El-Aurian

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

El-Aurian
Four Letter Code	ELAU
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	El-Auria
Encountered	Star Trek Generations
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N/A
List of Named El-Aurians
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El-Aurians are a long living, ancient race from the El-Auria planetary system located near the border of the Beta and Delta quadrants. Very little is know about their origins, however circumstances as to how they became a dispersed humanoid race is well documented by survivors. El-Auria, which is now well-within Borg space, was infiltrated by the Borg in 2265. The Borg invasion and assimilation of their system forced the surviving El-Aurian race to flee and disperse throughout the galaxy as displaced refugees and wandering nomads. Many, if not all, surviving El-Aurians have found their way into the Federation territories and soon into the ranks of Starfleet, although seldom, if ever, in positions of leadership as they usually prefer to operate quietly in support positions.

El-Aurians are natural lore-keepers, and use their phenomenal lifespans and memories to collect the stories and life experiences of various sentient beings. They preserve this knowledge for their own kind, and only occasionally share it with non-El-Aurians. El-Aurians are extraordinarily sensitive to disturbances in the space/time continuum, and will usually remember the original version of history if a change is made in time. It is unknown if El-Aurians possess any emphatic or telepathic abilities, but the generally-held theory is that most don't.

Physically indistinguishable from Terrans, El-Aurians are regarded as a race of 'listeners' with exceptional communication skills. They have a lifespan of several centuries and age very slowly - a 200 year old El-Aurian could easily pass as a youthful 30~40 year old Terran. As they age, elder El-Aurians appear very calm, collected and wise, utilizing their "Listening" tendencies and life experiences in advisory roles, usually for the benefit of others but sometimes just to amuse themselves. Genetically, El-Aurian genes and traits are dominant when breeding with other humanoids, however the passing-down of their trademark longevity and their ability to perceive space/time continuum disturbances remains unstudied and unverified.

The hippocampus (which stores memories) of the El-Aurian brain is extremely dense having about 10x the normal neural pathways allowing for greater storage of memory. Furthermore, it is linked to both sides of the brain with even stronger connections to their auditory senses. The extensive networking of neurons in the hippocampus are not present at birth but develop at puberty and continue to grow until the end of puberty.

El-Aurians are prone to eidetic memories ( about 60%) of their race. 58% of these eidetic memories do not develop until the onset of puberty. The way that humans can use scent to trigger memories, El-Aurians have a stronger trigger to recover memories with auditory stimulus. When they remember things they have a fuller and more robust mental image. On an unconscious level they can use these memories to relive life experiencing and derive ‘life lessons’ from them. This coupled with their longevity is the source of their species renown wisdom. It would also explain why they collect ‘stories’ from other species and value such lore. This ability is linked to their species ability to ‘listen’