¶ Overview
- Name (original language): Lyn'Dri (LIN-dree)
- Homeworld: L'Dree'll (leh-DREE-el)
- Original Name: Vy'kreth (VEE-kreth)
Lyndri Concept Sketch
While all individuals have their own strengths and weaknesses, on the whole, Lyndri tend to be charismatic. They have a natural grace to their movements that other races find inviting, and manipulating other species is something that comes naturally to them. Even non-sentient species find themselves drawn to form a bond with Lyndri.
Lyndri body language is often a very subtle thing, requiring an overdeveloped ability to read others. Because of this, Lyndri are able to read emotions in others very well. They have a natural form of empathy that among their own kind is strong enough to trick others into assuming they have some form of telepathy. They don't; but they can communicate volumes to one another without using words. The exact thoughts aren't always clear, but the general meaning often is.
Other race's body language is often considered crude and course to a Lyndri. When a NorAellian disproves of something, they might as well be shouting it, as car as a Lyndri is concerned. Humans are a bit better, though not by a lot. It takes a very special person (of any race) to hide their emotions from a half-skilled Lyndri.
¶ History
The Lyndri evolved from semi-arboreal near-mammals. Their early ancestors lived in small prides that would spend most of their time in the dense forests of their world, doing their hunting on the forrest floor, or in nearby grasslands. As they progressed to tool users, they started building shelters in the trees. Much like early Humans lived in caves and progressed to mud huts, Lyndri lived in trees and progressed to basic tree houses.
As Lyndri prides grew larger, the trees offered less and less protection, as they had to spend more and more time hunting. Lyndri prides became nomadic, living in the forests during the winter, and traveling across the planes in the warmer months. Eventually they invented agriculture and formed permanent settlements.
¶ Early Society
Lyndri are very territorial by nature. This applies both to individuals as it does to groups. Lyndri Prides held land and cities, forming nation-states. Most had their own language, along with their own traditions, history and religious beliefs. In most Lyndri languages, the word English "pride", "tribe" and "nation" all translate to the same word.
¶ Linguistic Unification
- See Lyndri Language
As the species grew, the need to trade between prides increased, as well as the need for protection. A unified language formed as a sort of creole of the most popular languages. This language quickly became the default language for all prides.
¶ Formation of the Monarchy
Lyndri fought amongst each other often, with one Pride often conquering the other. Lyndri wars were bloody affairs, and technology only made it worse. The Lyndri came very close to destroying themselves with the discovery of nuclear weapons, with a full third of their planet still irradiated to hazardous levels to this day.
It was only after the last of their wars that they realized something had to be done or they were going to wipe themselves out. The winners of the last war appointed their leading general as the First Queen. She immediately dissolved all remaining prides, telling her people that they were now "One Pride, One People". (That phrase is still used without context today as a justification for 'buckling down' and tolerating something without complaining.)
¶ Space Exploration
The Lyndri did rather well under the Monarchy, as their first few Monarchs were very leary of returning to the wars and fractured factions of the past. They poured most of their people's resources into research and the development of a space program. In just a few decades they'd already been to their moon, and a few after that, it had an establish colony on it.
The Lyndri continued space exploration with a 'look after we leap' approach. Space exploration was dangerous and they paid the cost. But they saw us as their calling, and those who died pursuing it were heros and saints.
¶ First Contact
The Lyndri first encountered the Noraellians while they were still exploring their own solar system. They had not discovered subspace, nor were they anywhere close. The Noraellians were excited to have encountered another sentient race, and immediately shared their technology with them. The Lyndri proved adept students, quickly taking Noraellian technology and adapting it, improving it, and making their own discoveries. In a few short centuries, they were technological equals with the Noraellians.
¶ Second Contact
About 2000 years ago( ~600 Terran Common Era ) the Lyndri had established a few colonies and were looking to expand their territory now that their technology could keep up. The NorAellians were cautious, seeing how much potential the Lyndri had for self-harm, they sought to guide and control the Lyndri's development.
At this time, the Sooni made contact with the Lyndri, as one of the directions they were trying to expand was towards Humanity. The Sooni were far more advanced than either the Lyndri or the NorAellians, but they took pains to hide just how much more advanced they were. With tensions rising between the Lyndri and the NorAellians, the Sooni approved a plan from the Zealots to spark a war between the Lyndri and NorAellians, as a way of distracting them, and keeping them away from Humanity. Neither the Lyndri, nor the NorAellians knew the Sooni started the conflict.
¶ The Lyndri - NorAellian War
The Sooni and the Lyndri signed a non-aggression pact, and in return for not expanding towards the galactic center, the Sooni would offer the Lyndri protection. This left only one realistic direction for the Lyndri to to expand, and that was into NorAellian space.
With mounting political pressure to expand, the Lyndri annexed a NorAellian colony. At first, the NorAellians were tolerant, almost like frustrated parents, explaining to the Lyndri that, despite the warships in their space, the colony did not, in fact, now belong to the Lyndri. Tensions boiled over, however, when (with Sooni guidance) the Lyndri demanded that all NorAellians leave the colony, or they will be considered 'combatants' and executed. The NorAellians didn't believe the Lyndri would do it, and attempted to call their bluff. But the Lyndri were not bluffing, and razed the colony to the ground.
The NorAellians as a people demanded war. They were switch and destructive in their initial attacks. However, they also had a plan. They wanted the Lyndri to understand the supreme loss they'd caused; when a life only lives fifty years, that's one thing. When it lives nearly a thousand, that was something else entirely. So, they sought to introduce a retrovirus that would modify Lyndri genetics such that they became much more long lived. The thought by the NorAellians was that they would value life more if theirs were longer.
Seeing what the NorAellians were doing, the Zealots came up with their own plan. They used Focus to create a variant of the NorAellian virus that would sterilize the Lyndri, committing xenocide without the Sooni Council learning what they'd done. This, to them, would remove a rather problematic race, and allow them to label the NorAellians as a threat and eliminate (or conquer) them, too.
What neither side were aware of was the fact that the Lyndri were already in the grips of a pandemic; a variant of the virus from their homeworld was sweeping across their colonies. When this virus encountered Lyndri infected with the Zealots' virus, it mutated.
¶ The Pandemic
The resulting virus has a one in three mortality rate, and an incubation period of a month. Once active, it would run it's course in a matter of hours. In a rather unique twist of fate, men had nearly double the mortality rate of women, with the majority of men being wiped out in the first ninety days. By the time the Noraellians discovered what had happened, the Lyndri were a dying race, on the verge of complete collapse.
The Noraellians suspended aggressions immediately. They set about trying to save as many of the Lyndri as possible, expending one of the largest aid efforts in galactic history. The Sooni retreated from Lyndri space, with the Sooni Council suspecting, but unable to prove that it was Sooni interference that caused the pandemic in the first place.
With an ongoing effort, the Noraellians have been able to stabilize the Lyndri with their abysmal birthrate, and near-total lack of males. However, this isn't public information, even among most of the Lyndri. The Queen had realized the Sooni were to blame, and vacated their home world, to live with the Noraellians in secret as she and some hand-chosen scientists work to stop the virus. So far, after 2000 years, the descendants of the original Queen and her researchers have no succeeded. The virus keeps mutating every time they find a cure. What they don't know is that this was built into the virus by the Zealots as part of their Focus manipulation.
As society collapsed from the pandemic, so too did Lyndri infrastructure. There's very little that remains of their technology these days, with most of it being replaced by whatever cheap technology they can import, or anything the NorAellians can give them. It's now lost history that the Lyndri were ever more than scavengers, and most take it as truth that they have always lived off the good graces of the NorAellians, never having invented anything for themselves.
¶ The Wall
Note: The thinking on this has changed much, and the wall was created by the GikDaa, not the NorAellians, and had nothing to do with the Lyndri, though it was used to protect some of their assets from their fall.
As part of the NorAellian protection of the Lyndri, a defense system was places around Lyndri space. This system, called "The Wall" by pilots trading in Lyndri space, is a constantly shifting, learning, and self-replicating network of automated ships and sensors that detect incursions and dispatch intruders with extreme prejudice. The system will hunt down and track intruders to the best of it's ability, with full details being sent to waiting NorAellian forces, which will deal with the intruders if the automated defenses can't.
Part of the impetus to the system was an attempt to detect if the Sooni returned. To that point, The Wall is constantly outfitted with the latest anti-Sooni weaponry the NorAellians have developed in secret. As part of a disinformation campaign, the NorAellians deny any involvement with The Wall, saying the Lyndri must have developed it themselves, and leaving it at that.
¶ Biology
Lyndri are a near-mammal omnivorous humanoid race with a slender (on average) form, digitigrade legs, retractable needle-like claws in each of their five fingers, and a light fur covering a majority of their body. Their coloring tends to be blue to purple to black, with eye colors ranging the full Human eye color spectrum, plus yellow.
Compared to humans Lyndri have a better sense of smell and better hearing, but worse eyesight in bright light (though better in normal and dark conditions) and a more basic sense of taste.
Lyndri biology is very similar to most terrestrial mammals, with the majority of organs being similar to Human organs. Physiologically, Lyndri are sexually compatible with Humans, however they are not genetically compatible enough to produce offspring.
¶ Lifespan
Originally, Lyndri has a lifespan of about 50 years. They mature quickly, with a Lyndri reaching physical maturity around eight and adulthood around the age of twelve.
Since the pandemic, however, the Lyndri are a long-lived race, averaging three to four hundred years. They still mature at the same rate, however.
¶ Focus
Lyndri are not able to use Focus, as a rule. No race is truly excluded, but after The Pandemic, their limited access to Focus has been supressed by the Sooni. What was a very, very rare trate among this race has now been shut off completely.
¶ Focus Sensitive
An unforeseen consequence of the Sooni's actions, however, is that they've made some Lyndri "focus sensitive". This means there are Lyndri that can tell when Focus is being used, or object that have a large amount of willpower used on (or imbued in) them. Often this will be experienced as an acrid smell, but some hear it as a high-pitched buzz, or a strange shimmer. It is always a sensation that feels like it's just at the edge of their ability to experience, even if the smell, or sound, or shimmer is, itself overwhelmingly powerful.
For Lyndri, there is always a sense of wrongness associated with Focus use. Because their race is currently being ill-effected by the Sooni and their will, their own will is discordant with the universe's as a whole, and they perceive large amounts of will as unnatural.
¶ Society
¶ Language
- See Lyndri Language for details.
¶ Pre Monarchy
Before the establishment of the global Monarchy, the Lyndri were grouped into Prides, each with it's own customs, religion, and often language. While such things are viewed as taboo and archaic these days, there are some that still cling to these things, expressly because they are forbidden.
¶ Monarchy
At the height of Lyndri society, they were a constitutional monarchy, with liberal rights and thriving arts and sciences. Since Lyndri are very territorial by nature, they had a strong traditional of personal ownership as well as land ownership.
While their society was relatively equal in terms of gender equality, women tended to be viewed as more successful than men, and they leaned a bit more matriarchal than patriarchal. Sexuality among Lyndri was never as debated as in Human society; bisexuality was seen as the default sexuality, with the idea of sex for pleasure being seen completely different from the act of procreation. (Most of Lyndri society was very sex positive.)
¶ Post Pandemic
The Pandemic completely changed Lyndri society. With the elimination of most men, "maleness" was instantly viewed as a desirable trait. Any men that survived were shuffled off to palaces and places of protection, where they were forced to mate with as many women as possible. Since most pregnancies resulted in female births, femininity and women in general are looked down on as inherently worthless. It is now a commonly held believe that a woman is nothing unless she serves a man.
Shortly after the pandemic's effects, the Lyndri declared each of the surviving men a King, and now every man born is immediately elevated to Royal status. The Kings rules the Lyndri people, with the majority of their life being pampered, and them expected to mate with as many different women as possible. Any woman chosen by a King for mating is invited to live in a palace until such a time as she becomes pregnant and carries her child to term, or the King in question tires of her. As such, many family's children are either adopted from, or directly conceived from a liaison with a King.
Because protecting men is viewed as a woman's duty, most women try to serve in the military, specifically the King's Guard. These women train their bodies and their minds their entire lives, hoping they can impress someone enough to get picked as a guard. Very few do, with those that fail to impress pushed into service in their Defense Forces, or worse, shunned altogether.
¶ The Monarchy in Exile
Unknown to most of the galaxy, the Lyndri Monarchy hasn't ended. There is, in fact, a remaining Lyndri colony that preserves Lyndri culture, their history of technological advancement, and most importantly, their Monarchy. Descendants of the Royal family still rule. It is a hard thing for them to see what their people have become, but they believe the ruse is required; otherwise the Sooni might return to finish the job they started.
Because of their hatred for the Sooni, they have dedicated some of their resources to studying ancient Sooni technology and attempting to build counters to that technology. They have, recently, been in contact with the Sooni Heretics. This partnership has lead to the first real advances in combating the pandemic in centuries. At the same time, the Lyndri Monarchy has been able to provide the Heretics access to Sooni technology that they've been cut off from.
¶ Lyndri Slave Trade
As the Lyndri are viewed as a naturally attractive race, especially to Humans, there was an obvious solution to the dual pressures of too many women, and the view that a woman is nothing unless she serves a man. Almost overnight the Lyndri's main export became sex slaves, with many women volunteering. A Lyndri woman who goes into sexual service for a man (of any race) has her family's status raised. Sometimes, this is the only way poor families can survive.
That does not mean that most Lyndri sex slaves are willing; especially after learning that there's a whole galaxy out there that doesn't care what gender you are, many want to strike it out on their own.
¶ Author's Comment
So, my thinking has been this: The 'legit' version runs through one of two avenues: The Diplomatic Core (aka brothels) or the King's Guard (military). If you're a King's Guard, you're military trained, and also likely to be selected for breeding with the kings. That's all on the up and up, so 18 - 25 is probably that range. (Once you're selected, you stick around till they get bored with you. Could be years, could be days.)
The Diplomatic Cores will take children, and raise them, training them to be spy and, well, sex workers. But it's basically run by older women who've been through this, so there' less of a Marvel Black Widow situation, and (generally) it's used as an avenue to try find as many of these girls as many happy lives as possible, while still contributing to the whole.
¶ Plot
The Lyndri are intended to serve as an example of what the Sooni have been up to in the galaxy. They are a painful reminder that the shape of the galaxy is what it is because of what the Zealots have been doing.
Over all, they are not that critical to the plot of the RFI Novel, though they will become big players much later.
¶ Behind the Scenes
The Lyndri were my attempt to take two cliche fantasy "races" (cat girls and elves) and turn them into something I would find interesting and engaging. I also mixed them with Star Wars Twi'leks, which were just 'attractive alien dancers' before the Extended Universe.
The whole pandemic plotline was something I'd come up with to explain a primarily mono-gendered race. It was years later that Mass Effect came out, with the Krogan and the Genophage. Meh. I'm keeping it.