Delsaurians

The Delsaurians are a species of reptilian humanoids native to Delsauria, and they are one of the oldest species still living within the Kikyo Sector. A majority of the species reside on their homeworld within Nepleslian space. A planet within the Koenic System, located within the territory of the Yamatai Star Empire, serves as the largest concentration of Delsaurians living away from their homeworld.

On Delsauria, this species acts as industrial magnates and traders, extracting every resource their world can offer and acting as a valuable trade hub due to their world's position among the sector's trade routes. Currently, there are believed to be over 14 billion Delsaurians living on Delsauria and on climate-controlled space stations orbiting their planet.

Above: Image of a Delsaurian.
Art by Daniel Olsén, aka Weremole.
Commissioned by Wes

Before the foundation of the Yamatai Star Empire, the species known now as the Delsaurians were a major power in their region of space. From their capital world, Delsauria, their Empire served as an early enemy of ancient pre-Nepleslian humanity. In time, this Delsaurian empire clashed with the Uesureyan Star Empire; their wars were a major factor in what led the Uesureyan Star Empire to develop such a large and effective military. Ultimately, the Delsaurians were defeated by the Uesureyan Star Empire, their former territory was colonized, and Delsauria itself was forcibly integrated into the sector's newly-forming interstellar nations as a member-world.

In time, Delsauria became a member world of the nascent Yamatai Star Empire which had slowly absorbed the [faction:uesureyan_star_empire]], and the desert planet was represented in the Senate of Yamatai. In YE 27, their world voted No on the Species Management Plan; the act passed despite their disapproval.¹⁾ When Nepleslia declared independence from the Empire later that same year in YE 27, however, Delsauria was claimed to be a member world of the new Nepleslian Empire.²⁾ Delsauria was invaded and occupied by Nepleslian forces, and it became an irrevocably Nepleslian world culturally and economically. After their conquering, the Delsaurians were forced to rebuild their planetary infrastructure, and billions of them came together for this grand reconstruction project.

Delsauria recovered slowly, and played only a small part in the recent history of the Kikyo Sector. Beginning around YE 39, as Nepleslia focused on expansion and colonization, the Delsaurians rebuilt their fleet of ships using ship designs acquired from traders. In newly-built and purchased, retrofitted vessels, the Delsaurians took to the stars alongside their Nepleslian allies in search of worlds where they can turn a profit and build new homes for their people. Many Delsaurian youths aspire to find new worlds that accommodate their unique physiology so that their species can spread out among the stars, and prevent the risk of extinction should anything terrible happen to Delsauria.

Delsaurians have durable reptilian bodies, strong bones and tough scales. Their bodies are adapted to life in a hot, arid wasteland whose predators were rare, but hungry and excessively dangerous. Having evolved to deal with the multiple threats of thirst, the sun, and ravenous beasts, the Delsaurians of today are still a hardy and capable people. They have a large head that is nearly as wide as their shoulders, with two large yellow snake-like eyes and a row of centered ridges running from above their nostrils over the top of their heads. They have a thick neck and a stocky body with large, clawed three-fingered hands and three-toed feet. Their tails are large and muscular, but they also store fat deposits; a chubby tail is a sign of a Delsaurian who is doing well for themselves. Delsaurians are able to arrange their legs and tail in a tripod position and sit on it quite comfortably. All of their species have scaly skin in tan, brown, or olive tones. Inside the mouth of a Delsaurian, one can find roughly fifty teeth that are a mix of proper carnivore fangs and herbivore crushing grinders in a near-even split from front to back. Two or more of their fangs often will grow further ahead, giving them a pair or more of fangs that can be used for intimidation.

Most Delsaurians are known to be fairly stocky because of their body shape, always looking quite large even at their smallest sizes. The smallest Delsaurians of young adulthood tend to be around 4 feet tall, but there has been sightings of some growing large enough to be up to seven feet tall. As one might expect, Delsaurians tend to keep growing as they get older, which often leads to the plausibility of them reaching immense sizes given long enough lifetimes. Albino Delsaurians are exceedingly rare, but can occur in one in 10,000 egg-layings; families with an albino in their heritage are more likely to lay an albino. Some Delsaurians are born without tails, and these individuals tend to have poor balance and lethargic behaviors due to having less space in their bodies to store fat and water deposits.

Delsaurians who spend too much time in temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius) and below start to become sleepy and slow-moving. They can enter a period of hibernation if they spend four hours in such temperatures. A Delsaurian trapped in 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) for an hour will suffer severe organ failure and very likely die. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Delsaurians will begin overheating if they spend too much time in temperatures exceeding 130 degrees Fahrenheit (55 Celsius), and will die suffering if exposed to higher temperatures for too long.

Above: Image of a Delsaurian Infantryman.
Art by Wes using an edited image made in Midjourney.

This reptilian, desert-dwelling species is omnivorous. They will eat bugs or meat if the opportunity arises, or if they're trying to increase their protein intake to grow stronger or to become soldiers. If they aren't working to accelerate their growth, they are content to eat desert fruits, fungus, and plants that they grow or forage. They are one of the largest buyers of the Meganut, quite fond of how nutritious it can be. Delsaurians prefer to eat food that is wet, as wet food items help cool their bodies and increase their water intake.

Delsauria is one of the hottest and driest worlds in the Kikyo Sector. The landscape is arid and rocky, and plant life is scarce.

Delsaurians are expected to have potential lifespans of well over one-hundred years old, but few are known to have lived beyond the age of sixty. This life expectancy is the result of many factors which include Delsauria's harsh and unpredictable nature, the Delsaurian love for near-constant work, and the general unpredictability of life. Most Delsaurians reach adulthood within ten years. This age is when Delsaurians begin to thicken up bodily, and it is when they finish growing the entirety of their teeth. At this point, the growth rate of the individual Delsaurian diverges; some individuals begin growing even faster, and others halting entirely. Teeth will always grow back regardless of their position in their life cycle, however.

At roughly thirty years old, a Delsaurian is considered middle-aged. At this point, growing their spikes out into horns is a possibility, while they tend to begin suffering a drop in their stamina and an increase in food consumption. This rate of consumption goes up further as they reach sixty, leading to a struggle to survive as the aging Delsaurian strives to balance time spent working with time spent acquiring and eating food.

Delsaurians reproduction involves breeding seasons which begin when their planet's weather begins to warm up following a cold winter period. A single shelled egg gestates within a female Delsaurian for between six to eight months; many female Delsaurians engage in 'nesting' behavior some time after their fourth year of pregnancy. Nesting involves making piles of soft material, and the hoarding of food and valuables in secret places around her place of residence. Females are able to lay one egg per year if they breed regularly and are in good health. Modern Delsaurian eggs are white with dark speckles around the circumference; the color of the speckles usually matches the shade of the mother's scales.

Delsaurians share much of the culture of Nepleslia, but do have unique spins on it. A good example of this is that they choose not to normally carry traditional backpacks, but rather crates as it means they can grow snacks in personal gardens. To Delsaurians, a job well done and coin flowing between their hands almost non-stop is often viewed as success within their culture. This means that the normal elitist society mentality doesn't fit them, with most of their people respecting those who work the hardest and ensure everyone makes money, rather than simply the richest or the best at speaking. To Delsaurians, words about it aren't as important as the actual act of doing what needs to be done.

The number 'three' was significant to the earliest Delsaurian civilizations, with there being scholarly consensus that this was because Delsaurians had three fingers and three toes at the end of each limb. Further, Delsaurians often rest on a three-legged 'tripod' of their two legs and one tail. Ancient Delsaurian archeology often featured triangles, with windows and doors and even entire structures taking on that shape. Written messages were inscribed on tablets of triangularly-carved clay. The earliest known native poetry of Delsauria was written by a now-famous Delsaurian author of antiquity named Galen; the media for his poetry was sedge-plant paper cut into trangles, with each page's single poem matching together into an intricate, interwoven tale. The triangle, and the number three, still feature in Delsaurian design themes, though modern Delsaurians rarely attach superstitious beliefs to the number or the shape.

Traditional clothing is designed to aid Delsaurians in desert-survival. Light-weight bolts of cloth fashioned from animal furs and leathers are draped about the body in a way that manages the amount of direct sunlight that falls on a traveler's body. Leather sandals strapped to their clawed feet are worn 'slip-fashion' at the ankles to aid with moving through sand. More advanced modern clothing made from synthetic material is rough in texture; this makes Delsaurian clothing uncomfortable for the soft-skinned, but perfectly fine for scaled reptilians. Delsaurians who travel off-planet wear clothes that are environmentally sealed, and they wear gloves, boots, and a helmet when they travel off-world. A waist-satchel or backpack holds a rechargeable heat generator which supplies them with warmth whenever needed.

Insects, animal meats, fruits, and vegetables are common food items in the Delsaurian diet. They prize fruits for their high water content, and fruit-based drinks are a delicacy. Fungi, which can be flavored with salt and spices, grows well in rocky settlements and in caves, and is a popular food item. Dried foods are associated with hunters and travelers who need sources of food that don't rot as easily; many ancient and traditional recipes involve dried food. Delsaurians are willing to eat insects live and raw, catching insects and eating them as snacks throughout the day as they go about their business.

The seeds of a plant native to Delsauria are used to create Delsaurian Dusk, a popular and often expensive liquor sold across the Sector.

Delsaurians have an ancient native language which, to the non-speaker, sounds like a series of grunts and growls accompanied by head movements and hand gestures. The original language is relatively simple, but began including Nepleslian slang after the Delsaurians became a part of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia. Most complex Delsaurian speech patterns are related to trade and commerce.

Traditionally-minded Delsaurians tend to name their young after objects in their natural environment that the youth seems to like. For example, the name Krag might be given to a Delsaurian who likes rocky crags. Modern Delsaurians frequently adopt Nepleslian-style names.

The politics of Delsauria are Nepleslian politics. The local government of the planet works closely with Nepleslian government officials.

Delsaurian technology often features triangles; their ships are triangular where such a design doesn't reduce the effectiveness of the ship, and polyhedron shapes made of triangles are very popular in architecture, ships, and even worn items. Delsaurian technology is deeply linked to Nepleslian technology, though there are some holdover Yamataian influences in their designs.

The economy of Delsauria is deeply entrenched in the Nepleslian economic system. Delsaurians form an important mercantile backbone for Nepleslia, and they are valued for their skills and abilities with business and trade. Delsaurians are also valuable colonizers on worlds which are arid and desert-like, making them highly sought by Nepleslian expansion coordinators.

Native Delsaurians enjoy bartering and haggling with each other locally.

• Original page made by Wes.
• Legix created this update article on 2017/09/28 10:33.
• Approved by Wes in this thread: here.
• Weremole sketches of a Delsaurian soldier can be found in this thread: here.