Alorath

"Of course there's room for improvement, Judge, but I believe that we're doing quite well for ourselves considering the circumstances." -Kayla Yulander, Helmsman of the FSS Kareland, to Judge Vothi of the Hosk Assembly, 129 AC

The Alorath, also known as Avis, Senna, or Terallans, are a diverse genus of carbon-based sapient organisms originating from Teralla, in the Vernarca Nebula's Verda System. With significant populations across many stars in both the Vernarca and Apple Nebulae, the Alorath are seen often, even far from their homeworld. Due to the diversity of environments which the historic pioneers settled in, a great number of subspecies have arisen throughout space. Prior to this, the Alorath were the only surviving species of several from the genus Alor who evolved across Teralla and were later either wiped out or subsumed into the Alorath population. Alorath were also one of two known spacefaring species to arise on Teralla, the other being the Kesstra, who fled the planet in the face of the Edrons shortly before the Alorath evolved to settle at Riojan in the Amador System.

Alorath are bipedal, winged vertebrates with a tough, lightweight endoskeleton composed of calcium compounds grown from special cells. Their brains and most sensory organs sit in a bony case atop a long neck. On their two arms are three digits, and four on the legs, with the wings formed from highly elongated digits with flesh and feathers strung between them.

The Alorath are sometimes called Terallans, for their homeworld, or Avis, a name originating in the far eastern civilizations of Teralla and much more consistently applied spinward of the homeworld. Occasionally, the term Terallan is also used confusingly to distinguish between Alorath living on Teralla from those living on the many other worlds they have spread to, or to refer to traditions and subjects associated with the Alorath (Terallan culture, Terallan art, Terallan beer, etc.) The Void Mainframe's designation for the Alorath Species was Species 8891.

Brief History

First arising from the Aloridae family of birds of prey living on the mountainous grasslands of Hervidar, the ancestors of the Alorath first achieved sapience roughly two million years ago, diversifying into a number of closely related species across the mountains. The seas separating the great islands of Hervidar from the lands surrounding it meant that it was difficult for the species to spread beyond for much of its history, with only very small populations making the treacherous journey by flight.

The far south of the island continent was linked to the lands surrounding it via a set of small islands, and upon this route's discovery in prehistory, the Alorath began to spread across the planet with great speed. By 11,000 BC, the Alorath were spread across all the easily accessible land on the planet. Some began to explore the vast oceans beyond the slowly crumbling supercontinent, with the widespread Tolisal culture spreading across much of the far-scattered islands of the global ocean. Alival, the first civilization, arose on the equatorial continent of Mesa Obsidian in the form of a great population of city states, leaving behind great temples and cities across its desert territory. It was soon followed by Capelbrar on the jagged mountains of the western crater rim, whose hanging spires remain a tourist attraction across space.

As civilization spread across the planet and advanced beyond the simple brick structures of Alival, the population rose quickly. By 640 BC, it had reached a billion people. Just 100 years later, in 528 BC, the first orbital launch took place from the nation of Dromidus on the eastern coasts of the supercontinent, beginning the unification of the species with the unified First Orbit Calendar. Around a century afterwards, the expanding colonies of the Alorath had unified into the Verdan Federation, making first contact over the next decades with other species including the Verna and Ravoryl. By 50 BC, the Verdan Federation had spread to the nearest stars, including the Katheria System and the nascent Klein System, bringing them into contact and conflict with neighboring nations. War almost broke out several times, but the common enemy of the Tyran Empire forged an unbreakable alliance which later coalesced the Verdan Federation, Quantan Interstellar Alliance, Campuran Coalition, Delnar Empire, and Erdathian Federal Republic into the Vernarcan Federation, which still stands today.

Appearance

In appearance the Alorath are colorful avian birds with bold plumage, most commonly coming in sharply defined purple, gray, black, and white. As there is only one biological sex, there is no dimorphism, and all major differences in appearance can be chalked up to population genetic drift. Some members of the species have more subdued coloration, with browns, greens, and blacks covering the feathers of roughly 28% of the population. Newborn chicks are large, dirty-brown downy fluffballs, resembling the detritus that accumulates at the base of living grasses and intentionally unappealing to predators. Alorath from more northern and southern latitudes where snow is common have thicker coats that change season to season and have larger, feathered feet.

Physiology

Respiratory and Circulatory Systems

The respiratory system of an Alorath is fairly simple in design. It begins with air being taken in through the mouth and into the trachea, which separates from the uppermost part of the digestive tract. From the trachea, the air passes through an increasingly branching set of pathways into a highly distributed set of miniscule sacs known as alveoli. The purpose of this branching system is to maximize the surface area through which oxygen can be taken in, resulting in an inner surface of the Alorath lung equivalent to half a football field.

The alveoli extract oxygen from the air directly into the bloodstream, hemocyanin molecules free-floating in the plasma binding to the oxygen molecules and taking them through the body. The same hemocyanin molecules, having bound to carbon dioxide and formed carbaminohemocyanin at sites throughout the body, later return to the lungs to expel the carbon dioxide.

Unlike many sapient species, the Alorath quite literally do not have a heart. Rather, blood is pumped by a set of small valves distributed throughout the arteries and veins, producing a continuous effect similar to what a heart would accomplish in other species. The independent operation of these valves means that Alorath are remarkably resilient due to the sheer level of redundancy in this most important system.

Digestive System

Teralla is one of the largest worlds that a large flying species has evolved on, particularly one that supports a powerful brain. This means that Alorath must consume great amounts of food to sustain flight on such a world, and are primarily obligate carnivores. Prior to the rise of civilization, the Alorath hunted by flushing their prey out of the tall grass and kicking it to death with their powerful feet, only using their beak directly on very small prey like wasps that they generally didn't bother with anyway. Even with the largest of prey, any and all food is quickly swallowed whole through their considerable gape.

After swallowing, the unfortunate animal is quickly conveyed to the stomach, a simply designed distensible bag designed to mash up and dissolve anything put inside it into a slurry which can then be absorbed. Empty, its the size of an orange, but fully distended and filled up with prey it can swell to over half a meter in diameter. Since almost no Alorath can possibly fly in this condition, the extremely alkaline sodium hydroxide solution alongside the enzymes produced by the stomach have evolved to tear apart the stomach's contents as quickly as possible.

Once the stomach has finished its job, the intestine quickly absorbs everything it can. Alorath have a relatively short digestive tract compared to other Terallan avians that have more varied diets, and a pair of vestigial ceca due to the lack of a need to fermentively digest plant material.

Reproductive System

The Alorath reproduce ovoviviparously. This means that the "eggs", which really stretch the definition, remain inside the mother's womb until shortly after they "hatch". This means that the eggs also do not require hard shells. Almost invariably, Alorath give birth to odd numbers of children, with three being the most common number, followed by five, followed by one. The Alorath gestation period is approximately 1.5 standard years long, with some variation either way depending on the individual. In the later stages of pregnancy, the mother is nearly immobilized and certainly incapable of flight, and natural painkillers kick in during the birthing process.

Alorath children physically mature in fits and starts, with the first beginning shortly before they shed their initial brown plumage. In general, they go through huge growth spurts and then remain roughly the same size until the next one, until they have reached adulthood and sexual maturity at the age of 11. After that point, they continue to grow at a much more consistent and slow rate, asymptotically petering out as they approach 30.

Nervous System

Like most intelligent species, Alorath have distinctly large brains compared to their body size and those of similar nonsapient creatures. The Alorath nervous system is split into the central and peripheral nervous system, with the brain and neck cord making up the former and everything else making up the latter. Neural cells, which produce extracellular structures to transmit information, are most concentrated within the brain, which is where consciousness seems to operate from. Where the neck meets the body, the cord of nerves coming down from the brain splits up across the body, marking the end of the presence of neural cells themselves with few exceptions. These extracellular structures are designed to compensate for the quick reaction times necessitated by flight, with extremely rapid nerve impulses.

Senses

Alorath have six primary sensory inputs: Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and electromagnetism. Sight operates through four optic organs mounted across the head and directly connected to the optic cortex with thick nerve cables, uniquely bypassing the thalamus and resulting in sight bringing back much stronger memories than other senses. The eye is also associated with the electromagnetic sense, which is facilitated by a special protein in the eye making use of the quantum radical pair mechanism to detect magnetic fields.

Hearing is facilitated by a taut membrane vibrated by sound waves, which is highly ennervated to communicate that directly to the brain and connected to the air through a focusing ear canal. Smells can be detected by "sensors" in the respiratory tract, which bind to molecules in the air to detect what they are, communicating this information as a smell. Taste functions via taste receptors throughout the digestive tract which work similarly. Finally, pressure sensors across the skin of an Alorath, most concentrated in the digits of the arms, can feel touch.

Demographics

Roughly 15% of the Alorath population still resides within their home system of Verda, split roughly 60/30/10 between Verda and Audras's planetary system and the surrounding Limit Cloud. Roughly 80% lives in various other systems within the Vernarcan Federation, particularly Katheria, Klein, Tauka, Perin, Cyga, Kaxor, and Charell systems as well as other lesser populated systems between them, with a small minority fleeing beyond its borders out of a desire for absolute independence or some such thing. Finally, the remaining 5% mostly lives within other nations such as the Talarian Union, Tyran Free State, or Krask Hegemony.

Culture

Society

A key factor in the widespread reach of the Alorath across space is their tendency to establish complex social groups. This tendency resulted in the creation of a great number of historical polities, culminating in the Vernarcan Federation, the most powerful nation in the Vernarca Nebula. Other communities separated from broader society by some common trait also often break away and go somewhere else, further extending the reach of the species as a result of their rush into space. Many other species including the Kuna'uashi, Eanai, and Lrenn have been able to integrate into Alorath society even prior to the foundation of the Federation.

Modern Alorath society is generally highly egalitarian in nature, with very little institutionalized prejudice. This is part of what made them key to the foundation of the Vernarcan Federation, as they were able to mediate between groups which held a high level of animosity for each other. This society greatly values scientific thought, advancement, and exploration, which means that high levels of public support go towards this subject.

Science

Throughout history, the Alorath have achieved mastery of many scientific fields, allowing them great power over the space in which they live. Modern society depends greatly upon a number of technological marvels, including the matter synthesizer and spatial warp drive, which sustain and connect the many settlements of the Alorath, respectively. True artificial intelligence has also proliferated through society, and AI entities of varying power can be plentifully found across the Vernarcan Federation thanks to the Alorath's advancements in this field.

Politics, Trade, and Government

A truly loyal species is incredibly rare, and the Alorath do not qualify. While they can be very loyal when they want to be, they have the ability to rapidly switch allegiances to whoever suits their interest. This creates a political environment which can be very fun to watch for other species, and sometimes makes the Alorath seem unbalanced or impressionable. However, what is not ephemeral is the ideals an Alorath individual has, and this ironically contributes to the ephemerality of everything else. Many will devote their lives to goals that others simply don't see as important.

These two factors result in a common penchant for diplomacy through the species. Even prior to the founding of the Vernarcan Federation, the Alorath built up a reputation of being good traders and mediators, as they were capable of building and maintaining good relationships with practically anyone.

Religion

In the distant past, a great many religions were practiced by the inhabitants of Teralla, and in many nations these religions had great overt power over the populace. Even in officially secular nations, many lawmakers were in truth guided by the principles of these religions, resulting in insane discriminatory laws staying on the books for decades.

This benighted era came to an end with a historical period known today as the Birth of Reason. Theocratic abuses of power came to a head, and an international revolution ignited, kicking the priestly class out of power and beginning the downfall of religion across the planet. As these abuses of power left a bad taste in the mouths of many, practice in religion declined in the contemporary generation, and with children no longer being indoctrinated into their rituals, most of the modern population is entirely atheistic. While the culture generally frowns upon public expression of religious faith, no one cares enough about it to make a big deal unless the act is particularly overt.

Notable Individuals

Due to their prominence on the interstellar stage, a great many notable individuals hail from this species. They are described below.

Kearo Mohai – 94-149 AC, Grand Admiral of the Vernarcan Federation defense fleet, held off the forces of the Void on their final assault to prevent the destruction of Teralla
Naler Vera – 44 BC-81 AC, First president of the Vernarcan Federation
Lorelei Akana – 88 AC-present, Current president of the Vernarcan Federation, presided over much of the War of the Broken Bow
Kayla Yulander – 98-129 AC, helmsman and head cultural scientist of the FSS Kareland, helmed many first contacts on the voyage prior to her death
Kayla Kellelai – 690-631 BC, prolific pre-spaceflight astronomer and discoverer of Tarsis and the major moons of Jevethra
Tarco Isvoy – 681-612 BC, contemporary astronomer of Kellelai and discoverer of the Isvoian Moons of Glau

Trivia

The Alorath are one of a few sapient species to be capable of long-range flight through natural means.
Originally simply called the Terallans, they were the first species to be designed for the Silky Way universe.