Somur

Written by dweam

A mysterious, secretive race, somur are named after their lost planet, it’s true name lost in the waves of time. A humanoid-fish type species, the somur travel across the galaxy in huge motherships through wormholes, looking for suitable habitats for their kind. The somur’s unique mode of travel makes them able to appear in almost any point of time and space, and have a tendency to drop a few of their own at every spot they go. I guess if you wanted to compare them to something they’re like the wanderer archetype from Spore. Like every race, personalities are unique to individuals and a single, common characteristic is not usually found between these vast populations. HOWEVER, the stereotypical somuran is paranoid, shut-in, aloof, and at times a little patronizing. Spending most of their lives inside the Mother Fleet, somur live in extremely isolated environments from other space faring races, meaning that they are often rude or flat out offensive to species they are unfamiliar with.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The actual fish to human ratio can vary in each individual. Some have what basically accounts to fish heads, while others can have an almost human complexion. Somur tend to have enlarged forearms, multiple pairs of eyes, and walk on two legs. However, being born with a fish tail isn’t unheard of. Gills on the side of their torso is a given, and around 50% of the general population has another set of gills on their neck. The species is very colorful! You can find a somur in practically any hue, even dull ones, like black or brown. It’s also rather average for somur to have some kind of bioluminescence, though it’s slightly more common in the more fish-like subgroup of the race. Another common characteristic is the distinctive head fin/spike that each individual has, and these too can come in many different shapes and sizes. The classic somur beaut has striking colors, a magnificent head fin, a more human complexion, and 4 eyes. If you’re lucky, you’ll be born with an extra spike on your face. That sounds a little weird but trust me its a distinctive feature if you have it. (The closest thing I could find to it is the red face thing that tfp Starscream has) Funnily enough, those with this birth trait also happen to have the chance of being a good foot and a half taller than the average somur, but not always. Some theorise that these are traits of a long lost lineage of a separate subspecies, or even royal blood. Whatever significance any of the varying somur traits have, they sure as hell don’t matter now.

Biological Traits

Hate to say it folks but there are no fish titties.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Mostly carnivorous, though there are dome high protein plants they can eat.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Somur that permanently migrate out of the Mother Fleet are called somurans. However, most people don’t know this distinction and often use it interchangeably with somur. Aliens arguing over which one is right is a favorite past time for both the somur and somurans in the given area of the discussion. They are also absolutely no help when asked to clarify the distinction, at least most of them. I’m looking at you, Carl.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Another notable characteristic of the somur is their prized importance of names. With the amount of knowledge they lost in the blackout, along with several other instances, the somur just find that not remembering someone’s name as just another bit of knowledge lost. Thus the distinction of the “name” and “true name” was born. Names can come from anywhere, and somurans often use local names for something to go by. True names are only given to someone that somur really trust, and is extremely private. There have been several instances were a politician’s true name is told the general public after their death, as a sign of respect and intimacy for the people.

Average Technological Level

After some messing around with particle accelerators and drifting in space for a good 100,000 years, the somur eventually realized that they really had no idea what they were doing. BUT, they still had most of the data from the initial wormhole. Eventually, after a very long time and with help of several (I say several like thats a small amount) outsider scientists, the somur could actually create wormholes large enough for ships to drive though. However, they can never be quite as precise as that want to be, and can end up several hundred to almost 200 million years into the future or past. Yet another oops for the team, they’re trying their best. The infamous somur Mother Fleet are essentially giant city planets on rockets. They have everything they need for a race to survive, including farms, open-air markets, and even entire lakes and forests. At every jump the somur search for local scientists and engineers for advice to improve upon the motherships. They require, or rather the somur make it required, to repair the fleet after every wormhole jump. The money and parts needed for these repairs can leave the fleet stranded in one place for a very long time, resulting in local political sheigans. However, money is usually not a problem, as the somur can simply sell their machines on the local markets. That doesn’t make their technology widespread, however. The nature of the somur secrecy makes sure of that. Their migration leads them always picking up foreign inventions and formulas along their way. If the somur bothered to let literally anyone know of the full extent of their travels, scientists would be begging at their knees to take a glimpse of the exotic, possibly beyond-the-galaxy innovations. Somur also have famously good translation modules and are highly valued, both for quality and rarity.

Common Dress Code

Somur clothing tends to be on the “functional, but not really there” side. It was just never really a big focus on their part, due to their protective scales and with it getting in the way of swimming. A standard somur outfit includes some sort of cloth or armor piece, sometimes both. Walking around with nothing on is the equivalent of a dude walking around with his shirt off. Furs are associated with special occasions, influence of other space aristocracy and the general lack of biological diversity of animals on the motherships. Lace and sheer fabric are also a popular fancy clothing of choice by the masses, being much more easy to produce.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The apathy for knowledge is not limited to what you call someone by. Hundreds of generations drifting through the uncaring void isn’t really uplifting in the prospects of your illusion that you make an impact. Imagine you’re one of the last people on earth, and you’re struggling to preserve everything on the internet. Suddenly, some perks up that it doesn’t matter, since what possible useful benefit could we use for art history of youtube memes? To a somur, you would seem like the strange one in this scenario. Somur have burned themselves out trying to preserve all information that they can, and have resigned themselves to the fate of time. Why bother observing this species, it doesn’t matter to somur. All that matters is the ship and the people who live on it, not the other way around. This of course a general explanation and obviously not every somur thinks like this, but its been the long prevailing thought for generations at this point.

History

Their native planet, now only known as Somur VIII, had the unfortunate luck of having a wormhole forming right over its atmosphere and kind starting a whole planet-wide panic. Oops. After a lot, and a lot, and a LOT of debate and science, somur said sarinara to their home, went into comas medically induced hibernation and shot themselves into the wormhole in a leap of faith. Fortunately, the entire species didn’t die. Unfortunately, a good amount of their motherboard was fried, and lost most of somur history in the process. Another oops. It's important to note that all of what I just told you could be false, as there is no fool proof record of somur history before their ancestors awoke from cryosleep. Written logs from memory are susceptible to both bias and brain damage from the comas, and oral tradition by its nature is bound to be rife with inaccuracies, especially when they have been told for as long as they have. After generations of being in medically induced comas and being lost in space, most information pertaining to before the blackout is deemed false, though there are some somur shifting through different versions of the same myth to find common links and piece together some cohesive narrative. So far the one I told is the most possible story of what really happened so long ago.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

hile there are aren’t really “poor”, per say, there is an upper class. Scientists and farmers are the most valued in somur society, and treated with respect everywhere they go in the Mother Fleet. There have also been a select few alien scientists who made big enough strides in the scene to have been offered to board upon the Mother Fleet, and fewer have accepted. These aliens are treated with the highest respect a somur can give, even more so than royalty, if the somu had royalty. It’s mostly those from at the bottom of wealth scale that leave the motherships by the millions to settle a new planet. If they’re moving to an already populated planet, most societies tend to discriminate them due their sudden arrival, big fancy ships, and heavy use of translators. What happens to these somurans after the fleet leaves is up to them and their “roommates”.

Origin/Ancestry

It is unknown on whether or not the somur originated before or after the after the Post-Exploration Era, and attempts to find where Somur VIII or it’s wormhole have yielded no results as of yet. Once again, somur are not helpful in the slightest.

Lifespan

The adverage Somur lives to about 150, but that number can vary wildly depending on the enviroment they're in. A planet thats very dirty with acid rain, for instance, would limit the lifespan to around 60. Those who stay are known to reach over 200.

Average Height

The standard height of a somur is 5-5.5 ft. Not every humanoid species can have an average height of 2 meters, you know.