Centauri

CENTAURANS
Aurelia centaur
 
Height:   6 feet (1.83m) from bell tip to tentacle tip
Weight:   300 pounds (136kg)
Circulation pressure:   512/16 mmHg
Circulation rate:   5 cycles per minute
Respiration rate:   2 cycles per minute
Bell Temperature:   can vary with environment, -120F (-84.4C)
Lifespan:   400 Terran years
Native Language:   Telepathy, Tataskra (written language)
Homeworld:   Centauri

    Three major planets orbit Illumination in a direction retrograde with respect to the orbit of Illumination and Timekeeper. The closer two to the star (Fast and Slow) are rocky, metal-rich, and uninhabited. The farthest is the inhabited planet known as Centauri (Homeworld) with an orbital radius of 3.3 AU (27.5 light-minutes). Illumination appears more like a point than a disc when viewed from Centauri.

    Timekeeper has no major planet, but a number of minor ones within a dense asteroid field. This star provides 'seasons' to the planet Centauri, with a period of about forty years. A megascale array of solar power collectors encircling the star was completed in 3003.

    Glacier is due to orbit the system's center several more times with approximately 500000 year periods before escaping the system. Currently it has an orbital radius of approximately 13000 AU (75 light days). Glacier is most often barely visible, but it will occasionally flare into a bright star. It has a gas giant (Shadow) orbiting at 0.7 AU (6 light min).

    A cometary field is concentrated at about 75 AU (624 light min) from the system center, thinning to nothing at about half a light year further out. The occasional object will fall into complex looping patterns through the system, but none does so with a stable orbit. Automated system defense platforms built during the Ri'Kammi-controlled Stronghold era were deactivated but not dismantled. Parallax expansionism in 3005 saw the imposition of a closely-patrolled flight corridor for foreign ships travelling between the system's jump point and the Shalyaris spaceport.

    The Centauran homeworld is a chill planet nearly covered by a complex of webs, spires and looping architecture that changes every day as the citizens add to it or alter its features. Buildings are designed to distribute sunlight to those inside and to the underground levels; these also make it easy to keep in tune with the daily patterns of neighbors. Locked doors are unknown, except where other species need to be kept out. Ecology is for the most part integrated with the vast urban expanse of woven crystalline structures, as only a very small area of the planet's surface is untouched nature reserve. Its capital is located in the city sculpture known as Shalyaris. Races incapable of breathing the nitrogen atmosphere or surviving for long periods in its traumatically low temperatures must use rebreathers and atmosphere suits if they wish to leave the Shalyaris spaceport; in recent years, the Centaurans have provided rentals of this equipment to offworlders. The Shalyaris spaceport contains the public nexus for Centauri's teleportation system, offworld shuttle stops, a hotel/resort, and various shops.

    A peaceful but strong-willed race, the denizens of Centauri are known for their remarkable scientists, physicists and mathematicians. Centaurans can participate in spoken communication, which is more comfortable for many species than telepathy, using special electronic vocalizers. These convert manipulations of brainwaves into speech sounds and vice versa.

    Centaurans loathe violence and will, as a general rule, pursue diplomatic resolutions to any severe conflict. They are dedicated to the pursuit of science and exploration for peaceful ends, and find science for profit repugnant. Their long term and society-oriented solutions to problems, which may involve death and heavy responsibility, can appear to be coldly logical. But the use of telepathic consensus and their lack of facial expressions do not at all mean that decisions are made without the sharing of emotion. The motivations may simply be difficult for individualists to understand, and the expressions difficult for non-empaths to perceive clearly.

    Centaurans hold their species in regard above others, respecting the most those civilizations that feel no need to use their power and knowledge in flashy or violent displays. The Maltarian Empire is one such. Those of an older time, who traveled with Sanctuary, may regard aliens as opportunities for gentle study and perhaps companionship. The Centaurans who have read about and lived through the Kretonian occupation and Hiver manipulations may regard aliens with more caution, even suspicion or disgust, while still finding them fascinating and useful in their own way.

    Their society is perhaps best summed up by 'collectivism.' Desiring privacy for its own sake and secrecy for personal reasons are regarded as pathological in Centaurans; the existence of these feelings in other races is a sometimes troubling, but well-recognized oddity. Some information is kept from the other races to prevent danger to themselves and others, but greater and freer communication is generally regarded as the means to a safe environment. Positive socialization and being able to sense organic minds are not only desirable for Centaurans, but essential for mental health.

    The open exchange of words and feelings among Centaurans allows them to find and treat a wide variety of behavioral and sociological problems (many of which would be regarded as personality traits by other races). To allow for innovation, some harmless eccentricities are allowed, guided by the stabilizing influence of neighbors and colleagues. Simple punishment is regarded as pointless; friendly persuasion, medical treatment, and re-education are used instead, and since antisocial problems are caught early by the telepathic communities, the individual's potential usefulness is largely preserved. If an individual does not respond to treatment, then it is useless to society. It is killed, and its body consumed and spun into new constructions. Aliens are sometimes seen as not worth the trouble of curing and can have odd notions like not wanting their violent tendencies repaired. Any visiting alien that poses violent danger is executed without question or trial.

    Population control is vital to the Centaurans, given their distaste for colonization. Whenever an important leader dies the Cycling occurs. The Cycling is roughly mass, coordinated suicide. Many Centaurans apply to participate in the Cycling, but few are chosen. To be chosen is considered a great honor, among the noblest possible conclusions of a Centauran's life. Participants in the cycling line up in concentric circles around the remains of their leader. They then fall to the ground, one after the other, shattering into pieces which are gathered up for important construction projects.

    Centaurans might appear at first to be simple bubbles of glass with arms, but their transparency reveals a complex structure. Much of them is contained within a rounded shell composed of layer upon layer of violet-tinted glass. Many of the organs are arranged around the inside of the shell, the being's bulk being in a trunk that hangs in the middle and divides into eight tentacles.

    As asexual creatures, they give birth once every six years, from 27 years of age to about 250. A unique sort of connection exists between parent and child, but a harmonious relationship with neighbors is essential to growth and education.

    The digestive system, which has a single opening, is stained blue by the colonies of algae that sustain their host with nutrition derived from nitrogen and light. Not much is needed, but proper lighting cannot be done without for more than a couple days. Every few weeks, in order to weave constructs, regenerate broken tentacles, and nourish unborn young, Centaurans must consume matter through an orifice in the base of the bell. Hydrofluoric acid digestive fluid helps them to dissolve the crystalline organisms of their homeworld, but would turn the organics of most other species' food into steaming hot carbon. Most kinds of soil are nutritious, but even glass, inorganic ceramics and composites, and glass-shelled organisms can suffice, if they contain no high levels of toxic metals.

    A ring of forty-eight iridescent pink eyespots (or fifty, in some familial lines) surrounds the base of the bell, providing an enormous and continuous field of vision. Turning around to look in a certain direction is pointless for a being that is nearly radially symmetric. In addition to physical sight, Centaurans have a powerful intuitive sense for visualizing spatial relationships and motion.

    Centaurans possess no blood as such, with various substances carried in molecular tubules. This accounts for their ability to withstand temperatures far from optimal. When injured, however, liquid may seep from their tissue.

    The ring-shaped lung near the top of the trunk is also the location of their somewhat limited hearing ability. Respiration involves only nitrogen, with an optimal temperature of -120 degrees Fahrenheit. (This is below the temperatures at which dry ice evaporates and liquified ammonia gas boils.)

    Their chief method of locomotion is a smooth glide several feet in the air, accomplished by psionically pressing against the ground (or pulling on a large stationary mass overhead). On average, Centaurans can rise about seven yards above a horizontal surface; with effort, they may be able to attain much greater altitudes.

    The Centauri government is arranged in multiple levels, with knowledge flowing upward and decisions and advice flowing downwards. The chief executive is known as the Solon, the current one of which is Solilopaxillthrixian. The Solon is assisted in its responsibilities of command by a Xeter of nearly equal power (currently Tepazatifeladesuyabev).

    The Solon is elected by telepathic consensus which takes between a few hours and a few days to develop. Once elected, the Solon retains power until death, or removed by a similar consensus. The Solon is advised by the Council of Regents, which represents each of the Centauran's scientific endeavors.

    The Xeter is chosen by the Solon and wields equal authority, save that it may be dismissed by the Solon at any time. In the event of the Solon's death, the Xeter temporarily acts as the Solon until a consensus is reached for the new Solon. For a number of reasons, including tradition, the Xeter seldom becomes the new Solon, or even the new Xeter.

    The Xeter holds power until death, unless the Solon dismisses it. The Solon and Xeter create their decisions based on public polls and the advice of various academic councils. The first heads of a planetary government were Solon Shodkenhintekgu and Xeter Rintanvaryimeh, chosen in 7003 B.C.

    The lower levels of government, less important in modern times, are in charge of implementing decisions. They consist of central leaders for the region, province, city, district, neighborhood, and sometimes for the residential or industrial building.

    In the face of the 2651 invasion of Kretonians, several thousand Centaurans moved into a habitat in the Winter Dome of the colony vessel Sanctuary. They returned to the year 3000 after six months of travel, most of them choosing to remain on the station.

    Fundamentally, the Centaurans who traveled on board Sanctuary and their modern descendants are very much alike. They share millennia of peaceful socialist and centrally-organized culture. Both abhor violence and love observation and learning. They find fulfillment is serving the group and helping others to become more useful. They believe that one should share problems with neighbors and eventually discover the good in everything that happens, even if this is only the opportunities for improvement. (As beings with centuries of indelible memory, this is quite necessary.)

    Three and a half centuries of separation have led to some differences. When Sanctuary returned to the universe, the Centauran inhabitants found those on Homeworld to be hostile not only to aliens but also to their own kind. Even after the influences of the Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind were rooted out, some dissimilarity of thoughts remained. At worst, Sanctuary Centaurans can see the people of Centauri as paranoid and disturbingly private. They, in turn, can see the Sanctuary residents as foolishly naive.

    For the people of Centauri, the years of hardship have lowered their estimation of other species; they already thought the violence and individualism were a bit odd. The Centaurans of Centauri are now even more tightly associated and loyal to their government, whereas the Sanctuary Centaurans have somewhat more focus on the benefit of the neighborhood.