Coalition Universe Species

[Graham Kennedy]

Ultimately I think countries always become pragmatic when their survival is at stake. It's all very well to make speeches about your morality, but I don't know of any nation that's ever chosen extinction when there was another option, no matter how immoral.

[Monroe]

They seem like the tribbles from hell I like!
Be interesting if you do make a book series have a book basically being Tain's Revenge! When one of their colonies regrew over the course of many years.

[Graham Kennedy]

I toy with the idea of discovering some lost Tain world, but really they wouldn't be a threat. One world couldn't grow enough ships to threaten the Coalition, so it would be a case of a short battle to blast whatever fleet they had then destroy the planet with a PBC.

Though a goodly part of the public would be dead against doing that, which could be interesting.

[Monroe]

Well it would depend when the book took place The Tain seem to reproduce rapidly and its been several years since the end of the war I'd assume? Unless of course the war is part of the series plot.

[Graham Kennedy]

The Tain war is something that happened in the past, ended ten or so years before.

[Monroe]

Ah I gotcha. Yeah you probably don't want them to be the Darleks of your universe

[Graham Kennedy]

Lol, no.

[shran]

Isn't the black stuff something of a problem? Once the planet is busted, the entire surface should vaporize, bu as stated, that does not destry the black stuff. i can imagine a ship would comje across such a sample and be overrun with it. perhaps special decontamination units, or are certain systems declared off-limit, or something similar?

[Graham Kennedy]

It grows up from a "root" deep within the planet - in the center, actually. Cut a fragment off and the main body will grow back, but the fragment is harmless. Think of it like a plant - you can cut a leaf off and the plant will grow another, but the leaf won't grow into another plant.

[Mikey]

Isn't the black stuff something of a problem? Once the planet is busted, the entire surface should vaporize, bu as stated, that does not destry the black stuff. i can imagine a ship would comje across such a sample and be overrun with it. perhaps special decontamination units, or are certain systems declared off-limit, or something similar?

I think you misinterpret GK's planet-busting gun. As I understand it, it doesn't vaporize the surface - it makes the entire planet go bye-bye.

[Graham Kennedy]

To be clear :

Conventional AMP cannon as used by the Coalition have a round energy equal to about the Dinosaur killer asteroid. They might pierce the crust of the Earth, put a dent in the magma. Enough of them might reduce the entire surface to rubble or rubble-strewn lava. But the planet is still there, and in the case of the Tain the bulk of their society is still there and perfectly able to rebuild whatever was damaged.

PBCs replace a planet with an asteroid belt.

[Graham Kennedy]

Updated size comparison.

[Graham Kennedy]

THE EVIDRIAN



Status : Major power; Coalition opponents

Vital Statistics (100% = average Human male) :

Height : 150 cm
Strength : 50 - 70%
Lifespan : 214 years
Mass : 47.5 kg
Endurance : 60 - 80%
Visual Sensitivity : N/A
Aural Range : 5 Hz - 240 kHz
Visual Resolution : N/A
Aural Sensitivity : 9800%

Physical :

The Evidrian are something of an anatomical oddity, being both tripedal, monoarmed, and without anything resembling an eye. All unusual traits in themselves, the combination is all but unique. The Evidrian's primary sensor is a sonar sense; an emitter located on their head broadcasts high frequency pulses, and two prominent ears detect the echos. The Evidrian have a superb awareness of objects around them in any direction out to several tens of metres, with lessening resolution beyond that. They are capable of producing a narrow, powerful pulse to image more distant objects, though this is tiring after a few minutes.

There are three Evidrian genders, male, female and neuter. Individuals are born male, which they remain for about 100 years before becoming female. They remain in this stage for another 30 years before finally becoming neuter for the remainder of their life. The durations are reflected in their numbers, with 65% of the population male, 10% female and 25% neuter. The neuter sex is the dominant one in the society, with females in a secondary role and males ranked lower still. Males are regarded as less intelligent than the other genders, though this is rather suspect and possibly more a matter of propaganda than fact.

Cultural :

During their rise to prominence the Evidria forged a significant empire, but about a thousand years ago it was rocked by a series of civil wars which splintered it into a dozen or more fractions. Over time these reunited in a commonwealth; each is independent, and governed according to various political systems, but with a central monarchy acting as a species-wide government. In many ways the structure resembles that of the Coalition, though on a somewhat larger scale.

The Evidrian Commonwealth was formerly a significant presence in the Deep Range, but they largely abandoned their standing military presence in the area over the last few centuries. Nevertheless they resent the Coalition's rise to influence in the Range, and are amongst their strongest critics. The Evidria favoured direct action against the Coalition after the Rinak incident, to the point where they began mobilising their own forces in anticipation and may have launched an offensive had the Tilgarni not made it clear that they would have backed the Coalition with military force in a conflict. Although the Evidria clearly remain resentful of the Coalition presence in the Range, they have not thus far taken significant action to increase their own forces there.

[Mikey]

"all but unique?" There's at least one more mono-armed, tripedal species out there?

[Monroe]

"all but unique?" There's at least one more mono-armed, tripedal species out there?

One of the Coalition members is monoarmed if I recall right.