Denizens

An introduction to some of the types and species “out there” and to some of the individuals of those worlds and places that you’ll meet in the two-volume epic science fiction, A Gathering of Rebels.

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There are two sections here, the first being the cast of characters (dramatis personae), and, below that an introduction to some of the species.

Dramatis Personae

In Order of Appearance

(PRINCIPLE PRIMARY CHARACTERS names are capitalized, bolded, and underlined. PRIMARY CHARACTERS are capitalized and bolded. Secondary character names are bolded. Tertiary and incidental characters are unbolded.)

Lean Belamy, Omniversal High Fleet Director, a civilian, and a Cadre leader. Of the Tellurian species and one of two human-like characters to appear in the book.
Quiloc, an member of the Omniversal High Council and first family of his kind; a Cadre leader. A Verdajen Xentaurian in species, but his house, the Q Dynasty, represents both the Nadejan and Verdajen species of Xentauri.
PRYR, a high commander in the Omniversal High Fleet, he is ranked Megarchon of the Kathon specialty. He is a Cadre leader and Draconian in species.
Lurad, a civilian strategist, of the Yulandan species. He is a Cadre leader.
The BEN-DROM, one of the very top ranking officers in the Omniversal High Fleet, he is a Regulus commander, similar to a five-star general in US military forces, but regulus commanders rule Fleet. The Ben-Drom is also heir to leadership of the Altan Andromedan Empire.
The Zharkahn K’har, ruler of the Altan Andromedan Empire. (He becomes an important secondary character in Part III)
SITAD, one of the Ben-Drom’s entire Syrene significants. (Sitad becomes an primary character in Parts II and III.)
KA, the Ben-Drom’s bodyguard and companion. Blackblood Ceoheician in species.
The Sier, an out-cosmos entity that ‘belongs’ to the Ben-Drom.
Matac, a Nadejan Xentauri who is High Fleet Special Ops. She is a Cadre member.
The minor, a young, entire Syrene of a sub-species coveted by both Quiloc and the Ben-Drom.
Riloc, a civilian cad, playboy, gambler, and ne’er-do-well, he is the typical spoiled rich kid Xentaurian. He is Quiloc’s youngest son, a half brother to Quroc (see below).
Greroc, a Xentauri, friend of Riloc.
Caspin, a Dgorian who intercedes on Matac’s behalf.
Kiel, Leon Belamy’s civilian secretary. He is a member of the species Hysa.
Che’ert, a Vischurian Silver skilled at infiltration, she is a Cadre member under Matac’s perview, and ex- High Fleet Special Ops. She is Modoc’s working partner.
Modoc, a Xentaurian, a Cadre member under Matac’s perview, and ex- High Fleet Special Ops. Che’eert is his working partner.
QUROC, a member of the HIgh Fleet machon elite, he is newly ranked kathon megarchon in Fleet. Quroc is Xentauri and is High Counsel Quiloc’s first son and heir.
Harg, High Consul Quiloc’s bodyguard. Of the mercenary Hellenite species.
Surac, Quroc’s identical twin sister. First daughter of Quiloc and a hunting queen, she is, of course, Xentaurian.
Quiroc, Suroc’s genius son, also Xentaurian.
Frigog, Rajan and Kahn’s (see immediately below) commanding officer at their present assignment. Frigog is of the Grundian species.
RAJAN, a Ghirran, is a mach elite fighter pilot loyal to the Ben-Drom, but also a member of the Cadre.
Kahn, Rajan’s best friend and wing-mate, is an Altan Andromedan and related to both the Zharkahn K’har and the Ben-Drom. He is loyal to High Andromeda and, therefore, to the Ben-Drom. He is a Cadre member, as well.
Gor, ex-Special Ops, he is Draconian and a High Fleet tachon commander loyal to the Ben-Drom. He is a member of the Cadre.
Celac, Quroc’s ‘legal’ (lawyer), hired by Quiloc. She is a Q Dynasty Xentauri.
Virnoc, Celac’s lead investigator, another Q Dynasty Xentauri.
Jaeger, a Tellurian, is one of Rajan’s friends. Jaeger is a member of the High Fleet of mid-ranking in the tachon specialty and another Ben-Drom loyalist.
Erana, another of the Ben-Drom’s entire Syrene significants.
The High Fleet Legal for the Prosecution, a Regellian, and the four members of the Peer Review Board, a Dgorian, a Medagian, a Xentauri, and, though not mentioned, a Capsican.
Cree, Pryr’s pet dragonette.
Forlir, a member of the High Fleet machon, a flight commander, she is a crossbred, born of a Tellurian and Whiteblood Ceoheician mating. She is a member of the Cadre.
Izfen, a member of the High Fleet machon, she is a Ketadian gnomorachnid.
Diyall, a Megan Segundus, she is Quroc’s Battle One head kathon. She is of the carapaced species called Rhee.
Tyb-ra, a machon who flies Motin’s Fleet. She is an Eotadian saurischian.

The Ilk and Kind, a General Overview

The denizens of A Gathering of Rebels.

IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

THE HOY & THE NETTITES

The first ‘aliens’ you hear of are the Hoy and the Nettites. Since both are now extinct, there’s no point in examining their kind and cultures.

DRACONIANS

The first species you ‘see’ is a yellow-eyed creature who someone calls “Commander Pryr,” and who has a small, winged creature that “rides his shoulder ridge.” This is Pryr, a main character in the book. Pryr is a Draconian.

Draconians stand extremely upright, have a ridged, reinforced endoskeleton covered by opalescent, closely and finely scaled skin, fine, sharp, moderately-sized needle-like teeth that more resemble striata, but, are, in fact, extremely strong and rigid, an extension of their endoskeletal system. They have pointed, conical claws tipping their dactyls. In vocalizing Omniversal, they enunciate well and clearly, though their vocalizations have a rather sinuous-sounding whine to them. Their double-lidded eyes show no sclerae and shimmer like diamond jewels. That shimmer can become active and hypnotic, an ancient survival trait that would mesmerize intended prey into immobility. They continue to employ this trait to advantage in influencing outcomes. Highly intelligent with a bent toward strategy, especially strategic advantage, Draconians have acute perceptions, speed, and agility, honed reflexes, high tensile strength, and have typical reptilian ‘hands’ and feet with strong — very strong — dactyls. They are tetrapods, having two arms and two legs. They have neight tail nor wings. They have tiny, almost imperceptible auricles on the sides of their heads and a diamond-shaped ridge between their brow-ridges that will sharpen correspondingly to their heightened state of vigilance when engaged, alert, angered, or aroused. They come in myriad scale-, eye-, and claw-colors, some with heightened crest embellishments, others not.

Draconians are 3-spacial entities who exist in normal 4D space-time continuum.

TELLURIANS

The second species you meet is a Tellurian, ‘Leon Belamy’.

Tellurians closely resemble Earth humans. They are naked-skinned with no fur, scales, feathers, and only a sparse, almost invisible coating of hair except for that which graces their pubic region and their scalps. Their eyes have lids, white sclerae, and colored irises surrounding black pupils. They come in a variety of skin-, hair-, and eye-colors.

Tellurians, originating from Universe Mu, are 3-spacial entities who exist in normal 4D space-time continuum.

XENTAURIANS (XENTIS) (Verdajen, Nadejan)

A sentient felidae species and so very cat-like in structure, nature, and looks, Xentaurians (often called Xentis) have two distinct species originating from two distinct sister planets in their origin system — the Verdajan and the lesser-known, wilder variety, the Nadejan. Tetrapods, they move well both as bipeds and quadrupeds, the latter employed when their is a need for extreme speed. Furred, they come in numerous colors, their fur color correspondent to their skin beneath. Some have no discernable coat pattern; others have an almost indiscernable coat pattern; yet others have varied striped, spotted, or striped and spotted coat patterns. The fur can be long, medium, or short. Eye color is broad, with no discernable sclera. Pupils become slits when constricted, but will dilate to varying degrees all the way to full, large, and round. Their eyes do reflect light because of the presence of tapetum lucidum, making their eyes glow when light strikes them in the dark (eye shine). Their ears come in varying lengths and shapes, from narrow to broad, from rounded to pointed, some tufted, some not. Xentis are clawed, those claws able to extend and retract. They have six digits upon each hand and foot, two of which are opposable thumbs, one to each side of the other four digits, though the thumbs on the hind feet are often reduced, sometimes to only vestigial remnants, especially in the Verdajen varieties. Verdaje and Nadeja species can interbreed and do so occasionally.

Xentaurians, members of Universe Xi, are primarily 3-spacial entities who exist in normal 4D space-time continuum, but some, a very few, Nadejans can move into non-temporal awareness and cross into inter- and, it is suspected, outer-dimensional space.

YULANDAN

Yulandans (or, perhaps, more properly, the Yulandan) look like a giant amorphous blob — think amoeba-like, comprised of immumerable other identical amoeba-like units. They are a social race. It is what makes them good strategists. They understand systems composed of multiples and the interaction between those multiples because they are a multiple. Though there are numerous Yulandan scattered throughout the general populations, the question of whether they are distinct individuals or simply pieces of the same biological entity isn’t known. It is suspected that they are both.

Yulandan(s) can remold themselves into almost any shape upon any non-corrosive surface, camouflage themselves, and encompass foreign matter inside themselves. They tend to use lifts to transport themselves, though they are self-mobile.

They are lambent, able to self-illuminate varied colors, colors which sometimes correspond to their vigor and their cognitive state, but which, at other times, are intentional communication or misdirection. They are highly adept at analysis and stratagem.

They are very self-preserving and don’t share knowledge about themselves, their skills, abilities, nature, and culture.

The Yulandan answer to a problem that won’t resolve is to purge that problem, and, if necessary, the entity/ies causing the problem, from the system. Since Yulandan isn’t a single, but a combination of many, their solutions reflect that state. If one part begins to cause the organism to fail, it voluntarily removes itself, which kills it, or, if it has failed completely, others do expunge it, kindly and painlessly.

Yulandan(s) seem to be 3-spacial creatures existing in normal 4D space-time continuum, but no one really knows enough to do more than observe and speculate.

ANDROMEDANS (Altan [High] and Low)

One of the oldest and technologically advanced species in the cosmos, both the Altan and the Low Andromedans originate from Planet Rhegar, ancient seat of Empire. Altan Andromedans are extremely reclusive and secretive by nature. Theirs is a society based upon a strict code of honor. The Low tend to be more socially inclined, but much less honor-bound. In fact, Low Andromedans are amoral, except among their own, considering all other species to be exploitable. Only the rule of Altan Andromeda stops them their plunder. Both cultures, which eschew contact with each other, are ruled by the Zharkahn, an elected-for-life ruler of Empire.

The Andromedan Empire is a wealthy and extensive realm populated by both the Low and Altan Andromedans along with myriad out-world species who voluntarily submit to the Zharkahn’s rule, though out-worlders have no voice or vote in the Zharkahn’s election. The Empire is known to extend throughout several galaxies within the Mu Universe as well as several galaxies in neighboring universes. Its exact bounds remains unknown. What is known is that it is always expanding with an active list of out-worlds continually petitioning for admittance, because the benefits of membership include protection from harm by one of the most devastating forces known in all the cosmos. The Andromedan defensive forces are both unimpeachable and unvanquished.

Andromedans are adamantine-based, metamorphing lifeforms with fully redundant systems in-built. From the pre-petrilarval, petrolarval, adolescent, and adult, phases, Andromedans present huge bodies capable of surviving extreme environments. They have an endo-, meso-, and exo- structural support system. This three-tiered support structure includes a venom-vesicled external armor-plating. Their anatomical joints resemble spherical cam joints and ball joints, all controlled by ‘stringing’. This allows them a full range of movement and flexibility, despite their anatomical rigidity and formidable mass and stature. Though capable of withstanding environmental extremes, they abhor heat, and an uncomfortable Andromedan is always to be avoided.

Quadrupedal during their adolescent and adult phases, Altan Andromedans have seven dactyls upon each ‘hand’, each tipped with semi-extruded talons, those talons able to be retracted and extruded to full scope. Instead of feet, they have ‘plantars’, again armed with talons and the infamous Andromedan heel-spike. Their ‘teeth’ are chisel-like, easily able to crush their rock and mineral nutrient sources. Their ‘eyes’ are chatoyant, their cranium double-hemisphered within which reside two of their independent cognitive systems.

Andromedans have extensive and excellent sensory apparati, including senses never evolved and developed by most other species in the cosmos. An example would be their nearing and farthing senses, a unique range-measuring tactile sense.

SYRENE

The natural habitat of and formative medium for Syrene, also called ‘star beings’, is stellar nebulae, especially those near the Edge — universal terminus. Comprised of stellar plasma, they are at home in galactic, intergalactic, and interstitial space, as well as most other matrices and environments. Young Syrene are called ‘minors’; fully grown Syrene are called ‘significants’; matured Syrene are called ‘elders’. That’s all I’m going to say about them, at least for the moment, because the Syrene are pivotal to the saga and I want readers to make their own discoveries and decisions about them.

CEOHEICIANS (Blackblood, Whiteblood)

There are two kinds of Ceohecians, the Whiteblood and the Blackblood Ceohecians, each a separate branch of their special evolution. Humanoid-looking, Ceoheicians come from a far-flung realm in a remote universe. Whitebloods have done their best to annihilate Blackblood Ceoheicians, but Blackbloods are still born from two Whiteblood parents. Such infants are usually taken to a volcanically active plain and left there to die. (Two Blackblood parents only spawn Blackblood get.) Those few Blackblood Ceoheician infants born of Whiteblood parents who survive and can be rescued to a protected colony are schooled in the warrior arts of their ancient ancestors, warrior arts which Whiteblood Ceoheicians eschrew and decry.

Ceoheicians have raisable crests that run from their brow ridges to peak over either side of their elven-like ears then run down to meld together at the nape of the neck. These rise and fall at will and/or according to their state of anxiety, anger, fear, arousal, or battle preparedness.

Whiteblood Ceoheicians are very white-skinned. Blackblood Ceoheicians are ‘pale’, having an odd, pewter-like, silvery-green patina to their skin. Whiteblood Ceoheicians literally have white blood; Blackbloods, black blood.

SIER

A unique entity alien to the cosmos that is companion to the Bed-Drom and Ka. The Sier is a precipitate of a greater entity comprised of multitudinous entities called Leumar.

There are many more species that appear in the A Gathering of Rebels, but this should give you a pretty solid foundation into the main types which appear in the epic.

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