DRAKON
Drakon-Xeno
Homo Draconis Xeno
The Drakon-Xeno, politely referred to as the Drakon or Drakon, are one of the most curious examples of a created species on record with the Assembly of Worlds. Born as soldiers to the now-destroyed Todularian Ecclasiarchy, the inheritors of power after the XenoCide, and now the genetic ruling class in the Federation, the Drakon battled, leveraged, and now enjoy the benefits of genetic type-casting and Todularian over-specialization.
The Drakonian genotype is partially reptilian, but the phenotype is almost completely mammalian due to the inclusion of a secondary genome to combat against viral weaponry and oncogenetic mutation. They stand on average 2 to 3 feet taller than most humans, and easily hundreds of pounds larger thanks to dense bones, larger muscle groups, and redundant vital organs.
With sleek, semi-conductive scales covering their bodies, they seem like lizards with casual observation, but have body structures and physiological similarities with mammals, with exothermic bodies, live births, and hominid reproductive and digestive structures. Other indicators include clawed, 5-fingered hands, 3-toed feet ending with sharp toe talons, and occasional occurrence of a bone-like “crest” at the back of their long, triangular, reptilian skulls that only form ‘horns’ with congenital mutation (associated with the Pairbond Sequence elaborated on later) or aesthetic gene-modification.
Wingless and tailless in contrast to the Dragyn of Todularian myth, they are not based off of any pre-existing organisms or species, being truly original beings. Coded in computers, drawn up from raw genetic material and born in vats in Eccalsiarchy laboratories, the first generation of Drakon were all too proud of their social role as military strong-men and avatars of the Gods. However, their descendents grew restless, joining the social and scientific movements that later sparked the Xenohuman Civil War and saw the end of the Ecclasiarchy. This generation’s children fought in the XenoCide and inherited the nation, becoming arrogant and pernicious. Now, in a galaxy that has changed much, the 4th generation of Drakon, the fighting and working youth of the nation aged 15-35, are a more stable, balanced race willing to work with others to advance the nation as a whole, and less receptive to genetic and political propaganda than their ancestors.
Occasionally resenting consignment as lizard-men alongside other reptilian races evolved naturally into their current state of being, racism from the Drakon is passive-aggressive, rarely showing itself as outbursts of anger or violence. However, this latent tension has caused issues on a few occasions, with relationships with the Saurisians, Gorn, and other reptilian races turning into love-hate relationships driven by a dangerous whirlwind of slight racism and competitive biotechnology.
In Xenohuman society, Drakons are known as the stronger part of the Federation. Physically superior and politically better-placed than Xenohumans, they hold the vast majority of military and political positions, with the Xenohumans themselves thankful that they can live their secure, routine lives in safety. However, older Drakons tend to view Xenohumans with disdain, seeing them as simply unable to keep up in a galaxy where domestic blood competes with foreign blood for survival, be it through military combat or reproductive capability. With politicized Genetic Soundness Tests and the Federal Charter of Genetically Questionable Races a product of the Drakon, they are rarely questioned morally by the non-Drakon populace save extraordinary or arbitrary placement of certain peoples.
With 70% of all Drakonian males serving in the military for five years or more, and with over 90% of all held government positions going to Drakon, it is not unheard of for other nations with sub-standard intelligence programs to think that all Xenohumans are Drakonian, leading to contentious confusion as to the genetic origins of the Drakon-Xeno in relation to modified humans or
Homo Sapiens-based nonhumans. However, XenoIntel works hard to combat this rumor, despite the fact that it has sometimes leveraged this fact in information warfare.
Visual:Drakonian sight is binocular and generally forward-facing, but the capacity for vision can extend up to 270 degrees if the eyes are turned to the sides as far as possible. This extended vision is more peripheral and loses considerable detail, but military gene-fixing removes this easily, making Drakon deceptively aware of their surroundings. Average visual acuity stands at 20/14 due to purpose-built optical tissue refinements in the retinal tissues that allow far better resolution adjustment when presented with objects of varying distance. This gives Drakon supreme distance judgment and hand-eye coordination, another gift from the Todularians to make them natural-born gunmen.
Auditory:Rather than ears, Drakon use genetically modified tympanums, or external eardrums to hear. An array of 6 small tympanums on each side of the head are located behind the eyes, each one made of durable, flexible skin-like material and ringed with hardened cartilage. When sound strikes the drum, vibrations on the drum are transmitted to small tissue rods that stir material in the inner-ear tubes of the Drakon. This stirring moves nerve-hair which transmits the motion into crystal clear sound.
When the Todularians designed the Drakonian Tympanum, they also incorporated a brilliant failsafe found in most frogs. Drakonian lungs also contain sensory tissues to pick up sound, transmitting any sonic waves that strike or enter the lungs directly to the tympanum systems and converting them into sound. This not only allows extreme air pressure and sound pressure to be safely equalized through the lungs, but allows for pin-point accuracy in finding the source of a sound, as comparing the pressure between the cranial ears and the lung sensor-tissues allows for accurate distance and direction measurement.
The system, as it is merely a simplification of hominid hearing systems, does not detract from the frequency range and hearing distance of the Drakon. Lab studies have found a gene-fixed frequency range of 5 Hz – 20,000 Hz, with greater perception at the lower bandwidths. Due to the resilience of the tympanum tissues, regenerative inner-ear tissues, redundant nerve connections, and pressure-reactive bio-analgesics, Drakon can handle long-term sound pressures of approximately 115 dB without sustaining hearing damage, and have been shown to have a threshold of pain of an astounding 160 dB, making them naturally resistant to stun grenades and concussive sensory injury.
Tactile-Sensory:Drakonian ‘scales’ are extremely deceptive, for they are in fact a cutaneous plating over a dermal tissue wrap, making them more like dense fingernails than anything else. Even then, due to their small size, they are barely noticeable, giving Drakon a sleek, moist shine rather than a gem-like glimmer. Semiconductive to electricity by design, the Todularians gave Drakon a natural affinity to mechanical augmentation, allowing their skin to serve as a much better neural connector than additional wiring. However, this does mean that Drakon are more likely to be harmed by static discharges and electrical accidents, meaning that a few Drakon are gene-fixed and ‘rubber-skinned’ to reduce this conductivity to a minimum.
Drakonian sub-skin is generally grey, white, or black. The color of the scales themselves can be greatly variable, covering the ‘chromatic spectrum’ in accordance with Todularian color-catechism. Reds, blues, whites, blacks, and greens are all common-place, with gene-modification allowing for pinks, greys, and purples as well.
Digestion:Todularians were self-hating people at times, and their Drakon were designed to facilitate flagellant penance and humility when eating. Therefore, the Drakonian digestive system is durable, high-capacity, naturally anti-toxic, and suited to break down nearly anything it faces. With extremely strong stomach and intestinal muscles, diverse and genetically engineered floral and faunal colonies in the digestive tract, and extremely efficient waste removal systems, everything from rocks to urine can be consumed with relatively minor consequence. Artificial poisons still effect Drakon negatively, but raw meat, contaminated food, and rot toxins have been found to do little to dampen Drakonian health.
Sexuality:Drakon were born to be warriors, and an unfortunate reality of the Todularian perception of that role was aggressive military sexuality, often at the expense of others, now referred to by XenoIntel propaganda as a literal ‘rape culture’. While gene-fixing exists that moderates the hormones responsible for aggression and sexual drive, it is usually administered only as a punitive measure to civilian sexual criminals. Due to the loosening of public morality after the Civil War, open cultural exchange with progressive and liberal nations, and hormonal surpluses, Drakon are very forward about their needs and wants, and ‘double-talk’ and innuendo are seen as deceptive and dangerous. Immunosuppressive aptitudes towards negating STIs and venereal blights combined with gene-fixing administered in-utero bring the risk of negative repercussions of base physical activity to a minimum.
Female Drakon maternalize hormonally during gestation, making pregnancy the only time ‘at-a-glance’ gender distinctions arise. Mammarial tissues begin to multiply in preparation for a hungry infant and muscle mass decreases as it is catalyzed into nutrition for the unborn, continuing over the course of the 30 weeks of pregnancy. Drakon children are almost always single births, with twins the result of a congenital mutation that the Todularians referred to as ‘Pairbond Sequences’ and are of interest to psionics and biotics researchers, due to their uncanny aptitude for biotic and psionic implants.
Drakon were genetically programmed to birth their young quickly, and to grow up with the same speed. While born a pale white and with no teeth erupted, the full set break within 4 weeks and the skin and scales colorize within 6 months. Breast milk is weaned out of the diet after a year, and physical maturation continues at an accelerated pace until the age of 8, when puberty proper begins, finishing at around age 15.
Biotics and Psionics:The Drakon were intended to exist as soldiers, and the Todularians held psionics and other metaphysical capacities as a hallmark of the ruling class. This was codified into the Drakonian double-genome as a natural ineptitude for hyper-mental ability, high rejection rates for biotic and psionic implants, and notable mental vulnerability to psychic influence. While the majority of Drakon feel they have lost little, and those who do find solace in extensive mechanical and nano-augmentation, there are a select few who are born with the capacity for power beyond scientific reckoning.
Theories abound in regards to the true origins of the Pairbond Sequence; cult conspiracies, midiclorian mutation, neurotoxic gene-venoms integrating into cellular systems, and even foreign infiltrators tampering with modern medical gene-fixes. However, the true nature of the P.S. is unknown. What is known is that it exhibits itself exclusively in twin births, with approximately 80% of such births resulting in phenotypic Pairbonding. Physically, the hides of the twins are always a dull grey, with reduced muscle-mass, lean limbs and increased general joint flexibility, which has most civilians to simply refer to those exhibiting the phenome as ‘lanks’ or ‘chameleos’. Psychologically, the twins are co-dependent, forming their identity together rather than on their own; some go so far as to abandon individual names and identify as a pair constantly. However, this psychological disturbance is far outweighed by the utility of the physiological alterations.
The Pairbond Sequence mutation manifests itself as a nervous system mutation that results in levels of neurological efficiency and signal capacity several orders of magnitude greater than the average Drakon. With secondary sub-brains along the side of the spinal cord, self-correcting neural nets, increased conductivity of the skin and scales to facilitate nerve activity, and a natural generation of static electricity, higher-level brainwaves, and phase-space energy. This stew of fields, known as ‘Strange Magnetism’ and harnessed outside of the Phenome by bio-technologial exo-brains and expensive micro-digital integration into a generator unit, is generated from this enhanced CNS functioning properly and magnified by the presence of properly functioning biotic or psionic implants.
Pairbonds without psionic or biotic augmentation are discomforted by their naturally high energy levels, manifesting in numbness and motor tics. This, combined with their high-capacity neural systems, makes them viable candidates for such augmentation. When operating together, a pair of P.S. mutants can easily overpower most police forces, and this knowledge results in most pairs being drafted into military service for public safety.
At our conclusion, certain terms should be clarified.
Biotics are implants that utilize Strange Magnetism in order to modify space-time and classical mechanics on a local level. Also known as ‘Force powers’, biotic manifestations are known for their kinetic magnitude and ease of application in a military setting. This contrasts with
Psionics which use Strange Magnetism to alter the electro- and neuro-chemistry of other living things, often through psychological influence or mechanical body control alteration (such as seizure induction or black-out shocks). Both utilize the same basic mechanics, but use different training protocols and implant firmware to facilitate actualization.
Rumors and whispered nothings regarding the 'Unreal Sequence' that fringe scientists blame for Drakonian psionic difficulties, and its full expression resulting in 'anti-psionics' are openly mocked and derided by XenoScience officials as the ravings of the under-funded.
XENANS
Bellalupii-Xeno
Homo Bellalupus Xeno
Two xenan cubsXenan homesteaders during the XenoCideA xenan Genestealer agentThe first and last great genetic engineering project of the Xenohuman Republic,
Homo Bellalupus Xeno, or ‘The Xenans’ were an attempt by eager Xenohumans to redeem the T.A.N.K. Program’s technologies for the greater good, bringing life into the universe for life’s sake. While this optimism would be crushed brutally during the XenoCide, the millions of Xenans cloned and raised in joint corporate-government creches, and the millions more who were naturally bred and raised by the first and second generations populated the Federation rather densely at one point, accounting for up to 10% of the population according to census data pre-dating the XenoCide.
During the end stages of the Saurisian War, a coalition consisting of the Federation and the AXIS Powers (the Alversian Republic, the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia, and the Setulan Republic) seized several systems from the Saurisian States. The Xiscapian Empire, unbeknownst its allies, had rescued one of the last surviving Xenans from slavery at the hands of a multi-syndicate criminal operation. Donating her DNA to the Xiscapian Navy, Samosi Tiqaqua would become the ‘Eve’ of the Xenans; her DNA was templeted onto a new strain of Koch’s Contagion, which was then deployed against the Saurisians. Forced mutation into Xenans along with neurobiological loyalty reprogramming resulted in a dozen system’s worth of Xenans, bringing the species back from extinction, undoing their earlier genocide. They have now reintegrated into a society that realizes it has forgotten what made them hate Xenans in the first place. While some elements of XenoAdmin still try to institutionalize racism against them, the vast majority of Federals see no need, and welcome a chance to get past the ugliest days of the Armed Federation.
Xenans are a genetic chimera, containing chromosome segments from various other animal species or lab-fabricated organisms. Genetic samples from various mammalian orders along phenotypical sequences from assorted other orders (i.e. Selachimorpha (sharks) and Accipitriformes (avian raptors, etc.). Standing at an average height of 6’3”, roughly as heavy as a human at that size, xenans are considerably smaller and generally less durable than drakon; they simply lack the body volume to support the redundant organs and dense tissues of the drakes. However, to compensate, xenans prove one of the most flexible endoskeletal sapient species in the galaxy. Xenan tendons, ligaments, and muscle tissues are highly elastic yet extremely strong for their mass, minimizing sprains and injury in order to maximize range of motion. Xenans are double-jointed as a rule, a race of contortionists and rogues according to stereotypes. While it is true that they were originally gene-mapped to support the drakes in military activity, providing technical support and serving as infiltrators and secret agents, this does nothing to diminish the everyday utility of being able to squeeze through closing elevator doors before they shut.
Xenans are slender, almost gangly, with long limbs and thin figures. Sharply angular muzzles, long pointed ears, and narrow eyes speak to their meat-heavy diets, although xenans are of course omnivorous in order to assure proper nutrition. They carry themselves on strong, digitigrade legs with four toes and an opposable ‘thumb-toe’ that allows them to secure solid footing on steep inclines and unstable terrain. They also balance themselves with slender, thick-furred tails tipped with a thick tuft of fluff. Well suited to rugged environments that would slow down other sapients, Xenans often put their agility to good use serving as scouts, survey corpsmen, and other military and private-sector roles demanding rapid mobility.
Visual:Xenan sight is binocular, with a field-of-view of but the capacity for vision can extend up to 40 degrees if the eyes are turned to the sides as far as possible thanks to their angular head-shape. Average visual acuity stands at 20/10, stronger than drakon and allowing for better long-distance vision without compromising short-range acuity. Further improving on the drakon archetype, xenans eyes are very dense with rod cells, allowing for highly precise night vision in exchange for a slight dulling of color during daytime.
Auditory:While not as durable and pressure-proof as drakon auditory organs, Xenan ears prove much more sensitive and can pick up a much broader bandwidth of sound, ranging from 60 to 32,000 hertz. Their ears are capable of independent motion, able to turn and perk towards sources of sound to better pinpoint their location and distance. Able to hear quieter sounds at greater distance than panhumans and their auditory equals, Xenans are often slighted as natural eavesdroppers, even if they can’t help it.
Tactile-Sensory:Xenans are fur-covered, in stark contrast to their scaled drakon countrymen. The thickness of this fur changes seasonally, thinning during summer and thickening during winter, but they tend to stay fluffier than not regardless of weather conditions. Thick tufts at the base and tip of the tail, the back of the neck, and the chest remain regardless of seasonal shedding. The color patterning among xenans is fairly consistent, either a monochromatic coat (tending towards light colors such as beige and white) or a posterior-anterior divide, with a light color on the belly and front and a striking hue on the back and crown of the head. Reds, blues, and greens are the most common, with dark greys and blacks tailing behind as recessive shades.
Digestion:The xenan sense of smell is marginally stronger than that of a panhuman, but it is their sense of taste that proves one of their strongest traits. A xenan is able to identify chemicals and taste-bearing substances with only a few parts-per-billion, generally categorized as ‘super-tasters’. As they were gene-mapped for long patrols in the field with little food, their ability to naturally identify poisons and edible substances through small samples is invaluable. Their body can also handle a higher load of toxins and other harmful substances due to gene-tweaked kidney and liver tissues. This is essential, due to the fact that xenans do not sweat and are not able to disperse toxins through that means, leaving it entirely to filtration and catalyzing tissues. While certainly not as poison-proof as the drakon, xenans are able to live on little food and water for much longer periods of time, embodying natural survivalist adaptation as opposed to drakon ‘death-proofing’.
Tail:The xenan’s tail tends to be a point of pride, being the only tailed species in the Federation (excluding the ‘unpeople’ known as the Celestials). Measuring anywhere from 70-85% of a body-length, the tail provides balance and counter-weight during rapid movement, allowing for sharp turns and agility on any surface. This also allows for great agility in ZG conditions and underwater (as long as the xenan in question makes sure to prepare for great drag given their fluff). Their tail is also prehensile enough to grasp small objects and serve as an effective striking limb during hand-to-hand fighting.
Sexuality:Unlike drakes, xenan sexuality was designed with civilian life in mind. This translated into increased hormone regulation, more generous pregnancy times, and a slower developmental cycle overall. Healthy pregnancies last nine to ten months (depending on the gender of the child, with females developing an extra month in the womb), births are quick and relatively easy given the mother’s xenan flexibility, and children grow at a slow pace, reaching puberty at around 14 and maturing fully at around age 22. This sometimes presents troubles in Federal society given that drakes reach full maturity at age 15, but the rebirth of a long-dead species will invariably come with some friction to be worked out over the decades.
A newborn xenan is blind, deaf, toothless, and pink, with a thin coat of albino fur. By two months, the pup will have begun to see, hear, begin taking on coat color, and begun to experience tooth eruption. Nursing continues for a few months until the child is ready to begin eating solid food, and by the end of the first year, the pup will have progressed past milk entirely.
Biotics and Psionics:Unlike the drakon, xenans do not have a genetic predisposition against psionics. Unlike the xenohumans in turn, they do not have a predilection towards biotic and psionic ability naturally. Of course, xenohuman sequences were included in their genome in order to encourage this, and this results in rates of psychic / biotic ability slightly higher than average in sapient populations. Still, their abilities pale in comparison to xenohuman psykers, requiring much more training and neurocomputational augmentation in order to manifest biotic powers or transmit psychic influence upon other beings. However, as they are much quicker and agile than xenohumans, and far more flexible, xenans are capable of somatic gesture-patterns and acts of arcana that would prove impossible for the progeny of Todular’s mages. Combining this with their ability to evade enemy attacks, this makes xenan biotics deadly hit-and-run attackers, and makes xenan psykers battle-phantoms, flitting in and out of cover and around enemy flanks to wrack the courage and sanity of their enemies while evading returning fire.