Physical Description

 The Acklid are massive 16 metra across 8 prehensile limbed arachnids each of which are tipped with an additional eight grasping fingers.  Their body is covered with fine sensory hairs that vary from black to brown in intricate patterns.  The four sexes are difficult to discern other than core body size:  Preppers have the smallest bodies, followed by the Impregnators, Ovamarm, and finally the Votives.

Like most Arachnids, the Acklid body is separated into two tagmata but has a separate, maneuverable head segment.  The head is dominated by six massive eyes and a gaping maw of a mouth with large grasping pincers.  The mouth itself is a great mass of prehensile fibers that crush and shred their food.  

Acklid reproduction is uncommon due to the sacrificial nature of the experience.  The act begins with a Preppers secreting the necessary hormones into the Impregnator, Ovamarm, and the Votive.  Once prepared, the Impregnator mates with the Ovamarm fertilizing the eggs that Prepper hormones caused her ovaries to release.  The female then lays the prepared eggs into a pouch in the Votive’s abdomen where the eggs will mature and then hatch.  The 20-30 hatchlings will then eat their way out of the Votive’s pouch and in olden times was a death sentence to the Votive.  Modern Acklid are able to save the Votive, but they still can only survive a maximum of three impregnations.  Votives therefore make up over half the population with near equal numbers of the remaining sexes.

Acklid have multiple redundant organs but due to having lived in zero-G for uncounted generations they are quite weak and cannot survive in high gravity environments for long.  Acklid are however able to survive for long durations in the vacuum so long as they carry hydrogen with them to breath.

History 

The Acklid are one of the oldest space-faring races, but prior to their contact with the Confederacy founding races little is known.  The Acklid are beyond secret about their origins with many believing that they might have been chased from their homeworld by the Vedekian War Machine, or that they destroyed it themselves.

What is known about the Acklid is that they are excellent miners and scavengers of spaceborne resources.  Upon first contact, they immediately began trade relations with the various races that met their vast flotillas of ships, most of which remain on the drift in asteroid fields, the rings of gas giants, or in cometary tails.

Due to their nomadic nature, and their lack of central government, despite having been in contact with the Confederacy worlds for more than two centuries, the Acklid did not join the UCSB until CD 112.  Acklid are often seen as the “cleaning crews” of space, picking through the wreckage left by space battles and working closely with post-battle forensic analysts.  However, they do have a penchant for stealing resources they find to be valuable and then selling them back to their owners.  Despite being a long-time member race of the Confederacy the Acklid have minimal involvement in the war, preferring to remain near the coreworlds and can rarely be found near the frontlines.

Culture

 Acklid culture is mostly recorded in song, the majority of which is regarded as somber by many who listen to it.  Hints as to their origins abound in older songs.  They are largely secretive as a race, but are curiously gregarious about things they find to be, “in the moment.”  They refuse to dwell on their past at all and while they have amazing memories they often act forgetful when they encounter someone they have met before.  Some believe this to be a negotiating tactics as virtually all interactions with Acklid trend towards being transactional.  These transactions need not be monetary in nature and the Acklid love to trade stories and news about the rest of the galaxy.

Major Religions/Philosophies

The Acklid never speak of their religion with outsiders, but it is known that they pray to the local stars and hold blackholes to be some of the most highly spiritual objects in existence.  

“Everything is for trade, from the stories in your mind, to the ship you call home.  Only the stars cannot be owned.”

Population

As of UCSB Census Date 1000:  15 billion across all flotillas.

Notables

Sub-Species

  No known sub-species despite the lack of interaction between the various Acklid flotillas which would otherwise lead to divergent evolution in most other species.