The Iskavarians: Society, from a Terran perspective.

Fan fiction.

A little something that I drew with my mouse in OpenCanvas. It's incomplete right now, but it should be coloured at some point in time. I didn't know where to classify this, so I placed it in the metaverse. This is a piece of fan-fiction I wrote. As you can already tell they are a race I designed myself, so I hope you like them.

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The Iskavarians: Society and evolution. (Updated in 10.29.2265)

The Iskavarians are a relatively newly discovered species of Alien which our scientists have had a difficult time classifying for reasons which will be detailed later in this entry.

The Terran Confederacy was introduced to the Iskavarians purely by chance. After the fall of the Drengin forces in sector 28/80.61, on stardate 4.25.2245 by the combined efforts of Terran and Arcaen Forces, Terran battleships crossed into an uncharted area just beyond the main, former, Drengin colony Kelmakarus I. There they found a small cluster of planets, all of which were colonized by a single dominating race called the Iskavarians.

First contact with this new major race was... difficult to say the least. First, there was the problem of actually speaking to the Iskavarians, who, in a fit of paranoia and fear, attacked several Terran ships, critically wounding three and destroying two. There were no casualties. Terran ships managed to disable the weapons of the Iskavarian defense fleet by deploying an EMP bomb. Perhaps the Iskavarians saw that we did not want to harm them, perhaps they simply gave up because they saw we were technologically superior because of our weapons, but they stopped. However, a problem happened: a small one man fighter flew through the screen of Iskavarian ships and crashed onto what would later be known as their homeworld. This lead to the second problem:

Universal translators could not properly translate Iskavarian dialogue because of its complexity, and as a result, only crude, simple communication between the fighter pilot and the Iskavarian people could be attained, and problems even arose from that. Much Iskavarian language was mis-interpreted, leading to a few diplomatic mishaps which would take a decade to fix. The universal translator in the pilot's ear eventually gave up and exploded, leaving the pilot with a migrain and minor, but repairable damage, to his left ear.

While the Iskavarians did not attempt to harm the pilot in any way at first, the explosion caused something to happen. The pilot, Jonathan Remburg, recalls upon being interviewed by our scientists:
"I dunno what happened, I was trying to make heads and tails of what they were saying when I told them I came in peace and wanted to talk to their leader, or at least get back to my ship to try and open a communication channel with the fleet up in high orbit. When my translator exploded, they grabbed me and threw me into what I think was a prison." Where he remained for a year, eating the local cuisine. At least, the cuisine they served him in prison. Many Confederacy worlds cried murder and desired war, but the acting political party in the Confederacy republic simply told everyone else to shut up because no one has died yet.

It was during that year that a Terran diplomat was shipped from Lairu, a research colony in sector 28/80.61. At the request of the Confederacy, an Arcean diplomat was sent to aid our efforts at a peaceful contact. Upon arrival on the homeworld surface, they attempted contact a second time (after the Pilot's attempt) and after a few months of intense language decryption, the two diplomats managed to decipher the following message from an individual who they believed was the Iskavarian leader:

"What are [Slralarsksh] [klklishchal] [Srarlkisklukuck]?"
What the two diplomats assumed he was saying was:
"What are you doing on our planet after having invaded our skies and space? You come in numbers to invade, yet you do not try to hurt us, so what is it that you are trying to do?"

In order to make a reply to this, it took several long months, almost a year, to try and even create a simple 'hello' and 'please let go of our pilot. He did not mean you any harm. Would you like to be friends?' among the other things. Scientists were called in to help with deciphering Iskavarian vernacular using as many methods as they could think of and at the end of those long months they installed software on Universal translators that would enable us to have a rudimentary understanding of Iskavarian language. An uneasy and unclear peace was established between Human and Iskavarian, and both races tried to learn more about each other.

End first contact log.

Begin Iskavarian analysis log.

The following is a detailed analysis of everything we know and have learned about the Iskavarians since the first successful and peaceful first contact on November of 2246.

Iskavarians are by nature paranoid and fearful. This does not, however, mean that they are xenophobic. Their homeworld and its three sister planets, all of which are habited and colonized by their race, are host to three other sub-races that are administered and regulated by the dominating Iskavarian species. Their relationship with each other is more or less peaceful, with certain exceptions applying. Since First Contact, several civil uprisings on the second planet were quelled by Iskavarian forces with very few losses of life.

As a result, Humanity has come to view them as a race which tries to be peaceful. However, they have claimed ownership of all the habitable worlds in their solar system and as a result are extremely territorial of those worlds. It would be unwise for any of the other major races to try and invade them because, if the accidental conflict during the First conflict is any indication, they can and will defend themselves in force.

Iskavarians are an insectoid race, but unlike most races which evolve from insects, their society does not operate with the guide of a hive mind. They are, in actuality, very independent. However, all Iskavarians are born with a limited degree of telepathy, and this may play a part in colonial government and management. How exactly they run their planets is unknown. But whatever that method is, it is very efficient. This limited telepathy is known to span the entire race and it does connect them in the way a hive mind would, but it is not a hive mind. Individuals still have what we would call 'free will' and can make choices independent of the entire race. However, since they are all mentally connected, they can sense the needs of their race on a much higher level, and as a result their society runs on the ethic that whatever they do, they do it for the good of all.

What makes this so amazing is that they can do this without any major representative. It is somewhat like a democracy, or a republic, but without any majority party, or a senate, or even a leader. However, in times of need, where it is required, we discovered that one Iskavarian can be chosen to make decisions when there is indecision. This is what we saw in the Iskavarian who talked directly to the pilot that crash landed on their homeworld.

We fear that with our appearance, we might radically change the way they govern themselves, even accidentally imposing a new method of government, but so far, our impact has been unnoticable. If we ever need to speak to the Iskavarians in matters which impact the entire race, our diplomats will simply land on the homeworld or try to establish communication through technology, and wait for one member of the race to be chosen to talk to us. This process, we discovered, is extremely quick and near instant, so we never have to wait for long. However, we rarely ever meet the same one twice. Why this is has yet to be determined.

Native Iskavarian language is incredibly complex. So far, we have discovered three 'levels' which had to be first understood before we could establish any kind of meaningful communication with them.

The first level is the vernacular itself, that is, how they communicate with sound. They use their mouth for this, which is made up of four parts; the two mandibles on either side of their head, and the lower jaw. The upper jaw is part of the skull, which the other three parts are connected to. When eating, they prefer to swallow their food, chewing only when necessary. They also lack what we would call a tongue. We discovered, however, that they generate sounds in a most unusual and to some... a disturbing way. They evolved 'super' saliva glands. These glands are producing saliva all the time, as much as three hundred millileters in two minutes. They do not swallow the saliva, although they very easily could. Why they do not may be culture related. This leads to them drooling all the time. The saliva, however, is not dangerous in any way. It is very much like our own saliva, except noticably more thick, but not sticky. For some, this is a rather unpleasant racial trait, but do not worry, their saliva is easy to clean off.

Never spit at the face of an Iskavarian, not because they take this as an insult, but because they will think you are telling them that they are not talking properly. They will react by spitting back at you, which is their way of saying that you are deaf.

The second level is body heat. As opposed to most insects who communicate by smell, we discovered Iskavarians communicate with body heat as well. Iskavarians are born with a gland in their brain which lets them change their body temperature at will, this was perhaps a result of evolution in response to environment to keep themselves either very cool or very warm. The atmosphere on their home world is incredibly random. We have yet to discover why this is, but there are no set seasons on the planet. Every day has a different weather condition, this includes; rain, hail, snow, and desert-like heat. There are some locations on the planet where certain kinds of weather are more frequent than others, but even the north and south poles are subject to this constant, random fluxuating weather. This heat plays a part in their language, and certain kinds of heat, or coolness, apply to certain sounds. Their language can even change in different environments, so a word which an Iskavarian will say while or after cooling himself down in a cold environment will not mean the same thing while or after he cools himself down in a hot environment.

Try to refrain from approaching an Iskavarian in a temperate environment after taking a hot shower as this will make them think you are angry at them and as a result, will either try to get rid of you or they will simply leave the room.

The third level, and the most recent one which we have discovered, is their limited telepathy. We do not know exactly how they use this in tangent with the other two levels to communicate, but they simply do.

These telepathic messages are organically encrypted by their brains and are incredibly difficult to decipher but, oddly enough, when our universal translators deal with the first two levels of Iskavarian language (the second is done by installing directional laser heat sensors), our brains somehow decode the subtle, often subliminal messages that they 'beam' into our minds when they speak to us. If it was not for the universal translator, we would only recieve the third level, and it is often very confusing and often painful to our brains if not accompanied by translated Iskavarian body heat and vernacular language.

Iskavarians are capable of space-flight, and developped their own hyperdrive technology. For normal-space flight, they use plasma based engines, the same technology we use for our weaponry. This leaves their ships with incredibly high energy signatures, making them easy to track, but it also makes their ships much faster than our own.

Their society benefits from technology through other means, such as social projects for housing and communications. As stated before, their telepathy is very limited, which is why they require conventional means, such as telecommunications, to communicate over great distances.

End Iskavarian society and technology.

Begin Iskavarian biology;

Iskavarians consist of two sexes, a male, and a female. The photograph included with this document is of an Iskavarian male. Mentally, both sexes are equal, with Females seeming to have slightly higher telepathic capabilities, and the males having slightly higher physical prowess in athletic ability.

All Iskavarians have the ability to regenerate certain limbs and organs in their bodies. The only exclusions to this ability would be damaging the spinal cord or mutilating their skulls. This ability was first witnessed during the human assisted quelling of the rebellion on the third planet in the Iskavarian home solar system when several Iskavarians were shot in a peace-keeping attempt by a member by one of the sub-races on their planets. One Iskavarian male was missing his entire lower jaw and mandibles, his left arm and the foot of his right leg, and also had a deep laceration on the back of his head. The female lost three internal organs; the stomach, what they have for a 'liver', and several feet of intestines.

Over a period of two weeks, the Male regenerated his arm and leg, and mouth but they all became mutated while regenerating and thus unusable. We later discovered that this was because the wound in his head was so deep that it damaged the part of his brain responsible for remembering the blueprint of his body. As a result, he couldn't properly regenerate. He died two days later after the 14th day.

The female, however, regenerated everything she lost within eight days. We suspect that they can regenerate internal organs much easier than limbs due to the complex nature of their exoskeletons and internal skeletons.

Iskavarians have several kinds of sense: there's the obvious limited mental telepathy that they use to communicate, but this is not invasive, they can only project with it, they cannot listen to your thoughts or see your emotions. They can hear with the sensitive tube-like structures spanning the lengths of their arched necks, and finally they can see with three sets of eyes, three on each side of the head. One set is devoted entirely to thermal-optics. They can see both heat and cold, not unlike the thermal-optic technology we use on terrestrial night missions. They can also see in an ultraviolet spectrum with the rear-most eyes, and their fore-eyes they can see in a normal spectrum of light. It is very difficult to blind a Iskavarian, as he will see you one way or another. This makes it very boring to play hide and go seek with them.

Males have a hard exoskeleton covering their body which has been observed deflecting assault rifle-class bullets, and sometimes, though rarely, resisting laser beams. An adult is often anywhere between six and a half to seven feet tall. They tend to perform most of the manual labour in their society, such as construction, and have been observed as being extremely capable soldiers. Their movements are often lumbering and slow when compared to females, but you do not want to be punched by one. During the Galactic Olympia competitions of 2252, in the melee combat competition, an Iskavarian Male accidentally broke the rib-cage and ten vertibrae in the spinal cord of the then reigning champion; a Neo-Roman by the name of Markus Ijoblius, by punching him in the stomach.

The Females, on the other hand, have a much softer, smoother, and more flexible exoskeleton. Although the males are more athletically evolved than the females, the females seem to be able to perform extremely difficult feats of dexterity and agility, which is most likely a result of their exoskeleton and shorter height. Adults range from five and a half to six and a half feet tall.

Iskavarian sexuality is still a mystery to us. They do not like to talk about it and if you ask an Iskavarian about the 'birds and bees' of his species rituals, then he or she will promptly spit on your head and leave. Thus, we can only learn through observing them in public. If they were once a hive-like race with a queen, then there remains only one clue that; Iskavarian females, as detailed earlier, have a flexible exoskeleton, much like human skin except more rubbery and a little tougher due to its insect-like nature.

This flexible trait is a requirement to meet her pregnancy needs because a female can give birth to a brood of six to eight children at a time. However, upon the ending of the maternal period where the mother raises her young, usually one year to two years, the children become property of the race itself and both the children and mother sever their relationships with one another, at least, insofar as parent and child is concerned.

Mating rituals between males and females are still a mystery to us, as they are incredibly rare, and difficult to observe. Much is done in private. It is the females who initiate the relationship if they are interested in a male. Never try to initiate an intimate relationship with a female because a female's way of telling you she likes you is grabbing your hand and biting a finger off. This is never a problem for Iskavarian males because they can regenerate their fingers in a matter of a few hours, and they do not seem to feel pain from this act.

Feel free to be friends with either sex, however, as their way of greeting a friend is by simply spitting on the arms or belly.

I hope you enjoyed my lengthy document. If there is anything you think I am missing, please tell me.

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Not bad

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Thank you Gui-Jay. Er... You read all of it?.. Without falling asleep?

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I managed it..

Pretty nice piece of work there, I take it you have played as them as a custom race?

If so, What racial bonuses did you give them?

I am guessing Speed +1, Morale +10, Social production +10?

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i didn't fell asleep and i hav to say well done, could it be prosable to have this race added to the game

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Weapons + 15, Defense + 20, Moral +10, Repair +20 (regeneration), Soldiering + 30 (like I said, they make excellent soldiers), Courage + 25 (the whole 'For the good of our race' thing), Loyalty +10 and... Could someone help me? For some reason, the game gave me a +6 to Logistics. Is that balanced? I used all of my attribute points because I wanted to make them as close as I imagined as possible.

I decided not to give them speed because, although I said they do have fast ships, but that's only fast in the context of normal space. Humans and all the other races use far more advanced technology to achieve warp speeds, which the Iskavarians can't catch up to because that's not in normal space. For the political party, I chose Industrialist. This is, like I said, because the males are so good at manual labour. They can build stuff really quickly and really well.

I decided not to give them a research advantage though, hence why they aren't a real 'major' race, not yet anyway.

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Wonderful piece of writing, Tychandrus. Being a writer (an amateur one, to be honest) myself, I can say you have put alot of work into thinking this race out and then writing a nice, coherent piece.

Thumbs up.

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Thank you BattleKnight. I really appreciate the encouragement. I'd like to see some of your own stuff if you have it on hand!

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Xan

Join Date 01/2003

+29

Very cool!

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Thanks Xan, I wish I would get more feedback for it though. It took me quite awhile to assemble all this together. Maybe Frogboy will come by and read it, but that's just wishful thinking. I might try and come up with another race soon.

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