Ash'lie

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Ash'lie


Four Letter Code	ASHL
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	Ash'lie IV
Encountered	USS Chernobyl
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	M to N
List of Named Ash'lies

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"We like to think of ourselves as a blank canvas, one that we can transform into a work of art."

said by Casiviasia Nurandiam Pronisias Elzizabath, a member of the ruling council to Federation Ambassador Savink in 2378.

"The lines, the color, simply a perfect combination of surreal and impressionist expression don't you think."

a Ash'lie expression.

The Ash'lie are a species that enjoy all forms of artistic expression. One could almost call them a race of artists that abhor violence and they have built and designed an artificial intelligence self-defense technology system that can and will protect them with out them having to be involved in any way.

Home System

Quadrant: Alpha
Location: Draco Sigma Sector (coordinates A24-0002-1300)
Proper Name: Ash'lie system
Stars: It orbits a class M (Red) star
Distance from Star: its orbit is approximately 66 million km
Companions: It is the 4th of the 7 planets in the system
Moons: It has 3 tiny moons and 1 large moon (this is the base for the drone production facility and the overall defense system control)

Home World

Proper Name: Ash'lie IV
Diameter: 13,733 km (8,583 miles)
Gravity: 1.10 standard gravity with a density of 5.6
Axial Tilt: 9.6% minor tilt with minor seasonal effects
Orbital Period: 377 days
Rotational Period: 25.2 hours
Classification: M
Surface Water: 41%
Atmosphere: a standard atmosphere with a pressure of about 1.08 earth normal, with nitrogen 72%, oxygen 23% and other gas 3%
Climate: Tropical zones cover most of the planets surface with the exception of high altitude regions and the small, mild polar regions. Ocean currents are warm, contributing to the heavy amount of precipitation across the entire surface. Seasonal changes are minor.
Terrain: Only a few mountain ranges, some large forests and jungles with numerous rolling plains.
Population: Maintained at 3 billion

History

Approximately around the time that they first learned to write about 11,600 years ago they also seemed to develop an interest in the arts in all of its forms. Literally thousands of statues, carvings, mosaics, plays, poems, songs, tapestries, musical instruments and even some paintings have been preserved from this period. In fact for about a thousand year period the arts seemed to flourish and consume the every waking efforts of a large majority of the population. Certain themes are also very noticeable, such as the use of mainly young women only for the first 700 years or so and then the slow inclusion of a male figure which comes to dominate the arts for about the last 300 years.

In all of their recorded history they have never fought a war among themselves, crime is almost unheard of and they have developed at a slow even pace. Following the age of the arts there was approximately a 1,800 year period where the arts seemed to slowly be replaced or more accurately joined by science, math, engineering and other forms of evolved thought and learning. This age of reasoning eventually came to an end with both the various different types of arts and the various different types of academic learning achieving equal importance in the day to day exsistance of the vast majority of the population.

Their current form of government was eventually established about 8,470 years ago. One of the first major achievements by this government was the establishment of the planetary environmental protection directives about 7,350 years ago. These established the directives that are still in effect today in regards to protecting the environment, ecology, plants and wildlife. Other than some minor adjustments and modifications made over the years due to technology changes or other factors these rules have basically stayed the same as they were when first agreed to after a 48 year debate.

At some point around 5,830 years ago scientists and other individuals started to notice how their population was starting to affect the planet around them causing many concerns about the viability of the environment and ecology and the very real possibility that they could negatively impact the very laws they had in place to protect their world. What followed was almost 300 years of debate as to how they should and could correct or prevent this from happening. In the end the solution that they agreed upon was the development of mandatory population control with a maximum of 3 billion being the number of individuals felt to be well within the safety zone to ensure no negative impact on the planet. Since their current population was over 5 billion a restriction of only once child per family was established until the correct number could be reached.

The next major achievement was the discovery and creation of the crystaline material that could be controlled and shaped as it grew to make all of their buildings, even their living structures. The additional ability to adjust the color of the material as it grows to create different startling visual affects both on the interior and exterior was also greeted with vast and universal enthusiasm by the majority of the population. Over the next 700 years almost 65% of all of their buildings were replaced by the crystaline ones and as they grew old all of the others were also replaced so that by about 3,940 years ago all of their buildings had been replaced and all new construction was only being done using the crystaline material.

They first developed space travel over 2,000 years ago but few ever went to the stars. Those that did traveled and observed from a distance the races and worlds around them. During this period they left satellites in orbit of any world that they found interesting, usually those that had some type of life forms on them.

It was because of these observations, that they discovered what to them was illogical behavior by those they considered to be technically intelligent species. All of them displayed violent, aggressive and savage behaviors and the subsequent debates among the representatives in their government and many of their intellectual leaders regarding those abhorrent species resulted in them adopting an isolationist attitude. While some of them they still traveled among the stars they would avoid contact with all other races.

Another result of these observations of other species was a centuries long series of debates regarding what they should do if any of them survived long enough to develop the technology that would allow them to visit the stars. Many of their leading intellectuals argued that the possibility was so slim as to not be worth worrying about, however the vast majority of the people were not willing to take that chance. This resulted in further debates. While the concept of war and violence was totally alien to them they had to accept the fact that other races could and would employ violent force against others. The result of these debates was the creation of a completely automated defense system. One that they have continually upgraded and expanded upon over time. They also removed all of the satellites that they had left to observe these other worlds and species.

It is only during the last 500 years or so that a small percentage of their population has left their own solar system in order to make contact with other species. As time goes by this number has been increasing but even now it is still very small.

In 2378 after almost 8 years of negotiations Federation Ambassador Savink was allowed to visit their world with a 6 man delegation. This visit lasted for just over 1 year and the end result was that while a state of peace was to be maintained between them, the Ash`lie requested that their rights to restrict contact with other species be respected. The only significant outcome was the agreement to share any and all medical technology, data and records equally between their two governments.

Government

They have a strangely effective government that consists of a council with 300 representatives. Each takes his turn to bring forward any new issues that need to be considered. They will then discuss it in a rational and sometimes spirited manner but these sessions never get out of hand or require any form of mediation or intervention. Only when every aspect of the issue has been discussed to the satisfaction of every member will they call for a vote. Majority rules.

Description

They are tall, slim and graceful and they are on average about 5'9" to 6'2" and weight between 140 lbs and 180 lbs. The males tend to be slightly taller than the females as well as being slightly heavier. For the most part they all seem to have alabaster to albino skin tones and pure white hair that many of them, males and females wear long. Over half of the population tend to dye their hair with just about every single color in the rainbow and then some. They will use any shade, color, hue, style or pattern and the choice is based on the artistic flair of the person involved.

Facial tattoos can range in size from tiny to large and are for the most part decorative and aesthetic to the eye. These are only ever found on one side of a persons face and neck. They may be found on the ears, cheek, forehead, near the eyes and on the neck. Other tattoos can be found on the arms, chest, legs, back, hands, feet and are all considered to be the personal artistic expression of the individual. All tend to be more decorative than anything else.

They prefer to wear sandals and pastel colored robes. They will also wear loose billowing shirts, body hugging vests with no sleeves and loose comfortable pants.

Physiology

As with most intelligent humanoid species they have a very complex system with specialized organs, and unique hormones, chemicals and enzymes. They are a very hardy species with very few ever suffering from various forms of illness and tend to be exceptionally healthy. This may be due to their vegetarian diet or the large amount of exercise they get on a daily basis.

Population Control

As part of a 300 year debate on how to prevent their growing population from negatively impacting on their planets environment and ecology a sub-discussion was established to consider other viable ways to deal with the ever escalating population growth. By mutual assent following a 117 year debate the people and their government decided that their world could safely support 3 billion people with out endangering any of the plants, animals or ecology. Since their population at the time was over 5 billion a restriction of only once child per family was established until the correct number could be reached. Also as a result of these discussions mandatory birth control would be implemented once the population had reached the agreed upon population of 3 billion. Population control has been a part of their every day life for more than 5,000 years.

Psychology

They are curious, friendly and tend to be shy around strangers. Among themselves they are energetic, relaxed and generally happy. No known form of mental illness has ever been recorded among their people. It should be noted that while they are concerned for and care about the well being of all living things they also realize the limitations of their ability to assist them. As such the safety of their world and its people, plants and wildlife take top priority with them. Many of them tend to project a air of superiority when dealing with other species but this seems to be more a result of their disdain of violence than a true feeling of superiority.

Pan-Sexual

Approximately 63% of their population do not recognize the distinction between male and female, rather they see only the person. Each person is a unique individual and should be accepted as such. For many of them this belief also affects their choice of partners and mating activities.

Religion

They have no true religion other than a deep love of nature, all of the arts and the world around them. In this respect they care for and nurture both the wildlife and the plants. Great effort and much time is spent on projects to protect and care for all forms of plant and wildlife. Another aspect of this is the thousands of gardens, waterfalls and other small niches of plant life that can be found within every single city and almost every single structure on the planet.

While not religious in nature, merely a respectful gesture the repeated use of the names Aoide, Arche, Melete, Mneme, Thelxinoe, Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania, Cephisso, Apollonis, Borysthenis, Hypate, Mese, Nete and Polymatheia in music, for places, items, art works, structures and for young women's names seems to be universal the whole planet over. The fact that all of these names belong to a collection of young women who according to myth were the ones who came from the stars to teach them to love, create and make various different types of art.

Mythology

From about 11,600 years ago when they first learned to write and were experiencing their first love of all the arts comes a wide range of poems, stories and plays that discuss the arrival of a number of young woman, beings that traveled from world to world teaching those they met about the various different arts. There are between a dozen and 2 dozen of these young women whose voices were the pure embodiment of musical sound, who could create impossible sounds of such harmonious beauty from various different devices, things that were musical instruments. They taught the people how to carve, sculpt, paint, design, weave, compose and make music. Life became a continuous search for artistic perfection. Everyone strove to create bigger and better works of art in order to please these young women.

Then one day the man arrived, tall, slim, athletic, with eyes of purest blue and short curly black hair. The young women from the stars bowed down to him, served him and did his bidding. They called him Apollo and he called them Aoide, Arche, Melete, Mneme, Thelxinoe, Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania, Cephisso, Apollonis, Borysthenis, Hypate, Mese, Nete and Polymatheia. He seemed to command fear in them and take great delight in ordering them around. He told them his brothers and sisters were displeased that the girls had wandered and he was here to bring them home. Then suddenly one day they were gone.

While the young women introduced them to the beauty and glory of all the various different types of arts they were never one of them. They observed, instructed and while never cruel, they were always definitely superior. When the man came things changed, the young women who had laughed, sang and been filled with love for all the arts became sad. The man was cruel, indifferent, demanding, forcing the people and the young women to do his bidding or else.

They are to be feared and avoided.

Society

They have a peaceful society geared towards harmony and love towards all living things. They spend their lives in search of an even greater understanding of their world around them and in the hopes of creating or participating in the wonder to be found in art, song and music.

Swimming

Almost every one of them learns to swim at about the same time as they learn to walk. This physical activity has long been one of the most popular forms of physical exercise and pools can be found just about everywhere.

Culture

Music of many types and instruments of all kinds are used by them for recreation. This will usually result in dancing and singing. They express themselves with many types of art and enjoy visual beauty, especially that which can be found in nature. This is also the only off world products they are interested in.

Coralis

It is an instrument that is faintly like the Earth saxophone but with one mouth piece connected to two sloping metal tubes, one longer and thinner than the other which is slightly thicker and each tube has its own keys.

Olarisia

This is their most popular form of performing art. Every major city has a couple dozen performance troupes. In many ways this large spectacle resembles a hybrid blend of Earth like ballet combined with circus de soile acrobatics and backed up by a symphony orchestra of 50 plus musicians and an audience participation that might resemble those individuals attending a performance of the Earth cult classic “Rocky Horror Picture Show” but without the audience wearing any silly costumes. As you might expect most performance groups have at least 100 performers and some of the bigger groups have close to 500 performers with each group having a 50% blend of musicians and dancers.

Customs

Many and varied. Most deal with some form of art expression.

Technology

They grow their buildings out of a pastel building material that resembles crystal. Most of their buildings are tall graceful towers. Some of the towers in their cities stand as tall as 1,000 meters. Travel between towers can be achieved in a couple of methods. First are the bridges. Almost every ten levels will have at least one bridge connecting it to another tower. These bridges are wide enough for two people to walk side by side or for two people to pass each other and have no railings. They can be as long as 100 meters and are usually semi- transparent. The other method is by using a one meter round floating platform that is activated and controlled by foot pressure on the surface of the platform. These devices are flat with no railings, about six inches thick and can travel very rapidly from ground level to the highest point in the city or from one end of the city to the other.

They have an extremely effective, none polluting, renewable energy source that can be built into incredibly small devices such as the flying platforms, weapons systems and even larger ones that provide power to each tower.

For transport craft they have many. All are sleek, graceful, fast and highly maneuverable. For space craft they now use what looks like a graceful yacht. It is usually powered by a majestic set of solar sails. However these can be rapidly retracted to allow for a much more rapid form of transport.

In comparison to Federation technology levels they are slightly more advanced in most medical fields and ecological technologies. In all others they have fallen behind even though at one point say 1,000 years ago they were much more advanced. This is mostly due to an almost non-existent research and development system.

They have absolutely no offensive or defensive technology and have established trade deals with various different species over the years for this kind of technology. Based on all available data they have no plans to change this policy. It is believed that all of the data and experimental work done with these kinds of technology are not even allowed on the planet surface. They seem to be restricted to the large moon in orbit of their world where all of the planetary defensive systems are designed, built, maintained and upgraded. The only exception to this rule is shield technology and in this regard they seem to be on a par with the Federation.

Economy

They are completely self sufficient and have no interest or need in any outside products or material. However their incredible love of all forms of art, artistic expression and music has sparked a limited form of trade. However they will only trade art for art. No other trade deals have been considered by them so far.

The only exception to this is the defensive and offensive technology that they use in their planetary defensive system. All of this tech has been traded for and they occasionally will trade for newer and more advanced weapons systems.

Military

While no member of their race would ever use a weapon for any reason they do have an extremely effective military defense system. This system consists of 3 primary systems or devices. All of these devices use a highly adaptive and intelligent form of artificial intelligence with a complex inter-communication system that closely resembles a hive mind. It operates completely independently of the people who created them.

All of these devices were constructed off world on the largest moon in orbit of the planet by a fully automated construction system that has its own artificial intelligence. This is also where the repair and maintenance facilities are. These are also fully automated and controlled by the same artificial intelligence that constructs the devices in the first place.

Planetary Protection

In space around their world are thousands of disk shaped vessels that seem to orbit the planet with out any reason. However if any hostile action is detected they will raise shields, power up weapons and move to attack and defend. They are extremely intelligent with a hive like artificial intelligence and are programmed to protect the the planet.

Their shields are very strong and use a rotating series of shield frequencies if needed. There are also automated repair systems on board designed to repair almost any damage while in use. Last of all the weapons systems are not designed to cause any physical damage. They are designed to overpower enemy shields and then to deliver an energy blast to the enemy vessel that will act like a EMP, disabling any and all computer systems. A new addition is a energy weapon that will destabilize almost all known warp drive systems.

These large planetary protection vessels are approximately 150 meters wide and taper from 3 meters tall all around the edges to 35 meters thick at the center. They can transport 3 sets of 3 weapon drones in docking ports found on the bottom and on the top of each vessel.

Planetary Defensive Protection

The medium sized defensive drones are about 70 feet wide and taper from 1 meter tall at the edge to 15 meters thick in the center. These devices are packed full of sensors, shield generators, electronic counter measures, communication blocking and transporter blocking technologies. There job when confronted by a hostile force is to prevent any alien vessels from communicating, scanning or transporting anything. They are also set up to interfere with almost all forms of computerized targeting systems making it almost impossible for any ship to establish a weapons lock with any target. They also have an on board automated repair system.

As with all the defensive systems they have an artificial intelligence and a hive mind. Unlike the larger ship like drones these vessels can enter the planets surface and unlike the smaller defensive drones they can operate in space.

Defensive Drone Protection

Built into the roof of every tower and major structure are holding tubes for the small weapons disks. Hidden in underground hangars are thousands of the larger disks just waiting to be activated. Added to that is the fact that any time an alien is allowed to set foot on the planet he has 3 disks assigned to him. However they are not for defense. They are to guard, detain and if necessary neutralize the visitor until they can be removed from their world. All of these devices are extremely intelligent with a hive like artificial intelligence.

In appearance they look more like a flattened beach ball being approximately 1 meter wide and half a meter thick in the center. Each device has its own shield generator and along the edge 3 different weapon emitters. Each uses slightly different technology in order to achieve the same effect, the safe neutralization of a hostile life form with out causing any lasting physical damage. These devices have a artificial intelligence and a hive mind. They will seek to protect the native population by placing themselves between them and the hostile alien and then to subdue the hostile by rendering them unconscious.

Starfleet Intelligence Files

Prior to 2243 there was extremely limited contact with this species, usually just a sighting of one of their vessels with no actually communication. Most of these sighting were recorded by Bajoran vessels, various freighter belonging to numerous species and the USS Chernobyl and USS Equinox. In fact it is one of the only records from the USS Equinox to survive totally intact prior to it vanishing from the Alpha Quadrant.

After this and leading up to 2362 there are a number of reported contacts with beings that might have been members of this species however the data gathered is inconclusive and extremely limited. Between 2362 and 2388 there has been a few reported sightings and a few members of this species have found jobs within the Federation with a couple even applying to join Starfleet.

In 2378 Federation Ambassador Savink was allowed to visit their world. The end result was that while a state of peace was to be maintained the Ash`lie requested that their rights to restrict contact with other species be respected.

A civilian nurse by the name of Gewel D'piere served on the USS Doyle-A before transferring to the USS Athena. She is one of only a handful of her species to leave her world and find employment within the Federation.

Ensign Torali Azivalora Poracin Elzizabath has been assigned to the USS Athena as a scientist. The Federation allowed her to join Starfleet in the hopes that it would be the first step in establishing a more formal contact with her species and while their has been communication it has not been as positive as they had hoped. Ensign Elzizabath's family has cut off all contact with her as a result of her joining Starfleet.


Civilian Lyna Namid

In 239208 the USS Darwin made contact with an Ash'lie civilian named Lyna Namid on Brut III while in the system on a mission related to the Prometheus Incident. She had been abducted from her home on Ash'lie and suffered despicable abused at the hands of her Sicarian captors. They had intended to use her to gain knowledge about Ash'lie technology but their plans began to fall apart after their small ship crashed and Starfleet responded to their distress beacon.

At first communication was problematic due to the limited knowledge available in regards to her species and this made it a unique situation. Lyna was slow to trust, having started to develop a xenophobic attitude due to her experience with the Sicarians. The universal translator soon began to translate her ethereal native language allowing Starfleet officers to earn her trust and learn her story.

Player Notes

Most characters of this species, both PC and NPC will normally be in one or more of these fields, medicine, science, engineering or the arts. That does not mean you can not create a character that is something else. All species can produce individuals who defies the cultural and typical norms for their species.
In game play the Ash'lie species should adopt certain aspects of non-violence such as acting like a Conscientious Objector, a term that can mean individuals who will not take part in violence of any kind due to religious or cultural beliefs that prevent such actions. Quakers in American history served in the military as combat medics with distinction but never fought. This is the grounds under which the character Ensign Torali Azivalora Poracin Elzizabath enlisted in Starfleet.

Sources

This is an original Starbase 118 species created by Cmdr. Tal Tel-ar. I used my oldest daughter as my inspiration. This species is dedicated to her.
Modifications to this page were done in order to explain the fact that a number of PC, NPC and PNPC characters have been created and used within the Starbase 118 community.
Data used from the following sims, Interesting Conversation [[1]],Ensign Torali Elzizabath meets a Betazoid [[2]]
Moved to Restricted Section per Captains Council resolution CC2394-05 passed April 2017.


	SPECIES PROFILE UPDATED This profile was revised by the Species Development Committee.	REV 239509.05
	Please add any new information discovered during the course of a mission or shore leave.
SB118-SDC