BIOLOGICAL
Kentaurans are the most "human" of the known alien races. They perceive the electromagnetic spectrum (and a similar range of the spectrum) in very much the same way humans do, but they possess six eyes which ring their body. 3 upper and 3 lower distributed evenly around their ovoid bodies. Their vision is not binocular and they cannot perceive depth as well as humans, their spatial perception is in general, worse. They can however see in three hundred and sixty degrees, with sight most limited directly above and below their bodies.
They hear in a frequency range which overlaps those humans hear, theirs extending slightly higher and not quite as low. They hear with six subdermal ears. The ear canal passes just beneath the skin, which stretches tight over the chamber. The ears are spaced between the eyes and cannot be seen. The positioning of ears gives them greatly enhanced ability to "track" on sounds and determine the direction of origin. Because Kentaurans hear and speak at a frequency which extends slightly higher than human beings can perceive, humans must use a "Freq aid" (frequency) to raise or lower the frequency depending on which species is speaking.
Their bodies are covered with hair, usually brown, a few inches long for protection against the cold weather of their home moon Monelbi. They prefer forty five to seventy fahrenheit. Their four arms are identical and none of them are distinctly legs. Each has a mid-length joint, a wrist joint and ends in a thick calloused hand. The palm is square and contains a joint running its length which allows it to flatten out for walking on and fold like a V to aid in gripping. Both sides of the palm end in two fingers, one stubby and one thin. Each thin finger is similar to a humans, jointed at the palm and twice more along its length. The thick finger is jointed at the palm and once along its length.
Kentauran bodies are ovoid with their appendages attached directly opposite another. Imagine an X laid on top of an O Two appendages stick out above and two below and the upper left is directly across from the lower right, etc. Kentaurans are quite adept at withstanding acceleration despite their low-g homeworld. As tree-swingers capable of spending long periods of time with any end of their body facing upward they have a very tough circulatory system which acts like a natural pressure suit.
Kentaurans are omnivores. They possess a single orifice which is used for waste, eating and breathing, and muscles move each tube into place automatically.
They possess two distinct sexes that each contribute a portion of the offsprings genetic material. Genitalia are concealed within the orifice as well as the birthing canal. Copulation looks similar to kissing. They normally give birth to two children which are identical twins. The gestation period is approximately one standard year.
HISTORY Their Homeworld is a moon in the Kentaurus system. The star is blue and very hot, extending the liquid water range well to the systems two close in gas giants. Monelbi orbits Sagassar, a gas giant 3.7 times the mass of Jupiter. Monelbi itself has twice the surface area of the planet mercury. It has a cool climate and .35 standard gravities. Its forest are very tall in the low-g and thin air and the kents evolved to live in the trees. The atmosphere is Terrestrial, but the percentages are off and humans need equipment to breathe properly. They achieved interstellar flight nearly a million years ago and spread to 13 local star systems, but two of those original colonies have died off. They advance slowly and have very unstable politics. After the colonies developed there was a problem with diseases spreading between world and there is evidence of large scale war. Civilization fell on every colony, and the homeworld, and they had to rebuild their way to spaceflight before fighting could resume. The Re-unification Wars have been going on (with one giant break during the fall of civilization) for a hundred thousand years. Humans first encountered Kentaurans at Monelbi two hundred and fifty years ago.
POLITICS
Kentaurus is the second most advanced and populous system. It contains their homeworld, Monelbi, and it is the force behind the Kentaurus Pact. The strongest group in the Re-unification Wars it consist of Monelbi and four other systems of various development which either joined through diplomacy or were conquered.
Syfola is the third most developed world and the system it belongs to as well as two others have formed the defensive Syfolan Alliance to protect themselves against the ever present raids of Kentaurus Pact forces.
There are two independent systems no one has bothered to attack because they are low tech and out of the way and then there is Sineb. Sineb is home to the most advanced group of Kentaurans. They are isolationist and no one has dared attack them. They are the most advanced civilization humans deal with out of all the known sentients and they are very secretive.
Main
Notes on Centaurs
Notes on Modern Humanity
Notes on Sandlings