Creature:Psal'Jinnai

"Such a curious universe this is, where starlight impregnates dust and fluid with the will to exist, to preserve, replicate, and destroy. So lacking of the order that shaped our universe, and yet, so very uncomplicated. We shall show it true order."

- Vi'taupheon

The Psal'Jinnai are an enigmatic race from the Tuuros inner world of Jin'Xitha, originally a collective of extrauniversal intelligences that entered the Gigaquadrant approximately 0.52 billion years ago and merged with the pre-sapient species that would evolve into the modern Psal'Jinnai. However, the Symmetry they built died out sometime before the 1700s CE, leaving only five known survivors. These five now operate as the Quintet, a shadow government that controls the unbeknownst to the majority of the population. They seek to use the Ecumene to establish their supremacy over the galaxy and the rest of the universe, and prepare worthy species for biological perfection and use as new bodies for the rest of their extrauniversal kin, who continue to drift outside the known universe.

Universe 7142907
The thousandfold reincarnated minds of the Psal'Jinnai originally belonged to members of a hyperpower-like collective native to another universe designated as "Universe 7142907", collectively referred to as the Pheoxchiala. The physical laws governing this universe allowed for easy separation of conscious mind from physical body, and matter types normally considered exotic were relatively common. Some of this exotic matter was imported into the current universe when the Pheoxchiala minds entered it. Furthermore, life and matter existed across a range of interconnected dimensions, with the Pheoxchiala having been born into six-dimensional bodies, operating in four dimensions of space and two of time. The Pheoxchiala founded their "civilization" upon the constant consumption of different timelines, to the point of becoming almost axiomatic. It is believed that the Pheoxchiala reached such an influential state that all of Universe 7142907's timelines had a 99.9% probability of converging into their unwavering order, and the Pheoxchiala began using individual timelines they had assimilated for various experiments.

The universe of the Pheoxchiala would eventually begin to collapse for unknown reasons; the Big Crunch it had been foreseen to eventually end with began inching closer and closer to the beginning of the universe as white holes sprang up in all timelines, increasing the matter-energy content of the entire universe and shortening its lifespan. With their civilization decaying, the Pheoxchiala began computing a solution, transferring information across time and space to achieve a means of survival. As the universe's lifespan was narrowed down to mere millions of years, the solution came: a means to tear a hole through the universe and exit it entirely. However, the dangers presented to physical lifeforms by multiversal travel forced them to flee with only their disembodied minds aboard so-called "thought-ships."

Tuuros
Around 520 mya, one of these thought-ships appeared in the, separated from the rest of the fleet and adrift in an unfamiliar universe. As it entered a universe with unfamiliar laws and mechanics, the Pheoxchiala minds splintered across the more rigidly divided timelines, causing them great anguish. After calculating the fundamental elements of the universe and scanning it surroundings for known signs of three-dimensional life, the ship made a beeline for Jin'Xitha, a relatively large but low-density planet orbiting a yellow dwarf within its habitable zone. Upon landing and acquiring a more intimate analysis of the planet, the thought-ship detected a distantly pre-sapient terrestrial species of soft-bodied organisms, which it quickly began abducting and running tests on to determine if the species could function as hosts for the minds stored on the ship. The tests concluded that several million additional years of guided evolution would result in more viable hosts, so the thought-ship became partially dormant, concealing itself within the planet's crust while monitoring and occasionally interfering in the affairs of the evolving "Proto-Psals."

Over the next several million years, the species evolved into the anatomically modern Psal'Jinnai, at which point the thought-ship began the tedious task of abducting every Proto-Psal on the planet and implanting each with a Pheoxchialan mind, cloning some when necessary. At the conclusion of the process, the perfected Psal'Jinnai began using technology from the thought-ship to construct cities across Jin'Xitha and manufacture the starships with which they would build their interstellar Symmetry.

Symmetry Epoch and Collapse
The Psal'Jinnai Symmetry rapidly spread across Tuuros, gaining footholds in the Pal-Tala, Pal-Xalakk, and Xalakk-Xittan sectors, alongside the Mirus, Andromeda, and numerous other galaxies. At the height of its power, the Symmetry engineered a multitude of artificial sapient species, including the, Atriants, , and Ilquaorlans. The Atriants became an incredibly useful physical workforce for the Symmetry, in part thanks to the ease of bio-programming them to perform certain tasks and modify their bodies. The three other species, meanwhile, were watched and raised over the course of many millennia from paleolithic states well into their earliest civilized eras. The, , , , and were similarly engineered and guided in their early history. All these species would serve as vessels for the rest of the Pheoxchiala minds, which still drifted aboard their own thought-ships outside the universe.

Around the year 950,000 BCE, the Psal'Jinnai Symmetry suffered a series of attacks from new powers rising both within and outside their territories, and an entity remembered only as the appeared in Tuuros through the multidimensional rift left behind by the Thought-Ship. The Fracture, by an unknown means, managed to interrupt the connection between the Thought-Ship and much of the Psal'Jinnai species, nullifying their techo-occult capabilities and starving them of the exotic energy keeping their minds from decaying. The Al'Eviruai Tsi'Eviralai Tsi'Nexphelai, the five ruling pentarchs of the Symmetry, survived only through direct physical linkage to the Thought-Ship, and San'srumai used the relatively untouched destructive assets of the Symmetry to drive the Fracture out of Tuuros. These five would become the Quintet, the last memory of their civilization and sole hope for the drifting Pheoxchiala.

Following the fall of the Symmetry, both the species engineered by the Psal'Jinnai and those influenced by their technological remnants became collectively known as, though the recognition of their connections would not come for many millennia.

Creating the Ecumene
The Quintet played a substantial role in the founding of the, beginning with the Convergence invasion of Pal-Xalakk and the entrance of Xiaulzhos and the AI Kzejjyt into the same sector. Guided by Psal'Jinnai constructs left throughout the sector, he soon arrived in the Xao system, where the Quintet slept in the orbit of the fortress-world. Azh'auvix began whispering to Xiaul through the Zemblite on board his ship, instructing him to land on Phero, where Azh had awoken a Nycotium (a device used to communicate with and uplift lesser species) through which he could guide and speak to the Tvolis. He was informed of his role in the grander scheme of the Quintet: he would be the head of a new order designed to ensure the loyalty of numerous races, primarily those embroiled in the war with the Convergence, while granting the Quintet total but covert control, exercised primarily through the central leader Xiaul would become. Easily swayed by promise of authority and power for him to exercise within the boundaries of their design, Xiaul was granted access to Phero's ship-forges, with which he produced an incredibly powerful fleet, which would then be staffed by the various Atriants, Lieschi, and Tvolii that had also been called to Phero by Vi'taupehon. When the fleet finally left the Xao system in 1740 CE, also taking two mobile war-moons with it, Kzejjyt was placed in stasis deep within Phero, far beyond the Convergence's reach.

Xiaul carved a path of devastation through the Convergence line until he reached Vortrove, where even after four years the Oslun had held out against the relentless onslaught. Coincidentally, the Strategic Mind in charge of attacking and searching Pal-Xalakk chose this as the perfect moment to strike down Xiaul, who had become the greatest threat to the Convergence's objective. The Liberation of Voltrove would go on for nearly a year, with Xiaul's armada facing an overpowering threat that likely would have ended his campaign, were it not for the intervention of the Nech. Brininging their own fleet outfitted with deadly Psal'Jinnai weaponry, they tipped the scales enough for the Pal-Xalakk natives to destroy the majority of Convergence forces in their sector, including the Strategic Mind before it could flee back to Xalakk-Xittan. Subsequent skirmishes over the next year would finish off the remainder of the invaders.

Following a brief conflict with the Tyle'an Dictation, Xiaul and the Nech Moon Council presented their outline for the establishment of the Phero Ecumene. Seeing that their disorganized and divided state had lead to their near-fall to two threats over the past decade, the various states involved in the recent wars gave their sovereignty over to the Ecumene. Xiaul, in accordance with the Quinte's plan, was elected to be the first Prime Magistrate. Phero, naturally, was designated as the capital of the new state, and a Capital Spire constructed to house the offices of the Prime Magistrate and the then-bicameral Parliament of Phero.

Present Day
Presently, the Quintet remains in control of the Phero Ecumene, with Prime Magistrate remaining their loyal puppet in Tuuros. Meanwhile, Psal'Jinnai constructs and ruins throughout the First Gigaquadrant have begun "waking up" in response to the technological and political advancement of many of the Progeny races.

Anatomy
Psal'Jinnai, while classified as invertebrates, have semi-rigid cartilaginous internal structures to support their bipedal form. Their skin and flesh is analogous to that of other organisms classified as anemones, as are their simple digestive systems, which consist of a single gastrovascular cavity in the abdomen and a concealed waist-set mouth that also functions as means to expel waste. Psal'Jinnai are naturally omnivorous, but have artificially tuned their bodies to absorb concentrated chemical energy from their surroundings.

A Psal'Jinnai's prominent "head" is in fact an adipose melon used for echolocation, which Psal'Jinnai use as a secondary means of sending their environment, next to their many acute thoracic and cephalic eyes. In addition to the melon, Psal'Jinnai "heads" contain an array of electroreceptors, which function as their third most acute sensory system.

Psal'Jinnai possess a powerful electric organ and can deliver a high-energy electric discharge, with a current of 45 amperes and voltage of 190 volts. In addition, their hands and feet are coated in cnidocytes, which can aid in gripping objects and, if necessary, inject a potentially fatal dose of a potent neurotoxin. This unorthodox pairing of deadly physical capabilities with high intelligence is thanks to their artificially steered biological evolution.

Morphology
Psal'Jinnai are generally very tall, thin, soft-skinned organisms, with slightly more massive thoracic and abdominal sections. Simple compound eyes line their chest and back, with three more acute eyes being located on their head.

Reproduction
While the five living Psal'Jinnai prefer to artificially synthesize younger duplicates of their dying bodies to achieve functional immortality, four are fully capable of natural reproduction. Psal'Jinnai are sequential hermaphrodites; in their case, while all begin life as males, they can metamorph into females and back into males almost at will, though most will remain as one sex for most of their lives. In addition, some are capable of achieving a permanent androgynous physiology, granting them enhanced physical and psychic capabilities at the cost of their reproductive capabilities.

Trivia

 * Psal'Jinnai technology is somewhat inspired by that of the Vex from the Destiny franchise.
 * Protheon, Modular Mind serves as the unofficial theme of the Psal'Jinnai.