The Kaeiras (Kaeirayaseochii: Kaeirayaseoch) are a race of mouthless bipedal humanoids with particularly simplistic features and very slim builds. They are native to the planet Seomkaeiraya and are the founders of the Kaeiran Technocracy. Compensating for their extremely delicate bodies, they possess an innate talent for natural sciences and arts. This was due to the rapid increase of the complexity of the Kaeiran brain during their course of evolution, as response to the fierce competition among species in Seomkaeiraya, which helped shaped the Kaeiras as a species and as sapient beings. This didn't leave much room for them to evolve much more complex physical features, though.
Originating from Seomkaeiraya, Kaeiras have evolved to be slightly taller than they would have been but with weaker bones as a result of the planet's gravity being lower than average. This, however, made it easier for them to construct ships capable of attaining escape velocity in a relatively shorter amount of time; thus allowing the Kaeiras to become spacefaring early in their civilization.
Placing reason and logic above other ideas and values had opened numerous opportunities to the Kaeiras for scientific advancement. Countless inventions and innovations have expanded the ever-growing curiosity of the species. With this scientific inclination, many would take professions contributing to the fields of science, engineering, medicine and more. This was not compulsory, however, and many would become prominent musicians, artists, producers, directors, and many more vocations that are not without merit.
Biology[]
The Kaeiras are carbon-based lifeforms native to the icy planet Seomkaeiraya. They bear simplistic features and have roughly diminutive variations with their genetic information.
Physiology[]
An average Kaeira stands at 1.4 meters, most maintaining their heights throughout their entire lives. A typical Kaeira has smooth and moist skin usually in light shades of yellow. One noticeable characteristic they have is that they don't appear to have mouths. Instead, when they feed, their skin releases enzymes that breakdown organic particles into nutrients that their skin absorb. Some members have a thick, slightly noticeable lump of bone on their faces. Below this is a soft layer of skin with a concealed opening. Inside this opening are sensory cells responsible for sensing odors and a pathway leading to their lungs. Special folding tissues along this pathway allow them to speak in small, muffled, slightly high-pitch voices. Their eyes have black sclerae with irises having varying hues. Two small openings on the side of their heads serve as their ears. Members of the species have a complex union of their senses of hearing and sight that a percentage of their vision appears as waves and vibrations with varying degrees of intensity dependent on the sound emitted by an object. This can be used to their advantage to locate the origin of a sound at the cost of leaving them vulnerable when focusing on an object, as this requires a large portion of their brains to process.
There appears to be little to almost no sexual dimorphism between the species. They possess many mammalian features, most notably being endothermic, having hair and mammary glands as well as giving birth to live young. Females secrete milk for their young through their skin and their offspring feed by maintaining physical contact with their mother.
Not taking into accounts illnesses, accidents and other external factors, Kaeiras can biologically live up to an estimated 520 years. Kaeiras develop at a slow pace, entering adolescence generally at around twenty to thirty years and reaching sexual maturity at forty to sixty. During these phases and long after they're done, their hair can grow exponentially long and never stop growing as long as they're alive. Some members of the species grow facial hair alongside this. Though this commonly occurs to males, many females usually grow facial hair as well. In contrast, there are members of the species that do not grow hair in both male and females.
Anatomy[]
The Kaeiran body's shape is that of a thin humanoid body. They have two legs with feet each bearing five toes and two arms with hands each having five fingers. Their abdomens are small and their chests have a thick layer of bone underneath, protecting their hearts and lungs. A thin layer of skin covers their entire body and keeps it sufficiently insulated. Kaeiran heads resemble slightly prolate spheroids with small pointed chins. Each of their eyes have two eyelids. The outer eyelids conceal the inner ones. Their outer eyelids close faster and serve as the eyes' protection from dust and other foreign particles. The inner eyelids close right after the outer eyelids and blink in a shutter-like manner. These eyelids are made up of thicker tissues and moistens the eye to keep it from drying out.
Mutations[]
Due to external or internal factors, some members of the species may experience radical changes and permanent alterations to their genetic data usually causing many extreme physical, mental or emotional deviations that they deem threatening to the species.
History[]
Pre-Spacefaring History[]
The pre-spacefaring history of the Kaeiras can be traced back billions of years when life first emerged on the waters of Seomkaeiraya. History is usually divided by Kaeiran historians into five major stages:
The Kaeiras first developed as eukaryotic multicellular microorganisms on the icy waters of Seomkaeiraya. Kaeiran biologists often named and presumed the Jairayaseki cells as the first form of eukaryotic life that emerged and the last common ancestor of every eukaryote that formed on the planet. One of the numerous cells that branched out of the Jairayaseki are the Chosairaya cells, what is assumed to be where the Kaeiras descended from.
The Chosairaya cells were animal cells that absorbed free-floating organic matter or other smaller cells. After a few eons, the Chosairaya, along with many other microorganisms on the planet, began forming tissues of their own selves and became the first ever multicellular creatures on the planet. Eventually, these tissues would grow in complexity, and in over the span of almost billions of years, would become macroscopic. The Kaeiras were one of the many that evolved to live on land.
The first Kaeiran animals were little more than simple synapsids with limbs. After further developing early sensory organs, the early Kaeiras lived together in nests in the snow and preyed upon weaker organisms. They maintained an ambiguously carnivorous diet all throughout. They had moist, uneven skin and were in shades of dark blue.
By that point, the Kaeiras have evolved mammalian features. Seomkaeiraya already had towering flora due to scarcity of light, with the smallest plants reaching a meter tall. Further developing to adapt to the environment, the Kaeiras evolved to be taller to better survey their environments. Soon enough, they grew arms and graspers.
Eventually, the average Kaeira was a meter tall and their skin much lighter now due to deficiency of light. As surrounding species grew stronger and more competitive, the Kaeiras started interacting with their environment to their advantage. They first made use of stones as weapons against threats or creatures that they couldn't kill. The concept of using their surroundings acted as the stimulus for their brains to expand, having gained awareness that they could manipulate objects for their own benefit.
It was at this moment, the world was about to get bigger for the species.
Many early Kaeiran tribesmen adorned their faces with masks, serving as both intimidation and identification.
The Kaeiras were already hunting with spears and able to fish near the sea by the time they've formed tribes and settlements. The discovery of fire was more of a wonder than a life-changing event, since the Kaeiras were already accustomed to the frozen landscape of Seomkaeiraya. The species had reached sapience. They could feel and express emotions as well as think for themselves.
Tribes and communities were aware of other tribes' existences and would communicate and trade through bartering. The tribes were organized and their leaders chosen by the majority. Each individual knows their own role in their settlement and does their best to contribute.
The Kaeiras had a strong sense of unity and would work for the betterment of their own community. Unfortunately, every other Kaeiran tribe had the same thought of unification. Settlements would often raid each other, with some declaring outright war. They were clever in that they would often forge alliances and invade weaker tribes; they were foolish in that their constant warfares for unification caused them to be separated as a species.
After centuries of warring, the great Toirayonaech tribe became the one to unify the entire species under one tribe under the rule of Yairaya Hwuirayo-nim. With time, the Toirayonaech would reform civilization under its rule.
For centuries the Kaeiras lived under the banner of the Toirayonaech, which by then had already become an empire. The species by this time had the luxury of time and security, giving birth to many breakthroughs and innovations through the years. Mathematics, science, philosophy and arts flourished as the empire entered an age of freedom and enlightenment.
Since Yairaya Hwuirayo-nim, his successors have ruled Toirayonaech following his exact same footsteps of ruling justly with an iron fist. The ninth to rule Toirayonaech, Kyairayache Kameul, ruled his species showing benevolence and love for his people. This was met with ambivalence, as the people did not know how to respond to this. Some believed he had good intentions for the advancement of the empire, while some feared he would cause the downfall of the species. Eventually, a small band of extremists assassinated Kameul, which became a key factor to the start of a civil war between those that supported the Kyairayache and those who opposed him. These were not the only reasons, though. Differing perspectives and ideologies also fueled the flames of war that would burn through the race. This caused a chain reaction which caused the Toirayonaech to collapse and the species to be separated in war once more.
Throughout the duration of the civil war, the Kaeiras on both sides had already attained many technological advancements and have reached modernity. They never stopped innovating, even in the face of pointless conflict. After years of strife, a popular movement named the Deheumoheuradik Umtoirayo called for peace between the two opposing sides and proposed the formation of a planet-wide state run by a technocracy. The duration of the war already drying the two, the two sides found common ground in the fact that it would be more beneficial for the species to work in unity than to fight over beliefs long overdue - each without a stable governing body. The Kaeiras entered a period of rejuvenation.
The newly-formed state, the Kaeiran Technocracy, would govern the Kaeiras throughout the zenith of their civilization on Seomkaeiraya all the way to their mission to reach the stars. Under the direction of the technocracy, the Kaeiras were able to construct their first vessel to achieve orbit around Seomkaeiraya.
In decades, the Kaeiras had become fully spacefairing, with FTL travel being at experimental, but otherwise working stages.Culture[]
The Kaeiras uphold works of the mind above most things. Whether it be theorems, equations, visual arts or music, the Kaeiras appreciate even the tiniest of detail that can be perceived by the brain or by the senses. Many of them consider acts and works that contribute to those fields as worthy of praise and distinction, though they do not mind what an individual thinks or does so long as they don't hinder or attempt to sabotage the progress of the species. Respect also serves next as an important concept in the Kaeiran culture. Generally, Kaeiras honor their elders and are expected to be treated the same by younger generations, though this could also refer to their belief that they should regard each and every member of their race as equals to them. Discipline and etiquette are also important concepts and should be observed at all times with the exception of situations that do not require formality.
Arts and Crafts[]
Kaeiran arts often range from very simplistic designs to very heavy application of visual arts so long as they are done in a way that exhibits harmony, mathematics or both. Typical paintings are either arrhythmic strokes and patterns with blending colors and transitions, or chaotic yet mathematically proportionate paintings. This often results in deeply abstract paintings, with the most gifted of painters able to make surrealistic art out of these. Architecture and handicrafts are also made with those same standards; thus resulting with Kaeiran works often being geometric and/or symmetrical. Portraits and historical artworks are uncommon and aren't quite popular genres. Major themes usually found in their artworks include nature, still life, impressionism and expressionism.
Music[]
Music is handled very differently by the Kaeiras. Many compositions often display grandeur in their harmonies and melodies, transitioning smoothly between keys in a fashion that generally sounds smooth and flowing, yet strong and powerful. Many compositions, on the other hand, have extreme levels of cacophony that would be deemed noise by other species, yet are regarded as beautiful by Kaeiras so long as their melodies follow mathematical sequences found in nature. Because of this, almost any musical genre is accepted by the average Kaeiran as long as they either hear the beauty of the music or derive it. This is especially important, as Kaeiras have delicate hearing. Excessive sounds with no coherence or do not match those standards overload their brains, causing hallucinations and inducing feelings of anxiety and distress.
Kaeiran music is generally divided into two major categories: conventional and unorthodox. Conventional music makes up a majority of Kaeiran mainstream music and are the most commonly sung to. This type of music also makes use of musical intervals with twelve equidistant steps of ascending pitches, giving it a structured system at the cost of precision. Fine-tuned instruments with clear divisions between pitches are the backbones of conventional tunes. Unorthodox music takes on the mantle of abstract pieces much more complex than conventional music. It uses extremely precise musical intervals, making use of microtones, giving music from this category an even looser sound than ones heard in conventional music. Unorthodox compositions are usually experimental and are often used to interpret emotions using only instrumental music as their medium.
Entertainment[]
Stargazing is one form of activity that Kaeiras can draw entertainment from.
Other than curiosity, Kaeiras use feelings and sensations as catalysts for them to seek entertainment. A significant drop in a particular emotion that an individual often feels within a period of time induces mild sensations of wanting to seek out a source of that emotion. Many look to visual arts and music for this, though most of them seek motion pictures and plays to better visualize these emotions. Kaeiran films are very diverse and are similar to their music, with the exception that they give emphasis on sentiment rather than beauty. Scenes and actors must execute their desired atmospheres and moods effectively for a film or play to be considered a success. For this reason, those training to be actors must possess talent or have the dedication.
Literature[]
Since the beginning of Kaeiran civilization and the first instances of writing, literature had played a major role in the developing of the species. The first recorded writings were a series of pictographs engraved on rock and ice near the location that the first Kaeiran tribes emerged. This site had been named the Kotae Hirok. Similar writings have also been found after tracing the searching the area where the next tribes have formed. The first codes and laws were hypothesized to have been written in this pictograph system of writing.
Yairaya Chunoirayo, the successor of Yairaya Hwuirayo-nim and the creator of the Kaeirayaseocheur.
The Kaeirayaseocheur, the Kaeiran system of writing, was invented during the rule of Yairaya Chunoirayo, the second ruler of the then Toirayonaech Kingdom. It was the greatest and most revolutionary event in the history of Kaeiran literature. The entire species would soon use this system of writing in the ages to come. The epic Namreuirayo-im would be the very first epic written in Kaeiran history.
Literature flourished in the Imperial Age, where key scientific and mathematical concepts were written on rough yellow plant leaves they called Choirayo-i, which eventually became their universal medium to write on. Many important and vital writings from different prominent philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers were written. The Pweorpij Arae Taemseu was the first written compilation and collection of astronomical records and writings which would inspire a generation that would then be called the Orimi Pweor. This generation would grow to form the Deheumoheuradik Umtoirayo movement that changed the entire race forever.
In the modern age, most literature would now be stored in consoles or virtual databases accessible by the average individual. Many books and stories are still written physically, which some holding on to them because of sentiment, being real, tangible copies and many other reasons. The recent generations have begun to show interest particularly in short stories and novels. The Kaeiras find works from these genres successfully written if they manage to make creative use of different plot devices while keeping a coherent storyline.
Cuisine[]
Despite having no taste buds, the enzymes produced by the Kaeiran skin when eating produce generally harmless toxins as a waste product. These toxins induce weak pleasant hallucinogenic effects when in relatively large amounts, which are magnified when serotonin levels are high. The appearance and appeal combined with the odor of food is one contributing factor to the rise or fall of serotonin levels in the species. In efforts to spice up their food, the Kaeiras have made numerous ways to prepare and serve their food in an appealing manner, making them very meticulous when it comes to preparing dishes and meals.
Clothing[]
A male and a female Kaeira donning the Yeipoh. Some variations have different colors, masks and other tools and accessories.
The traditional Kaeiran costume is the Yeipoh. It is a skirt and long sleeved coat made of smooth fabric. The skirt is made up of a long pleated skirt surrounded by a white skirt made of cloth with intricate details and patterns on the lower part of the skirt. The coat is buttoned and is decorated with ornamental shoulder guards. Its sleeves covering the arms, with a fine white trim in the cuffs at each sleeve. The Yeipoh is worn by wearing the skirt over the coat, with most Kaeiras wearing footwear along with it and some sporting facemasks.
The Yeipoh served no practical purpose, as warmth was not a priority for the Kaeiras. Instead, it was often worn for ceremonial purposes and to denote one's rank in society. It is still worn during formal events and is the basis for many modern Kaeiran civilian clothing. Variations of the Yeipoh are used by soldiers and scientists. There are also those who request customized and personalized versions of it for their own reasons.
