Strondovarian culture is all about keeping up to date on the latest information from the Knowledge Base, so it is important to have a constant connection to that source. While every home and building on Gurx would have built in terminals and relays that are active at all times. But what is one to do when not at home? What if you’re walking down the street and you need to get in touch with the world? That’s when you’d use a portable device, like this one:

Almost every Strondo you see out and about has a small portable device like this one, which they keep in a fold inside their mouth when not being used. By any door in a Strondo building you’re likely to see a shelf with several such devices to be taken by anyone who needs one while they’re away. And because their hearing organ is also in their mouth, it is not uncommon for them to keep an audio feed on, at low volume, just to stay up to date.

But what’s most important about the technological Strondovarian connections to the Knowledge Base is that they have to recognize the user. It would be inconvenient if a Strondo used the terminal in some public building and could access their own personal information. It would be unthinkable for one Strondo to pose as another and make fraudulent reports to the Knowledge Base. To prevent such things, all technology that connects to the Knowledge Base is reactive to the user.

If you are working on your portable device, but then want to use a wall terminal, you just put down the portable and use the wall terminal. It will instant be displaying the same information you were just looking at on the other portable. And if you hand your portable to your child, it will instantly display that child’s information. A combination of biometrics, and just the fact that the Knowledge Base keeps pretty constant track of who is doing what, means the devices know who is using them and knows what it is supposed to do for each and every user.

(Incidentally, on the topic of Strondo technology: One of the ways humans would be confused by Strondovarian culture is their attitude toward possessions and belongings, such as their portable reactive devices. Strondos just don’t share our human attachment to stuff. If a Strondo isn’t actively using a thing, they see no reason that someone else shouldn’t be allowed to walk up and take it. This attitude has been present in Strondos to some extent since they came to be, but it has truly been cemented in the last ten thousand years or so, with Strondo culture and technology coming into its present form. A Strondo has no need to hold onto a physical copy of a book or a piece of artwork when the Knowledge Base has all the content safely stored and easily shared.)

Bwotyaxkoneabb

On a hill in the grasslands, a Boavaie takes a break while a small herd of Hethrooau lazily wander by.

Boavaie

An Aehubar species that lacks the ability to hear. Boavaie are highly social creatures, but don’t utilize the chirps and whistles common to their communicative cousins. The “tail” of the Boavaie contains organs for creating complex scents that they can use to mark territory and leave messages. For closeup communication, the topmost limbs have evolved for semaphore-like communication.

Vivaiyin

A large part of a Boavaie’s diet is made up of Vivaiyin, a fuzzy little Vootuph that is a useful pollinator in the grasslands. Feeding off plants that secrete their genetic material, that material sticks to the Vivaiyin’s fur, where it is carried off to mingle with other plants. That is, assuming the Vivaiyin is not eaten before it gets there. Fortunately, there’s a lot of them around.

Hethrooau

An example of Gurxian megafauna, Hethrooau are the largest Aehubar. With their topmost limbs and their mouths having adapted to grazing, they roam the grasslands in herds. Their backs are covered in leathery shells that help to protect them from sharp-limbed Glounaph who might try to attack from above and their sheer size tends to protect them from land-based predators.

I have just not found the time to draw another scene of life on Planet Gurx, so I’m just gonna do a post with a bunch more of the Gurxian animals I’ve already drawn, aren’t I? I sure am. Here they go.

Drovoo

A predatory armoured Vootuph with four eyestalks, which allow them to seek out smaller creatures along the Gurxian beaches, and two stabbing appendages, which allow them to kill that prey. Drovoo are the largest of this branch of the Vootuph line, and often prey on smaller examples such as Pwiak.

Twel

Docile river-swimming creatures, the Twel use their hindmost limbs to gather fallen debris to build complex nests in which they, in monogamous pairs, raise their young. Early Strondos (and other Varians of those ages) would hunt Twel and they were a mainstay of their diet.

Hotaein

An Aehubar relatively near the Strondovarians on the evolutionary tree, the Hotaein occupy a similar place to them as monkeys do to humans. That said, Strondos don’t have the sentimentality toward their cousins that some humans have toward theirs, and generally consider Hotaein to be pests.

Urloay

A rare kind of Lapaouger whose hindmost limbs have adapted into tendrils that can snare prey. These, when joined by the claws on the forelimbs, are the weapons that make Urloay one of the most fierce hunters on Gurx.

Guoar

Living in the crowded branches near the canopy of the rare green forests found on some of Gurx’s more isolated islands, the Guoar like to calmly climb around the branches and eat the tiny Vootuph who also live on the trees. Guoar are mellow and slow.

Ayaih

With topmost limbs adapted to digging, the Ayaih live in large systems of tunnels beneath the grasslands, coming out to forage for meals. They’re skittish creatures, used to fleeing back to their tunnels to avoid predators and have a complex language of chirps used to warn each other of threats.

Gloueb had not seen the skies of planet Gurx in many years. Though born here, in this very city of Dalennep, Gloueb had spent more than half of their lifetime so far working in space. Gurx didn’t feel like home anymore.

And now Gloueb was stuck here, along with the large percentage of the Strondos who had been working as astronauts, but had now been called back to their home planets. They were being treated like they were Nexvar, being put away until they were needed again. But unlike Nexvar, Gloueb wasn’t being put into suspended animation between jobs. They had a chance here to fill their time with all sorts of experiences on Gurx, but did they want to?

That’s what Gloueb was wondering as they looked out the window at Dalennep. Then, rubbing a tapestry, Gloueb activated lights woven into the fabric and turned into the room. They wondered what it meant that they didn’t like it here. It was comfortable at least. Anyone credited as working on the New Gurx project could stay at any of the city’s hotels, so Gloueb had taken up residence in the hotel nearest the spaceport, as though, they thought, staying close to it would ensure that the news that they could get back into space would reach them that little bit sooner. But why did they want to go back? There were innumerable fresh experiences on this planet, lots to do and see.

The problem was how slow it was here. The stars, even Ahan, sat so still. Sure, Gloueb knew that planets and stars all moved quite quickly. But compared to spaceship with a buloggo engine? Gurx was a standstill.

Gloueb turned to a tabletop terminal and switched on a connection to the Knowledge Base. For the first time in their lifetime, they looked up what it takes to become a registered Nexvar.

*****

Wise Chargan sat and looked out the window of their mountaintop home. They did not spend as much time on Gurx as they once did, but the automatic units kept the home in perfect order. It was a comforting feeling to sit in a familiar chair and listen to audio updates from the Knowledge Base. Chargan could use any comfort they could get.

The audio updates were full of the latest news approved to be heard by the masses, but Chargan knew things that had not, and may never, make it into them. Worrying things.

A Rootfolk armada found lifeless, recently destroyed, within Strondo space. It was a mystery how a fleet of ships designed by their most frequent enemies had made it so close to Gurx without being spotted. It was a further mystery how they had been destroyed without a battle being noticed. And it was the most disturbing mystery of all that their destroyer remained unknown. The Rootfolk fleet had been technologically advanced, Chargan had seen it. More advanced than anything the Strondos possessed at this time. Finding them dead was the best outcome. Certainly better than it would have been to learn of them only when they attacked.

Who killed the Rootfolk fleet? Where were these killers now? What could they want? What could Strondovarian culture do to protect itself? The Wise had agreed to decrease unnecessary activity in space for the time being, to avoid attracting attention, but construction of New Gurx had to continue. It was unrealistic to believe they could avoid notice for long. And whose notice were they trying to avoid?

Chargan could, for now, only worry about potential answers.

And now we’ll take another look at some of the animals one could find on planet Gurx.

Abpeaoulee

The Abpeaoulee graze in the tundra lands. Their top limbs, having evolved into an antler-like shape, are often used in fighting one another to establish standing in their herds, but instead of using them to fend off predators, they tend to tuck them down down along their back to become more aerodynamic as they flees. They are some of the fastest runners on Gurx.

Eenag

Bottom-feeding Lapaouger, Eenag are adapted for living at the bottom of the oceans of Gurx, eating whatever they can find down there. Perhaps the most notable thing about them is the fact that they are considered the most-recently discovered and catalogued “Oaheem” (Roughly translating to “large animal” in differentiating them from plants or microscopic animals) on Gurx, the scientist who discovered them being still alive.

Gloyantib

With a name that is meant to evoke the idea of a biting tattoo, the Gloyantib are a tiny relative of the Loyoloy. They dwell in the water until some larger, preferably land-dwelling, creature happens to swim into their reach, at which point they grab on and hitch a ride. Once their in the air, they feed off the blood of their host.

Okloat

The dominant predator in the tundra regions is a Aehubar species that lives and hunts in packs. Their top limbs are adapted for grasping their prey, allowing them to hang on until the victim tires itself out. They may not be able to run down an Abpeaoulee, but Okloat are extremely intelligent animals, capable of tracking and flanking the animals they hunt. Larger relatives of the Okloat once hunted Varians during the Neboosidih, and though those ones were wiped out, modern Strondos are still not overly fond of Okloat and will kill them if they come too near cities.

Phollop

Related to the Stepao, Phollop are smaller than their cousins and spend a lot more time living in the water. They do leap out so they can glide down on prey swimming near the surface. Unlike Stepao, the Phollop have no particular reputation as an ill-omen in Strondo culture, but they do consider them annoying beasts who hang around cities near the ocean.

Aigreeloa

The forest-dwelling Aigreeloa are long creatures that swiftly move about and scoop up plantlike food while they run about. Anything resembling teeth are rare on Gurx, usually food is dismantled by the Rel while being held within the mouth cavity, but Aigreeloa have something toothlike. Bony protrusions along the bottom of their mouths help to quickly sever the plant matter from its roots, allowing the Aigreeloa to keep on the move.

Hooidho

A little kind of Vootuph, only about three centimetres in size but with a highly potent venom. They act as ambush predators, hanging out in tall grass, usually near water, until they get a chance to sting small animals that come nearby. They can only eat so much of an animal’s corpse though, so they often share with others of their kind. They are not a particularly social species, but meeting while eating is also when they find a chance to mate.

Uttatib

Another species from the tundra, Uttatib are scavengers who don’t directly compete with the Okloat when the hunters have superior numbers, but if Uttatib come across a lone Okloat with a kill, they will certainly drive them away and steal the meal. Otherwise, the Uttatib tend to make do by catching corpses where they can find them.