For those who are still curious on where the idea that Aphids are venomous and how they can spit poison; they can't. Its one of those things that the Fyrites and Siaris made up. However, their bodily wastes (which very slowly builds up over the course of months or even years) is known to be highly toxic as it literally everything even their stellar digestive systems can't breakdown.
Happy now?
EDIT: I realize that there might be quite a bit of OP potenital, expect that to be sorted out once I have some more stuff written and have time to go back and fix stuff.
Also, these are the first drafts, so do expect changes to be made and such. If people really hate my stuff, then I'll just drop it.
Species:
Humanoid, cat-like beings, the Fyrite have humanoid skeletal structures as well as some other similarities such as five fingers on a hand and red blood, however they had evolved from more feline ancestors. The most obvious difference is their tails and ears, which are both very cat like in nature; the ears of a Fyrite is highly sensitive to sound and very receptive (it should also be noted that they have no "human-like" ears on the side of their heads, their cat ears are their real ears). The skin color is typically that which resemble's humans and tans, albeit slower. However, it is rare to see a tanned Fyrite as they are actually quite susceptible to skin cancer and related diseases.
Their life cycles are remarkably quick, reaching sexual maturity around the age of 8, mental maturity around at the age of 14 and reach full adulthood at 16 before becoming elderly at age 50 with death typically happening in the 60's and 70's. As a sort of offset for their otherwise quick lives, the Fyrite's reproduction cycle is rather unique, sharing similarities with cats. Their pregnancy cycle is only a mere 3-4 months with anywhere from one to six children per birth. They can also have multiple births a year with little consequence.
Curiously enough, they are also able to breed with literally any other race, however the child will always look like the mother-race with some similarities to the father's race. This is due to as the Fyrtie provides two copies of their genes, one untouched and one modified to resemble the other race in a process known as "Communion" where the Fyrite consciously attunes their nervous system to their partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin, almost uniting nervous systems during intercourse.
Fyrites are also seen as one of the most promiscuous races, in part owning to their unique reproductive system and Communion, but also their flexible homeostatic abilities which is presumably why they can reveal otherwise revealing clothing with little temperate discomfort. While some will say that the promiscuity of the Fyrites is a stereotype, there is no denying that compared to other species, they are quite hyper-sexual with lewdness almost engrained into their culture and being. Some might say that Fyrite are capable of attracting and arousing any race through looks or through pheromones, but at the end of the day, there are probably a good deal of races whose young would love a night or two with some Fyrites.
Perhaps the complete opposite of the Fryrites, the Siari are a race of ancient, long-lived beings while multiple arms and bright orange blood who stand at an impressive 7-8 feet tall on average. They lay a (debated) claim to the most intelligent beings, at least in their own eyes. Infamously snooty and arrogance, its could be said that it was their hubris which lead to the events that caused the current state of the MF. With four-fingered hands and long, lanky limbs, Siari are undoubtedly frail and their lack of significant muscle mass means that they also don't have great endurance or strength or speed.
The Siari have rubbery blueish-grey flesh, often tightly pulled across their thin bones. The have no internal lungs, instead having gland-like structures at the top of their heads and shoulders which pull oxygen from the air around them. As such, these areas are often mislabelled as "glowing bits" while in truth they are simply where the most oxygenated (thus brightest) blood is. Also as such, the Siari have quite the mask fetish out of necessity, in order to both protect their vulnerable heads (which also houses their enlarged brains) and to help purify the air around them, making them suitable for respiration.
Several styles of Siari masks
Capable for living centuries at a time, its not uncommon for some to even live up to a millennia or more assuming ideal living conditions are met, something that's rarely seen on the Memoria Fleet. Slow to age and mature, these creatures often only produce one or two offspring in their entire lives, the most fertile ever recorded for intraspecies breeding is 5 children. Of course, when breeding with a Fryrite, their offspring potential skyrockets but the natural low arousal rate, there is still a comparatively low rate.
While some might expect the Siari to maintain something of an "upper echelon" in society due to their high intelligence and long lives, its not quite so much the case, namely as the Fyrite easily out number them and the Aphid... well they're the Aphid. In fact, most Siari take less of a "leader" stance and more of a "mentor" stance, often working as teachers, aids, sages; only those with great drive, zeal and amibtion work in positions of power like company CEOs and politicians but by no means dominate the respective landscapes.
Benefiting their minds, it can be said that even if the Siari are the ones who caused the current situation, they are without a doubt the original founders of the old empire, being the first to venture into space and colonize as well as making AI robotics, of the most notable are the Archons, strange looking machines that no one quite remembers how the design was created as they certainly do not resemble any Siari. Some older Siari tell tales on how they first discovered the Fyrites when they where simply glorified cat tribes and the Aphids as giant, unintellignet bugs before genetically modifying them into what they were today for original use as soldiers and sex slaves. However, this tale has two major flaws: there was a very small market for sexual industries within native Siari soceities and the Archons where the ones who
Siari are also very long term thinkers, not put off by what would seem to most races as catastrophic failures or losses and more than willing to wait a few decades or even centuries for investments to pay off. That said, they are not oblivious to failure and there are times which they will act more impetuously.
Aphid Drone
Aphid Scourge
Perhaps the most alien and fear-inducing race aboard the Memoria Fleet, the Aphid are sometimes referred to as "hyper evolved bugs" as that's what they basically are. The Aphid in short are the stuff of nightmares, swift giant bugs that stand as tall if not taller than most bipedal species that whisk about on long, claw-like legs, covered in hard chitin and can are extremely venimous. They are mindless bugs with a hunger to devour entire worlds.
Or so the Siari and the Fyrite like to say.
While that description was certainly true at one point with some bits of it lingering on to this day, one could call modern Aphid more "civil" or "docile". Sure they still look creepy as hell and will probably make you shit your pants if you saw one in a dark hallway, but due to a lack of a hivemind, they no longer feel a compulsory need consume biomass. They still do possess quite an appetite if left unchecked and are still quite aggressive however. As such, the two other races of the MF like to toy with outsiders of how they "live with savage monsters on a daily basis", both as an ego boast and to chuckle as outsiders fearfully keep watch for such creatures as they make their way through ships.
Of course, the Aphid have their own take on this seeing as they are intelligent beings who have their own language based around clicks and chirps (although their "yelling" sounds a lot more like yodeling for some reason); the Fyrite and Siari inhabitants can understand said chirps and clicks in a way similar to how people understand droid beeps in Star Wars (the Fyrite's sensitive ears can pick up the variations in tone and thus they can "learn" the language while Siaris simply have translators in their masks) and the Aphids have the ability to understand the other speech patterns. In terms of actual intelligence, they aren't nearly as developed as the other two, but make up this lack of understanding through a pheromone-based collective intelligence. Basically, the more of them are in an area together, the smarter each individual becomes. Funnily enough, some of these pheromones can also put Fyrites into heat.
Born of eggs, the Aphid larva and hatchlings almost resemble purplish soft-shelled lobsters before they quickly begin to grow to full size. They can also completely forgo the hatchling process and come out as a young Drone should they have proper "incubation" (ie a machine or even a living host), but such process is nonexistent in the MF. Being genderless, Aphids will seek to grow and propagate. In the past they used to either seek out a secluded area or an unlucky host for their eggs to be directly transplanted into, but now a days there are Fyrites who are more than willing to act as surrogate mothers (they will simply deliver the eggs and not have to undergo the chest-bursting method of delivery).
Younger Aphids are called "Drones" and are the most typical of Aphids species. As they age, their chitin hardens and forms more spikes and plates as their claws and tips begin to turn a bright orange, the once glowing yellow eyes turn blood red with teeth and external mandibles becoming more prevalent. These older Aphids are commonly referred to as "Scourges", referencing their brutal past.
Although the Aphid are technically immortal, many of the older ones will either commit suicide or request death as they will start to feel an instinctual "completion" in their life cycle once they have laid enough eggs. This is most likely residual commands from the hivemind which told them that those too old to be as efficient as they once where, should give themselves up to feed the younger generations. It should come as no surprise that Aphids are veracious omnivores to the point they can be seen as space goatbugs.
For those who are still curious on where the idea that Aphids are venomous and how they can spit poison; they can't. Its one of those things that the Fyrites and Siaris made up. However, their bodily wastes (which very slowly builds up over the course of months or even years) is known to be highly toxic as it literally everything even their stellar digestive systems can't breakdown.
Happy now?
EDIT: I realize that there might be quite a bit of OP potenital, expect that to be sorted out once I have some more stuff written and have time to go back and fix stuff.
darkandstar
Member
Seen
8 yrs ago
@ClocktowerEchos I'm very curious now what first contact will be like. xD
Shorticus Filthy Trickster
Member
Seen
8 yrs ago
I've finally gone and finished my sheet. I think.
I'll leave it here for inspection, or you can go to the Characters section. The same version is posted in both places.
The Song of the Namilee
Name:
Exemplar Dylaesa
Species:
Namilee
Gender:
Female
Appearance:
Dylaesa is somewhat young by Namilee standards, a mere 114 years of age, and therefore a seemingly unlikely candidate for this new "Exemplar" position. She is small and slight of build, even by Namilee standards, and wears a black-eyed exosuit that seems to make her seem even smaller. Her exosuit has nothing that makes it stand out from the rest of her kind, though Dylaesa is considered pretty when she removes her helmet. The Exemplar's speaking voice, though, is distinct, recognizable, and confident. Her private voice is much softer and carries a tone of nervousness.
History:
Dylaesa was a young but innovative inventor before the X'cor invasion. She was also more willing to take risks than others of her species. Indeed, she became one of the first few Namilee to test their new replication technology on herself, using herself - formerly himself - as a guinea pig to see what long-term effects various chromosomal manipulations might cause the body. She fell in love with another experimenter by the name of Naele, and after five years of courtship the two of them were married. She had his child ten years later without complications.
Dylaesa was chosen to serve as a representative of her Province when she was 93, the year after her child was born. Serving in her Universality, she helped expand a number of institutions involving scientific research. She expanded the space exploration program. And still, in that time period, she found time to practice her own studies and to perfect her passions: dancing, digital art, mathematics, warp theory, competitive swimming, extraterrestrial studies... Yes, she was enamored with the few species her kind had met. She understood aliens a little better than other Namilee.
At least, she thought she did. But then the X'cor attacked. Her husband and her daughter were visiting family on one of the colonies when the attacks began. Dylaesa knows they are either dead or enslaved.
Dylaesa played a role in the survival of her species, acting as one of the chief proponents of the decision to destroy Namil. She originally elected to stay behind on Namil, as there was not enough room for everyone aboard the ship. Dylaesa felt that if she was willing to speak for the destruction of her home, she should be willing to stay there. However, her wish to stay behind was overruled: she had expertise the fleet needed. She was forced to join the expedition.
Dylaesa stared on back at her homeworld as it burst into countless small pieces, and she swore she would do whatever she could to prevent anyone from ever suffering like that again. She would find a way to bring peace to the galaxy, and she would do so by peaceful means.
In truth, the young Namilee was not the first choice among her people to serve as their Exemplar. Six others were asked before her to serve in the position, each possessing a great intellect and skills useful in a leader. They refused, however, each citing different reasons: mental instability, uncertainty of capacity to lead, family matters... But Dylaesa no longer had a family. She was young, too, full of energy; and she was willing to put that energy toward leading her people.
Exemplar Dylaesa has readied herself to face whatever horrors are to come. She only hopes she has readied herself and her people enough.
Weapons:
As the Namilee never needed weapons in their past and they refuse to wield conventional weaponry, they have instead created non-lethal personal defense devices which can be attached to the arms. In Dylaesa's case, the Exemplar has a small device attached to her wrist that wraps about her hand with a thin, gem-like structure attached to her palm. This acts as a conduit of the energy inside her suit, and she can use this to release short bursts of kinetic energy or electromagnetic pulses. This won't actually kill anyone - the suit isn't designed to hurt anyone - but it does serve as a form of emergency defense, one which does not require any sort of hand-held weapon.
Dylaesa's exosuit allows her to breathe in a variety of atmospheres, and it can hold enough oxygen (thanks to its ability to refresh the oxygen inside its tanks) to keep her breathing in the dead of space for a week, much like any Namilee. Since the X'cor invasion, Namilee explorers have begun wearing exosuits that provide some actual protection and utility against hostile targets. Thus, Dylaesa's exosuit is made from a protective material (hex-woven microalloys), reflective plating to go over that, various forms of vision (infrared, nightvision, and more), electronic devices which can sprout from various parts of the suit, and a plethora of other useful gadgets. It also comes with a personal shield, albeit such technology is still rather untested and its usefulness limited.
Personality:
In public, Dylaesa has all the traits of a leader. She is determined. She exudes confidence. She has a posture that reminds the Namilee that she will do all in her power to protect them. She inspires trust in her people.
In private, however, Dylaesa is uncertain she deserves that trust. She's uncertain of a lot of things: of the future, of her worth, of her ability to be Exemplar... Dylaesa wonders if it's possible for the Namilee to survive the race against extinction they now face, or if they can escape their fate without giving up their traditions of peace. But there is no turning back. She can only try to save her species.
Dylaesa is incredibly self-critical. Her intellect is incredible, and she's capable of rapid decision-making, but every choice she makes is questioned a thousand times in her head. But it is that ability to make decisions rapidly which makes her the leader the Namilee need. She will make hard choices as they come, though she may do so with regret.
The young Namilee is highly compassionate, too, and is always willing to do what she can to assuage the suffering of those she meets in her travels. She is open to new ideas as well, though she measures them by Namilee standards of course. She loves meeting new species, and does, in fact, exemplify the curiosity of the Namilee. She takes joy in works of art and in unique perspectives.
Of course, Dylaesa perhaps does not take as much joy in these things as she once did. She suffers post-traumatic symptoms and is incredibly depressed. She is lonely, too: her husband and child are gone, as are her parents, her cousins... her whole world. The one thing that keeps her moving forward is the reminder that her people need her. If not for that, it's very likely she would have euthanized herself already.
Skills:
Starship:
While the New Hope may be the mothership of the Namilee Council of New Hope, it makes a poor exploration vessel. Thus, Dylaesa has chosen a smaller vessel to be her ship of choice when exploring: the Perseverance.
Perseverance is a small vessel. It is manned by 30 crew, but may hold an addition 10-15 passengers of roughly human size. It is very fast, designed to be aerodynamic, and moves with great agility, too. Given the dangers of space and its likelihood of entering combat, this ship uses air, not water, to fill its deck.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
I'll leave it here for inspection, or you can go to the Characters section. The same version is posted in both places.
The Song of the Namilee
Nation Name:
The Namilee Council of New Hope
(Also known as the Namilee Refugee Fleet and the Namilee Refugees)
Population and Demographics:
The Namilee Refugee Fleet consists of roughly a hundred ships, the largest of which - the Mothership named New Hope - carries twenty-five hundred passengers. Most of the other ships carry between twenty and a hundred and twenty five passengers each, though there are three vessels which carries five hundred passengers each. These are the Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn. Each of these three vessels was built in the wake of the X'Cor conquest of the Namilee people.
The New Hope can carry all the other vessels in the fleet, which it does whenever the time comes to warp.
The last count of the Namilee population was roughly 10,000 people residing on the fleet.
Namilee: 100%
Species:
The Namilee are one of the most fragile of the space-faring humanoid species. At a glance, they are smaller than most of the others, standing between three and five feet in height when adult. They are also rather thin, and their digits are long and webbed. They would fit naturally in an ocean setting with their black eyes, the long jellyfish-like tendrils protruding from their heads which spark with electricity, their oily and partly translucent skin... They are strangely pretty beings in their own way, at least for humanoids, but they seem rather defenseless. They aren't muscular. They aren't even fast. They're simply small humanoids with strange "hair."
But most do not see that body. They see the Namilee exosuits, specially designed to allow them to survive in environments which are otherwise hostile to their genetically fragile bodies. These exosuits are highly advanced, protecting them from a wide variety of environmental hazards (burns, suffocation, accidental injuries, etc). However, these suits are not designed to stand up against weapons of war. War, in fact, is a relatively new concept to the Namilee, and none of the equipment they wear was ever meant to be used in war.
The Namilee are also inherently prone to injury - another reason they wear their suits. Their bodies and bone structure are softer than others, and their physiology makes them rather more "picky" about their environment. Their range of comfortable temperatures is smaller than other species, and their nervous systems are particularly sensitive to sensations of pain. If not for their lauded suits, the Namilee would certainly have never have made it as far as they have into space.
And yet the Namilee have a certain grace to them despite all these. Their movements are fluid and airy out of the water, but in the water they seem to possess a preternatural slickness of movement. They are very flexible, too, and anyone watching Namilee dance in their favored aquatic environment is surely to be rewarded with a stunning sight.
But perhaps the most curious quality of the Namilee is the stark difference in their brains to those of other species. They are superbly intelligent, to be true, but it's more than that: they do not feel aggression, and they do not feel the same urges others do to increase their status in society. They develop technology out of curiosity, or out of a desire to better all their people, but they do not quarrel over resources or struggle to prove themselves to be the "best" at anything. The Namilee simply exist. They are calculating, yes, and highly intelligent, but they are also gentle. They are peaceful. They are innocent.
And that is why the Namilee are on the verge of extinction.
Despite their impressive lifespans (a natural 500 years) and their technological advances which have extended those lifespans (to up to a 1,000 years), the Namilee are simply not warriors. They cannot easily breed to make up for the loss of their families, either: they are a species that favors platonic love, with births being incredibly rare and joyous occasions, but also incredibly painful trials. Frail Namilee bodies mean that birth is a dangerous thing, and while modern technologies have allowed the Namilee to almost eliminate the risk of fatalities with birth, their bodies cannot be administered too many pain-reducing drugs or else they risk death.
Between their low birth rate and their inability to protect themselves against the X'cor fleet chasing them, it is very possible that the Namilee will be destroyed by their pursuers. Without assistance from other species, they will almost certainly disappear forever.
System of Government:
Before the cataclysmic war which reduced their population from twenty billion to ten thousand, the Namilee possessed a system of government that might confuse aliens. For instance, humans would observe this system of governance and wonder how it even worked. The answer would simply be this: the Namilee made it work because they are not bound by the same impulses to grab power and influence that other species are. In fact, the chief motivator for governing bodies in their government was to relieve others of the difficult duty of overseeing the affairs of vast populations and to help their people prosper. In short, their society benefited from what might be called "benevolent" rule.
It was not an outmoded form of government, though it was confusing, to be sure. For human comparison, it had the communal elements of Plato's academy, the socialist elements of Marxism, representative elements akin to democracy, and meritocratic elements based on intellectual capacity. The Namilee were organized in small, secular communities called Communes, which in turn were part of large groups of communities called Cooperatives, and these in turn formed Districts, which formed Provinces, which formed the Universalities: the states which cooperated together as independent organizations meant to be universal in their representation of their members' values and their ability to further their interests. Finally, these Universalities pooled their intellects to form the Harmony, the interplanetary council which governed the Namilee people.
Many levels (especially "optional" ones) have been skipped here in order to simplify things. In short: traditional Namilee governance is complicated.
But while the government was definitely bureaucratic (a fatal characteristic which slowed the Namilee's ability to act during the X'cor invasion), it also was designed to empower the Communes and the Cooperatives. Most of the important day-to-day decisions were made in that level of government, though a policy of communal job sharing was also instituted, as were policies that freed individuals to pursue intellectual growth. Indeed, the system was designed to let Communes and their members develop as necessary for their unique purposes, with their restrictions being largely humane (I.E. designed to prevent cruel or unusual treatment of their members). This produced a culture that favored the group over the individual. It produced the Harmony.
But that institution has been largely wiped out. The invasion of the X'cor have forced the Namilee refugees to sincerely reevaluate their system of governance.
The basic premise of the system still exists, as does its purpose. However, the Universality in the fleet - the sole remaining Universality - has chosen a leader whose power is largely unquestionable. In other species, this would almost certainly be done with caution, as tyrants and dictators are the norm in other species. But the Namilee do not have that experience, and their chosen leader has been given the office as a temporary means of expediting the decision-making process, cutting past the bureaucracy, and helping the Namilee aboard the fleet survive. This ruler is called the Exemplar.
The term 'Exemplar' has been chosen because the Exemplar is meant to exemplify everything that is Namilee, at least in a metaphorical sense, thereby meaning the Exemplar may make decisions on behalf of the Namilee people. This is, perhaps, seen as an unfortunate necessity, as no one person can, by themselves, accurately represent the whole of the Namilee people, at least in the eyes of this species. However, they have agreed that expediency is necessary now more that ever. All trust has been placed in the Exemplar. All hope rests on her shoulders.
History:
The Namilee gave themselves their name after naming their planet, Namil. The planet they named together as a species after a long and protracted discussion on the matter approximately two thousand years ago. A world which once bore thirty-seven names in fifty-two languages was condensed into a single name. "Namil," at its core, means peace. It means tranquility. It means love.
Perhaps that is why the Namilee were so slow to take to the stars despite their advanced technology. It helped that the Namilee did not overpopulate their planet, and that they were able to nurture and care for the planet and develop means of sustaining more of their people on their largely ocean-covered homeworld without upsetting the ecological balance. There were no wars, though there were natural disasters and biological catastrophes which had to be dealt with. It was an idyllic existence that generations of Namilee had enjoyed.
When they first traveled into space and colonized nearby planets for the sake of discovery, the Namilee were left relatively well alone. Oh, they made some contact with nearby alien species, and they treated them kindly, even uplifting a neighboring species to space faring state. Those efforts resulted in that species being saved from the brink of extinction, and through careful education the Namilee managed to produce in them a peaceful culture, albeit not quite so peaceful as the Namilee's. So, with a small realm of five colonies and their home planet linked together with a slowly but steadily growing population, the Namilee knew peace.
Then the X'cor came.
The concept of "war" had never been known to the Namilee before the X'cor came, but the entire X'cor society was built around war. In truth, the X'cor were vastly inferior technologically. Their ships were less advanced, their weapons made of infinitely cruder materials than anything the Namilee made. But that was just it: the Namilee had no weapons. They did not understand what was happening.
Their ships were destroyed first. The Namilee tried to send transmissions begging for the X'cor to stop, but to no avail. As the X'cor were not aquatic, they then proceeded to bomb the Namilee worlds, evaporating lakes and seas, stripping bare their lands, destroying the fertile ecosystems which the Namilee had so carefully cultivated. They then descended upon the planet, marching into the submerged cities of the Namilee.
To this day, the X'cor laugh about the event: countless little aliens in suits, staring on confusedly, some of them not even trying to run away as weapons fire rained down upon them in the streets. They put up no resistance. They disgusted their enemies with their unwillingness to fight back, and so a great many of them were simply killed for being useless. A great many more were enslaved, but they proved to be pathetic at manual labor, and so many of them were slain as well.
Namil was the last planet to succumb to this invasion. In a final, desperate act, the Namilee Council, using advanced replication and construction techniques, quickly constructed a shield with which to protect their homeworld. They then constructed a massive mothership named Hope and sent hundreds of thousands of colonists aboard, the vast majority of their remaining populace. They sent Hope into space.
Hope was destroyed by X'cor attack vessels before it could even enter warp. The lives of three hundred and fifty thousand Namilee were snuffed out in an instant. The X'cor would never let their prey escape. What was worse, the shield they had constructed was giving way. There was not enough energy to maintain it forever.
Construction began on a second vessel, but it was rushed. It would not be able to house even a majority of the remaining Namilee population. There were a hundred thousand Namilee remaining, but only ten thousand could go aboard the New Hope and the vessels it carried. What was more, the Namilee now knew they could not escape their own home system without somehow dealing with the X'cor fleet. And so, for the first time since the onset of the unmitigated massacre of their people, the Namilee devised a plan that involved destroying the X'cor fleet.
They blew up their own planet, sending a densely packed series of compounds straight into their own planet's core. Namil burst into a thousand bits, shredding apart the X'cor fleet, but the New Hope managed to survive. It escaped.
The Namilee population in the galaxy dropped from twenty billion to a mere ten thousand over the course of the X'cor conquest.
And despite all these terrible things, despite the horrors that have been wrought upon them, the Namilee blame themselves. These ten thousand refugees fly through space in exile, searching for a safe place they may call home, praying they can somehow redeem themselves by helping other civilizations find peace. The Namilee hope they might even help the X'cor find peace.
They do not think they will succeed. They fly on anyway.
Culture:
If ever there was a species among which both Karl Marx and the ancient Greek philosophers might have found their vision of a utopia, it would be the Namilee. They are a academically minded, group oriented, generally benign species. The chief pursuit of the Namilee in life is to develop intellectually and improve their community, and thus the whole of the Namilee people, through scientific discovery, philosophical introspection, and artistic expression. They are learners and lovers.
"Love" tends to mean something very different to the Namilee than it does to other species. Their ideal love, in fact, is platonic, non-sexual in context, though the reality of reproductive needs necessitates some manner of sexual activity. But the vast majority of romance among the Namilee people is that of simple togetherness, emotional bonding, or of cooperative physical activities that require the coordination of two wills to achieve a singular purpose. The dance, the duet, the debate: these are all seen as wonderful romantic experiences to the Namilee. These merge two minds together, force them to better understand each other, and result in intellectual advancement for bot - so says Namilee tradition. Sometimes, though, all that is necessary is for two people to hold each other's hands.
The Namilee religion applies this sort of love on a grander scale. It states that all life comes from the same source, the same universe, and so all life must be precious. Further, the same energy, the same basic building blocks which found each organism, are present in all matter, and so all living matter must be connected on some most basic of levels. Rather much like in Buddhism, the purpose of this religion is to find a way to achieve spiritual or intellectual oneness with the world, but this is seen as an impossibility, albeit one which ought to be striven for. Therefore, artistic expression of this process, or of one's unique experience of the world, is highly valued, especially that which relates to the community in some way. It need not praise the community, though. It may even denounce it. Such expression is still honest, and therefore is valuable.
There is a genetic and societal predisposition among the Namilee for patience and shyness. This is not to say that the Namilee are not capable of the same openness as, say, humans. However, they are naturally more inclined to avoid conflict, and they're more easily able to forgive others for past transgressions than other species. Combined with their propensity to feel a bond and a love for other individuals and species in the universe, the Namilee are ill-equipped socially for the horrors of the universe. They take much of the blame for their situation onto themselves.
It does not help that the Namilee abhor violence. For them, the prospect of purposely trying to kill another sentient organism is utterly horrific, whether that be in self-defense or in pursuit of conquest. It is for that reason so many of them were wiped out before their government even considered any sort of action that might harm their murderers. They do not want to hurt the X'cor. They only want the X'cor to stop hunting them, and to learn and embrace ideals of harmony.
This is all compounded by the Namilee drive of curiosity and their desire to understand their foes. They sincerely want to know why the X'cor are driven to such lengths to conquer and destroy. They sincerely want to know how other species muster up the will to fight each other. But in a way, their very desire to understand limits their ability to do so: they find it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea that two disagreeing parties must be in conflict with one another. Peaceful solutions, compromises, and simple reevaluation and admittance of fault have allowed the Namilee to avoid physical conflict for generations. How can it be that violence is such a "necessity?"
And yet, the Namilee realize, it may soon become their reality that violence is a necessity. Already they are in mourning for the lives that will be lost. Already they ask the energy which unites all life for forgiveness for whatever crimes they may commit, and for forgiveness for those who hunt them. They try to be non-judgmental of other civilizations - even their enemies - and do not blame them for their choices, but at the same time see them as unready for their technologies. The realization that this is a judgment of the other species in the galaxy has not escaped the Namilee. That realization has only made the aquatic people feel more guilty.
The Namilee are a highly advanced civilization, and one of their greatest creations is their exosuit. These exosuits allow them to survive in what would otherwise be hostile environments. Though normally aquatic, they can walk upon solid ground when wearing these suits, can breathe air (including normally toxic air so long as it possesses the right elements), and otherwise are able to visit places in relative safety. So universal has the exosuit become that it is the chief style of clothing among the Namilee. They may not wear their helmets at all times, but they prefer to wear their exosuits in a great many situations. It's simply safer that way.
Due to their scientific achievement, the Namilee are capable of doing things that would make other species awed. For one, their replication devices are able to reproduce most anything they need on a daily basis, even be used to regenerate wounds or create plants from a database of stored plant DNA. They are able to synthesize metals which other species cannot. This technology has allowed them to recreate some of their lost comforts from home while aboard the New Hope. Having seen the horrific results of what happens when other species possess advanced technology - such as the utilization of that technology to destroy other civilizations - the Namilee are incredibly wary of exchanging knowledge of this replicating power with anybody.
But perhaps more interesting than that is their ability to easily modify the genetic traits of an individual and modify the body non-intrusively at the same time. Though generally avoided, as natural diversity within the gene pool is treasured, this process is conducted in cases when someone's genetic code makes them at risk of dying an early or painful death, or simply when someone desires to modify themselves enough to request such a transformation. Chromosomes - including sex chromosomes - can be modified and their phenotypic implications made reality in the same instant. Moreover, the genetic material from one person can be used to create sexual product of another, meaning that a male's DNA can be used to synthesize eggs and that a female's DNA can be used to synthesize sperm. The societal ramifications of such technologies have utterly transformed the Namilee's perception of their mortal condition.
Despite their ability to modify life, however, the Namilee have no intention of creating more of their own species through replication techniques, nor do they know how to do so without creating an inherently flawed people. Regrowing a lost limb is one thing. Using pre-existing DNA structures to create plantlife or to modify an organism is one thing. But to create sentient life, to try and make that life an individual, to deny it any of the usual processes of growth associated with normal life: that is both questionable and, in some ways, just out of the Namilee's grasp. And if it weren't out of their grasp, the Namilee would still ponder the ethical ramifications of utilizing technology for that purpose. Genetic abnormalities would almost certainly be present - partly why chromosomal changes are so carefully considered before the gene modification procedure is conducted - and there may be problems unforeseen by modern science that could also arise from creating an entirely new member of one's species with replication technology.
Other societal questions have been posed by the development of replication technology. Can replication be used to restore life to the dead? The science seems to support that one can, at least, use the DNA from dead tissue to recreate the lost individual, even if the individual knows nothing of themselves. Are there spiritual ramifications for doing so? Does this disrupt the energy of life? Could the technology be used to immortalize people, to effectively give them eternal life by rejuvenating or replacing their cells? The science there is muddled and unclear. If that is so, is it wrong to withhold the technology out of fear of other species destroying themselves?
It is a messy series of questions that have yet to be answered.
Important people, places, and organizations:
Military size:
There is no military arm of the Namilee - not yet. They have personnel who perform the necessary functions of piloting the fleet and repairing their vessels, but no soldiers. The Namilee hope to keep it that way.
Military details:
The Namilee have no military yet. However, their fleet is under the direct command of the Exemplar. The Exemplar presently controls all assets in the fleet.
Weapons tech:
The Namilee are not incapable of weapons design. They are, in fact, well aware of the principles of the weapons used against them. They certainly are capable of creating destruction should they wish to: it was the Namilee who destroyed an X'cor fleet in a single swoop by detonating their own planet from its core.
But the Namilee do not want to create weapons. They do not want to harm others.
Namilee weapons tech is, therefore, missing. They understand the principles but do not have any schematics for creating weapons. They do, however, have impressive defensive technology: thick alloys for their ships, reflective plating, shields which are constantly having their energy efficiency improved, etc. But their fleet carries no guns, no missiles, no bombs, no boarding pods.
Some have suggested that the Namilee try producing non-lethal weaponry, some sort of design that would cripple ships without destroying them. But if this technology were developed, would crippling an enemy ship not result in the crew eventually running out of supplies? Or oxygen? And developing non-lethal technology for space combat is incredibly more difficult than creating lethal weaponry. After all, all lethal weaponry needs to do is destroy the opposition. Non-lethal weaponry must take measures to ensure that both the attacker and the defender survive.
Overall, despite their highly advanced technology, the Namilee are ill-prepared for the trials of space warfare.
General Technology:
The Namilee possess technologies well beyond that of their neighbors - the sort of technology that, due to their inability to defend themselves properly, might make them seem a target if other species ever come to realize the Namilee are so defenseless.
It should first be understood that the replication technologies, the advanced gene-modification techniques, and their new vessels are all rather new designs applying new research. It should also be understood that since their departure from their now destroyed homeworld, the Namilee have been engrossed in scientific research. While their artists, philosophers and spiritualists delve into their realms to find an answer to why they are in the situation they find themselves in, their scientists work to unravel the mysteries of the universe, to unlock scientific secrets that may provide them with a means of protecting themselves without destroying their hunters.
Their technology has improved every walk of life. They have made great strides in botany, physics, chemistry, warp theory, xenology, extraterrestrial geology... They've researched most fields, dedicated countless hours to research. Yet somehow they found themselves being wiped out by a species whose technologies were vastly inferior - save in the field of war.
The question thus remains: to what ends will the vast scientific knowledge of the Namilee be applied?
Economy:
Due to their advanced replication technology, the Namilee are not destitute space wanderers. Their people live well and survive. However, they are not developing an economy, and cannot be expected to produce a great number of goods for trade.
What the Namilee do offer for trade is high-tech and of superb quality, even if it comes in very small quantities. More valuable than their goods is their data: their research and their technologies are all incredibly valuable, and certainly capable of bringing ruin upon any civilization that is unprepared to unlock that knowledge.
Spaceships:
Given their technological advances, it should not be surprising that the Namilee fleet consists of vessels that are incredible feats of construction. They pilot mechanical vessels which, through clever engineering and complex AI coding, are capable of self-repair and of quickly shifting into warp drive.
Their fleets might seem organic at a glance, but indeed are not organic at all, but are formed of a complex, smooth series of metals that provide the exterior of their vessels with a chitin-like appearance. They are partly reflexive, the better to react to ballistic shots, and their plating is reflective, the better to divert beam blasts away from the ship.
The blue tendrils and the bright glow which emanates from the buttom of their vessels is actually part of the system which the Namilee use to fuel their vessels. The tendrils draw in light and other forms of energy, as well as loose particles, and absorb them into the ship, using them along with the reactor within the ship to fuel the various energy-intensive processes conducted aboard the ship. This might seem excessive, but the process of replication, of maintaining a purified and stable aquatic environment, of powering the shields that protect the vessels from harm, and so forth all require incredible amounts of energy. It was deemed necessary by the Namilee to ensure they had multiple means of procuring energy.
But the Namilee are artists as well as scientists and engineers. They strive to make their ships beautiful and appealing, and to make the inside of the vessels resemble home.
So, the ships in the fleet which serve as home to their inhabitants are largely filled with water (specially treated and frequently cleaned so as to minimize illness). There are pockets of air, and an artificial atmosphere exists inside the largest of the ships, the New Hope, to provide those aboard it a sense of being on the planet. Plant life is grown in botany bays, both the sort which grew below and that which flourished above the surface of the water. Animals are cared for in well-kept zoos. Dozens more steps have been taken to try and ensure the fleet feels like home... but in the end, it's just not the same. Namil is gone.
Nevertheless, the fleet is one of the most advanced entities in existence, each ship a small marvel unto itself... or, in the case of the mothership, New Hope, a huge marvel.
While most of the larger ships in the fleet can warp, the New Hope is specially designed to be able to warp other vessels with it, letting them dock inside as it bursts off into space. The New Hope can activate its warp drive faster than other ships in the fleet, and it also has somewhat faster warp speeds than the other vessels.
The Namilee Council of New Hope
(Also known as the Namilee Refugee Fleet and the Namilee Refugees)
Population and Demographics:
The Namilee Refugee Fleet consists of roughly a hundred ships, the largest of which - the Mothership named New Hope - carries twenty-five hundred passengers. Most of the other ships carry between twenty and a hundred and twenty five passengers each, though there are three vessels which carries five hundred passengers each. These are the Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn. Each of these three vessels was built in the wake of the X'Cor conquest of the Namilee people.
The New Hope can carry all the other vessels in the fleet, which it does whenever the time comes to warp.
The last count of the Namilee population was roughly 10,000 people residing on the fleet.
Namilee: 100%
Species:
The Namilee are one of the most fragile of the space-faring humanoid species. At a glance, they are smaller than most of the others, standing between three and five feet in height when adult. They are also rather thin, and their digits are long and webbed. They would fit naturally in an ocean setting with their black eyes, the long jellyfish-like tendrils protruding from their heads which spark with electricity, their oily and partly translucent skin... They are strangely pretty beings in their own way, at least for humanoids, but they seem rather defenseless. They aren't muscular. They aren't even fast. They're simply small humanoids with strange "hair."
But most do not see that body. They see the Namilee exosuits, specially designed to allow them to survive in environments which are otherwise hostile to their genetically fragile bodies. These exosuits are highly advanced, protecting them from a wide variety of environmental hazards (burns, suffocation, accidental injuries, etc). However, these suits are not designed to stand up against weapons of war. War, in fact, is a relatively new concept to the Namilee, and none of the equipment they wear was ever meant to be used in war.
The Namilee are also inherently prone to injury - another reason they wear their suits. Their bodies and bone structure are softer than others, and their physiology makes them rather more "picky" about their environment. Their range of comfortable temperatures is smaller than other species, and their nervous systems are particularly sensitive to sensations of pain. If not for their lauded suits, the Namilee would certainly have never have made it as far as they have into space.
And yet the Namilee have a certain grace to them despite all these. Their movements are fluid and airy out of the water, but in the water they seem to possess a preternatural slickness of movement. They are very flexible, too, and anyone watching Namilee dance in their favored aquatic environment is surely to be rewarded with a stunning sight.
But perhaps the most curious quality of the Namilee is the stark difference in their brains to those of other species. They are superbly intelligent, to be true, but it's more than that: they do not feel aggression, and they do not feel the same urges others do to increase their status in society. They develop technology out of curiosity, or out of a desire to better all their people, but they do not quarrel over resources or struggle to prove themselves to be the "best" at anything. The Namilee simply exist. They are calculating, yes, and highly intelligent, but they are also gentle. They are peaceful. They are innocent.
And that is why the Namilee are on the verge of extinction.
Despite their impressive lifespans (a natural 500 years) and their technological advances which have extended those lifespans (to up to a 1,000 years), the Namilee are simply not warriors. They cannot easily breed to make up for the loss of their families, either: they are a species that favors platonic love, with births being incredibly rare and joyous occasions, but also incredibly painful trials. Frail Namilee bodies mean that birth is a dangerous thing, and while modern technologies have allowed the Namilee to almost eliminate the risk of fatalities with birth, their bodies cannot be administered too many pain-reducing drugs or else they risk death.
Between their low birth rate and their inability to protect themselves against the X'cor fleet chasing them, it is very possible that the Namilee will be destroyed by their pursuers. Without assistance from other species, they will almost certainly disappear forever.
System of Government:
Before the cataclysmic war which reduced their population from twenty billion to ten thousand, the Namilee possessed a system of government that might confuse aliens. For instance, humans would observe this system of governance and wonder how it even worked. The answer would simply be this: the Namilee made it work because they are not bound by the same impulses to grab power and influence that other species are. In fact, the chief motivator for governing bodies in their government was to relieve others of the difficult duty of overseeing the affairs of vast populations and to help their people prosper. In short, their society benefited from what might be called "benevolent" rule.
It was not an outmoded form of government, though it was confusing, to be sure. For human comparison, it had the communal elements of Plato's academy, the socialist elements of Marxism, representative elements akin to democracy, and meritocratic elements based on intellectual capacity. The Namilee were organized in small, secular communities called Communes, which in turn were part of large groups of communities called Cooperatives, and these in turn formed Districts, which formed Provinces, which formed the Universalities: the states which cooperated together as independent organizations meant to be universal in their representation of their members' values and their ability to further their interests. Finally, these Universalities pooled their intellects to form the Harmony, the interplanetary council which governed the Namilee people.
Many levels (especially "optional" ones) have been skipped here in order to simplify things. In short: traditional Namilee governance is complicated.
But while the government was definitely bureaucratic (a fatal characteristic which slowed the Namilee's ability to act during the X'cor invasion), it also was designed to empower the Communes and the Cooperatives. Most of the important day-to-day decisions were made in that level of government, though a policy of communal job sharing was also instituted, as were policies that freed individuals to pursue intellectual growth. Indeed, the system was designed to let Communes and their members develop as necessary for their unique purposes, with their restrictions being largely humane (I.E. designed to prevent cruel or unusual treatment of their members). This produced a culture that favored the group over the individual. It produced the Harmony.
But that institution has been largely wiped out. The invasion of the X'cor have forced the Namilee refugees to sincerely reevaluate their system of governance.
The basic premise of the system still exists, as does its purpose. However, the Universality in the fleet - the sole remaining Universality - has chosen a leader whose power is largely unquestionable. In other species, this would almost certainly be done with caution, as tyrants and dictators are the norm in other species. But the Namilee do not have that experience, and their chosen leader has been given the office as a temporary means of expediting the decision-making process, cutting past the bureaucracy, and helping the Namilee aboard the fleet survive. This ruler is called the Exemplar.
The term 'Exemplar' has been chosen because the Exemplar is meant to exemplify everything that is Namilee, at least in a metaphorical sense, thereby meaning the Exemplar may make decisions on behalf of the Namilee people. This is, perhaps, seen as an unfortunate necessity, as no one person can, by themselves, accurately represent the whole of the Namilee people, at least in the eyes of this species. However, they have agreed that expediency is necessary now more that ever. All trust has been placed in the Exemplar. All hope rests on her shoulders.
History:
The Namilee gave themselves their name after naming their planet, Namil. The planet they named together as a species after a long and protracted discussion on the matter approximately two thousand years ago. A world which once bore thirty-seven names in fifty-two languages was condensed into a single name. "Namil," at its core, means peace. It means tranquility. It means love.
Perhaps that is why the Namilee were so slow to take to the stars despite their advanced technology. It helped that the Namilee did not overpopulate their planet, and that they were able to nurture and care for the planet and develop means of sustaining more of their people on their largely ocean-covered homeworld without upsetting the ecological balance. There were no wars, though there were natural disasters and biological catastrophes which had to be dealt with. It was an idyllic existence that generations of Namilee had enjoyed.
When they first traveled into space and colonized nearby planets for the sake of discovery, the Namilee were left relatively well alone. Oh, they made some contact with nearby alien species, and they treated them kindly, even uplifting a neighboring species to space faring state. Those efforts resulted in that species being saved from the brink of extinction, and through careful education the Namilee managed to produce in them a peaceful culture, albeit not quite so peaceful as the Namilee's. So, with a small realm of five colonies and their home planet linked together with a slowly but steadily growing population, the Namilee knew peace.
Then the X'cor came.
The concept of "war" had never been known to the Namilee before the X'cor came, but the entire X'cor society was built around war. In truth, the X'cor were vastly inferior technologically. Their ships were less advanced, their weapons made of infinitely cruder materials than anything the Namilee made. But that was just it: the Namilee had no weapons. They did not understand what was happening.
Their ships were destroyed first. The Namilee tried to send transmissions begging for the X'cor to stop, but to no avail. As the X'cor were not aquatic, they then proceeded to bomb the Namilee worlds, evaporating lakes and seas, stripping bare their lands, destroying the fertile ecosystems which the Namilee had so carefully cultivated. They then descended upon the planet, marching into the submerged cities of the Namilee.
To this day, the X'cor laugh about the event: countless little aliens in suits, staring on confusedly, some of them not even trying to run away as weapons fire rained down upon them in the streets. They put up no resistance. They disgusted their enemies with their unwillingness to fight back, and so a great many of them were simply killed for being useless. A great many more were enslaved, but they proved to be pathetic at manual labor, and so many of them were slain as well.
Namil was the last planet to succumb to this invasion. In a final, desperate act, the Namilee Council, using advanced replication and construction techniques, quickly constructed a shield with which to protect their homeworld. They then constructed a massive mothership named Hope and sent hundreds of thousands of colonists aboard, the vast majority of their remaining populace. They sent Hope into space.
Hope was destroyed by X'cor attack vessels before it could even enter warp. The lives of three hundred and fifty thousand Namilee were snuffed out in an instant. The X'cor would never let their prey escape. What was worse, the shield they had constructed was giving way. There was not enough energy to maintain it forever.
Construction began on a second vessel, but it was rushed. It would not be able to house even a majority of the remaining Namilee population. There were a hundred thousand Namilee remaining, but only ten thousand could go aboard the New Hope and the vessels it carried. What was more, the Namilee now knew they could not escape their own home system without somehow dealing with the X'cor fleet. And so, for the first time since the onset of the unmitigated massacre of their people, the Namilee devised a plan that involved destroying the X'cor fleet.
They blew up their own planet, sending a densely packed series of compounds straight into their own planet's core. Namil burst into a thousand bits, shredding apart the X'cor fleet, but the New Hope managed to survive. It escaped.
The Namilee population in the galaxy dropped from twenty billion to a mere ten thousand over the course of the X'cor conquest.
And despite all these terrible things, despite the horrors that have been wrought upon them, the Namilee blame themselves. These ten thousand refugees fly through space in exile, searching for a safe place they may call home, praying they can somehow redeem themselves by helping other civilizations find peace. The Namilee hope they might even help the X'cor find peace.
They do not think they will succeed. They fly on anyway.
Culture:
If ever there was a species among which both Karl Marx and the ancient Greek philosophers might have found their vision of a utopia, it would be the Namilee. They are a academically minded, group oriented, generally benign species. The chief pursuit of the Namilee in life is to develop intellectually and improve their community, and thus the whole of the Namilee people, through scientific discovery, philosophical introspection, and artistic expression. They are learners and lovers.
"Love" tends to mean something very different to the Namilee than it does to other species. Their ideal love, in fact, is platonic, non-sexual in context, though the reality of reproductive needs necessitates some manner of sexual activity. But the vast majority of romance among the Namilee people is that of simple togetherness, emotional bonding, or of cooperative physical activities that require the coordination of two wills to achieve a singular purpose. The dance, the duet, the debate: these are all seen as wonderful romantic experiences to the Namilee. These merge two minds together, force them to better understand each other, and result in intellectual advancement for bot - so says Namilee tradition. Sometimes, though, all that is necessary is for two people to hold each other's hands.
The Namilee religion applies this sort of love on a grander scale. It states that all life comes from the same source, the same universe, and so all life must be precious. Further, the same energy, the same basic building blocks which found each organism, are present in all matter, and so all living matter must be connected on some most basic of levels. Rather much like in Buddhism, the purpose of this religion is to find a way to achieve spiritual or intellectual oneness with the world, but this is seen as an impossibility, albeit one which ought to be striven for. Therefore, artistic expression of this process, or of one's unique experience of the world, is highly valued, especially that which relates to the community in some way. It need not praise the community, though. It may even denounce it. Such expression is still honest, and therefore is valuable.
There is a genetic and societal predisposition among the Namilee for patience and shyness. This is not to say that the Namilee are not capable of the same openness as, say, humans. However, they are naturally more inclined to avoid conflict, and they're more easily able to forgive others for past transgressions than other species. Combined with their propensity to feel a bond and a love for other individuals and species in the universe, the Namilee are ill-equipped socially for the horrors of the universe. They take much of the blame for their situation onto themselves.
It does not help that the Namilee abhor violence. For them, the prospect of purposely trying to kill another sentient organism is utterly horrific, whether that be in self-defense or in pursuit of conquest. It is for that reason so many of them were wiped out before their government even considered any sort of action that might harm their murderers. They do not want to hurt the X'cor. They only want the X'cor to stop hunting them, and to learn and embrace ideals of harmony.
This is all compounded by the Namilee drive of curiosity and their desire to understand their foes. They sincerely want to know why the X'cor are driven to such lengths to conquer and destroy. They sincerely want to know how other species muster up the will to fight each other. But in a way, their very desire to understand limits their ability to do so: they find it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea that two disagreeing parties must be in conflict with one another. Peaceful solutions, compromises, and simple reevaluation and admittance of fault have allowed the Namilee to avoid physical conflict for generations. How can it be that violence is such a "necessity?"
And yet, the Namilee realize, it may soon become their reality that violence is a necessity. Already they are in mourning for the lives that will be lost. Already they ask the energy which unites all life for forgiveness for whatever crimes they may commit, and for forgiveness for those who hunt them. They try to be non-judgmental of other civilizations - even their enemies - and do not blame them for their choices, but at the same time see them as unready for their technologies. The realization that this is a judgment of the other species in the galaxy has not escaped the Namilee. That realization has only made the aquatic people feel more guilty.
The Namilee are a highly advanced civilization, and one of their greatest creations is their exosuit. These exosuits allow them to survive in what would otherwise be hostile environments. Though normally aquatic, they can walk upon solid ground when wearing these suits, can breathe air (including normally toxic air so long as it possesses the right elements), and otherwise are able to visit places in relative safety. So universal has the exosuit become that it is the chief style of clothing among the Namilee. They may not wear their helmets at all times, but they prefer to wear their exosuits in a great many situations. It's simply safer that way.
Due to their scientific achievement, the Namilee are capable of doing things that would make other species awed. For one, their replication devices are able to reproduce most anything they need on a daily basis, even be used to regenerate wounds or create plants from a database of stored plant DNA. They are able to synthesize metals which other species cannot. This technology has allowed them to recreate some of their lost comforts from home while aboard the New Hope. Having seen the horrific results of what happens when other species possess advanced technology - such as the utilization of that technology to destroy other civilizations - the Namilee are incredibly wary of exchanging knowledge of this replicating power with anybody.
But perhaps more interesting than that is their ability to easily modify the genetic traits of an individual and modify the body non-intrusively at the same time. Though generally avoided, as natural diversity within the gene pool is treasured, this process is conducted in cases when someone's genetic code makes them at risk of dying an early or painful death, or simply when someone desires to modify themselves enough to request such a transformation. Chromosomes - including sex chromosomes - can be modified and their phenotypic implications made reality in the same instant. Moreover, the genetic material from one person can be used to create sexual product of another, meaning that a male's DNA can be used to synthesize eggs and that a female's DNA can be used to synthesize sperm. The societal ramifications of such technologies have utterly transformed the Namilee's perception of their mortal condition.
Despite their ability to modify life, however, the Namilee have no intention of creating more of their own species through replication techniques, nor do they know how to do so without creating an inherently flawed people. Regrowing a lost limb is one thing. Using pre-existing DNA structures to create plantlife or to modify an organism is one thing. But to create sentient life, to try and make that life an individual, to deny it any of the usual processes of growth associated with normal life: that is both questionable and, in some ways, just out of the Namilee's grasp. And if it weren't out of their grasp, the Namilee would still ponder the ethical ramifications of utilizing technology for that purpose. Genetic abnormalities would almost certainly be present - partly why chromosomal changes are so carefully considered before the gene modification procedure is conducted - and there may be problems unforeseen by modern science that could also arise from creating an entirely new member of one's species with replication technology.
Other societal questions have been posed by the development of replication technology. Can replication be used to restore life to the dead? The science seems to support that one can, at least, use the DNA from dead tissue to recreate the lost individual, even if the individual knows nothing of themselves. Are there spiritual ramifications for doing so? Does this disrupt the energy of life? Could the technology be used to immortalize people, to effectively give them eternal life by rejuvenating or replacing their cells? The science there is muddled and unclear. If that is so, is it wrong to withhold the technology out of fear of other species destroying themselves?
It is a messy series of questions that have yet to be answered.
Important people, places, and organizations:
Exemplar Dylaesa - Leader of the The Namilee Council of New Hope
New Hope - Mothership
Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn - Large civilian vessels
Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn - Large civilian vessels
Military size:
There is no military arm of the Namilee - not yet. They have personnel who perform the necessary functions of piloting the fleet and repairing their vessels, but no soldiers. The Namilee hope to keep it that way.
Military details:
The Namilee have no military yet. However, their fleet is under the direct command of the Exemplar. The Exemplar presently controls all assets in the fleet.
Weapons tech:
The Namilee are not incapable of weapons design. They are, in fact, well aware of the principles of the weapons used against them. They certainly are capable of creating destruction should they wish to: it was the Namilee who destroyed an X'cor fleet in a single swoop by detonating their own planet from its core.
But the Namilee do not want to create weapons. They do not want to harm others.
Namilee weapons tech is, therefore, missing. They understand the principles but do not have any schematics for creating weapons. They do, however, have impressive defensive technology: thick alloys for their ships, reflective plating, shields which are constantly having their energy efficiency improved, etc. But their fleet carries no guns, no missiles, no bombs, no boarding pods.
Some have suggested that the Namilee try producing non-lethal weaponry, some sort of design that would cripple ships without destroying them. But if this technology were developed, would crippling an enemy ship not result in the crew eventually running out of supplies? Or oxygen? And developing non-lethal technology for space combat is incredibly more difficult than creating lethal weaponry. After all, all lethal weaponry needs to do is destroy the opposition. Non-lethal weaponry must take measures to ensure that both the attacker and the defender survive.
Overall, despite their highly advanced technology, the Namilee are ill-prepared for the trials of space warfare.
General Technology:
The Namilee possess technologies well beyond that of their neighbors - the sort of technology that, due to their inability to defend themselves properly, might make them seem a target if other species ever come to realize the Namilee are so defenseless.
It should first be understood that the replication technologies, the advanced gene-modification techniques, and their new vessels are all rather new designs applying new research. It should also be understood that since their departure from their now destroyed homeworld, the Namilee have been engrossed in scientific research. While their artists, philosophers and spiritualists delve into their realms to find an answer to why they are in the situation they find themselves in, their scientists work to unravel the mysteries of the universe, to unlock scientific secrets that may provide them with a means of protecting themselves without destroying their hunters.
Their technology has improved every walk of life. They have made great strides in botany, physics, chemistry, warp theory, xenology, extraterrestrial geology... They've researched most fields, dedicated countless hours to research. Yet somehow they found themselves being wiped out by a species whose technologies were vastly inferior - save in the field of war.
The question thus remains: to what ends will the vast scientific knowledge of the Namilee be applied?
Economy:
Due to their advanced replication technology, the Namilee are not destitute space wanderers. Their people live well and survive. However, they are not developing an economy, and cannot be expected to produce a great number of goods for trade.
What the Namilee do offer for trade is high-tech and of superb quality, even if it comes in very small quantities. More valuable than their goods is their data: their research and their technologies are all incredibly valuable, and certainly capable of bringing ruin upon any civilization that is unprepared to unlock that knowledge.
Spaceships:
Given their technological advances, it should not be surprising that the Namilee fleet consists of vessels that are incredible feats of construction. They pilot mechanical vessels which, through clever engineering and complex AI coding, are capable of self-repair and of quickly shifting into warp drive.
Their fleets might seem organic at a glance, but indeed are not organic at all, but are formed of a complex, smooth series of metals that provide the exterior of their vessels with a chitin-like appearance. They are partly reflexive, the better to react to ballistic shots, and their plating is reflective, the better to divert beam blasts away from the ship.
The blue tendrils and the bright glow which emanates from the buttom of their vessels is actually part of the system which the Namilee use to fuel their vessels. The tendrils draw in light and other forms of energy, as well as loose particles, and absorb them into the ship, using them along with the reactor within the ship to fuel the various energy-intensive processes conducted aboard the ship. This might seem excessive, but the process of replication, of maintaining a purified and stable aquatic environment, of powering the shields that protect the vessels from harm, and so forth all require incredible amounts of energy. It was deemed necessary by the Namilee to ensure they had multiple means of procuring energy.
But the Namilee are artists as well as scientists and engineers. They strive to make their ships beautiful and appealing, and to make the inside of the vessels resemble home.
So, the ships in the fleet which serve as home to their inhabitants are largely filled with water (specially treated and frequently cleaned so as to minimize illness). There are pockets of air, and an artificial atmosphere exists inside the largest of the ships, the New Hope, to provide those aboard it a sense of being on the planet. Plant life is grown in botany bays, both the sort which grew below and that which flourished above the surface of the water. Animals are cared for in well-kept zoos. Dozens more steps have been taken to try and ensure the fleet feels like home... but in the end, it's just not the same. Namil is gone.
Nevertheless, the fleet is one of the most advanced entities in existence, each ship a small marvel unto itself... or, in the case of the mothership, New Hope, a huge marvel.
While most of the larger ships in the fleet can warp, the New Hope is specially designed to be able to warp other vessels with it, letting them dock inside as it bursts off into space. The New Hope can activate its warp drive faster than other ships in the fleet, and it also has somewhat faster warp speeds than the other vessels.
The Namilee Refugee Fleet consists of roughly a hundred ships, the largest of which - the Mothership named New Hope - carries twenty-five hundred passengers. Most of the other ships carry between twenty and a hundred and twenty five passengers each, though there are three vessels which carries five hundred passengers each. These are the Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn. Each of these three vessels was built in the wake of the X'Cor conquest of the Namilee people.
The New Hope can carry all the other vessels in the fleet, which it does whenever the time comes to warp.
The last count of the Namilee population was roughly 10,000 people residing on the fleet.
Name:
Exemplar Dylaesa
Species:
Namilee
Gender:
Female
Appearance:
Dylaesa is somewhat young by Namilee standards, a mere 114 years of age, and therefore a seemingly unlikely candidate for this new "Exemplar" position. She is small and slight of build, even by Namilee standards, and wears a black-eyed exosuit that seems to make her seem even smaller. Her exosuit has nothing that makes it stand out from the rest of her kind, though Dylaesa is considered pretty when she removes her helmet. The Exemplar's speaking voice, though, is distinct, recognizable, and confident. Her private voice is much softer and carries a tone of nervousness.
History:
Dylaesa was a young but innovative inventor before the X'cor invasion. She was also more willing to take risks than others of her species. Indeed, she became one of the first few Namilee to test their new replication technology on herself, using herself - formerly himself - as a guinea pig to see what long-term effects various chromosomal manipulations might cause the body. She fell in love with another experimenter by the name of Naele, and after five years of courtship the two of them were married. She had his child ten years later without complications.
Dylaesa was chosen to serve as a representative of her Province when she was 93, the year after her child was born. Serving in her Universality, she helped expand a number of institutions involving scientific research. She expanded the space exploration program. And still, in that time period, she found time to practice her own studies and to perfect her passions: dancing, digital art, mathematics, warp theory, competitive swimming, extraterrestrial studies... Yes, she was enamored with the few species her kind had met. She understood aliens a little better than other Namilee.
At least, she thought she did. But then the X'cor attacked. Her husband and her daughter were visiting family on one of the colonies when the attacks began. Dylaesa knows they are either dead or enslaved.
Dylaesa played a role in the survival of her species, acting as one of the chief proponents of the decision to destroy Namil. She originally elected to stay behind on Namil, as there was not enough room for everyone aboard the ship. Dylaesa felt that if she was willing to speak for the destruction of her home, she should be willing to stay there. However, her wish to stay behind was overruled: she had expertise the fleet needed. She was forced to join the expedition.
Dylaesa stared on back at her homeworld as it burst into countless small pieces, and she swore she would do whatever she could to prevent anyone from ever suffering like that again. She would find a way to bring peace to the galaxy, and she would do so by peaceful means.
In truth, the young Namilee was not the first choice among her people to serve as their Exemplar. Six others were asked before her to serve in the position, each possessing a great intellect and skills useful in a leader. They refused, however, each citing different reasons: mental instability, uncertainty of capacity to lead, family matters... But Dylaesa no longer had a family. She was young, too, full of energy; and she was willing to put that energy toward leading her people.
Exemplar Dylaesa has readied herself to face whatever horrors are to come. She only hopes she has readied herself and her people enough.
Weapons:
As the Namilee never needed weapons in their past and they refuse to wield conventional weaponry, they have instead created non-lethal personal defense devices which can be attached to the arms. In Dylaesa's case, the Exemplar has a small device attached to her wrist that wraps about her hand with a thin, gem-like structure attached to her palm. This acts as a conduit of the energy inside her suit, and she can use this to release short bursts of kinetic energy or electromagnetic pulses. This won't actually kill anyone - the suit isn't designed to hurt anyone - but it does serve as a form of emergency defense, one which does not require any sort of hand-held weapon.
Dylaesa's exosuit allows her to breathe in a variety of atmospheres, and it can hold enough oxygen (thanks to its ability to refresh the oxygen inside its tanks) to keep her breathing in the dead of space for a week, much like any Namilee. Since the X'cor invasion, Namilee explorers have begun wearing exosuits that provide some actual protection and utility against hostile targets. Thus, Dylaesa's exosuit is made from a protective material (hex-woven microalloys), reflective plating to go over that, various forms of vision (infrared, nightvision, and more), electronic devices which can sprout from various parts of the suit, and a plethora of other useful gadgets. It also comes with a personal shield, albeit such technology is still rather untested and its usefulness limited.
Personality:
In public, Dylaesa has all the traits of a leader. She is determined. She exudes confidence. She has a posture that reminds the Namilee that she will do all in her power to protect them. She inspires trust in her people.
In private, however, Dylaesa is uncertain she deserves that trust. She's uncertain of a lot of things: of the future, of her worth, of her ability to be Exemplar... Dylaesa wonders if it's possible for the Namilee to survive the race against extinction they now face, or if they can escape their fate without giving up their traditions of peace. But there is no turning back. She can only try to save her species.
Dylaesa is incredibly self-critical. Her intellect is incredible, and she's capable of rapid decision-making, but every choice she makes is questioned a thousand times in her head. But it is that ability to make decisions rapidly which makes her the leader the Namilee need. She will make hard choices as they come, though she may do so with regret.
The young Namilee is highly compassionate, too, and is always willing to do what she can to assuage the suffering of those she meets in her travels. She is open to new ideas as well, though she measures them by Namilee standards of course. She loves meeting new species, and does, in fact, exemplify the curiosity of the Namilee. She takes joy in works of art and in unique perspectives.
Of course, Dylaesa perhaps does not take as much joy in these things as she once did. She suffers post-traumatic symptoms and is incredibly depressed. She is lonely, too: her husband and child are gone, as are her parents, her cousins... her whole world. The one thing that keeps her moving forward is the reminder that her people need her. If not for that, it's very likely she would have euthanized herself already.
Skills:
- Highly intelligent
- Scientifically & philosophically educated
- Leadership skills
- Agile swimmer / dancer
- Brave
- Scholar of Replication
- Scholar of Warp Theory
- Scholar of Xenological Studies
Starship:
While the New Hope may be the mothership of the Namilee Council of New Hope, it makes a poor exploration vessel. Thus, Dylaesa has chosen a smaller vessel to be her ship of choice when exploring: the Perseverance.
Perseverance is a small vessel. It is manned by 30 crew, but may hold an addition 10-15 passengers of roughly human size. It is very fast, designed to be aerodynamic, and moves with great agility, too. Given the dangers of space and its likelihood of entering combat, this ship uses air, not water, to fill its deck.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Agile ship
- Tough armor
- Camouflage
- Very fast
- Advanced forms of radar / other ship senses
- High tech vessel
Weaknesses:
- No weapons equipped to ship
- Small ship
- Small crew
- Inexperienced crew
1x Thank
coGM
Lauder The Tired One
Member
Seen
29 days ago
@Shorticus
"Ah. So the prey seeks protection. A futile endeavor, an endeavor nonetheless."
-Oin, X'Cor explorer and War General
"Ah. So the prey seeks protection. A futile endeavor, an endeavor nonetheless."
-Oin, X'Cor explorer and War General
Shorticus Filthy Trickster
Member
Seen
8 yrs ago
@Shorticus
"Ah. So the prey seeks protection. A futile endeavor, an endeavor nonetheless."
-Oin, X'Cor explorer and War General
I read that in the voice of the Darkest Dungeon narrator.
3x Laugh
coGM
Lauder The Tired One
Member
Seen
29 days ago
<Snipped quote by Lauder>
I read that in the voice of the Darkest Dungeon narrator.
Better have
That's the canon for his voice
1x Laugh
coGM
Lauder The Tired One
Member
Seen
29 days ago
During the atrocities the beasts bring, a feint light blossoms within their ranks. An unexpected surprise!
GM
@Arawak@darkandstarDon't worry, the nekos are only one of three races my NS will have, here's the species bit from my NS:
Also, these are the first drafts, so do expect changes to be made and such. If people really hate my stuff, then I'll just drop it.Species:
Humanoid, cat-like beings, the Fyrite have humanoid skeletal structures as well as some other similarities such as five fingers on a hand and red blood, however they had evolved from more feline ancestors. The most obvious difference is their tails and ears, which are both very cat like in nature; the ears of a Fyrite is highly sensitive to sound and very receptive (it should also be noted that they have no "human-like" ears on the side of their heads, their cat ears are their real ears). The skin color is typically that which resemble's humans and tans, albeit slower. However, it is rare to see a tanned Fyrite as they are actually quite susceptible to skin cancer and related diseases.
Their life cycles are remarkably quick, reaching sexual maturity around the age of 8, mental maturity around at the age of 14 and reach full adulthood at 16 before becoming elderly at age 50 with death typically happening in the 60's and 70's. As a sort of offset for their otherwise quick lives, the Fyrite's reproduction cycle is rather unique, sharing similarities with cats. Their pregnancy cycle is only a mere 3-4 months with anywhere from one to six children per birth. They can also have multiple births a year with little consequence.
Curiously enough, they are also able to breed with literally any other race, however the child will always look like the mother-race with some similarities to the father's race. This is due to as the Fyrtie provides two copies of their genes, one untouched and one modified to resemble the other race in a process known as "Communion" where the Fyrite consciously attunes their nervous system to their partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin, almost uniting nervous systems during intercourse.
Fyrites are also seen as one of the most promiscuous races, in part owning to their unique reproductive system and Communion, but also their flexible homeostatic abilities which is presumably why they can reveal otherwise revealing clothing with little temperate discomfort. While some will say that the promiscuity of the Fyrites is a stereotype, there is no denying that compared to other species, they are quite hyper-sexual with lewdness almost engrained into their culture and being. Some might say that Fyrite are capable of attracting and arousing any race through looks or through pheromones, but at the end of the day, there are probably a good deal of races whose young would love a night or two with some Fyrites.
Perhaps the complete opposite of the Fryrites, the Siari are a race of ancient, long-lived beings while multiple arms and bright orange blood who stand at an impressive 7-8 feet tall on average. They lay a (debated) claim to the most intelligent beings, at least in their own eyes. Infamously snooty and arrogance, its could be said that it was their hubris which lead to the events that caused the current state of the MF. With four-fingered hands and long, lanky limbs, Siari are undoubtedly frail and their lack of significant muscle mass means that they also don't have great endurance or strength or speed.
The Siari have rubbery blueish-grey flesh, often tightly pulled across their thin bones. The have no internal lungs, instead having gland-like structures at the top of their heads and shoulders which pull oxygen from the air around them. As such, these areas are often mislabelled as "glowing bits" while in truth they are simply where the most oxygenated (thus brightest) blood is. Also as such, the Siari have quite the mask fetish out of necessity, in order to both protect their vulnerable heads (which also houses their enlarged brains) and to help purify the air around them, making them suitable for respiration.
Several styles of Siari masks
Capable for living centuries at a time, its not uncommon for some to even live up to a millennia or more assuming ideal living conditions are met, something that's rarely seen on the Memoria Fleet. Slow to age and mature, these creatures often only produce one or two offspring in their entire lives, the most fertile ever recorded for intraspecies breeding is 5 children. Of course, when breeding with a Fryrite, their offspring potential skyrockets but the natural low arousal rate, there is still a comparatively low rate.
While some might expect the Siari to maintain something of an "upper echelon" in society due to their high intelligence and long lives, its not quite so much the case, namely as the Fyrite easily out number them and the Aphid... well they're the Aphid. In fact, most Siari take less of a "leader" stance and more of a "mentor" stance, often working as teachers, aids, sages; only those with great drive, zeal and amibtion work in positions of power like company CEOs and politicians but by no means dominate the respective landscapes.
Benefiting their minds, it can be said that even if the Siari are the ones who caused the current situation, they are without a doubt the original founders of the old empire, being the first to venture into space and colonize as well as making AI robotics, of the most notable are the Archons, strange looking machines that no one quite remembers how the design was created as they certainly do not resemble any Siari. Some older Siari tell tales on how they first discovered the Fyrites when they where simply glorified cat tribes and the Aphids as giant, unintellignet bugs before genetically modifying them into what they were today for original use as soldiers and sex slaves. However, this tale has two major flaws: there was a very small market for sexual industries within native Siari soceities and the Archons where the ones who
Siari are also very long term thinkers, not put off by what would seem to most races as catastrophic failures or losses and more than willing to wait a few decades or even centuries for investments to pay off. That said, they are not oblivious to failure and there are times which they will act more impetuously.
Aphid Drone
Aphid Scourge
Perhaps the most alien and fear-inducing race aboard the Memoria Fleet, the Aphid are sometimes referred to as "hyper evolved bugs" as that's what they basically are. The Aphid in short are the stuff of nightmares, swift giant bugs that stand as tall if not taller than most bipedal species that whisk about on long, claw-like legs, covered in hard chitin and can are extremely venimous. They are mindless bugs with a hunger to devour entire worlds.
Or so the Siari and the Fyrite like to say.
While that description was certainly true at one point with some bits of it lingering on to this day, one could call modern Aphid more "civil" or "docile". Sure they still look creepy as hell and will probably make you shit your pants if you saw one in a dark hallway, but due to a lack of a hivemind, they no longer feel a compulsory need consume biomass. They still do possess quite an appetite if left unchecked and are still quite aggressive however. As such, the two other races of the MF like to toy with outsiders of how they "live with savage monsters on a daily basis", both as an ego boast and to chuckle as outsiders fearfully keep watch for such creatures as they make their way through ships.
Of course, the Aphid have their own take on this seeing as they are intelligent beings who have their own language based around clicks and chirps (although their "yelling" sounds a lot more like yodeling for some reason); the Fyrite and Siari inhabitants can understand said chirps and clicks in a way similar to how people understand droid beeps in Star Wars (the Fyrite's sensitive ears can pick up the variations in tone and thus they can "learn" the language while Siaris simply have translators in their masks) and the Aphids have the ability to understand the other speech patterns. In terms of actual intelligence, they aren't nearly as developed as the other two, but make up this lack of understanding through a pheromone-based collective intelligence. Basically, the more of them are in an area together, the smarter each individual becomes. Funnily enough, some of these pheromones can also put Fyrites into heat.
Born of eggs, the Aphid larva and hatchlings almost resemble purplish soft-shelled lobsters before they quickly begin to grow to full size. They can also completely forgo the hatchling process and come out as a young Drone should they have proper "incubation" (ie a machine or even a living host), but such process is nonexistent in the MF. Being genderless, Aphids will seek to grow and propagate. In the past they used to either seek out a secluded area or an unlucky host for their eggs to be directly transplanted into, but now a days there are Fyrites who are more than willing to act as surrogate mothers (they will simply deliver the eggs and not have to undergo the chest-bursting method of delivery).
Younger Aphids are called "Drones" and are the most typical of Aphids species. As they age, their chitin hardens and forms more spikes and plates as their claws and tips begin to turn a bright orange, the once glowing yellow eyes turn blood red with teeth and external mandibles becoming more prevalent. These older Aphids are commonly referred to as "Scourges", referencing their brutal past.
Although the Aphid are technically immortal, many of the older ones will either commit suicide or request death as they will start to feel an instinctual "completion" in their life cycle once they have laid enough eggs. This is most likely residual commands from the hivemind which told them that those too old to be as efficient as they once where, should give themselves up to feed the younger generations. It should come as no surprise that Aphids are veracious omnivores to the point they can be seen as space goatbugs.
For those who are still curious on where the idea that Aphids are venomous and how they can spit poison; they can't. Its one of those things that the Fyrites and Siaris made up. However, their bodily wastes (which very slowly builds up over the course of months or even years) is known to be highly toxic as it literally everything even their stellar digestive systems can't breakdown.
Happy now?
EDIT: I realize that there might be quite a bit of OP potenital, expect that to be sorted out once I have some more stuff written and have time to go back and fix stuff.
*sigh*
I was hoping that this wouldn't happen with anyone, but I'm pulling a full stop on the Nekos.
I'm sorry if the following sounds rude, but it needs to be said. Please know that I don't have anything against you, personally, Clocktower, but I do have something against your idea. It's not you- it's the Nekos.
This is a blatant fetish insert in a place where it doesn't belong, and it's honestly just gross. I have no problem if you find that sort of thing fun or interesting or exciting or just cute, but I made it VERY CLEAR that I was keeping this at least a little realistic.
Consider this: if I'm not going to allow telepaths that communicate with other species because their genes would be too different, what the heck makes you think that I'm going to tolerate a species that can mate with anything? It makes zero sense. None at all. And for some RPs, that is okay and it wouldn't be an issue, but I made it obvious that everything here had to be at least a LITTLE believable.
I'm not even going to get into the pheromones. I would have laughed if I didn't think you might actually be serious.
I've RPed with you before, if you can remember, and I always liked your writing and style. You're fun to hang out with OOC, and you're a fairly easy to get along with person- and that's saying something for me, because I am can be difficult to get along with- but I can't allow this. I'm sorry.
"If I know for a fact that it can't happen, I won't allow it. Use common sense." - The OP
I like the other two races, and I'll accept the Fyrites if you remove the ability to mate with anything and all such abilities. People with cat ears is fine, but what you're doing is not. In another RP it would be, but the OP you completely disregarded should have made it clear to you that this wouldn't be okay.
1x Thank
GM
I had a question about a few techs:
Hyper/Subspace Drives: I'd like to use it, if i could. It's hard to explain why, i don't necessarily want it to give me an edge, in fact, i'd be perfectly fine if it worked, mechanically, exactly the same as any warp drive. I'll explain it like this: It's not that i want it to be better, it's that i know it is sexier. Like those old-school muscle cars. They're actually worse than what i could get now but they're so beautiful, while warp is just so, bland. xD
Teleportation (Beam me up, Scotty!): I don't actually want this, but i was left curious after reading your controversial techs. Maybe there's other teleportation techniques, but when it comes to the star-trek transporter-likes, are they also heavily restricted or outright banned? I mean, they're just long-range replicators, with even more tech slapped into it as well, like a disintegration field, the tech to copy, transport, and upload an entire consciousness to a person no where near the device (at least for the latter two parts), and the aforementioned replicator that can work at a planetary distance.
Teleportation will have to be banned until someone invents replicators, but even then it will always require a shit ton of energy, thus making it a "only use in emergencies" tech.
Lauder informed you correctly regarding the hyperdrive.
Hey, just curious. Is there gonna be a map of our quarter of the galaxy or anything? Or perhaps maps, since the z-axis is a thing.
<Snipped quote by Lauder>
I second the motion for some form of map. Even if it's just lumpy misshapen blobs denoting whose empire is next to whose.
<Snipped quote by TheSovereignGrave>
To be completely honest, I have no clue. Me and Hael have not talked about a map at all. Perhaps we should.
I have a map in progress, and I've been working on it for a little while. Lauder just doesn't know because I only came up with the idea a few hours ago
But my map will only be blobs on a black background, unless someone more skilled than me creates a spectacular one (which I would be totally cool with)
I've finally gone and finished my sheet. I think.
I'll leave it here for inspection, or you can go to the Characters section. The same version is posted in both places.
The Song of the NamileeNation Name:
The Namilee Council of New Hope
(Also known as the Namilee Refugee Fleet and the Namilee Refugees)
Population and Demographics:
The Namilee Refugee Fleet consists of roughly a hundred ships, the largest of which - the Mothership named New Hope - carries twenty-five hundred passengers. Most of the other ships carry between twenty and a hundred and twenty five passengers each, though there are three vessels which carries five hundred passengers each. These are the Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn. Each of these three vessels was built in the wake of the X'Cor conquest of the Namilee people.
The New Hope can carry all the other vessels in the fleet, which it does whenever the time comes to warp.
The last count of the Namilee population was roughly 10,000 people residing on the fleet.
Namilee: 100%
Species:
The Namilee are one of the most fragile of the space-faring humanoid species. At a glance, they are smaller than most of the others, standing between three and five feet in height when adult. They are also rather thin, and their digits are long and webbed. They would fit naturally in an ocean setting with their black eyes, the long jellyfish-like tendrils protruding from their heads which spark with electricity, their oily and partly translucent skin... They are strangely pretty beings in their own way, at least for humanoids, but they seem rather defenseless. They aren't muscular. They aren't even fast. They're simply small humanoids with strange "hair."
But most do not see that body. They see the Namilee exosuits, specially designed to allow them to survive in environments which are otherwise hostile to their genetically fragile bodies. These exosuits are highly advanced, protecting them from a wide variety of environmental hazards (burns, suffocation, accidental injuries, etc). However, these suits are not designed to stand up against weapons of war. War, in fact, is a relatively new concept to the Namilee, and none of the equipment they wear was ever meant to be used in war.
The Namilee are also inherently prone to injury - another reason they wear their suits. Their bodies and bone structure are softer than others, and their physiology makes them rather more "picky" about their environment. Their range of comfortable temperatures is smaller than other species, and their nervous systems are particularly sensitive to sensations of pain. If not for their lauded suits, the Namilee would certainly have never have made it as far as they have into space.
And yet the Namilee have a certain grace to them despite all these. Their movements are fluid and airy out of the water, but in the water they seem to possess a preternatural slickness of movement. They are very flexible, too, and anyone watching Namilee dance in their favored aquatic environment is surely to be rewarded with a stunning sight.
But perhaps the most curious quality of the Namilee is the stark difference in their brains to those of other species. They are superbly intelligent, to be true, but it's more than that: they do not feel aggression, and they do not feel the same urges others do to increase their status in society. They develop technology out of curiosity, or out of a desire to better all their people, but they do not quarrel over resources or struggle to prove themselves to be the "best" at anything. The Namilee simply exist. They are calculating, yes, and highly intelligent, but they are also gentle. They are peaceful. They are innocent.
And that is why the Namilee are on the verge of extinction.
Despite their impressive lifespans (a natural 500 years) and their technological advances which have extended those lifespans (to up to a 1,000 years), the Namilee are simply not warriors. They cannot easily breed to make up for the loss of their families, either: they are a species that favors platonic love, with births being incredibly rare and joyous occasions, but also incredibly painful trials. Frail Namilee bodies mean that birth is a dangerous thing, and while modern technologies have allowed the Namilee to almost eliminate the risk of fatalities with birth, their bodies cannot be administered too many pain-reducing drugs or else they risk death.
Between their low birth rate and their inability to protect themselves against the X'cor fleet chasing them, it is very possible that the Namilee will be destroyed by their pursuers. Without assistance from other species, they will almost certainly disappear forever.
System of Government:
Before the cataclysmic war which reduced their population from twenty billion to ten thousand, the Namilee possessed a system of government that might confuse aliens. For instance, humans would observe this system of governance and wonder how it even worked. The answer would simply be this: the Namilee made it work because they are not bound by the same impulses to grab power and influence that other species are. In fact, the chief motivator for governing bodies in their government was to relieve others of the difficult duty of overseeing the affairs of vast populations and to help their people prosper. In short, their society benefited from what might be called "benevolent" rule.
It was not an outmoded form of government, though it was confusing, to be sure. For human comparison, it had the communal elements of Plato's academy, the socialist elements of Marxism, representative elements akin to democracy, and meritocratic elements based on intellectual capacity. The Namilee were organized in small, secular communities called Communes, which in turn were part of large groups of communities called Cooperatives, and these in turn formed Districts, which formed Provinces, which formed the Universalities: the states which cooperated together as independent organizations meant to be universal in their representation of their members' values and their ability to further their interests. Finally, these Universalities pooled their intellects to form the Harmony, the interplanetary council which governed the Namilee people.
Many levels (especially "optional" ones) have been skipped here in order to simplify things. In short: traditional Namilee governance is complicated.
But while the government was definitely bureaucratic (a fatal characteristic which slowed the Namilee's ability to act during the X'cor invasion), it also was designed to empower the Communes and the Cooperatives. Most of the important day-to-day decisions were made in that level of government, though a policy of communal job sharing was also instituted, as were policies that freed individuals to pursue intellectual growth. Indeed, the system was designed to let Communes and their members develop as necessary for their unique purposes, with their restrictions being largely humane (I.E. designed to prevent cruel or unusual treatment of their members). This produced a culture that favored the group over the individual. It produced the Harmony.
But that institution has been largely wiped out. The invasion of the X'cor have forced the Namilee refugees to sincerely reevaluate their system of governance.
The basic premise of the system still exists, as does its purpose. However, the Universality in the fleet - the sole remaining Universality - has chosen a leader whose power is largely unquestionable. In other species, this would almost certainly be done with caution, as tyrants and dictators are the norm in other species. But the Namilee do not have that experience, and their chosen leader has been given the office as a temporary means of expediting the decision-making process, cutting past the bureaucracy, and helping the Namilee aboard the fleet survive. This ruler is called the Exemplar.
The term 'Exemplar' has been chosen because the Exemplar is meant to exemplify everything that is Namilee, at least in a metaphorical sense, thereby meaning the Exemplar may make decisions on behalf of the Namilee people. This is, perhaps, seen as an unfortunate necessity, as no one person can, by themselves, accurately represent the whole of the Namilee people, at least in the eyes of this species. However, they have agreed that expediency is necessary now more that ever. All trust has been placed in the Exemplar. All hope rests on her shoulders.
History:
The Namilee gave themselves their name after naming their planet, Namil. The planet they named together as a species after a long and protracted discussion on the matter approximately two thousand years ago. A world which once bore thirty-seven names in fifty-two languages was condensed into a single name. "Namil," at its core, means peace. It means tranquility. It means love.
Perhaps that is why the Namilee were so slow to take to the stars despite their advanced technology. It helped that the Namilee did not overpopulate their planet, and that they were able to nurture and care for the planet and develop means of sustaining more of their people on their largely ocean-covered homeworld without upsetting the ecological balance. There were no wars, though there were natural disasters and biological catastrophes which had to be dealt with. It was an idyllic existence that generations of Namilee had enjoyed.
When they first traveled into space and colonized nearby planets for the sake of discovery, the Namilee were left relatively well alone. Oh, they made some contact with nearby alien species, and they treated them kindly, even uplifting a neighboring species to space faring state. Those efforts resulted in that species being saved from the brink of extinction, and through careful education the Namilee managed to produce in them a peaceful culture, albeit not quite so peaceful as the Namilee's. So, with a small realm of five colonies and their home planet linked together with a slowly but steadily growing population, the Namilee knew peace.
Then the X'cor came.
The concept of "war" had never been known to the Namilee before the X'cor came, but the entire X'cor society was built around war. In truth, the X'cor were vastly inferior technologically. Their ships were less advanced, their weapons made of infinitely cruder materials than anything the Namilee made. But that was just it: the Namilee had no weapons. They did not understand what was happening.
Their ships were destroyed first. The Namilee tried to send transmissions begging for the X'cor to stop, but to no avail. As the X'cor were not aquatic, they then proceeded to bomb the Namilee worlds, evaporating lakes and seas, stripping bare their lands, destroying the fertile ecosystems which the Namilee had so carefully cultivated. They then descended upon the planet, marching into the submerged cities of the Namilee.
To this day, the X'cor laugh about the event: countless little aliens in suits, staring on confusedly, some of them not even trying to run away as weapons fire rained down upon them in the streets. They put up no resistance. They disgusted their enemies with their unwillingness to fight back, and so a great many of them were simply killed for being useless. A great many more were enslaved, but they proved to be pathetic at manual labor, and so many of them were slain as well.
Namil was the last planet to succumb to this invasion. In a final, desperate act, the Namilee Council, using advanced replication and construction techniques, quickly constructed a shield with which to protect their homeworld. They then constructed a massive mothership named Hope and sent hundreds of thousands of colonists aboard, the vast majority of their remaining populace. They sent Hope into space.
Hope was destroyed by X'cor attack vessels before it could even enter warp. The lives of three hundred and fifty thousand Namilee were snuffed out in an instant. The X'cor would never let their prey escape. What was worse, the shield they had constructed was giving way. There was not enough energy to maintain it forever.
Construction began on a second vessel, but it was rushed. It would not be able to house even a majority of the remaining Namilee population. There were a hundred thousand Namilee remaining, but only ten thousand could go aboard the New Hope and the vessels it carried. What was more, the Namilee now knew they could not escape their own home system without somehow dealing with the X'cor fleet. And so, for the first time since the onset of the unmitigated massacre of their people, the Namilee devised a plan that involved destroying the X'cor fleet.
They blew up their own planet, sending a densely packed series of compounds straight into their own planet's core. Namil burst into a thousand bits, shredding apart the X'cor fleet, but the New Hope managed to survive. It escaped.
The Namilee population in the galaxy dropped from twenty billion to a mere ten thousand over the course of the X'cor conquest.
And despite all these terrible things, despite the horrors that have been wrought upon them, the Namilee blame themselves. These ten thousand refugees fly through space in exile, searching for a safe place they may call home, praying they can somehow redeem themselves by helping other civilizations find peace. The Namilee hope they might even help the X'cor find peace.
They do not think they will succeed. They fly on anyway.
Culture:
If ever there was a species among which both Karl Marx and the ancient Greek philosophers might have found their vision of a utopia, it would be the Namilee. They are a academically minded, group oriented, generally benign species. The chief pursuit of the Namilee in life is to develop intellectually and improve their community, and thus the whole of the Namilee people, through scientific discovery, philosophical introspection, and artistic expression. They are learners and lovers.
"Love" tends to mean something very different to the Namilee than it does to other species. Their ideal love, in fact, is platonic, non-sexual in context, though the reality of reproductive needs necessitates some manner of sexual activity. But the vast majority of romance among the Namilee people is that of simple togetherness, emotional bonding, or of cooperative physical activities that require the coordination of two wills to achieve a singular purpose. The dance, the duet, the debate: these are all seen as wonderful romantic experiences to the Namilee. These merge two minds together, force them to better understand each other, and result in intellectual advancement for bot - so says Namilee tradition. Sometimes, though, all that is necessary is for two people to hold each other's hands.
The Namilee religion applies this sort of love on a grander scale. It states that all life comes from the same source, the same universe, and so all life must be precious. Further, the same energy, the same basic building blocks which found each organism, are present in all matter, and so all living matter must be connected on some most basic of levels. Rather much like in Buddhism, the purpose of this religion is to find a way to achieve spiritual or intellectual oneness with the world, but this is seen as an impossibility, albeit one which ought to be striven for. Therefore, artistic expression of this process, or of one's unique experience of the world, is highly valued, especially that which relates to the community in some way. It need not praise the community, though. It may even denounce it. Such expression is still honest, and therefore is valuable.
There is a genetic and societal predisposition among the Namilee for patience and shyness. This is not to say that the Namilee are not capable of the same openness as, say, humans. However, they are naturally more inclined to avoid conflict, and they're more easily able to forgive others for past transgressions than other species. Combined with their propensity to feel a bond and a love for other individuals and species in the universe, the Namilee are ill-equipped socially for the horrors of the universe. They take much of the blame for their situation onto themselves.
It does not help that the Namilee abhor violence. For them, the prospect of purposely trying to kill another sentient organism is utterly horrific, whether that be in self-defense or in pursuit of conquest. It is for that reason so many of them were wiped out before their government even considered any sort of action that might harm their murderers. They do not want to hurt the X'cor. They only want the X'cor to stop hunting them, and to learn and embrace ideals of harmony.
This is all compounded by the Namilee drive of curiosity and their desire to understand their foes. They sincerely want to know why the X'cor are driven to such lengths to conquer and destroy. They sincerely want to know how other species muster up the will to fight each other. But in a way, their very desire to understand limits their ability to do so: they find it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea that two disagreeing parties must be in conflict with one another. Peaceful solutions, compromises, and simple reevaluation and admittance of fault have allowed the Namilee to avoid physical conflict for generations. How can it be that violence is such a "necessity?"
And yet, the Namilee realize, it may soon become their reality that violence is a necessity. Already they are in mourning for the lives that will be lost. Already they ask the energy which unites all life for forgiveness for whatever crimes they may commit, and for forgiveness for those who hunt them. They try to be non-judgmental of other civilizations - even their enemies - and do not blame them for their choices, but at the same time see them as unready for their technologies. The realization that this is a judgment of the other species in the galaxy has not escaped the Namilee. That realization has only made the aquatic people feel more guilty.
The Namilee are a highly advanced civilization, and one of their greatest creations is their exosuit. These exosuits allow them to survive in what would otherwise be hostile environments. Though normally aquatic, they can walk upon solid ground when wearing these suits, can breathe air (including normally toxic air so long as it possesses the right elements), and otherwise are able to visit places in relative safety. So universal has the exosuit become that it is the chief style of clothing among the Namilee. They may not wear their helmets at all times, but they prefer to wear their exosuits in a great many situations. It's simply safer that way.
Due to their scientific achievement, the Namilee are capable of doing things that would make other species awed. For one, their replication devices are able to reproduce most anything they need on a daily basis, even be used to regenerate wounds or create plants from a database of stored plant DNA. They are able to synthesize metals which other species cannot. This technology has allowed them to recreate some of their lost comforts from home while aboard the New Hope. Having seen the horrific results of what happens when other species possess advanced technology - such as the utilization of that technology to destroy other civilizations - the Namilee are incredibly wary of exchanging knowledge of this replicating power with anybody.
But perhaps more interesting than that is their ability to easily modify the genetic traits of an individual and modify the body non-intrusively at the same time. Though generally avoided, as natural diversity within the gene pool is treasured, this process is conducted in cases when someone's genetic code makes them at risk of dying an early or painful death, or simply when someone desires to modify themselves enough to request such a transformation. Chromosomes - including sex chromosomes - can be modified and their phenotypic implications made reality in the same instant. Moreover, the genetic material from one person can be used to create sexual product of another, meaning that a male's DNA can be used to synthesize eggs and that a female's DNA can be used to synthesize sperm. The societal ramifications of such technologies have utterly transformed the Namilee's perception of their mortal condition.
Despite their ability to modify life, however, the Namilee have no intention of creating more of their own species through replication techniques, nor do they know how to do so without creating an inherently flawed people. Regrowing a lost limb is one thing. Using pre-existing DNA structures to create plantlife or to modify an organism is one thing. But to create sentient life, to try and make that life an individual, to deny it any of the usual processes of growth associated with normal life: that is both questionable and, in some ways, just out of the Namilee's grasp. And if it weren't out of their grasp, the Namilee would still ponder the ethical ramifications of utilizing technology for that purpose. Genetic abnormalities would almost certainly be present - partly why chromosomal changes are so carefully considered before the gene modification procedure is conducted - and there may be problems unforeseen by modern science that could also arise from creating an entirely new member of one's species with replication technology.
Other societal questions have been posed by the development of replication technology. Can replication be used to restore life to the dead? The science seems to support that one can, at least, use the DNA from dead tissue to recreate the lost individual, even if the individual knows nothing of themselves. Are there spiritual ramifications for doing so? Does this disrupt the energy of life? Could the technology be used to immortalize people, to effectively give them eternal life by rejuvenating or replacing their cells? The science there is muddled and unclear. If that is so, is it wrong to withhold the technology out of fear of other species destroying themselves?
It is a messy series of questions that have yet to be answered.
Important people, places, and organizations:Exemplar Dylaesa - Leader of the The Namilee Council of New HopeNew Hope - Mothership
Forgiveness, Mercy, and Sojourn - Large civilian vessels
Military size:
There is no military arm of the Namilee - not yet. They have personnel who perform the necessary functions of piloting the fleet and repairing their vessels, but no soldiers. The Namilee hope to keep it that way.
Military details:
The Namilee have no military yet. However, their fleet is under the direct command of the Exemplar. The Exemplar presently controls all assets in the fleet.
Weapons tech:
The Namilee are not incapable of weapons design. They are, in fact, well aware of the principles of the weapons used against them. They certainly are capable of creating destruction should they wish to: it was the Namilee who destroyed an X'cor fleet in a single swoop by detonating their own planet from its core.
But the Namilee do not want to create weapons. They do not want to harm others.
Namilee weapons tech is, therefore, missing. They understand the principles but do not have any schematics for creating weapons. They do, however, have impressive defensive technology: thick alloys for their ships, reflective plating, shields which are constantly having their energy efficiency improved, etc. But their fleet carries no guns, no missiles, no bombs, no boarding pods.
Some have suggested that the Namilee try producing non-lethal weaponry, some sort of design that would cripple ships without destroying them. But if this technology were developed, would crippling an enemy ship not result in the crew eventually running out of supplies? Or oxygen? And developing non-lethal technology for space combat is incredibly more difficult than creating lethal weaponry. After all, all lethal weaponry needs to do is destroy the opposition. Non-lethal weaponry must take measures to ensure that both the attacker and the defender survive.
Overall, despite their highly advanced technology, the Namilee are ill-prepared for the trials of space warfare.
General Technology:
The Namilee possess technologies well beyond that of their neighbors - the sort of technology that, due to their inability to defend themselves properly, might make them seem a target if other species ever come to realize the Namilee are so defenseless.
It should first be understood that the replication technologies, the advanced gene-modification techniques, and their new vessels are all rather new designs applying new research. It should also be understood that since their departure from their now destroyed homeworld, the Namilee have been engrossed in scientific research. While their artists, philosophers and spiritualists delve into their realms to find an answer to why they are in the situation they find themselves in, their scientists work to unravel the mysteries of the universe, to unlock scientific secrets that may provide them with a means of protecting themselves without destroying their hunters.
Their technology has improved every walk of life. They have made great strides in botany, physics, chemistry, warp theory, xenology, extraterrestrial geology... They've researched most fields, dedicated countless hours to research. Yet somehow they found themselves being wiped out by a species whose technologies were vastly inferior - save in the field of war.
The question thus remains: to what ends will the vast scientific knowledge of the Namilee be applied?
Economy:
Due to their advanced replication technology, the Namilee are not destitute space wanderers. Their people live well and survive. However, they are not developing an economy, and cannot be expected to produce a great number of goods for trade.
What the Namilee do offer for trade is high-tech and of superb quality, even if it comes in very small quantities. More valuable than their goods is their data: their research and their technologies are all incredibly valuable, and certainly capable of bringing ruin upon any civilization that is unprepared to unlock that knowledge.
Spaceships:
Given their technological advances, it should not be surprising that the Namilee fleet consists of vessels that are incredible feats of construction. They pilot mechanical vessels which, through clever engineering and complex AI coding, are capable of self-repair and of quickly shifting into warp drive.
Their fleets might seem organic at a glance, but indeed are not organic at all, but are formed of a complex, smooth series of metals that provide the exterior of their vessels with a chitin-like appearance. They are partly reflexive, the better to react to ballistic shots, and their plating is reflective, the better to divert beam blasts away from the ship.
The blue tendrils and the bright glow which emanates from the buttom of their vessels is actually part of the system which the Namilee use to fuel their vessels. The tendrils draw in light and other forms of energy, as well as loose particles, and absorb them into the ship, using them along with the reactor within the ship to fuel the various energy-intensive processes conducted aboard the ship. This might seem excessive, but the process of replication, of maintaining a purified and stable aquatic environment, of powering the shields that protect the vessels from harm, and so forth all require incredible amounts of energy. It was deemed necessary by the Namilee to ensure they had multiple means of procuring energy.
But the Namilee are artists as well as scientists and engineers. They strive to make their ships beautiful and appealing, and to make the inside of the vessels resemble home.
So, the ships in the fleet which serve as home to their inhabitants are largely filled with water (specially treated and frequently cleaned so as to minimize illness). There are pockets of air, and an artificial atmosphere exists inside the largest of the ships, the New Hope, to provide those aboard it a sense of being on the planet. Plant life is grown in botany bays, both the sort which grew below and that which flourished above the surface of the water. Animals are cared for in well-kept zoos. Dozens more steps have been taken to try and ensure the fleet feels like home... but in the end, it's just not the same. Namil is gone.
Nevertheless, the fleet is one of the most advanced entities in existence, each ship a small marvel unto itself... or, in the case of the mothership, New Hope, a huge marvel.
While most of the larger ships in the fleet can warp, the New Hope is specially designed to be able to warp other vessels with it, letting them dock inside as it bursts off into space. The New Hope can activate its warp drive faster than other ships in the fleet, and it also has somewhat faster warp speeds than the other vessels.
<Snipped quote by Population and Demographics>
Name:
Exemplar Dylaesa
Species:
Namilee
Gender:
Female
Appearance:
Dylaesa is somewhat young by Namilee standards, a mere 114 years of age, and therefore a seemingly unlikely candidate for this new "Exemplar" position. She is small and slight of build, even by Namilee standards, and wears a black-eyed exosuit that seems to make her seem even smaller. Her exosuit has nothing that makes it stand out from the rest of her kind, though Dylaesa is considered pretty when she removes her helmet. The Exemplar's speaking voice, though, is distinct, recognizable, and confident. Her private voice is much softer and carries a tone of nervousness.
History:
Dylaesa was a young but innovative inventor before the X'cor invasion. She was also more willing to take risks than others of her species. Indeed, she became one of the first few Namilee to test their new replication technology on herself, using herself - formerly himself - as a guinea pig to see what long-term effects various chromosomal manipulations might cause the body. She fell in love with another experimenter by the name of Naele, and after five years of courtship the two of them were married. She had his child ten years later without complications.
Dylaesa was chosen to serve as a representative of her Province when she was 93, the year after her child was born. Serving in her Universality, she helped expand a number of institutions involving scientific research. She expanded the space exploration program. And still, in that time period, she found time to practice her own studies and to perfect her passions: dancing, digital art, mathematics, warp theory, competitive swimming, extraterrestrial studies... Yes, she was enamored with the few species her kind had met. She understood aliens a little better than other Namilee.
At least, she thought she did. But then the X'cor attacked. Her husband and her daughter were visiting family on one of the colonies when the attacks began. Dylaesa knows they are either dead or enslaved.
Dylaesa played a role in the survival of her species, acting as one of the chief proponents of the decision to destroy Namil. She originally elected to stay behind on Namil, as there was not enough room for everyone aboard the ship. Dylaesa felt that if she was willing to speak for the destruction of her home, she should be willing to stay there. However, her wish to stay behind was overruled: she had expertise the fleet needed. She was forced to join the expedition.
Dylaesa stared on back at her homeworld as it burst into countless small pieces, and she swore she would do whatever she could to prevent anyone from ever suffering like that again. She would find a way to bring peace to the galaxy, and she would do so by peaceful means.
In truth, the young Namilee was not the first choice among her people to serve as their Exemplar. Six others were asked before her to serve in the position, each possessing a great intellect and skills useful in a leader. They refused, however, each citing different reasons: mental instability, uncertainty of capacity to lead, family matters... But Dylaesa no longer had a family. She was young, too, full of energy; and she was willing to put that energy toward leading her people.
Exemplar Dylaesa has readied herself to face whatever horrors are to come. She only hopes she has readied herself and her people enough.
Weapons:
As the Namilee never needed weapons in their past and they refuse to wield conventional weaponry, they have instead created non-lethal personal defense devices which can be attached to the arms. In Dylaesa's case, the Exemplar has a small device attached to her wrist that wraps about her hand with a thin, gem-like structure attached to her palm. This acts as a conduit of the energy inside her suit, and she can use this to release short bursts of kinetic energy or electromagnetic pulses. This won't actually kill anyone - the suit isn't designed to hurt anyone - but it does serve as a form of emergency defense, one which does not require any sort of hand-held weapon.
Dylaesa's exosuit allows her to breathe in a variety of atmospheres, and it can hold enough oxygen (thanks to its ability to refresh the oxygen inside its tanks) to keep her breathing in the dead of space for a week, much like any Namilee. Since the X'cor invasion, Namilee explorers have begun wearing exosuits that provide some actual protection and utility against hostile targets. Thus, Dylaesa's exosuit is made from a protective material (hex-woven microalloys), reflective plating to go over that, various forms of vision (infrared, nightvision, and more), electronic devices which can sprout from various parts of the suit, and a plethora of other useful gadgets. It also comes with a personal shield, albeit such technology is still rather untested and its usefulness limited.
Personality:
In public, Dylaesa has all the traits of a leader. She is determined. She exudes confidence. She has a posture that reminds the Namilee that she will do all in her power to protect them. She inspires trust in her people.
In private, however, Dylaesa is uncertain she deserves that trust. She's uncertain of a lot of things: of the future, of her worth, of her ability to be Exemplar... Dylaesa wonders if it's possible for the Namilee to survive the race against extinction they now face, or if they can escape their fate without giving up their traditions of peace. But there is no turning back. She can only try to save her species.
Dylaesa is incredibly self-critical. Her intellect is incredible, and she's capable of rapid decision-making, but every choice she makes is questioned a thousand times in her head. But it is that ability to make decisions rapidly which makes her the leader the Namilee need. She will make hard choices as they come, though she may do so with regret.
The young Namilee is highly compassionate, too, and is always willing to do what she can to assuage the suffering of those she meets in her travels. She is open to new ideas as well, though she measures them by Namilee standards of course. She loves meeting new species, and does, in fact, exemplify the curiosity of the Namilee. She takes joy in works of art and in unique perspectives.
Of course, Dylaesa perhaps does not take as much joy in these things as she once did. She suffers post-traumatic symptoms and is incredibly depressed. She is lonely, too: her husband and child are gone, as are her parents, her cousins... her whole world. The one thing that keeps her moving forward is the reminder that her people need her. If not for that, it's very likely she would have euthanized herself already.
Skills:
- Highly intelligent
- Scientifically & philosophically educated
- Leadership skills
- Agile swimmer / dancer
- Brave
- Scholar of Replication
- Scholar of Warp Theory
- Scholar of Xenological Studies
Starship:
While the New Hope may be the mothership of the Namilee Council of New Hope, it makes a poor exploration vessel. Thus, Dylaesa has chosen a smaller vessel to be her ship of choice when exploring: the Perseverance.
Perseverance is a small vessel. It is manned by 30 crew, but may hold an addition 10-15 passengers of roughly human size. It is very fast, designed to be aerodynamic, and moves with great agility, too. Given the dangers of space and its likelihood of entering combat, this ship uses air, not water, to fill its deck.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Agile ship
- Tough armor
- Camouflage
- Very fast
- Advanced forms of radar / other ship senses
- High tech vessel
Weaknesses:
- No weapons equipped to ship
- Small ship
- Small crew
- Inexperienced crew
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