Emyrilli
Humans were aware of the existence of Emyrilli since the Fourth Interstellar Colonial Axis Conference, but the first human/emyrilli encounter occurred in 2469, when the Semillas Arrojadas ship Pionera arrived at Carn-devis 806c-9.52 and found Emyrillian communities in several of the planet's littoral zones. Translingue databases from the Klavangi ensured that the crew and the Emyrilli colonists could communicate.
The Emyrilli were curious and extremely welcoming, and suggested that humans occupy the inland areas with abundant groundwater and riverine channels. Colonial filing rules at the time prohibited co-occupation with sapient species, but the humans did place a settlement for purposes of reseach and diplomacy. A co-location exception proposal was brought to the Interstellar Clearinghouse Academy and approved and co-location commenced in 2472.
The Emyrilli were curious and extremely welcoming, and suggested that humans occupy the inland areas with abundant groundwater and riverine channels. Colonial filing rules at the time prohibited co-occupation with sapient species, but the humans did place a settlement for purposes of reseach and diplomacy. A co-location exception proposal was brought to the Interstellar Clearinghouse Academy and approved and co-location commenced in 2472.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Emyrilli are amphibious multipeds using four limbs for primary locomotion and four for primary manipulation. They have a proto-endoskeleton consisting of two pairs of brain cases joined by paired neural stalks covered by flexible cartiligenous vertebra, linking flexible and extensible limb cores.
The emyrilli have primary and secondary sensory arrays, with the primary aural and optical sensors center-mounted with a speech orifice in a cartiligenous case above the first brain pairs. Secondary optical sensors and primary olfactories flank the eating orifice on the pectoral surface between brain pairs.
They are bilaterally symmetrical, and the extensible 'frilled' tissue protecting the primary optics joins at the rear to form a crest down the center of the dorsal surface. Each pair of locomotory limbs is tipped with flat, finlike ends. Each upper manipulatory limb is tipped with a row of retractable tentacles, and each of the lower manipulatory limbs with two rows.
Emyrilli integument comes in a range of natural base colors depending on their "mrdrarz" (family/subspecies) but they all have the ability to almost-instantaneously imprint a camoflage pattern matching the ambient background on the skin surface. They have additional sensory organs under each braincase that provide very fine discrimination of ambient pressure changes, and secondary olfactories line the undersurface of each manipulatory limb.
The emyrilli have primary and secondary sensory arrays, with the primary aural and optical sensors center-mounted with a speech orifice in a cartiligenous case above the first brain pairs. Secondary optical sensors and primary olfactories flank the eating orifice on the pectoral surface between brain pairs.
They are bilaterally symmetrical, and the extensible 'frilled' tissue protecting the primary optics joins at the rear to form a crest down the center of the dorsal surface. Each pair of locomotory limbs is tipped with flat, finlike ends. Each upper manipulatory limb is tipped with a row of retractable tentacles, and each of the lower manipulatory limbs with two rows.
Emyrilli integument comes in a range of natural base colors depending on their "mrdrarz" (family/subspecies) but they all have the ability to almost-instantaneously imprint a camoflage pattern matching the ambient background on the skin surface. They have additional sensory organs under each braincase that provide very fine discrimination of ambient pressure changes, and secondary olfactories line the undersurface of each manipulatory limb.
Biological Traits
There are some minor variations in emyrillian physiology based on mrdrarz, generally impacting size and integument pattern. Emyrilli biologists count two thousand, six hundred and fourteen distinct mrdrarz, but less than a hundred have traveled or colonized in the direction of Diaspora space.
Genetics and Reproduction
For the first eight to ten standard years or so of life (post-hatching) emyrilli are entirely acquatic; their juvenile form differs substantially from adult morphology. After up to four metamorphoses, the sexually immature version of the adult form emerges and they join the adult community on land, until a penultimate metamorphosis of female sexual maturity sends them back to the spawning areas of their home water. This generally occurs at about fifty to sixty standard years of age.
Emyrilli spawn in groups at seasonal high tides, with the younger females depositing caches of eggs and mounting a sexual display adjacent to them, to encourage males to fertilize the eggs, and, hopefully take over the brooding of the cache. After accomplishing this the females leave the water, to await their final maturational metamorphosis, after an additional two decades, to sexually mature males.
In the water, the elder males guard the egg caches and ensure there is a food supply available when the young hatch. Approximately six to eight percent of hatchlings complete the entire metamorphic process to become young adults. While the males remain in the water with them and begin the educational process for those juveniles that survive, they do little to protect the young from any ambient hazards.
When the males have brought a brood to young adulthood, they too leave the water, and generally metamorphose a final time into the senescent form, which lives another decade or two.
Emyrilli spawn in groups at seasonal high tides, with the younger females depositing caches of eggs and mounting a sexual display adjacent to them, to encourage males to fertilize the eggs, and, hopefully take over the brooding of the cache. After accomplishing this the females leave the water, to await their final maturational metamorphosis, after an additional two decades, to sexually mature males.
In the water, the elder males guard the egg caches and ensure there is a food supply available when the young hatch. Approximately six to eight percent of hatchlings complete the entire metamorphic process to become young adults. While the males remain in the water with them and begin the educational process for those juveniles that survive, they do little to protect the young from any ambient hazards.
When the males have brought a brood to young adulthood, they too leave the water, and generally metamorphose a final time into the senescent form, which lives another decade or two.
Ecology and Habitats
Emyrillian communities bilocate with a water base and an adjacent land base. While carnivorous in their juvenile form, adults tend to omnivory with a preference for plant-based food sources, and they have evolved a very advanced skill in creating sustainable aquaculture/agriculture combinations.
They place a high value on minimizing their impact on the areas they occupy, and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems they modify to live within. They use arcology for land habitats (to a limited extent) in colonial developments but prefer worlds where they can employ only minor adaptations and careful, compatible species introductions to build livable habitats.
They place a high value on minimizing their impact on the areas they occupy, and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems they modify to live within. They use arcology for land habitats (to a limited extent) in colonial developments but prefer worlds where they can employ only minor adaptations and careful, compatible species introductions to build livable habitats.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Eating patterns change throughout the Emyrilli lifespan. In juvenile morphology they are aquatic carnivores, and adults introduce them to land-based food sources slowly as they approach "urgmaalbr mdra". As they leave the water in adult form they become fully omnivorous, and their preferences tend to plant-based foods. Emyrillian culture has a great value for all forms of small-scale food-production.
When adults "return to the water" for reproductive purposes they often add marine vegetation to their diet during the active phase of the reproductive cycle. Adults in "kbrowwglr" return to earlier eating patterns with food being conveyed to the males by females who have returned to land, to preserve available marine food sources for the developing young.
When adults "return to the water" for reproductive purposes they often add marine vegetation to their diet during the active phase of the reproductive cycle. Adults in "kbrowwglr" return to earlier eating patterns with food being conveyed to the males by females who have returned to land, to preserve available marine food sources for the developing young.
Biological Cycle
Emyrilli life spans average about one hundred to one hundred and ten years, the first decade in juvenile forms, followed by approximately fifty years as a sexually immature adult, followed by approximately twenty years in adult female form, during which they may spawn once or twice, followed by a little over a decade in adult male form, after which they spend another decade or so in the nongendered senescent form.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Emyrilli form "bororgla" around portions of water area that provide appropriate spawning facilities, and create land-based communities to protect and support them, with some variety of one or more doyblreg grglaar. Bororgla amalgamate into larger communities, "krrbler" ("rings") centered around the same water.
Colonies located on different worlds may also form alliances or Leagues to promote trade and population exchange. Most such alliances refer to the "Mmbrglunblun", the "Essentials" document that shapes and structures emyrilli ethics and philosophy, as their defining authority.
Colonies located on different worlds may also form alliances or Leagues to promote trade and population exchange. Most such alliances refer to the "Mmbrglunblun", the "Essentials" document that shapes and structures emyrilli ethics and philosophy, as their defining authority.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Emyrilli commonly have both a 'chosen name' taken upon urgmaalbr mdra, and a "water name" given at the second metamorphosis when communication and cognition develops. Each mrdrarz has its own variations on popular name lines - chosen names evolve slightly with each generation/use, and the version of a "water name" will vary from bororgla to bororgla.
Once they have embarked upon adult preparation for their doyblreg grglaar, an emyrilli uses their "water name" only when they are within their own community.
Once they have embarked upon adult preparation for their doyblreg grglaar, an emyrilli uses their "water name" only when they are within their own community.
Average Technological Level
Emyrilli biological and astrophysical technology is formidable - they sequenced their own genome (all 26 billion base pairs) nearly 15,000 standard years ago. This has given them an advantage in arcological development and marine habitat preservation and promoted sustainable and xeno-compatible emerform technologies for their colonial communities.
In aid of their intense interest in astrophysics they early developed advanced materials engineering using silicates, trace transuranics, and rare marine elements, developing hypermicron spectroscopy and powerful distance-compensating optical reflector algorithms. Although they use very little technological computation other than as an aid to navigation and astropmapping, they have invented a variety of ultra-efficient mechanical "algorithm iterators" with functions very similar to digital computation.
In aid of their intense interest in astrophysics they early developed advanced materials engineering using silicates, trace transuranics, and rare marine elements, developing hypermicron spectroscopy and powerful distance-compensating optical reflector algorithms. Although they use very little technological computation other than as an aid to navigation and astropmapping, they have invented a variety of ultra-efficient mechanical "algorithm iterators" with functions very similar to digital computation.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Emyrilli have six major languages with thousands of dialects, but all of them are non-reproducable by other beings. They commonly wear a translator disk.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Emyrilli are extremely adept natural mathemeticians, and they greatly enjoy calculating probabilities and engaging in games of chance, many of which they learned from strill and humans - but they rarely wager large sums, taking enjoyment rather in how closely they anticipate outcomes. (But if you play cards with an emyrilli, don't bet anything you can't afford to lose!)
Although they can, and have, engaged in ferocious battles when survival or the welfare of a mmbrgla is at stake, they are generally pacific and prefer lengthy discussions and detailed cost-benefit analysis, attempting to balance benefits to all parties, as a way of resolving conflicts. Their culture is leisurely - most doyblreg grglaar rarely require more than the equivalent of two or three standard hours of endeavor in a day.
Emyrilli value conversation, meditations - solo or in groups, the practices of astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, the assessment of arts and creative endeavors, and the recitation of poetry as leisure activities, but they are also diligent explorers of any biome they happen to encounter, especially if it has water. They usually form small groups, equivalent to a household but linked by ties of common interest and occasionally engagement in various endeavors, for living arrangements.
Emyrilli do little building of permanent land-based structures other than as needed for various types of doyblreg grglaar, dwelling normally in waterside shelters adapted from local shore features, enhanced by or constructed of lightweight, mobile materials.
They accumulate little personal property. However, they engage in lengthy correspondences and often keep extensive collections of letters, poetry, histories and other publications, on lightweight, waterproof storage media. This may be, in part, because although emyrilli have had seven major notational systems for mathematics and physics for thousands of standard years, the development of written versions of their languages is quite recent.
Although they can, and have, engaged in ferocious battles when survival or the welfare of a mmbrgla is at stake, they are generally pacific and prefer lengthy discussions and detailed cost-benefit analysis, attempting to balance benefits to all parties, as a way of resolving conflicts. Their culture is leisurely - most doyblreg grglaar rarely require more than the equivalent of two or three standard hours of endeavor in a day.
Emyrilli value conversation, meditations - solo or in groups, the practices of astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, the assessment of arts and creative endeavors, and the recitation of poetry as leisure activities, but they are also diligent explorers of any biome they happen to encounter, especially if it has water. They usually form small groups, equivalent to a household but linked by ties of common interest and occasionally engagement in various endeavors, for living arrangements.
Emyrilli do little building of permanent land-based structures other than as needed for various types of doyblreg grglaar, dwelling normally in waterside shelters adapted from local shore features, enhanced by or constructed of lightweight, mobile materials.
They accumulate little personal property. However, they engage in lengthy correspondences and often keep extensive collections of letters, poetry, histories and other publications, on lightweight, waterproof storage media. This may be, in part, because although emyrilli have had seven major notational systems for mathematics and physics for thousands of standard years, the development of written versions of their languages is quite recent.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Emyrilli have a range of social cultures and norms that apply within their own communities, mostly related to two areas of life:
Although the few extant recordings of their complex and appealing underwater music are extremely popular, emyrilli regard music as a communial recreational activity, rather than an art form, and do little to develop it or share it outside their own communities. There is some intimation that certain types of music have a spiritual or deeply significant philosophical, not to say religious, content.
A good deal of emyrilli leisure activity takes place in the water, but they are very fond of a form of hiking that is similar to scavenger hunting or orienteer hiking for humans, in which individual, pairs, or small groups compete to complete an exploration of a specified area and identify, image, and/or notate various types of phenomena within the area.
Immediately preceding and during the early part of the period in their history the emyrilli call Klrdaarg Mnlenba, their social groups engaged in destructive conflict as various Olsgreblerg sought supremacy; it was the task of the Urburbr to reconcile and identify those areas that represented the functional ethics of social development and evolution. The resulting Mmbrglunblun is as close to scripture as the emyrilli have come.
- First, ensuring that following the urgmaalbr mdra, young emyrill are fully educated and provided with a range of experiences allowing them to select a congenial doyblreg grglaar and determine a domestic arrangement that suits them.
- The other area covered by considerable normative history are post-spawning accommodations to ensure females have what is needed to provide for the males brooding and guiding the young during kbrowwglr.
Arts and Entertainment
Emyrilli excel at creating intricate small-scale pattern-based artworks of a sculptural or fiber-based type, and incredibly detailed but ephemeral abstract patterns made of sand, leaves, cast biological elements, and even discarded manufactured items. These are generally created over the course of days or weeks, and then exhibited for a few hours before being washed away.Although the few extant recordings of their complex and appealing underwater music are extremely popular, emyrilli regard music as a communial recreational activity, rather than an art form, and do little to develop it or share it outside their own communities. There is some intimation that certain types of music have a spiritual or deeply significant philosophical, not to say religious, content.
A good deal of emyrilli leisure activity takes place in the water, but they are very fond of a form of hiking that is similar to scavenger hunting or orienteer hiking for humans, in which individual, pairs, or small groups compete to complete an exploration of a specified area and identify, image, and/or notate various types of phenomena within the area.
Religion
Emyrilli are not religious, but they have a number of philosophical disciplines - "Olsgreblag" - that address questions of ethics, causation, moral structure, epistemology, etc. They have eagerly sought to learn the analogous types of learning among other beings, and they are constantly evolving both existing and new Olsgreblerg.Immediately preceding and during the early part of the period in their history the emyrilli call Klrdaarg Mnlenba, their social groups engaged in destructive conflict as various Olsgreblerg sought supremacy; it was the task of the Urburbr to reconcile and identify those areas that represented the functional ethics of social development and evolution. The resulting Mmbrglunblun is as close to scripture as the emyrilli have come.
History
Emer, the home planet of the emyrilli, is 96% covered by water with a very similar content to the oceans of Sol.Tellus, but it is also significantly colder and larger. The habitable zone for the emyrilli is within a narrow equatorial band, which includes two micro-continents and several large island chains. The emyrilli themselves estimate that their species "left the water" and began to evolve amphibious physiology, approximately 30 million standard years ago.
The emyrilli date the beginnings of the contemporary species to approximately 60,000 standard years ago, and mark the beginnings of their advanced social evolution to the establishment of the first krrbler, between 40,000 and 35,000 standard years ago. The earliest technologies they evolved included underwater mining for minerals and the development of solar agriculture and battery power storage.
Population management became a concern as available mmbrgla became scarcer and livable water habitat began degrading under the pressure of population expansion. Beginning about 15,000 standard years ago, emyrilli began prioritizing preserving and sustaining water and land habitats. The associated moral, social, and cultural conflicts precipitated the "Klrdaarg Mnlenba", an approximately two thousand year period of cultural exchange among various emyrilli subspecies and communities, and led to the beginning of their period of technological advancement.
Emer's abundance of marine minerals enabled the emyrilli to develop a variety of solar technologies relatively early, as well as very advanced glass and polymer engineering. They began early to look to the stars as a potential solution to the problems of population expansion, with complex telescopy and innovative mathematical descriptions of stellar spectroscopy and astrophysics.
Approximately 8,000 standard years ago Emer launched its first solar sail-powered insystem spaceships to explore its own system, and within a milennium had established a colony on the oceanic moon of one of the three adjacent gas giant planets. The presence of irravir in the oceans of Numrgl allowed them to upgrade the efficiency of their solar sail technology and speed the colonization of two additional moons in the Emer system.
Attempts to develop and test better propulsion systems brought about a fortuitous tragedy, as a test vehicle inadvertently picked up a kiron and achieved supralight speeds - an experience the crew did not survive. Additional tests, using drones, led to a more robust design. Slowly, the emyrilli worked their way to a chancy but non-lethal version of FTL travel.
Over the next 5000 standard years, the emyrilli built a network of colonies in nearby systems, improving emerforming and arcology technologies, creating trade routes and developing an accellerated signal encapsulation communication technology. About 3000 standard years ago they encountered klavangi and learned enough about kiron flows to improve sail technology and expand further.
The emyrilli date the beginnings of the contemporary species to approximately 60,000 standard years ago, and mark the beginnings of their advanced social evolution to the establishment of the first krrbler, between 40,000 and 35,000 standard years ago. The earliest technologies they evolved included underwater mining for minerals and the development of solar agriculture and battery power storage.
Population management became a concern as available mmbrgla became scarcer and livable water habitat began degrading under the pressure of population expansion. Beginning about 15,000 standard years ago, emyrilli began prioritizing preserving and sustaining water and land habitats. The associated moral, social, and cultural conflicts precipitated the "Klrdaarg Mnlenba", an approximately two thousand year period of cultural exchange among various emyrilli subspecies and communities, and led to the beginning of their period of technological advancement.
Emer's abundance of marine minerals enabled the emyrilli to develop a variety of solar technologies relatively early, as well as very advanced glass and polymer engineering. They began early to look to the stars as a potential solution to the problems of population expansion, with complex telescopy and innovative mathematical descriptions of stellar spectroscopy and astrophysics.
Approximately 8,000 standard years ago Emer launched its first solar sail-powered insystem spaceships to explore its own system, and within a milennium had established a colony on the oceanic moon of one of the three adjacent gas giant planets. The presence of irravir in the oceans of Numrgl allowed them to upgrade the efficiency of their solar sail technology and speed the colonization of two additional moons in the Emer system.
Attempts to develop and test better propulsion systems brought about a fortuitous tragedy, as a test vehicle inadvertently picked up a kiron and achieved supralight speeds - an experience the crew did not survive. Additional tests, using drones, led to a more robust design. Slowly, the emyrilli worked their way to a chancy but non-lethal version of FTL travel.
Over the next 5000 standard years, the emyrilli built a network of colonies in nearby systems, improving emerforming and arcology technologies, creating trade routes and developing an accellerated signal encapsulation communication technology. About 3000 standard years ago they encountered klavangi and learned enough about kiron flows to improve sail technology and expand further.
Lifespan
100-120 standard years
Average Height
1.8 - 2.3 meters
Average Weight
70 - 125 kg
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