Otlian

Basics:

Name: Otlian
Pronunciation: Ot-Lee-En
Homeworld: Ot
Political Affiliation: UCSB
Incorporation Date: 0.001
Government Type:
Parliamentary Republic
Genetic Class:
Carbon-Mammal-Homonid
Oxygen Gas Metabolizing
(Right Handed Amino-Acid)
Sensory Organs: AVOTG
Visual Spectrum: UW
Sexes/Reproduction:
2 (Male/Female)/Sexual
Gestation: 300 cycle
Litter Size: 1-2
Sexual Maturity: 16-17 annura
Life Span:
_____Male: 95 annura
_____Female: 105 annura
Ave. Height:
_____Male: 6.5 Metra
_____Female:6.3 Metra
Ave. Mass:
_____Male: 22 Kilobar
_____Female: 21 Kilobar

Physical Description:

Otlians are bipedal forward hinge kneed mammals evolved from tree dwelling simians. Otlians have two sets of arms, stacked one set atop the other in the upper torso region. The Otlian torso is described as separating into three portions, the lowest being the abdomen, the middle chest and the upper chest. The torso is roughly V-shaped with the upper chest expanding out far enough in relation to the mid-chest to allow the upper arms to hang past the lower arms without touching them. Otlian bodies are covered with a fine layer of thick bristly hair which varies by region, the hair thickening along their mains which extend from the top of their heads down their back to their buttocks. Otlian Males typically have thicker more bushy mains of a darker color then the rest of their body hair. Otlian Females are distinguished by having slightly small frames and two pairs of breasts on the middle and upper chest.

The Otlian head is sometimes described as goat like with a short furry horizontally hinged snout under a pair of midset forward set of eyes. Otlians have a small brow ridge above the eyes above which the head quickly slopes back. Twin nostrils run the length of the upper snout terminating into a dark skinned external nose. A pair of triangular ear flaps sprout from the top/sides of the head, and can become animated by strong emotion, older Otlians ear flaps routinely lay limp. The snout is
hinged to only open downward and has limited lateral movement, only enough for chewing with the snout closed.

Otlians have five digits on their feet and hands. The digits on Otlian feet are short but posses a good grasping ability, and in length are on average one quarter the length of their feet. The hand digits however are approximately half to the same length as their palms and are comprised of four primary fingers and a single opposable thumb mounted to the side of the hand at the base of the palm.

Genitals on the males are external, while females house their

reproductive organs internally. Otlian females typically have twenty six fertile cycles every standard year and release a mature egg for fertilization during each cycle.

Otlians are equipped with a single cardiovascular system, with a single heart and a pair of lungs. The Otlian esophagus however is filled with layers of membranes that act as filters for airborne particles and bacteria, something that developed when OT was still undergoing severe tectonic activity. The Otlian heart is similarly equipped with multiple layers of
internal filters to cleanse the blood of bacteria and virus. As such Otlians are unusually immune to airborne bacteria’s and illnesses however, should a respiratory illness take root Otlians have a hard time clearing their lungs of the fluid that build up.

History:

Early Otlian history is mostly filled with stories of survival. Evolved from tree dwellers the early Otlian were unprepared for the sudden striking of their planet by the massive debris field left in the wake of another world in their system’s destruction. The Donvarions attest that the destruction of Ot’s sister planet was carried out by an ancient race while it did war with another, but they refuse to give the name of either race.

For the millennia that immediately followed Ot would pass through the debris field once an orbit raining death and destruction on the primitive world. The face of Ot was forever changed as its crust shattered and was reformed once a year until finally enough of the debris had cleared to merely give Ot yearly fantastic meteor showers. The continental shifting reformed the continents of Ot into two major super continents. As life on Ot stabilized two major superpowers emerged taking control of each super continent and extending their influence out amongst the smaller sub continents and islands that littered
the oceans between the major land masses. Eventually, as technological progress made it possible to cross the vast oceans the two super powers came into contact with one another. Prior to this meeting the two empires had no idea that the other even existed and it wasn’t long before the ideological differences of the two groups brought on a centuries long cold war.

The Cold war was a boon to the Otlians technologically as both sides strove to advance beyond the other and to develop better and more devastating weapons of war. For the smaller nation states of the subcontinents and islands the centuries long cold war was marked with the rise and fall of puppet governments and brushfire wars used to prove the latest weapons of war.

Scientists on one of the larger equatorial islands, Cambain, had hoped that the advent of space travel, which they ushered into existence, would bring about an end to the conflict. It did not and instead promoted the use of space as the new war zone, and both super powers soon set out into their solar system to acquire mineral wealth and expand their power base. The first major planetary colony was not established by the super powers though, but by the island state of Cambain in the hopes that their colony would promote peace. For a time it did as they slowly made the small planet on the edge of their solar systems habitable band livable, crashing numerous ice asteroids into its surface and seeding the artificially fertilized land with genetically engineered plant life. As Smif became livable however the two super powers began to expand to it, establishing footholds to call their own.

The Otlains of Cambain could stand it no longer and remembering millennia old legends describing the Catranulian Slo-Ship set out in search of it. Cambain built a massive colony ship of their own and launched it into the stars towards where the legends said that the Catranulians had come from. They eventually found several of the Catranulians early colonies, many had not survived, but a few still thrived, but were still limited in their travels. They did describe to the Otlians however the path back to their old homeworld. The Otlains
aboard the slo-ship established colonies of their own, sometimes taking over the long abandoned Catranulian colonies, in other cases setting about making dead worlds livable, and still more settled on the thriving Catranulian colonies.

It wasn’t until a century later that the first Otlian Slo-Ship made contact with the newly formed Anulian Space Fleet (ASF). They learned that the ASF was the new space arm of the Anulian government and that they had discovered the use of the Slipstreams for faster sublight travel throughout the stars. The Cambaini Otlian’s pleaded with the ASF to help them bring about an end to the long cold war, the Otlians all knowing the
legends of the ancient Catranulians. The ASF eventually agreed and over the next century sent multiple diplomatic fleets into Otlian space and helped to bring about peace. However, each time a fleet returned home they would receive word that the peace had ended after they left, creating a growing sense of frustration.

Finally in 26 PCD the ASF PeaceKeeper fleet under Admiral Enerian Zithe arrived at Ot. The fleet was ten times the size of any previous fleet and immediately surrounded Ot taking up strategic bombardment orbits.

The Admrial called the leaders of two warring superpowers to his flagship to negotiate a final peace. After decles of unsuccessful negotiation the Admiral showed why the Anulians had become known as gunship diplomats. Picking a careful target he had two fleet destroyers open fire on two cities long since abandoned by each side and in that single bombardment leveled them. He then informed the two world leaders that they had two cycles to make a peace themselves, or the ASF would bring peace by destroying them. An end to hostilities was declared inside the time limit with the Cambian Government taking rule over the whole of Ot.

The Otlians quickly set back out into space peacefully, many Otlians joining the ASF as a measure of good faith. Tensions still existed on Ot but as time passed the Otlians learned that they had best work together to survive, and that was driven home when the Lodrans were attacked by the Vedekian. During the great Vedekian invasion the Otlians fought bravely alongside the other embattled races eventually helping to drive out the Vedekian hordes. The old racial and political tensions on Ot evaporated as they learned of the Vedekian and they turned their weapons of war on them, forging the race together in a way they had been before.

Otlians were amongst the first seven member worlds of the UCSB and have always been held in high regard because of their great fighting abilities. The Otlians tend to be the most hot headed in politics however, typically looking for military solutions to problems instead of more peaceful diplomatic routes.

Culture:

Otlian culture is a mixture of two major opposing viewpoints that for centuries brought them to the brink of near total war.

The Otlians have only been able to find common ground in looking outside themselves and finding threats that could endanger them all. One common thread runs through all the major Otlian cultures though and that is a fixation on the Catranulians and Anulians. The Catranulians were the first race to openly visit the Otlians and they left them with a message of peace through progress that has driven them ever since.

Tensions between Otlains of the two major super continents still arise from time to time, but will likely never reach the levels they once did. More and more since the formation of the UCSB many Otlians have begun to assimilate themselves into the Cambian philosophy that attempts to emulate Anulians and tends to put that race on a pedestal. Anulians have tried to suppress this but their history with the Otlians has made this difficult.

Major Relgions:

A true religion has never really formed on Ot. Instead the Otlians tend to take a more spiritual approach to the universe with no written dogma or doctrine. This makes the Otlian flexible when it comes to religious debates and discussion. Otlians believe that all things are connected to the universe as they are a part of it, and simply see the religions of other races as merely different ways of voicing that same belief. Otlians tend to be careful not to offend another’s religious beliefs and have even been known to defend religious monuments with more vigor then even those that worship there.

Philosophies:

Otlians tend to be fiercely independent and love to debate, but the debates can turn heated and it is not uncommon to watch an Otlian debate turn into a slugfest. Many view the Otlians to therefore be warlike, and while that is true to an extent it is false in that these shows of force and bravado come from a time when only the strong would survive and therefore breed. More and more the Otlains are trying to emulate the Anulians, the race that drove them to the stars and brought about peace on their world. Most Anulians try to discourage this wanting the Otlian to their own true way. Though the Otlian have grown a great deal as a people many fear that after the war with the Galactic Federation ends that they might succumb to a new dark age and wage war on themselves once again.

Population:

As of UCSB Census Date 1000: 18 billion including all colony worlds.

Notables:

Otlian are highly prized as ground combatants, their four arms allowing them to carry heavier loads and weapons. Otlians tend to prefer close in combat with melee weapons and given the opportunity they make excellent berserkers.

A growing sense of nationalism is coming to life on Ot with descendants of the two major super continents having increasing animosity towards one another. Some feel this is because of the length for which the UCSB-GF war has gone on, and others because of the outward physically similarity between Terrans and Anulians is breaking down earlier Otlian beliefs of the Anulians. Many experts are watching these developments closely hoping to find a way to diffuse them before one of the UCSB’s founding races falls into civil war.

Psionicism- Otlians have no records of Psionicism in their race prior to CD 265 and the numbers have been growing far slower in their race then in most other races. Most Otlian Psionics average at a level 4, with a few level seven or eight, as with other races the number of psionics grows with every generation.

Sub-Species:

The Otlian have no true sub-species, but there are noticeable variations in fur color depending from which super-continent the Otlian is descendent.