[Inaius] Kyaal Worldbuilding

MacSalterson

MacSalterson

TNPer
Pronouns
They/Them
The Kyaal are an ancient species within the Inaius sector. Progenitors of progenitors, their history is clouded and their origins are so far shrouded in the past that it is impossible to say where they came from, how they came to be, or when they first entered the interstellar stage as a fully fledged civilization. Members of a once great empire, they are now as a once great king of Earth, Ozymandias, their legacy in the ruins that dot a vast number of planets of the Inaius sector, and the scattered remnants and survivors who seclude themselves to study secrets known only to them. But, even with their glory as faded as it is, their empire more dead than alive, and the gaping tear in space that heralded the downfall of the great Kyaal still bordering the Remnant, they are a force to be reckoned with for any younger race that attempts to impress their will upon the Kyaal, and as such they remain relatively undisturbed by the goings-on of a Universe that has long since discarded one of its older actors. Still, they survive and learn, offering assistance and wisdom to younger species if their need is great, and making their presence known when they see fit.

These are the Kyaal Remnant, the last survivors of a long gone era, the wearers of a shattered crown, the guardians of dying stars, and scholars of the universe.
 
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Anatomy of the Kyaal

Kyaal are an anthropomorph species, possessing two arms, two digitigrade legs, and a defined ‘head’, in addition to possessing two multifunctional and prehensile 'tendrils' that extend from the base of their head near where it connects to the back of the torso. They stand, at maturity, anywhere from 2.17 to 2.28 meters tall, and weigh between 175 and 188 kilograms. When born, they are white or pale gray, and darken considerably as they mature, often to black. However, their skin lacks melanin as with humans, and the darkening is suggested to be a process similar to oxidation, though there are reports Kyaal with conditions similar to albinism or leucism, where darkening does not occur or does not occur as intensely and the individual remains either mostly or entirely the pale color they were at birth. The natural lifespan of a Kyaal is difficult to determine, as Kyaal undergo negligible biological senescence, but their lives are often cut short by injury, malnutrition, or disease, often before 1000 years of age.

Kyaal possess dense internal support structures in their limbs, the front of their torso, and their ‘head’, as well as chitin-esque (some would compare it to tree bark) scales and plates covering the back of the torso, which suggests elements of both endoskeletal and exoskeletal systems.

The Kyaal have no internal respiratory system, instead relying on microorganisms located in pores along the length of their back as well as in their mouth to intake gases and fixate them, and are capable of breathing oxygen, methane, and nitrogen based atmospheres. Nutrients and water are transported throughout the body via a system not dissimilar to xylem and phloem in vascular plants. A rudimentary digestive system analog allows them to intake food, using membranous sacs filled with digestive enzymes to break food down, and the nutrients are then absorbed into the circulatory system. Waste products are typically vented as gases or in liquid solute form from pores located on an individual’s flanks.

Kyaal have a distributed nervous system, similar to octopuses, and can thus sustain head injuries without much loss to cognitive and motor function. This allows their tendrils to act semi-independently and makes it difficult for traumatic injuries to incapacitate Kyaal into unconsciousness.

Kyaal are largely unaffected by most non-native pathogens due to start contrasts in physiology between them and other living beings. Their immune system is presumed to be similar to a vascular plant’s immune system, but is poorly understood due to difficulties in acquiring medical specimens. However, bacteriophages are capable of killing Kyaal if they target the bacteria that allow the Kyaal to breathe and fixate gases.

Kyaal are capable of replicating a number of human speech sounds via a specialized organ set. These organs consist of a segmented chamber located in the upper torso of the individual, closer to the back and slightly offset to the left. This chamber extends up to the back of the mouth, where it is separated via a porous membrane. The chamber was evolved to allow for the storage of air in thin atmospheres or where the atmosphere is not otherwise breathable, but is capable of resonating and expelling air through the mouth, and the sounds produced can then be altered in a manner similar to humans. This manner of speech production has similarities to both the syrinx in birds and the larynx and lungs in humans, but is incapable of producing voiced sounds.

Despite this remarkable convergent evolution, Kyaal do not typically use it to converse with other Kyaal, instead relying on a form of telepathy for the most part, or pheromone transmission for more basic communication. They have however developed a spoken language for use with non telepathic species.

Kyaal have an advanced set of sensory organs. Despite having no visible eyes, the Kyaal can perceive portions of the electromagnetic spectrum through a series of receptors along the edges of their chitinous ‘faceplates’ that grant them a 270º field of view and the ability to perceive frequencies from 470nm to approximately .1mm. In addition, Kyaal can detect vibrations through materials, including the atmosphere, due to incredibly small cilia on their backs, allowing them to pick up sound. The tendrils located at the base of the head are capable of picking up electrical signals in the near atmosphere or by touching objects, and these tendrils also act as pheromone receptors when communicating with other Kyaal.

An interesting quirk of the Kyaal anatomy stems from the waste products produced by the microorganisms they share a symbiotic and necessary relationship with. As the microorganisms absorb particles from the air and produce nutrients for the host Kyaal , they release waste products in the form of various alcohols, including ethanol and methanol, that are absorbed into the tissues of the Kyaal quite readily. Some of these molecules are quite necessary to the Kyaal for life, but others are either waste products and get excreted or are quite neutral and simply build up in tissues over time. The buildup of alcohol in the bodies of Kyaal has the unfortunate side effect of rendering them particularly vulnerable to fire or other forms of extreme heat. It has even been suggested that a Kyaal can and will quite literally explode if hit with a high enough source of heat that penetrates their outer skin.

The Kyaal are also a species of potent psions, though it is unknown whether this is a natural evolution or the result of experimentations long past, when the Kyaal empire stood at its formidable peak. They have little need for weapons that other races deploy as such, but technology that amplifies and expands the psionic powers of Kyaal or allows them to work in concert with other individuals is in widespread use. A seemingly unarmed Kyaal focusing its sightless gaze intently on whatever foe threatens them is often the last sight they see before having their mind or body shredded.
 
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Technology of the Kyaal, Part I

The Kyaayí Tharrhúc, or the Automata of the Kyaal

Though the Kyaan themselves were never very numerous, the Kyaal Empire in its day was an incredibly formidable military power, fielding engines of war that brought many civilizations to their knees, inspiring awe and dread when they entered the fray. Though perhaps not as visually daunting as the vast starships nigh invulnerable to the fire of lesser vessels or the engines that could consume the power of stars in order to rip planets apart or send them across the sector, the workhorse of the Kyaan empire was almost certainly the legions of the Kyaayí Tharrhúc, or the armies of automata that represented the Kyaal Empire's military bulk. Though the Empire has long since fallen into ragged remnants, and many of the dread engines that the Kyaal controlled have been lost or destroyed, the Kyaayí Tharrhúc remain a steadfast element of the defense on each Kyaal controlled planet.

Simply put, the Kyaayí Tharrhúc are autonomous constructs fielded by the Kyaal as weapons of war or laborers for a variety of tasks. They exist in a myriad of classes, though many of these classes have been lost to history, and are tailored to specific roles, be it heavy firepower, close quarters combat, heavy lifting, precision shooting, construction of fortifications and entrenchments, surveillance, or virtually any other task that isn't immediately better suited to the Kyaal themselves. Though autonomous, the Kyaayí Tharrhúc are not sapient, and when deployed are bound in groups to Kyaal Seers, who provide orders and oversee their actions to the automata. No modern Kyaayí Tharrhúc are psionically capable, though they are able to interface with the Psionic presences of the Kyaan readily, but it is claimed that long ago, classes of Kyaayí Tharrhúc with psionic capability existed. Kyaayí Tharrhúc do not require an atmosphere, food, or water to operate, and have internal power storage that may be replenished through a variety of means. Listed below are the most common Kyaayí Tharrhúc configurations in the current era.

Tharrhúc Thekhsu: Standard infantry configuration, 1.83 meters tall and bipedal anthropomorphic design. Armoring is a composite material resistant towards standard infantry weaponry of energy or projectile based nature (though repeated or concentrated shots are capable of overwhelming the armoring), as well as environmental hazards such as extreme temperatures (-20°C to 104°C), radiation (completely resistant to dosages below 6000mSv, inoperable at 13,500mSv), corrosive substances, and are water-proofed to a depth of 800 meters. Armament consists of a variety of typical weapons, though most common are gamma-ray emitters, repeating firearms that use a projectile similar to a gyrojet with a variety of warheads (for for usage against light armor, personnel, or fortifications), or monofilament melee weaponry.

Tharrhúc Aalsu: Airborne surveillance drone configuration, typically .3 to .61 meters long, with a variety of thrust methods (including stealth options such as rotary blades). Though lightly armored and vulnerable to any weapon, Aalsu configurations are incredibly resistant to environmental hazards, able to withstand most environments past even the limits of Thekhsu configurations. Aalsu configurations are also typically unarmed, but equipped with powerful sensor arrays. Rarely, Aalsu configurations may be equipped with small payloads to perform stealth or precision strikes with minimal resource expenditure, and are in this case referred to as Tharrhúc Aalsu-Corrsu. Depending on the thrust configuration of the unit, some Aalsu models are capable of highly maneuverable flight and long loiter times at the expense of high speed, but others are capable of reaching supersonic speeds in-atmosphere at the expense of some maneuverability. Most Aalsu are also capable of visual stealth and have incredibly small heat and sound signatures.

Tharrhúc Tyetarsu: Heavy weaponry configuration, 2.12 meters tall and quadrupedal. Heavily armored compared to the Thekhsu configuration, requiring anti-materiel weaponry to defeat, and resistant to similar environmental hazards, though are capable of functioning at moderately deeper water levels. Armament is typically dedicated to defeating heavier armor via railgun and plasma emitters, but can be fielded in anti-fortification roles or infantry support roles. A variant for construction and fortification creation or maintenance is not uncommon, and is referred to as Tharrhúc Rrhoc-Tyetarsu.

Tharrhúc Yekysu: Ground-based surveillance drone configuration, .3 meters in diameter and octopedal design, similar to arthropods. The Yekysu shares survivability traits with the Aalsu configuration, and as such is very resistant to environmental hazards while being all but unarmored against weaponry. Yekysu are capable of moving along most surfaces at most angles, including complete inversion, though lose speed on certain surfaces (such as water and glass with few imperfections) and extreme angles. Yekysu configurations are stealth-capable, and have more advanced visual stealth capabilities than their Aalsu configuration cousins due to the use of cells similar to chromatophores to match the surfaces they travel on. Yekysu are completely unarmed but have sensor arrays comparable to Aalsu configurations.
 
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Technology of the Kyaal, Part II

The Çàxtyul C'irhut, or the Interstellar Drives of the Kyaal

The Kyaal starships, used to create a vast stellar empire, were designed in the very distant past by master architects, engineers, and psions working in concert to create feats of technology some would consider unparalleled to this day by any subsequent species in the Inaius sector. One of the most important features of these starships was their ability to travel vast distances nearly instantaneously with the use of the Çàxtyul C'irhut, a piece of technology that allowed for faster-than-light interstellar travel. Also known as Gate Engines, their exact workings aren't precisely known to many but the few surviving Kyaal. What is known is that they are not true faster-than-light drives, as used by a number of other species. Rather, the Çàxtyul C'irhut generates a field that bends space-time and connects two separate points in space at a distance ahead of the starship, through which the starship crosses at sub-light speeds.

Obviously, the effort to connect two distant points in space is massive, both on the engine itself and the power generators of the ship. The distance a starship may cross is dependent on both the size of the engine and the amount of energy used to power the engine. Thus, the larger an engine is and the larger a source of power it can draw on, the further it can travel with a single jump. Modern Kyaal starships are capable of crossing the Inaius sector with at the most 2 to 3 jumps. Larger drives, quite rare now, could do so in 1 or 2, and the legendary Çàxtyul C'irhut Kyaakhárrhal, or so called "World Engines", could jump to any point in the sector without restrictions, and quite further beyond. However, Kyaal power generators and the Gate Engines require a cooldown period and time to recharge energy before jumping again, which limits their rate of travel and requires an intimate knowledge of the jump destinations, to avoid any unpleasant encounters the Kyaal starship might not wish to engage in.

The other major facet known about the Çàxtyul C'irhut is that few other species can operate them successfully. This is because Gate Engines are psionically activated and maintained, a trait fairly unique to the Kyaal, as well as their odd form of consciousness that makes understanding the workings of a Çàxtyul C'irhut difficult even if one does manage to interface with it. Thus, the technology of the Çàxtyul C'irhut has not been copied for use by any other civilization extant in the sector.

There is some danger in using the Gate Engines, but it is incredibly rare for a Gate Engine to partially or fully fail while being used, and such catastrophes are all but unheard of in living memory, or indeed for some time before that. What is known is that a Gate Engine that fails while in use is often fatal for the entire starship, often rending it in half or vaporizing it nearly completely. If the drive is large enough, it may be capable of causing significant damage to nearby planets or satellites. The legendary World Engines were speculated to be capable of wiping out star systems upon catastrophic failure (in part due to their unique method of fueling the drive), but it is unknown if this ever happened. Another type of failure, while less immediately catastrophic, occurs when the drive malfunctions, and the destination is not brought to the required point in space for travel. If not realized, and the starship passes through the initial point of exit, the starship leaves "realspace" and enters Cachulyèn Kholxì, or the "Long Dark"*. This itself could cause the drive to shut down, as it loses track of its entry and exit points, trapping the starship in unknown realms with no hope of rescue or recovery. Alternatively, the starship passes through successfully, though taking longer. But, through whatever they saw in the Cachulyèn Kholxì, the crew is irrevocably changed, often driven insane or catatonic. Attempts to parse what they have seen are impossible, and survivors often pass away soon thereafter, sometimes of starvation, but oftentimes of no discernable cause. Losing a starship and its crew to the Cachulyèn Kholxì, regardless of if the ship makes it through or not, is an unmatched tragedy to the Kyaal.

*A number of translations exist for Cachulyèn Kholxì, including the chosen "Long Dark". Other options include the "Void Between", the "Not-Here", the "Eyeless Space" or "Space Without Stars", the "Blind Anathema" and "It Which is a Tomb". Note that it is considered bad luck to speak of it before a jump, and Kyaal will often avoid mentioning directly at all. Sometimes they'll substitute Kaalku or Tyekhaac ("There" or "That Place") when speaking about it.
 
Lore of the Kyaal

The Rrhólheç Kholxì, Or the Great Stellar Void

To the south of the bulk of the Kyaal Remnant's territory, a yawning void in space stretches across many light years, filled with the lightless husks of stars and long-dead planets, cold and barren. Few souls venture there, save for the mad. This wound in the fabric of the galaxy has marred the stellar tapestry for eons, to the point where few alive today even know its origin, and save for the longest lived of the Kyaal, none were alive to witness its birth.

It is the Rrhólheç Kholxì or the Théy Kyaayí Xhilsàk* to the Kyaal, and both names have many and varied translations into the tongues of the rest of the Inaius sector. Once, that region in space represented the bustling heart of the long dead Kyaal empire, filled with millions upon billions of souls and countless lively worlds and starports. Now, it represents a vast necropolis and somber monument to the once great species of the Kyaal. The exact cause of the void's existence has been almost entirely wiped from history by the Kyaal, but it is speculated that the answer to this question lies at the heart of the void, as does the mythic home planet of the Kyaal race. Regardless, it is known that in the distant past, someone or something triggered an apocalyptic event that at first swallowed the system at the heart of the void and quickly expanded outwards, wiping out life completely in some cataclysmic stellar tide. It took a millennium for the collapse to halt, and by that time it had swallowed up light years of space, and has held that size ever since, though some speculate it still slowly grows and swallows living space to this day.

The collapse represented the final nail in the coffin for the Kyaal empire. Immediately prior to the collapse, the empire was decadent and rich beyond compare, filled with luxury, corruption, and excess. The sciences had reached unseen peaks in knowledge, and the vices had reached absurd depths in depravity, and civilization had become some bacchanalian utopia. Of course, this opulence had come with its price. The edges of the empire, though expansive and seemingly loyal, were rotting and tattered. Secret insurrections broke regions of space away as covert bribes and quiet killings guaranteed that the central authorities either didn't know or didn't care. But an empire it was still, unmatched in the military might and influence it could bring to bear. The world engines still roared with life in the void of space, and particularly irksome systems saw their stars ripped from the sky, their stellar energy used to create artifacts and creations of umatched beauty and nigh-arcane function. These creations, of course, are for another entry.

But the collapse ended this. For a while, the Kyaal clung onto their hubris-filled confidence in the immortality of their empire, living as opulently as ever. But the collapse destroyed the power of the empire, and not soon after the collapse halted, the empire was irrevocably and impossibly shattered. Uprisings across a myriad of worlds saw the Kyaal deposed, often being killed or forced into exile. The only significant presence of Kyaal to maintain power were the relatively few systems in a crescent across the northern edge of the void. These surviving Kyaal, now known as the Remnant, retreated to vast temple-laboratory complexes, stripping away many of the trappings of luxury and choosing asceticism and somber study. The Kyaal today are now one of the rarest species in the galaxy, and the Rrhólheç Kholxì a sobering reminder why.


*Rrhólheç Kholxì can be translated as "The Vast Dark", "The Dead Void", "The Lightless Tragedy", "The Abyss", "The Chasm", among others. Théy Kyaayí Xhilsàk is more specific in meaning, and is generally translated as "The Dead Heart of the Kyaal".
 
Government of the Kyaal

Politics and Polities in the Kyaal Remnant

One might view the Kyaal Remnant, as it is labelled on most maps of the Inaius sector today, as a single government and thus political entity. It is, of course, treated as one monolithic territory with one name and inhabited chiefly by the Kyaal, formerly of the Kyaal Empire and succeeding said Empire after its collapse, eons ago. This is a misconception, however. The Kyaal Remnant is as it is named, a remnant of a once great civilization, the relative handful of surviving Kyaal scattered about a region of space on the fringes of the void that consumed their Empire's heart. There is no unifying government as there once was. Each planet, each temple-laboratory complex, each starship, is governed individually by the few Kyaal that still inhabit them. This is as it has been since the first few centuries after the collapse of the Empire, when the tatters of the old regime still clung together in desperate hope. However, the encroaching of other races onto the Kyaal's territory and technological dark age that forced vast displacement and death onto the Kyaal population broke any hope of retaining a marked presence on the political landscape of the Inaius sector.

This current state of affairs, of course, has made creating or maintaining diplomatic channels with the Kyaal a virtual impossibility. While the planets and systems of the Kyaal remnant remain in contact with others, they owe no necessary fealty to any other, nor are beholden to the political whims of any other Kyaal. Thus it is the case that any dealings that another government might have with the Kyaal are done on a system-wide, planet-wide, or even individual scale. Diplomacy with the Kyaal is further complicated by the fact that Kyaal often prefer to deal with scientists, archivists, and other such academics over strictly government entities and thus often the scope of their contact is severely limited with other species and governments.

Internally, the Kyaal govern themselves just as independently as they interact with outsiders, perhaps even more so. Individual Kyaal tend to be incredibly reclusive, with many leading solitary existences, or alongside a handful of others, typically their closest friends and family, as much as that term can be applied to the Kyaal. As such, they often keep to their own devices, studying arcane secrets and experimenting with sciences and technologies largely unknown to the rest of the galaxy. Occasionally, for a variety of reasons, a Kyaal might abandon its home or temple-laboratory complex, becoming nomadic and travelling across the sector and often beyond, or sometimes simply shifting planets. This complex might remain uninhabited, or the other Kyaal in the complex might stay while that one leaves, or another group of Kyaal will move in. Regardless, the Kyaal remain independent and beholden to very few individuals, if any at all.
 
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Language of the Kyaal

On the Names and Titles of the Kyaal

What is a name? Is it simply a short collection of sounds or symbols that is uttered or written by one individual to indicate another individual? To most species, that is perhaps the most succinct and accurate answer as to that question. Certainly some races eschew this, such as the Grohl, who are all named alike due to some past tragedy in their collective history, but ultimately the 'name' Grohl is still a referent to an individual (admittedly a highly contextual referent) and thus, it could be argued, a name like any other.

For the Kyaal, however, this answer is perhaps not so accurate. If one had the fortune of interacting with a member of the Kyaal and asked if they had names, the response would be a yes, like any other natural species in the Inaius sector. If one were to then ask what it was, the following answer would be significantly more complicated. Between the Kyaal, communication is almost entirely done via telepathy. In doing so, they may refer to and address individuals. Thus, the Kyaal have names. But these names are untranslatable, quite literally, from the medium of Kyaal telepathy to written or spoken language. If one were able to 'listen' to Kyaal telepathy, they might describe the names as a simultaneous bundle of sounds, images, colors, memories, rumors, and opinions, neatly bundled into one 'idea'. Trying to unpack and parse this ideonym would be sufficient to drive a member of any other race mad. But, when the Kyaal interact with members of another race, or encode something in writing, they obviously cannot use these ideonyms. So, for the most part, the Kyaal resort to titles as a means of address. These titles might be descriptive of appearance, or indicative of the Kyaal's occupation or role at the moment, and may be subject to change. The title might also describe where the Kyaal lives, or a significant accomplishment of theirs. Titles also range in length among the Kyaal and full titles may be extraordinarily long even if the individual has a preferred shorter form of address. These titles are also context dependent, as different groups may prefer different titles for the Kyaal in question, or the Kyaal may provide change titles depending on the situation.

For instance, the, now gone, Old Priest. One might refer to him as simply 'The Old Priest'. But a more complete title or set of titles might be along the lines of "The Old Priest, the Hermit Of the Red Dwarf, They Who Study the Dead Heart of the Kyaal, The Peaceful, The Once-General, The Hive-Keeper, The One Who Survived That Place Which Is a Tomb, The Scholar of the Last World Engine, The Pale, The Steward" and others besides. Certainly there are other Old Priests among the Kyaal, though very few. But there are none who encompass that breadth. But is that their name? Or just a collection of descriptors? Or, perhaps, is it both?
 
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