by Sparrowhawk

Appearance: The Fallen are roughly humanoid in appearance, although the average Fallen appears almost emaciated by human standards. Their skin is pale green (their blood system relies upon cuproglobin, a copper compound, rather than the iron-based haemoglobin), with darker bluish veins running through it, and little to no skin pigmentation. Physically they appear to be an odd combination of avian and mammaloid (something like the duck-billed platypus), with their hair resembling a growth of somewhat scraggly feathers. Body hair is almost completely non-existent, except down the spine all the way to the vestigial coccyx.
   The Eliarin are easily mistaken for HyperHumans, and indeed some believe that they are. No historical records of this exist, however, and the Eliarin themselves usually deny any relation to Homo sapiens. The Eliarin homeworld is unknown to most other races, and to most (all?) of the Eliarin themselves. They stubbornly persist that they are not in any way related to Homo sapiens, and indeed the Eliarin genome shows little commonality (less than 70%) to that of the average human, and only 90% at best to the closest HyperHuman. The reason for the physical similarities is an absolute and total mystery.

Size: The Eliarin average 1.6 metres in height, although more diversity is present than with other races and some can reach 2.8 metres or 0.9. (The average is low, as there are more short Eliarin than tall.)

Sensation: The Eliarin have extremely poor senses; most of their senses are provided by their nanotech. (See Technology). They seem to have had some I/R sense (like the pit viper) as well as sense into the red to green frequencies of the vislight spectrum in the past, but now these organs have atrophied to the point of being nearly unusable. The radical degree of these apparently-natural mutations points to the (possibly) extreme age of this race. They also have aural senses; these are, again, very poor. The openings in the sides of the head (their outer ears are cartilaginous and somewhat angular, unlike the more rounded ears of humans) actually lead to the secondary lungs; aural nerves are present in the bronchi of the secondary lungs.

Respiration: The Eliarin still have three functioning lungs (one primary and two secondary), although they need nanodevices to augment the muscle power in most atmospheres. Apparently they can use nitrogen for respiration (carbon nitride is excreted along with solid waste) if necessary, though ordinary oxygen respiration is also possible and not so strenuous. Even so, the nitrogen-based process requires some oxygen; the Eliarin can survive only in environments with at least 3% atmospheric oxygen. The Eliarin definitely need nitrogen in their air, however; they lack the ability to digest proteins and need atmospheric nitrogen to synthesize these essential chemicals. An Eliarin, unless outfitted with some source of nitrogen, will not live more than 2 Earth months even with all his(her) nanoimplants operational. The primary bronchial tube is used for speech (sound communication); the two secondaries for hearing. (See Senses.)

Communication: Eliarin are capable of sonic communication similar to humans, but generally avoid it. They tend to use their neural implants, which are networked (See Technology), to transmit information, either visual, textual or in some other sense medium (as stated, this is limited to IR-spectrum, and of course cannot be used to communicate with members of other races). Highly skilled Eliarin have succeeded in hacking into others' implants before, but this is considered nearly as bad as murder as a crime. Some still possess this skill, though; these are usually in the employ of the Enclave Councils to deal justice to a lawbreaker.

Aliment: The Eliarin digestive system is almost nonfunctional, serving more as a container than anything else. Glucose and vital nutrients (vitamins, etc.) are injected intravenously; the Eliarin can and will eat approximately once a day; this is more of a social occasion and a kind of 'sensory entertainment' than a necessity. Eliarin dentition and digestive system is herbivorous, although they adopt an omnivorous diet on occasion. Soluble food or food which reduces to a liquid state, e.g. glucose sweets, flavoured ice etc. are popular -- no solid waste problems!

Thermality: The Eliarin find it difficult at best to tolerate temperatures below 95°F / 35°C / 308°K. Originally warm-blooded, they now rely on nanotech to maintain body temperature. Upper limits range at about 122-140°F / 50-60°C / 323-333°K

Reproduction: The race has both male and female genders, similar to most large Terran species. The Eliarin are capable of giving birth to living young, but due to their overall physical weakness, they usually rely on exogenesis (fertilizing the ovum in an external environment like an incubator). Cloning is not common, although there is no societal taboo against it. Sexual intercourse is practiced for pleasure (with extreme care to the safety of both partners due to the physical strain involved). Contraception is practically mandatory and 99% effective. The remaining 1% results in either live births (very few) or (more commonly) the extraction of the foetus and artificial incubation.

Lifecycle: The average Eliarin matures slowly, and can take as many as 25 Sol years to reach full maturity. Gestation takes approximately six Earth months. If they were not augmented by nano, it is entirely possible that the life expectancy of an Eliarin would not exceed five Earth days. However, if human aging signs are any indicator, the rate of cell death begins to exceed the rate of cell regeneration at about 60 years, pointing to a 'design lifespan' of perhaps 180 years. Of course, nano-augmentation has made aging optional to ALL Eliarin.

Sexuality: Few Eliarin are homosexual, although there is no taboo against homosexuality. Most homosexuals are also bisexual, with a large fraction of these preferring group sex (which is otherwise almost nonexistent). There is no taboo against masturbation (with or without the aid of some inanimate object/s), although the interpersonal/social dimension of sexuality is more prevalent among the Eliarin than with other races, and thus such release would be less than satisfying from an emotional point of view (although you will definitely find the odd addict). While no taboo against interspecies sex exists, the average Eliarin is physically frail enough to make it almost a non-issue. There is a strong taboo against paedophilia, arising (mostly) out of the fact that such an encounter would almost certainly cause serious injury to the child.

Cognition: Average Eliarin IQ is approximately 115, slightly higher than the human norm of 100. Other dimensions of emotional and intellectual functioning are approximately similar to human norms.

Technology: The Eliarin rely heavily upon nanotech. Self-propelled, self-powered (by a nano-scale antimatter reactor) micro-size machines (size usually less than 0.1 mm³) are used by practically every Eliarin, controlled by cybertech implants (using an emitter generally tuned to I/R spectrum) built into the skull at the point corresponding to birth. The implants patch into the less-damaged portions of the user's optic, aural and other sensory nerves, or the neural conduits between those and the brain. The interface isn't substantially different from present-day machine interfaces. Two (or more) pointing "devices" are controlled by imaginary "eyes". Usually an Eliarin can't control more than two pointing devices without getting a serious headache, though really hot techs can manipulate up to six. Focusing or other eye-muscle movements also constitute part of the input. There are also imaginary "hands" which work the same way (again, average two, upper limit six). Most implants may have a "voice box" control as well, to allow for sound samples. (Eliarin children derive great entertainment out of parodying their elders' voices by careful control of the implant speech module.) Implant communication systems employ a highly-metasecure cryptographic system. There is no known way to "jam" this, as the devices are usually smart enough to filter out bad input.
   Eliarin nanotech devices have several functions, ranging from mind-assist (i.e. as a kind of augmentation to the Eliarin's mind, a PDA-in-the-head as it were) to medical (an essential function, since the average Eliarin has such a weak immune system that most illnesses will prove fatal within days if not hours) to military (if you see a dust-cloud zooming towards you and an angry Eliarin nearby, it might be a good idea to prepare a weapon). The generator cores of these devices also generate sufficient power that a very well-equipped Eliarin can use specialized nanodevices to generate an antigrav field around him(her)self, rendering him flight-capable. Since these particular devices burn out within weeks due to the amount of power required, they are usually only used by Eliarin guards or soldiers, and then only in the most extreme circumstances.
   The power supply of a nanomachine is, as stated, a tiny antimatter reactor. Even though this is the most efficient possible power system, it will only take the machine so far. There is no real way to refuel the reactors; these are "throwaway" devices. When used round-the-clock in power-intensive applications, such a device usually has a working life of only a few weeks.
   The nanomachines are usually introduced into the bloodstream of the developing foetus and gradually implanted within the other tissue (e.g. muscle tissue) as it develops. This is obviously highly uncomfortable for a mother who chooses live birth if contraception fails. The only reason to make such a choice is that, even with their sophisticated tech, the Eliarin have trouble transferring a developing foetus from womb to incubator without some damage or even death resulting.
   The Eliarin can no longer survive without the machines; they permeate the blood system and also fly (lighter-than-atmosphere flight-capable machines are usually constructed using hydrocarbon-foam or -filament vacuum-shells) in a cloud around the user. This creates the illusion of a dustcloud or a sparkling cloud of lights, which is sometimes used as a kind of costume. In very thin atmosphere or vacuum, the nanomachines must activate gravitic induction devices to stay aloft; this tends to drain reaction mass at an ungodly rate, and the machine will usually run out of power in about one Sol week.
   Some of the devices appear to be von Neumann machines, capable (in groups of several disparate types) of assembling any device needed. (Example: Devices A, B, and C, when working together, can produce a nanomachine to any design specification, including new copies of devices A, B and C. These devices rely on electron arrangement in atomic shells to provide the memory core, making their RAM extremely compact. A lawrencium core can contain some terabytes of data within a single nanomachine, though the density would render the device non-airborne and thus only useful in implant form.) However, the "factory" machines usually require an absolute vacuum to operate; although they can hover around in most environments, construction is not possible if molecules are just going to come floating in and stick to the half-finished item, and even stray photons pose a hazard. A special vacuum chamber is almost always necessary; this is usually about briefcase-sized. Even an evacuated airlock will not suffice; it still contains sufficient air particles to pose problems. A single factory team takes about half an hour to produce a single new nanodevice, since the item is being constructed atom by atom and molecule by molecule. More time is taken for more sophisticated devices; the less-sophisticated ones can simply be crudely and hurriedly "bolted" together. Larger items such as vehicles and artwork produced by nanodevices can take months to construct; the Eliarin have an aversion to most mass-production processes except for the most common and/or essential items. A small (by other races' standards) grav-engine-capable craft can take as much as half a year in production and require a cavernous vacuum chamber. While the Eliarin have figured out how to absorb the binding energies released by fission, they can't yet induce fusion on demand. As such, the VNMs need rare heavy elements as their source material. The atomic mass of the element used must exceed the atomic mass of the heaviest element to be put into the machine. Eliarin traders are expected, when contributing to the Enclave, to do so in the form of heavy matter -- elements 100 and above. The matter is usually reprocessed into a shielded slab (about the size of a business card, with the actual matter about the size of a large coin). This is inserted into the vacuum chamber, and the factory nanomachines drill through the shielding to reach the raw matter. Most Eliarin, other than Artisans, would usually not possess factory nano's. Distribution (by the Artisans) of nanomachines is as follows: each Eliarin is required to possess certain vital nanomachines, i.e. those for medical use and strength augmentation. Above and beyond these, there is an absolute per-month quota of nanomachines provided by the Enclave. Councillors get more than the rest (a perquisite to persuade them not to decline leadership roles); Artisans and Soldiers get slightly more (Soldiers for extra military gear, Artisans for creating new items).
   The Eliarin don't appear to operate any large starships or starfleets at all. They practically never use any technological item larger than their nano-scale machines, unless size is integral to its functioning (e.g. the incubators). They do, however, operate small antigrav vehicles about 5-50 metres in length for personal use. These vehicles are often intricately shaped and resemble fantastic crystalline seashells, more like works of art than functional machines. Some are fully flight-capable, and the most large and elaborate models are fully gravengine-equipped. Most, except for armed transports operated by the Enclaves (very few), are unarmed but well-protected.

Military: Eliarin nanomachines include gravitic field inductors which, in sufficient groups, can pour enough energy in to stop or deflect an incoming physical projectile. This, of course, is highly energy-intensive. (See Technology). The Eliarin remain highly vulnerable to beam weaponry, although they do possess (very expensive) machines capable of forming nanobarriers to deflect incoming beams, or firing beams of their own to cause an interference pattern that mitigates the effect of the weapon. These are only used by soldiers (and even then are only distributed on a need-to-use basis) and very high-level civilians. (See Society). Using an explosive projectile of any kind on an Eliarin who is fully aware of it is, of course, the height of idiocy, as the Eliarin will most likely dispatch some kind of nanomachine to detonate it in mid-flight or (even worse) before it can be launched. Unfortunately, strategic-theater weapons (planet busters) operating in airburst mode are pretty-much unreachable.
   Most military-grade nanodevices (usually issued to Soldiers, although a small quantity tends to be issued to any Eliarin operating outside the Enclave) include a self-destruct system. Since this basically causes an antimatter implosion, the firepower per single device is roughly equal to that of a 20th-century hand grenade. Larger antimatter charges are generally fitted only to the above-mentioned armed transports. The Eliarin seldom, if ever, deploy beam weaponry, but traders and others have been known to carry alien-manufactured (i.e. non-Eliarin) weapons, just in case.

Politics: The Eliarin live in sheltered Enclaves all over the Lattice. Each world usually has an Eliarin Enclave ranging from a single building to a city-sized structure, though the largest may have more. All Eliarin on that world are expected to live within the Enclave, with the sole exception of traders and xenology scholars, who still are socially obliged to return to the Enclave on a regular basis.
   Caste System:Within an Enclave the Eliarin are divided into several castes -- Trader, or Merchant (lowest caste and uncommonly seen); Soldier, or Guardian (next up); Labourer, or Physic (menial worker); Scholar, and Artisan (both artists and technologists -- the highest caste). These "level" distinctions actually should not be present, but they still exist. Castes are ability-based, though some discrimination exists despite attempts to stamp it out. One is born into a caste, but may change castes subject to aptitude testing. Castes within an Enclave have their own rank structure and leaders -- generally three ranks. Low, <no modifier>, and High. (Example: High Physic, or Low Artisan, or simply Guardian.) The fourth rank, Master (applies to females too), is reserved for the leader of the caste within the Enclave. Notes on Individual Castes: GENERAL: Typical Enclave breakdown by caste: 5% traders (an unpopular profession), 15% soldiers (the more aggressive Eliarin tend to find it hard to fit into the other castes), 30% labourers (physics are always in demand, and are often better rewarded than their job description would suggest), 20% scholars, 30% artisans (a very popular caste, and prestigious too). SCHOLARS: xenology is a popular field of study. Despite all their guardedness, the Eliarin seem to be quite inquisitive about other races.
   Distribution of goods within an Enclave, apart from those provided by the Enclave, is mostly by gift exchange. Essential supplies (glucose and nutrient solution, essential nanomachinery) are issued freely. Traders selling these items are expected to contribute a significant portion of income to the Enclave's treasury. This treasury is generally doled out to Eliarin leaving the Enclave on official business, or as a research grant for xenology (and sometimes other) scholars. Gift-wrapping and other means of concealment/decoration are not often used.
   Council: The Eliarin have no central government; such an organization could not effectively coordinate its operations between worlds. Each Enclave is ruled by a Council of one male and one female from each caste, for a total of ten. The leaders of the Council are not necessarily Masters of their respective castes. This is law -- there has been some discontent but amazingly no open rebellion in all the years of the society. If there was such, it was suppressed and "hushed up" very effectively, such that even subsequent leaders have forgotten it.
   Council membership is granted by a distinctly odd process. Believing that the subconscious has a greater cognitive power than the conscious mind, the Eliarin expect all members of the Enclave to patch their emotional state into their implants on a Day of Choosing (occurs approximately once every 30 Sol years). The implants simply take the raw neural impulses and digitize them without analyzing the contents. The subsequent output is used to generate a fractal and randomize a set of coordinates. The value of the fractal at those coordinates (highly nondeterministic) is used to determine which Eliarin are selected for the council. No age limits are imposed on Councillorship; however, the calculations are intrinsically weighted away from children. If all else fails, there are of course the Nay Votes. It is, however, possible and not always uncommon to see at least one child in an Enclave Council. Interestingly, such children often receive more rather than less support from the community, and eventually become leaders of their caste.
   Each outgoing councillor, however, has one vote -- which may or may not be used in two ways. If a prospective successor receives three or more Nay Votes (out of the ten), he will not be chosen and another (randomly selected) will take his place. Prospective successors can also decline, but the outgoing Council may use its votes on the issue; three yes-votes voids the prospect's attempt to decline his/her new responsibility.

Society: Eliarin have a somewhat wide personal space when dealing with other races, and tend to be slightly wary but not aggressive -- more so of humans than of other races. They stick to their own. Within their own society the Eliarin tend to be welcoming and even nurturing. Very little preference is given to genetically related persons; there is little idea of the family unit, though Eliarin of the same caste and religion naturally tend to gather together. Few if any gender taboos or biases are found, though the fact that one male and one female from each caste are required by law in the leadership process suggests that slight tension might exist.
   Eliarin interactions with other races are characterised by an odd amalgam of humility (when they remember the Failure) and arrogance (when they don't). (See Religion.) Taboos: Although most Eliarin nanodevices (see below) are EMP-shielded, EMP weapons and radio-frequency communication are taboo due to danger posed to early implant models. This taboo is fading as that generation of implants was several millenia ago. There is also a strong incest taboo (there are a couple of extreme religious sects which believe that incest leading to genetic degradation was the real retribution for the Failure. (See Religion and Biology.)
   The Eliarin have a nine-day week. Four fasting weeks (not complete abstinence from food, but rather from oral consumption; the usual IV nutrient is permitted) and three festival weeks exist in the Eliarin 28-week calendar; these are shared by most religions. Birthdays have little meaning to the Eliarin, since most of them are incubated artificially.
   Gifts are expected to be given at the beginning of festival weeks and at the end of fasting weeks. There is no social taboo against asking for a particular gift on a gift day -- but no social pressure on the recipient to provide that gift either. Gifts (usually art, or food, or a quantity of a nonessential model of nanodevice) are given more frequently than custom demands. When given a gift, one is expected to reciprocate eventually -- although there is no outward change in attitude, it is terribly rude to leave a gift-debt "unpaid". There is no problem with reciprocating with a gift of lesser cost. Other than on gift days (fasting/festival), gifts are supposed to be given in private. It is somewhat rude to announce that so-and-so gave you a gift, or that (even worse!) you are giving so-and-so a gift. Generally it is polite to reply, when you receive a gift, that you will have to repay the giver somehow. This provides an opportunity for the giver to drop hints about just what he/she wants. It is quite common for an Eliarin to give another a gift in order to secure something (by way of reciprocation) that the other can provide. Artisans get a LOT of stuff this way, and their quarters are invariably crowded with objets d'art. The down side is that the Artisans usually pass on the gifts they don't want! (Again, no taboo against doing so.) Generally, if you receive something you don't really need or want, it's polite to signal this by reciprocating with something that the giver did NOT ask or hint for, but which you think he/she needs or wants. Alien-produced (i.e. non-Eliarin) items are also popular gifts. This is one way in which Eliarin traders make a living -- trade with other races to get items, give them as gifts (very popular) to other Eliarin, then sell the gifts they get in return. This is the main reason why traders are considered a lower caste; they make material profit out of things given for (supposedly) emotional value. It is probable, however, that without the traders and the goods they bring, the gift-exchange system would be a pretty dull thing.

Religion: The Eliarin have a sense of racial guilt over what they call the Failure, an event analogous to Original Sin in the Human Judeo-Christian religion. Most Eliarin know nothing of what the Failure actually was, and even their leaders only know vaguely that the Eliarin were once supposed (according to their religion) to have controlled a massive empire, though it is not certain whether this encompassed merely a star cluster or half the galaxy. The Failure, according to that knowledge, is the Eliarin's beginning to treat the other sentient races within their empire as subsentient and inferior, and resulted in some kind of retribution that caused them to be scattered and their empire to fall. Even atheists among the Eliarin believe this, although they attribute the retribution to a simple but successful rebellion among the other races. (Bear in mind that only the leaders of the largest Enclaves would know this.) As can be expected, many Eliarin are somewhat apathetic about their religion, though they will gather for observances on days of fasts and/or festivals.
   Apart from the Failure, the Eliarin have several different religions, but all of these without exception believe that there was such an event and that all Eliarin share in the guilt. Only a few polytheistic religions exist; most are monotheistic in nature. The most popular of these, the Medaril (best translation: "Karmists"), believe that by simply living at peace with other races and doing no harm the Eliarin will eventually atone for the Failure and be given a tiny fraction of the supernatural power of the Creator (i.e. all-powerful being). The Medaril believe that each individual Eliarin's efforts towards peace, humility, etc., will hasten the coming of the Atonement.
   Each religion has its own hierarchy and system of governance. These are overlaid on top of the caste system; even a religious leader is expected to have a secular occupation and caste. The Medaril generally operate with a high priest, or Medar (the word roughly means "intercessor" or "mediator"), and several clerics per Enclave. In the smallest Enclaves, there are no clerics, and the Medar is often rather overworked.

Art & Culture: Eliarin art is mainly in the form of sculpture. These "sense sculptures" are sometimes merely virtual constructs rather than physical objects, though the objects are more valuable. The sense sculptures are designed so that an Eliarin can sweep his/her "avatar cloud," the cloud of nanomachines that usually is present around an Eliarin (see Technology), over the sculpture, providing input to all the senses: visual and I/R, obviously, as well as tactile (vibrations), and even taste and smell. Some forms of Eliarin modern art smell terrible, look even worse, and can be hot enough in places to cause second-degree burns in humans upon touch.
   Music is almost nonexistent. Paintings and woven tapestry, however, are common, and stained-glass (now stained-diamond, since nanomachines can easily construct large crystals of diamond) is enjoying a recent rise in popularity. A most peculiar feature of Eliarin stained-diamond art is that each piece of diamond has a different resonant frequency, creating a "sound-picture" within the overall work.
   Eliarin architecture is crystalline in nature and mostly resembles seashells -- perhaps a legacy of an ocean homeworld. They do borrow ideas from the architecture of other races, though.
   Eliarin also wear garments. These body coverings usually consist of a long full-body robe, with the lower part split like a pair of baggy culottes and trailing on the floor. A mantle and sometimes a hood also are part of their dress. Clothing is generally dull-coloured, and is offset (and accessorized) by turning on photo-emitters on the nanomachines in the avatar cloud. This creates a sparkling effect which can be quite stunning. Particularly vain Eliarin even have extra nano's for the express purpose of generating more sparkle. Eliarin ambassadors and some forward-thinking members of their society also wear the garments of other races when necessary (or, in the latter case, when they feel like it), although they look terrible almost to a fault when wearing these.