User:Williams/Sandbox/Edenthi
< User:Williams | Sandbox
| Edenthi | |
| Survey Data | |
| Star System: |
Jupit |
| Quadrant: | |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation: |
Neutral |
| Capital: |
Caturl |
| Political System: |
Consensus (Total democracy) |
| Biological Information | |
| Type: |
Humanoid |
| Atmosphere type: |
Oxygen-Nitrogen |
| Development Stage: |
Warp capable, highly advanced |
| Character: |
Peaceful |
| Number of Eyes: |
2 |
| Empathic species: |
Partial (Affinity) |
| Telepathic species: |
Yes (Affinity) |
| [ Source ] | |
The Edenthi (pronounced ed-een-thee) are a race whose base genetic code is not too dissimilar from Humans or Vulcans. Edenthi evolution has been assisted by genetics, and all Edenthi have had what is called the 'Affinity Bond' spliced into their genetic code for the past ten generations.
Affinity is a form of genetically-assisted telepathy, and allows all Edenthi within a solar system to communicate instantaneously - with images and emotions, as well as simple words - with each other, and with their bitek constructs.
Contents
History
A biotechnologist named K'chau Sit-Chai developed Affinity symbiont neurons on the Edenthi homeworld, allowing control over similarly bonded animals and living biotechnological structures called bitek, seven hundred years ago (1668, Earth-standard calendar). By 1679, the Affinity gene was successfully engineered into Edenthi DNA. The first habitat, Caturl, was germinated in orbit of the Jupit system's largest gas giant in 1685, and Edenthi began occupying its habitation regions by 1695.
By 1790, K'chau Sit-Chai was dying, his body aged to a point where it could no longer sustain its functions. He successfully transferred his memories into the Caturl habitat's memory cells, effectively beginning the culture known to all Edenthi today, as his ideas and philosophy were committed to memory. Through Affinity, Sit-Chai was able to continue living as a non-corporeal observer inside the habitat; his personality partially merged into the habitat's own.
In response to this non-religious afterlife, a significant number of Edenthi - estimated to be in the region of 800,000 - attempted to excommunicate Edenthi born with Affinity geneering in 1795, claiming that Sit-Chai's soul would not continue its transcendental journey due to him cheating death. Ultimately, the attempt at excommunication failed, as religion had by this point in time become a rarely-held ideal amongst the general populace. The eight hundred thousand felt so strongly that Sit-Chai had committed an unforgivable blasphemy, that they effectively excommunicated themselves, leaving Edenthi space for regions unknown.
Government
Due to the nature of the Affinity Bond, Edenthi are able to experience true democracy in the form of their Consensus. With all the Edenthi minds within a solar system connected, they can instantly share all the pertinent information on the topic at hand, deliberate it, and offer their opinion upon it to the whole. As the consensus consists of all the collective consciousnesses of all Edenthi and their sentient bitek constructs within range, complete representation can be achieved instantaneously and with minimal confusion.
Physiology
The Edenthi mind and body are both products of genetically-assisted selection. Over the centuries, Edenthi have been geneered to live longer and healthier life spans; they are immune to many types of known diseases, and cancer has been eradicated. Depending on the level of geneering in their ancestry, Edenthi are commonly in possession of good looks, and remarkable intelligence. Many have also been geneered with traits ideally suited to space travel.
The most significant aspect of geneering within the Edenthi genome is their ability for Affinity; all Edenthi possess this within their genome, as it has been passed down from the original receivers of the gene over the past seven hundred years. Though their Affinity allows them to sense and communicate with each other and their bitek constructs both telepathically and empathetically, this ability does not extend to other, non-Affinity-geneered species, even if the other species is naturally telepathic or empathic themselves.
Edenthi biology is very similar to that of Humans, though the abdominal organs are most notably under a different arrangement between the two species. Edenthi are born with two stomachs, and a pair of six-chambered hearts. Edenthi have a thin ridge that runs from their forehead to the tip of their nose, with a dark, defined crease along the centre of it.
Society
Due to their communal Affinity bond, the Edenthi society has embraced a policy of complete openness between each other. Able to sense each other's emotions, and by choice communicate with each other telepathically using words, images or feelings, it became nearly impossible for the average Edenthi to hide from one another that something was bothering them, or that they were deceiving one another since the advent of the Affinity gene. That is not to say that the Edenthi do not hold secrets from one another, however, but every Edenthi holds the complete trust of every other Edenthi within their society.
Unlike in many societies within the United Federation of Planets, the Edenthi hold no reservations about genetic engineering; indeed, it has been a part of their culture for many generations, with their Affinity gene as the prime example of the benefits that have come about through such technologies. They are generally perplexed at the thought that another culture might be so reticent of profiting from the benefits of the geneering, even to the point of banning the practice, as had occurred on Earth in the 22nd Century.
Science and Technology
Edenthi technology - properly termed bitek; an abridgement of biotechnology - is a form of sentient or sentient-capable biotechnology.
Servitors
Many of the more menial or laborious jobs required by a large and advanced society are carried out by bitek servitors; constructs designed specifically to carry out the tasks required of them. They are usually made from generic templates - one specific to each Edenthi habitat, though some share their templates with others, especially within the same solar system - and will almost always be designed with the ability to perform a wide variety of different tasks, as required.
The original servitors were in the form of genetically modified animals - monkey-analogues, given greater dexterity and higher brain functions in order to serve as domestic assistants and cleaners, or flying insects, given the Affinity bond to work as quasi-sentient cameras. Eventually, as the Edenthi understanding of bitek grew, they began to germinate constructs whose genetic make-up was not a modified version of a pre-existing creature; many of these were generally humanoid, with an outer shell of polyp - a tough, coral-like substance. These humanoid bitek constructs - termed Serjeants - became the preferred model for security purposes and for any personnel military engagements the Edenthi were forced to undertake; thus preserving the lives of Edenthi combatants by keeping them away from much of the front-line fighting.
Many servitors have no pre-existing sentience, or 'soul'. They are usually controlled and restored back to their instinctual functions on an ad-hoc basis, as needed. It is possible however for an Edenthi to duplicate their thought patterns and memories into the neural strata of an individual construct - or multiple individuals, if the Edenthi is practised enough in the skill - thus turned the construct into an extension of themselves.
Habitats
The Edenthi populate very few worlds, even though their territory spans a number of star systems. The three core systems each contain an M-class world, which has been populated by the Edenthi, but the preferred locale for the race to occupy are their bitek habitats.
Habitats are large bitek structures geneered and grown by the Edenthi to house their population. These gargantuan space-born structures vary in size from 7 to 65 km in length but all follow the same design. Habitats take about ten standard years to grow, before they are suitable for occupation, and their life expectancy is measured in millennia.
An Edenthi habitat is a cylindrical tube, capped at both ends. Its shell is constructed from bitek polyp, an organic material which is also found in landcoral.
The shell is made of many different layers; starting with an organic base layer of soil for plant growth on the interior surface of the shell. Under the soil is a complex layer known as the neural strata, a thin layer of organic neural structures which forms the “brain” of the habitat. Beneath the neural strata extend many more layers of organic polyp material which contain many “organs” used in the maintenance of an inner biosphere. There is a mitosis layer, where polyp is continuously extruded to the exterior of the shell to maintain a constant thickness against vacuum abrasion.
The interior of the habitat is a sealed biosphere suitable for humanoid habitation. As the Habitat revolves around its long axis it generates a simulated gravity through centrifugal force. Essentially, all matter within the tube that does not lie on the axis of rotation is thrown outwards. As this matter hits the interior of the shell it experiences a resistance which is greater than the centrifugal force, emulating the force of gravity.
Along the axis of revolution, or the line of symmetry of the habitat is the solar tube, a mesh of organic material containing luminescent plasma, and simulating natural sunlight within this tube. The light-tube brightness varies to create the habitat’s diurnal cycle. Because internal force is centrifugal rather than gravitation, the force at all points on the inner surface is equal, allowing habitation at all points.
The central region of a habitat's exterior length often lined with starscrapers, which house much of the large populace, though these are not always present on the older habitats, germinated before the Edenthi chose to prefer to occupy Habitats rather than planets. The 'southern' endcap of a habitat is almost always fitted with a non-bitek, counter-rotating spaceport, designed in such a manner to allow almost all types of starships to dock, and affixed to the habitat after it matures.
Bitek habitats thrive best in the orbits of gas giants, though one is not always required, if an Edenthi is careful in the habitats initial geneering.
Starships
The bitek starships used exclusively by the Edenthi are called voidhawks, and are sentient beings who are bonded to their captains at birth via Affinity. Whilst growing up, both voidhawk and captain can communicate with one another through Affinity, and generally have a very loving and affectionate relationship.
A typical voidhawk lifespan is 110 years. The captain usually outlives his or her voidhawk; this is because the voidhawk's patterning cells degrade faster than they are reproduced once the voidhawk has reached maturity. After this, the captain usually remains in a habitat to raise his or her children.
A voidhawk will conduct a mating flight at the end of its life, producing ten eggs, each with a zygote (the voidhawk’s future captain, and the offspring of the new voidhawk's parent's captain) inside, which it leaves in orbit of a ringed gas giant to mature. After one year, the zygote is ejected from the egg and from this moment on raised by its mother and the habitat personality.
A voidhawk body is largely (about 80%) composed of energy patterning cells which give the voidhawk its unique abilities. These cells are used to create a distortion field which enables the voidhawk to accelerate in space, reload its patterning cells, create wormholes to perform swallow-manoeuvres for interstellar travel and to sense the emergence point of a starship travelling at warp. A voidhawk distortion field is also capable of preventing other ships from performing warp flight. A voidhawk can block ships up to a distance of 100 000 km.
Voidhawks are far superior to many mechanical starships used by races within their region of space, although they are far more vulnerable to the effects of radiation. While creating a forward acceleration outside of the voidhawk, the distortion field can produce a counter-effect inside the voidhawk, producing a comfortable one gee gravity for the crew.
A voidhawk can “tailor” a wormhole according to its needs. The Affinity of a voidhawk can cross distances of up to 30 AU.
Most voidhawks have a maximum range of 12 lightyears with a single wormhole. Whilst it is possible for the stronger voidhawks to travel further, at the extreme range of jump capability both the voidhawks and their linked captains suffer extreme fatigue from the strain of the jump.
An ability considered rare amongst voidhawks is the ability to perform multiple sequential jumps. This allows the voidhawk to travel longer distances without the need to stop and open a second wormhole.
The crew onboard a voidhawk reside within the crew toroid; a doughnut-shaped manufactured section which is affixed and embedded into the dorsal plane of the voidhawk's most bulbous section. The crew toroid houses the entirety of the vessel's occupied spaces, from cargo holds to the bridge to crew quarters and recreation rooms.
Memory Transfer
The neural strata of both the Edenthi voidhawks and their habitats are sufficiently large and compatible enough that, upon death, and Edenthi can transfer their memories and personality into the strata, essentially preserving their essence of life past the death of the body. The memory transfer process into an Edenthi habitat causes a partial merging of the habitat personality, and the personality being transferred within. Though both remain separate entities, they both also merge into one, singular entity at the same time. A voidhawk's neural strata is not sufficiently large or complex enough to allow this process to happen, and the rescued personality is simply stored until it can be transferred into a nearby habitat.
Religion
Modern Edenthi possess no current ideals of religion; they believe in the science of creation, and have no need for the concept of an afterlife since the advent of memory transfer in the 1970s. The old religions of Jupit are believed to be preserved and carried on with the self-excommunicated Edenthi of 1975, but no known contact has been made by the Edenthi or the surrounding powers with these self-proclaimed outcasts since their departure.