Hian Dao
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Hian Dao |
The Hian Dao are one of the most unusual terragens Clades. They are difficult to classify because their makeup includes cyborg, bioborg and nanoborg elements. Sophontologists have coined the term omniborgs to describe this fascinating species that combines the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms into a single class of organisms.
The Utopia Sphere has long been a haven for those fleeing from persecution or war. One such refugee was a biaioid named Hian, an indentured slave who escaped from the NoCoZo in 3101 a.t. Hian had been employed as a bio-engineer, and eir transavant ability in that area aided in the creation of several new types of exotic pets, custom garden plants and presapient hedonic lifeforms. After coming to the Bracelet of Beta Arae e decided to use eir skills for a more noble purpose. Hian worked with the agents of the local transapient caretaker to create working ecosystems for the partial dysons of the Bracelet. Hian soon became an invaluable member of the design team and, with the aid and blessing of the local AI, ascended to the First Toposophic in 3364 a.t.
It wasn't long after eir transcension
before Hian began improving on eir own body.
The original animal parts that had been grafted onto eir
machine
substrate were upgraded, and plant components were added. The interplay of the
various parts and the
compromises necessary to make them work together inspired Hian to
develop a
philosophy of social, mechanical and biological unity.
When Hian ascended to the Second
Toposophic in 3900 a.t. e expanded the philosophy to include
oneness with
the environment. The
first edition of The Tenets
of Integration was published in 3905 a.t.
The philosophy was quickly accepted by sophonts all over
the Utopia
Sphere, and it remains a common memeset in utopist
space to the present
day.
By
the time the second edition of
Tenets was published in 4019 a.t.
Hian had retired from eir old work and was acting as a liaison between
SI:3
entities and sapients below SI:2.
This
work quickly became unfulfilling, however.
Hian missed the creative challenge of designing new
lifeforms and making
them integral parts of their intended environments.
In 4052 a.t. e retired from public life and
began a concentrated program of gathering material resources. In 4511 e acquired a small
partial dyson and
had emself incorporated into it (which involved ascension to the Third
Toposophic). Then,
for the first
time, Hian started designing sapient beings.
Eir concept was unlike any other lifeform in existence at
that time –
instead of being of any one substrate with additions from others Hian's
"children" would be equally animal, machine and plant.
E also intended that the Tenets of
Integration be the foundation of their society.
The first Hian Dao were hatched in 5678 a.t., and Hian
ascended to the Fourth
Toposophic just one year later.
By 7730 a.t. Hian Dao had become a common sight throughout the Utopia Sphere, but in the present day most of them still live on the Hian dyson (the name now refers equally to the habitat and the entity). Hian interferes in the lives of eir charges only when they cannot deal with the problem themselves without significant disruption to the social infrastructure or great loss of life. Because of this the Hian Dao are among the most intellectually dynamic residents of the Utopia Sphere.
The
basic Hian Dao body plan
consists of a spherical main body one meter in diameter supported by
four
insect-like walking legs with a 2.5-meter span.
There are eight meter-long manipulative tentacles spaced
evenly around
the circumference of the body (one pair between each pair of legs), and
each
tentacle has four thin tendrils that serve as fingers.
Four 0.25-meter eyestalks rise from the body,
one above each pair of handling tentacles, halfway between the body's
apex and
equator. Each eye
can act independently
or in concert with either of the adjacent eyes.
At the bottom of the body are three tubular 0.5-meter
tentacles that
contain the mouth, the excretory canal and the genitals. The eyestalks and all of
the tentacles can
retract completely into the body.
The
main body is a glossy light green color.
The legs, tentacles and eyestalks are a dark greenish-gray
and the eyes
are black. The body
and/or limbs may
bear spots, stripes or mottling that vary according to the individual's
geographic origin.
While all Hian Dao conform to this basic plan, there is considerable variation between individuals. Every Hian Dao customizes emself with bioware, cyberware and nanotech implants. Because of this it is difficult to predict what a given Hian Dao's capabilities will be. An unmodified individual has balance that is superior to that of most bipeds. The flexibility of the handling appendages affords great manual dexterity but limits lifting power. Hian Dao are also less agile than baseline hu. They are less adept at climbing (though they do well in microgravity) and can't really swim at all. Hian Dao have visual acuity, color vision and night vision equal to that of baselines. When not focusing two eyes on a specific task Hian Dao have 360° vision.
The
only other universal trait of
Hian Dao is their combined plant-animal-machine nature.
They do require water, air and fuel, but in
lesser quantities than most lifeforms of their body mass need. Photosynthesis supplements
their food intake. The
plant components give off oxygen to
supplement that taken in by the animal parts, and take in carbon
dioxide from
the animal parts in turn. Inborn
biomass
reactors process organic waste to produce power for the machine parts. The machine components in
turn store organic
fuel, oxygen and CO2 for the organic parts, and
blood flow conducts
excess heat away from the mechanisms.
The exoskeleton is chitin reinforced with organic steel
(high-carbon
steel with other trace elements, formulated by biological means). Penetrating the shell is
difficult, though
the being inside is rather delicate.
Hian
Dao biology is exceedingly
rugged in terms of being able to tolerate difficult environments. They can withstand
extremes of heat or cold
that are fatal to baselines, survive unprotected in space for several
minutes –
longer if somehow kept warm – or survive without breathing
for up to half an
hour. Having
elements of both plant and
animal makes Hian Dao vulnerable to diseases and toxins that affect
both
kingdoms, and some of their machine parts are subject to
electromagnetic
pulses. The
unaugmented Hian Dao life
expectancy is about 300 years barring accident or incident. Their high tolerance for
biotech and
cybernetic implants, including those of a medical nature, often allows
them to
live for 1,200 years or more.
By far the most unusual feature of the Hian Dao is their reproduction; the species has four sexes. Likai produce animal sperm and ova. Mefasi produce plant pollen and seeds. Firaj produce nanotech seeds containing the blueprints for all machine components. Semle have complex wombs in which to combine the various gametes and educate the growing embryo via software downloads. Hian Dao of any two or three sexes can engage in recreational sex, but it takes a mating of all four to produce young. All pregnancies result in a single offspring. The egg that the child hatches from becomes the shell of its main body. Hian Dao reach sexual maturity at about age 100, at which time they have full conscious control over gamete production.
The Hian Dao employ a synthetic language of Hian’s design called Seiuan. As with the Hian Dao themselves the language combines elements from several sources. Seiuan has sonic, gestural, electromagnetic and pheromonal components. The admixture of different elements allows the communication of fine shades of meaning as well as transmitting a large volume of data very quickly. It is impossible for most other sophonts to communicate in Seiuan without modifications. The Hian Dao often use simplified variants of their language to communicate with other sophonts or in other situations that make it impractical to use the full version of the language. Such “pidgin Seiuan” uses only the component that the subject species mainly communicates with (sonic for plebhu, electromagnetic for vecs, pheromonal for plant provolves, etc.) or the component that works best in the current environment. Hian Dao find this mode of communication slow and inelegant, but they bow to necessity.
