Gardeners. These powerful patriarchs of a major clan have remained neutral in the present crisis. A team was brought in to supervise the ecological work on Garth during it's siege. Linten have also consulted on the Venus terraforming project. They are often described as gangling.
Also called Lethani and are the Pila's fifth high ancestral. They have passed over to another plane of reality. The Soro retain the Luber in their patronymic contrary to Galactic Tradition.
Former occupants of the planet Pila for 600 millennia.
The proto-Mn were discovered by the Gello on the first garden world granted to the Konahd by the Galactic Institute for Migration. The world was intended to be the Konahd homeworld. The world was renamed Mno and put into safekeeping as the future homeworld of the Mn. The Konahd got a new homeworld in just a few hundred hab-years.
Mno has several distinct populations of proto-Mn, but the most important lived in large troops of up to 150 adults on semi-tropical and tropical savannas. Females usually resided in the troop of their birth with a small cadre of as many as eighteen adult males. The cadre of adult males protected the troop from predators and other males who would threaten the dominant cadre's mating privileges. Adolescents and non-dominant males lived in bachelor troops of as many as thirty-six individuals.
Females belonging to these troop-dwelling populations massed <55 pounds> with males massing as much as <120 pounds> with an average of <75 pounds> for a male. Mn ab-Konahd are still very sexually dimorphic but now can be a healthy <500 pounds>. This is due to the use of genetic material from another population of proto-Mn that had a less promising social structure.
The primary proto-Mn population were very generalized, knuckle-walking omnivores. They ate small animals, scavenged meat, dug for roots using a suid-like snout, destroyed termite mounds with powerful mouths and clawed hands, and could climb trees albeit clumsily. No proto-Mn population used tools. Food sharing only occurred between closely related females and their juvenile offspring or between allied males who were also often related.
The Mn are the second youngest species in the Soro Clan and are still level one clients. The Konahd have proceeded cautiously with the Mn uplift project. The basic Mn body form was already preapted for participation in O-2 civilization. So far the Konahd have done little to change Mn anatomy except for making Mn hands more dexterous. It is expected that the Mn will be fully upright by uplift level two. Their vision will also be improved.
At present the Konahd are evidently working on carefully improving Mn intelligence, their ability to function under stress, and to control their flee-or-fight reaction. The Konahd are also working on minimizing the disruptive effect of male Mn sexual politics on the stable matriarchal mainstay of Mn society and politics.
The evidence suggests that the Mn are being uplifted as a very generalized species with a strong predisposition to infantry and combat. Many expect the Mn will surpass their patrons soon after reaching maturity.
One of the species observing the Uplift Ceremony for the Tytlal.
One of several Uplift failures, like the Bururalli, 40-50,000 hab-years ago.
Mulc Spiders are intelligent, language using, fungus-like creatures used as an ecological-remediation tool and fallow reserve monitor. They chemically break down or neutralize any products left behind on a world after a period of habitation. The Mulc Spider genetic code is property of the Galactic Institute of Migration. Non-starfarring, non-technological.
As punishment for their client's crimes, they were given to the Thennanin as clients. Ambassador Kault described them as a mature and elegant people that did not understand the nuances of uplifting a purely carnivorous species.
Tg.M.A.A. and Tg.U.C.: The Terragen Confederation has suggested that Don Compadre a-Thennanin ab-many ul-Chooser, et. al. require Nahalli to uplift (under Thennanin supervision) a carnivorous or aggressive omnivorous species as the final condition of their indenture-of-punishment-and-rehabilitation.
(See also Chooser.)
The Nayatha are the newest members of Clan Soro and one of the most promising species to be discovered in thousands of hab-years. The conditions on the Nayatha home-world were quite unusual. Nayath orbits a very large gas giant. Its star is small and distant. The equatorial regions barely reach the tripple point of water. In addition, Nayath is very geologically active due to tidal forces. The resulting geysers put an unusual amount of methane, CO2, and water into the atmosphere. More than half the biosphere's thermal energy is provided by tidal heating.
Even the existence of Nayath's O-2 biosphere was unknown until discovered by the Paha who explored the large moon to set up a forward base. The Paha found the proto-Nayatha living in equatorial marshy grasslands and estuaries. Proto-Nayatha lived in sexually egalitarian bands of up to fifteen adults. Social cohesion was largely established through food sharing. Like most Nayath macrofauna, the proto-Nayatha were highly migratory and showed few signs of territoriality.
The proto-Nayatha had fairly elaborate technology beyond Earth's Olduwan. The proto-Nayatha even used and conserved fire, though they did not make it. They built temporary shelters with oportunistic designs. The proto-Nayatha had primative clothing that they used for comfort. Shelter and clothing slightly extended the their range. They had containers but not ceramics. There was no organized art though ad-hoc decorative activity was occasionally observed.
Related, but less promising populations, ate shellfish, insectoids, carrion, and seeds or fruit when available. The proto-Nayatha also speared fish and caught small animals. They only occasionally fell victim to predation.
Even the proto-Nayatha were bipedal with four limbs. Proto-Nayatha stood erect and were just over <5 feet> tall. Contemporary Nayatha stand just short of <7 feet> tall. Nayatha have very tough, leathery skin studded with warts . In each wart there are three sensory hairs. Nayatha have four digits on their hand and feet. Their feet are webbed. Their hands have an opposable thumb on each side of the palm and two middle fingers of equal length. The palms of the hands and feet, fingers and toes all have suckers to enhance grip. Nayatha also have a long, jointed, non-prehensile tail.
Nayatha have a sparse, sub-dermal exoskeleton. (A Nayatha skeleton resembles that of a glass sponge but is made of resilliant calcium-based material.) The Nayatha shed parts of their sub-dermal skeleton throughout childhood. The last element shed is the attachement point for the cardial organ, called the heart-bone .
On each side of a Nayatha's head there are sesory warts with particularly long whiskers that grow to the same length as the width of the Nayatha's shoulders. Infra-red sensors sit atop the head. The resolution of these primative eyes would be comprable to a pin-hole camera with black-and-white film. Nayatha teeth are flat crushing tools set in a broad mouth. Nayatha breathe, smell, and eat using their mouth.
A Nayatha's oval face is its most unusual feature. It is dominated by a perfectly elliptical feature made of iron enriched skeletal material and skin. Two fixed stalks project from the focii of the ellipse. Tissues near the end of the the focal stalks contain organs to generate and recieve microwaves and sound. Proto-Nayatha had amphibious echolocation, but was much more primative than that used by dolphins and even significantly less developed that that used by Terran bats. However, the proto-Nayatha microwave sense was highly advanced and could even be used to stun small animals. At the very tip of each focal stalk there is a sensory wart.
The Paha have made almost no changes to the anatomy of their level one clients, focusing most effort on improving language and intelligence. The Nayatha are too new to participate actively in the affairs of Clan Soro.
The Nayatha are so promising that is is hard to say how the Paha will proceed with their uplift. However, there are indications that the Paha would like unrestricted access to talented engineers and librarians.
Physical uplift plans are more self-evident. The Paha will move the Nayatha infrared eyes forward and improve their vision. They will also be very tempted to weaponize Nayatha microwave projection. (However, weaponization would not be safe until uplift level three or later.) There are even rumors that the Paha have made overatures to the Terragen Clan about help with Nayatha echolocation. Clan Soro denies the rumor and the Paha Directorate of Alien Affairs decline to dignify the rumor with a response.
[Illustration: Nayatha.]
Uplifted one-hundred years prior to Dolphins. Genetic changes over 200 years, at the time of Contact, had given Chimpanzees a different shaped skull, greater pelvic arcs to birth big-brained offspring, and fully opposable thumbs. The Contact era generation of "super-chimp" had trouble vocalizing and used a keyboard/ screen to communicate. Speech was very painful and came out like a croak. Neo-Chimps no longer have trouble speaking and are much more advanced. At present Chims can easily speak, and speech aphasia is their greatest fear. When stressed, Neo-Chims sometimes revert to hand gestures since the area of the brain originally controlling hand gestures was modified for speech. Chims favorite musical instruments are percussion. Only one Uplift Ceremony was held for them on Tymbrim. After a second Uplift Ceremony held on Garth by Gubru hosts, Neo-Chimpanzees were unofficially declared to be well beyond minimum Galactic standards for Stage Three Sapience.
Neo-Chimpanzee, is the third youngest acknowledged race in the Four Galaxies. They are a Second Level Client, which is remarkable in itself due to the age of the race --only 350 Earth years. Their Third Stage Uplift Ceremony was interrupted in the Garthling incident. They are full members of Earthclan along with their Human Patrons and Neo-Dolphin siblings. Male Neo-Chimpanzees are called "chens," females are "chimmies" and the gender-neutral noun is "chim." Neo-Chimpanzees are bilaterally symmetrical, omnivorous, bipedal, oxygen breathing mammals, and are very close genetic relatives to Humans. They stand about four to five feet high and can now walk completely upright, without the need to use their hands. (Indeed, knuckle walking is no longer a practical means of locomotion.)
Many improvements have been implemented on the chim population. Certain areas of the brain have been expanded for advanced computation and language skills. The tongue, palette, and larynx have also been heavily modified to accomplish the speaking itself. The jutting of the brow has been lessened, as has the massive jaw. The spine has been straightened for upright locomotion, and the legs have been lengthened and straightened. The feet have been flattened, but can still be used as semi-useful hands and have much better gripping ability than those of their Patrons. Their thumbs have also been slightly moved for better gripping. The hips and birth canals have been widened to accommodate giving birth to infants with larger brains and skulls.
The cosmetic-functional adjustments to the race have drawn attention, and many Galactics believe that the Humans are turning their Clients into caricatures of themselves because they feel so alone.
Chims can speak in Anglic from the age of three, before which the bones in the palate have not finished developing. Infants use hand signals to form a visual sign language, and certain hand movements and gestures are used throughout the chim's life. Sign language also is playing an important role in the development of distinctive Neo-Chimpanzee culture. One of the greatest fears for a chim is speech atavism. They hold spoken language above all the other improvements they have received, and many chims who do lose their speech abilities end up committing suicide.
Neo-Chimpanzees are found on all Earthclan colonies. The Tymbrimi are their Uplift Sponsors.
(See also, Chimpanzee)
Their Uplift was halted in order to reach an agreement with Galactics. Many Chims keep ordinary dogs as pets.
Dolphins have been telling Humans dirty jokes for thousands of years, but not until uplift were Humans able to understand them. During the generations of Dolphin living in the decades after Contact, Humans were working to improve attention span and competency in Anglic, as well as trying to wean Neo-Dolphins from the Whale Dream. At present, genetic engineering over 40 generations have given Fins an expanded repertoire of facial expressions (though fins still expressed most emotions in sounds or motions); a modified blow-hole and vocal apparatus giving fins the ability to make whistles, squawks, vowel and consonant sounds; modified lungs to become more resistant to land-based disease and breathing oxy-water; and two nubby fingers at the pectoral fins that will eventually develop into a full hands. [Tg.U.C.: In the next generation, we will drop the proto-fingers and try prehensile lips. Neo-Dolphin council members expressed distaste for the proto-digits. Also, Tg.I.P.S. professional staff noted that first, Fins will not be able to actually see the proposed hands or use them in tandem, and second, by the time they added a wrist and mobile neck Neo-Dolphin would be a hairless seal.] Most Dolphins are equipped with a neuro-socket just above and behind the left eye that allows them to interface with mechanical equipment by sending commands directly from the brain. Dolphins cannot completely sleep because one brain hemisphere must remain in control of breathing. Humans have been able to hold only one Uplift Ceremony for Dolphin. They were chosen by the Tytlal to be their Fourth Stage Consorts. The Tymbrimi are the Neo-Dolphin's Uplift Consorts. Neo-Dolphins are a mid-level, Stage Two Client species.
(See also, Dolphin)
One of two uplift projects underway before Contact that were suspended by order of the Galactic Uplift Institute, with recognition of the validity of Human claims on the "species" Dog and Elephant. (Human claims on Cat and Swine were also granted by right of prior domestication. But, permission to proceed with these projects has been indefinitely suspended by GUI.)
(See also: Elephant)
In keeping with the tennets of their peculiar Inheritor ideology, the Nght6 --being formidable warriors in their own right --brought only one species, the Tandu, to "maturity" as a Main-Sequence sapient. The insular, secretive, and remorseless Nght6 brought the Tandu even closer than themselves to the Clan's ideal of a competitive O-2 sapient species, optomized for survival --may it please the Ancestors and the Wisdom of Tradition.
The Nght6 are nearing elderhood. No member of the specific Inheritor ideology espoused by the Nght6 has successfully Stepped-off to Retirement in the last 228 (that is, 268 000 00010) hab-years.
Exterminated in ritual combat with the Brothers of the Night as dictated by the the Nighthunter and Brother's peculiar Inheritor doctrine. This particular group maintains that total annihilation of ones patrons is the surest test of fitness. The students thus unequivocally prove their superiority over their teachers --may it please the Ancestors and their Wise Traditions.
The Nish are also a plant-like sapient species. They are members of the powerful, but moderate, Linten Clan.
Playful otter-like species ancestral to the Neo-Dolphin god-clients, Tytlal ab-Tymbrimi-absu-Caltmour-ab-Brma-ab-Krallnith. Noor are found on the fallow planet Jijo and many other planets where they make nuisances of themselves.
The Norruhk are the sole remaining immature clients of the Fonnir. Norruhk are huge but graceful omnivorous quadrupeds. They are about 8' long, stand 5' high at the shoulder, and weigh nearly 400 lb. Their tough hides are covered with a dense pelt of short, glossy black fur resembling a coat of fresh tar. (Hence the informal Anglic name "Tar Elk.") Exposed skin is smooth and dark gray. The Norruhk have semi-upright posture. Their front legs double as arms; the front feet are serviceable four-fingered hands. Norruhk can walk quickly when using all four of their strong, slender limbs. They move much more slowly when using one arm, and slower still when walking on their rear legs. Digits on all four feet are tipped with tough-skinned pads. The pads on the fingers of the front foot/ hands are creased with fissures which can be spread apart to a reveal an exquisitely sensitive tactile sensor. Norruhk heads are radially symmetrical. They have long snouts, tipped by a complex four-jawed mouth. The mouth is small, (no larger than a human mouth) but it can expand to take in fruit as large as whole grapefruit . . . or prey as large as a house cat. The four nostrils, located just behind the lips, are very sensitive to heat, and bestow a crude sort of infrared vision. Four eyes are spaced evenly around the base of the snout; four bony external ears, like tiny shovel blades, sprout from behind each ear.
Except for vision, which is telescopic (equivalent to 5x binoculars), Norruhk senses are comparable to Humanity s. They have the ability to instantly go into a passive, trance-like state. This allows them to reduce food and water consumption to near zero. This is useful, since the Norruhk have a incredibly high metabolic rate: their normal body temperature is 46.7o C. As a result, Norruhk require massive amounts of food when active (five times normal human consumption).
They were uplifted about seventy thousand years ago, long into their patron's old age, to be companions in the Fonnir s passing on. . Tymbrimi have likened the uplifting of the Norruhk to the ancient, macabre Human tradition of burying live servants with their deceased masters, to provide service in the afterlife. It is rumored that the Norruhk do not wish to share their patron s fate, and plan to break indenture when their masters become too weak to protest. Other rumors state that the Norruhk have strong psionic powers and have had their psyches enhanced or bent in a way that dooms them to pass on with their masters.
Norruhk come in three varieties, or castes: Seers, Synthesizers and Critiquers. Each caste has a different personality. A caste is something a Norruhk is born into; it is genetically determined like sex. There are male and female varieties of each caste, but members of a caste cannot interbreed. Relations between Norruhk of two different castes produces a child of the third caste. (For example, a Critiquer and a Seer couple will have Synthesizer offspring.) This odd arrangement makes the Norruhk unsettlingly xenophilic. Unfortunately, Norruhk are not very good at interspecies communication their peculiar mentalities make them appalling diplomats.
The three castes have separate personality profiles. Norruhk claim that the differences complement each other, and are somehow necessary to the proper functioning of their society. Each caste also has psionic specialties. Norruhk of one caste rarely train in another caste's specialties. All castes learn elementary empath skills. Academy training and careful breeding assure that Norruhk of the same caste have quite simmilar personalities. Seers are curious, polite but emotionally distant observers. Synthesizers are friendly but crass crazy hacker types, prone to brainstorming and wild speculation. Critiquers are caustic, meddling and judgmental, yet uncannilly perceptive about the motivations and emotional states of most other sapients.
Norruhk society has been shaped by their indenture to the Fonnir and their mental powers. Every Norruhk pledges allegiance to an order. Orders range from doing-herds (industrial or agricultural combines), to military units, to scientific or religious academies. Some Norruhk pledge to serve a Fonnir buir 8iuu. Though tedious or even degrading, careers in the service of the patrons bring prestige and influence. Some independent-minded Norruhk become steadfast members of the Galactic Institutes.
Each order has its own unique complement of elaborate rituals, ceremonies and rites of advancement. These mysteries are more than meaningless fluff; they serve to channel and control the Norruhk's psionic talents. Without them Norruhk gradually go insane or revert to the habits of their wild, herd-beast ancestors. At least one former colony is inhabited by reverted Norruhk. The post-sentient inhabitants roam in vast, telepathically-bound hordes, attacking anything that threatens them. The rituals designed by particularly gifted Fonnir uplift specialists have another purpose: they are slowly but surely shaping the mental evolution of the Norruhk, driving the species toward a strange and terrible destiny.
When not in service to their Fonnir patrons, academy, or doing-herd, Norruhk live in nuclear families, consisting of a male and female of different castes plus their children. Occasionally, a couple invites a male adult of the remaining caste into their marriage so the female may have a child of her traditional mate's caste. After a few years of being raised by the parents, children go to an academy where they are segregated from members of the other two castes. There, they are indoctrinated in caste traditions and trained in the psionic discipline particular to their caste.
Norruhk are not a far-ranging species. Few leave the Fonnir retirement worlds or colonies where they were born. A small but dedicated order of Norruhk have pledged themselves to behind the scenes work in the Uplift Institute. Insiders claim that they use their psionics to test the suitability of potential client species. These researchers are rumored to be obsessed with learning the nature of potential, and study Abdicator dogma.
Most Galactics see the Norruhk as unnatural, twisted creations. They are assumed to be up to no good. Others, including the Tandu and Brothers of the Night, like their style , but the Norruhk have firmly but politely declined all offers of friendship from such quarters. The Norruhk have an unreciprocated admiration for the Lesh and the Thennanin. The Norruhk display a certain distaste for Terragens especially Humans. This seems to largely be derived from anger about boisterous visits to K7kakk that might disturb the Fonnir (though the Fonnir seldom even seem to notice univited Terragen visitors), and from jealousy over the amount of attention the Fonnir give to their newly discovered wolfling neighbors. Nevertheless, Norruhk-Terragen relations are cordial even productive and the Norruhk are regarded as non-hostile to Clan Terragen.
Occasionally, small parties of Norruhk may be seen conducting business for their masters on the worlds of the Ehbu chi u Sector (the sector containing Sol). It is very common for Norruhk to visit Earth on Fonnir business. Indeed, the Fonnir-Norruhk maintain a small embasy on Luna. A few Norruhk have visited Earth independently to trade ancient artwork for supplies and wolfling curiosities.
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