Species Name: The Ha’Lyiss
Homeworld: Mare Liberum
Physical[]
The Ha’Lyiss are an aquatic race native to the shallow equatorial seas of Mare Liberum. They share a few physical characteristics with squid of the planet Earth. They have a lean, muscular body, forking off at the end in two powerful flukes to assist with swimming in the strong currents of Mare Liberum. They have two sets of flipper-like appendages. The larger set is used for grasping tools and weapons, while the smaller set acts like a rudder, helping to guide the creature through the water. A large hump on the back of the neck hold most of the major organs. A Ha’Lyiss’s eyes, of which it has four, have excellent night vision, perfect for the six month night cycle Mare Liberum goes through. For this purpose, it has also evolved bio-luminescence to signal to other Ha’Lyiss.
Society[]
The Ha’Lyiss are a simple hunter-gatherer society. The larger, more hostile, females are responsible for hunting, while the smaller, more docile, males are charged with constructing home-pods and raising Ha’Lyiss children. Young Ha’Lyiss go through a larval phase and live in a pouch on the back of the male, similar to modern sea horses, native to the planet Earth. The Ha’Lyiss are on the cusp of an agricultural revolution, just beginning to farm the tree-sized algae stalks that grow in the silty ground of Mare Liberum.
Relations[]
The Ha’Lyiss are one of the three sentient species native to Mare Liberum, and by far the most violent. They share the ocean world with whale-like, gentle giants known as the Ancari, and the tiny, scientifically advanced Khral. They hunt both of these species, but they prefer Ancari, since a mature Ancari male can feed an entire fief for weeks. Since the Ancari have no way to defend themselves other than their size, the Ha’Lyiss have hunted them to near extinction. They are fiercely disliked by the Khral, and are attacked on sight by these tiny beings.