Sya-Negan

Physical Characteristics

The Sya-Negan are a newly warp-capable silicon-/rubber-based species native to the planet 7AE38, known as Negan to the inhabitants. Sya-Negan literally translates as "Negan born", though it has come to mean "Children of Negan" in relation to the species and "Child of Negan" for an individual.

The non-humanoid species has smooth grey skin that is slightly cool to the touch, having a lower body temperature than most species. In some ways the main body resembles a Russian doll in shape, though the swivelling head functions more like a Terran Owl, having no obvious ears to speak of and overly large eyes that take up most of the face. The eyes are moist and normally look like smooth dark jewels, though the colours vary slightly with emotion for example when enraged a dark ruby may gain a brighter red glow in the centre. A common symptom of illness is when the eyes lose their moist shine. The mouth is only slightly wider than a human but shallow with no lips, the entire face combining to look cute or creepy.

An individual has six limbs around its circular body, three arm tentacles which split at the end to form two digits and three legs which work in a similar way to a crab's, though the ends split into three digits like the fingers. The legs and arms are equally spaced to allow access to areas all round, the head rotates fully to do the same. The Sya-Negan were originally tree-dwellers and prefer to make their way across cable-like bridges between dwellings, leading observers to believe they were Industrial by mistaking the bridges for messy power supply.

The senses of a Sya-Negan are extremely sharp compared to humans (especially touch) though it should be noted they have almost no sense of taste, presumably exchanged for the smell receptors in the mouth. Sound, touch and magnetic fields are felt by vibrations in the semi-rubbery limbs. Their home world's atmosphere is breathable, but a tinting effect in the upper atmosphere means that they live in constant twilight during the day, hence the sensitive eyes.

Social Characteristics

This species are generally amazing engineers due to high flexibly and sensing of magnetic fields, most individuals are capable of performing their own repairs and many dabble in large projects. However it seems that most prefer to build rather than pilot ships, meaning that although they have a high level of technology they have gone only done one spaceflight at warp. Their level of technology, however, was thought to be far below this, partly because the walkways were thought to be power cables. The main reason the observation was mistaken was that their concern for the environment combined with their engineering skill meant they had no period of mass energy consumption marking a conventional industrial phase.

The race is generally a peaceful, gentle and caring one, working to live ever more in harmony with the environment. One theory is that this is because of their third, non-sentient, gender, which are needed to give birth and care for children. The members of this third gender interact with the others like loved family pets, devoted loyalty from the non-sentient gender and loving affection from the others. It is hardly surprising that they are a democratic society, run by a council in their capital. However as settlements can be spread out the affairs of that area are normally governed by those who live there.

As a result of their gentle nature the military technology is, like many weapons of the FTU/Ithassa Region, designed to disable attackers rather than do damage. Energy beams and manipulating magnetic fields to divert missiles are common tactics. However most prefer to spend their efforts on comfort, pleasure and harmony, living quietly so that people will not bother them. Few want to leave their planet at all, however warp flight was a challenge.

They made an efficient warp engine that, like other warp drives, treated subspace as a sea, however instead of creating a wave to 'surf' on they used the principle of a 'Sea cat' on earth, gathering enough speed to lift out of the material and hence reduce resistance. The problem with this method is that they create a subspace ripple when they come out of warp, the equivalent of settling back into the water.

When the Sya-Negan made their first warp flight was made they discovered the USS Ronin testing fighters in the system's asteroid field, but when they dropped out of warp the sudden stop created a subspace ripple that scrambled the systems of the fighters and the Ronin. The crew of the USS Ronin made first contact, though the subspace ripple quickly drew the attention of other ships in the region.