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Universe | Planet Vilitas | Sentient species
UniverseMy creatures and characters belong to a science fiction setting and is set at an undetermined time.
The setting relies only on basal science, leaving no space to foreign forces such as magic or
alternative dimensions.
Interaction
Massive amounts of planets and sentient species are connected with each other through networks of communication and travel. What kind of technology the different species have at hand depend on what they themselves invent and who they interact with. Some may just have rocks while others travel between planets on a daily basis. Many species have their own languages, but there is a common language that most use and that can easily be translated between speech, vision and touch.
Planets where life has sprung into existence, such as Earth, are declared as "planet reserves" and may only be studied from afar. The latter is considered especially important if sentient species are present. It is however possible to get permission to quietly grab samples or transplant species within reason.
Biodiversity
Certain sentient species has for a very long time transplanted and introduced life to dead, yet suitable, planets. The same species also have access to giant archives or genetic material which can, with the proper technology, be used to recreate extinct species. This means that you can technically recreate a genuine tyrannosaurus. It also means that if said tyrannosauruses have been planted on foreign planets millions of years ago, you can possibly find species that have directly evolved from them. This is also how new species have been introduced to the intergalactic network of sentient species; it is, for example, common to come across humans as well as close relatives to humans, yet Earth itself remain untouched and isolated.Planet Vilitas
MCR 6733g, or Vilitas, is an arid planet that's been altered to be able to sustain life. It'sutilized
as a place where the wealthy can have a warm vacation and experiencesome top-notch luxury.
These resorts generate vast amounts of excess goods that is simplydumped out of sight,
something that supply the surrounding wastelands with loads ofresources that's free to scavage.
Climate
Vilitas have an ever shifting landscape that consists of sand dunes, brittle sandstone and temporary lakes. While arid on the surface, the planet host great amounts of fresh water. This water can mainly be found underground, where it flows through complex cave systems. Every now and then these cavities becomes so hollowed out by the turbulent water that they collapse, creating large sink holes. These sink holes will form lakes that are usually connected to the tunnels underneath the ground. Over time they will be filled up with debris and vanish, restarting the whole cycle.
The weather usually remains clear, however, both strong winds and downpour occasionally occur. The winds will naturally stir up a lot of sand and can sometimes turn into raging sandstorms. While rain isn't rare, the porous nature of the ground will quickly soak up any water. Temperatures tend to remain stable, where it's very hot close to the equator and gradually become more chill towards the polar regions.
The planet hosts two moons, a small that rapidly circulates the planet as well as a massive one that moves at a much slower pace. The latter is the main factor that drives seasonal shifts on the planet; the moon will block out sunlight which induces dark and harshly cold periods of winter.
Wildlife
Vilitas was originally unfit to sustain life and has never developed any of its own. With some tinkering, such as inducing a protective ozone layer, the planet can today host life and its features makes it especially suitable for organisms that descended from Earth.
All present organisms on the planet have been planted or accidently brought there. Older species have had time to somewhat evolve and adapt to the conditions, while newer ones just happened to fit in well enough to survive. Most of the organisms are of Earthen origin, but some far more foreign species can be found as well.
While the arid areas have a very limited amount of life, lakes allow lush refuges to form. Forests will emerge around such regions and, depending on how close to the lake the area is, gradually shifts into bushland, grassland and scrub. Lakes will slowly get filled in with debris, making the connected biome go through a series of stages and eventually remerge up with the surrounding deserts.
The water filled caves sustain a lot of various aquatic species. Some live in the tunnels permanently, others use them to travel between lakes or only spend certain stages of their life in them.
Society
Vilitas is classed as safe zone and is considered a highly unlikely target for warfare. The planet is being utilized as a tourist attraction, a place that speices can travel to for some sun and fun. The areas where these activities take place are referred to as resorts and are safely sealed off from the surrounding wastelands.
No production takes place on Vilitas, instead all supplies are imported. To keep up with a luxurious appeal, unnecessarily large amounts of supplies are brought in to ensure that items of top quality are always available. This practice leads to vast amounts of still decent goods to be discarded. The discarding is very blunt; anything unwanted is simply transported through large underground ducts that leads to enormous dumps in the middle of nowhere.
This waste has allowed small communities to become established outside the walls of the resorts. The trash is continuously rummaged by beings in search for food and material. Villages are usually established nearby, but not too close; aside from the smell, there's always a risk that the dump will spread their way and engulf the settlements. These villages are usually very calm places and host a broad array of different sentient species. But not everyone living in the wastelands are friendly; aggressive groups who won't hesitate to raid and murder in order to obtain goods are common. Because of this, villages usually keep a local militia around. Some smaller communities that are more independent exist, they survive through combinations of small scale farming, foraging, fishing and hunting. Even if prohibited, more exclusive items such as vehicles, medication and weapons are often smuggled across the resort borders and into the wastelands.
As with the wildlife, most sentient species that live or visit Vilitas are of earthen origins. Humans and other humanoids are the most common kind, but other species with established populations are orcs and trolls. Miniscule populations, or even unique individuals, of other species frequently show up and people are generally accustomed to interacting with beings unfamiliar to them.
Whole resort areas are occasionally abandoned, usually due to the risk of the ground caving in. These areas are very dangerous as they're literary falling apart, but scavengers may be greatly rewarded if they dare to search them.Sentient species
This universe has countless species and local variants of them. The following list featuressome
short facts about the various species that my characters belong to.Chiron
A tall, lanky species distantly related to bats. While intelligent, they usually live solitary lives and never seem to form complex societies. However, some individuals may take a personal interest in foreign species and decide to join them.
Chirons are adapted to a life in trees, where they use their long fingered hands to cling onto branches and their feet to grasp objects with. Their spines are long and highly flexible, allowing them to reach things seated far out on thin branches. They can walk upright on their hind legs, but has a somewhat slow, hesitant gait when doing so. Chirons mainly feed on fruit, but will happily consume a wide array of things such as eggs, invertebrates, leaves and nuts.
Just a few, declining populations of chirons can be found in the wastelands on Vilitas.
Goblin
Goblins is a small and extremely opportunistic species of mammal, they're closely related to trolls. Goblins are usually very inventive and great at taking advantage out of any situation, but are also somewhat infamous for being keen on taking shortcuts. This set of mind makes them prone to commit prohibited acts such as theft and smuggling if the chance is given. Their societies vary in a similar fashion, they tend to go with whatever works there and then. Nevertheless, it's common to encounter them in either large groups or as lone individuals.
Goblins are omnivores and can feed on most types of organic matter. Their digestive system isn't just tough, but also notable good at handling toxins as well as bacteria. They usually enjoy cooking although their natural resistance allow them to consume raw and even decomposing items.
Vilitas have no stable population of goblins, but individuals often make their way onto the planet and can often be found within the resorts as well as in the wastelands.
Larua
Laruas are mysterious beings and the result of heavily biotechnologically altered humanoids. They are extremely secretive with little interest in other species and is rarely seen outside their own solar system. One exception is warzones; laruas have a large force of intensely trained elite soldiers that is possibly hire in exchange for certain resources. Many find the laruas lack of proper facial features, mute nature and association with war troubling. The society amongst the laruas themselves is very strict and organized, always keeping their isolated community under intense control.
Laruas have plenty of tweaks that grant them a series of unusual attributes. Even though it may look like laruas are wearing attire, the gloves, boots and mask are actually constructed out of biological material and a part of their body. This also applies to the baggy, protective suit, but it can be detached and removed from the body. Underneath it, their slender and tight "proper skin" is concealed. However, this skin is vulnerable and a larua will rarely take the suit off. Laruas are physically mute, but will have a transceiver implanted into their brains upon birth. This device allows them to easily communicate with each other. With a proper receiver, these signals can also be translated into languages that other species can understand. Thanks to a biologically incorporated symbiotic microorganism, their bodies are able to quickly self-repair, allowing them to survive and recover from rather severe injuries. All laruas are clones and genetically identical. This means that any biological enhanced parts can easily be applied to or switched between individuals. Due to their ability to heal most wounds and replace damaged bodyparts, laruas do not naturally die from old age if maintained properly.
Laruas is an extremely rare sight outside their homeworld, Vilitas is no exception to this.
Lepori
A small species closely related to rabbits. They tend to be very energetic and peaceful, living short but intense lives. Because of their vigorous yet gentle nature, they highly sought after as workers. However, they are somewhat fragile and physically weak. They're famous for being somewhat eccentric and do whatever come their way, although they always respect set rules.
Leporis are herbivores that can only digest plant matter and, to some degree, mushrooms. Leaves and grass are their main source of food, but other plant parts such as fruit, seeds and roots are essential complements.
A limited amount of individuals can be found at Vilitas, where nearly all of them live and work within the resort areas.
Orc
Orcs are a sturdy and often a traveling species who tend stick to themselves. They may interact with other species to a limited degree, but generally live by the rule "if you don't bother us, we won't bother you". They rarely invent things on their own, but are known to quickly adapt and take advantage of others technology. They're belived to have branched off some sort of early synapsid and are generally simply classed as non-mammal therapsids.
Orcs have adapted to many different styles of life, but the most common ones are that they'll either follow herds of prey around or have a series of hunting grounds that they travel between. Orcs usually live in large packs where each individual has a specific set of roles to fulfill. Ranks are very important to orcs and it's how they organize their societies. It should be noted that thouse lower in the hierarch isn't seen as less valued or have no say in matters, although they are expected follow orders made by higher ranked individuals.
A particular trait that orcs have is a morphological adaptability; their adult shape will heavily depend on what kind of stimuli they are exposed of during their teens, where the diet and physical strain play a key role. The shapes are gradual but usually two distinct types referred to as "Worker" and "Soldier" will occur.
Workers are small and wiry with a more upright posture. This type of orc tend to do more delicate
work within their settlement, including rearing young, manufacturing and foraging. Older
individuals are usually the ones in charge amongst workers, as they have the most experience and
have best knowledge about how things should be done.
Soldiers are large and bulky orcs with a muscular build, they will do various physical labor, hunt
and defend the camp. Soldiers continuously wrangle each other, something that helps them to
bond, stay fit and ensure who should be in charge. Naturally it's usually the largest and most fit
individuals who end up in the top-ranks.
Specialized is a third, less common type of orc, their presence depend on what technology the
specific pack have at hand. This kind of orc usually adapt a physical shape inbetween worker
and soldier, depending on what kind of activities the individual is involved in. Specialized orcs
has more defined roles and may be involved in tasks such as healthcare, mechanics, tech or
shamanism. Similar to workers, eldery individuals with a lot of experience are usually the ones
in charge.
Orcs are mainly carnivorous and will happily feed on any kind of animal matter, in any stage of decay. Usually they'll mix in small amounts of other edible items into their diet, but are in most cases unable to fully digest it. Fruit in particular is usually appreciated.
A few, stable populations of orcs can be found scattered across the wastelands of Vilitas.
Troll
Trolls are somewhat elusive mammals that are closely related to goblins. They're very peaceful and intelligent beings that only resort to violence if under threat. Despite being introduced to technology on multiply occasions, trolls always seem resort to more feral ways of living. Trolls usually live in small, tight-knit groups. They are heavily family oriented and always look out for each other, no matter if they are related or not. This even goes for strangers; if opposing groups of trolls happen to encounter each other, they usually end up just casually mingling before parting on friendly terms.
Even if fairly large, trolls are remarkably agile and can swiftly move through dense terrain. Trolls are omnivorous hunter-gatherers that forage for things such as roots, fruit, eggs and occasionally small animals.
Small, yet stable, populations can be found in the wastelands of Vilitas.
Code by FallingFeathers
