Banfranal
Sentient species of the Tranal Nomads.
Banfranal race was engineered on N.T.S. Dawn many years ago. It would spend most of its history on said starship.
Banfranal evolved in a highly dark climate aboard this ship as it had few lights operational at the time. Due to the very low gravity, their entire body was designed to grab onto objects better, but were not very strong at all. Although gravity would crush their bodies with ease, they also have limbs that grow in virtually all directions around them which allowed them to grab onto anything within reach regardless of where it was.
Some light would be let in through the windows of the ship and allow the ecosystem to grow, but little else. They can see colours even at low light levels. Due to this, they often wear polarized lenses to stop the highly intense interior lights of the Dawn to burn their eyes (the ship was powered up after the TN space age.) The N.T.S. Dawn also had an atmosphere, though a thin one, so the Banfranal evolved with large and efficient lungs. This takes up much of the internal space within the torso. They also relied less on hearing so they have smaller, weaker ears.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Banfranal have 4 arms in several locations of their body for manipulation. For floating around and grabbing onto objects, they have a large number of tentacles. These are incapable of supporting their own bodyweight above about 0.1g, having evolved in 0g. Their bodies are not humanoid, and are very tall. This body can expand and retract slightly, giving them very easy access through corridors as it can pivot the body along several axis through the torso. Their head, while large (to support sentience), lies at the top of a relatively long neck.
All this allows them to very rapidly and easily move in very low gravity. Due to this, they are nearly impossible to defeat in combat in very low gravity despite their low strength.
Genetics and Reproduction
They also reproduce similar to some forms of hive bugs, but without the hivemind. Banfranal are individually sapient. This means that there will usually be a queen Banfranal who grows to a very large size and lays eggs but other banfranal are incapable of reproduction. If there is no queen, one individual can grow and become one. This has led to some strange cultures where the queen will have its entire society revolving around it. After birth, they will grow to full size after about the equivalent of 30 Earth years, and achieve sapience after about 2.
Ecology and Habitats
They prefer an environment with light, but they like it dim.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Banfranal are also carnivores. They have almost no plant farms other than to feed animals which they farm. They do not require as much energy as a human to survive because they dont need to constantly keep themselves upright like a human does. Nor do they require a very strong heart. This has caused them to have a body temperature noticeably lower than a human, but due to this their brain is even more energy intensive compared to the rest of the body than a human.
They have a body weight larger than that of a human and are much taller, but all parts of their body are much thinner.
Biological Cycle
There were rapid seasonal changes on N.T.S. Dawn before it was energized. This is due to various large structures on the exterior of the ship, and the ship rotating in orbit. The sun can rise in completely different directions every day. Their biology varies little between 'seasons' because of this. After the starship was energized, seasonal variation ceased to exist.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
They have eyes positioned on the front of their head. Their eyes also evolved to grow quite large to capture more light in their dark climate.
Banfranal have a number of bioluminescent organs. As they originate on an old worldship without power, they needed to be able to percieve light but during their early history there was no light. The bioluminescent organs needed not be very bright, as their eyes are large. They also have the ability to turn these bioluminescent organs off in rare cases where they required stealth, it is easy to be very quiet in 0g.
They also have a unique organ that can be used to project a light magnetic field and perceive the returning flux. This can be used to sense nearby metals and allow them to very easily find nearby objects to grab onto, Tranal starships are designed with a large number of beams for banfranal to cling to. One issue with banfranal anatomy is that the body is so long that the head can be located in an entirely different room from the rest of the body, normally allowing enemies or other species to sneak up on and kill them easily. To help with this they can also detect sound through many locations on the body, such as the front and back which helps them to sense most threats as they approach. They mainly rely on many smaller eyes located around the body, though the quality of vision from these are not close to as good as that of the main eyes
Average Length
12 m
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