The SWG universe is filled with an array of exotic flora and fauna. From the domesticated kula of Allamadain and the horned awoki of Epsalore to the builders of advanced civilizations such as the Skiza and Pladjin, the worlds of SWG are rich with strange and magnificent lifeforms. This section highlights the sentient organisms that appear in SWG, providing information on their history, biology and their relationship to the Human Diaspora.

Please refer to the SWG Glossary for descriptions of alien animals and bioengineered organisms.

Sentient Beings

There are four sentient species of alienkind known to the Human Diaspora. By definition, these are lifeforms which have built complex, technologically-dependent societies. These beings include the Belemyolan, Frijasunu, Pladjin and Skizan.

Belemyolan

Little is understood about the Belemyolan. Living by the millions in massive, space-bourne colonies, no planet has ever been associated with these beings and no individual Belemyolan has ever been seen apart from its colony, either dead or alive. The few, cautious investigations into these creatures suggest little more than that they exhibit a unity of purpose, with many believing they actually exhibit intelligence only at the hive level. Some even argue that they are actually super-sentient. That is, conscious at a level that human minds cannot fathom. Indeed, their unique ability to shift matter within the vicinity of their colonies from one place to another, instantaneously — shifting space — is seen as evidence of this super intelligence.

Biology

The bodies of Belemyolan have only been studied from afar, either from outside the colonies or within their vacuous interiors. These semi-spherical structures are composed of millions of interlocking Belemyolan, each wide enough for three Salorean humans to lay head-to-toe. The outer shells of individual Belemyolan are built of a durable, triangular shell, festooned with branched, tendril-like, scaley appendages. These shells are always facing outward and are believed to protect the individual organisms and the colony from direct contact with outer space. In addition, the colonies emit their own magnetic fields which also help protect against cosmic radiation.

The structure of the colony is built of individual Belemyolan, who form hexagonal plates of sextuplates. These plates, in turn, form the patchwork of the outer walls of the colony. Each colony is divided into three petals which can open to expose the hollow interior used by spacecraft wishing to shift space. Nothing is known of the significant area between the external and internal walls. However, there is some evidence and much rumor, that beyond the layers of Belemyolan shells,lie networks of tunnels and chambers where individual Belemyolan move about freely.

History

Historians debate the timeline of human-Belemyolan contact. Many believe that the Yali Su were the first to harness the shifting powers of the Belemyolan, arguing that the far-flung empires of the ancients required the ability to travel in the manner that contemporary spacecraft do. Others contend that humans had achieved this ability on their own and did not come to depend on the Belemyolan until their ancient knowledge had been lost in the aftermath of the Subspecies Wars or perhaps during the Pladjini Wars. In either case, the current method of harnessing the shifting powers of the Belemyolan through the use of the Freika System is assumed to have arisen around the time of the first contact with the Skiza following the Pictimoni Incident.

The Freika is a secretive order that controls the knowledge of the chemical keys used to communicate with the Belemyolan. For this reason, each Belemyolan colony must be "domesticated" or "shepherded" by the Freika. The process of domestication requires at least two representatives of the Freika, Freika shepherds, to initiate contact with a wild colony which is then harnessed through the use of the chemical keys. During the duration of the domestication, the Freika must remain within the interior of the colony, instructing it when to open and close its petals and when and where to shift space.

Frijasunu

Existing on only one world, the Frijasunu remain a largely unstudied species. A member of the biological domain of Ammonera, or ammonia-based lifeforms, commonly found in outer-world systems, the Frijasunu are the only example of their domain to have formed complex, technologically-dependent societies. Their world, commonly called Frija-minor, or Frijasu, orbits a gas giant in the Frija system, Frijavunstar, near the human-inhabited world of Frijarhur. Despite their proximity to one another, however, there is extremely little contact between the two species owing to the extreme differences in environments.

The world of Frijasu is composed of roughly equal parts liquid ammonia seas and rock-ice landforms. The dense yellow-brown atmosphere is thick with clouds so that the surface and submarine realms are kept in deep red shadow. As a result, the organisms of this world are visually blind and have adapted sensory organs that percieve infrared, sound and even electromagnatism.

Biology

The Frijasunu are known to take two forms. The smaller, finned variety is slightly shorter than a Salorean human. It has two large flippers growing from its shoulders upon which a single round head protrudes. This head tapers into a long flexible trunk with a bulbous apendage at its end, consisting of two tentacles, one short and one long. On the top of the head are also dozens of cilla-like sensors with which it perceives electromagnatism. Along the length of its trunk are special hard rings which are used to receive energy from the immense magnetic fields produced by the gas giant, Frija-major (Frijavunstar). Beneath its body is a single flap it propels itself with when swimming. Being amphibious, the finned variety of Frijasunu can waddle upright when on shore and then flip onto its back to swim, its trunk often directed upward toward the magnetic energy falling down from Frija-major. Frijasunu are also carnivorous and raise aquatic and ariel creatures.

The larger form of Frijasunu is quite distinct. Standing twenty times as tall as the smaller variety, it was long believed to be an entirely different species. However, research provided recently has proved that the two versions are actually the same, separated by a few hormonal differences. The larger Frijasunu has no flippers, having instead four semi-rigid tentacles connected by a membrane. This membrane is used to push itself forward through liquid. When on shore, this variety of Frijasunu stands either upright on its erect tentacles or flat to the ground. At the end of each tentacle are four smaller tentacles. Atop the body of the Frijasunu is a massive boney head with dozens more tentacles of all lengths and sizes, falling forward into shuffling bunches like a mane of thickly dredded hair. Each of these tentacles is ribbed like the single snout of its smaller siblings in order to pull in magnetic energy. On either side of its head, bulbs erupt in two batches, which appear to be eyes, but are actually ears.

Frijasunu society is composed of tribal groups. The technology of the Frijasunu is relatively primitive, with the focus on cultivating livestock. Tribes are typically composed of five to twenty large Frijasunu and upwards of seventy smaller individuals. There is no gender among the Frijasunu and, most interestingly, both large and small types can impregnate the other.

Pladjin

Reviled by Skizan and human alike, the Pladjin are famous for the destructive war they initiated against the Antiquarians. Lasting for four thousand years, the Pladjini assault on humanity was characterized by an unrelenting struggle between the two species, which ended in stalemate only when the Skizan intervened on the human side.

The origins of the Pladjin are not known, but they are assumed to lie in great numbers beyond the Eos, in a region of the galactic arm known as Pladjia. Though their source world remains a mystery, their penchant for invading human worlds and their ability to survive in human environments without articficial support suggests that they orginiate from a terrestrial-like planet.

Technologically, the Pladjin are believed to be slightly less sophisticated than humans or Skiza. No Pladjin vessel has ever been seen using Belemyolan colonies for shifting, for example. Likewise, it is assumed that their weaponry is also inferior, though without hardly any contact with the Pladjin in the past six thousand years, this assumption rests on little hard evidence.

Biology

The Pladjin are known to take at least two forms, either a sinuous, soft-bodied variety or one with a shell. Aside from this one difference, however, both types of Pladjin share the same basic morphology. Standing low to the ground on fourteen legs, Pladjin have an insect-like appearance. Their legs are spiked and are followed near the front of their bodies by six, smaller, similarly designed arms. Both their legs and arms have black, hook-like mandables at their ends. While the legs grow from a glossy body, often covered in thick black hair, their arms grow from their long, flexible snouts. At the end of these snouts are short trunks with a small mouth at the end. Pladjin have six, small black eyes, set in triplets on either side of the backs of their heads. Between the head and body are sack-like organs which function as nostrils and ears. The shelled variety of Pladjin carry a sturdy, boney armor on their backs which stretches from near the ends of their snouts to midway down the back. These shells are often painted to accent the eyes which stick out of holes along the head. Pladjin are known to vary in color from navy blue to dark red and brown.

History

Only mythology provides clues into where and when the first contact between humans and Pladjin occurred. According to the Epic of Sallandrin, a story with many versions, first contact with the Pladjin took place deep in the realm of the Eos, on a world called Deima. Faoist texts account for this world in many of their other stories, so that many scholars believe this world was an important one for followers of early Fao Su. The Epic tells how a plague never before encountered broke out across Deima, killing two-thirds of that world's inhabitants. Soon after, the survivors found their skies filled with sinister-looking craft of an intelligence not known. The hero of the epic, Sallandrin, is ultimately forced off-world to seek assistance from various neighboring worlds, where he assembles a force capable of liberating his people from the clutches of the alien power. In some versions, Sallandrin returns to find all his people exterminated and founds a new society after reconquering Deima.

However the first contact actually took place, the pattern of Pladjini conquest depicted in the Epic of Sallandrin is familiar to all historians of recorded encounters with the Pladjin. As is purported to have transpired on Deima, the early strategy of the Pladjin was to soften up its enemies through the use of biological agents let loose on human populations before striking with their fleets. Later, as the war turned from one of colonization to one of survivial, the Pladjin turned to more destructive weapons, leaving whole planets bereft of life. Similarly, humans lost their appetite for fighting for territory and also undertook a strategy of extermination, striking into Pladjia. Thousands of years later, the great belt of dead worlds within the Eos was all that was left of the regions between the Nodal worlds and Pladjia.

Skizan

Desipite a long history of cooperation between humans and Skizan, little regular contact and a significant barrier to communication keep these beings a mystery. Indeed, few humans have visited Skizan worlds despite the millennia of cooperation that has existed since the Pictimoni Incident. Nontheless, considering the immense gap that exists between humans and every other sentient species, the Skizan are in fact the closest humans have come to discovering an intelligent species with a society, biology and civilization so similar to their own.

The Skizan homeworld is a closely guarded secret so as to protect it in case such information was to fall into Pladjini hands. However, the Planet of Skiza is rumored to exist in an outer arm of the galaxy, perhaps just beyond the borders of Kahrahdma and the Trennon Starfields. Indeed, the Solustrans who rule Kahrahdma are recognized as the defacto emissaries to the Skizan since most Skizan contact is usually initiated through them.

Those that have visited Skizan worlds tell of a civilization that is peaceful and stragely beautiful. Typically, they tend toward smaller, less-dense worlds than humans, thriving in thin atmosphere and low gravity and capable of withstanding wild temperature extremes. They are quite social and are known for their graceful movements and for balancing their bodies in contorted poses. Unlike humans, their cities and spacecraft are built of non-living material, but they do rely on genetically engineered technologies to a significant degree. They also share the ability to harness the Belemyolan to shift space.

Biology

When standing upright, the Skizan are twice the height of an average Salorean. They have two long, sledner legs that sprout from their shoulders and end in quite large three-toed feet. Below these shoulders, an ovoid thorax hangs down with four tiny arms at the ends and two rigid flaps on top. These flaps are actually its breathing organ. Rising from the shoulders, Skizan have long, thin necks, which their equally long, snouted heads grow from. Near the top of these heads are two glassy eyes and at the ends of their snouts are four tentacles, which are used in addition to the hands at the ends of their thoraxes to grasp objects with. The tentacles are also sexual organs. Skizan have been seen in numerous colors and patterns, ranging from pink to gray to sky blue and white, but all tend toward the same shape and dimensions.

History

Humans and Skizans first made contact in the Pictimoni Incident during a raid by the Pladjin against the Pictimonese. After witnessing a Skizan vessel attack the invading Pladjini vessel, humans soon befriended the Skizan and a long relationship of mutual defense soon ensued.

At its peak, the human-Skizan alliance culminated in several coordinated assaults against the Pladjin in the Eos, eventually driving them back to Pladjia, essentially ending the Pladjini Wars. During the following Age of Recovery, human-Skizan relations faded in importance, but regular contact was maintained, especially by the Solustrans.