Viszikk

Hailing from the the harsh worlds of the Ahmun system, the Vizsikk have lay un-noticed to the rest of the galaxy as a fairly unremarkable species of insectoid humanoids. however with the galaxy emerging from its period of heavy warfare, the Vizsikk now come to stake their claim as a major power. The galaxy is still new to them and even they are not sure how to achieve their goal as of yet, but regardless of their lack of experience, their mastery of devastating solar weaponry makes them a force to be reckoned with.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Vizsikk are a race encompassing various bio forms, from the tiny beings of the Sekrit all the way to the hulking monstrosities of the Guaragan, they are the dominant race on the plethora of worlds they inhabit, in same instances, their bio forms taking over entire ecosystems. Some beings however are without question destined for the top of the Vizsikk food chain; the Vizsikkian Highborn, these more humanoid forms of the Vizsikk are the basis for their species, they are the most intelligent and adaptable, as well as being the controllers of the rest of the species by sheer psychic dominance.

Forms of the Vizsikk

Phase One

Vizsikk forms in the 'phase one' stage, as categorized in the holo publication The Vizsikk: Masterful Evolutions by acclaimed Xeno researcher Albius Finch, are little more than larvae, they often exist as soft, worm like organisms ranging from one to two feet in length and ten to twenty kilograms in weight. they are capable of only basis brain function for survival instincts and are mostly dependent on their mothers until they progress. Despite their seemingly defenseless appearance, Phase One Vizsikk are capable of secreting a strong, highly corrosive substance as a defense mechanism. In some cases, a Phase One Vizsikk may never mature further into the life cycle and reach imminence sizes, as well as partially develop further and gain the chitinous plates common on other stages.

Phase Two

Phase Two Vizsikk, also known as the Visicid are much more insectoid, covered from head to toe in chitinous exoskeleton, their forms can range anywhere from multi legged arachnid like entities capable of pushing several times their own weight to hyper agile, darting wasp creatures that carry a deadly venom payload. Generally this form is of only basic intelligence, though they have shown to be highly adaptable and are capable of complex learning as well as a degree of independent form, but still rely largely on instinctive behavior. Phase Two Vizsikk are a dead end in the species cycle, with no further progress capable of being made beyond this stage, with members of this genus only being capable of producing other Vizsikk. These creatures can range in stature from small, football sized insects no bigger than the larvae they came from to hulking behemoth like forms rivaling the size of a tank.

Phase Three

Phase Three Vizsikk are known as the Vizsikkian Highborn in their own society, they stand as the most intelligent in the Vizsikk race and are capable of a range of free thought and complex emotion that puts them in the league of other sentient creatures of the galaxy. in stature and silhouette they are similar to humans in that they stand upright unlike their Vizicid cousins and typically have two arms and two legs with a single head and neck. Like Humans, they posses the same sensory capabilities as well as some additional ones with large, compound eyes, a nose and ears. However This is generally where the similarities end. Highborn Vizsikk are capable of growing additional arms and legs as well as a number of biomorphic tools such as wings, stingers and talons seen in their lesser cousins. These can occur through mutation or be a result of cross breeding.
Highborn Vizsikk stand 5ft to 5.8ft tall, only really growing bigger than this if they are the result of cross breeding or deliberate and natural mutation. They feature the same chitinous plates as the Vizicid though only on their legs, arms and abdomen, the rest of their bodies being of a fleshy composition. the colour of their flesh and chitin differs vastly depending on the geographical location they are from, certain environments yield certain colours, the obvious being light sandy colour for desert environments and dark green for forest environments.
Hair in Vizsikk Highborn is comprised of keratinous down that is hard and bristly to the touch that clumps into strands. It grows typically on their heads, face and upper body, often prolifically on their shoulders and around their necks, the purpose for the hair is largely unknown, though is suspected to be part of their courtship or as a signifier of rank. They also feature triple jointed legs that allow for much greater agility. Atop their heads they have a set of two antennae that move independently which are capable of fulfilling a variety of sensory detection roles, as well as being a mood indicator. Their mouths are filled with rows of tiny, razor sharp teeth including two fangs that inject a paralyzing venom as well as two sharp mandibles that can easily pierce flesh. Vizsikk venom isn't particularly dangerous but is known to be painful and long lasting, capable of affecting most races with a central nervous system.
Differences between male and female Vizsikk are only really evident in the Highborn, their society being overtly female dominated. Female Vizsikk are much more intelligent and able to think quickly on their feet, as an opposite to this, males are often much stronger than their female counterparts. Female Vizsikk have a pair of breasts, and while these do serve a purpose in the rearing of young, they are primarily used for their ability constantly produce a source of food for other Vizsikk. This would be the difference between life and death when in their pre-sociatal days their whole colony would be trapped under ground due to a sand storm or if no food could be found in the vast deserts they inhabited. A female Vizsikk can also survive of of the contents in a similar way to a camel. in addition, the Vizsikk body only contains 20% water in comparison to a human's 60%, this effectively means they can survive on dry food alone.
A constant in the Vizsikk form are two small, triple jointed arms that are situated mid way up their torso. These arms are soft and fleshy in appearance and have only two fingers and one thumb, they are also entirely retractable to the point where they completely hidden. They often remain hidden as in Vizsikk society showing off these extra arms is considered crude and in bad taste.

Biological Traits

Lifespan

The life span of a Vizsikk Vizicid is often quite short, only lasting for around 20 years, for the Highborn it is around 50, however with their technological advancements they are known to reach the age of 130 at an absolute maximum. Gamergates in their society seem to live for much longer, nearly 200 years. however there are myths of Vizsikk gamergates evolving into a mysterious fourth phase of their life cycle and living for hundreds of years.

Genetics and Reproduction

Vizsikk reproduce sexually, even in their most rudimentary form, the Vizicid, they are grouped into male and female genders. For this genus, reproduction is simple; find a mate and get busy. Females of the Vizicid lay anywhere from 10 to 50 eggs that take anywhere from 2 to 3 months to hatch into larvae, in which they will stay for 5 to 6 months before pupating into a fully grown adult. For Vizsikkian highborn the process is slightly more complex.
However strangely, only existing in Vizsikk highborn, is the role of a Gamergate. In the Vizsikk society only the strongest females will gain the ability to lay eggs. it is unknown even to the Vizsikk what causes this to manifest, but when a female proves her dominance over a number of her peers she miraculously gains the ability to lay eggs which she wouldn't have otherwise. The size of the colony depends on how many Gamergates there are, smaller colonies will only have one, while much larger ones may have several. Once a female Vizsikk gains the status as a Gamergate, she can produces a specific type of pheromone that creates loyalty in her peers, giving her a position of leadership naturally. When a colony has multiple Gamergates these leaders often come together as a council and lead together.
The female will lay anything from 3 to 10 fist sized eggs that take a similar amount of time as the Vizsikk to mature into larvae. She will produce eggs as often as the colony requires, Vizsikk Gamergates having an innate sense of intuition of the colonies numbers. If the numbers are low, she will produce more eggs, if the numbers are high, she will produce less. It is said that this sense of knowing comes from the baseline psychic abilities possessed by the Vizsikk. Similarly the larvae will remain at that stage for 5 to 6 months, however their pupa stage is much, much longer, lasting nearly a year and a half. This is the most likely point for mutations to occur. Abnormal sizes are common when the pupa stage last for too long and extra limbs and bio morphs when the pupa is exposed to certain conditions.

Growth Rate & Stages

After a Vizsikk hatches from its pupa, in the case of the Vizicid, it is fully functional, while it will grow over the course of its life its body doesn't change much after. In Vizsikkian Highborn the process is slightly more complicated, with the larvae going from a writhing, basic worm to a complicated, intelligent organism. Once the pupa hatches the individual has a 'childhood' of roughly 5 years before it reaches sexual maturity. Changes in the body structure include the heightened growth of more body hear and coloration changes in the individual's skin and chitin.

Ecology and Habitats

The planet of Ahmun'kara, the birth world of the Vizsikk, is a sprawling desert world with little in the way of oceans. It's sprawling dunes of grey sand and craggy rock being extremely inhospitable. It does posses some flora in the form of mosses and lichens but leafy green plants are entirely unheard of. As the Vizsikk genus Vizicid became the most suitable species for roaming these barren environments, surviving on the various types of fungi growing in the desert. It is unclear why the Vizsikk highborn came to exist in the first place, as the desert itself was extremely hostile for them. They survived mostly by hunting their primitive cousins until they found the means to travel outside the sprawling deserts to places where food was more plentiful. After achieving dominance over the lesser Vizicid, the highborn used them to gather food and supplies from beyond the sands.
In the deserts, the Vizsikkian Highborn existed mostly in underground tunnels, but would later construct massive structures above ground out of a black stone material they would learn how to refine for such matters.
When the Vizsikk became technologically advanced enough to build what they called the 'astral projector' and colonize their planets habitable forest moon, they underwent another big change. The device worked by using a highly combustible explosive gas found only on their planet that effectively catapulted a capsule full of their species out of the atmosphere and onto the forest moon of Amun'kahet. There were multiple attempts at this, with it only being clear their people had survived when they built a reflector big enough to get the attention of the giant space telescopes in use on the surface of Amun'kara.
On Amun'kahet, the environment is much more verdant and lush, food and shelter existing abundantly. Vizsikk loving in this forest environment exhibited a change in their colour from a sandy yellow to a dark forest green, this change occurred naturally without any input from them. such a change has been exhibited on other plants suck as night worlds, where the flesh of the Vizsikk will turn a midnight black to better blend in with their darkened environment.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Vizsikk are omnivorous, capable of surviving off of plants and meat accordingly. They typically prefer moss, lichen and fungus for their plant content, often turning their noses up at leafy greens. For meat, anything will do. they are capable of processing a number of dangerous toxins that would otherwise kill a lot of other creatures, they have been shown to be capable of consuming rotten flesh without and ill effects. They can also take in nutrients from inanimate sources in some cases such as wood and very specific types of rock.

Additional Information

Social Structure

In Vizsikk society, there is an overarching female dominance. Males of the species, while capable of achieving higher rank, are usually always considered second best to their female counterparts. For the Vizsikk, the men are stronger and generally not as intelligent, though this is not the case all the time, with males of the species having achieved high ranks in the society on multiple occasions. Due to a difference in their DNA, males of the species are much more malleable in the sense of mutation, they are more likely to suffer genetic mutations in the pupation stage than females. Because of this males are often the targets for the creation of specialized soldiers or workers, in some cases geneshapers adding extra limbs or dramatically increasing their size. Male Vizsikk are usually the front line in a military campaign as they are far more numerous, they often fulfill the tasks of basic infantrymen, heavy lift workers and builders, while the more surgical rules such as tacticians, scientists and politicians are filled by females.
The Vizsikk exists on their homeworld as a vast network of different, allied colonies, this is to keep their genetic stock varied, as once a female has achieved her place as gamergate she cannot reproduce with any of her subsequent children. Because of this, the colonies only typically get together on specific occasions, these take the form of extravagant festivals that happen several times a year. In this the one, or several gamergates from each colony will choose potential suitors. Generally there will be one colony that assumes the role of a super colony among a planet controlled by the Vizsikk, this colony will grow much bigger than the others surrounding it, hosting multiple gamergates instead of one, it is said that on rare occasions in times of dire desperation one of this council of gamergates may ascend to a new form; a queen like role where she will gain a significant increase in power, most notably a much more powerful psychic strength.

Facial characteristics

Vizsikk Vizicid have more bestial features, gnashing jaws, tough beaks and serrated teeth with their more advanced cousins being much more uniform. While they can exhibit stark differences in one another, they are generally the same in having hair on their head and face, small mandibles either side of their mouths and two large eyes acompanied by two smaller ones, these eyes being yellow in colouration and having a compound honeycomb structure. Their ears are often always pointed and atop their head are two antennae that move around and twitch independently.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Vizsikk Highborn, and all Vizsikk for that matter, are capable of the main five senses; sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch, however the way they perceive these senses is very different. Vizsikk posses multiple eyes, two larger compound eyes that fulfill all the functions of sight, able to see a vast gamut of colour with incredible depth perception. In addition to these larger eyes, they also have two smaller ones situated on the temples of their head, these eyes deal exclusively with night vision and are capable of seeing in complete darkness, due to this they only activate when the light level drops below a certain threshold.
The sense of smell of a Vizsikk is roughly ten times that of a human, their species often communicating through pheromones. The Pheromone glands of a Vizsikk are capable of producing a number of chemical scents undetectable by other races. These specifically engineered smells can mean any number of things and can be uses as the sole method of communication if necessary, and they often are when silence is required. Though it is said that producing pheromones is a tiring job, there for most Vizsikk that are capable of it prefer speech as a method of communication over pheromones.
Vizsikk antennae have a multitude of uses, as well as conveying an individual's mood, they are instrumental in detecting other Vizsikk pheromones. they can also sense minute vibrations in the air and warn an individual of coming danger from a large enemy. Because of this, Vizsikk are very difficult to sneak up on.
Pheromones for the Vizsikk are extremely powerful even to other races. To an extend they can use these abilities to directly control another individual, force them to feel certain emotions or even inflict harm on them. To hone ones skills at producing pheromones in this way is a practice in the Vizsikk known as Pharmaturgy. Vizsikk pheromones in some cases can be so powerful they can penetrate the most advanced of breathing apparatus and even change their chemical property on the fly. How the Vizsikk accomplish this is largely unknown, however they have been shown to have a degree of psychic power that allows them to interface with the individual spores that carry the pheromones through the air, effectively allowing a powerful Pharmaturgist to manipulate the pheromonal spores originating from their allies.

Civilization and Culture

Courtship Ideals

In Vizsikk society, only the proven gamergates can produce offspring. there will typically be only one gamergate in a colony unless the colony is particularly large in size. Because in Vizsikk all members of the colony are of the same bloodline, they physically cannot reproduce with each other. While casual sexual relations do happen within colonies, they can never yield any offspring. This is why the several inter-colonial festivals that happen multiple times a year are so important for Vizsikk colony growth. in these festivals a number of allied and enemy colonies will come together for several days of celebration. This may include everyone from massive, megacity sized colonies to smaller tribes of only several dozen individuals. this is the time where gamergates of each colony will choose a suitor to rule with them.
Due to Vizsikk physiology, a male can only provide genetic material to a female once, however this allows the gamergate to continue producing young well into the next festival. Come the next festival, the male will have to leave his current suitor totry and find another one.
At these events a single Vizsikk will play the role of matchmaker for the gamergates and potential suitors, this is one of the most important roles for a male of the Vizsikk species.

Common Dress Code

Vizsikk tend to wear loose fitting robes as opposed to tighter cloths due to their hard exoskeletons. in most cases they only cover their more fleshy areas, their carapace acting as adequate protection from damage and the elements. Though when heading into battle they do still don the likes of composite armour.

History

The Vizsikk evolved on the harsh desert world of Ahmun'kara, they began as their more primitive forms of biomorphic insect; the Vizicid. these fairly primitive insects managed to survive in the harsh, inhospitable environments of Ahmun'kara by living off of mosses and lichens and occasionally predation. They started as a small, beetle like creature which grew vastly in size. in effort to find a way out of the desert, a number of the beetles evolved into more agile, aerial hunters that could catch the flying wildlife as well as search for new lands. When the Vizsikk found the rocky crags they needed to be able to burrow into the rock, so over time they evolved an acid belching form that would claw its way through rock with ease. This all took place over millions of years until eventually the biggest change for the species happened.
The Skitharian Highborn came seemingly out of nowhere, it was unclear why they came to be, they were less suited to the harsh environments and nowhere near as robust as the Vizsikk, however they were vastly more intelligent, and with their intelligence they could overcome many of the planetary events such as massive storms of sand and fire, acid rain and earthquakes. They learned much quicker than their primitive cousins, of which for a long time they had no idea they were even related too. The Skitharian Highborn for a while warred against the Vizsikk, the two sides preyed on one another relentlessly until the Vizsikk Highborn developed something the Vizsikk could not; psykers.
In Vizsikkian lore, as one of their wars against the Vizicid was reaching unsustainable casualties, there was one final battle that threatened to be the last fight their people ever fought. As the armies of Vizsikk swarmed across the land toward the Vizsikkian colony lands, it was said that massive winged serpent creature was seen flying high in the sky. As all began to seem lost, High Vizier Mirethk was said to concentrate all of her mental will to call upon the creature for aid. Unknowingly, the Vizier was one of the first Vizsikk to be a capable Pharmatugist. Because of the huge torrent of pheromones that was being exuded from the Vizicid and Highborn alike, there was enough floating in the air to affect the creature. With it being unknown at the time Vizsikkian even had any psychic capabilities, Mirethk was seen as using her sheer will power to call upon the beast. She saw it as her prayer for aid being answered as the massive winged creature was seen to harness the power of the burning sun and use it to wipe out the swarms of vizicid in a blazing torrent. From this day Vizier Virethk was seen as a form of prophet, she advocated prayer to the massive winged creature that was never seen again after the event, it being understood now the creature as a species of giant flying reptile that went extinct long in the past, and that one was one of the few that remained.
As well as praying to the creature, the Vizsikk also worshiped the sun as being what the creature used to win the day for the highborn. In Vizsikkian lore, the creature was named Drath while the sun is named Pharsus, this formed the basis of the Vizsikkian religion, and through their worship of the sun it became the basis for much of their technology, using a wide variety of crystals and focusing prisms to create things such as beam weapons. Through their discoveries with the sun and thus heat as well as the access to a large amount of differing sand types they became extremely proficient as glass makers, a trait which is one of their primary off planet exports today.
It took roughly three hundred years for the Vizsikk to master the practice of Pharmaturgy, after that, they had complete and total dominion over the lesser Vizicid, now the primitive creatures worked for them as transport haulers, workers and war beasts. Mirethk was still alive by this point, having been the longest documented life of a Vizsikk highborn so far. Her actions with the god Drath had echoed through the ages and she had become a beacon of hope and power a number of colonies on Ahmun'kara. A large group of colonies from the southern hemisphere of the planet formed to become what is still known as the Vizsikkian Primarchy. Any colonies that did not join them were crushed under their might, eventually, the entire world, after a bloody unification war, stood as one.
By this point, the Vizsikk had reached an industrial revolution, they had mastered the practice of refining metals and construction of heavy machinery, however electricity, or at least their version of it, would not come until much later.
It was at this point the Vizsikk looked out to the stars and saw the other planets in their solar system. Operations began to try and colonize these worlds in the name of the Primarchy as the risky operation of the Vizsikk space program began. To achieve launching into orbit the Vizsikk used reserves of a highly explosive gas found underground on Ahmun'kara. They began by launching probes that would emit a bright light visible with their highly advanced space telescopes if they survived the landing. After a successful capsule design was made the first manned missions began. The first attempts at space travel began while the unification war was still going on, and the first successful manned mission to the closest planet; the forest moon of Ahmun'kahet. The problem with the Vizsikk's method of space travel, it only allowed for a one way trip, meaning multiple crews were sent before a successful landing and light based signal was sent back to the home world.
After the unification war was over and the planet of Ahmun'kara conquered, the people of the Vizsikk Primarchy turned toward advancing their technology with the primary motivation to establish a connection with the colonies on the other worlds in their solar system they had launched people on to. Over the period of several decades, the Vizsikk developed a rudimentary form of electricity, they developed powerful solar weapons and a plethora of new vehicles that put them up to a post industrial revolution age. They were also at this point experimenting with spacecraft that could make the return trip from their colony worlds to Ahmun'kara. however when they eventually arrived at their colony worlds, they had found the people there had vastly adapted to their different ways of life, and as an effect of their time away from the main colony, had lost their loyalty to the Primarchy. Though instead of engaging in conquest the Vizsikk found that these colonies had discovered powerful tools and methods that would be hugely beneficial to the Vizsikk people in the long run. So the four worlds at this point unified under a single banner and created the Vizsikk Empire.

In the Present Day

The Vizsikk, like so many other races, were not sparred from the wrath of the roving Rekhton fleets. Their race falling prey to a Rekhton scavenger fleet several hundred years before the Sirasions had their run in. The Vizsikk won their fight against the Rekhtons, but at the cost of one of their four worlds, the entire planet of Ahmun'orsis being completely annihilated by the Rekhtons and its people assimilated and turned against the rest of the Empire.
After the Rekhtons had been driven off, the Skithikk learned a valuable lesson about the outer galaxy in that it was a dangerous and hostile place, though it was from captured and destroyed Rekhton ship computers they learned of other far off civilizations the Rekhton menace had destroyed. This served to prepare the Vizsikk for their encounter with The High Tekno later on.
After the war with the Rekhtons, the now crowned 'Immortal empress' Mirethk unified the other worlds under the banner of the Vizsikk Primarchy and started a massive initiative to engineer military technology that would prepare the Vizsikk people for another incursion from the Rekhtons or another alien menace. This foretold alien incursion however came in the form of the High Tekno.
On their crusade to rescue the lost colonies of humans and purge the galaxy of alien life, the High Tekno sent assassins to Mirethk's chambers in the night and had her assassinated. With their revered leader who had lead the Vizsikk people for the seemingly impossible length of over a thousand years, the Primarchy was sent into disarray. This was ofcourse part of the High Tekno's master plan to destabilize the Primarchy before their invasion of the system.
When the High Tekno came they came in vast numbers bearing massive fire power. They arrived first on Ahmun'horus, the third planet in the solar system. They obliterated the worlds population with brutal efficiency and victory seemed assured with the next planets projected to fall the same way. However this invasion had come not long after Mirethk's last major order; the militarization of the Vizsikk. After a successful campaign on Ahmun'horus the High Tekno were met with heavy resistance, the Vizsikk now had star ships of their own equipped with devastating solar weaponry. Despite this the High Tekno still landed on the capital planet of Ahmun'kara and besieged the colony hives. However little did the High Tekno know, as soon as they had landed on the surface of Ahmun'kara, they were doomed.
The practice of Pharmaturgy was now well cemented within the Vizsikk knowledge and they used this to full affect when the enemy landed. The Vizsikk Pharmaturgists had never had the chance to experiment with it on humans before, and the effects were even better than desired. Due to the high concentration of Vizsikk on Ahmun'kara, the humans bodies were full of pheromonal spores without them even knowing it. As they met the Pharmaturgists on the battlefield, these powerful psykers directly manipulated the spores within the enemy soldiers, changing their make up so they excreted acid, burning their enemy from the inside out all the way to infecting the soldiers minds and forcing them to fire on their own comrades.
Having their own men turn on them was too much for the High Tekno, and not long after they met the pharmaturgists on the battlefield a retreat off planet was called. But this didn't stop them High Tekno, they attempted to deploy one of their own experimental weapons on the planet of Ahmun'kahet before they left the system; an experimental explosive device that opened up a miniature black hole in the crust of a planet, effectively destroying it. Their attempt was partially successful, with the world being carved effectively in two. After this, they left the stricken Vizsikk Primarchy to pick up the pieces.

After the Extinction War

Throughout the Galactic War, the Vizsikk remained as a fairly minor race, after eventually recovering after their run in with the High Tekno they branched out to trade in their local area of space. they were largely ignored by the major factions, though their system did see light conflicts between the factions, but this never made planetfall. To stop such invasions from ever happening again. the Vizsikk created a network of colossal solar cannons that used a series of prisms to form a devastating solar beam that could be used to deter invasions.
Until now, the Vizsikk are mostly just known for their high quality glass exported from their worlds, their craftsmanship is of the highest quality when it comes to such things.

Lifespan

20 - 200

Average Height

5ft - 5.8ft

Average Weight

10kg - 400kg (Skithik Vizicid) 50kg - 80kg (Skithik Highborn)

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The colour of SVizsikk differs vastly by their region, though the main cast of the Vizsikk Highborn originate from a sprawling desert, their skin tones matching the environment around them. After Vizsikk colonized their forest moon, it took roughly a year for their skin to change colour to match their environment.