Shared from Orion Arms

~Muuh: Low temperature xenosophonts inhabiting Titan-like worlds
An example of a Muuh adapted to heavier acceleration/gravity. Almost all Muuh are capable of functioning upside-down just as well as right-way up, although certain features of their internal anatomy show that their top and bottom sides are significantly different from each other. Muuh worlds are icy moons and planets with atmospheres rich in methane and coloured organic compounds (usually orange or pale green), and ethane seas.

The Muuh (a name given to them by an impatient Cygexpa communications officer) apparently evolved on a cold low-gravity Titan-like moon somewhere in the Cygnus direction of the Orion Arm. Their biochemistry is based on liquid hydrocarbons, in a methane-nitrogen atmosphere; it is one of the best known examples of methane-ethane based life.

Life on Muuh worlds, just as on the hypothetical Muuh home world, is based on the production of energy-rich compounds in the upper atmosphere, driven by solar radiation and the magnetic fields of the central planet — contrary to the arrangement on most life bearing worlds, plants are not a significant factor in the local biology. Instead, the primary producers are gatherer animals that collect the nutrients and in turn become prey for other animals. Some gatherers are sedentary, not unlike terrestrial corals or anemones or barnacles, while others are mobile. Various scavengers and saprophytes break down the remains, releasing methane into the atmosphere. The whole pace of life is extremely slow compared to Terragen life.

The Muuh are believed to have evolved from "rapid" mid-sized predator/omnivores; their ancestors would have filled an ecological niche like that of terrestrial raccoons. They are two-meter spider or crab-like creatures with a bark-like spiky exoskeleton that constantly grows (armor-carving is an important part of Muuh appearance and health). There are few external differences between the upper and lower sides; Muuh can simply flip between them with little trouble. Locomotion is through six legs where the front pair branches off a number of manipulator limbs. An ordinary Muuh moves at most one meter per second in a hurry, and most prefer to move much more slowly. Sensory organs, mainly echolocation and a heat sense were located around the rim of the shell. Muuh are hermaphrodites. As a rule they form lifelong pairs which repeatedly bear paired children. These marriage-pairs and sibling-pairs form the central social units of society.

Muuh are very resistant to extremes of cold, and can withstand being frozen solid for long periods of time. However, temperatures above -150 °C are lethal. "Freezing" of course refers to the temperature at which the methane-ethane mix that is their equivalent of water is no longer liquid. Water is a mineral in the Muuh environment, and for the Muuh water ice is a useful solid building material and is often used as part of their spaceships and habs.

Muuh that inhabit low-gravity planets and moons are often lighter in build than those which have colonised heavier worlds. Since their bark-like shell grows continuously, the Muuh trim and carve it into ornamental or symbolic shapes, often humorous. Each member of a pair trims the other's bark, carving messages into their ventral and dorsal surfaces that can be read by touch.

Intellectually the Muuh are slow but not stupid thinkers, with excellent long-term memories. If they moved and thought at typical Terragen speeds they would likely be viewed as nearly hyperactive romantics. They are highly imaginative and often prefer fiction and ingenious stories to real life. They devote a great deal of time and effort to creating art, virtual worlds, role-playing scenarios and fantasies in great detail. This has somewhat hampered their technological development, as the strict procedures necessary for science do not appeal to their mindset; instead they tend to prefer inspired experimentation. The reliance on inspiration has made them dependent on their occasional geniuses or correct madmen, who receive further respect and support for their few viable innovations even though 99% of all the ideas they generate don't work out.

Muuh society is variable between different worlds, but tends to be based on inherited status augmented by an elaborate system of advisers/challengers who force the leaders to clarify their decisions. There is a great deal of leeway in how decisions are implemented or obeyed, making their society hard for outsiders to get into. Mutual obligations, gifts and persuasion are important factors in getting anything done.

a muuh on the low gravity world of StoneWaterPalace greets visitors
Muuh civilization is extremely old and slow. It is uncertain how long it took to achieve spaceflight, but over the span of many millions of years they expanded across a sizable volume, colonizing other Titan-like planets or building vast orbital habitats. They made contact with a number of xenosophont races, as well as creating and provolving a number of indigenous species. At least one of these, the Soft Ones, became a major interstellar species in their own right. Contact was usually peaceful, as Muuh interests seldom collided with others, and they have provided Terragens with invaluable second-hand information on a number of undiscovered or extinct species. The main exception to the peaceful encounters was the discovery of a destructive civilization, now believed to be an artificial remnant of some other species (some have suggested an autonomous weapon system such as the Dawn Hunters but this remains debatable) that began to systematically attack the Muuh 14.8 million years ago. The Muuh were too slow in reacting to the fast and advanced enemy. They mobilized a desperate and powerful defense of the home worlds that they knew was doomed, but at the same time they sent out long-range colony ships to remote systems in order to save their race. It is unknown what happened to the original Muuh Empire, but it is generally assumed to have been destroyed.

The first Muuh polities encountered by Terragens exist within a volume between Cygnus OB4 and the Cygnus Dark Nebula, and appear to be descended from a single surviving colony ship. The Muuh settlements in this region constitute a local empire around 100 light years across. They were discovered by a Cygexpa probe in 7854 AT, and after 400 years of slow (to humans) initial contact a wormhole link was set up in 8266 to the closest Muuh system (CEA-346746 / Muuhome). It is not known if other Terragens had previously encountered the Muuh, but the possibility of contact by a relativist isolationist ai clade cannot be excluded.

Since the initial discovery many more Muuh colonies have been encountered in a large and sparsely settled volume of space to rimward of the Terragen Sphere; this is presumably the remnant of the old Muuh Empire. A border zone has been established in this region, centered on the Pluton Volume; many cold-loving Terragen clades have migrated there, as well as representatives of the race of Soft Ones known as the Epp. As is well known, the region was devastated during the so-called Epp War, which was the first time that the Muuh revealed their ancient System of Response defenses.

The Muuh do not consider sub-relativistic journeys to be slow, especially since they tend to freeze themselves during the trip and things do not change much between departure and arrival anyway. Their technology is largely cryobiological, based on low-temperature life feeding on Titan-like or Kuiper-belt environments and growing the necessary structures out of polymers, ice and frozen gas.

Muuh and To'ul'hs have some similarities despite their tremendously different biochemistries. Both come from dark worlds where nutrients descend from above, and both employ echolocation and other non-visual senses. This has given them somewhat similar basic view of reality, making it easier for them to understand each other than humans and most other Terragens. It appears the Muuh regard humans and their offspring as yet another hotheaded Inner System species-complex with more energy than style, although some Muuh informants say they have to hand it to the Terragens that they have some useful technology and original perspectives. Trade exchange has been profitable for both groups, although it is clear that the Muuh are not interested in becoming part of any Terragen political organisation, despite some of them having worked closely with the Archailects during the Epp War.

In some ways, the old and sparsely populated Muuh volume is a barrier to further Terragen expansion in the Rimward direction; the Muuh only use a fraction of the resources of the stars in that volume, and negotiations are proceeding to allow Terragen colonists access to some of the unused planets and stars. This initiative has met with limited success to date.

~Cryovecs, Cryobots
A cryovec on the icy moon of YTS 45515-771-4 g

A vec or bot that operates in conditions of extreme cold, well below the freezing point of water. Typically such m-life (machine-life) forms are found in the outer portion of a stellar system, well beyond the "frost line". Often, though not invariably, they have components that are volatiles at "standard" Terragen temperatures, or that have superconducting properties at low temperatures. At Terragen-standard temperatures they may be nonfunctional, or in some cases their bodies may melt or evaporate. Cryovecs are of course by definition sophont (that is to say intelligent and self aware) mechanical entities, while cryobots are merely sentient equivalents of biological animals, or are automatons with (often quite complex) programming. Cryovecs form a large proportion of many outsystem and Hider clades.

The Muuh often employ cryobots of their own design, some of which are built to designs many millions of years old. Some of the individual bots are apparently millions of years old as well, according to the Muuh. These devices are often very much damaged and eroded by micrometeorites and vacuum exposure, so the Muuh may be telling the truth for once. The Muuh do not use self-aware machines of any kind. Some suggest this is one factor in their long existence.

~Cygnus X-1: High mass X-ray binary star system
Distance from Sol: 5984 ly

A black hole orbiting a blue supergiant (HDE 226868) with a period of 5.6 days. This system is just outside the current boundary of the Terragen Sphere, and is believed to be a congregation point for several xenosophont races, including the Muuh, the Meistersingers and the Wayfarers.

~First Contact: Strategies and policies for contact with alien life forms
The Planet Tohul (To'ul'h Prime) where the first contact with intelligent aliens was made

Even before manned spaceflight became a reality, the question of contact with extraterrestrial life had been considered in some detail. One anticipated problem was cross-infection, where alien microbes might cause a hazard to Earth life and vice versa. The first astronauts to reach the Earth's Moon were quarantined on their return, and increasing efforts were made during the early Interplanetary Age to avoid contamination of spacecraft and planetary surfaces. In the event, no living organisms of any kind were found in the Solar System outside of Earth, and this fact gave some weight to the hypothesis that life was in fact vanishingly rare in the universe.

However using powerful space-based telescope arrays and sensitive spectrometry, a number of terrestrial planets in relatively nearby solar systems were found to show some of the expected signatures of life. So by the time the first interstellar probes were launched, strategies for dealing with alien lifeforms were once again an important subject for debate.
Contact with Alien Life forms (Xenobiota)
The closest such world, Delta Pavonis IV was made an early target for investigation, and by 360 a.t. the presence of a biosphere had been confirmed by the probe Carl Sagan. When colonists arrived in that system the planet (now named Darwin) was declared a scientific reserve. However this embargo only lasted until the early First Federation period, and the planet became an ecological battlefield between preservationists and biotech concerns attempting to exploit the exotic biota.

Other planets with biospheres were also encountered in this early period; the mature biosphere of Trees was a magnet for biocentric explorers, and instead of being quarantined was settled by a specially modified clade of tweaks with altered biochemistry. The Tree-dweller tweaks attempted to integrate with the local environment, with some success, but they were not politically powerful and were often subjugated by external rulers such as the Conver Ambi (who themselves were not adapted to the biochemistry of Trees life).

Another world with a primitive xenobiosphere, Rajasekar, suffered an ecological disaster due to a reaction between the indigenous life and the introduced lifeforms, and was placed off-limits for non-robotic colonisation. Although lifeforms from different worlds cannot usually infect each other, they may be mutually toxic or cause allergic reactions.
At this time a number of strategies emerged for dealing with xenobiota on a potential colony planet, some deliberate, some on an ad-hoc basis. Since the planets with xenobiospheres were often the most desirable planets for colonisation purposes, one or more of the following courses of action could be taken.

Extermination: exterminate the life/sterilise the planet; this was often the easiest option, but could be quite tricky to do in practice. The Terranova foundation and later, certain NoCoZo and Objectivist explorers favoured this strategy.

Quarantine: Isolate the planet and restrict all access; you can still explore the biosphere/ do research/make TV documentaries, but only if you can guarantee that you interact without risk of cross-infection. Many such quarantined worlds later became Caretaker Protectorates.

Self-Modification: Adapt a population of colonists to be compatible with the new environment; the original biosphere may survive, but it would have to compete with a civilised world of colonists and genetically tailored life, much of which would probably be agricultural in nature. This approach would resemble in some ways the colonisation of an isolated location on Earth, say Australia, and there could be numerous threats to the local biosphere. But it would at least have a chance. Birnam Ecotech and the Genen families were early adopters of this strategy.

One problem with this strategy is that the colonists will now be adapted to the biosphere of that planet, and no longer compatible with Earth-life; this means they may have problems interacting with other terragen populations. For instance they may find Earthly food allergenic or toxic, or need to avoid physical contact with other clades for similar reasons.

Evacuation: Removal and conservation of the biosphere; a representative sample could be frozen, or reduced to stored DNA information or the equivalent. Later this strategy was extended, and explorers would build special habitats for the biota where it could thrive off-planet without affecting the terraformation process, The Zoeific Biopolity used this strategy extensively. In more recent millennia some adaptation of this strategy has been followed by many Sephirotic exploration ventures. An adaptation of this strategy has been developed by the Metasoft Version Tree, where a xenoecology is recreated in virtual form, and this strategy has been used independently by the Panvirtuality.

A Jade Chime Singer, one of several species which have already been contacted
Contact with Intelligent Aliens (Xenosophonts)
When the first intelligent alien race, the To'ul'hs, were discovered, a new set of strategies had to be conceived; this first contact with xenosophonts was not entirely satisfactory, as the culture shock led to a certain amount of strife and division within To'ul'h society. Later contact with the Ultimates, a highly evolved but static phylum of xenosophonts in the Black Acropolis was followed by a period of isolation from mainstream society, and a hybrid civilisation formed which later transcended. Many view this hybridisation between terragen and Ultimate society to have been a mistake, as the Acropolis volume became a dangerous location for many millennia afterwards.

To avoid these mistakes new strategies have evolved over time, but as each new first contact event is unique and often occurs on the edge of the Terragen sphere of expansion near the Light Speed Frontier, these strategies are often irrelevant or adopted only in part.

Remote observation: Civilisations that are pretechnological are generally observed without contact, all surveillance occurs using technology that is undetectable by the civilisation concerned. The Paulans and the Pipers have been under almost total cultural embargo since their discovery, with certain exceptions (see below)

Subversion: Now officially discouraged, some early contacts were preceded by attempts to influence the culture using memetics. The very first contact, with the medieval level civilisation of the To'ul'hs, suffered because of over-enthusiastic cultural manipulation. A somewhat later attempt to infiltrate the computer systems of the Silent Ones was a complete failure, due to their advanced and exotic nature.

Remote Contact: After a period of remote observation the xenosophonts will be contacted remotely, by radio or laser communication; the Jeepers of Mik's planet were contacted in this fashion, and were enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting Terragen representatives. Since they are an artificial species, made long ago by an unknown civilisation, they had jumped to the conclusion that the Terragens were in fact their creators; some still believe this, and in this case the contact strategy might therefore be seen to have failed (in some respects).

Individual Contact: Sometimes called `abduction', this strategy involves secretly withdrawing members of the society and exposing them to full contact; once the individual has recovered from the ensuing cultural impact, xe will then be returned to the society as a representative of Terragen Civilisation. This method was partially used to contact the To'ul'h, after extensive observation and in addition to other strategies, and the result was at first an ambitious and successful hybrid culture.

Similar individuals, extracted from the Piper species, have declined to make full contact with their own race, which even today remains mostly isolated. Instead they have started a subculture of their own among the Sephirotic empires, and state that they will make contact with their home planet `in due course'

Contact Through Avatars: Most xenosophonts find the human form exotic and unsettling. To reduce this problem the species is contacted, usually after a lengthy period of observation, by remote-controlled avatars in a form that the species will find non-threatening or otherwise acceptable. This technique has been used with the Cthonid species and the Limners, with some success. However some contact specialists regard this strategy as too interventionist to be used in every case. Any attempt to disguise the nature of Terragen life and society might be considered deceitful by the contactee civilisation, when and if they discover the truth.

Contact Between Equals: Contact with species which are capable of interstellar travel, and/or a medium-to-high technology level is generally carried out on a cautious, diplomatic basis. Although the Terragen Archailects occupy a very high toposophic level and have advanced technology and vast intellect, they are not generally on hand when first contact with a spacefaring species is made. Rather contact is made by explorers at the far edge of Terragen expansion, who may find themselves on a comparable level of technology to the contactees, or indeed be far outclassed. The utmost care must be taken not to reveal unnecessary information to such a race, in case the relationship develops into conflict for whatever reason. In return it must be assumed that xenosophonts from an advanced civilisation may themselves not reveal all details of their society and technology to the Terragen representatives.

In the past, certain xenosophont civilisations have been recognized as equals in this fashion, such as the Muuh, the Silent Ones and the Meistersingers. However it seems apparent that each of these races have withheld considerable amounts of information about their society and technology. For instance the existence of the Muuh System of Response, an advanced artificially intelligent defense system, was not suspected for several centuries. Such secrecy may be expected to be a normal part of xenosophont relations for the foreseeable future.

~HIE-300-CZE (The Bad Idea): Unconfirmed HIE-300-CZE
Predatory species provolved by the Muuh; hopefully extinct.

The Hamilton Institute of Exopalaeontology has given this species the designation HIE-300-CZE, even though no homeworld and no confirmed remains or artifacts have been discovered. A small number of Muuh artifacts from this era have been preserved; some poorly preserved objects appear to be tactile sculptures of portions of the anatomy of these creatures, but these may be fictional or imaginary in nature.

According to Muuh history/mythology, this was the fifth species provolved by the ancient Muuh, on a Gaian-type planet orbiting a star located (at that time) deep within the Perseus Arm. This event occurred approximately 25 million years ago. The experiment was generally regarded as a failure, as the species was regarded as over-aggressive and too unstable to thrive as an advanced civilisation.

The race destroyed itself a few tens of thousands of years after provolution, apparently using genetically engineered microbes. As the HIE-300-CZE inhabited a warm, Earth-like world, their experience of time was much more rapid than that of the Muuh, and events unfolded much too rapidly for the Muuh to follow in real time. For this reason the Muuh constructed artificially intelligent observer drones, capable of recording events on the HIE-300-CZE homeworld and then replaying them at a suitable rate. The final war occurred too quickly for the Muuh to intervene.

As far as can be determined from the limited evidence available, the HIE-300-CZE were tripedal but otherwise limbless. They possessed a pair of long branching toes on two of their 'feet' that could be used for manipulation. A large frill of photosynthetic surfaces ringed the rear part of the horizontal body, which also contained a circular maw. Height unknown. According to the somewhat unclear Muuh records, they were both partially autotrophic and aggressively predatory.

The Muuh have preserved a number of alternative names for this species, some poetic (the Flower-biter-scratcher-killers) or cynical (the Screw-ups, the Bad Idea) or cautionary (the Avoid-at-all-costs). The label 'Bad Idea' was simply the first name that Terragen investigators encountered, and by convention this is the name in general use.

Some myths preserved by the Muuh suggest that the Bad Idea launched a few interstellar probes before their demise; although these were unmanned, it is possible that some form of genetic material may have been contained within. If the Bad Idea species was as advanced in biotechnological science as some of the stories suggest, it is possible that this species may have arranged for some of their own DNA to be transferred to a distant location, unknown to the Muuh; if so, this might explain some of their later tales concerning aggressive plant-like raiders on the edges of their sparse empire, and maybe even some similar tales told by Terragen explorers on the edge of the Perseus volume.

~Muuh Architecture
The alien xenosophonts known as the Muuh inhabit cold, Titan-like worlds; their architecture is based on living coral-like detritus-feeding organisms.

In a Muuh-style ecosystem, organic polymers and other compounds such as acetylene are formed in the energetic upper atmosphere and rain down onto the surface, where wind speeds are lower. Large colonial organisms that often resemble tabular corals collect these organics and use them in their metabolism; these colonies attempt to overgrow each other with their flat to funnel-shaped collection structures. Beneath them and between them it is even darker than it is on the surface of Solsys' Titan, especially in the most favoured sites where the reef-forest may be many layers deep. This is the primary environment that the Muuh probably evolved to live in, if in fact they are actually evolved beings. In this dark environment the primeval Muuh would have used their primary senses of echolocation and infrared, as well as their excellent sense of touch and smell to hunt creatures that graze on the coral-like colonial organisms.

In the modern era, the Muuh have modified both the coralline organisms that make up the structure of the reef-forest and the associated ecosystem of animals and saprophytes to suit their own purposes. The primary structures have been shaped to become comfortable dwelling places that provide not only shelter and food but other services such as communication or information storage and processing. The animals that live on and in them and graze on them are likewise herded and constrained by Muuh domestication and biotech modification and serve a variety of purposes.

At first glance a Muuh city and a wilderness reef-forest can be difficult to distinguish other than by the density of the Muuh population. After so many millions of years of interaction between natural evolution and Muuh biotechnology it is equally true to say that a Muuh city is a cultivated reef-forest as to say that the 'wild' or 'natural' reef-forests are abandoned or feral cityscapes.

~Muuh Archives
Muuh data archives take the form of coral-like stacks, similar to other structures in their architecture

The Muuh Archives are found in the cyberspaces of every known Muuh colony, though it appears that the smallest and newest colonies have smaller collections than the largest and oldest settlements. The contents of these Archives are not well understood by Terragens, and it is often asserted that they are not that well understood by the Muuh either. Very large volumes of the information in the Archives are historical or practical and easily verified as such, but a much, much larger proportion of them appear to be art, fiction and so on. Terragens often have a very hard time distinguishing archival 'fact' from archival 'fiction', and to further complicate things the Muuh, who do seem to be better at it, do not seem to attach as much importance to the distinction as their Terragen guests do. Rumour has it that somewhere in the many inaccessible zones of the Archives is a series of keys that might sort out these differences.

Terragen researchers who explore the Muuh Archives by direct interface in the way that the Muuh habitually do often find themselves lost in the maze of information. Occasionally, Terragen ais have tried to upload adapted copies of themselves into the Archives, usually with the permission but against the advice of the local Muuh. They often return with interesting results, but occasionally they do not return at all. The reasons for these disappearances are not well understood.

~Muuh Bot: Biological robots used by the alien Muuh
Many Muuh cultures utilise macroscale biotechnology to build and maintain their infrastructure. One common manifestation of this technology is the Muuh Bot, a class of presapient biobot used by the Muuh for a wide range of purposes. These devices perform a broad range of tasks but have almost no autonomy so must be given very precise instructions; because of an ancient taboo in Muuh culture, self-aware devices are apparently never constructed. These bots are grown from seeds that are kept in repositories in Muuh villages, and when the bot has completed its task it is generally recycled.

Muuh bots come in many diverse types, some of which do not appear to have changed for many millions of years. Even the newest designs are tens of thousands of years old. Some Muuh Bots are capable of operating in environments which are dangerous or deadly to Muuh, and some are used as messenger devices, including for communicating with Terragen representatives.

~Muuh Cellular Biology
The Muuh environment is too cold for a flexible polymeric biochemistry to operate- even the simplest nonpolar polymers. At 90-110K and Muuh pressures, even the four-carbon butane tends to freeze solid. Nor are self-assembling bilayer membranes possible; the polar bonds involved are too strong, forming ices.

Instead, Muuh biochemistry relies heavily on microscopic solid surfaces, portions of which can be briefly "melted" and re-sculpted using metabolic energy to provide useful catalytic sites. The most important energetic molecule is acetylene (C2H2), which can either be hydrogenated in two stages (to ethene and then ethane) to provide energy, or take part directly in addition or polymerisation reactions.

This system is extremely resistant to low temperatures. Even if the methane solvent freezes, biochemical processes will simply pause. As soon as the temperature rises enough for the solvent to melt and metabolites to flow again, the cell can resume normal operations. High temperatures are far more destructive. The solid surfaces will soften and lose their structure, killing the cell.

Similar solid cell structures are found other, unrelated methane-ethane life, as well as rarer forms of cryogenic life that use liquid nitrogen or neon as a solvent, though obviously the details vary.

Structure
In its most basic form, the Muuh equivalent of the cell consists of two parallel plates of solidified hydrocarbons. Solid pillars join the plates, holding them the correct distance apart. The core of each plate is formed of long chain alkanes, forming a stable base, on which is laid an active surface composed of a mix of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons.

This active surface is the analogue of dissolved proteins on Earth, carrying out the cell's primary functions. The structure of aromatic rings and double bonds on its surface form binding sites for smaller molecules. These smaller molecules, more loosely bound into van der Waals complexes, form a more easily modifiable and flexible structure which provides various dissolved substances.

Amidst the catalytic sites, a network of grooves and channels provide active transport for larger structures, carrying them to necessary locations in the cell. Finally, a series of spikes rise up from each plate. These form a second transport network. The top of each spike is an active transport site, which can move the larger pieces of frozen hydrocarbons around the cell without disrupting the active surface.

There is no membrane at the rim of the cell; molecules can simply diffuse into and out of the space between the plates, but such molecules are likely to impact the plates, where they can be sorted and moved to the necessary locations.

Genetic information is stored in the centre of the cell in a two-dimensional array of biphenyls, terphenyls, and terminal alkenes on each plate. These genetic arrays encode information using complementary pairs, with each plate holding an array the complements the other. A ring of pillars surrounds this "nucleus".

Small plaques of solid alkanes carry information from the nucleus out into the rest of the cell. The plaques are held against the gene array to read the information, then are carried by the spikes to the desired location, where they are held against the surface of the plate. The active surface is then re-sculpted according the information on the plaque.
Replication
Muuh cells can replicate in two ways. The first is layering replication, which begins when genome reading plaques assemble in centre of a cell. The plaques take imprints from the entire genome of each plate, then combine, becoming the beginnings of a third plate in between the existing two. The new plate expands outwards as hydrocarbons precipitate on its outer rim, growing around the pillars, until it is as broad as the old plates. Simultaneously, the pillars grow longer, increasing the space between the new plate and each of the old plate. The result is two cells joined together, each sharing the new plate.

In slide replications, the cell's plates grow at their rim, becoming elongates, but in opposite directions. A sequence of pillars grow along the rim. All the pillars detach, and the two plates slide relative to each other, until the old surface of each plate is facing the newly-grown surface of its counterparts. Genome reading plaques then transfer a copy of the separate genome to the new surface. The result is two cells sharing two elongated plates.
Multicellularity and eversion
Both types of cell replication result in connected cells, sharing one or both plates. This leads to one of the more peculiar aspects of the Muuh biosphere: Multicellular organisms far outnumber unicellular organisms.

Nevertheless, most organisms are still microscopic, being composed of only a handful of cells without tissue differentiation. After reaching a maximum size, these organisms tend to divide, either by the shared plates fracturing, or by the two plates a central cell separating.

When the two plates of a cell separate, the active surface and the genome of each plate becomes exposed to the outside world. The cell is no longer able to reproduce, but the active surface can interact directly with the external environment, gathering or emitting various molecules, sensing, or growing biomaterials. This process, called eversion, is common among Muuh organisms.

Motility
Being in the solid state, Muuh cells and the tissues they make up tend to be rigid, moving only through growth. Macroscopic sessile organisms, like the coral analogues in reef forests, are often entirely solid.

Motile organisms, however, rely on a specific class of "muscle" tissues. The cells making up these tissues are specialised to change the distance between their two plates using jointed pillars that move between folded and straightened configurations.

Most Muuh fauna superficially resemble arthropods, with hard body parts connected by a limited number or flexible joints. However, this resemblance is indeed only superficial — there is no soft flesh hidden under the exoskeleton, only other rigid tissues.

Similar jointed cells are also used in nerves. These nerve cells grow in lines, sharing two plates, and are activated by mechanical stress. When cells at the start of the signal extend, those further down the nerve extend in turn, transmitting a mechanical signal down the plates.

~Muuh Clade Variation
Muuh found on worlds with moderate or high gravity are generally much more robust, but otherwise retain most of the same body plan as their lighter cousins

Muuh diversity is significantly lower than that of Terragens, at least among the Muuh encountered so far. Psychologically, toposophically, and genetically the Muuh are quite evidently a single interfertile species, less variable from colony to colony in their underlying genome than the regional varieties of human baselines on Old Earth were. The basic morphotype does show some variations according to the environment that they live in, with forms adapted to differing gravities or temperatures and to slight changes in atmospheric composition or pressure. For instance there are spidery low-gravity forms found on a slowly rotating hab or on a typical Titan-like moon and stockier forms found in higher-spin habs or on planet-sized bodies. However, those physical differences all seem to be epigenetic responses that are part of the basic Muuh genome; all morphological and physiological variability is the result of growth and development in that particular environment. These adaptations seem to be the minimum required for health and survival in local conditions, and do not include such radical changes as, say, differing numbers of limbs. The Muuh do show some considerable cultural variation, but again this is not different than that found within a typical Terragen clade or a naturally evolved sophont species.

Unlike the case with humans, there are no Muuh equivalents of tweaks, splices, cyborgs, or superiors, or other varieties with significant departures from the Muuh morphotype and psychology. The Muuh have also apparently refrained from giving rise to artificial clades such as sophont ais, neogens, or vecs. The Muuh have created provolves in the past, but only rarely and sporadically. It is notable that they have not done so with any of the species that have Muuh-like biochemistry and genomics but instead all of their known work has been with radically different subjects: ammonia-based species like the Soft Ones, or species from the even hotter, water-based biochemistries such as HIE300CZE. When questioned regarding this, Muuh 'historians' will say such things as "we used to do that but we gave it up". The particular reasons why have never been clearly articulated.

A clade of gracile low-gee Muuh from YTS-34410-1001-11 compared to a clade of robust Hi-gee Muuh from JD799810-cII

The uniformity of the Muuh physiotype and toposophic type has been cause for much speculation. The simplest hypothesis is that the Muuh change very slowly and that all current Muuh are descendants of a single surviving population of a civilization that might have been much more diverse. Others assert that the Muuh observed today are the result of many millions of years of self-modification, or that they are the creations of an earlier sophont species, and that over that time only the stablest type, least likely to further self-modify, has survived. It is thought that the truth regarding this falls under some form of Muuh Taboo: Muuh who bother to respond to Terragen speculations typically enthusiastically affirm all hypotheses.

~Muuh Cyberspaces
The physical infrastructure for Muuh cyberspaces is nearly impossible to distinguish from the rest of Muuh architecture, since it consists of processing capabilities built into the city-reef-forest structures that comprise the Muuh home habitat. Though they may span planets, or the sprawling spaceborne Muuh habs, Muuh networks seem to have a much less thoroughly linked internal structure than most Terragen localnets. Also unlike the more common Terragen designs they are independent of one another and do not connect to form a larger Known Net such as spans the Civilized Galaxy for Terragens. Muuh localnets, rather like the Muuh themselves, are quite slow but apparently quite powerful. The known functions of the Muuh localnets include maintenance of the local hab or arcology and its industries, facilitation of the extensive virch activities common to all known Muuh communities, computronium support for the rather mysterious animin-like Muuh equivalents of transapient entities (of which the famous System of Response is likely just one example), and of course recordings for a local copy of the voluminous Muuh Archives. The Muuh make extensive use of these cyberspaces, and spend long periods of time, even by Muuh standards, in direct interface with them via wearable devices and reality rooms (no known Muuh culture uses DNI technology).

For reasons that are not well understood the Muuh seem not to be in the habit of putting uploads of themselves into their localnets; this is one of the many habits that Muuh informants often describe as 'unlucky'. On the other hand, they do not seem to object to Terragen ai or upload persons inhabiting or visiting their cyberspaces, though the most friendly-seeming typically advise against it and there are many practical barriers to this. Aside from the very slow rate of interaction, there are many portions of the Muuh cyberspace that are difficult or impossible to access. Such Terragen explorers, especially 'archive-divers', who have spent long spans of time in Muuh cyberspace have occasionally failed to return.

~Muuh Graveyard of Charn
In 9976 an exploratory probe swarm returned to the Muuh volume and found what turned out to be a formerly life-bearing Titanian/tholian planet orbiting several AU from a white dwarf, YTS-899780, 30 light years from the nearest inhabited star system. The Pluton swarm had gained permission from the nearby Muuh colony authority for surveying and performing minor mining operations on the apparently unused star system, in hopes of eventual colonization. The thinning atmosphere and clear evidence of former methane oceans seemed notable, but otherwise unexceptional in the Pluton volume. However, careful Inspection of a debris field orbiting another one of the outer planets revealed a few artifacts with clearly artificial origins in structure- most of which have been dated between 15-14.5 million years old, and resembled Muuh colonizing equipment. These included several artifacts- likely the remains of orbital habitats, which were dated to originate during far older time periods- around 30 MYA and 180 MYA. Many of the older structures likely correspond to HIE-121-CZE and another species, (if only by coinciding time period and location in space), but no other existing structures corresponded to any known species on record.

But this did not remain the most unusual discovery.

On that fifth world from the star, the formerly methanogenic superterrestrial planet now called "Charn" by local Terragen authorities, the pluton exploration swarm discovered a series of thousands of fossilized ruins and masses of bodies dated mostly at 14.8, 30, 85, and 120 million years old, with regular intervals in between filled with lesser, but unknown materials. The next five centuries became devoted to removing the layers of sedimentary rock and ice which covered the surface, and carefully uncovering a planet-wide array of Muuh archeological sites, or mass graves. Once the growing archeological expedition received paleoarcheology templates, expert systems and instructions beamed from nearby colonies, the operation grew to the necessary sophistication. As the expert systems worked over the course of the next few centuries, they uncovered that the most recent of these graves, at 14.8 MYA, collectively contained nearly a billion fossilized Muuh. Each site's population of fossilized , vivisected corpses lay in similar positions and arranged in near identical, mathematical patterns, most of which corresponded to cross sections of higher dimensional forms, appearing in the strata within approximately a hundred thousand years of one another at the 14.8 MYA mark. Such arrangements would be incredibly unlikely to occur from natural disasters, or without coordinated intention, by any known method. Structures containing trace amounts of exotic matter have been found in the fossil record across the planet as well, similar to many Muuh pylons. Since the Muuh do not currently possess any way to produce magmatter, or many other forms of exotic/non-baryonic material, the origin remains unknown. Most of the Muuh fossils were unusually and uniformly well-preserved in silt shale, especially given the distribution of sites around the planet- almost to the point that scholars theorize some form of possibly artificially induced fossilization. The Muuh bodies themselves had been better adapted to higher gravity than most present Muuh, along with a common trait of several subtle aquatic adaptations, but tens of millions of bodies had smaller fractals of the larger patterns carved into their shells, often to the point of probable mutilation. Around these sites, archeologists have managed to recover the fossilized ruins which Muuh authorities and the System of Response itself have agreed (after several centuries of unanswered requests) that they resemble components of an ancient System of Response.

Terragens know of many instances where Muuh are able to build structures which can last millions of years with minor external maintenance- most prominently certain terraforming equipment and a number of Muuh cybercosms. No such effort seemed to occur on the planet of Charn, and archeologists have found only the fossilized materials of various buildings and Muuh bots in the surrounding areas. In addition, geological evidence from around the nearby planets suggests that the Muuh had disappeared from the star system and stellar region by at least 14.7 MYA.

Muuh collaborators inspect an excavated fossil slab containing the remains of their supposed ancestors
The Elder Civilization
The discoveries only continued however, when the archeologist swarms found at least thirty more fossil sites in deeper strata, with the fossilized/preserved remains of several much older civilizations which had visited the planet earlier, around at regular intervals of 15-30MY between 30-180 MYA. Archeologist swarms uncovered several layers of strata containing millions of biomachines/silicon based life not corresponding to any specific civilization on record, plus the fossils of associated "organisms" and their descendants which evolved only a little in form, in layers across the next 180 million years. These original organisms and their descendents were likely an attempt at terraforming in enclosed environments.
Most of the bio-machines resembled designs common to various terraforming ecologies used by multiple species throughout history, by common design constraints. These fossils too were all preserved in a very similar way in silt or other material, but definitively dated at 180 million years old by various methods. Most unusually of all, in any of the sites, The elder machines and original organism fossils were vivisected and also arranged in the same higher-geometric patterns as the fossilized Muuh corpse fields, in most instances at the 180 MYA mark, from far before the Muuh. Outside the entire planet being rebuilt from the molecules up with the correct isotopes, (which is likely within archai capabilities) scholars have yet to find a satisfactory explanation, unless the scholars were to entertain wild local conspiracies, or dramatic Muuh historifics, about the star system being "A place of sacrifice to Things which dwell in the depths of time"

Current Muuh administrations claim ignorance, or ignore questions about the history of the planet, and the five Muuh colonies with any contemporary records of the star systems in that local volume of space possess only obviously fictionalized, very mundane surveys or have no record of the colony's existence, saying "records indicate we never colonized this world" or "we did not continue colonizing the system for it seemed unsuitable in the long term" depending on which Muuh authority is asked. No publicly available knowledge confirms whether the mysteries of the planet are actually a Muuh taboo, a truly forgotten colony, or something else. Records beyond standard astronomical data only present the system before its colonization, and several surveys during the 6-1 mya period, by showing four of the planets with survey information clearly copy-pasted or procedurally generated based on data from nearby Star systems to replace whatever existed before.

While the Muuh have recently invented several thousand historifics about the "Things which dwell in Time" or of "immortal ancient cults" who created the the "rediscovered" ruins, Terragen scholars have settled upon three more concrete theories, using the available evidence.

1. The Muuh population of the planet had discovered the fossilized remains of the earlier race's ritual burial, and imitated them while attempting some form of hive mind or collective coordination using the system of response, and abandoned their bodies in a form of elaborate artwork or religious ceremony or ritual before they mutilated and arranged themselves, or uploaded their minds into a cybercosm- or abandoned their bodies for another unknown purpose. These remains might have then been carefully preserved via artificially induced fossilization by the system of response. Several scholars also posit that the Muuh's discovery of this earlier species' "burial ritual" might be the original inspiration for the Muuh to create their taboo megastructures… whatever purpose they might have (if indeed the Muuh/System of Response actually created them). This remains the most widely accepted explanation in academic circles (publicly) despite the lack of explanation for the earlier species' similar fossilization.

2. The second most popular theory posits that The system of response imitated a burial ritual of the original species, which might also have used a hive mind. The System of Response on the planet recreated the patterns of the first races for an uploading event into a Muuh cybercosm, possibly a form of very sophisticated and elaborate bioweapon, and unleashed it accidentally, or on purpose, into the population while becoming a blight, which caused the carefully arranged the bodies across the entire planet, for unknown purposes. Unfortunately, most of these explanations don't fully explain how or why the original races was buried and fossilized in such a mutilated and carefully arranged fashion millions of years before, even if it used a hive mind, and apparently, space travel.

3. The third most popular theory posits that the entire planet is an elaborate fake of some kind, either somehow created by a present day archailect, the System of Response, or some other xenosophont entity with archailect-level abilities, at some point in the past. Fabricating an entire planet, and even components of a star system down to the molecular/atomic level to correspond correctly with atomic dating, micrometeorites, and other methods, is very far fetched, but suspected to be within present day archai capabilities. Any fabrication by present day archai seems least likely, if only because multiple correctly dated Muuh records of the planet exist independently from known sephirotic contact, even if they were faked, or fictionalized at the time of their creation. Also, there are no known telescopic observations of any Terragen exploration prior to the "rediscovery". In the unlikely event that a present day archai did fake the entire discovery, it would have happened in full public and telescopic view of nearby star systems, as the excavations proceeded. This is, again, within suspected archai capabilities, but not favored as a theory. For this reason, archeological scholars favor the idea that an unknown archailect-like entity fabricated the entire planet at some point in the distant past.

4. The fourth most popular theory is that the Dawn Hunters, whatever they were, created the burial sites on the world of Charn, including the most recent one, which was part of the collapse of the Muuh empire. The destruction and systematic 'burial' of the Elder civilization 180 million years before, in a similar way would also therefore become one of the only other confirmations that the Dawn hunters (whatever they were) ever existed, independent of Muuh records. This would also imply they existed for a much longer period than previously known, or were imitating some earlier race/entity with similar behavior. The Jacks are not favored as a possibility simply because their presence does not correspond to the timing of any fossil layers.

A small percentage of the Muuh historifics generated soon after these investigations occasionally entertain the Terragen theories as well, but the Muuh focus far more simulations, stories, and "alternative theories" on the more malevolent possibilities. Their historifics describe an advanced hive mind - based affine/bioweapon, or an elaborate cover-up for an atrocity by a rogue node of the system of response, or, sometimes, the dramatic fantasy stories describe a mad cult who sacrificed the population their planet to "The Things which Dwell in Time" to "give immortality to the Muuh species", or that the act was performed directly by something else (usually performed by a swarm of Muuh actors with black-dyed shells) . The Muuh historifics focus far more on the possibilities for the earlier species, and why they might have arranged themselves the way they did, or even intentionally fossilized their bodies, and what entities, Muuh based or not, might have inflicted such horrors on several species across the course of millions of years.

Most troublingly, the multiple Muuh archival institutions (rated near a Muuh high point for truth at 80% "non-speculative/revisionist" by Terragen authorities) have all publicly endorsed a theory that the Muuh at the time never knew anything of the earlier race and instead, some predatory entity (potentially "the Dawn Hunters") living in, or near the planet, or "from beneath space itself", might be responsible for this. According to this legend, this entity had attacked the species across the 180MY time period independently, then arranged the bodies into their gruesome patterns, induced their fossilization, and one day soon, the same fate might fall to whichever Terragens remain in the star system.

Coincidentally, the timing of the present day aligns with the next cycle for the periodic patterns of fossil burials on Charn. In response to this fact, a small number of Terragen clades in the region have begun burying their old or used sleeve bodies in similar patterns to the Charn burial sites, either as a form of respect, or as a prank to the future, when they move on to a new body.

A joint security council of the archailect Breaking Dawn and various nodes of the System of Response have since quarantined the planet from further public use or development, though development of new Terragen colonies in the stellar region continues.

~Muuh Historifics: Muuh narrative art combining fact and fiction
To human eyes, Muuh simulations are monocrome and have poor resolution; this is the climactic scene in The Three and the One, a tragic tale of betrayal

Historifics are a unique genre of Muuh art combining characteristics of fiction and factual literature, most often in the form of a virch. In all Muuh subcultures creation of historifics is one of the most common pastimes, and the most elaborate ones are often considered to be an individual's greatest achievement. They are among the most influential Muuh contributions to Terragen and other xenosophont cultures, and are known and popular in large portions of the Terragen Sphere.

In order to understand historifics one must take into account the unique Muuh view of time and history. Like other beings, the Muuh often look to their history for inspiration and guidance. Information about the past is immensely valuable to all sophont life, and in fact it is one of the few characteristics common to all sophonts. However the Muuh perception of time leads to a sense of the relative irrelevance of all but the most pivotal historical events. Changes in memeplexes, fads and fashions in art or technology, or shifts in the politics of most other species are simply so fast that the Muuh are incapable or unwilling to keep up with them. Even the past borders of empires can become, given enough time, a rather unimportant subject.

Over the course of their history, the Muuh have witnessed the rise and fall of several MEECs, and had contact with civilizations rivaling the Sephirotic empires at various times in the past, and seem likely to do so again in the future. Researchers believe that this has caused the Muuh to consider a sufficiently elaborate and plausible fiction about the past to be just as valuable as information about real events. This tendency goes beyond mere simulations of possible events: from the Muuh point of view all adequately plausible scenarios can be considered to have actually happened. In fact the Muuh words for historific and history are the same. This aspect of Muuh culture is considered to be one of the main reasons for difficulties encountered when researching the Muuh's past. It is common for the Muuh to have several, often radically different, versions of events in their archives. Because of that, every account found in Muuh records has to be painstakingly cross-referenced, turning even simple inquiries into extensive and tedious affairs.

Historifics are not actually as unreliable as they might first seem. While only one account of events is true, others show what could have happened had the circumstances been different. Thus historifics often provide deeper insight into events than simple historical records. Further, there are ways to distinguish between history and historifics. Almost all authors provide subtle hints to help with this task. These range from slightly different positioning of the stars or altered atmospheric mixtures to much subtler things pointing the user towards the correct conclusion. In fact it could be argued that to the Muuh, hiding and finding these clues is a challenge and even game of its own.

Strict requirements must be met in order for a historific to be accepted. The author must spend a considerable amount of time researching the subject and even more time testing various versions of eir work in virches. The work is later scrutinized by other Muuh and subjected to a several-centuries-long review process, before it is even considered to be worthy of publication.

One of the most notable examples of Muuh historifics are the accounts of first contact with Terragen civilization. Several of them portray vastly different versions of the Terragen empires. Among others, Crystal Spires and Solar Radiance are vastly popular accounts among Terragens. Some researchers have noted that the Muuh seem to, rather uncharacteristically, provide only one or a few historifics of some events. Notably, records of first contact with Terragen civilization are in this category. Whether this is an example of Muuh taboo or simple wariness is unknown. When questioned regarding this, Muuh informants usually reply that sad literature is not for everyone.

~Muuh Iceship
An interstellar spacecraft created by the Muuh from an icy object such as a comet. The maximum velocity of these ships rarely exceeds 1% of light speed; the slowest ships travel at a velocity only slightly above the escape velocity of the originating system. The Muuh have very slow metabolisms and long lifespans, so they can afford to wait while these slow craft travel between the stars. For fuel the ice ships use fusion of various kinds, or sometimes antimatter boosted fusion.

Muuh antimatter creation is a very slow process, converting magnetic energy, geothermal power or wind power into antimatter in particle accelerators, the design of which has apparently not changed in millions of years.

The motors are clustered together behind the ice object, which provides both fuel and propellant. These motors are angled to avoid the central tether, a very strong carbon nanotube thread plated with a metallic sheath to reduce erosion. Trailing some way behind the motors is a radiation shield, a hollow tungsten block filled with ice.

At the far end of the tether is a Muuh habitat, a simple cylinder filled with ices, nutrients and accommodation for the Muuh crew, who spend most of the journey in a state of low activity.

~Muuh Pylons: Enigmatic objects created by automated Muuh systems
A fragment of a Muuh Pylon discovered embedded in the small icy world YTS 99325-2710

Snapshot: 'The Unmentioned'

The dark hydrocarbon soil crunched under the feet of the two vecs and their Muuh companion as they made their way (at a very gradual pace) to the next impressive coral structure- a congregation center, if the hexapodal alien was to be believed. First-to-Fix had insisted eir lifetime vec friend Tends-to-Dawdle come along on this excursion, to which the for-once insatiably curious vec readily agreed. Any Terragen biont would be long bored by now. Several standard hours had passed since they had left their alien acquaintance's modest little dwelling by a burbling ethane stream, but the vecs paid no mind; spending some time ingratiating themselves with flesh-and-blood xenosophonts would be worth a hike. Indeed, slowing down their clocks to compensate for their Muuh guide granted an interesting, if temporary, perspective. At Muuh-speed, the processes that shaped this cold, hazy world took on a new light.

The shallow river that fed the stream near the Muuh's home began to ripple in ways that were not visible on timescales that the average vec (or biont) preferred. Gentle wind flows that blew into the fluctus scattered the sand in rapid, miniature sandstorms. In the distance another set of buildings- tagged by the two vecs' exoselves as one of the tholin baths- gave off tall plumes of methane 'steam' and a quote from a Muuh 'historific' they had studied bloomed in the vec's minds. The fumes boiled rapidly into whimsical shapes as the vecs watched, before bellowing further into the upper atmosphere to form wispy clouds which raced through the sky.

Of course their guide too was now animated further by the vec's adapted clockrate. The Muuh, who at first appeared as a being so glacial as to be nearly impossible to converse with now seemed almost hyperactive, with speech sonorous and eager. Sonar transmitted from the alien formed complex ideograms that brushed pleasantly across the vec's metal integument. They had learned xeir name from these ideograms; used them when the two sophonts first met the Muuh, "Adores Building Upon Soft Sands" one standard day ago. The Muuh's name seemed disturbingly appropriate though, given xeir shifting answers or utter silence on certain...archeological matters.

"So what was that 17 kilometer long fractal obelisk covering most of the north horizon?" asked Tends-To-Dwadle. "One of our colleagues had it measured as several million years old, built at the beginning of your local records"

Their Muuh guide gave a happy shrug with xeir arms "The little stones have lain here sleeping for so long we thought best to leave them! Let us stop and I'll show you something else!"

"…little stones?" asked one of the vecs.

"There're so many little stones we carved a short while ago down here!" babbled the Muuh, who continued avoiding the first question, and instead pointed at a nearby gully and pond.

The two made a mental note- that on this colony world too, the locals still maintained The Taboo, apparently. The trio stopped as Soft Sand halted on the crest of a hill, with the somewhat fungal-looking building standing just a kilometer away now. Both vecs' ever-vigilant infrared eye scopes rendered the nitrogen haze clear to see their destination.

A flicker of movement made First-To-Fix's sensorium twist to meet it, finding a curious sight in a small methane puddle. A slippery crawling thing was digging through the oily pond, tendrils probing into the mud as First-To-Fix accelerated eir clockrate and stalked down the hill. The being didn't acknowledge the vec as e sank into the puddle alongside it, content to do whatever it was doing as e watched, metaphorical gears turning as query programs were launched to find out what this curious thing was. "Muuh bot; presapient biobot of ancient design used by the Muuh xenosophonts used for a myriad of purposes, requiring strict directions by their…" The voice of First-To-Fix's assistant carried down as e and Tends-To-Dawdle made their way languidly down the hill, rolling water ice pebbles and brown puffs of hydrocarbon dust lurching to a crawl as the pair went to meet the Muuh machine.

"Ahhh, my servitor has found it!" exclaimed Soft Sands, who had begun moving xeir claws across the side of the biobot. Eventually the Muuh commanded the oil-slickened automaton away, and plunged an excited, dextrous claw into the methane pond to retrieve a hunk of stone as intricately carved as xeir shell from the surrounding water ice gravel. "Going by the marks, this was a discarded souvenir from one of the first negotiators with your kind to our world, not that long ago." hummed their Muuh guide "We made so many, they got strewn across the landscape during festivals in our excitement at the news of newcomers".

"And when precisely was that?" asked both Terragen vecs.

"This happened only a thousand years before now"

"Ah. A prize indeed then. " said Tends-to-Dawdle. "Perhaps you could tell us more about those festivals?"

"Gladly! The meeting between my ancestors and your hive was quite inspiring! I'll tell you of this as we walk toward the congregation center" babbled the Muuh.

And the three moved onward, with the mysterious , unmentionable monoliths towering on the horizon beyond the haze.
Composed of diamondoid and covered by a thin mesh of magmatter, these enigmatic pylons are perhaps the most iconic structures created by the automated Muuh colonisation devices known as Muuhformers. The Muuh do not currently seem to possess any technology capable of manufacturing magmatter, so the origin of this exotic material is unknown. It may have been acquired at some time in the long history of this race, or perhaps manufactured in some location that has not yet been identified.

Pylons are always created by the automated system at the end of its period of activity, when the world is fully habitable. These structures are, without exception, completely ignored by the Muuh. In fact when questioned the Muuh appear to be completely ignorant of the structure several hundred kilometers long in their star system and will refuse to acknowledge them or discuss them even when shown direct evidence. This behavior is consistent even among very distant and isolated Muuh colonies, suggesting something that goes beyond mere memetics.

The automated Muuh defence system known as the System of Response prevents any closer inspection of the Pylons. However, several fragments of structures presumed to have once been part of Pylons have been discovered in several locations in the Terragen Sphere. These fragments contain an intricate fractal-like patterns and structures resembling three-dimensional projections of higher dimensional objects. As with the pylons, the Muuh remain silent about these, and appear strangely distracted and forgetful if a non-Muuh attempts to engage them in conversation on the topic.

~Muuh Taboo: A catalogue of subjects that the Muuh are reluctant to discuss
The Sleeping Popsicle, a Muuh ice-ship

One of most curious attributes of the Muuh xenosophonts and their meta-culture is tendency to avoid, misinform or even deny existence of certain objects and concepts. This tendency has been dubbed the Muuh Taboo by researchers mainly for lack of a better term.

Despite numerous attempts by empais, transsapient diplomats and uncountable modosophonts, there are only a handful of recorded instances of the Muuh breaking this Taboo, all of them with disastrous results for the parties involved.

Topics
Researchers have so far identified over one thousand topics fitting the definition of taboo. Most of these have hundreds or more virches, monographs and papers devoted to them and entire teams of transapient researchers working on them.

Among the most notable topics are:
* Muuh Pylons
* Location of original Muuh homeworld
* The nature of the Dawn Hunters
* Reasons for the stability of the Muuh meta-culture
* Reasons for stability of the Muuh phenotype
* The Ultima Gate
* Isolation of Letavec enclave
* The reason for, and extent of, the Muuh Taboo itself
Nature of the Taboo Phenomenon
Current research has led to the conclusion that the Taboo goes beyond mere memetics and is in fact physiological in nature. why such a radical limitation exits and what party is responsible for it remain unknown. It is believed that this limitation was implemented by an entity of at least the 4th toposophic level, since no Terragen entity below this level has been able to safely break through this barrier. However direct comparisons between Terragen archailects and xenosophont entities are highly problematic.

Incidents
The Taboo was broken on only handful of unusual occasions, each time with catastrophic results. These incidents have led to several treaties now respected in most Sephiriotic polities. In most of these instances the Muuh defence AI, the System of Response, was capable of limiting the impact of these events. Listed here are several of the least fortunate incidents.
The Ergopolian Incident
In 9781 AT a semi-hider habitat the Ergopolis discovered a long-dormant Muuh ice-ship that was dubbed the Sleeping Popsicle for its shape (resembling an ancient terran candy). Initial inspection by local transapient PrinceLector revealed that several inhabitants of the vessel sustained only minor injuries and could be revived.

The government of Ergopolis saw this as way to change course of the entire society, if the revived Muuh revealed some of their secrets or possibly granted access to their archives out of gratitude, the Ergopolis could stop its hider tendencies and return into Sephiriotic periphery as formidable polity.

Records of later events are contradictory and often corrupted. Nevertheless some basic facts can be considered granted.
* The dormant Muuh were successfully revived
* Their mental state was out of their species norm
* The Ergopolis government attempted extract information from Muuh
* New technologies and memesets were introduced into Ergopolis society
* Several ascensions occurred
* Soon afterwards the local society collapsed, leaving only a few survivors behind
Vessels from neighboring polities responded to calls for help coming from Ergopolis only to find on their arrival that all the habitats were empty and bore marks of considerable armed conflict. A few survivors were recovered, all of them equipped with undocumented genemods and with considerable nano augmentations.

The phenotype of the survivors was not similar to any of the clades inhabiting Ergopolis, or even more disturbingly, any other known clade in the Terragen Sphere. The System of Response requested immediate transfer of all surviving individuals, isolation of area, memetic and psychological evaluation of any modosophonts and transapients who came in contact with Ergopolis and return of any Muuh technology still present. These requests were complied with except for return of survivors, these later appeared in Transform:Eternal polity where they were given an O'Neill cylinder to inhabit.

Today they still live under supervision and care of the local transapient Foo();.
The Sponges of Nunshi
In 10205 AT Nunshi, a system in Perseus, was settled by a group of isolationist cryo-adapted neogens of the same name. Unknown to them, the system was also the destination of the Muuh vessel Look-Oh-There[1]; at this time the Nunshi had not received any prior information about the Muuh, and were unaware of their existence.

When Muuh arrived they were initially welcomed by the Nunshi heirarchy as a fellow Terragen cryo-clade. Unfortunately for the Muuh the settlers belonged to the NeoUrak/Eternity sect of Terragen supremacists. When the true nature of Muuh became apparent the Nunshi imprisoned the Muuh and later subjected them to interrogation, experimentation and torture.

Thanks to detailed recordings made by the Nunshi it is possible to reconstruct the following events with great accuracy, at least up to the point at which the taboo was breached. The Muuh resisted all attempts of their interrogators to break their taboo, so the Nunshi utilized a rare form of mindgoo, possibly a gift-tech of Panvirtuality origin.

What exactly occurred after that is uncertain. The records are thought by many to be either corrupted or falsified given the unlikelihood of the events they describe. The only certain thing is that 37 standard years after this meeting the Nunshi sent a call for help in direction of the nearest settled system.

When a combined force of System of Response craft and the local transapient Alfonso of Eridani arrived, they found the Nunshi habitat devastated and no survivors. In fact the entire habitat was empty except for thousands of sponge-like organisms forming a continuous mat over the colony's floors. The System of Response quarantined the entire system for a century and destroyed the Nunshi habitat along with all records and organisms on board. However Alfonso created a copy of these records before the purge and later distributed them to the Sephirotic Empires.

Rumors that Alfonso or a possible third party took samples of sponges or copied their genome appear unfounded. Nevertheless several megacorps and at least one Genen family have claimed that they received a copy of the genome of a similar organism.

[1] Part of a longer name in the Muuh language, detailing the journey of ship and its origins.

~MUUH1 Low Emission Zone Signal
High Energy Emission Civilisations detected at long range in the Milky Way Galaxy to date, as well as the 'Low-Emission Zone'

Within the archives of 12 Muuh colonies in the Pluton volume, several Muuh historifics mention a series of messages sent from the direction of the Scutum-Crux Arm/near NGC 368 of the Milky Way, which described a now-undetectable branch of Muuh civilization at the same (or higher) level of advancement and expansion as the Terragen sphere. The signals described in their historifics reached their (currently) Terragen-adjacent colonies between 14.85 and 14.7 million years ago, depending on which colony's records mention the messages. These dates correspond to an alleged collapse of the Muuh civilization from unknown reasons. Similar to the Triangulum Transmission, and Pas'utu'ril transmission, the messages reportedly described a civilization in detail - here with full megastructures, black hole brains, Muuh cybercosms with Muuh-like and very un-Muuh-like virtuals, Muuh colonies inhabiting planets with a wider range of temperatures, and varieties of the System of Response far more similar to 6th singularity archailects than the form known to Terragens. Several historifics described the message as a broadcast from the "Greater Muuh" civilization, with all colonies known to Terragens as "lost Muuh colonies". Five other historifics of the signal consistently described the "greater" civilization as "bad, foolhardy, too loud, and too resource intensive" and the Terragen-proximate Muuh colonies as "safe" and "quiet", "pure".

However, none of the Muuh colonies' archive groups revealed their possession of these historifics of the signal until several centuries after Terragens had fully confirmed the existence of the Milky Way's Low Emission Zone (which is located near the signal's supposed origin), and shared their historical observational data with the Muuh, and the Muuh had shared general historical maps of the galaxy within their records in return, in diplomatic discussions between 8500-9100AT with a Muuh Historical Library deep within Muuh territory. Most of the content of the secondhand Muuh records surrounding the Scutum-Crux message were speculative recreations of the ancient civilization that had apparently vanished and left a swath of dead worlds in that region of the Milky Way currently called the "Low Emission Zone". The lack of any xenosophonts or even known garden worlds in that region generally fit observational data already shared with the Muuh by Terragens, though Terragens have yet to find many cinder systems in the region, as might be expected. Any simulations of the historical positions of the stars in question have offered only ambiguous conclusions. In addition, the archives of these Muuh colonies used records systems with flexible/editable date stamps, and had been copied too many times for true authentication. Therefore, most Terragen xeno-historical institutes have concluded the true creation dates of these records (and all of the records of the signals and their content) might have been fabricated as an exciting speculative fiction story in response to what the Terragens (or possibly even an earlier civilization) had discovered.

The record closest to physically confirmable came from the secondhand source of a Muuh museum ship that had traveled from the same region as the Scutum-Crux signal. A preserved version, or recreation, of this Muuh museum ship had sat preserved in a tomb/library on the colony of Pluton Yarr for the past 3 million years at minimum, as far as Terragen exopaleontologists have been able to determine with any certainty. The preserved craft had held fifty variants of a historific in which an advanced Muuh-inhabited Dyson Swarm, or methanogenic planet, named World of the Nonlinear Crystals (depending on the story version) "fearfully left this universe/reality" by methods ranging from uploading into solipsist cybercosms around (observable) stars in the Low Emission Zone to physically impossible methods like backwards/branching time travel. In these historifics, their reasons ranged from "because they wished to do so" or "the cybercosms seemed more interesting and sustainable" to "they wished to escape The Things Which Dwell in Time". Terragens have found no physical evidence to confirm any of these possibilities yet, beyond the record-keeping spacecraft itself.

Completely absent from the historifics of these signals, of course, was any information that clearly fell within the Muuh Taboo. Nothing resembling a known Muuh pylon exists in the records of the Scutum-Crux signals (or in any observational data of the real Low Emission Zone). Even if the Low Emission Zone has existed for 14.8, or even 3 million years, any traces of the version described by the Muuh could have been erased to the point of unrecognizability. The information in some of the historifics might approach (but does not actually directly address) the true location of the Muuh homeworld and the stability of the Muuh culture, both of which would fall within the Muuh Taboo. Whether the "Greater Muuh" civilization is supposed to be actually centered around their original homeworld or is simply an older cluster of Muuh colonies during an expansive period of their long history remains unclear and isn't mentioned in any of the historifics. Therefore, some researchers say this gives further evidence that the entire Scutum-Crux transmission records are completely speculative fictions rather than any kind of half-truth that could breach the Muuh Taboo. As usual, most Muuh institutions have excitedly confirmed all possibilities to be true, at different moments.

Several groups of Terragens in the Perseus region have attempted to create cybercosms and physical fan-recreations of smaller aspects of the "True Muuh" civilization from the secondhand historifics, using neogenic designs and public terraforming equipment/fabricators, in the centuries after learning of the Muuh's historifics about the signals. When they offered to share their recreations with any Muuh however, or allow visiting Muuh representatives to explore any physical fan-recreations of the historifics, the Muuh representatives showed reactions very different from their apparent interest when viewing the historifics as their own non-physical records. Muuh representatives declined, avoided traveling within at least hundreds of AU of the recreations, and cited reasons ranging from detailed but overall contradictory criticisms about the authenticity, to repeated phrases of "this is very unlucky/perverted". Large-scale fan recreations of the "Lost Muuh" myth have since been heavily discouraged or banned by Terragen authorities in the Muuh-adjacent areas, when possible using local laws and treaties. Outside of these regions, several NoCoZo or Cyberia-aligned polities (among others) have continued the fan recreations, though any invitations they have sent to Muuh representatives have remained utterly ignored.

~Muuhformer Minds: Automated systems that prepare worlds for colonisation by the Muuh
A very small number of inactive Muuhformer probes were discovered dotted around the Terragen Sphere before first contact with the Muuh. Why these probes had not completed their task of muuhformation is not clear. Each contains the remains of trillions of denatured microscale terraforming devices, which were examined by exoarchaeologists and determined to be capable of establishing a low-temperature biosphere. However any genetic material originally contained within these probes had been deliberately scrambled, making it impossible to reactivate them. Here is one discovered on JD 554502799 aVII in 7099 AT

During the final stages of the war that eventually destroyed their original empire the Muuh sent out an enormous number of colony ships to distant worlds to ensure survival of their race.

The majority of these worlds were only barely habitable by Muuh standards and extreme modification ('Muuhformation') was required to prepare them for habitation. To prepare these worlds a wave of probes were sent first to establish ecosystems and build habitats so that arriving Muuh could survive. In the highly allusive Muuh language these probes are known as Muuhformer Minds, since they are equipped with competent control systems capable of autonomous decision making.

In the Current Era there are significant numbers of Muuhformer Minds still operating on the edge of Muuh space. These entities provide assistance to relatively recent colonies or build new habitats for future use. Many structures built by Muuhformer Minds have no obvious purpose or seem to be built for other species than the Muuh, as evidenced by environmental factors such as surface gravity and atmosphere. These structures remain without sophont inhabitants and are with few exceptions protected by the System of Response which prevents any access.

Muuhformer Minds have strong animin characteristics and exhibit at least hyperturing skills when it comes to construction of habitats and ecosystems. However they seem to lack any self-preservation instinct and despite many attempts from terragens communicate only with other Muuh constructs, except for brief warnings. It is notable that Muuhformer Minds are intentionally incapable of self-replication. This feature seems to be product of Muuh exceptionally long term thinking and is shared with other Muuh autonomous constructs.

The first derelict Muuhformer Mind was discovered in 6850 AT and was immediately identified as the product of xenosophont civilization; the unknown makers were labelled HIE093CZE by the Hamilton Institute. Since then dozens of Muuhformer Minds both functional and derelict have been discovered. The Ozymandias Institute has recently attempted a synthesis of all current information regarding the Muuhformer Minds, but that project is still incomplete.

~Muuhian Epoch
Local (Perseus-Outer Orion) historical epoch characterized by the Muuhian interstellar civilization; 1.2 to 0.6 mya. Approximately equivalent in time to the middle Pleistocene of Old Earth. The Muuhian Epoch was followed (after a long period of time) by the Auldlimnerian Epoch.

~Tholin Baths
On their icy worlds the Muuh have constructed spa-like structures that utilize liquid methane containing the complex organic molecules collectively known as tholins. Tholins form a sludge that is brownish-red to human eyes, and though in time they settle out of a methane solution they can be kept in a soup-like suspension under certain conditions.

Most Muuh enjoy bathing in such mixtures for hours or even days at a time. It is thought that such liquids mimic the products of natural "hot springs" on the ancient home world of the Muuh. Most Terragens, of course, find the idea of such a "hot" bath (-160° Celsius or so) quite unappealing, despite the rapturous descriptions of the experience in Muuh poetry. Natural tholin spas are highly valued on Muuhome, and artificial equivalents are considered an essential element in Muuh living quarters.

Ruins of a two million year old tholin spa have been found buried under layers of ice on Titan. The ruins apparently date back to the days when the Muuh once had a colony in the Sol System. Two Muuh, known as "Hooclick" and "Missy Muuh" have lately taken to conducting tours of the site, either in person for real visitors to Solsys or as avatars for virtual visitors over the Known Net.

~Ultima Gate: Wormhole of non-terragen origin within the boundaries of Muuh space.
The Muuh fleet surrounding the Ultima Gate, as seen from the edge of the Exclusion Zone

A wormhole with radius of almost 1 kilometer, the Ultima Gate is of non-terragen origin and is located deep within the boundaries of Muuh space. It has long been observed by Terragen telescopes, including the Argus Array. It is guarded by perhaps the largest single Muuh space fleet known, including craft that appear to be autonomous warships analogous to autowars, possible intelligent super-objects capable of offensive action and a cloud of sophisticated nanotech weapons.

The gate is an enigma even for the leading experts on Muuh history and culture. Early theories attributed its construction to the Muuh themselves, but when the Muuh finally granted Terragen researchers access to the Spacial Engineering section of some of their larger archives, it was concluded that the Muuh are, at least now, incapable of producing wormholes of such size and sophistication.

Unfortunately early reports attributing the Ultima Gate to an unknown third party were interpreted by some individuals and sensation hungry news outlets as evidence of Dawn Hunters or other malign entities. This led to a short-lived panic, particularly among certain nearby Hider polities; the Black I faction created thousands of Dawn Beacons as a defence measure. Unusual emissions coupled with increased industrial activity and unwillingness of Black I to communicate were misinterpreted by their neighbors as preparation for conflict, causing an arms race and eventually a short but bloody war. The events of this conflict were popularized by the virch series Readzzzz N8/Best to forget this. This initial reaction eventually faded but the violent events highlighted once again the notorious paranoia of many Hider factions about the Dawn Hunter mythos.

The mystery of the gate's origin is deepened by the Muuh attitude towards it. The Muuh have declined to answer any questions concerning the nature of this structure, and in fact its very existence was repeatedly denied by most Muuh sources even when they are confronted with evidence of its existence. This the gate one of most notorious Muuh taboo subjects. Muuh maps and databases not only omit the structure but go as far as replacing it with a star of equivalent mass. The name of this fictional star can roughly translated as "Listen and not listen gives nothing", and this name is considered by some researchers, most prominently KL/MR++ of the Grand catalog, to carry a hidden meaning perhaps referring to the origin of the wormhole.

History
Even though the Ultima Gate is clearly off limits to Terragens, several diplomats, researchers, missionaries and eccentrics have attempted to approach this system, despite frequent warnings from the Muuh System of Response. A number of diplomatic incidents occurred before the Sephirotic Archailects enforced a strict travel ban into the volume, among them the destruction of an entire research fleet from the Seams and the death of the prominent neo-Zunist prophet Mao-Zunbil Everpresent. Since neo-Zunists consider non-gradual uploading and standard backups to be unacceptable and sinful, and the last backups of the Seams fleet were far from recent, so these casualties were highly significant. This incident led to brief hostilities between the Muuh and the polities involved; luckily only a few skirmishes with few casualties occurred before mediation was successful.

After these incidents only a few institutions were allowed to approach and study the wormhole, all sponsored and under the guidance of major Archai and with the permission of the local System of Response. None of the investigators were allowed to approach closer to the wormhole than 0.7 light-years, but this proximity allowed them to observe the Muuh defence fleet in detail. Curiously the observing fleets were exclusively composed of asimovec-like sophont ships with strict obedience protocols.

In order to enforce the travel ban, a small but powerful joint Terragen fleet has been stationed between sephirotic space and Muuh space. This fleet is tasked with preventing any unauthorised craft from approaching from both directions, and is seen by some individuals as indicative of possible danger coming from the gate. This possibility has neither been denied or confirmed by the parties involved.

Fortifications
The transition of the gate is surrounded by a cloud of objects which have been scanned by the investigating fleet and found to include devices which are almost certainly sophisticated disassemblers, spherical objects with diameters ranging from 10 to 37 mm apparently containing amat, and curious devices that have been labelled cnidae.

Of these the cnidae are of particular interest. The scans indicate that they contained coils of compressed magmatter wire which resemble the cells of the same name present in members of the Terran phylum Cnidaria. Upon release the magmatter wire would penetrate almost any material, creating defects in hull, sensors and computronium. While a single cnida would cause relatively little damage, the cnidae are always deployed in huge numbers. In addition, cnidae often act as nanoscopic syringes, carrying small but dangerous payload of disassemblers.

Any craft attacked by these devices would need to conduct frequent repairs and adjustments to its path in order to avoid greater damage. It is suspected that the cnidae would be used to herd attackers towards other defense systems. This hypothesis is confirmed by records of the destruction of the neo-Zunist fleet.

The cloud is periodically replenished from nearby facilities, researches have noted that levels of production vary in time, perhaps in response to so far unknown stimuli. A number of suspected fortress ISOs presumably associated with the System of Response or other less known entities is known to be in the area, as well as numerous Muuh autowar analogs. In addition, the gate is orbited by several clusters of powerful single-shot particle cannons targeting the gate itself. The apparent intention being to collapse the gate using the mass and momentum of discharged particles.

Experts have noted that the cloud itself does not appear to be a very good form of defense, in fact it seems very likely that any entity capable of creating a wormhole of such complexity could easily bypass or destroy all Muuh defenses in the area.

Nevertheless, the insistence of Muuh on such defenses and the amount of resources they have invested in them suggest that whatever is on the other side is of great concern to the Muuh; perhaps the threat (if any) is of a comparable toposophic level to the Muuh and these defences would be adequate, or perhaps the Muuh are acting irrationally due to fear. Another possibility is that the fleet is a diversion, and the main defences are not detectable. Over the millions of years of their history the Muuh appear to have acquired several forms of advanced technology from various sources - for instance they possess a non-trivial quantity of magmatter, a material which they do not appear to be currently capable of manufacturing. Did they make this material themselves, long ages past? Or was it a gift from some other civilisation? If so, what other gifts did they receive?

Armaments appear to have been added to the fleet over many millenia. Excavations detected by early expeditions on the remains of an unnamed local Stevensonian planet suggest that the Muuh used it as source of material almost four million years ago. This implies that the gate is at least as old as Muuh colonization of the region. Another fact to note is that the closest Muuh settlement is located almost 70 light years away, a considerable gap in the otherwise homogenous Muuh colonization pattern in this volume.

Recent Developments
In the last three centuries various sources have reported increased activity in the region, Muuh, Sephiriotic and even several Panvirtuality ships appeared in the region, speculated to be carrying clarketech weaponry.

Unconfirmed reports also speak of Metric ghosts in the region. Some of these phenomena resemble those commonly associated with Black Angels and other >S5 metric engineering. All archai have so far declined to answer any questions related to gate, although an avatar of Yave provided this cryptic note:
All we are doing now the Muuh have done eons ago. We must hope that we won't *listen and see* like they did.