Centauran (Race)

CENTAURANS Aurelia centaur

Height: 6 feet (1.83m) from bell tip to tentacle tip Weight: 300 pounds (136kg) Circulation pressure: 512/16 mmHg Circulation rate: 5 cycles per minute Respiration rate: 2 cycles per minute Bell Temperature: can vary with environment, -120F (-84.4C) Lifespan: 400 Terran years Native Language: Telepathy, Tataskra (written language) Homeworld: Centauri

Overview

A peaceful but strong-willed race, the denizens of Centauri are known for their remarkable scientists, physicists and mathematicians. Centaurans can participate in spoken communication, which is more comfortable for many species than telepathy, using special electronic vocalizers. These convert manipulations of brainwaves into speech sounds and vice versa.

Centaurans loathe violence and will, as a general rule, pursue diplomatic resolutions to any severe conflict. They are dedicated to the pursuit of science and exploration for peaceful ends, and find science for profit repugnant. Their long term and society-oriented solutions to problems, which may involve death and heavy responsibility, can appear to be coldly logical. But the use of telepathic consensus and their lack of facial expressions do not at all mean that decisions are made without the sharing of emotion. The motivations may simply be difficult for individualists to understand, and the expressions difficult for non-empaths to perceive clearly.

Centaurans hold their species in regard above others, respecting the most those civilizations that feel no need to use their power and knowledge in flashy or violent displays. The Maltarian Empire is one such. Those of an older time, who traveled with Sanctuary, may regard aliens as opportunities for gentle study and perhaps companionship. The Centaurans who have read about and lived through the Kretonian occupation and Hiver manipulations may regard aliens with more caution, even suspicion or disgust, while still finding them fascinating and useful in their own way.

Society

Their society is perhaps best summed up by 'collectivism.' Desiring privacy for its own sake and secrecy for personal reasons are regarded as pathological in Centaurans; the existence of these feelings in other races is a sometimes troubling, but well-recognized oddity. Some information is kept from the other races to prevent danger to themselves and others, but greater and freer communication is generally regarded as the means to a safe environment. Positive socialization and being able to sense organic minds are not only desirable for Centaurans, but essential for mental health.

The open exchange of words and feelings among Centaurans allows them to find and treat a wide variety of behavioral and sociological problems (many of which would be regarded as personality traits by other races). To allow for innovation, some harmless eccentricities are allowed, guided by the stabilizing influence of neighbors and colleagues. Simple punishment is regarded as pointless; friendly persuasion, medical treatment, and re-education are used instead, and since antisocial problems are caught early by the telepathic communities, the individual's potential usefulness is largely preserved. If an individual does not respond to treatment, then it is useless to society. It is killed, and its body consumed and spun into new constructions. Aliens are sometimes seen as not worth the trouble of curing and can have odd notions like not wanting their violent tendencies repaired. Any visiting alien that poses violent danger is executed without question or trial.

Population control is vital to the Centaurans, given their distaste for colonization. Whenever an important leader dies the Cycling occurs. The Cycling is roughly mass, coordinated suicide. Many Centaurans apply to participate in the Cycling, but few are chosen. To be chosen is considered a great honor, among the noblest possible conclusions of a Centauran's life. Participants in the cycling line up in concentric circles around the remains of their leader. They then fall to the ground, one after the other, shattering into pieces which are gathered up for important construction projects.

Biology

See Centauran Biology for an in-depth look at Centaurans.

Centaurans might appear at first to be simple bubbles of glass with arms, but their transparency reveals a complex structure. Much of them is contained within a rounded shell composed of layer upon layer of violet-tinted glass. Many of the organs are arranged around the inside of the shell, the being's bulk being in a trunk that hangs in the middle and divides into eight tentacles.

As asexual creatures, they give birth once every six years, from 27 years of age to about 250. A unique sort of connection exists between parent and child, but a harmonious relationship with neighbors is essential to growth and education.

The digestive system, which has a single opening, is stained blue by the colonies of algae that sustain their host with nutrition derived from nitrogen and light. Not much is needed, but proper lighting cannot be done without for more than a couple days. Every few weeks, in order to weave constructs, regenerate broken tentacles, and nourish unborn young, Centaurans must consume matter through an orifice in the base of the bell. Hydrofluoric acid digestive fluid helps them to dissolve the crystalline organisms of their homeworld, but would turn the organics of most other species' food into steaming hot carbon. Most kinds of soil are nutritious, but even glass, inorganic ceramics and composites, and glass-shelled organisms can suffice, if they contain no high levels of toxic metals.

A ring of forty-eight iridescent pink eyespots (or fifty, in some familial lines) surrounds the base of the bell, providing an enormous and continuous field of vision. Turning around to look in a certain direction is pointless for a being that is nearly radially symmetric. In addition to physical sight, Centaurans have a powerful intuitive sense for visualizing spatial relationships and motion.

Centaurans possess no blood as such, with various substances carried in molecular tubules. This accounts for their ability to withstand temperatures far from optimal. When injured, however, liquid may seep from their tissue.

The ring-shaped lung near the top of the trunk is also the location of their somewhat limited hearing ability. Respiration involves only nitrogen, with an optimal temperature of -120 degrees Fahrenheit. (This is below the temperatures at which dry ice evaporates and liquified ammonia gas boils.)

Their chief method of locomotion is a smooth glide several feet in the air, accomplished by psionically pressing against the ground (or pulling on a large stationary mass overhead). On average, Centaurans can rise about seven yards above a horizontal surface; with effort, they may be able to attain much greater altitudes.

Sanctuary

In the face of the 2651 invasion of Kretonians, several thousand Centaurans moved into a habitat in the Winter Dome of the colony vessel Sanctuary. They returned to the year 3000 after six months of travel, most of them choosing to remain on the station.

Fundamentally, the Centaurans who traveled on board Sanctuary and their modern descendants are very much alike. They share millennia of peaceful socialist and centrally-organized culture. Both abhor violence and love observation and learning. They find fulfillment is serving the group and helping others to become more useful. They believe that one should share problems with neighbors and eventually discover the good in everything that happens, even if this is only the opportunities for improvement. (As beings with centuries of indelible memory, this is quite necessary.)

Three and a half centuries of separation have led to some differences. When Sanctuary returned to the universe, the Centauran inhabitants found those on Homeworld to be hostile not only to aliens but also to their own kind. Even after the influences of the Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind were rooted out, some dissimilarity of thoughts remained. At worst, Sanctuary Centaurans can see the people of Centauri as paranoid and disturbingly private. They, in turn, can see the Sanctuary residents as foolishly naive.

For the people of Centauri, the years of hardship have lowered their estimation of other species; they already thought the violence and individualism were a bit odd. The Centaurans of Centauri are now even more tightly associated and loyal to their government, whereas the Sanctuary Centaurans have somewhat more focus on the benefit of the neighborhood.

Timeline

• 11339 B.C. Robotic vessels begin transporting resources to Centauri from the inner planets.

• 8248 B.C. The spread of a philosophy known as Naturalism causes some Centaurans to violate the understood restrictions against living in designated wilderness areas. The Naturalists believe that they, though not necessarily anyone else, should live with only such technology or medical care as can be accomplished with handmade items. Those of differing philosophy living nearby soon see to it that no others may join the Naturalists, but allow their continued presence the parks out of scientific curiosity.

• 8107 B.C. Studies are published showing that a regional government is more efficient than relying on a council of provincial governors. The resulting centralization of government brings the philosophical underpinnings of local policies into sharp contrast. A group that came to be known as Harvesters promotes the tradition of maintaining an efficient society by means of euthanasia for one's excess infants and suicide for the elderly. The Collectors promote efficiency by government boards designating suicide semi-randomly for individuals, and the preservation of all others.

• 7735 B.C. The fifteen regional governments of the world are entirely either Harvester and Collector, having re-educated or removed any pockets of disagreement within their territory. This marks the beginning of a cold war and the cessation of trade and communications. Weapons and methods of re-education for use on the other regions proliferate.

• 7409 B.C. In a swift and coordinated move, Collectors manage to incapacitate the executives and relevant policy-making councils of the opposition. With new lawmakers and educators in place, the prohibition against infanticide and purely age-related suicide is adopted quickly. Acceptance of government-requested suicide is attained more slowly; the citizens, over the decades, come to identify more strongly with the leaders whose funerals the Rites of Cycling commemorate.

• 7003 B.C. Organization of a planetary government is completed when a council of electors, chosen from universities by the regional governors, selects the new heads of government: Solon (Chief Executive) Shodkenhintekgu and Xeter (Assistant Chief Executive) Rintanvaryimeh.

• 6522 B.C. The last few instances of Naturalist philosophy are eliminated, but at the cost of several lives that could have been productive members of society. The resulting debates and literature begin to firmly cement the value of pacifism in Centauran belief, even as the existence of any group to fight against passes into history.

• 5493 B.C. The first crew to travel outside of Centauri orbit arrive at Proxima Centauri and begin to study its activity during a major eruption. The flares prove more dangerous for the scientists than predicted. Despite their safe return, public opinion remains set against the value of using crewed exploratory ships.

• 4135 B.C. First solid evidence of an alien intelligence comes in the form of early radio transmissions from Akripa, a star system about fifty light-years away. The Council of Interstellar Relations is gathered and begins an intensive debate concerning the merits of various types of exploratory mission.

• 4127 B.C. Preparation of the first contact team is completed and launched.

• 4067 B.C. Centaurans arrive in the Akripa system and enter orbit around the planet. (The native intelligent species of Akripa is now known as the Castori. The Almedae, previous inhabitants of Castor, were long departed when the Akripans arrived.) Starting with observations of the inhabitants by telescope, they begin to prepare for a meeting. Though they have no basis for understanding a spoken or written language, the researchers are confident that an understanding can be reached by telepathic and other means. In 4059 B.C., an uncrewed vessel containing mathematical and astronomical information, along with pictures of the Centaurans, lands outside a major city.

• 4057 B.C. The researchers and diplomats travel to the surface on the established day and greeted by a cautious but welcoming group of world diplomats. Centauri is only very slightly affected by contact with Akripa, but the change in its comfortable rate of technological and philosophical advancement leads to growing unease with the relationship. Akripa is more deeply affected, in that the arrival of the Centaurans disturbs years of progress toward a world government.

• 4026 B.C. The introduction of Centauran technologies finally causes a political struggle to erupt in civil war for one of the Akripan nations. Though it is brief and relatively unbloody, Centaurans begin to flee the system, leaving only orbital recording instruments.

• 3975 B.C. Interstellar Relations agrees to a rigid policy of severely restricted communication and trade, banning all other contact with the Akripans. Those already in the Centauri system are politely but quickly deported. In addition, plans are laid to insure that Centauri will never again interfere with extraterrestrial intelligences without utilizing the greatest caution. These include measures to disguise the artificial nature of communications within the Centauri system and with scientific probes.

• 1899 A.D. Centauran astronomers prove that unusual radio signals discovered in the Sol system are of intelligent origin. The first such discovery since the Castori, it leads xenosociologists to focus their efforts on providing a safe reception for human visitors.

• 2152 A.D. Centaurans become the first species that humans encounter in the course of their early days of space exploration. (A tragic encounter with Zangali refugees on Mars was humans' first alien contact of any kind.) Their alliance with mankind allows for the birth of the Stellar Consortium.

• 2153 A.D. The Consortium's Vanguard military is established. The Centaurans present in the Sol system, pointing to Earth's disastrous lack of caution leading to the 2137 Human-Zangali War, decline to promise their government's military assistance.

• 2590 A.D. The Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind, after gaining a seat in the Stellar Consortium Council, grant the OS Drive technology to the Consortium, with the caveat that a Hiver be assigned to each ship to operate the drives.

• 2591 A.D. Centauran diplomats arrive in the Sol system, in response to news of the Vanguard military. Extensive debates establish Centauri as responsible for providing the Vanguard with only secondary support.

• 2626 A.D. Centaurans begin using Hiver OtherSpace Drives on a limited basis, primarily for astronomy and for communication with the Consortium. Sub-light drives remain an adequate and preferred choice for most of their needs.

• 2634 A.D. An OS Drive ship with a small crew led by Aslataratyxltarl takes an exploratory mission on a spiraling path, visiting a number of star systems. The inhabited ones are G'ahnlo, Castor, Demaria, Mars, and Sivad.

• 2650 A.D. A small group, including two Centaurans, is captured by the Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind and informed that their peoples will willingly fight an unspecified enemy or be possessed by the Hivers and serve the same end. Dahanovoheanipeymeq is forced to agree that the former option is Centauri's only choice, until it meets Okaskatitch of the B'hiri. Given with the option of allying with the B'hiri, Dahan participates in the effort to rid the galaxy of the Hivers. This proves to be one of the only times in recorded Centauran history that these peaceful creatures deal with another race in a method that could be considered violent, and it ends with virtual Ri'Kammi genocide. Although such an act comes with many regrets for the Centaurans, the B'hiri assure them that it could have been no other way; the Hive Mind does not believe in negotiation. To help assuage the horror, the B'hiri provide the Centaurans with the means to produce their own OtherSpace drives, with the string attached that the Centaurans can provide that means to no other race.

• 2650 A.D. Centauri develops the Facet class scout, optimized for speed and sensor strength. (Foreign designs based on Facet II models are still a respected choice for non-combat reconnaissance.)

• 2651 A.D. The Consortium alliance crumbles in the wake of the Brighter Horizons scandal. When it becomes clear that the Consortium President Eduard Ocartus II and the General Volstov of the Vanguard military had engaged in the highly unethical pursuit of genetic engineering for crass and selfish purposes, the Centauran government withdraws its membership in the Stellar Consortium. They also withdrew access to OtherSpace technology, meaning that all worlds outside of Alpha Centauri have to rely on their current stock of OS Drives without any replacements from the Centaurans. Later returning its government to the Consortium, Representative Dahan is elected president of the Consortium. Despite the growing civil rights problems on Sivad after its leader Laurence Montevedo withdraws from the Consortium, the Centaurans remain strongly opposed to the Vanguard engaging in a violent attack (later termed "Operation Freedom's Flame").

• 2651 A.D. A Kretonian spy steals an OtherSpace-capable shuttle from Lt. Colonel Durinde of the Vanguard, giving the Kretonians the means for FTL travel. The Kretonians establish Ungstir Prime as their new homeworld and embark on a brutal regime of conquest and enslavement. Circumventing the random lottery that Sanctuary's owner Cottington puts in place, the Centauri government carefully distributes the winning tickets of its citizens. Several thousand Centaurans move into a habitat in the Winter Dome of the colony vessel Sanctuary. The ones remaining on the homeworld, with their inhospitable planet and pacifist tendencies, are at first merely cut off from providing aid to the Consortium. Wary Kretonians begin massing forces in the Centauri system.

• 2652 A.D. Kretonians, after meeting no indication of resistance and after killing a number of diplomats sent to them, begin intense orbital bombardment of Centauri in preparation for a landing. Centauri, in exchange for its lives, agrees to give up its government to the Kretonians and to not attempt psionic pressuring of the occupiers. They discover that senseless brutality disturbs Centaurans more than any sort of supposedly degrading behavior; however, the occupiers come to appreciate well-behaved slaves more than the eradication of local culture.

• 2702 A.D. The Kretonians bring to Quaquan a force of carefully controlled Centaurans and direct them to begin hunting and killing Mystics. The campaign results in the death of many Mystics and Centaurans, but also of Kretonians. They quickly judge Quaquan to be not worth the trouble and abandon the effort.

• 2806 A.D. Centauri begins a strong and concerted, but relatively nonviolent, attack against the Kretonians only as it becomes clear that the Nall-led rebellion will defeat the Kretonians. Rebels visiting the Centauri dissuade the residents with threats of violence from keeping the few remaining Kretonians for study.

• 2815 A.D. The planetary government is re-established simultaneously with plans to exclude all potential threats from the star system. Massive arrays of defensive weaponry are constructed, particularly around Centauri, and outbound communication is cut off entirely.

• 2820 A.D. Centaurans declare their territory off limits to all outsiders by explaining that any object foreign to the system will not leave it intact. A few probes later sent by foreign governments to skim the edge of the system were dramatically vaporized, thus proving the point.

• 2845 A.D. A Centauran sent to Sagittarius (Il'Ri'Kamm) to investigate that planet becomes possessed by a Hiver, and then serves as a conduit for other Hivers to possess certain influential Centaurans upon its return. They control primarily scientists at the Institute and military leaders in the Crystal Path, manipulating them into creating a fleet of warships.

• 3000 A.D. Sanctuary returns to the universe, but its Centauran residents are rejected by the homeworld. The battleship Mindshard and twelve destroyer-class escorts of Centauri's Crystal Path attack Sanctuary and are defeated by a multinational defensive fleet that includes the surprise addition of a Nall destroyer. The Solon Riralaxipirtalik, leader of the Centauran Freehold after the destruction of the Hiver-posessed, announces that it will provide Sanctuary with Centauran-made OtherSpace drives and that the planet will become open to all. Centauri is linked to the Castori teleportal system. Seer Arcaj opens diplomatic relations between Centauri and Mystics. Centauri becomes the first signer of the Sanctuary Declaration for mutual aid.

• 3001 A.D. As the Sanctuary Declaration is written to respect the cultures of its members, Centauri provides no military support when the Lem'ing attack Demaria and Sanctuary. It does, however, provide intelligence during the attacks and repairs afterward. The Solon is assassinated by a Kamir while visiting Concordance Station. The Rite of Cycling at the Solon's funeral was the first to be seen by bipeds; the remains of those who killed themselves were used to weave a new astronomy wing for the Shalyaris Institute.

• 3002 A.D. Solon Solilopaxillthrixian reaches an agreement with Admiral Mrr'lato on Ganymede. The Centauri system becomes a military protectorate of the Maltarian Empire; Centauri gains settlement rights to Callisto, the farthest planet from the white dwarf star Jupiter; and the Empire is allowed access to the Centauran Information Network.

• 3002 A.D. The temporal researcher Axirpolitafix and its experimental equipment called the Moebius Device are taken from Centauri by the Thul. (The experiments are the basis for the M-Drive, a Centauran FTL propulsion system released the same year.) The device is placed on Earth and used to cause an alternate universe to intrude upon this one. Before the effect is stopped, with the aid of Axir and others, it replaces Earth, Luna, and Mars. Ungstir offers housing for residents who choose to leave Sanctuary as it goes to aid the fight against alternate-timeline Kretonians. Centaurans selected to go begin making the offered asteroid more homelike, but Ungstiri ask them to leave once the crisis is over.

• 3003 A.D. Sanctary travels toward the Nexus of Kamir's multiverse gateways but is captured by the Parallax when it tresspasses on their space. When the Centaurans on board are rounded up for a speech, RNS surgeon Riamqat leads an attack on the Nall's commander, Grand Inquisitor Volari; the Nall guards kill a portion of the crowd in what the news reports as a massacre. With the aid of a friendly faction of government, Centauri tries to build a new habitat on Luna similar to the one lost when the Nall destroyed Sanctuary. This is cut short by an unexplained event in which the worlds shifted by the Moebius effect return to their original universes. (The Drakarian warship Darlath, seen to orbit Luna for the previous year, also disappears from view soon afterward.)

• 3003 A.D. Centaurans aid their Maltarian allies in the construction of a weapon on Ganymede; the Maltarian Empire threatens to destabilize the Sol system with it if the Guardian Fleet does not back down from its attacks. When activated during a battle between a Sivadian-Maltarian alliance and the Consortium, weapon destroys only Ganymede, but inflicts numerous friendly casualties. The Sivadians protest the Maltarians' actions and the Centauran involvement.

• 3003 A.D. A flu-like illness from the other side of the Nexus (dubbed the Nexus Curse) spreads rapidly from world to world. Its artifical nature is evidenced by the fact that the unique Centauran biology is no protection, with ten percent showing symptons. The Centauran Research Institute cooperates with the University of Castor to perform research on the Curse using the starship Menusa (research ultimately interrupted by a shuttle accident). Dara Linton and John Lind, among those crossing the Nexus aboard the Peacemaker, help develop a cure from information found on the world of Reeshaka. A power station encircling Illumination is completed.

• 3004 A.D. Centauri, as part of OATO, participates in the Treaty of Sol Station, which lays to rest the warfare between Consortium and Sivad. Provisions include establishment of diplomatic offices on the station, the nonproliferation of world-destroying weapons, and declaring the entirety of the Sol system as Consortium territory. The Maltarians withdraw from the Orion Arm region without officially withdrawing from OATO. First Consul of the newly-formed Solar Republic, Darian Ellesmere, makes spurious claims that Centauri (among others) was involved in airborne attacks against the Vanguard on Mars. The teleportation network is used to rescue a small number of G'ahnli from an algae infestation, but neither this nor a Sivadian rescue mission prevents the population of Ahndar from being nearly wiped out. In the latter part of 3004, the aging FTL communications network collapses entirely. Communications are eventually restored on a local level through the cooperation of Castori, Centaurans, and Odarites. As Volari resurfaces in connection with a stolen Nall artifact containing the DNA of their prophet Nalia, the CRI announces a 3 million carat reward for delivering him to face charges for the killing of Centaurans aboard Sanctuary.

• 3005 A.D. Parallax expansionism threatens to consume the worlds of the Orion Arm. Centauri issues strict rules to foreign vessels entering the system to remain within a patrolled flight corridor and refrain from active sensor sweeps. Centauri involvment in OATO military actions mainly follows traditional roles of transport and intelligence until the battle for Nalhom, in which Crystal Path warships form part of the OATO invasion fleet.