Cygnian

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Cygnian
Four Letter Code	CYGN
Federation Status	Member
Planet of Origin	Cygnet XIV
Encountered	NX-01 Enterprise
T/E Rating	variable
Current Tech Level	N
List of Named Cygnians
Full ILI Gallery • Permitted Species Gallery

The Cygnians are a strict matriarchal society from the Cygnet system, distinguished by their strange cat-like eyes and mouse-like tails.

Home System

The Cygnet system was a trinary star system, with three inhabitable planets.

Home World

The homeworld of the Cygnet species was the 14th planet, which orbited Cygnet-B, a K-class star.

Locations

There were several locations of note, such as the Gates of The Fortress Where The Innocents Sheltered, a memorial to the sacrifice of a warrior, located within the Forest of Devoted Sacrifice.

History

Prior to the advent of industrial age concrete and other building material, obsidian and magma were used to create walls and fortifications.

At one point, Cygnet was dominated by competing empires, including the Krellian and Secherlian Dynasties, before the consolidation of the clans.. Other dynasties included the Zalafid Dynasty, and the Ariadust Regencies.

The Ariadust Regency ended with the ascension of a Queen to the throne, after the sacrifice of Ceciri k'Ariadust, the second of her name., and that was the last dynasty before the planet became a set of republics.

Recent History

The Cygnians were first encountered by the Vulcans during their surveys and exploration of space, where their advanced civilization and dominating matriarchy was noted. First contact with United Earth Starfleet proved difficult, as the representative of the Cygnian people was unable to take the male Starfleet captain seriously - alternative female members of the crew were required to engage with the representative with negotiations for vessel repair, of which ended successfully.. However, by 2259, they were members of the Federation.

Cygnian respiratory diseases were a topic of interest to Federation medicine in the 23rd and 24th centuries.

As late as the 23rd century, Cygnet still had it's own currency - the gold piece.

Government

Until 2393, the Cygnetian government was dominated by the Cygnetian Council of Matriarchs, the upper body of the Assembly, which made the Assembly an illiberal democracy. . There was talk of a monarchy between 2393-2395, even notifying all offworld Cygnets, before finally settling on a new Assembly. Notably, most of the clans on the previous Council of Matriarchs were diminished severely, but the Council still retained a lot of it's power.

Description

The Cygnians are characterized by their cat-like eyes and mouse-like tail. Their hair colour ranges from violet to red, although some have black or brown hair. Generally, all Cygnians have slender limbs, somewhat shorter than typical humanoid species such as Humans.

Physiology

Cygnians have blue blood - due to the cobalt in their blood.

An incredibly small percentage of Cygnians possess psionic abilities. Magen, a female Cygnian, has been noted to use these abilties to detect an explosive device aboard a Starfleet vessel in 2269 - and later, would assist another Starfleet crew in clearing a Gorn minefield.. Cygnians often had a second, later, maturation at some point in the past, however, nowadays it was very rare, and often required the application of a banned chemical cocktail as of the early 2000s, due to the extremely high risks to the heart and mental issues it could cause

The final maturation often sharpened the cat like features, but was primarily mental, and was meant to awaken the telepathic abilities in those Cygnetians who didn't normally develop it.

Unlike many other species, Cygnian females could reproduce with either Cygnian females, or Cygnian males.. When you add in the fact that 78% of all births were female, female Cygnians dominated the split.

However, their cobalt based blood, and differing biochemistry meant that broadly, they could not naturally produce hybrids with other species.

Psychology

Strict in regards to their societal structure, female Cygnians raised with strict societal ideals struggle to see their male counterparts as equal. One of the great markers of a Cygnetian, is to cloak her information as something else to keep it within the circle of shared experiences, and often they would negotiate even the smallest thing as a game between friends.

Religion

Many Cygnetian females believed that their names revealed an inner mystery about themselves, and would become upset if called by it. It was often used by the few Cygnetians who left the home system to identify people without being overt about it.

The "Threefold Path" held that the stars were living Various greetings were used to signify what one did or believed if they were fellow believers

Mythology

Similar to the Anglo-Saxons of ancient Earth, legendary Cygnetian weaponry was often named, and contained it's own story different from it's wearer. One such weapon was the sword 'Peacewinner', a long sword made of steel-cobalt alloy..

Cygnetian legends included the 'The Guardian of Lark's Folly', a woman who died while seeking her vengeance. It led to the phrase 'sunk [yourself] into lava' as a way to express the dangers of taking a vengeance or something too far., another legend that was passed down from the distant past was a legend about a society that was so out of touch of current ethics that they were buried and killed by being buried under a lava flow from a volcano by one of the ancient Empresses of Cygnet.

Society

In recent years, some members of the Cygnian species have begun to express their discontent in living under such circumstances of inequality within their strict matriarchal society, embarrassed at how far behind their people are in comparison to places such as the Federation, as their planet is dominated by the female gender. However, overall, the Cygnians were very traditional and rarely left the home system . In 2393, there were only about 100 of them that were known to have left.

Several republics also practiced a culture of deliberately obscuring information as a way to prove you needed to be there.

As the society was almost dominated by the female gender, some traditional Cygnian gowns could not be worn in any standard Federation ball.

Culture

Honor and dishonor were said to follow from mother-to-daughter, and for traditionalists, being removed from their clan was considered the ultimate sanction, as it was tantamount to exile. Usually, such notices were public, and were voted on by the lower body of the Assembly. This sanction, by the 24th century, was rarely used since one of the reasons to belong to a large clan was for them to adopt the daughter to mask the birth-mother, and protect the honor of the clan and daughter. To reinforce this, traditional daughters (who would sometimes refer to themselves as 'daughters of Cygnet') were taught to be a readied sword in defense of what they were sworn to protect.

Often, when buildings and places were damaged in battle, or as a disaster, they would be repaired with gold or other precious bright metals and gems as a way to honor the event, similar to a Terran cultural practice called kintsugi. In many cases, titles would be given as legacies for daughters with the similar names in a way to honor the legacy, and to encourage similar virtues.

Names were always rephrased in the most modern language, as a way of keeping them alive, although in some cases, the older names were preferred as they sounded more poetic.

It was entirely possible for someone to be kicked out of their clan, and when that happened, it was common for family members to never mention the old relationship, falling back to business relationships.

Foods that were bitter and spicy were popular on the planet, such as Tyrna juice and Cygnian hot spice stew

Modern Cygnetian architecture tended towards the round house with one or more underground floors for habitation, with blue or green tiles for most houses, with skyscrapers having art or historical figures on their facing. A facet of Cygnetian culture meant that no advertisements of any kind were allowed for products in outdoor spaces, across their homeworld and colonies.

Customs

Cygnian children's surnames varied greatly, depending on if they were part of the major clans, or part of a smaller clan, or part of no clan at all. The latter generally receive their surname from their mother traditionally, though not every family chooses to do this. However, members of a major clan all had the surname from the clan name, although the prefix k' would be added to the name to designate it was a cadet branch over a main line.

Traditional daughters often had a lot of titles, mostly ceremonial, bestowed upon them.

Traditional weddings involved the spouses deciding on their roles in the wedding, and both would wear blue, with white reserved for funerals. One important part was that no traditional wedding vow included serve, since it would imply one spouse was under the other.

Technology

The repair stations and starbases of Cygnet XIV were considered as some of the best facilities for starship repair in the late 22nd and 23rd century - as such, they were often tasked with maintenance or repair of Starfleet vessels from the moment of first contact with Starfleet. The main station in Cygnet, Elenia, was known to store several biological experiments from the Dominion War as late as 2395.

Starfleet Intelligence Files

In 2392, the revelation of the coverup of a bio-attack on Cygnet stirred up unrest, eventually leading to the tensions boiling over against the government.. While it wasn't spread, it is now known that the biovirus that was planned to be used on Cygnet was a very efficient Dominion War biological weapon created by Starfleet in 2373

In 2392, the USS Veritas and USS Montreal were attacked by small Cygnian attack vessels, stolen by a now-defunct pirate group known as the Hisaal.