Zylaari

Zylaari
Biological classifications
Designation	Aquatic or amphibian humanoids
Subspecies	Four; in fact different species entirely
Physical characteristics
Height	0.9m-2.1m
Mass	14kg-120kg
Distinctive traits	Usually including: Gills Scales or wet skin Sharp teeth (in Zyl-krikt) Streamlined bodies Naturally psionic Fins
Lifespan	70-150 cycles
Socio‑cultural characteristics
Homeworld	Dhaarakt
Habitat	Wet, whether warm or cold
Diet	Mostly carnivorous, some omnivorous subspecies
Language	Song-like; elongated vowels punctuated by bony clicks

The Zylaari are a group of distantly related aquatic and amphibious species. Their reputation is for acts of avaricious daring, frequent criminality, and exceptional natural ability as pilots and navigators. They entered the galactic spacefaring community some four hundred years ago as a client-species of the Alganna Eternity, but due to a cultural preference for nomadism and adventure-seeking, have also proliferated into other societies in great numbers. The name Zylaari, perhaps predictably, translates directly to 'people [of the] water,' which only became applied to them after introduction to the galactic community. Prior to this, they simply called themselves Zyl ('people').

Physical Description

Zylaari largely have scales (either rough or smooth), although some subspecies are known instead for their smooth and wet skin. All species are gilled, although some are capable of air-breathing as well. Many rely on tanks of water secured around their gills linked with a reoxygenation tank (usually worn on the back), but some members of species that aren't naturally amphibious have used genetic manipulation technology to become air-breathers. Zylaari naturally exist in a wide spectrum of colorations and patterns, from vivid reds and blues to more muted greys or earth-tones.

Zylaari vocalization is somewhat unique due to their aquatic history. The Zylaari larynx, referred to as the plectral chamber, has the typical open space of a mammalian larynx, but produces sounds by either drawing or plucking a set of tensioned, semi-rigid strings of cartilage using a bony plectral plate. This allows a Zylaari to produce vocal sounds irrespective of the movement of air, since not every Zylaari has lungs. Zylaari also do not need to open (or even use) their mouths to produce words, although many do in order to minimize mammalian discomfort with this ability. This also means that Zylaari vocalizations typically can sound somewhat groany or hoarse to other species, varying person to person.

The species is also naturally psionic, specifically in the form of something that resembles a high functional level of intuition. Theories as to why this is mostly have to do with how the Zylaari brain is especially mentally well-adapted for having three planes of movement. For this reason also they tend to make excellent natural pilots and navigators.

The natural psionic ability of Zylaari is most frequently described as a sixth physical sense of "pressure" driving them towards favorable outcomes and away from the unfavorable, although this is not exactly reliable without significant training. As a result, they can come across as somewhat impulsive, but the Zylaari who most successfully utilize this trait frequently find great success in eg. gambling, war-fighting, and other high-risk endeavors.

Heritages

Aquatic

Zyl-krikt: The most populous species of Zylaari, the krikt most closely resemble Terran sharks and eels. They are exclusively carnivorous and naturally aquatic. Zyl-krikt translates roughly to 'people who hunt,' given their carnivorous nature. The krikt are frequently the most ambitious or maybe even avaricious by nature, and tend to be somewhat spontaneous. Several subspecies of Zyl-krikt have structures in their bodies that sense electromagnetic fields, and some can even deliver electric shocks, and therefore it was the krikt, both directly and indirectly, that led to the discovery of electricity on Dhaarakt.

Zyl-tak: A rarer species, the Zyl-tak resemble non-sharklike fish. They are naturally omnivorous, although most subspecies prioritize either vegetation or algae. Zyl-tak roughly translates to 'people who are bitten,' given their unfortunate role in prehistory. Historically, during the formation of societies on Dhaarakt, a number of Zyl-tak were kept as livestock and a labor pool for the Zyl-krikt (although the majority of the species was not), and while the Eternity forbids slavery (and especially chattel slavery), it's not infrequently that a tak will react to a krikt with either undue deference or undue umbrage. It's theorized that the Zyl-tak achieved sentience as part of their evolutionary struggle to avoid the dark fate the Zyl-krikt would have forced on them if they hadn't. Without the intense selection pressure of intelligent predation, the tak as a general rule have become less ambitious than the other Zylaari species; the tak even to this day represent the largest group of Zylaari that accept planet-bound life in serfdom, and they are rarely seen in space.

Air-Breathing

Zyl-ruult: The Zyl-ruult resemble Terran frogs and newts. They are omnivores, although most subspecies prioritize meat (specifically shellfish), as well as the only truly amphibian sophonts from Dhaarakt. Zyl-ruult roughly translates to 'people who write,' given their early development of the written word. The ruult are frequently stereotyped as physically inept but mentally capable; nerds, essentially. They tend to be shorter and slimmer than the other meat-eaters of Dhaarakt, and historically had a friendly relationship with the krikrikt even in prehistory, as the krikrikt would clear their fishing grounds of the predatory krikt. Largely responsible for the scientific advancements that led to Dhaarakt's discovery.

Zyl-krikrikt: The second most populous species of Zylaari, the krikrikt most often resemble Terran whales or dolphins. They are exclusively carnivorous, and neither aquatic nor truly amphibious, although unlike Terran cetaceans they are not in fact mammals, either. Zyl-krikrikt translates roughly to "people who hunt [even] hunters," given that on Dhaarakt they were able to raid the underwater communities of the Zyl-krikt, while the krikt were unable to take to land to retaliate. The krikrikt are extremely prosocial amongst themselves, but take a much colder and more calculating view of non-Zylaari; relations between them and the other Zylaari species do not feature this coldness in the modern day.

History

The planet Dhaarakt, while categorized as an oceanic world, in fact does possess several landmasses as well as terrestrial life. The many archaic species that would eventually become the Zylaari needed both to advance to sentience. In very ancient times and prehistory they lived in direct competition, with the predatory Zyl-krikt quite mercilessly consuming members of what would become the Zyl-tak and Zyl-ruult species, and the Zyl-krikrikt eventually moving from a land-bound existence back to the water to predate even on the Zyl-krikt. It's uncertain whether this evolutionary arms race produced or was the result of the budding psionic capabilities of these species (although modern science believes it was both over many millions of years), but all four arrived at the development of verbal language around the same time some five thousand years ago.

The discovery of fire, of course, could not happen underwater, and therefore neither could the smelting of ores, but as part of the same competitive advancements that led to the nomadic krikrikt's discovery of metallurgy and bronze specifically, the krikt countered with the development of aquaculture, and began to grow coral-like and electricity-producing structures that could be used as tools and weapons.

The Zylaari's psionic tendency led, over the next few centuries, to spurts of rapid advancement in extremely atypical directions. While they understood it under a religious framework, it was during their bronze age that the Zyl-ruult, in cooperation with the more warlike krikrikt, began to utilize primitive steam generators, which importantly powered radios. It was this, during Dhaarakt's burgeoning bronze age of war-like squabbling and wildly anomalous technology advancements, that the Eternity entered the planet's history.

What the exploratory ship of House Arthat found when it arrived at Dhaarakt in 1825 was not what its crew expected. Four unrelated sophont species, all with extremely similar morphologies, all psionic, engaged in petty and small-scale bronze age kingdoms at the same time as the development of radio and the harnessing of electricity, was a biological and sociological marvel that is still puzzling today. Nevertheless, here they were, and the Eternity's mission remained unchanged. The Zylaari did not initially react to first contact with a great degree of shock; while they previously had no concept of outer space, it was fairly simple to explain using analogies to water. To a world whose societies had not yet even mapped their own planet, and lived with mythologized worldviews, and already understood that more than one species could be sapient and form a society, the appearance of aliens was a momentous event but not particularly world-shattering. Virtually no serious resistance was offered to the Eternity, although it took nearly a century to massage the four species into a sufficient degree of internal peace and unity to properly integrate them into the Eternity's interstellar civilization. In the end, though, it was a remarkable success, and in the modern day it's almost impossible to imagine an Eternity ship of any size without at least one Zyl-ruult navigator, or a detachment of Zyl-krikt or krikrikt marines.

Society

The modern Zylaari do not precisely have one society, as they have integrated so thoroughly with the Eternity (its space fleets in particular) that the default social group is simply made up of the Zylaari crewmembers of a given ship. Compared to the other main species of the Eternity, a significantly higher proportion (roughly 70%) of Zylaari have chosen to live in space rather than accept planetside life. Rank and privilege are awarded through individual members of a ship's Zylaari community comparing lists of their impressive deeds as well as plans or oaths to achieve future glories. They generally try to use precise language in these oaths so as not to over-promise; they typically take the form of "I will aspire to [deed]," and less frequently as "I will perform [deed]." Among Zyl-krikt and krikrikt, these deeds are frequently martial in nature; this is much less the case among the tak and ruult.

A typical Zylaari relationship varies a good deal from species to species. Zyl-krikt largely mate opportunistically and don't usually form long-lasting emotional bonds with their mating partner, with children being raised communally; the same is usually true of the Zyl-tak. The ideal for a Zyl-ruult relationship is status-based, with members of either sex able to accumulate multiple long-term partners at once, with the status-subordinate partners' sex changing to match. Zyl-krikrikt relationships are typically monogamous and lifelong. It must be said that these are generalizations, and no species wholly adheres to its given cultural ideal.

The Zylaari aptitude for movement in three dimensions has led directly to their great proliferation as pilots, but their more impulsive and risk-tolerant personalities mean that they less commonly rise beyond functional roles. There are fewer Zylaari serfs in the Eternity than there are servicemembers, but it's rare to encounter one with a high rank. Generally speaking, they are simply too good at the work they do to promote.

Among Zylaari who have left the Eternity to join other political powers, this social structure is largely identical. A curious tendency is that, within majority-Zylaari communities (whether ships or on stations), the aspirational risk-taking becomes much more intense than in minority-Zylaari communities. The prevailing theory is that, with potential captaincy now more accessible to them, the affected Zylaari feel a psionic pressure towards a command role as a goal. The result is that majority-Zylaari ships semi-frequently are driven by intra-community competitiveness to commit ever more audacious acts that often eventually veer into mutiny, piracy, or both. It's considered an essential skill for an Eternity ship's captain to monitor the mood, size, and competitiveness of their ship's Zylaari complement.

The taboo against consuming fellow sophonts is not as strong in the carnivorous Zylaari species as in most other species, as it was imposed culturally several centuries by the Eternity rather than having a biological basis. While sophontophagy is not widely practiced in the modern day, and there is a taboo against it, it doesn't provoke the kind of instinctual revulsion common to mammals. Sophontophagy is mostly practiced by already-criminal elements such as pirates and bandits as a means of psychological warfare.

A number of rhetorical tools used by the Eternity during the Zylaari acclimation process still find common use among Zylaari. For example, it's not uncommon to hear one refer poetically to space as "the sea of stars," without finding it particularly odd, or to use somewhat archaic sailing terms.

Zylaari names are typically not complicated. Traditionally the family name comes first and the personal second, although in Zyl-krikt it's rather the community name first. This means that, for the Zyl-krikt, their 'family' name is frequently one of the Eternity's long and poetic ship names.

Example Names: Freedom And Guile Ruukta, Enterprise Nakt, Iirdtak Zeen

Beliefs

Zylaari in the modern day most frequently practice the semi-agnostic Eternity state philosophy of Eternalism, which teaches in part that gods are largely illustrative concepts. Before they were contacted, Zylaari religion typically centered around a particular god of their native city or community, which was openly believed to have been a mortal hero of the distant past, and some have transplanted these gods into the framework provided by Eternalism. This historical practice of hero-worship, and its understanding of gods as illustrative figures meant to emulate more than worship, made Eternalism an easily understood philosophy that has mostly been successfully integrated into the average Zylaari's worldview.

Style Guide and Character Creation

Gilled species should frequently (though this is not a hard rule since some have genetically modified themselves to have lungs) use some kind of water tank on their gills, sometimes with a larger reoxygenation tank on their backs.