Shlafes

The Shlafes are a powerfully built bipedal race of furry mammal-like creatures. Early Shlafes were nomads who roamed the plains following animals as the seasons changed until eventually a tribe of Shlafes settled near a lake when they took up fishing. There the first Shlafes city grew for centuries and a royal family became its undisputed rulers. As other cities popped up elsewhere on the planet, the first city had a head start and conquered the newcomers, essentially becoming world rulers. There came a time when two twin princes both claimed rule of the city upon the death of their father. The populace was divided and a bloody civil war probably would have broken out if spaceships hadn’t landed in the palace courtyard that day. The Ugder had landed.

The Shlafes homeworld is in the same star system as the Ugder homeworld. The two species are neighbors. So when the Ugder reached out into space, the Shlafes were the first alien life forms they encountered. It didn’t go well. The more technologically advanced Ugder saw the Shlafes as little more than animals, and treated them as beasts of burden as they colonized the planet. It was an unfortunately bad first contact and only generations of struggle have made things somewhat better, as the Ugder came to realize the Shlafes were intelligent, and now treat them as equals.

Bongk Hayken lives on the Ugder homeworld, which is where his family had been brought as slaves and remained after they were freed. Bongk has a job working in a spaceport, serving food to many different species that visit the planet, which is pretty complex work.

Tuck Sherm lives on the Shlafes homeworld, in the same region his family in which had always resided. Though his ancestors may not have been taken away by the Ugder, that isn’t to say they didn’t suffer. The planet-wide disturbance caused by the arrival of aliens collapsed many of the structures that kept the society running, and this region in particular was left impoverished. Tuck is now an activist trying to improve the state of the region.

Roghad Dukkik is the Bloodking of the Shlafes. When the Ugder derailed the path of Shlafes society, the royal bloodline that ruled for so long was all but forgotten. When it was eventually decided to reestablish the royal government of the Shlafes, genetic testing was done to find any descendants of the original line still existed. One did, and it was Roghad. He is a young, irreverent slacker and he doesn’t even know the history of the royal family. It’ll be a wacky adventure having him as the new ruler of the planet.

A Fact About The Shlafes: Grooming rituals make up an important role in Shlafes society. Though they had no concept of germs or bacteria or anything like that, they naturally came up with many techniques that created a good level of sanitation for their living environments. Comparatively, the Ugder were a mess until they arrived on Shlafes and they learned a lot of from their neighbors that saved many Ugder lives.

Universe: Narsidon

Eebaks

The Eebaks are a species with two powerful legs, six eyes, beaks, and soft fur that covers the core area of their body. They are an extremely social species, living closely together in “Houses” made up of individuals who will stick together throughout their lives, for better or for worse, with everyone supposed to pitch in.

Dorinto Pront is, as the name suggests, a Pront. Pronts are members of the “House of Houses”, which is a group of representatives from different Houses who meet regularly to discuss matters of the public good, and Dorinto does a lot of good there. Unfortunately. Dorinto’s House is particularly well off, with very little suffering in their lives, so the others don’t quite understand why Dorinto should spend so much time meeting to discuss the well-being of lesser Houses. Most of Dorinto’s housemates actually see it as a waste of time, and think of Dorinto as lazy and not contributing to the well-being of the House.

Fakrang is a professional mater. Eebak reproduction is done with two participants, one creating a shell-like object and the other filling it with genetic material and the burying the result in the ground (they are an agendered species and any individual can contribute either component). Fakrang, being a particularly attractive Eebak, travels from location to location finding those who have a desire to mate and helping them out. Eebaks don’t care for their offspring, so there is not much of an emotional component to Fakrang knowing that they’ve fathered hundreds of children.

Maureraw is a hunter. The Eebak diet consists mostly of smaller animals, which they prefer to eat alive, so hunters like Maureraw are expected to capture the animals alive and then bring them back to their House, or to trade them to other Houses. As a side-project, though, Maureraw has invented a method of working with a flying-insect-like species to gather the products they produce. Maureraw has invented this planet’s version of beekeeping.

A Fact About Eebaks: Only a generation ago, the largest episode of warfare in the planet’s history erupted across the planet, caused by a matter of etiquette. Wars had happened among the Eebak before over things such as territory or resources, but this first World War began when a well-respected Pront in a highly civilized region travelled to a less developed region and was taken in by locals and given shelter and food. The Pront returned home and had a message of thanks sent, but it was discovered that the message was worded not by the Pront themselves, but by an assistant. This was seen as a scandal and an insult to the poorer region, and when the other poorer regions joined them in standing up against this affront, thousands of regions were drawn into the conflict to show the reality of their thanks to their allies. This was the cause of the bloodiest war the Eebaks have ever known.

Universe: Red

You may have thought that my band, Senator Lizard, had fallen off the face of the Earth. Nuh-uh! Here is the cover art for the newest album: