The Galirandi
28-02-2007, 03:12
Because I am far too lazy to create a website or anything of that type, and because I'm not sure exactly how to lay out a 'proper' factbook, I've just made this FAQ series to explain what exactly I am and what I'm doing.
Feel free to ask any questions I don't answer anyway. Posts will also be a bit sporadic because, as I already said, I'm lazy.
So where is the Gali'randi-el System?
It is far away. Very, very far away (in a galaxy its inhabitants call Tan'ith-ıa). Map will be coming soon, and a good number of the Gali'randi RPs I'll be doing center on their explorations of Galaxies 0272 and 0273 (Andromeda and the Milky Way as Homo sapiens calls them); it is assumed that there are no other alien races within absurd distances of the Gali'randi-el System, although it is possible for someone to RP emerging from some kind of cross-universal wormhole in the galaxy where the Gali'randi make their home.
The Galirandi
28-02-2007, 03:13
Who exactly are the Gali'randi, anyway?
They are aliens. (As in the kind that have to be built and animated, rather than played by human actors with heavy makeup.) The Gali'randi races have evolved for two and a half billion years to adapt themselves to unique roles and conditions, and come to depend upon each other in the meantime, creating a closely interwoven ecosystem; with no foreign influences, they have created species unique to their corner of the Universe, and which thus do not resemble any others, at least intentionally.
There are three main races of aliens occupying the Gali'randi-el system:
An'dari. The An'dari have evolved over uncountable millions of years in pursuit of knowledge and understanding; they are the engineers, the scientists, the philosophers, the creators. In appearance An'dari display an unusual biology; until comparatively recently (approximately 200,000 years ago) they lived mostly underground, and thus have poor eyesight. The An'dari have the largest and most highly developed cerebral cortex of any organism, with an estimated 1.2 million times more neurons than reside in the brains of humans; the head and brain is protected by a double cranium and cartilage, creating the appearance of a heavily armoured and slightly walnut-shaped appendage. Extending from the head are several long, tentacle-like limbs packed with sensory receptors of all types. There is also a pronounced bulge near the back of the head containing the subcortex, which links each An'dari individual to the Emperor.
Adult An'dari are between 175 and 220 centimetres in height; they have five appendages besides the head extending from a body of about average build. Three of the appendages (the two lateral and one medial upper limbs) in turn branch out into more of the tentacle-like limbs extending from the head, although these are conditioned to sense higher-energy signals (ranging from ionic and atomic repulsion -- touch -- to forms of energy more powerful than delta or epsilon rays. The lower two appendages are used primarily as a mode of ambulation, although when greater speed is required, the medial upper limb can be relegated to this purpose as well. The An'dari have two skeletons, the deep skeleton protecting the deeper internal organs and head while the superficial skeleton protects mainly the head and neck; they are linked by three or four crucial bones which, if broken, greatly increase the risk of further bone and organ damage and possibly death.
Due to their technological superiority, the An'dari have constructed numerous implants and technological assists to enhance their natural capabilities. For instance, many An'dari use a standardised light receptor implant to compensate for naturally poor vision, or enhance their limbs with features that will prove useful in their field of study or work (i.e. navigational aids, weapons, construction tools etc.). The average An'dari lifespan is in the neighbourhood of 1,600 Gali'randi years; they have a gestation period of fourteen months and must be raised by their parents for almost twenty years before being capable of going out on their own.
Ves'dari. The Ves'dari are a race less of science than of the humanities. Among their numbers are the philosophers, the artists, the creative; statesmen, diplomats, and the like. Where the An'dari emphasize reason and knowledge, the Ves'dari prefer passion and morality. The Ves'dari are not unlike the An'dari in appearance; however, their heads are less protected, and extend above the rest of the body, making it taller and thinner. The Ves'dari are faintly humanoid in appearance; they evolved as the aristocracy over other races, races that have since gone mostly extinct. Their bodies have more soft tissue than those of the An'dari as well.
Adult Ves'dari stand an average of 250 centimetres in height; unlike the An'dari, who have only a few (but massive) limbs extending from their heads, the Ves'dari's heads are covered with miniature limbs packed with sensory receptors, small enough to be mistaken for white hairs from a distance. These limbs extend downwards to cover the neck and grow especially prominent around the eyes, which are more fully developed in the Ves'dari than in the An'dari (as the Ves'dari were surface dwellers). The subcortex bulge is also more pronounced. Ves'dari are natural telepaths and empaths; large areas of their brains are devoted to interpreting and detecting neurotransmitter signatures.
Like the An'dari, the Ves'dari have two skeletons; the superficial skeleton includes honeycomb-like joints and bone structures, protecting and reinforcing crucial organs (mainly around the head and central nervous system), whereas the deep skeleton provides the underlying structure for the four major appendages (other than the head). Of the four limbs, the upper two branch out into webbed "hands"; the lower two are far longer, and include three major joints, allowing extreme flexibility. Each of these two branches into three tripod-like appendages at the lowest joint; these three extremities are connected by a membrane which, among other skills, allows the Ves'dari to walk and run on water.
The Ves'dari were originally an aquatic species and still rely greatly on sound and light for detection; thus, their senses of hearing and sight are superb. With An'dari implants, they have also compensated for deficiencies in other areas, especially helping to prevent illnesses brought on to neurotransmitter overexposure (a technobabble way of saying they read too many people's minds). Ves'dari do not live as long as their An'dari counterparts, with an average lifespan of only 1,280 years; more so, almost fifty of those years are considered a childhood and most Ves'dari do not actually commence a "public life" until they are in their middle to late 100s.
Kun'dari. There were many races residing in the Gali'randi-el system that did not participate in the Link and subsequently died out over time; in fact, practically all but the An'dari and Ves'dari, and those they relied upon for food and bred to that end. The Kun'dari were an exception; for many years the Linked viewed and respected the Kun'dari as another worthy race, following several disastrous attempts to battle them (including the creation and breeding of an entirely new species designed simply as the world's greatest killing machine). Ultimately, when the First Empire was created, the Emperor invited the Kun'dari to participate; over time, the three species involved came to view each other as indispensable and even depend upon the others for survival.
The Kun'dari in their natural state have no physical form. They are beings of sentient neural energy; they consume matter to replace lost energy, which thanks to their capabilities of recapturing it is a good deal less than normal. In practice, however, Kun'dari form themselves into avatars, the generic name for physical representations of them; all Kun'dari are considered female.
Some three hundred thousand years ago, the An'dari began constructing outer metal shells for the Kun'dari in which they could reside. Each shell would be capable of recapturing energy lost by the Kun'dari, which would then be converted into matter and replaced in the regeneration chambers, wherein the organism would consume it; a cyclical process. These became vessels, like starships; generally several crew and AIs would occupy each attachment along with the host itself, represented as an avatar. Kun'dari of varying social classes and energetic strength were given differently sized vessels, ranging from a hundred metres to almost two kilometres in length.
When their energy patterns become powerful enough, Kun'dari are capable of converting surrounding matter to energy. The danger of this became evident when the rogue Kun'dari Jinu'siath i-Lir converted her 224m outer shell and a nearby enemy frigate to energy (during the Siv'i Wars). The resulting explosion destroyed three suns and nineteen planets, ending twenty billion lives and causing shockwaves to be felt a hundred light-years away. Subsequently, the Imperial 'Udari directed that Kun'dari matter-energy conversions be strictly limited and advising all vessels to simply back off if they grow too frustrated or experience other powerful energy fluctuations.
Kun'dari can be said to be either unliving or immortal; after all, they are energy, and even if they are destroyed the energy will be carried into something else, conserving it. However, traditional doctrine maintains that if the Kun'dari has no ability to create an avatar or otherwise communicate with other beings, it is considered dead.
It is unknown how, if at all, the Kun'dari reproduce. As their numbers remain fairly constant, however -- in the high eight hundreds -- it is assumed they manage it somehow.