User:Canreb/Updated Race info

Description

The Andorian people are humanoid in appearance with white hair, blue skin and 3 to 4 inch antenna sticking up out of their heads. On the average they tend to be a very tall, slim race. They tend to be 1.7 to 2.1 meters tall. While obesity is not unknown among them, it is culturally condemed by the majority of them.

While their tall slim forms can seem to be frail and slight this is completely incorrect. They have very dense bone and muscle tissue that gives them incredible physical strength. In fact the average Andorian can easily lift twice their body weight with little effort.

Andorian Races

Their are technically 3 races and 1 sub-race among the Andorian. These are the Thallassan, Talish, Bish'ee and the sub-race of the Bish'ee who are called Aenar.

Thallassan

The Thallassan race are the most common and numerous of the Andorian races. They can be identified by their bumpy antenna that stick up from the top of their heads, but then curve forward so that the tips face forward. These tips tend to look like a flower because they flare out right at the tip around the opening.

Talish

The Talish race can be identified by their thin, smooth antenna that stick out from the tops of their foreheads and extend out forward with a slight bend in the antenna. The tip is smooth, does not flare out and ends with a small tiny opening that they use to hear and smell with.

Bish'ee

The antenna of the Bish'ee are straight, standing up from their heads about halfway between where they would be on a Talish or a Thallassan. They are smooth and end in an almost unnoticable flare right at the tip around the opening to the internal sensory organs.

Aenar

The Anear are technically a sub-race as they are closely related to the Bish'ee but they are also radically different from any of the other Andorian races. They are blind, albino cave dwellers that live in the far north in underground cities that exist under the polar cap. They were considered to be a myth for many years but since have been proven to exist. Still very few people have ever seen one as they are isolationists who value their carefully guarded privacy.

While they are considered to be a very secretive people it is considered fact that they are quiet, intelligent, peaceful and carry themselves with a kind of reserved dignity. They are also telepathic but are polite enough to ask for permission before they read someones mind. How they are able to get around with out being able to see is unknown. Just another one of the many mysteries that they either can't or won't explain about themselves.

Physiology

General Facts

Andorians can not tolerate chocolate, they tend to slip into shock fairly easily, even from relatively minor injuries. They prefer high levels of humidity, give off a sweet floral smell when exerciseing and turn purple when they blush due to embarrassment.

Among themselves a smile is convayed by a soft, liquid gaze. It is only because of their exposure to humans and other races to who facial expressions are the custom that they have learned to mimic and make a reserved kind of human like smile.

Andorians are neither nocturnal or diurnal and can function just as well at any time of the day or night. In fact they can easily survive on 3 to 4 hours of sleep during a standard 32 hour Andorian day.

While they have a normal skeleton like any other humanoid race they also have cartilage plates under their skin that act as a partial exoskeleton. This gives added protection to their vital organs, but it also provides addition strength to their muscles.

It is believed that because they can sense subtle variations in pitch and vibration that their speech is soft and sibilant. This is also believed to be partial due to their language originating from music and partially due to their hearing being different from other races.

As a culture most Andorians seem to have a great interest in music.

The Andorian race has a genetic tendency towards violent behaviour. The cause of this is a biochemical reaction to possible danger. The result is an increase in sensory input levels, enhanced analytical, reasoning skills and usually physical violence depending on the source of the danger.

Strangely enough Andorians have a greater ability to handle stress and pressure. In fact they usually get calmer, more focused in a crisis. That is until they finally allow themselves to resort to violence if the situation calls for it.

Skin Color

The remarkable blue color that everyone has come to associate with the Andorians is due to a protein dye called HZB-41 that is very similar to melanin in humans. This protein dye is produced by all most every form of animal life on their homeworld. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately the dye has a very short life span. Andorians need to constantly replace this protein. The most common method is through their diet.

The reason it might be considered fortunate to need to be constantly replaced is that when an Andorian becomes very sick his skin coloration tends to fade. This is because his immune system is fighting off the illness and can not produce enough dye to maintain their normal skin color.

Senses

Andorians have heightened senses. Their visual ability is astounding and well above that of what is considered as generally accepted levels for normal humans. They also have increased senses of smell and hearing thanks to their ability to recieve addition information with the use of their antenna. This information is usually superior to what they can recieve from their nose or ears.

Antenna

An Andorians antenna is more than just a sensory organ. They also use it to express emotions of all kinds. In fact their antenna are so important to them that touching them without permission is considered to be the ultimate act of rudeness and lets not forget that any threat of injury to their antenna is considered grounds for assault and murder.

Now while it is true that if they lose their antenna they will grow back in about 9 months, most Andorians prefer not to survive the loss. The loss of an antenna is very similar to being mute, deaf, castrated and mutilated all at the same time. It is because of this that most Andorians suffer from a deep and wide spread fear of antenna loss. Their is also the fact that while waiting for their antenna to regenerate that they are at a severe disadvantage.

Strangely enough their antenna are actually an extension of their sinus cavities and while they do increase both their sense of smell and hearing that is not all they do. They can also sense tiny variations in atmospheric pressure and temperature.

While Andorians do not seem to express much emotion useing the muscles in their faces, one can read a lot into an Andorians body language by watching their antenna. They easially convey such emotions as fear (by quivering), excitement (by standing rigid), confusion (by lashing about), rage (by pressing back against the skull), amusement (by the antenna faceing each other), interest (by curving towards object of interest), tiredness (by drooping) and sexual arousal (by slow writhing). In fact the most erotic caress or intimate kiss among Andorians involves the touching of the tips of their antenna together.

Reproduction

Andorians have 4 genders, 2 of which are technically male and 2 are technically female. These are called Thaan, Chan, Shen and Zhen. This can result in some confusion among outsiders. Sometimes it is difficult to tell what gender an Andorian is on sight. This is especially true as a chen can appear to be feminine and a shen can appear to be masculine.

• A Thaan has internal testes, retractable penis and produces sperm to fertilize the egg of a Shen.
• A Chan has internal testes, retractable penis and produces sperm to fertilize the egg of a Shen.
• A Shen has a retractable ovipositor which they use to transver the fetus from their uterus to the pouch of a Zhen. They also have a vagina, ovaries and uterus. They recieve the sperm, produce the egg which then develops into a embryo and then transfer it to the Zhen's pouch once it has developed enough to make the transfer safely.
• A Zhen has a vagina which is only useable for pleasure, not reproduction. They also have 4 teats on their lower abdomen and the ability to produce a pouch that is used to house the transfered embryo while it grows.

In order for Andorians to produce a child it takes 1 of each gender. They each have a specific role to play. This starts with the Thaan fertilizing the Shen's egg. Then the Chan has to fetilize it next. The reason for this is that the 2 males, the Thaan and the Chen each have 1/4 of the nessassary genetic material needed to create a child. The Shen has the other half with in her egg.

Once the egg has developed into a fetus it has to be transfered to the Zhen. This is because only the Zhen can nurse the young. When the Shen becomes pregnant special glands along the Zhen's spine become active. They will secrete a membrane that forms a pouch around the lower torso. At this time the 4 teats on the Zhen's lower abdomen will start to form milk. Unlike humans these do not result in rounded breasts. The inner lineing of the pouch produces a thick gel that will protect the baby while it nurses until it is mature enough to survive outside of the pouch.

Once the baby has emerged from the pouch the Zhen will come out of protective seclusion. Her pouch will dry up and flake away. The other 3 bondmates will then assist by rubbing her with oils and help to peel off the remains of the now useless pouch.

Due to the fact that Andorian fertility periods have been slowly getting shorter they will try to concieve as many children as possible during this period and since fewer viable children have been born the Andorians have been forced to arrange bondings among genetically compatible members of their society. This has replaced allowing the young people to pick their bondmates.

As with most humanoid races most Andorians will experiment with sex at puberty. Since their fertility period is so short it is impossible to produce offspring before or after this time. If they are found genetically acceptable they will generally be bonded by the age of 23.

Little known facts

Once a bonding has occured between a compatable set of 4 only the clan's ruling Zhavey (oldest zhen) can give permission for one of them to be released from their bond. In rare cases bondmates can ask the elder to invoke the Whole Vessel Law to evict a bondmate from the bond. This is an extreme act as all 4 Andorians will suffer but not nearly as much as the one evicted. They will suffer the most psychologically from being alone.

While this is hard for outsiders to understand a bond is whole even if the members are far apart pursueing their own lives and careers. When one of the members of a bond is lost due to death or removal from the bond they will seek to try and replace that individual as fast as possible. In fact once the fertility period is over and the children have been raised it is not uncommon for bondmates to move away and pursue lives and careers that may result in their being totally secluded from the other members of their bond for years at a time.

While sexual union outside of the bond is frowned upon it is also understood that young adults will experiment. However once the bond has become formalized it is generally uncommon.

A nurseing zhen is called a zhavey and will go into seclusion for the safety of her child while it is growing within her pouch. During this time she will wear a modesty drape over her pouch. She will also have a purplish pigmentation on her neck that will identify her as a nurseing mother. This is usually still visable once she comes out of seclusion.

Most babies are fed mashed xixu fronds (a marine plant) once they have started to be weaned off of zhiassa which is the milk produced by a nurseing zhen who is also called a zhavey while nurseing.

As a race and a culture the Andorians can not stand disabilities among their people. Some even say that imperfect infants may be exposed to the environment.

Saf

This is a aphrodisiac and psychoactive chemical that is refined from a native Andorian plant. It does not replicate well and only grows successfully on their native homeworld of Andoria. It is used by Andorians during sex as it provides a number of benefits when it comes to pleasure and sexual function. Normally only sanctuary priests and priestesses are allowed to dispense it to bonded groups. It is generally only available by medical prescription.

It is illegal to possess Saf offworld and can be fatal to some non-Andorians. It has been used by some as a recreational drug and is still available on the black market. In fact the Cardassians were known to use it during the Bajoran Occupation.

Declineing Population

With the decline in population the Andorian Science Institute has been hard at work exploreing possible solutions to this problem.

The most promising form of research has been into altering the Andorian chromosome #17. It is believed that by altering this chromosome they could increase the length of fertility considerably, thus increasing the number of years during which conception would be possible.

Another area of research is into the possability of altering the way the gametes divide in the body. If successful, this would make both the Thaan and the Chan fully functional males with viable sperm. The long term implications for them as a race would be the elimination of the need for paired quads as their would eventually only be 2 sex's.

However this research has produced great controversy within the Andorian society. It goes against all their customs and traditions. Many Andorians are outraged by this research and feel that any and all work into altering the 4 sex's should be stopped and destroyed.

Psychology

The Andorian people are a complex and often puzzleing race for others to try and understand. One reason is that most non-Andorians think that they are humorless and irritable. This is not true. They have a unique form of humor that most other races find almost impossible to understand. They also have trouble understanding the humor of other races.

As for being irritable this may be because they have a strong cultural taboo against frivolity or any activity that that may be a waste of time. They are very serious and hard working and tend to avoid activities that others enjoy. Since they tend to avoid all most all recreational activites or social gatherings this has resulted in many thinking they are unsociable or snobbish. Another aspect of this problem is that they do not take part in small talk. All conversations tend to be very business like.

While this is not true it is true that they almost never create strong personal friendships with anyone who is not bonded with them. This is due to their cultural concept of the whole that can only be achieved by bonding with the other 3 members of their bondgroup.

They also have a long history of conflict. While it is true that they do not tend to enter into combat without a good reason, when they do they fight they can attack quickly, fighting with extreme skill and savagery. However they prefer to take their time, thinking out all the pros and cons of a strategy if the battle permits. It is becouse of their strong martial spirit, personal honor and strong sense of duty that they tend to make excellent military officers.

Another aspect of their nature that has and probally will continue to cause them problems with other races is their concept of privacy. They do not use doors and tend to have communal sleeping and living areas. For them privacy is a personel thing. They avoid seeing or hearing anything that happens within someone else's personel space. For them to listen in or observe something of a personal nature would be considered incredible rude and culturally unacceptable.