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Species Alien (Other)
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Took a lil while with this one. Had the idea for em a lil while ago and it's finally come to fruition. And let me say this. Trying to come up with a good way of showing that a habitat is curved is hard! XD Anyway as with all new aliens I've got a Codex Entry for the species and then a lil story for the character himself. And yeah there's a heck of a lot for the Codex which is broken into sections. The last of which is the character's story is you like you can skip over things and get to the story but the Codex does provide some context for things.
Codex Entry
The Planet
The Meken are a mammalian like species native to the planet Mekelis. Mekelis was a small world roughly half the mass of the Earth orbiting a Red Dwarf star at the inner edge of the star's habitable zone. Meken also had a large moon almost half the size of the planet itself making some wonder if it should have been classified as a Binary Planet. Due to Meken's proximity to it's star and atmospheric make up the most of the planet had tropical temperatures and flourished with enormous forest even up into the polar temperate zones. This enormous amount of plant and animal life helped to keep a relatively thick atmosphere for Mekelis which provided further protection along with the planet' EM field which despite being strong for the size of the planet would be considered weak compared to Earth sized worlds. Also due to it's position closer into it's star the Meken calender marks a "Year" by 6 rotations around their star.
The People
Meken themselves spanned their world. Having evolved to inhabit the border lands between the forest and plains of their world the Meken are tall with long limbs and grasping feet. Bipedalism is though to have arose in them as their intelligence developed and they began using their hands for carrying greater amounts of food and materials. Meken still retain superb climbing skills and are most comfortable relaxing in places elevated above the ground. Many of their communities even into their modern era remained in the trees though materials and building techniques changed as time and progress marched on and largely continues now as their entire species resides in space.
The Burst
The Meken of the present are wondering nomads exploring the galaxy one system at a time after the event of The Burst. Roughly 30 years after the development Jump Drive technology, an FTL device capable of momentarily folding space to allow instant travel from one point in space to another, a Gamma Ray Burst from a star several systems off struck Mekelis with great force. Practically every person on the side of the planet struck by the Burst received a lethal dose of radiation. The Burst wiped out the planet's ozone layer allowing the full force of the star's UV to reach the planet's surface. Most stations in orbit on that side of the planet were damaged by the burst to one extent or another and any unshielded electronics on the surface were fried. Several installations through out the system survived though the number of Meken on them low. Perhaps 2,000 Total it is speculated. Chaos ran rampant across Mekelis' surface as survivors struggled to live. The remnants of the Meken government were able to rally the population however. With what remained of their resources they re-purposed a station that had been in construction in orbit into a vessel to save their people. It was originally intended to be Mekelis' largest orbital habitat. A Drive section was added to the station's aft and a CIC section added to the Fore of the station and it's structural integrity was improved to make it truely space worth. Eventually the last of the Meken boarded the Life Ship as it would come to be called along with everything they could bring. The vessel set forth with 10,000 or so people out of Mekelis' original population of 5 Billion.
The Meken Today
Today over a thousand years later the Meken still travel the void in their great Life Ship exploring the stars. They now have two normal sized vessels added to their fleet. Scout Ships respectively referred to as The Guide and the The Trailblazer. Their technical capabilities have advanced considerably. Their Vessels a buzz with robots of various sorts to repair and maintain the vessels. They have also developed Gravitic Technology allowing them to create fields of artificial gravity without the need for a spinning segment like the Habitation section of the Life Ship. Jump Drive technology has advanced considerably as well allowing for jumps so precise a Scout Ship could Jump into the Habitation Section of the Life Ship without harm. Robotics have also flourished though with good reason. The Meken population is currently just over 20,000 and has reached the safe and comfortable carrying capacity of the Life Ship. Due to this low population the Meken simply don't have the man power to maintain their vessels on their own. Bots vary from small bug like maintenance workers to Meken like androids in service and military positions and to Sapient AI taking on a variety of task and considered Meken Citizens. Much of Meken culture has changed somewhat aboard the Life Ship. Their faiths have changed in the wake of the loss of their homeword. Xelkanism being the most common is a polytheist faith with a pantheon of gods and goddess with some adherents believing the Burst was to purge the unclean and send them to the stars and eventually to ascend beyond to join them. Aldaism is a generalized faith with belief in an afterlife without dieties. A realm of pure thought that the soul ascends to upon death and where even the worst can be redeemed and where it is possible to souls to travel make and reincarnate as new Mekens. In the wake of contact with sapient alien species some believe it is even possible for Meken to reincarnate as aliens or vice versa. Of course many reject all religion seeing it as merely superstition clung to for comfort or for power. Relics of a by gone time in Mekelis' ancient past. But nowhere is this change their culture more evident than in Meken breeding practices. Since their flight from Mekelis their genetic diversity has been relatively low and some carry damaged genes from Burst survivors inclining them and their offspring to genetic illnesses. The Meken have tried to maintain a degree of freedom and choice in this matter however. Any two Meken may mate but to have children of their own they must meet genetic compatibility standards to ensure their genes are diverse enough to produce healthy offspring and minimize the chance of genetic illness. If these standards are not met the couple does have options. One or both can choose to use healthy genetic material from the Gene Bank to produce their offspring. Another limit on reproduction is numbers. Depending on the population situation the number of offspring allowed to a couple can range from 1, 2, 3, and up in cases of extreme population decline. Normally the limit is 2 at most in order to generally maintain the population size. Violating this law results in fines and reassignment to monitored physical labor work details for a prescribed length of time. One thing to stay the same in this regard though is naming systems. Meken have a single name broken into two segments. Given name first and Family name second. Traditionally females take the male's family name though this is not always the case and it is uncertain who changes names if any in a same gender union.
The Character Story
Shawa'nen walked down the stone path through the Great Park segment of the Life Ship. It had forest and fields and a river which ran in on great circle curving up and over one's head if you looked up. Shaw loved this segment. He wondered if this was how it felt to be on Mekelis, the world they'd never known. But today his nose was buried in his data pad as he went over the sent data from a downed bot that had suffered some kind of failure in it's life systems. Shaw already had a good idea what the problem was and that it'd be an easy fix. As he walked however he heard a familiar voice.
"There you are! You know I've been trying to contact you for hours." Said a taller Meken half jogging down the path.
"O-oh sorry Lek. I must have left the comm off." Shaw said as he taped his cheek and dragged his finger across it to turn the implant back on as he looked slightly up at Lek who wore more casual flowing attire than Shaw's utilitarian work uniform.
"I her Kessa paid you a visit today." Lek said with concern in his voice as his golden eyes softened seeing Shaw's drift down.
"You heard about that?" Shaw asked meekly blushing at the memory of the outburst.
"Yes. Sezz told me. You worried him a bit. He'd never seen you get so worked up. Are you OK?" Lek asked placing his dark gentle hands on Shaw's shoulders. The practiced hands of a healer.
"She shouldn't have come. It's too late to say those things." Shaw said as his face tense.
"She is your cousin. She wants to make amends." Lek said softly knowing this would be hard for Shaw to hear.
"Now? Now she wants that? Now she wants to what? Be friends? Where was she before? Too busy with a friends and a stream of boyfriends to notice anything. To stop and care. To ask if I was alright." Shaw said his voice raising in volume even as it cracked and his eyes watered. "Where were any of them? Sure Aunt Desi took me in but she didn't want me! She was too busy with her important mate and their perfect lil girl to notice the 7 year old crying!"
"I know hun. I know it hurts." Lek said pulling Shaw in and resting his head on top of Shaw's nuzzling as strands of his own ebony hair mixed with Shaw's gold. "I know you always found an excuse to come to my house instead of going home. Because it hurt so much. A reminder of what you lost on The Trailblazer. She was too young and stupid to be there for you then. Maybe she should have been anyway. But she can't change the past."
"I...I know. It's just so hard." Shaw said sniffling some and leaning in close. "L-least I had you."
"And you always will hun." Lek said softly stroking Shaw's back softly. "What do you say? Give Kessa a chance?"
"I...I'll try Ok." Shaw said as he pulled back a bit looking up into Lek's face.
"That's all anyone can expect." Lek smiled warmly. "Well come on. I bet you were heading to work on something. I'll give you a hand. Or at least company Mr. Future Master Technician."
"Heh. Alright it's over this way." Shaw smiled and took Lek's hand. The two walked off the path into the free line. The bot would be fixed and if no more repair request came in there would be a stroll in the woods and perhaps throws of passion to help mend old wounds.
Well that sure as heck was a long one. XD Hope you guys liked the pic, codex, and the story. ^^
Codex Entry
The Planet
The Meken are a mammalian like species native to the planet Mekelis. Mekelis was a small world roughly half the mass of the Earth orbiting a Red Dwarf star at the inner edge of the star's habitable zone. Meken also had a large moon almost half the size of the planet itself making some wonder if it should have been classified as a Binary Planet. Due to Meken's proximity to it's star and atmospheric make up the most of the planet had tropical temperatures and flourished with enormous forest even up into the polar temperate zones. This enormous amount of plant and animal life helped to keep a relatively thick atmosphere for Mekelis which provided further protection along with the planet' EM field which despite being strong for the size of the planet would be considered weak compared to Earth sized worlds. Also due to it's position closer into it's star the Meken calender marks a "Year" by 6 rotations around their star.
The People
Meken themselves spanned their world. Having evolved to inhabit the border lands between the forest and plains of their world the Meken are tall with long limbs and grasping feet. Bipedalism is though to have arose in them as their intelligence developed and they began using their hands for carrying greater amounts of food and materials. Meken still retain superb climbing skills and are most comfortable relaxing in places elevated above the ground. Many of their communities even into their modern era remained in the trees though materials and building techniques changed as time and progress marched on and largely continues now as their entire species resides in space.
The Burst
The Meken of the present are wondering nomads exploring the galaxy one system at a time after the event of The Burst. Roughly 30 years after the development Jump Drive technology, an FTL device capable of momentarily folding space to allow instant travel from one point in space to another, a Gamma Ray Burst from a star several systems off struck Mekelis with great force. Practically every person on the side of the planet struck by the Burst received a lethal dose of radiation. The Burst wiped out the planet's ozone layer allowing the full force of the star's UV to reach the planet's surface. Most stations in orbit on that side of the planet were damaged by the burst to one extent or another and any unshielded electronics on the surface were fried. Several installations through out the system survived though the number of Meken on them low. Perhaps 2,000 Total it is speculated. Chaos ran rampant across Mekelis' surface as survivors struggled to live. The remnants of the Meken government were able to rally the population however. With what remained of their resources they re-purposed a station that had been in construction in orbit into a vessel to save their people. It was originally intended to be Mekelis' largest orbital habitat. A Drive section was added to the station's aft and a CIC section added to the Fore of the station and it's structural integrity was improved to make it truely space worth. Eventually the last of the Meken boarded the Life Ship as it would come to be called along with everything they could bring. The vessel set forth with 10,000 or so people out of Mekelis' original population of 5 Billion.
The Meken Today
Today over a thousand years later the Meken still travel the void in their great Life Ship exploring the stars. They now have two normal sized vessels added to their fleet. Scout Ships respectively referred to as The Guide and the The Trailblazer. Their technical capabilities have advanced considerably. Their Vessels a buzz with robots of various sorts to repair and maintain the vessels. They have also developed Gravitic Technology allowing them to create fields of artificial gravity without the need for a spinning segment like the Habitation section of the Life Ship. Jump Drive technology has advanced considerably as well allowing for jumps so precise a Scout Ship could Jump into the Habitation Section of the Life Ship without harm. Robotics have also flourished though with good reason. The Meken population is currently just over 20,000 and has reached the safe and comfortable carrying capacity of the Life Ship. Due to this low population the Meken simply don't have the man power to maintain their vessels on their own. Bots vary from small bug like maintenance workers to Meken like androids in service and military positions and to Sapient AI taking on a variety of task and considered Meken Citizens. Much of Meken culture has changed somewhat aboard the Life Ship. Their faiths have changed in the wake of the loss of their homeword. Xelkanism being the most common is a polytheist faith with a pantheon of gods and goddess with some adherents believing the Burst was to purge the unclean and send them to the stars and eventually to ascend beyond to join them. Aldaism is a generalized faith with belief in an afterlife without dieties. A realm of pure thought that the soul ascends to upon death and where even the worst can be redeemed and where it is possible to souls to travel make and reincarnate as new Mekens. In the wake of contact with sapient alien species some believe it is even possible for Meken to reincarnate as aliens or vice versa. Of course many reject all religion seeing it as merely superstition clung to for comfort or for power. Relics of a by gone time in Mekelis' ancient past. But nowhere is this change their culture more evident than in Meken breeding practices. Since their flight from Mekelis their genetic diversity has been relatively low and some carry damaged genes from Burst survivors inclining them and their offspring to genetic illnesses. The Meken have tried to maintain a degree of freedom and choice in this matter however. Any two Meken may mate but to have children of their own they must meet genetic compatibility standards to ensure their genes are diverse enough to produce healthy offspring and minimize the chance of genetic illness. If these standards are not met the couple does have options. One or both can choose to use healthy genetic material from the Gene Bank to produce their offspring. Another limit on reproduction is numbers. Depending on the population situation the number of offspring allowed to a couple can range from 1, 2, 3, and up in cases of extreme population decline. Normally the limit is 2 at most in order to generally maintain the population size. Violating this law results in fines and reassignment to monitored physical labor work details for a prescribed length of time. One thing to stay the same in this regard though is naming systems. Meken have a single name broken into two segments. Given name first and Family name second. Traditionally females take the male's family name though this is not always the case and it is uncertain who changes names if any in a same gender union.
The Character Story
Shawa'nen walked down the stone path through the Great Park segment of the Life Ship. It had forest and fields and a river which ran in on great circle curving up and over one's head if you looked up. Shaw loved this segment. He wondered if this was how it felt to be on Mekelis, the world they'd never known. But today his nose was buried in his data pad as he went over the sent data from a downed bot that had suffered some kind of failure in it's life systems. Shaw already had a good idea what the problem was and that it'd be an easy fix. As he walked however he heard a familiar voice.
"There you are! You know I've been trying to contact you for hours." Said a taller Meken half jogging down the path.
"O-oh sorry Lek. I must have left the comm off." Shaw said as he taped his cheek and dragged his finger across it to turn the implant back on as he looked slightly up at Lek who wore more casual flowing attire than Shaw's utilitarian work uniform.
"I her Kessa paid you a visit today." Lek said with concern in his voice as his golden eyes softened seeing Shaw's drift down.
"You heard about that?" Shaw asked meekly blushing at the memory of the outburst.
"Yes. Sezz told me. You worried him a bit. He'd never seen you get so worked up. Are you OK?" Lek asked placing his dark gentle hands on Shaw's shoulders. The practiced hands of a healer.
"She shouldn't have come. It's too late to say those things." Shaw said as his face tense.
"She is your cousin. She wants to make amends." Lek said softly knowing this would be hard for Shaw to hear.
"Now? Now she wants that? Now she wants to what? Be friends? Where was she before? Too busy with a friends and a stream of boyfriends to notice anything. To stop and care. To ask if I was alright." Shaw said his voice raising in volume even as it cracked and his eyes watered. "Where were any of them? Sure Aunt Desi took me in but she didn't want me! She was too busy with her important mate and their perfect lil girl to notice the 7 year old crying!"
"I know hun. I know it hurts." Lek said pulling Shaw in and resting his head on top of Shaw's nuzzling as strands of his own ebony hair mixed with Shaw's gold. "I know you always found an excuse to come to my house instead of going home. Because it hurt so much. A reminder of what you lost on The Trailblazer. She was too young and stupid to be there for you then. Maybe she should have been anyway. But she can't change the past."
"I...I know. It's just so hard." Shaw said sniffling some and leaning in close. "L-least I had you."
"And you always will hun." Lek said softly stroking Shaw's back softly. "What do you say? Give Kessa a chance?"
"I...I'll try Ok." Shaw said as he pulled back a bit looking up into Lek's face.
"That's all anyone can expect." Lek smiled warmly. "Well come on. I bet you were heading to work on something. I'll give you a hand. Or at least company Mr. Future Master Technician."
"Heh. Alright it's over this way." Shaw smiled and took Lek's hand. The two walked off the path into the free line. The bot would be fixed and if no more repair request came in there would be a stroll in the woods and perhaps throws of passion to help mend old wounds.
Well that sure as heck was a long one. XD Hope you guys liked the pic, codex, and the story. ^^
Category All / Fantasy
Species Alien (Other)
Size 380 x 718px
File Size 325.2 kB
Listed in Folders
Hehe. Yeah I know. It took a lil while with this one, more to do with procrastination on my park XD, but that gave me time to just keep coming up with all the details and such and flesh out the character. Heck I've got a bit more I could have included but felt wasn't as relevant. Might be something for another pic of this guy and maybe show his boyfriend. ^^
It hope there could be some more. I love to read or listen storrys and your's are have a kind of nice magic. They are exciting to read and makes me feel like I'm be part of that.
If you would write a book I think I would read it And even more details you discribe it getting more exiting.
the mix of an Picture and than a lil storry is the perfekt way too tell a storry
If you would write a book I think I would read it And even more details you discribe it getting more exiting.
the mix of an Picture and than a lil storry is the perfekt way too tell a storry
Not to ruin your story, but planets orbiting red dwarfs closely enough to be in the habitable zone will very likely be tidally locked, meaning one side will face the sun all the time and the other will face away all the time...
For example the moon is tidally locked to the earth :)
For example the moon is tidally locked to the earth :)
Ack damn. I hadn't thought about that. Well that might have to be a detail I change then. Wanted to use a Red Dwarf as they are the most common stars int he galaxy. Eh I'll come up with something. Maybe say it's border line in it's size and stick the planet out in the middle of the zone. Anyway thanks for pointing out something that completely slipped my mind. XD
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