Wow, I never thought I’d see 100 or more people watching me here!

Hello all,

Just yesterday, relative to when I’m posting this journal, I surpassed 100 watchers, which is honestly something I never really thought would happen. You see, I tend to be a harsh critic on myself, which in turn makes me see my work as never good enough. Many people have told me I shouldn’t be so harsh on myself, but I still haven’t found a good way to loosen up in this regard.

But regardless of this, I want to say thank you to all of you - my watchers, anyone who has favorited my work, or who have just paid my profile and artwork a visit. It makes me happy to know that anyone finds my work interesting at all, and I appreciate any comments I’ve been given so far. Once again, thank you. <3

I haven’t had as much time lately to draw or work on the Viali, but I’m still thinking about them and working on them - they’re still relevant. For anyone who has questions about the species, by the way, I encourage you to send me a note here on FA about them, or come join the Viali discord and either ask your question there, or send me a message. I’m always open for talking. :>

Overall, I’m ecstatic to have reached this small yet monumental milestone for me of 100 watchers. So, thank you - all of you - for sticking with me so far. I look forward to another 100 watchers in time~


- Ryuvi

Hello everyone,

Lately I’ve been feeling some things, and I figured I’d write a journal about it to get it off my chest. For a while now I’ve been feeling more and more like I’m rushed, like I must hurry up and finish things, less I lose the interest of my watchers or other people. Let me explain:

I’ve been working on the Viali now for almost 10 months, and I’ve created their core concept and drawn a lot of art for them. A few months back in their development I was drawing and releasing said drawings about twice or three times a month. As time has gone on, however, life has snuck in - and so have other interests of mine - and I tend to release one drawing a month. Recently, in contrast to how I was drawing before, I feel like I’m rushed to make another drawing, like I’m slacking.

Not to mention I also have other species that I created long before the Viali that I want to show to the public for the first time, I’ve just been hesitating because I don’t want to make it seem like I’m putting the Viali aside and suddenly bringing to the surface these other species (not that it would make much of a difference I don’t think, but I digress), as well as that I’m quite shy about publicizing these other species of mine, since I hold them pretty close to my heart.

I suppose the thoughts that have been on my mind about feeling rushed, releasing new (/ old) species, and feeling obligated to adhere to a schedule all kind of stem from experiences in the past where I felt like it’s a case of ‘use it or lose it’. If you’ve had that feeling where you feel obligated to rush and create or share your next thing, when in reality you’re not obligated, I’d like to know how you dealt with it or coped. I’m just currently unsure if these thoughts of mine have any real foundation to them, or if I should just not worry about uploading on a schedule, release these other species, and just draw when I draw.

But, that’s enough monologuing for now - I’d like to thank you for reading this, and if you’re a watcher, thank you for following me. <3

-Ryuvi the Viali

Hi all,

Since my last journal, I’ve been thinking, researching, and contemplating about the whole Viali change, and I’ve ultimately come to the conclusion that I’ve changed my mind about it all. I’m returning the Viali back to being my species and not just a concept. However, I’m setting them as a private species - just as a personal project for my own personal enjoyment - shared here on my FA because it’s art nonetheless.

This is all kind of awkward given the previous journal and how I said I’d change, but none of it really sat well with me, given the context.

I’m also doing this because I feel like, given the comments and notes I have received, that I’m not the only one who likes the Viali as they are now. I want to keep both myself and my watchers who came here for the Viali to be happy, because after all, they came here for the Viali, not for them to suddenly change without warning into something they may not like as much.

I also would like to state that I make no money off the Viali. I draw them because it’s something I love. But, I digress.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I may not post anything for a little while, due to life events coming up and other things, but I have plans.

Oh and one last thing, I have a Viali Wiki currently in-development, which is available here: http://www.viali.net/ (Do note it is still very much under construction, and is missing a lot of things.)


Thank you,
- Ryuvi

Hello all,

I've been in talks with the Avali community, and to put it succinctly, the community and I felt that the Viali as they are at the time of posting this are too similar to the Avali to keep moving forward in development with them. Because of this, I will be relegating the Viali to a concept and heading back to the drawing board. Some aspects of the species will remain more or less the same - i.e. their environment, and parts of the biology, namely being ammonia-based.

I'll be moving all Viali-concept art to a new folder, and I'll be starting work on designing a new path forward for the species as a whole. Expect many changes both here on my profile, and in any other places I may have anything Viali-related. It will take a good while, however, before I can get back to where I am now with the new concept direction.

Comments and suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated, so feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this journal if you have anything to say.


-Ryuvi

Hello everyone.

For a while now I’ve heard of a couple concerns surrounding the Viali, their similarity to RyuujinZERO’s Avali, and their purpose in existing, and I figured it’s no better time to address these concerns than in this journal. If you don’t have any concerns for the Viali, then you don’t have to read any further. However, if you do have concerns about the species - or you’re just curious - then you’ll find more information below.



Here are the topics and questions I will be covering in this journal:
1. Concerns over similarity to Avali
2. My intent in creating the Viali
3. The purpose of the Viali
4. What is my goal?
5. Thoughts going forward



Topic 1: Concerns over similarity to Avali

This topic is one that draws the most attention from what I’ve seen. It is indeed true that the Viali and Avali are similar in many ways, mostly in physical aspects and design, and to a lesser degree in their culture. First and foremost, the out-of-lore background as to why the two species are as similar as they are is because I’ve wanted to have a bird/raptor-like species for a very long time, I just never got around to it. When I first saw the Avali, I was so deeply inspired that I took eight months of my time to start this project and bring it to where it is now.

Naturally, when one finds deep inspiration in something, there will inevitably be similarities between what they create, and the work they were inspired by. This isn’t what people are concerned over. More-so, it is due to the fact that their overall appearance resembles an Avali that was merely modified, renamed, and called something new and original.

But is anything in this world original anymore?

This leads me into the specific concerns regarding similarities, I’ll work through them:

• The Viali head is exactly like an Avali’s! You just took it and called it your own!

I will admit, the Viali and Avali heads are indeed very similar, however my method of giving them this head type was not due to blatantly copying the Avali design. Over a period of about two months back in late 2018, I was thinking about what head I wanted to give the Viali, as it’s an important part to a species’ design in my opinion. I started conception on head designs from my own ideas, and by the end of the two month period I had settled on the head design they have now. Even before I began work on what I wanted the Viali head to look like, I knew from the start I wanted them to have four aspects: quadraphonic hearing, a large crest on their head like a cockatoo, a pointy but short snout to give them a cuter appearance, and large eyes to add further cuteness and life. The Viali’s head currently matches all of these requirements and it’s something I’m happy about. Alas, it does indeed resemble the Avali head design, but through no ill-intent of my own. More on this specific physical aspect later, however.


• A Viali is just a long-necked, tallvali! They’re not unique!

When compared directly, a Viali can be a tall Avali with a long neck, for sure. But that’s about where the direct comparisons end. As I state above as well, is anything unique anymore? For all of the physical similarities the Viali have to the Avali, I have distinct reasons as to why I designed them such. The Viali are at their core raptor-like, and thus their extremities (hands and legs below the knees) are scaled. This helps add resilience to these areas, and scales are a lot easier to clean than soft, fluffy feathers. The Viali have a large, triangular tail-base/bodily extension. This serves as extra space for their internal organs due to how small their torso and waist is. The area also serves as a counterbalance alongside the tail when in-flight. It also bears their tail-skirt, acting akin to rectrices on a real bird. The Viali have a base-4 counting system physically, but they follow a base-12 counting system due to the fact that the fourth digit on their hands is elongated and unseen under the wing, leaving them effectively with three fingers per hand, six total. Base-12 is double that, and has some advantages over other counting systems. The same applies to their toes - three main toes plus a dew-claw. The Viali have quadraphonic hearing, as being able to better sense sound would be an evolutionary advantage in a dim environment such as Ryjira, their home planet. Like the above topic, I will add more to this further on.


• Avalon is an icy, tidally locked planet. So is Ryjira. Even their environment is the same!

This specific case is actually an intentional similarity, mainly due to one of my primary reasons behind the Avali/Viali similarities: parallel evolution. From the dictionary, parallel evolution is “the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.” Simply put, due to similar environments and evolutionary progression, it’s statistically probable for a second, unrelated species of life to develop in similar ways due to the environments they’re in. After all, evolution is simply the change and adaptation of life to its environment. The most fit variations of life will survive the best in their environment, and some characteristics are more suitable than others. For instance, here on Earth, there are countless instances of convergent and parallel evolution across all forms of life. The same can happen if two distinct environments are the same, but the life is different, as is the case here. Out-of-lore reasoning to this environmental similarity is due to how I wanted the species to feel. I designed Ryjira off of inspiration from Avalon, because it gave me this feeling of both isolation, and wonder. It felt desolate and hostile, yet somehow inviting. The same can be said for Ryjira. The Viali are a close-knit society, and they tend to live in groups. The contrast between their warm, cozy homes and the cold, harsh environment outside is exactly what I was going for. Imagine it like being in a warm cabin in the middle of winter and it’s snowing outside. If it weren’t snowing and cold outside, you wouldn’t want to be in the cabin. Even among these similarities, the two planets have their differences: Avalon is the moon of a larger planet, which orbits in Lagrangian point 4. Ryjira is a planet with a moon which orbits it’s star so slowly so as to have its rotation match its orbital speed. Avalon’s atmospheric composition gives its sky a more orange tone, with white snow. Ryjira’s atmosphere gives the entire planet a violet hue, and the snow is a very pale violet due to its ammonia content. Snow and ice on different planets is just how the universe works.


• The Avali have clans, tall buildings, tents, and they live in groups. The Viali share all of these traits!

Indeed they do, and I harken back to my point above of parallel evolution to explain this in-part. The other part in this reasoning is another inspiration I used for part of their culture: Native American culture. The Viali believe in the nature world, science and reasoning, and themselves, which isn’t far off from the beliefs of some Native American tribes. I have also just generally enjoyed more tribal societies, and the tribal style. Given the harsh environment of Ryjira, it felt fitting for the Viali, due to their smaller population count, close-knit society, and the fact that they were only in their hunter-gatherer stage of civilization development before they found graphene and the Enchiridion. Due to their very fast advancements in their recent history due to the aforementioned discoveries, they have held on to some of their traditional ways, namely their old clothing styles, tent-living, and a government based on clans. As for the Viali’s tall, spire-like buildings in their larger cities, it is only natural for an engineer to want to build upward when there is so much untapped space above you at all times. Taller buildings are more space-efficient and their rounded-yet-angular designs are in-part taken from the data the Viali have managed to recover from the Enchiridion, with their own designs mixed in as well of course.



Topic 2: My intent for creating the Viali

Above all else, I created the Viali out of admiration and respect for Ryuujin and the Avali (as well as a little inspiration from Sergals). I can’t state enough how much I respect him and his ability to make beautiful and well-thought-out (and cute!) creatures. I also created the Viali to fulfill a goal of mine that’s been lurking in the back of my mind for a long time now: for years I’ve wanted to create my own character species, which is public, which anyone can join in and create their own character in the species as well as get involved in their culture. Culminating from this goal of mine, and the inspiration I gained from the Avali and Ryuujin’s works, I created the Viali. I did not create the Viali to stomp on the Avali, nor take away from their popularity, nor mimic them, nor interfere with them in any way that could be detrimental to them or the Viali. I did not create the Viali to mock Ryuujin or the fandom. I did not create the Viali to start calling them ‘better’ than the Avali. The Viali aren’t ‘better’ than Avali - just different. I created the Viali to serve as a species I can call my own, that I enjoy to draw and immerse myself into their culture. I created the Viali to serve as a means for others to enjoy the same aspects of the species that I do. Ultimately, I created the Viali to be creative. To try my hand at making a fully-fleshed-out public species, with a design, a universe, a history, lore, and a society.

For me, creating the Viali and making them public is my way of expressing my admiration and thanks to Ryuujin for creating the Avali and inspiring me so heavily.


Topic 3: The purpose of the Viali

The Viali are nothing more than a creative project created by me, to act as a creative outlet for my ideas and designs. For eight months I have worked on the Viali purely with this intent and purpose in mind. Not once did I ever think that I’m competing with the Avali to make something better. Not once did have the intent to do any harm in any way by making this species. And this still holds true - the Viali are only different from the Avali, nothing more, nothing less. I’m also a helper, in life. I love to help people in any way I can, and it makes me very happy to know I’ve helped someone else be at least a little bit happier. It’s not in my nature to belittle or cause ill-effects upon anyone, even my enemies. If I hurt someone else in any way, it hurts me in return. With all of this said, in short, the purpose of the Viali is to be a tribute to Ryuujin and the Avali, and to act as a creative outlet for myself, to immerse myself in their culture, and lose focus on the day-to-day stresses found here on Earth, just for a little while at least. To add to this, the purpose of the Viali is to be a semi-realistic, immersive species. Their purpose is not for me to express fetishes through them. Their purpose is not for them to be better than anything else. The Viali are what they are, a character species that is also a tribute.


Topic 4: What is my goal?

I have many goals right now regarding the Viai, let’s talk about them:

• What’s the goal of the species? Why did you make them like this?

The Viali exist the way they do because ultimately I wanted to have a species that could - out-of-Lore, live alongside Avali. They can breathe the same atmosphere, live in similar environments, and are similar in nature. One of the initial driving thoughts for me was that: the Avali are alone in their biological composition. Everyone else is water-based, and it makes inter-species relations very hard, even if they wanted to get closer to another of a different species. They felt alone to me, and it saddened me a little. So, I thought, what if there existed another species which had the same biology, or at least very similar? This thought path is one of a handful which lead me to create the Viali. I didn’t want them to feel alone.


• What is the goal of making the Viali a public species? Couldn’t you keep them to yourself and avoid all conflict?

Yes, I could keep the Viali to myself, however I would have no one else to share them with, bounce ideas off of, or just generally be a part of a community I’ve created. I would be alone, and I don’t want that. I’m making the Viali public purely in the act of sharing. Someone, somewhere out there could see the Viali and want to make their own. Someone out there could be as into the Viali as much as I am. Knowing this is one thing, but seeing it actually happen is something that would melt my heart - in a good way - and it’s something I strive to see someday. Deep down, I want to inspire others, and I also want to use the Viali to direct people toward the Avali, so that the Avali community and species can get even more recognition, which could inspire even more people.


• What is the goal of this journal?

The goal of this journal is to bring to light the various comments I’ve received in terms of the Viali, as well as express some of my deeper thoughts on the subjects in this journal, to hopefully clear up some or all concerns revolving around the Viali and Avali similarities and etcetera. This is my longest journal to-date, and I’m putting this much effort and information into it because I want to show to you, the reader, that I’m being as honest, truthful, and genuine as I can be. I genuinely adore the Avali, and I genuinely have a deep appreciation for Ryuujin and his community. The goal of this journal is to try and express this to the world.


Topic 5: Thoughts going forward

At the time of posting this journal, the 29th of June, 2019, I have plans to write and release a journal on my FA to put a close on the initial Viali development and announce to the public the release of the Viali, on Monday the 1st of July, 2019, two days from now. I am writing this current journal to address and make public concerns I’ve heard from others, and just to clear anything up.

Moving forward, I will continue to work on the Viali, draw them, develop their society, and more, regardless if anyone takes notice of the Viali or not. It doesn’t matter to me if no one decides to create a character in the species. What matters to me is that it’s out there, and I’m able to share my creative side through them. Im putting the Viali out in the public because I am able to. To me, being creative is the best thing someone can do.

I’m not without my plans for the future, however. Upon release of the species, I’ll be releasing the Viali Wiki (which is still in early development), too. I plan on modeling the Viali figure in the future for use in 3D works, in games, or in renders. I plan on continuing to add details to their lore, culture, and society - because in real life, a society is always changing.

If anything, I want this journal to at lest expose to the world my thoughts on everything stated within it. I want it to show the species and my intents from my point of view. I want to help prevent any issues that could arise from the Viali and Avali similarities. If I can do none of that, then at least this journal is a talking point for future Viali conversations.


Conclusion:

For those of you still with me, thank you so much for reading this journal, and sticking with me through my lengthy explanations and descriptions. Ultimately I mean no harm in anything I do, and I do what I do out of appreciation and a yearn to be creative. I still don’t consider myself an artist, though. Just.. a drawer. But I digress.

If anyone reading this has any further concerns, comments, questions, or otherwise, please feel free to contact me using FA’s note system. If you want to talk to me more real-time, send me a note about it and we can chat on Discord or Steam.

If you have any immediate thoughts you’d like to leave after reading this journal, please leave a comment. I read every comment and every note sent to me, and I’ll most likely respond if I can.


Finally, a glossary of terms for those who are unfamiliar with some of the Viali culture:

• The Viali - An avian, raptor-like species which is technologically advanced, inspired by and acting as a tribute to the Avali species by RyuujinZERO.
• The Enchiridion - In Viali Lore, a large, ancient metal cube which contains all of the knowledge of a long-dead civilization, found on Ryjira’s moon Ris, which propelled the Viali nearly 66 thousand years into the future in terms of technology.
• Ryjira - The Viali’s home planet. It is an icy and cold planet, which is tidally locked to its star - Solyra - which causes only the terminator line on the planet to be habitable (also known as the Reach). It has one moon, Ris.
• Ris - The only moon of Ryjira. The Enchiridion was discovered buried just below its surface, and it has since been colonized by the Viali, acting as a central station for all space-related affairs.
• Parallel Evolution - The independent development of the same traits from different, unrelated species due to evolutionary pressure.
• Convergent Evolution - The independent development of different yet fundamentally similar traits in unrelated species due to evolutionary pressure.



Thank you so much for reading
⁃ Ryuvi the Viali

Hi again,

I'm writing this journal less as a journal, and more as a place for me to have a monologue about some thoughts I've had for a while now - namely some of my behaviors.

You see, ever since I started uploading my work here to FA I've felt a kind of excitement, yet trepidation. I enjoy knowing people will see my work, and that some will comment nice things, but I find myself some days struggling with a part of me that lives in fear of receiving negative feedback on the things I post. I know - haters gonna hate - but I feel like this behavior is something that stems from my natural quiet-ness, and how I see myself (or don't).

But I digress - the main thing I'm here to write about is this feeling of rushing forward. I feel like I can't sit still, per-se. I feel like I must upload regularly, less I be forgotten or ignored. Probably due to a select few telling me that very thing a couple years ago when I first made this account - and the thought stuck around.
Lately though, it's not that I necessarily fear being forgotten, rather, I have trepidation due to uncertainty; I fear people will interpret me or my work in a negative light, which could block me from future friendships, or creative ideas. I like when people like me, and I try to justify someone else liking me or my work by being friendly and non-judging (as I wish more people would be like). There are people I look up to, people who inspire me, who I respect and look to their success as inspiration for my own works, which does give me motivation and a tad bit more self-confidence (which I find myself lacking most often than not), but I ultimately hold how the public sees me and my works in high regard. This is something that I can't determine if its right to do or not. I can't say if I've been misguiding myself, or not.

I understand that ultimately if you like to do something and it makes you happy then what someone else says about it doesn't matter - your opinion of what you like to do is all that matters. But as stated before, I hold in higher regard the opinions of those I look up to in some way or another. Even then, I'm unsure if even that's good for me to do or not. Am I relying too heavily on other's views of me? Should I just push forward in the things I enjoy doing, regardless of outside opinion? These are things I tend to ask myself when it comes to mind.

I dunno, maybe I internally want recognition, and I can't see that from the outside, or I'm so much of a helper to others that I forget to help myself. For the small few who go about reading this journal, I'd like to ask you: Am I alone in thoughts like this? Do you cherish the public's opinion of you, or do you just be yourself and go forward regardless?

Alas, I think this monologue is enough to express my thoughts. I'm kind of uncertain if this kind of thing is suitable for journals, but I can't think of another way to express some of my inner thoughts on topics like this.


Still though, thanks for reading - I appreciate it.
-Ryuvi

Fifty people is a lot of people when you think about it.

I barely know more than ten people in person that I consider friends (outside of my family), and yet I’ve reached a point where five times that amount follow me here on FurAffinity. I know this number of people isn’t much of an achievement, but it is to me, especially given for many years now I’ve kind of kept to myself - only recently have I decided to venture out and start being more public about my art and creations. It makes me extremely happy to know that at least fifty people enjoy or appreciate my work enough to want to see more, and it’s one of the driving forces that keeps me moving forward.
So, thank you - all of you - for even having an interest in my works. I don’t even really consider myself an artist! (I don’t have the confidence to say something like that!)

Alas, I digress - I’m happy to be at this point, and I hope to keep moving forward, keep on drawing when I can, expanding the Viali, and whatever else may come in the future. I’d thank all of you one-by-one, but that would take a long time, heh. ^v^

If anyone has comments, questions, or anything else, feel free to message me about them. :)

Hello all,

I’m pretty happy to announce that there is now an official Viali community discord server, free to join. The server is a place where you can talk about the Viali, share speculations, get immersed in their culture, talk with me, and more. At the time of writing, it’s still in its infancy, but everything starts somewhere.

You can join the official Viali Community Hub here:

https://discord.gg/dPwMXHw

Here I am again with another post longer than a Viali's neck.

In all seriousness though, this post outlines the current general concepts and ideas surrounding Viali culture and society. Most things are subject to change or tweaks, but the gist of everything is pretty much settled and as you see here.

Without further ado, here are some descriptions of a handful of major areas in Viali culture and society:


Living styles:
Most Viali live in small packs in tents, either on their own or in small villages with others. A large group of Viali live in permanent cities dotted around Ryjira, where they live in residential buildings among other Viali. Each pack gets their own living space and nest. Individuals not in a pack also have their own homes, just smaller to accommodate only one Viali.

The Viali are split between nomadic groups, and sedentary groups. Nomads are usually found in tent living styles, while sedentary are found in cities. There do exist permanent and semi-permanent tent villages however, as well as temporary colonies on other planets.


General Ethics:
Harming another Viali in any way is seen as ethically bad, unless the other Viali has intent to do harm to other Viali. e.g. performing murder or ransacking a nest. Stealing from another Viali, or another nest is ethically bad, as well as any thievery. Forcing information from an individual through invasive means is seen as taboo. Privacy is seen only as important in privacy of the mind, otherwise privacy is not as important in Viali culture as it is, say, for humans. Privacy of the mind is seen as a right to all Viali. Unwarranted violence in their culture is seen as morally and ethically bad. Violence in defense of themselves and defense of the species, however, is seen as necessary, if it comes down to it.


Sexual Ethics:
Being seen naked is akin to seeing a human wearing casual clothing. Wearing anything is considered more formal, or seen as a uniform for a specific identification or otherwise. Seeing one’s cloaca in public isn’t seen as a taboo or a negative thing, and among a nest, sexual activity with those in your pack isn’t taboo, nor unheard of in Viali society. Sexual activity in public is generally accepted to be socially fine - other Viali usually leave the couple to their activities. Sexual behavior is only seen as ethically bad in public if the activity is unwarranted, forced through physical violence, or otherwise done in a professional or political environment where inter-species foreign affairs and such are performed. In general, sexual activity in public is a semi-rare occurrence.


Bearing a child in Viali society is a group-effort more often than not if the parents are in a pack. Viali children learn and grow up quickly, and it is not taboo for seemingly younger Viali to be introduced to sexual behaviors, or if they discover them on their own, it is encouraged for them to continue being curious, but know their social limits in that regard.


Entertainment:
Viali entertain themselves with music, art, games in AR, VR, and more. There are Viali artists, musicians, designers, gamers, and etcetera. Most entertainment is done in a VR environment, or through AR, depending on what they want to do. They do have physical instruments for music, and art supplies and tools for those who want to create in the physical world. Sports and competitive games are unheard of in Viali society.


Food:
Viali harvest meat from local fauna, and plant materials from local flora. They are omnivorous, and their diet consists of mainly prepared plant leaves, other plant foodstuffs, cooked and prepared meats, and similar. Their dishes are hearty, flavorful, sometimes strong, and filling, but these traits ultimately depend on the food being prepared. Viali eat on average three meals a day, with an average of 8 hours between meals.

Meats are collected through both hunting animals, and growing the meat artificially using animal genetics as a base. In larger communities, grown meat is more common then hunted meat, due to its ease of production and ability to feed many mouths without depleting resources. Nomadic and tent-based communities that are smaller rely more on hunting animals over grown meat. Hunters that hunt for food or sport are usually equipped with a bow and/or sword or ranged weapon, and either gather the meat for their own consumption, or hand it to the public vendors for delivery to a wider degree of Viali, as a delicacy or otherwise.

Plants are primarily grown in ammoniponic (an analogue to hydroponic) or aeroponic systems, which allows for plants to be grown indoors and in a controlled environment. Most plants on Ryjira are stout and bioluminescent, which also act as a light source for structures if the plant is decorative.


Social structure:
Viali society is generally classless, but some subtle class references exist. Some Viali are hunters, others are researchers, and some others even still are explorers, and so on. Common fields a Viali can work under are: hunting, researching, exploration and documentation of new locations or planets, supply distributors, foreign exchange specialists, Inviolate defense soldier, and more. The three most common areas of work are: hunting, research, and exploration. Since the Viali are post-labor and post-scarcity, all work is done through volunteering, or AI. If a Viali just wants to live their life doing what they please, they can do so without consequence.


Government:
The Viali don’t have a defined central governing body, but rather they are split into clans. Clans are the largest category of Viali grouping, which consist of self-governing unions of Viali packs which work together to better the clan as a whole in some way or another, even if that means just going under one name. There does exist one higher rank than clans - the Viali Ecliptic - of which oversee the largest clan’s actions and make sure everyone is doing fine, but the Ecliptic isn’t seen as a central authority. The Ecliptic’s primary goal is to provide a central name for Viali government and the Viali as a whole to foreign bodies. The Crest, the highest officials in the Ecliptic, act as spokespeople and diplomats for foreign affairs in relation to the Viali, and hold no inherent power over Viali society that other governing bodies don’t already have.


Religion and Beliefs:
The Viali as a whole don’t follow any religion or organized belief, but they do feel being close to each other and being close to the planet is essential to their well-being and continued existence. They do not believe in a higher being necessarily, but they won’t rule out the possibility of reality being a simulation, or under the control of some higher order they are unaware of, due to there being no solid evidence to any of it so far, being unfalsifiable, as well as other theories. Their society is highly science-based, due to the Enchiridion’s presence and impact on them.


Foreign Affairs:
The Viali try to be as friendly as they can be to outside visiting species. Having a good reputation to them is a large part in also keeping them well defended. They don’t readily form alliances with other civilizations, as they prefer to remain on their own accord, but they will if they must. They are, to a degree, isolationists as a species, due to their paranoia of being attacked, or taken over.


Military:
Viali military affairs are all conducted through the Inviolate, their name for the military and the clan that does all military actions. Viali individuals can volunteer as Inviolate soldiers, and other military positions as required, and they keep Ryjira, and the Viali as a whole, safe. Military actions outside the Inviolate are rare, unless it is self-defense, or from a smaller clan’s military branch. The Inviolate act as a protectorate for the Viali, and most notably Ryjira and its main city, Stryatus. They have a chain of command that is highly organized and deployable, ready to send troops and armaments wherever and whenever they may be needed.


Traditions:
Viali tradition stems from their unity with each other, and their unity with Ryjira. They feel a connection between each other helps better establish themselves as individuals, and as a species. In their primitive times, the Viali slept together in one place to preserve warmth and stay together and unified. This tradition largely persists in that Viali packs all sleep in one large bedded area in the floor - the pack’s nest. They also traditionally have worn flowing, unrestrictive, open clothing - and they still do - just made from modern materials and using modern designs. They have never been a species to really hide themselves, as they see beauty in all things, and they have always been fond of their colorful selves, so in modern times, this tradition persists in the fact that nudity is seen everywhere more often than not; they have nothing to hide and see it as something that helps keep them all bound together more tightly.


Rituals:
Viali have day-to-day rituals, including a typical three-meals a day, nighttime hugs to their pack-mates before bed, individual and group-oriented feather preening and bathing, as well as affectionate rituals like a Viali giving flowers to one they love, showing affection through kissing, or a Viali giving another one of their large tail feathers as a gift of companionship. They also celebrate certain days as holidays, including the Day of Discovery, marking the day when they found the Enchiridion on Ris.


Economy:
The Viali don’t have a central currency when trading items. Instead, because of their society being post-scarcity, items are more-so shared between Viali versus traded. Inter-species trading is done with a combination of items and a special 3D printer-usable material. This printer material doubles as a currency and usable material to the Viali when conducting inter-species trade. The material itself, to them, has no material worth and is manufactured freely for use and production.


Kinship structure:
The Viali’s analogue to a family is their pack. Even then, they do things in their packs that are intimate and very close. All Viali in their packs bond closely with one another, and all individuals in a pack end up knowing all other individuals in the pack very well, on average. Inter-pack activities and affairs is relatively common. Two Viali coming together as a couple is a common sight, but it isn’t taboo for a Viali to be in close relations with more than one Viali at a time. It’s actually fairly rare for a Viali to only be in intimate relations with just one other Viali. These things are socially accepted due to the Viali’s ability to innately control pregnancy. All Viali have two parents, but the actions between children and parents are also loosely bound, similar to the bounds of a Viali and their pack members. It is very common for a whole pack to raise a Viali child hatched from its pack members. Parental/kin relations are loose between Viali, but that doesn’t diminish the affection they all have for one another.

Hello all who read this!

I figured, since I've been working a lot on the Viali, I'd write about their current lore, just to get it out there before I do some official lore-related uploads. Most of their lore is solid enough for me to consider done for the time being, but there is a lot I've remained undecided on. With that said, though, I'm sure I have some oversights in parts of the lore that I don't see right now, so this is all subject to change, at least, up until I decide to officially bring the Viali out of development and into release.



Viali Historical Timeline (demonstrated as years relative to the present day):

Preface Note: Starting about 500 years ago, the Viali have occasionally been visited by other species and travelling individuals, so they knew they weren't alone in the universe. Some of their technology was gained from trading with these visiting groups. Their influences upon the local markets only increased once they discovered the Enchiridion.


~ -700 years - The Primitive Era: The Viali were more primitive going from this time period and back. They lived in small colonies - packs if you want to use modern Viali grouping terminology - and they hunted and gathered food, as well as other survival things. This isn't to say they were savage during this time; they had basic writing and basic forms of government among other things. As a rough comparison to human development, during this period, the Viali were about as developed as humans were in the late 1400s to 1500s.

~ -640 years - The Graphene Era: Some time around 650 to 640 years before the present day, the Viali discovered graphene, a carbon-based, lightweight, mendable, and extremely durable material. Shortly after, they discovered methods to bulk-produce the material and form it into all manner of things. This event in their history jump-started their path toward a higher civilization by a large margin. Using graphene they created soft, lightweight, but durable fabrics, building materials, weaponry, armor, and more.

-423 years - The Discovery: In the Viali year 2,385, or 423 years ago, after many developments surrounding graphene, fuel, and other technological advances, the Viali made a joint effort to send a small research team to their moon Ris, to search for potential fuel sources, or other useful materials. They looked for fuel, because after doing optical and laser scans of Ris, they discovered it has a mixture of materials in its' Rissan-surface which could benefit fuel production for future space exploration and trips to and from Ris. What they discovered, instead, shocked the entire species: a bronze and purple cube of immense weight and seemingly advanced technology. The first exploration team was unable to move the object to bring it back home to Ryjira, but subsequent missions to Ris allowed them to create a good enough base of operations to study the cube. Later, this cube would be known as the Enchiridion, and it is the sole reason the Viali are as advanced today as they are.

-20 years - The Interstellar Era: After many hundreds of years of studying the Enchiridion (as well as moving it back to their largest city on Ryjira, Stryatus), and extracting as much knowledge from it as they could, trying to piece together what they can from the heavily-corrupted storage device, they uncovered blueprints for interstellar-capable spaceships. Just 20 years ago they began venturing out into the blackness of space, as curious as ever to discover what lies far beyond.

Present Day, Viali year 2,808: In the current day, the Viali are a hyper-advanced society due to their discovery of graphene and the Enchiridion, having matured to this level of technology far faster than they would have naturally. After years of discovery and a lot of time for the Viali to reshape their culture and ways into something new, the Viali have reached a practical form of utopia - or at least are relatively close to what they would consider such. Issues still exist in their society; marauders, corrupt individuals, clans that have broken away from society, and more, but because of how they are - naturally curious and discovery-seeking - they work together in discovering new things, not only among themselves, but now among the stars. Who knows what they'll find.



Glossary:

Viali - A species of small, bird- and raptor-like creatures who are curious, and discovery-oriented. They are ammonia-based, so touching one as a water-based creature would give them burns, and give you frost-burns.

Ryjira - The home planet of the Viali. Because of it's atmosphere, the planet has a violet hue from space. It is tidally locked to their star, meaning the only habitable place on the planet is along its' terminator line, or the line where day meets night, It has no day-night cycle. The planet has a gravity about 21% that of Earth, but 1.65 times the air pressure.

Ris - The only natural satellite of Ryjira. Ris is fairly large for it's class - about 35% the size of Ryjira, and due to it's internal geography, Ris shares a similar gravity to Ryjira, albeit a little less. The material structure of Ris also allows for catalytic production of starship fuel, to a reasonable degree. The Enchiridion was discovered half-buried on its' surface.

The Enchiridion - The storage device left on Ris by a long-dead civilization containing the entirety of all of their knowledge, waiting and ready to be discovered again. The device is a bronze-colored, glowing-violet-detailed cube roughly 1.2 meters (~4 feet) cubed in size, with a density of ~8,500 kilograms (18,740 pounds). The object's density comes from the fact that it stores an almost unmeasurable amount of data. The only data currently readable from the device is technology related, and of which totals to about 83.5 exabytes. Anything discovered so far that would pertain to the civilization itself is corrupt beyond recovery.

Stryatus - The largest city on Ryjira, and current home to the Enchiridion, as well as the largest clan, Solaris. The Inviolate reside in their primary base not far from the city.

Viali Grouping Terminology - From smallest to largest: packs, unions, clans.

Solaris - The largest clan in Viali society, which consists of most of the members of the species. The clan is a union of two smaller clans (but still the two largest compared to all others), Sola and Risa.

The Inviolate - The Viali's military. They are more defensive than offensive, and more of a protectorate than an army.



More info and lore to come in the future. :>