Race Archive
(Selected Race Information)
Written and Created by: Ian Schue
Copyright ©1997-2003, All Rights Reserved
The Thranx
The Andorians
The LuudonsGo Back to the Characters Page
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The Thranx are an insectoid race from a medium-sized territory just beyond the neutral-zone of the Fox Empire. The Thranx are known far and wide for their single industry: textiles. The very name “Thranx” is now a household name, and nearly seventy percent of all textile products sold in the Central Core, come from a Thranx production facility. A very solitary race, they are quite hospitable to outsiders but tend to keep to themselves. The two most striking things about the Thranx are their class system, and their agricultural facilities.
Thranx are actually not insects, by the strict term of science. Externally they appear the same as one would think when the word “insect” is mentioned. Internally, however, they are not unlike mammals in the design and ordering of their internal systems. More precisely, they are mammals, with chitinous exoskeletons instead of skin, with an internal pseudo-skeletal frame. The relation between mammals and the Thranx ends there, as the rest of their organic nature sways off into new horizons. For starters, they lay eggs, and second, they have a species organization much like ants, with different classes making up their whole society. Thranx come in all sizes, depending on their intended purpose. The scene can be a bit unsettling, since if you travel to a Thranx world to do business, you will soon find yourself immersed in insect-like creatures, ranging from those the size of your palm, to others the size of garbage trucks. Thranx have always lived in such a way, but through the centuries (and with a little genetic manipulation) their classes have become almost totally adapted to the matter of making and selling textiles. It’s quite a unique arrangement.
Thranx Classes:
The most intelligent class of the Thranx, are the merchants. This group, consisting of males and females, make up roughly thirty percent of the Thranx population, and are the most social of all the classes. Their purpose is to interact with customers and the various organizations of their species. They are also one of the only classes that travel to other worlds. While they may seem very human-like in attitude and behavior, they lack certain characteristics such as desire for privacy, personal possessions, and other senses of individuality. They each have names, and distinct personalities, however, which makes the Thranx very peculiar indeed. The Merchant Class is structured much like a democracy, with an elected leader who presides over the numerous “Clutches” of merchants. A Clutch is a group of Thranx who could be considered blood-relatives, much like bees in a hive are separate from other bees in other hives, though collectively they are all bees. Each Clutch has a slightly different way of doing things, and each works to achieve greater profits than the other Clutches.
Thranx merchants are the most humanoid of the classes. They have a roughly human-shaped torso, with a thin neck where upon a smooth-edged, boxy head is set. They have several eyes: a large pair of color receptors on each side, with a visor-like groove between for sensing light and heat. They have no visible ears, hearing rather crudely by vibrations off their bodies and various sensory hairs on their limbs. Thranx have four arms, each with three segments and a dexterous four-fingered, clawed hand. Where their pelvis should be (if they were human) there’s a second body segment shaped roughly like a potato, but not very long and rather flat. From this protrudes their four legs, which are also triple-segmented, though much larger and stronger than their arms. Their feet are simply joined protrusions on the end of each slender-pointed tip, ending in a single padded claw. They are quite capable of climbing the walls and ceilings of their native homes and businesses, (a trait they have exploited greatly in the design of their structures). The only differences between males and females in the merchant class is that males are slightly larger with broader chests and stronger arms. Females have a slightly longer pelvic segment, and have two breast-like formations on their chest. No one is sure of the purpose of these “breasts,” assuming they are just part of another Thranx attempt to associate with their customers. As with many insect and insect-like creatures, all other Thranx are female.
The second class of Thranx society is the Weaver Class. Though they are similar in design to a merchant Thranx, they are unmistakably of a different class. For starters, they are twice the size of a merchant, and have six legs to support their large torsos. Each weaver is actually the controller of several other classes of Thranx, though in the end they are essentially what their class name suggests; weavers. Equipped with twelve arms, divided into three specialized groups, a weaver can produce, alone, nearly any kind of textile needed. Their exoskeleton is designed to be more-or-less all the tools they need, aside from the assistance of other classes. They have enough intelligence to interact directly with merchants and even customers, but little more. Once instructed to weave a certain pattern, with specification, they need little assistance from merchants to get the task done. They can relocate themselves as needed, gain materials, organize processes, and arrange the assistance of specialized classes. Properly supplied, a Thranx weaver could produce nearly a ton of cotton linen in an hour. This may seem a lot, but when one considers the galactic scale of their market, legions of weavers are needed in the end.
The next class of Thranx are the Inspector Class. About the size of a round coffee table, these crab-like Thranx can only communicate in the clicks and shrills of the Thranx language, but are highly intelligent. Their purpose is to organize the shipping of textiles, directly from merchant management, and more importantly, to assess and manage the quality of textiles being produced. Scuttling about on four, eight-segmented legs, that bow up and back down to the ground, the Inspectors move quickly through stocks of textiles, assessing and valuing with speed and ease. They have no specific head, instead having numerous eyes and sensory pseudo-limbs protruding all around their edges. They have one pair of arms, only two-feet-long, for manipulating data inputs on their computers in the factories. Unlike merchants and weavers, Inspectors never sleep, only stopping for nourishment.
With Weavers and Inspectors, the next class is the Haulers. These are by-far the largest Thranx in their society, ranging anywhere from pallet movers twelve feet long, to carpet-role movers and crate manipulators as big as a hover-bus. These gargantuan Thranx, looking much like stag beetles found on earth, are of very low intelligence, having brains specialized for their own task: moving stocks of textiles. A carpet-role mover, some thirty-five feet long and twenty-feet tall, is capable of moving three times its own weight in textiles, using the arrangement of four long horns protruding from its pan-like head. Each Hauler has four, massively powerful legs, each with two toe-like pads. They have simple eyes that allow for excellent maneuverability but little else. They cannot communicate understandably, but through bellows and whale-like moans they can coordinate efforts with other Haulers to get the job done.
Shuttle Thranx are one of the most numerous Thranx found. Only the size of a clam and half-an-inch thick with six legs, Shuttles are a Weaver’s best companions. They select and carry strands of the materials being used in a weaving, dashing with acrobatic agility between the rapidly changing layers of threads controlled by the Weavers. They have no real eyes, doing all their work by touch, like a spider in her web. They have a single photo-receptor, located in a small hook at the front of their bodies, where they quickly stuff the end of a thread to determine its color and type. They receive simple instructions from the Weaver through low-frequency sound communication. Shuttles are one of the few Thranx who can reproduce without mating.
Thranx have many other varieties of classes, including those designed for managing their crops used to produce the materials needed for their textile factories. From planters, to harvesters, weeding classes and trimming classes, there are more than can be named. There are, however, a few more of note.
The Medical Class is a group of Thranx who specialize in tending to the sick and wounded of the Thranx society, from Merchants to Haulers, and all in between. Thranx, like most other species, are not free from illness and the physical wears of life.
Inseminators are possibly the most frightening of the Thranx in their appearance. Inseminators have the appearance of twelve-foot-tall daddy-long-legs spiders, with large black eyes like saucers and two constantly clawing mandibles. Despite their appearance, Inseminators are harmless and actually very skittish. Their sole responsibility is to carry the genetic material for the Thranx population, aside from the Merchant class who breed sexually. Inseminators wander about the population, using a system of pheromones and sounds to detect and classify suitable females. Each Thranx female, Merchants included, give off a pheromone scent that changes as they draw closer to their reproductive state. Inseminators, sensing this, and following a set of instructed breeding rules laid down by the merchants, selectively pass along the required genetic material from reproduction. When an Inseminator locates a subject, it quickly identifies it visually, then signals its presence through low-frequency communication and by drumming on the subject with its mandibles. The Inseminator then selects the appropriate reproductive organ leg, closed inside a notch in its underbelly, selects the correct sperm mixture, and inseminates the subject Thranx. The Inseminator then assigns a Tending Thranx to the subject. Tending Thranx are a specialized Thranx that is more of an unintelligent symbiant for the impregnated subject, which will aid the Thranx in producing eggs and caring for them.
To support their great material needs, the Thranx have also developed an impressive array of agricultural functionaries. To this end, they own and operate some of the largest farming systems in the galaxy, producing much of the needed materials themselves. Whole worlds owned by the Thranx have been converted into single, seamless crops for flax, cotton, and other sources of materials.
Visiting the Thranx can be a very unusual experience. For starters, their worlds can often have the feel of being shrunk and placed inside a spider-infested cellar. Their structures are often created from natural materials and their own spun-silk, and since the Thranx are capable of climbing across walls and ceilings, any visitors will find Thranx not only on the floor with them, but also walking along the walls beside them and even above them. The Thranx have also developed numerous space-borne colonies, looking much like large spherical structures made almost entirely of their self-produced silk, creating a vacuum-tight enclosure. Visitors should understand that while the Thranx are an insectoid race with little view on individuality amongst themselves, they have never been known to attack or harm outsiders (save for those actively attacking them first-off).
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The Andorians are a less-known species of humanoids who live well outside of the Central Core of the galaxy. The individual by the name Blue-Eyes, is an Andorian.
The Andorians come from an ice world where their species developed almost identically to humans, except in various areas, most importantly: sight. Since the surface of the Andorian homeworld remains in a deep winter for nearly ninety-percent of their year, the Andorians have developed many new senses to aid them in this harsh life.
Most notably of these senses is their sense of sight. In a world dominated by snow-storms, white-out conditions and other natural hardship that make sight difficult, the Andorians have developed infra-red sensing abilities. Much like a pit-viper can see and navigate by heat, an Andorian sees not in the visible spectrum but in the infrared spectrum. The Andorian eye is actually a very sophisticated organ, with an equally sophisticated brain center for processing the data. Andorians are actually capable of seeing in three ways, and oddly Andorians go through four stages of life wherein each stage they gain new sight abilities.
When an Andorian is born, they are completely blind, having eyes but without irises or internal structures. They remain sightless until they reach near the ages of adulthood, relying almost entirely on their keen hearing and sense of touch to navigate. As they reach adulthood and their eyes begin to develop, an Andorian will begin to see differences between light and dark, but little more. The next stage is when the Andorian eye develops and they can see in the infrared spectrum. This remains their only visual ability for between four to ten years, till the next stage comes into development, allowing them to see very sensitively in black-and-white visible light. They develop this black-and-white sight just as they come to the age of reproduction, though they may have been sexually active for the past ten to fifteen years. It is believed that seeing in the visible spectrum (even if limitedly) allows the Andorians to better choose mates and interact. Lastly, though many Andorians never reach this stage of development for unknown reasons, an Andorian may develop the ability to see in the ultraviolet spectrum. This not only provides another advantage in seeing in their cold environment, but is speculated to have other uses as well, such as identifying objects.
The Andorians have another unique trait, in that they are capable of raising their internal body temperature much higher than most warm-blooded species. To this end they are capable of surviving comfortably, naked, at temperatures where most humanoids would succumb to hyperthermia and frostbite (and eventually death). They achieve this remarkable ability through the use of chemicals in their organs and blood, produced from special glands and the native foods of their homeworld.
Contact with the Andorians has been limited, and thus little is known about their customs and culture. What is known is that they live in tribes and tight family groups, and generally live a nomadic life. Their grasp of technology is slightly less sophisticated than most other galactic races, but they adapt quickly to off-world situations and systems.
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The Luudons are a very secretive, rarely encountered species. They are amphibian in origin, looking much like frogs, with very large eyes and soft, saggy skin. The Luudons live underground in natural and hand-made caves, connected by complex networks of tunnels and antechambers. They survive by hunting cave-dwelling creatures such as blind cave fish, bats, snakes, small forest animals, and most commonly, their vast farms of underground fungi and moss. A large portion of the Luudon diet consists of fish and mushrooms, accompanied by soups made from boiled and minced mosses.
The Luudons are most widely known for the growing of Luudin mushrooms, which are only found where Luudons live. The Luudin mushroom is a very large mushroom, growing on average to heights of three to four feet tall, with large bell-shaped tops and sturdy stems. Aside from being a main food source for the Luudons, the Luudin mushroom emits light. Stripes and circles on the bell of the Luudin mushroom emit phosphorous light in a wide variety of colors, making them not only a source of curiosity, but also a desirable export. The Luudons often grow exportable, potted Luudin mushrooms, selling them to outside merchants in exchange for textiles, which are very hard for the Luudons to create themselves.
Little else is known about the Luudons except that they adapt remarkably quickly to technology, and even a few have ventured out into the top-world of the rest of the galaxy. Most notably of these individuals is Senten Ramnul, a professor of biology at the Tarth University of Marine Biology on the planet Tarth in the Azure Sector. It has only been recently that the Luudons have allowed scientists access to their underground worlds, and even more recently that the Luudons have taken a part in galactic politics. They are a culture and species that may soon make a more broad introduction onto the Central Core.
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This article is Copyright ©2003 Ian Schue, All Rights Reserved.