Harkas
A sentient species whose home system is located in the Beta Targos System.
The Harkas race was engineered by the Cyber Sphere planet, called Binary Targos in the Beta Targos System, which sent machines to space to engineer the Harkas race. As such, the species began as an entirely spaceborne species, having evolved divergently as they landed on all the planets, managing to adapt to various extreme conditions. As they are an asexual species, it is difficult to define when they diverge into different species so they all consider themselves as the same species in most cases.
The plural term of harkas is "harki".
The Harkas are quite distinguishable from other sentient species. The most obvious feature are the large, wing-like radiators which dissipate most of the heat produced by the body. They can extend and retract this as needed to cool down or heat up, respectively. Harkas are significantly wider than they are long. The radiator-wing takes up a large amount of room, and their tails are relatively short. An exception is made in some subspecies, as they can evolve into wings, fins or even blankets for some subspecies. Tails
Spaceborn harkas have several tails. At the end of each tail is a propulsion organ which, in Midworldians, is performed by a highly powerful but efficient drive system similar to a plasma thruster (refer to the biology section below). The tails allow them to steer the power in any direction and to rotate. However, some subspecies of Outerworldians and Innerworldians may use a different method for propulsion. Each tail is capable of turning independently, allowing one to apply multiple forces in different directions at once and allowing better control of thrust. This style of propulsion is not nesessary on planets, so harkas tails are largely vestigal for some planetary subspecies. Some might use it to hold weight, and ocean based harkas would use it for propulsion after growing fins. Arms
Harkas also have 2 relatively humanlike (if long) arms located on the sides of their body. Their movement has been largely restricted by the radiators behind them though, so they can only rotate in any direction towards their front. Due to space not having any atmosphere, the spaceborne subspecies have no ears and cannot detect sound. Also, most harkas subspecies have no lungs and thus cannot breathe, but are designed to not require breating. A few planetary subspecies have developed respiration processes as they are more efficient. They have a relatively large head on the end of a slightly longer, more posable neck.
Initially, this would only be able to make relatively basic changes, but as their knowledge and skill in bioengineering improved they were able to utilise this to a much better degree. The Harkas could also modify other harkas' splicing glands, improving the tools they have to work with. As part of their natural bioengineering capability, they can extact genes from food and utilise them in their splicing gland. They have a small, extra stomach-like organ that is designed to carefully break organic matter apart. This is only used when the person causes the esophagus to redirect food to the small stomach rather than the main stomach. This operation expends energy but allows the body to harness a small amount of nutrients as well as the genome of the food. Spare matter is sent to the intestine. This is sent to their gene splicing gland to be further modified or inject into another creature. This operation should work on most species but has led to some specific inndividuals through history to perform cannibalism on people with 'strong genes', in order to allow others to have their genes.
Innerworlds:
Hazal (lava planet)
Jyara (gas giant)
Kulallara Belt
Midworlds:
Binary Targos (Cyber Sphere)
Panagia (Taidakic Field world)
Mauluo (Regular habitable)
Zar Belt
Outerworlds:
Glais (ice planet)
Zarbarax (ice giant)
Iragas Belt
The sheer diversity of worlds here means that the Harkas have divergently evolved into a huge number of subspecies. The UAC has invented a nomenclature system involving first naming what kind of environment they evolved to survive in (e.g. deep oceans, gas giant atmosphere, the air) and then naming the planet they evolved on. For example, for a Panagian whose ancestroy traces back to a society extrememly deep underwater, into the midnight zone where light is almost non existant, they would be named a "Deep Water Panagian".
Newborn harkas are typically very small. This allows a person to produce them relatively easily, but can reduce newborn individuals chances of survival. After birth, it takes about 15 years to fully develop and become mature enough to produce their own offspring. It is tradition to prove that one has become an adult by piloting a bioship for the first time. This can be a difficult process that requires a fully developed brain to extend the harkas hivemind to the bioship and allow them to communicate. The harkas body requires a lot of energy to remain fast in space. However, as food is plentiful in the massive space ecosystems, this has caused them to evolve a relatively fast metabolism, giving them acess to more energy but causing them to require more food to survive. This also produces more heat, part of the reason why their radiators are so large. They would typically digest food in about 1 day and can store a lot of energy as fat. This varied significantly across subspecies though, in particular Outerworldians who had less food available. That also meant that predators were also slower however, allowing them to develop a slower metabolism. Most subspecies also make use of their microbiome to help break down and digest food. Their mouth is only used for eating food. It is designed in a way to fully enclose food inside itself to prevent it from drifting off into space. They have large teeth, but a harkas mouth does not resemble that of a human, namely they have no toungue. The entire mouth is designed to collapse which pushes food towards the esophagus while swallowing. Most subspecies of harkas have no respiratory tract so the throat does not need to exchange between 2 different paths. Harkas are a species with a lot of genetic diversity to the point where one could look almost entirely different from their parent. This causes them to seemingly adapt to various conditions faster than many species, but genetic drift may also cause them to become less genetically suited to constant conditions for some individuals. These birth defects have caused many deaths, however the majority do still survive the first few years of life.
Anatomy
RadiatorsThe Harkas are quite distinguishable from other sentient species. The most obvious feature are the large, wing-like radiators which dissipate most of the heat produced by the body. They can extend and retract this as needed to cool down or heat up, respectively. Harkas are significantly wider than they are long. The radiator-wing takes up a large amount of room, and their tails are relatively short. An exception is made in some subspecies, as they can evolve into wings, fins or even blankets for some subspecies. Tails
Spaceborn harkas have several tails. At the end of each tail is a propulsion organ which, in Midworldians, is performed by a highly powerful but efficient drive system similar to a plasma thruster (refer to the biology section below). The tails allow them to steer the power in any direction and to rotate. However, some subspecies of Outerworldians and Innerworldians may use a different method for propulsion. Each tail is capable of turning independently, allowing one to apply multiple forces in different directions at once and allowing better control of thrust. This style of propulsion is not nesessary on planets, so harkas tails are largely vestigal for some planetary subspecies. Some might use it to hold weight, and ocean based harkas would use it for propulsion after growing fins. Arms
Harkas also have 2 relatively humanlike (if long) arms located on the sides of their body. Their movement has been largely restricted by the radiators behind them though, so they can only rotate in any direction towards their front. Due to space not having any atmosphere, the spaceborne subspecies have no ears and cannot detect sound. Also, most harkas subspecies have no lungs and thus cannot breathe, but are designed to not require breating. A few planetary subspecies have developed respiration processes as they are more efficient. They have a relatively large head on the end of a slightly longer, more posable neck.
Hivemind
They also have a very weak hivemind. This only links individuals that are close, but they can pull others into the hivemind. Before they do this they need ot become familiar with the target species' brain patterns and connections. They can not take control of others bodies or thoughts, but can induce thoughts into a person. This is more effective between members of their own species, but they can communicate to others, such as Freelancers, Troznux, or humans for example. Aside from body language, this is the only way they have to communicate to one another, but it works at larger distances between different hivemind-tuned Harkas. They also use this subconsciousally to show other nearby people their emotions, allowing them to easily identify how a harkas feels. They also often express emotion using their radiators. For example, when sad they might extend them slightly at a much lower elevation than normal. If surprised they might rapidly extend it to its full size.Bioengineering
Unlike most sentient species, the Harkas have not developed technology. Instead, they have become extremely proficient bioengineers, having engineered a large number of species that helped them expand across the stars and eventually become a Kardashev type III civilization. They also managed to destroy every technological civilization in the Arkan galaxy for this. They developed this route of 'alternative technology' because it is a much easier path go do down for them. This is due to a specialised 'gene splicing' gland on them, oweing to their engineered nature as a species, which helps them significantly to engineer new lifeforms. As their understanding of this gland improved over time, so did their bioengineering. The splicing gland works by forming plasmids that are transferred to the target through a tendril that inserts them as a liquid into the bloodstream of the target. This will modify the DNA of the target and cause them to grow into their new form.Initially, this would only be able to make relatively basic changes, but as their knowledge and skill in bioengineering improved they were able to utilise this to a much better degree. The Harkas could also modify other harkas' splicing glands, improving the tools they have to work with. As part of their natural bioengineering capability, they can extact genes from food and utilise them in their splicing gland. They have a small, extra stomach-like organ that is designed to carefully break organic matter apart. This is only used when the person causes the esophagus to redirect food to the small stomach rather than the main stomach. This operation expends energy but allows the body to harness a small amount of nutrients as well as the genome of the food. Spare matter is sent to the intestine. This is sent to their gene splicing gland to be further modified or inject into another creature. This operation should work on most species but has led to some specific inndividuals through history to perform cannibalism on people with 'strong genes', in order to allow others to have their genes.
Subspecies
Some adventerous individuals decided to explore regions closer / further from the parent star, having to evolve for the different conditions. Those communities that got closer (known as Innerworldians) have evolved higher body temperatures and radiators became less effective as they would also recieve sunlight from the star, so the radiators became larger. Those who ventured further from the star (known as Outerworldians) evolved to survive off less energy, forming more efficient digestive systems and smaller radiators. Many subspecies have also developed to inhabit planets or other celestial bodies in the system. For example, the Jyarans and Panagians. The latter of these would mean that evolving for life on the ice giant Zarbarax would be incredibly difficult, as the small radiator would need to turn into a large wing to survive there. Eventually, they managed it, but this planet would be the last world in the system to obtain life. Those who remained within the habitable radius make up most of the harkas population and are known as Midworldians. Some subspecies cannot detect sound or breathe, including a number of planetary populations. This is mainly due to them evolving from the spaceborne Harkas initially.Innerworlds:
Hazal (lava planet)
Jyara (gas giant)
Kulallara Belt
Midworlds:
Binary Targos (Cyber Sphere)
Panagia (Taidakic Field world)
Mauluo (Regular habitable)
Zar Belt
Outerworlds:
Glais (ice planet)
Zarbarax (ice giant)
Iragas Belt
The sheer diversity of worlds here means that the Harkas have divergently evolved into a huge number of subspecies. The UAC has invented a nomenclature system involving first naming what kind of environment they evolved to survive in (e.g. deep oceans, gas giant atmosphere, the air) and then naming the planet they evolved on. For example, for a Panagian whose ancestroy traces back to a society extrememly deep underwater, into the midnight zone where light is almost non existant, they would be named a "Deep Water Panagian".
Newborn harkas are typically very small. This allows a person to produce them relatively easily, but can reduce newborn individuals chances of survival. After birth, it takes about 15 years to fully develop and become mature enough to produce their own offspring. It is tradition to prove that one has become an adult by piloting a bioship for the first time. This can be a difficult process that requires a fully developed brain to extend the harkas hivemind to the bioship and allow them to communicate. The harkas body requires a lot of energy to remain fast in space. However, as food is plentiful in the massive space ecosystems, this has caused them to evolve a relatively fast metabolism, giving them acess to more energy but causing them to require more food to survive. This also produces more heat, part of the reason why their radiators are so large. They would typically digest food in about 1 day and can store a lot of energy as fat. This varied significantly across subspecies though, in particular Outerworldians who had less food available. That also meant that predators were also slower however, allowing them to develop a slower metabolism. Most subspecies also make use of their microbiome to help break down and digest food. Their mouth is only used for eating food. It is designed in a way to fully enclose food inside itself to prevent it from drifting off into space. They have large teeth, but a harkas mouth does not resemble that of a human, namely they have no toungue. The entire mouth is designed to collapse which pushes food towards the esophagus while swallowing. Most subspecies of harkas have no respiratory tract so the throat does not need to exchange between 2 different paths. Harkas are a species with a lot of genetic diversity to the point where one could look almost entirely different from their parent. This causes them to seemingly adapt to various conditions faster than many species, but genetic drift may also cause them to become less genetically suited to constant conditions for some individuals. These birth defects have caused many deaths, however the majority do still survive the first few years of life.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Name examples: Iga, Aros, Icas, Nitar, Taggle, Hega, Jearn, Parl, Brine, Aoret, Beiune, Xifen, Ragar, Hiwa, Kurwa, Janrae, Hedro, Zaeig, Opra, Ranba, Yarel, Cre, Iggy, Tralga, Murn, Merzo, Agret, Ruwaga, Noosl, Refar, Wafe, Yunel, Vurvu, Drigh, Kalin, Jegreg, Zengra, Serebu, Mahi, Erebal, Gebas, Felcey, Grep
Beauty Ideals
The harkas are a species that is exxtremely variable in appearance, depending on subspecies. The harkas also have fashion expectations though, which can vary massively depending on culture. Some cultures will wear decorations on their heads or radiators, others on their tail. Some put decorations on almost all locations of the body. The decorations can vary between simple jewlery made using purposed organisms, trims of some material forming intricate patterns. Like their biology, the harkas are extremly variable culturally and some cultures might wear clothing differently. Some cultures might not even wear clothes as it could show weakness.Due to their large radiator-wings, it is probably very difficult for a harkas to put on some forms of clothing that humans are used to. They would probably wear something that wraps around them but leaving the arms free to manipulate. Harkas clothing will also almost never cover the radiators, especially the spaceborne subspecies. It mi ght be used by some land or ocean subspecies as decoration, in which case they will not interfere with the person folding up their radiators. Some subspecies have made purposed colony organisms that are also used for fashion, such as having a different colour to the host and being used as decoration. In some cases, similar purposed organisms are even used to clean the insides of harkas. The latter of these also has a practical purpose to prevent infection and internal body damage.
Biology
The spaceborne harkas are a species adapted to the conditions of space and as such any organs that are normally dependent on gravity will not function. Matter must be transported through the body through pressure differences and muscular contraction, but they dont have to pump blood up a gravitational field like most species. Although this gives them a weaker heart for their body size, organs designed to store matter such as the stomach and bladder appear very differently than those of their planetary counterparts. These resemble long tubes, the stomach being wider and longer. Matter enters and exists through one side, 2 tubes originating on the same side. These organs can contract at any location along their length using comparitively weak muscles. This way, the volume and pressure of these organs can be adjusted dynamically. The enterance muscles would need to be quite strong to overwhelm those of the volume adjustment muscles, so that the volume increases when matter enters. This is why they have a smaller 'sub-bladder', as the bladder should accumlate matter over time. When the smaller bladder fills up, it dischargs all of its mass into the main bladder. With the stomach, the space harkas would tend to swallow larger clusters of food at a time in order to introduce larger amounts of mass to the stomach less frequently. The end of the esophagus close to the stomach is quite strong. To release mass, the muscular contraction at the end of the exiting tube should be reduced. The exiting duct of the stomach acts primarily as a filter, but if it remains blocked for a prolonged time (e.g. the harkas swallowed something they cant digest) then it can retract and allow the obejct to pass into the intestine. The harkas make use of a propulsion method remniscient to some types of primitive propulsion similar to plasma thrusters. They have a number of tails with thrusters at each end, allowing them to direct forces in many directions to maneuver. The intestine will extract some chemicals such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide from food and send it to a specialised organ that stores the reaction mixture and ionises the reaction mixture into plasma, via radio waves. The plasma is then sent to the thruster organs at the ends of the tails, where powerful electromagnets direct the plasma in a tight beam, a highly efficient method of propulsion. This allows a person to accelerate fairly fast and is efficient enough for a biological being to realistically obtain the required materials for locomotion. Electromagnets require electricity to function. A significant voltage can be generated through a significant number of electrocytes connected in both parallel and series. This way, mass is ejected at higher velocity which increases the amount of momentum produced per unit of mass at the cost of consuming energy rather than mass. As such, they rely a lot more on availability of propellant than electricity than a typical plasma thruster. They can supply several kilovolts to the electromagnets, which is not insignificant. Some groups have tried using this to power mechanical technology, but these attempts typically do not go well. The harkas will ignite this jet of combustible plasma as it leaves the thruster organ, further increasing its velocity and efficiency. By heating a very small structure to very high temperature, they can achieve thouasnds of kelvin if thermal insulation can be maintained effectively. Some waste heat form the body is sent to these small structures, but mostly sent to the radiators. This type of propulsion system ultimately requires food to operate.
Genetic Descendants
Lifespan
500
Average Length
100mm - 30 m (depends on subspecies)
Related Organizations
Related Technologies
Comments