Zezwek People

The planet Zezwek is occupied by an otherdimensional invasion force. Only a generation ago, the Zezwek people were spread over the planet, various nations and cultures and tribes. They are a herbivorous species who, in most of their cultures, were ruled by councils of elders. Then the Efmons came. A family of mystical warlords from some other cosmos, the Efmons conquered the world fairly easily. Towwa Efmon, who resembles a Zezwek person, has been put in place as Master of Zezwek and all the varying cultures have been united as one under their rule, as slaves.

Though the Efmons used force to conquer the planet and to maintain their hold against uprisings, they ultimately don’t want the people of Zezwek to remain slaves. The Efmons want loyal subjects. With that in mind, they now work very hard to convert the locals to the worship of their dark god Thalamaya. Given that they have visible mystical powers on display, many locals are willing to go along with it.

Ning Wayva, is a convert to the Efmons. Ning fought against the Family when they first arrived on the planet, but after the locals were defeated, the Efmons allowed Ning a chance to serve in a new army to keep the rebellious Zezwek locals under the Efmon thumb. Ning is especially excited about the Efmon’s promise that someday the army will be strong enough to seek out other worlds to conquer.

The younger generation, such as Sussun Kutt, have grown up under Efmon rule and don’t know anything else. While the cultural norm for the species is a respect for elders, the Efmons have been trying to introduce an attitude of youth-worship. Sussun Kutt, being loyal to the Efmons, has been promoted as the world’s first celebrity idol. Instead of being like successful elders, the Zezwek youth are told that this is how they want to act, this is who they want to be. As with so many similar situations on Earth, this is having an adverse effect on Sussun, the idol themself.

Keggish Durge was once a respected elder in their nation. Keggish wants nothing to do with these strange beings who claim to be from another world. Keggish leads a resistance that makes their base in caves near one of the planet’s shipping ports. Keggish lost an eye in a fight against Wabatose Efmon, but that has not stopped Keggish from repeatedly trying to breach the family’s portals to sabotage them on their own turf.

A Fact About the Zezwek People: If they ingest dirt, the Zezwek people can regurgitate it into a claylike substance which hardens into a strong but flexible material which is often used when constructing buildings. It is especially helpful at the base of buildings in tectonically active areas, as the material’s flexibility helps buildings withstand earthquakes.

Universe: Red

Veskadians

This tripedal species is from Veskadia, a planet much more massive than Earth. As a result, they are stout, standing about a metre on average, and very strong. They have thick scales and occasionally horns. Their arms, placed on either side of their mouth, are ideal for foraging the nuts and berries that make up their diet and plopping them right into their mouth. Veskadia is a harsh, dry world with terrible sandstorms where Veskadians must spend most of their day foraging. There are predatory animals, some willing to try to take on Veskadians, but the Veskadians build large fences to try to keep them out of their territories, which are usually valleys.

Because survival is very hard on their world, the Veskadians don’t work quite as hard to keep wounded Veskadians alive. If a Veskadian breaks their leg, for example, it is not uncommon for the others to stomp them to death. Dead bodies are left at the base of food bushes to encourage their growth.

Genedler is a young Veskadian living in one of the most strongly-fenced valleys on the planet. While residents there still have to deal with harsh weather and droughts, foraging there is easier than elsewhere, allowing more time for leisure. Genedler prefers to spend that time painting on rocks, a pastime considered wasteful by most, and which would not be possible in other valleys.

In a rougher part of the world, Rudneel is the boss. Rudneel’s valley has a river that dries up for much of the year, so food becomes scarce. Rudneel has lived through a lot of these hard periods and is now seen as an elder who can offer advice to others on how to get through. Rudneel is willing to try to keep others alive, but only if they follow the rules exactly. There’s no sense in trying to save those who make things more difficult.

And Durl is in an even rougher part of the world than that. After a storm during Durl’s childhood killed every other Veskadian in that valley, Durl is the only one left. Growing up alone, Durl doesn’t even realize that there are others still alive elsewhere.

A Fact About Veskadians: Veskadians don’t have any strong familial attachments. They give birth to litters averaging about four and the young can stand only hours after being born. Though they often remain in the same valley for life and will mingle in social groups, they don’t place any preference for family over others. They do, however, recognize close relatives by scent, which helps prevent incest.

Universe: Indigo

Giptunks

Giptunks live on a planet they call Gropkla. It is a world of lesser gravity than Earth, allowing them to grow twice the height of a human, on average. They stand upright and have a single large compound eye on their face and fine grey fur that covers their body. One each limb they have three digits, those of the feet being very short and stubby, those on the hands being longer and useful for making tools. The society of Giptunks would be seen as primitive by humanity. They are largely agricultural and small villages dot the landscape, but few large cities have arisen. There is, however, some advanced technology, both in farming equipment and in the form of flying vehicles, the latter aided by the low gravity of the world. They have also developed lasers much earlier in their development than humanity, which is nice. All manner of animals on Gropkla have been domesticated. They are used as beasts of burden, and as food, and as pest control. Very few truly “wild” species remain on land, and flying animals and sea creatures are only more likely to be free because they’re harder to tame.

One Giptunk, named Dwillsa, is trying to tame some of the sea creatures, though. With her farm located along the shoreline, she has created an artificial harbour to house a type of animal they call “rats” but which have nothing to do with Earth’s rats. The nearest comparison to Earth animals for Gropklan rats would be to call them mammalian frogs. While they are edible, they are no particular delicacy, but Dwillsa is hoping they can be made profitable anyway, if she can convince people they go well as a side dish to every meal.

As a member of the male-equivalent gender of Giptunk, Ortang is smaller than the average “female” and has blunt horns on his head. These “males” make up only thirty percent of the Giptunk population, so it is not hard for them to find mates (often multiple mates), but the existence of the horns makes Giptunk historians wonder if, perhaps, there was a time when males made up the bigger proportion and they had to fight over mating rights. To this day, male Giptunks in a fight will use their horns to try to damage the eyes of their opponents. Ortang, however, is a pacifist and is, in fact, one of those historians. He shudders to think of the violence that may have once been a common part of his species’ life.

Mavdav is a pilot. With agriculture being so important to Giptunks, there is a vast network of shipping of goods and livestock and equipment. The people who run these shipping lines see a lot more of the world than the mostly sedentary farmers. Experiencing the many different Giptunk cultures exposes them to ideas and concepts that challenge their minds and make them more open mentally. Mavdav in particular has spent a lot of time picking up concepts about plant life and created several written comparisons that we would consider scientific research. It is not unusual for her to meet other pilots in inns and compare her notes with theirs on other topics. It is in this way that knowledge spreads on Gropkla, and this is why pilots there are responsible for most cultural advancement.

A Fact About Giptunks: Giptunks wear fabric sleeves on their limbs, considering bare limbs to be ugly and obscene.

Universe: Green

The Hivrhin Ones

These people, from the planet Hivrhin, call themselves, in their language, the Ones. This is a reference to the fact that, though they now enjoy a strong sense of individuality, the species evolved from animals with insect-like hive mentality. Though they treasure their sense of self now, they still strongly believe in working together as a unit for a better society. That’s more than some other species can say.

That does not mean that there is total peace on Hivrhin by any means. While any individual “city” (their word for it is close to colony) is likely to be a very pleasant place, there are still conflicts and even wars between different cities.

Dr. Vedzax is one of the Hivrhin Ones.

Living in the Northernmost City, Wilgon is a member of the worker caste (though that is now a conscious choice, rather than a biological imperative) and she works at the planet’s largest spaceport. The species has been reaching into the stars for several generations now, and made contact with other worlds. It is rare for other species to visit the world. If they do, however, this likely the city they are going to see. As such, Wilgon has gotten a taste for other worlds and longs to one day get a job working on another planet.

Xarla is a worker for another city. She maintains the Queenhouses, which, as one may expect, house the city’s queens and their young. That particular city is at war with a neighboring one, and attacks on the Queenhouses are depressingly common, so Xarla has had to do a fair bit of fighting in between repair jobs. She has grown quite despondent and questions the meaning of what seems a futile life. Thanks to this, she is susceptible to a cult that has been growing in that city, trying to convince the people to begin a campaign to wipe out the rest of the cities and become the only lineage of the Ones. While Xarla is not yet fully on board with it, she enjoys the meetings with others who similarly feel that the world is not as it should be and that this could be a solution.

And Eughlunk is from another city, one which is located on an equatorial island. People there are known for farming, using small animals and harvesting a sugary dew from them. The city has grown rich by selling this dew to the rest of the world, and Eughlunk works as an educator for the city, showing the younger generations how to do the business. On Hivrhin, educators are actually well rewarded for their work, so Eughlunk lives a life of great luxury. There is even a good chance he will one day get to provide his genetic material to the queens to create a new generation.

A Fact About the Hivrhin Ones: The Ones do not have any popular form of fictional stories. It’s not that they can’t fathom it, they can understand why it might appeal to other races, and they can lie when they want to, but the idea of creating stories about events that don’t exist has never caught on among them.

Universe: White

Floatrians

Note that members of this species does not call themselves “Floatrians” as they do not have a name for their kind. They have not yet fathomed the idea that there are other worlds with people they would have to differentiate themselves from. They have evolved in an upper stratosphere of a gas giant planet. They are hermaphroditic leathery-skinned sacs filled with gasses that allow them to float. The heaviest part of a Floatrian is the “plate” above their three eyes. Floatrians can control bloodflow into this plate, and in doing so make patterns in the heat there. With vision going into the infrared spectrum, the Floatrians can see the patterns in each other’s plates and this is how they communicate (vocal communication would be quite difficult in the winds of their world). While they can project gas from an orifice on their back to facilitate movement, Floatrians also have fins that allow them to control their gliding and that suffices most of the time. While they can control the four “prongs” of their fins just enough to delicately grasp very small, light objects, they lack the finesse to really work with them and, as such, have created very little in the way of technology.

The primary diet of the Floatrians is made up of small creatures that, if they can be compared to Earth’s creatures, resemble a mix between plants and insects. Mostly, this means that the Floatrians are nomadic, following the insect swarms around as they seek out sunlight for photosynthesis. Neoss is a swarm claimer. It’s job is to stay as close to a swarm as possible, so that Neoss’s tribe may rightfully eat from it, while other tribes know to go find some other food source.

Boid, meanwhile, is a tribeless Floatrian. Having never formed the close connections to other individuals that would allow it a place in a tribe, Boid now travels far and wide with a valuable resource: information. Boid learns whatever bit of fact someone may find valuable (weather reports, news of tribes going to war, etc.) and, when coming across a tribe, will offer that information up for the right to feed at their swarm for a time before moving on.

But Vite is less kind. Leader of a tribe that doesn’t have a swarm of their own, Vite seeks out swarm claimers from weaker tribes and moves in to steal meals. With violence if necessary.

A Fact About Floatrians: When they are young and small, the Floatrians float quite high in the skies. As they grow older and larger, they can’t quite achieve the same heights (and don’t really want to). And as they get very old and weak, they tend to stay even lower, until they eventually die and fall finally into the winds and are carried away. It is perhaps for this reason that they, as a culture, tend to associate the direction of “down” with higher ages and higher numbers in general. To them, the number 100 is a “lower” number than 10, even though it is still a “larger” number. Also, they use base-4, but that’s beside the point.

Universe: Blue