The natives of Ghellhonus

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NoXion
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The natives of Ghellhonus

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The natives of Ghellhonus

"Dear citizens of the world and the wider solar system,

I would like to address you on the magnificent and amazing discovery in the Alpha Centauri A system. Ever since our ancestors first looked up to the skies and gazed upon the cosmos, we have always wondered what lay beyond our own world. The discovery of extraterrestrial life on the planet of Ghellhonus is a significant discovery and it constitutes the most important scientific milestone of human civilisation. We are no longer alone, but part of a wider community of life that spans the entirety of the universe. This discovery will not be the last and as we go further into the depths of space, we shall discover other extraterrestrial lifeforms and civilisations.

I would also like to use this address to make an appeal to the international and solar community that we respect the people and civilisations of Ghellhonus. We must refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Ghellhonus and we must not attempt to supplant their culture with our own. We must respect the sovereignty and culture of the people of Ghellhonus, for these are their birthrights and no one can take that away from them. On this point, the Republic of Texas shall lead by example and I implore the international and solar community to do the same.

It is my hope that this discovery can unite us and that it gives humankind a new sense of purpose as we go further into the depths of space. The great diversity of life that exists across the universe must never be feared but celebrated, for such diversity represents the very beauty and essence of the universe itself."


- Nicholas van Alden as the President of the Republic of Texas (2126-21XX), transcript of a pan-Solar speech broadcasted in 2138

Physiology

Image
A sketch of a Tolimani trader

The natives of Ghellhonus, also known as Ghellhonians, are a six-limbed species of hairless sapients that evolved in the forested environments of their home planet, the ninth from Toliman A. Their skin colour ranges from slate-grey to pale blue, tinted by the blue-green blood flowing underneath it. The Ghellhonians are live-birthers with male and female sexes, with the female typically nursing with pre-chewed or regurgitated food, although pre-prepared soft food for infants is enjoying increasing popularity as a commodity. This nursing habit means that female Ghellhonians lack breasts or other lactatory organs, although many Ghellhonians themselves maintain that they can see a clear difference between sexes of their own kind, while simultaneously noting that human males and females aren't as different as most anthropoids seem to think. Ghellhonians are marginally more fecund than humans, with birthings of triplets being considerably more common.

Other physical differences include a higher average body temperature relative to humans, which along with their natural quatrograde stance is reckoned by ethnoxenologists to be part of the reason behind the lack in any known Ghellhonian culture of any nudity taboos. Due to their habit of locomotion having evolved in a more arboreal environment than that of humans, a typical Ghellhonian has twice the standing strength of a typical baseline human, being easily able to lift xeir own body weight. But where Ghellhonians truly excel humans is in their capacity for vision - their six eyes give them great acuity and sensivity to movement, and they are very good at solving problems of a visual-spatial nature. The natives of Ghellhonus enjoy a longer lifespan than unmodified baseline humans, with most individuals being able to reach their second century (Earth Standard), while unmodified humans have trouble living naturally past 120 Standard years.


Culture & Politics

Ghellhonians are typically born and raised in large extended families, living together in the same building or in tightly-knit collections of them clustered around a central pillar which provides structure and access. Ghellhonians of higher social status tend to have smaller families but larger quarters, reflecting the ancestral circumstances in which the dominant groups and individuals took possession of the bigger trees of the forest. The streets of Ghellhonian cities therefore consist of ladders and elevated walkways as well as paved roads, the alleys consisting of handholds and clambering ropes as well as the narrows between buildings. Ghellhonians incapable of navigating these three-dimensional warrens in the sky are generally considered physically disabled, although Ghellhonians are at least as fond as humans of looking after their old and sick.

Image
A map of Ghellhonus

"The extra-Solar colonising expedition sent by the Confederate States of America to the planet Ghellhonus orbiting the star Alpha Centauri A, has established First Contact with a number of civilisations native to the planet. Their general state of material advancement is roughly comparable to 17th-18th century Europe, being divided among two of the planet's three main continents. On one continent resides the Ghellhonite Empire, a massive (relatively speaking) hydraulic polity with a monotheistic religion and a highly centralised and bureaucratic government controlled by a ruling class of dynastic oligarchs. On the other continent the more scattered geography has fostered a more complex patchwork of polities in the Tolimani nations, a loose collection of kingdoms, small empires and various republics. Their polytheistic religion and henotheist tendencies have earned them the disdain of the more dogmatic Ghellhonite Empire, which officially bans contact with all but a select few Tolimani nations and certain licensed free traders. The CSA have established a colony on the previously uninhabited third continent of the planet and have begun low-key trade and diplomatic relations with several Tolimani polities..."
-Transcript from pan-Solar newsflash, 2138 CE


Contact with Terrans

While the Tolimani nations have eagerly pursued trade and diplomatic relations with the Terran colonists from the CSA (plus the PRGC and PRSA colonists that followed), the Ghellhonite Empire has responded in a far different manner, going even so far as to void the licences of free traders who openly do business with Terran colonists. It appears that the ruling classes of the Ghellhonite Empire are very concerned about undue alien influence and possible political and cultural contamination which could threaten their preferred social order.
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