So ponythread.
I have been giving some though to what the race of my kunai fleet should be, and after a very long wrestle with my conscionence, have decided to go with a pony-inspired concept.
Spoiler
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Anyone willing to brave the depths of my lengthy insanity is encouraged to comment, (and after the spoiler there are one or two things that merit discussion that relate to unicorns and don't require the reading of it for those with less time or inclination!)
Note: it sometimes takes me a couple of passes to pick up some of my mistakes, clarifications and so on (usually one from a cold reading at a later date), so bear that in mind, though I have at least spell-checked it this time! Once I sent something to one of Dad's work collegues, and he wasn't impressed, and nor was I when I went back through it! I'd made a pretty terrible mess of spelling and words (though to be fair, I'd been in a rush to get done, I'm normally not bad!)
The Jalyrkieons are an unusual race of quadrupeds with an innate telekinetic talent. They are located quite close to the Vivrathk Aggression, and the two races have a long history of conflict.
A Jalyrkieon has a body shape roughly comparable to a terrestrial equine. They stand about four feet tall at the withers , and weigh around 550-600lbs, being quite stockily built. They are not covered by a covering of hair, like a horse, but a thick skin, more like a hippopotamus. Hair is present in a ruff from the forehead down to the withers, and again in the tail, which, like an equines, is mostly vestigial made and composed of little else.
They can be varied in colour, from deep purple through to an ocean blue, with some ethnicities tending to green or turquoise. Eye and hair colour tends to be much more varied, though the former tends more towards “warm” shades and the latter to “cold.” Extremes like black or white hair are biologically impossible – the lack pigmentation due to age or the equivalent of albinism tends to be towards a muted blue-grey. (Though hair dye for those colours is not unheard of, but is as unusual as a human dyeing their hair blue or green.)
The most immediate obvious difference from a terrestrial equine is in the head, however. A Jalyrkieon’s head is more foreshortened than a typical equine, and with a much larger forehead, which situates both the much larger brain and eyes. These are set in a spectroscopic formation slightly above the nose, which has a more distinctively “pinched” look.
The head is tipped with a set of four short horns. Two project slightly forward, over the eyes, leaning slightly to either side of the vertical plane, and two others point backward, just over the ears. The horns are sturdy and sharp enough to be defensive weapons in their own right. However, their primary purpose is to direct and control the Jalyrkieon’s natural telekinesis.
Another large difference becomes obvious when a Jalyrkieon opens their mouth. Unlike a terrestrial equine, a Jalyrkieon has a mouth of sharp, ripping and slashing teeth. The ancestors of the Jalyrkieon were carnivores.
The Jalyrkieon homeworld, Plenadi, is notable for being one of the most dangerous natural environments to be populated by a sentient species, full of highly dangerous predators and equally well-armed herbivores and even the plant-life tends to be hazardous and poisonous (and sometimes even predatory itself). The Jalyrkieon stock evolved from an early ungulate-type of creature on the planet’s copious planes. Limited telekinesis is a trait of the entire zoological order that the Jalyrkieon belong to, though only their family have developed to a significant level. The protoJalyrkieon stock developed increased brain-power as this telekinesis became more powerful, and in concert with the groups that they lived in, not unlike how terrestrial primates brain-size increases with social groups. One big difference is that in the split analogous to “monkeys” and “apes”, the Jalyrkieon line became predators. They evolved to exploit the vacuum left by the extinction of a larger group of animals (not unlike how Mesonychids evolved to become predators after the extinction of the dinosaurs).
As the climate changed during the Plenadi’s prehistory, an a period of glacial and interglacial periods began, the protoJalyrkieons were driven ever further towards the equatorial regions, where intelligence became a survival trait in the extremely dangerous jungles and tropical floodplain-swamps.
While it is true that Jalyrkieons are carnivores, it is true in the same sense that canids are carnivores. Meat is an important part of their diet, but they are by no means exclusively carnivorous. (Their closest living relatives are scavenging specialists, best characterised as behaving like something between a chimpanzee and a hyena.)
Jalyrkieon physiology is robust. When removed from the numerous cumulative poisons, diseases and stresses of the natural world, they have an astonishing constitution, and a natural healing that is close to actual regeneration. It is estimated that their rate of recuperation is perhaps five times that of a typical hominoid. They do not sleep in long period, but in short bursts through the day cycle, with periodic intervals of actual REM sleep of a few hours per week. Their physical strength is very good for their size (even though the more physically inclined tend to rely on their telekinesis), and their endurance is prestigious. Their digestive system is able to handle a wide variety of foodstuffs, allowing them to eat a wider range of alien foods, though meat remains their favoured dietary component. This intestinal fortitude is the legacy of life in the vicious natural world of Plenadi, as meals come infrequently, and often at risk (even for herbivores), so a hearty digestive system is a must.
Their five senses are quite sharp – another necessity of life – though their vision and hearing is not quite as acute as a Elf’s, their sense of smell and taste makes up for it. Their sense of touch is somewhat below average, aside from the tactile portion of their telekinesis (which is considerably higher.)
Viviparous reproduction is almost a must on Plenadi, as staying still long enough to lay eggs is a recipe for disaster unless the creature is especially well adapted. In this harsh environment, the Jalyrkieon family group develops mobility and size very fast – like terrestrial horses, a Jalyrkieon foal is capable of walking within hours of birth – though their mental and sexual development is much slower, the latter pronouncedly so. This may seem contrary to expectations, in light of the dangerous environment, but the Jalyrkieon order’s breeding strategy is more heavily biased towards parental investment, and indeed, this was one of the other driving factors in the Jalyrkieon’s intellectual evolution. This allowed more young to reach sexual maturity, as opposed to simply relying on minimal parental investment after birth as many of the “lower” orders of Plenadi do, and one of the reasons that the Jalyrkieon’s order currently dominates.
Jalyrkieons demonstrate some sexual dimorphism – the males tend to be slightly larger – but otherwise, the difference between the two sexes is not readily apparent. They reach adult size in what is the equivalent of only three or four years, though it takes around eighteen years to reach mental maturity and sexual maturity another four or five years. Juvenile Jalyrkieons are still distinguishable by their more muted colour-scheme (reaching sexual maturity is often referred to as the “flush” referring to the sharpening or even change in the skin-colour.)
This slow maturity rate, particularly of sexuality, is one of the reasons that the Vivrathk and the Jalyrkieons are particularly at odds. Even more than humans do (who the Jalyrkieons have had only anecdotal contact with), the Jalyrkieons find the Vivrathk positively pedarastic, given the latter’s very early sexual maturity and corresponding relaxed standards of societal sexual behaviour.
Jalyrkieons thus have a very strong parental urge, and when their young are endangered, they have been known to go quite berserk, with a notable considerable boost in their telekinetic powers.
Jalyrkieon telekinesis is extremely powerful. It is not well understood, even by the Jalyrkieon themselves, but has both psionic and magical components, and resistant to anti-supernatural fields; while their range and power is reduced, it is very difficult to negate completely. The effect is mostly non-luminescent, though considerable effort from highly skilled individuals can cause the horns and target to dimly glow. (The colour of this glow varies, but is usually white or very pale blue.)
In effect, each of the four horns controls a telekinetic “limb” (though this is greatly oversimplifying), allowing them as much and more manipulatory ability than most creatures with hands and fingers. Their strength is difficult to measure precisely, but can be roughly estimated as being slightly above human average with each “limb” and considerable strength when combined.
The range of this ability is essentially divided into two parts.
They can “feel” with their telekinetic powers with greatest precision close to the horn, where their fine control is greatest. Beyond about half a meter or so, this fine control drops sharply, and they are only capable of more general motions. As an analogue, the difference between the “control radius”, as it is termed, and the extent of their range (“reach radius”) is akin to the difference between hands and arms. Both radius vary by natural talent, and training – such as Jalyrkieon military forces undergo – can significantly improve both.
The “limb” analogy is not a very clear indicator, however, since Jalyrkieon telekinesis is somewhat more flexible than a corporeal limb. Each horn is capable of accomplishing very fine manipulation within the control radius somewhat finer than to what a human might manage with their fingers only in a small diameter, somewhere between six and twelve inches, depending on skill and training. They can manage to manipulate objects in greater numbers over a wider area, though not to the same extent. They could certainly hold a large number of books and flip the pages, but cannot operate more than four devices with small buttons at once. The more area they are forced to spread their telekinesis over, the less strength they can apply (meaning a Jalyrkieon lifting a heavy object will usually lift from one to four places, must as a hominoid with limbs would do.)
Jalyrkieons have very large brains in comparison to their body size, significantly more than most hominoids. Their brains are divided into four lobes, rather than two, each one having control over one horn, as hominoids have left and right hemispheres. Most of this extra brain-matter is dedicated to processing their telekinetic abilities. They are capable of multitasking to a significant degree, and essentially their “telekinetic limbs” can each be doing independent tasks, or working coherently. This ability is somewhat limited by the fact they still have some limits on their ability to process data. They could, say, with some effort and practise, assemble four kits from components simultaneously, though they couldn’t operate something that requires non-tactile input (be it visual, cognitive or auditory) with each horn separately, i.e. they cannot use four separate scanners at once.
Jalyrkieons are able to use their telekinesis very effectively as weapons. While they are not especially adept at hurling large cumbersome objects (like creatures) around, their ability to throw small blades or manipulate simple weapons is extremely high, and the simplicity of such actions means they can often use several with frightening proficiency.
Modern Jalyrkieon soldiers are noted for being very heavily armed for infantry, many carrying the equivalent of two or three rifles or four pistols, which they can use simultaneously (skilled individuals – the sort that would use twin pistols in a hominoid race – can use even more. This makes the amount of fire put out from a Jalyrkieon infantry squad vastly better than a typical hominoid one. (This is somewhat countered, however, by their higher and less easily concealed target profile, however.) With their greater ability to carry munitions as well, due to their body shape lending itself well to portaging, they can also carry a consummate supply of power cells or ammunition. Consequently, anti-armour weapons are also seen in greater numbers in infantry units.
They also have a series of martial arts, which extend beyond the physical to applications of telekinesis. In particular, a trained Jalyrkieon can deliver a telekinetic thrust of enormous strength, and many of these strikes are designed to concentrate as much force as possible in one area, and are thus closing to piercing strikes than bludgeoning ones. (Indeed, a master of the art can inflict wounds akin to ballistic firearms at short ranges).
More subtle and dangerous are the one which extend the control radius of the Jalyrkieon to be able to force an attack inside the body of an opponent (something that normally requires impracticable amounts of effort, concentration and time to do) and literally crush their organs or close off vital blood vessels, leading to incapacitation of death. Some of these arts use physical blows to direct the telekinesis attacks, while the highest forms are unnoticeable and purely mental.
The fight for survival in their prehistory has – not unlike the Vivrathk, as irony would have it – made the Jalyrkieons very aggressive. Their expansionist goals are characterised with a certain cold ruthlessness with regard to other races that distinguishes them from their closest neighbours. This attitude in modern Jalyrkieons was not helped along by their period as a vassal of the Strayvian Empire, until it’s collapse and their abrupt seizure of independence.
The Jalyrkieons were defeated quite badly in their last war against the Vivrathk, and have been undergoing a lengthy period of refitting and rearming in the last couple of decades. This period is coming to a close as it is likely not long before a new war breaks out between the two.
At some point I might try drawing one, maybe, though if anyone else wants to take a crack at it, I think pretty much any of you could do a better job than me...!
So, all that brought up an interesting question. If you use telekinesis as your primary manipulative apparatus - as unicorns and Jalyrkieons do - what
Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander
So ponythread.), but I've attempted a rendition of one of your little critters, with a quick attempt at what weapons would make sense for them. Armor and "saddlebags" to hold replacement power cells pending.
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
A little late (as always... I still haven't gotten around to making your skull a splode
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