Well-Known Member
Name: Aquuan
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Kad V
Language: Aquuan
Average size of adults: One or more meters radius in a relaxed state
Skin color: N/a, skin pigment controlled
Hair color: N/a when present, color pigment controlled
Breathes: Oxygen under any condition so long as the amount is enough to support life functions.
Strengths:
Average Lifespan: Most will live for 10 years before enveloping itself into a hermaphrodite pregnancy, and filling itself with Aquuan spores until it has no more nutrients to give and thus dies as a protective shell of organic food matter to the newborns. The only signs of age for an Aquuan is an increasingly difficult time to unshift from a favorite form, some times resulting in petrification followed by death. An exceedingly rare occurrence however, is when an Aquuan becomes petrified, but just before death breaks parts of its flesh of as "seeds" that also grow to become petrified individuals who hold the memory of the original host. These "Seed" individuals last half as long as an ordinary individual, and survive only by using pheromones to influence insects and very small animals into a maw it created for itself. These are very rare, and are highly honored.
Summary: 10 year life span, adulthood begins after year 1. If present, Petrification begins at age 7. Those born of the Petrified last for 5 years.
Races: The Petrified: A "race" of a very rare asexually reproducing Aquuans who have been petrified into one form, usually a tree or some inanimate object. Almost unheard of for a Petrified to be something as complex and demanding as an animal.
Diet: Omnivorous, though they have a preference for dead animals. They are highly susceptible to poisons, especially the ones that cause paralysis. Should even a small amount of paralyzing agents be absorbed through the skin of an Aquuan they revert to their relaxed state, and the effects last longer. Additionally, they are susceptible to air-borne and water-borne poisons and disease as there skin is so thin and absorbent they have little defense for it. There only means of combating it is secreting a layer of mucus in the hopes the unwanted invaders to not get past the semi-permeable barrier. Even this though, is weak. Additionally, they are susceptible to fungal infections, which wreak havoc on the body and sometimes even restricts their ability to change shape or color.
Communication: Most often Aquuans communicate using air/water borne chemicals and pheromones to remain silently undetected, though they are capable of many other forms of communication, which includes such mediums as tactile, audio, and visual. To produce audio communications, Aquuans must shift a sack of air inside themselves with an orifice to control the interior pressure of the sack to produce sound. Their pheromones can only influence very small animals, such as insects, and occasionally rodents.
Culture: Aquuans are extremely cautious and trust very few animals beyond their own race. They spend their lives mimicking their environment and its inhabitants to survive, and have found little need for tools. They have however, realized they are more protected in numbers in an organized society, then they are alone. Thus there are sections of Kad V that scholars have started to call the "Forests of Delusion", due to the fact that explorers often go insane trying to witness the movement of the trees, which are in fact unidentified Aquuans amusing themselves.
Their relationship with the Kadian Dalek Beast though is a fearful one, as they run and hide as much they can from the apex predators because they are as sneaky at times as they themselves are, and their massive forms are large enough and strong enough to grapple and pin them down for a meal. Additionally, no form they take can scare them away, as there is scarcely any animal on planet that is a match for the beasts; save perhaps, technologically savy humans.
The Aquuans though, in their secretive ways do have an identifiable culture beyond their relationships with the apex predators and general behavior. They have many varied belief systems that are all fairly similar to each other and rarely change. Aquuans believe that because they are gifted with their abilities to change their appearance so drastically yet remain the same individual, that all of the universe is the same. People or ideas might take on a different appearance or direction, but in their core they remain unchanged. Additionally, Aquuans worship their flesh and all organic things as the truest medium of the unchanging soul, because it is the bodies duty to remember for the soul.
This is why the worship their petrified brethren who remember for the world, through their seed children's eyes. A single Seed child could contain the memories of over 1,000 generations, and when in conjunction with the memories of their descendants and siblings could hold memories one million generations prior. This is of course, if the majority of the petrified live, and are protected by their Aquuan fellows. If not, incredible amounts of history would be lost to the Aquuans, as they are completely oral, and too them memories are what make up the soul, and the petrified cannot keep the memories of the race of the world, then Kad V's soul has died. This to them would be the end of everything.
To make sure such a thing never happens, the Aquuan surround the territory of a Petrified, and guard them by using confusion, guile, and trickery to make unwanted visitors leave. They also use their limited ability of control over small animals to distract hungry animals away from the Petrified, or to otherwise build a barrier between the visitor and the Petrified.
Technology level: Sticks and Stones
General behavior: Very cautious, and driven by impulses formed in their earliest experiences.
History: The evolution of the Aquuans is not known yet, as scholars have yet to truly discover them; however, it can be assumed that Kadian Dalek Beasts and the Aquuan are actually very similar genetically, probably sharing a class or family in terms of their genetics and evolutionary split. For as anyone can tell of them, they have existed undetected for several millions years. How many of those years they have been sentient, is unknown as they have left behind no remnants of civilization due to their quite natures, and their habitual activities. They have taken great amusement however, in the recent appearance of bewildered human explorers. This amusement might lead to them revealing their presences to them from time to time.
The bulk of their history of what can be ascertained orally from the Petrified, is weather patterns of the seasons (in other words, records of climate changes), Aquuan crimes (which are few beyond murder as Aquuans do not often claim objects under their possession), records of previous Petrified colonies, encounters with other Aquuan communities, major locations, and sever infestations of Dalek Beasts. Other than that, the history of the Aquuan is a blank slate.
The only real notable event was the occurrence of humans, and the Fel Imperium's Domination of the world despite I.R.I.S.'s presence there.
Notable Player-Characters: N/a
Intent: To create a hyper-flexible (in terms of story) alien that really only has one real ability and few other strengths (and thus conversely lots of weaknesses), and that has evaded the detection of scholars on Kad V (a planet previously labeled as having no sentient species).
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Kad V
Language: Aquuan
Average size of adults: One or more meters radius in a relaxed state
Skin color: N/a, skin pigment controlled
Hair color: N/a when present, color pigment controlled
Breathes: Oxygen under any condition so long as the amount is enough to support life functions.
Strengths:
- Perfect Shapeshifters & Camouflage: Due to their extremely stretchy tissues, almost being a singular organ (thus having no interior major ones), and having the ability to fuse and defuse its own tissue, there is no shape it can't mimic, and it can take on shapes at most 5 times greater than its relaxed state (because they are hollow when mimicking). They also have complete control over the pigmentation of their skin, and their neural network is so vast and complex it serves the same function as an advanced brain that can use the information of its skins sensory input (which includes all major senses) to mimic the color patterns of its surroundings perfectly.
- Edict Memory: Aquuans born Asexually inherit the memories of their parents, and the memories that are stored in their flesh are never forgotten until physically removed.
- Survivors: Flesh separated from the body can survive if it has a body mass at least 10% of its original adult host. Adolescents are too small to follow this rule and if any flesh is removed it is likely not to survive without the rest of the body to support it. This is possible however, because Aquuans have hundreds if not thousands of micro-organ systems spread out throughout the body. Flesh with less than 10% of a full grown Aquuan does not have enough of these organs to last for much more than a few days.
- Weak physically: Aquuan's evolutionary plan is to stay hidden at all times, or otherwise take on a form that will scare predators away; thus they have little strength beyond the ability to move and shift.
- Extra light or Extra heavy(Shifting): When Aquuan's shift, often times the object they mimic has a mass many times over what it weighs, and may also be of a size far exceeding itself; in order to mimic it more completely, the Aquaan takes a hollow form that outwardly appears as the mimicked target. This though makes them very easy to tip over/push/etc. or attack, because they are just volume and hardly anything to hold them down. When the opposite route is taken in shifting and they become an object smaller than they are when relaxed, it becomes very difficult to hold. They are muscles are generally not very strong going in the smaller direction, and it requires a larger degree of control. Additionally, when they are in this "heavier" state of increased density, any reception of pain or other agents of distraction will quickly get them out of this state. They also cannot hold this form for very long, the most they can hold a state 2 times smaller than their relaxed is for six hours undisturbed. Additionally, when in this state, any injury shall be increasingly debilitating. It also makes it more likely they can be grabbed and eaten.
- Vulnerable short term memory: Aquuan's store their memories throughout their bodies, with the oldest memories in the center the newest at the outside, thus if they are attacked and flesh removed, it is possible some parts of their experience may be removed as a consequence. However, losing new data is a lot better than losing old data, which is why they are structure this way. Note: When shifting, Aquaan's always try to keep their old memories in towards their hollow cavity.
- Amnesia insanity: Sometimes Aquuan's are born from injury, a major amount of flesh separated from its body to survive on its own. They travel with a percentage of the old Aquuan's experience's, but the memories are often fractured and jumbled. Thus it often leads to an identity crisis it will remember for the rest of its existence.
- Weak Immune system: One of the many reasons Aquuans have never progressed beyond the primitive ages is because they are so susceptible to disease.
- Habitual: Possibly another reason why they have yet to change into a higher form of civilization, is that Aquuans judge their whole lives based upon their first experiences, and often do not break their habits, for better or for ill.
Average Lifespan: Most will live for 10 years before enveloping itself into a hermaphrodite pregnancy, and filling itself with Aquuan spores until it has no more nutrients to give and thus dies as a protective shell of organic food matter to the newborns. The only signs of age for an Aquuan is an increasingly difficult time to unshift from a favorite form, some times resulting in petrification followed by death. An exceedingly rare occurrence however, is when an Aquuan becomes petrified, but just before death breaks parts of its flesh of as "seeds" that also grow to become petrified individuals who hold the memory of the original host. These "Seed" individuals last half as long as an ordinary individual, and survive only by using pheromones to influence insects and very small animals into a maw it created for itself. These are very rare, and are highly honored.
Summary: 10 year life span, adulthood begins after year 1. If present, Petrification begins at age 7. Those born of the Petrified last for 5 years.
Races: The Petrified: A "race" of a very rare asexually reproducing Aquuans who have been petrified into one form, usually a tree or some inanimate object. Almost unheard of for a Petrified to be something as complex and demanding as an animal.
Diet: Omnivorous, though they have a preference for dead animals. They are highly susceptible to poisons, especially the ones that cause paralysis. Should even a small amount of paralyzing agents be absorbed through the skin of an Aquuan they revert to their relaxed state, and the effects last longer. Additionally, they are susceptible to air-borne and water-borne poisons and disease as there skin is so thin and absorbent they have little defense for it. There only means of combating it is secreting a layer of mucus in the hopes the unwanted invaders to not get past the semi-permeable barrier. Even this though, is weak. Additionally, they are susceptible to fungal infections, which wreak havoc on the body and sometimes even restricts their ability to change shape or color.
Communication: Most often Aquuans communicate using air/water borne chemicals and pheromones to remain silently undetected, though they are capable of many other forms of communication, which includes such mediums as tactile, audio, and visual. To produce audio communications, Aquuans must shift a sack of air inside themselves with an orifice to control the interior pressure of the sack to produce sound. Their pheromones can only influence very small animals, such as insects, and occasionally rodents.
Culture: Aquuans are extremely cautious and trust very few animals beyond their own race. They spend their lives mimicking their environment and its inhabitants to survive, and have found little need for tools. They have however, realized they are more protected in numbers in an organized society, then they are alone. Thus there are sections of Kad V that scholars have started to call the "Forests of Delusion", due to the fact that explorers often go insane trying to witness the movement of the trees, which are in fact unidentified Aquuans amusing themselves.
Their relationship with the Kadian Dalek Beast though is a fearful one, as they run and hide as much they can from the apex predators because they are as sneaky at times as they themselves are, and their massive forms are large enough and strong enough to grapple and pin them down for a meal. Additionally, no form they take can scare them away, as there is scarcely any animal on planet that is a match for the beasts; save perhaps, technologically savy humans.
The Aquuans though, in their secretive ways do have an identifiable culture beyond their relationships with the apex predators and general behavior. They have many varied belief systems that are all fairly similar to each other and rarely change. Aquuans believe that because they are gifted with their abilities to change their appearance so drastically yet remain the same individual, that all of the universe is the same. People or ideas might take on a different appearance or direction, but in their core they remain unchanged. Additionally, Aquuans worship their flesh and all organic things as the truest medium of the unchanging soul, because it is the bodies duty to remember for the soul.
This is why the worship their petrified brethren who remember for the world, through their seed children's eyes. A single Seed child could contain the memories of over 1,000 generations, and when in conjunction with the memories of their descendants and siblings could hold memories one million generations prior. This is of course, if the majority of the petrified live, and are protected by their Aquuan fellows. If not, incredible amounts of history would be lost to the Aquuans, as they are completely oral, and too them memories are what make up the soul, and the petrified cannot keep the memories of the race of the world, then Kad V's soul has died. This to them would be the end of everything.
To make sure such a thing never happens, the Aquuan surround the territory of a Petrified, and guard them by using confusion, guile, and trickery to make unwanted visitors leave. They also use their limited ability of control over small animals to distract hungry animals away from the Petrified, or to otherwise build a barrier between the visitor and the Petrified.
Technology level: Sticks and Stones
General behavior: Very cautious, and driven by impulses formed in their earliest experiences.
History: The evolution of the Aquuans is not known yet, as scholars have yet to truly discover them; however, it can be assumed that Kadian Dalek Beasts and the Aquuan are actually very similar genetically, probably sharing a class or family in terms of their genetics and evolutionary split. For as anyone can tell of them, they have existed undetected for several millions years. How many of those years they have been sentient, is unknown as they have left behind no remnants of civilization due to their quite natures, and their habitual activities. They have taken great amusement however, in the recent appearance of bewildered human explorers. This amusement might lead to them revealing their presences to them from time to time.
The bulk of their history of what can be ascertained orally from the Petrified, is weather patterns of the seasons (in other words, records of climate changes), Aquuan crimes (which are few beyond murder as Aquuans do not often claim objects under their possession), records of previous Petrified colonies, encounters with other Aquuan communities, major locations, and sever infestations of Dalek Beasts. Other than that, the history of the Aquuan is a blank slate.
The only real notable event was the occurrence of humans, and the Fel Imperium's Domination of the world despite I.R.I.S.'s presence there.
Notable Player-Characters: N/a
Intent: To create a hyper-flexible (in terms of story) alien that really only has one real ability and few other strengths (and thus conversely lots of weaknesses), and that has evaded the detection of scholars on Kad V (a planet previously labeled as having no sentient species).