The Hyraians
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The HyraiansAn extinct alien race that produced human-like wall paintings |
Several species of sentient aliens are known to exist in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, and many more species have become extinct; but none resemble humanity very closely. This is a little surprising, as the humanoid bodyplan is relatively useful for an intelligent creature. However the erect biped bodyplan is quite rare, and the evolution of intelligence does not require this form to evolve before sentience emerges. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that some humanoid species exist in our galaxy or in others nearby, or have done so in the past. But no evidence of such species has yet been found. The extinct Hyraian race was initially thought to be the first such race discovered.
In
AT 9225 a newly discovered system in the Carina Rush region was found
to have evidence of a previous
sophont race. The main attraction was the wall paintings, which
appeared
to
depict terragen-like humanoids. What's more, the planet itself had an
atmosphere breathable even to ordinary baselines. Progenitists
all across the Terragen Sphere offered this as proof humans were
themselves
provolved from a more ancient race. Many archaeologists believed it to
be a
hoax, but for the next dozen or so years, the progenitist theories
gained more
widespread acceptance than ever before.
The paintings depicted beings with two arms, two legs, and a heavily
rounded
triangular head with three circles, two small ones on top and a larger
one on
the bottom, in a pattern reminiscent of a human face. Rather than being
attached to a single stick, the limbs seemed to radiate from a point
just beneath the head. The 'legs' were longer than
the
arms, and pointed at a more downward angle.
In 9238 AT, a preserved Hyraian exoskeleton was found in an especially
arid
cave, having been preserved by the salt deposits. Since there were
paintings on
the side of the cave, and no evidence of animal domestication thus far,
there
was no doubt that these were the remains of a Hyraian. It was decidedly
not humanoid. Rather the creature was a land-adapted jellyfish-like
creature, similar to an Earth cnidarian. The so-called 'legs' in the
pictures were actually
sharpened
tendrils, used presumably to lance the other in the mating process. The
'arms'
were unsharpened, and much shorter, and were eventually found to be
reproductive organs. The 'head' proved to
be a
fin-like stalk, growing out of the central body containing the
reproductive clusters and digestive organs.
Apparently, the Hyraians didn't even have the ability to see; the
paintings
originally were laced with pheromones, and weren't even on the visible
spectrum prior to oxidization. These paintings are
theorized to have evolved from the female's tendency to spray
pheromone-laced
fluid to mark her territory. (Although their genders are barely
recognizable by
terragen standards, it was found that the gender that produces the eggs
was also the gender that fought and attracted mates,
contrary
to many terragen species.) The fact that the sprays were in the shape
of a Hyraian
suggests that they had the ability to 'visualize' using their sense of
smell,
and may have had some grasp of abstract concepts.
The circles' patterns on the mating flaps remain a mystery; the leading
theory
is that they were the first semblance of a written language.
