Selde

"Angering a Selde Giant almost always ends up with her devouring you, you have been warned". A foreign relations message for any small species which has it's origins in warnings passed between "Normal" Selde.
The Selde (pronounced Sell-Day) are the native DragonKin of the planet Seldeynia. Their average lifespan is around 2100 years for 'Normal' and around 4750 for 'Giant'.
==Overview ==
The Selde are an all-female species of DragonKin that are, on average, around 15ft tall for 'Normal', and around 45ft for 'Giant'. Male Selde used to exist and were around 2/3 the height of the 'Normal' females (10ft), but were considered obsolete when the females mentally evolved to not need them (around -20312) and realised that two 'Normal' Selde females could reproduce successfully with each other without crippling genetic diversity.
The always all-female Giants were capable of using the puny males to reproduce, but often ended up killing the male in the process either by accident or on purpose.
Once knowledge that all females could successfully interbreed with each other spread to the general population, the entire male population was gradually rounded up and devoured by the females who bid the most for them. This started with the outlawing of Male/Female reproduction and the rights of males vanishing with males from that point onwards considered to be nothing but livestock, with ownership of a male automatically belonging to his mother or failing that, his eldest sister. If a male had no living mother or other female relations, he was considered unowned and could be claimed by any female Selde.
Over several centuries, the male population started to dwindle to unsustainable levels, with even the previously protective owners who had kept their men as pets willing to sell their male children/siblings for the increasingly high prices they were demanding as food.
Other than their size, 'Normal' Selde are generally lanky, with the stronger members having huge breasts. Selde Giants are much fatter in build, with both arm, leg and breast bulk increasing with strength much like all other DragonKin species. Both kinds of Selde have a pattern of spots that cover their neck, face and shoulders which is unique to the individual.
Female Selde have very 'Human' faces, with a minimal snout, small mouth and a human-like nose with two small semi-permeable horns instead of nostrils and 2 sets of Horns which subtly vibrate to sounds allowing the Selde to hear despite having no ears. Their eyes are always a shade of red with a slit iris.
In terms of population, there are around 7 billion 'Normal' Selde and under 3 million 'Giant' Selde. This results in 'Giant' Selde being a minority, and as a result normally end up in command roles, although some choose to take active roles, with a few even being assigned to starships to act as heavy artillery on planetary assignments.
Ancient Selde were technologically advanced, but they abandoned their puny sub-species and only a few of their true kind on their homeworld after removing all trace of their technology in -2,842,334. Theories suggest that 'Giant' Selde are remnants of the Ancient Selde that bred with the 'Normal' Selde.
==Appearance==
Skin Type: Smooth, Small Scales.
Colour Range: Selde are single colour and range from pale grey to medium grey. All Selde have a unique pattern of dark grey spots on their face, neck and shoulders. It is said no Selde in history has ever had the same pattern of spots as another Selde.
Eyes: Selde have average sized eyes in colours that are a shade of washed out red that can almost be pink. Selde eyes also have a large iris with a slit pupil.
Heads: Selde have very human like heads with a very short snout, small mouth with 2 large exposed fangs and an exposed row of sharp teeth on their upper jaw between these two fangs. Selde also possess a human-like nose with two small semi-permeable horns instead of nostrils and 2 sets of Horns on the upper half of their heads which subtly vibrate to sounds allowing the Selde to hear despite having no ears, these are known as hearing horns by many Selde. Selde also possess 3 small horns on each of their cheeks. Selde Giants often possess noticeably larger horns than "Normal" Selde. Selde Males have their hearing horns and nasal horns curve the opposite way to females and have a more prominent snout than a typical female.
Bodies: "Normal" Selde bodies are very similar externally to that of slender humans although lacking human genitalia and females have considerably larger breasts and butts than a human. Selde Giants have considerably bulkier bodies than that of "Normal" Selde, but are still generally lankier than other DragonKin females. All Selde have large, clawed, 3 toe feet and small 4 finger/1 thumb hands with rounded, nail-less fingers.
Tongue: "Normal" Selde have a short two forked tongue, while Selde Giants have a very long two forked tongue.
NOTE: Selde "Half-Giants" share the same appearance traits as a Selde Giant, but are considerably shorter.
==Reproduction==
Selde are Viviparous Hand-Stabber style DragonKin. As only females were able to get Pregnant, it was impossible without technology to tell the gender of the child unless it was a relation with a Selde Giant, who could only produce female children which were more often than not also a giant, although rare cases of Selde Giants giving birth to female "Normal" Selde and the rarer still and exclusively female Selde "Half-Giant" are recorded.
Around -20,132 Selde technology and cultural understanding had reached a point where not only had Selde females learned they could reproduce with other Selde females, but could prove it was not an isolated incident and wouldn't lead to genetic diversity problems. Once this information was spread across the entirety of Seldeynia, male births had dropped dramatically as females were refusing to breed with them. This eventually led to Selde governments from across Seldeynia not only decriminalising the consumption of male Selde by "Normal" Selde females, but also making male/female reproduction illegal and reclassifying Selde males as livestock and removing all of their rights. As their numbers dwindled, the price rich Selde females were paying to eat a male grew higher and higher to the point where the value was so high even Selde females who kept their males alive as pets were willing to sell them as food. In a matter of a few centuries, the entire male population on Seldeynia was devoured to extinction with the few male survivors left isolated and incapable of reproducing further.
Since -20,132, it has been uncommon for a Selde Giant to reproduce with a "Normal" Selde. As it is not unheard of, but records suggest less than 10% on average of Selde Giants were born out of a relation between a Giant and Normal in the years following -20,132.
== Technology ==
Selde technology is very advanced for their era, and can usually outclass any similar technology from their era with ease with their neighbours relying on the scale or quantity of their technology to give them an advantage on the battlefield. As the Selde know their technology outclasses their neighbours, advanced Selde technology is rarely found in a usable state, as any useful piece of technology mounted on ships is rigged to destroy itself should the ship be abandoned/destroyed to prevent it falling into their neighbours hands. The Selde fleet is a force to be feared, should it ever actually combine it's numerous forces.
==Culture==
The Selde operate on an open culture with minimal government involvement in day to day affairs, although certain old habits refuse to die. All these old habits relate to the Selde Giants and often involve Selde Giants eating people, something which is illegal for "Normal" Selde but not for Giants.
The Selde, both "Normal" and Giant, are unusual as they are not ruled by their military, but by civilians. Each settlement (village, town or city) is ruled by a Selde Giant whose family has historically ruled that settlement for millennia, while the population in general is ruled by the Giant who rules the capital, an unusual position that is not hereditary, but based on personal strength, this results in frequent leadership changes as the ruler of the capital is normally the largest and strongest giant around. This Giant has total power over the entire species, but has to choose at least 3 advisers who can overrule her decisions if they all agree, these 3 advisers represent the Military, the Civilian Populace and "Foreign Relations", with the Military adviser generally considered to hold the most power and "Foreign Relations" to hold the least. Should the Capital's ruling Giant or any of the 3 advisers be challenged for their rule by another Giant, the 2 Giants must duel with fists until one either gives in or dies, the winner gains the right to rule, as well as the right to choose the old ruler's or adviser's fate, most Giants choose to devour the loser, but some choose to let the loser go, as long as they do not return.
The ruler and adviser challenges are an elaborate ritual, requiring a signed letter to the ruler or adviser to invoke the challenge, with basic qualifications such as being at least the rank of Captain for the Military Adviser being checked and approved before the actual challenge is allowed to go ahead. Once the background checks are approved, usually in less than a week, the challenge is made public and a date for the ritual combat is set, with the ritual combat being a major public event that is heavily bet upon across not just Selde space, but also some of their neighbours.
Below every Giant ruler consists of a small army of "Normal" Selde who enact her wishes and keep things running from day to day. It is not impossible for a "Normal" Selde to rule a settlement, but it is highly unlikely due to the hereditary nature of the position and Giants being extremely unwilling to publicly accept having a "Normal" child.
Should a Selde commit a serious crime and be put in prison for life, the Giant ruling the town, village or city where the prison is located has the right to kill any Selde with a life sentence, the ruling Giant also takes care of every Death Sentence, although the fate is not set, with the Giant sometimes devouring the prisoner or crushing them with their large body.
The Selde maintain contact with many human species, and a few DragonKin species, such as the Shadraxians and Sealachans. These relations often get tested by Selde Giants but are mostly peaceful with the few wars that have started remaining small. The exception is the Algranians. The Algranians and the Selde have despised each other since first contact and a small area of un-owned space between their own areas of space, known as the Selde-Algranian Neutral Zone, is imposed by the Sealachans and the Shadraxians to stop the two species from going into full blown war.
Selde clothing conventions dictate all clothing should show cleavage and show a large portion of the belly. This convention likely stems from the days when males still existed, and females would show their bodies off as intimidation. This convention is not insisted upon and either belly OR cleavage can be covered without much fuss, but those who cover their belly AND cleavage are considered weak examples of the species and often find their way into the nearest Giant's belly at worst or face ridicule for being weak at best. As a result of these conventions, Selde military uniforms show an unusual amount of bare scales even by DragonKin standards.
==Near Extinction==
By the end of 2031, due to the final battle of the Selde-Algranian War, the Selde were considered an endangered sentient species, with less than 1.2 billion survivors spread across their colonies, the remainder of the Selde Fleet, and those rescued from Seldeynia by the Shadraxians. Of these survivors, very few are Selde Giants, as very few Selde Giants would live on a colony unless they were it's ruler, while the Shadraxians only saved "Normal" Selde from Seldeynia under both the logic that more lives would be saved that way, and because of an almost universal disliking of Selde Giants among the Shadraxians. The remaining Selde Giants are mostly found onboard the remnants of the Selde Fleet or ruling a colony.
==Notable Selde==
*Gretchen Serai - Ex-Captain of the Military's Exploration Fleet's Flagship
*Gargantine Kersal - Military Adviser and Fleet Marshal
*Jaqui Hrasai - Bounty Hunter
*Fangra - Selde "Half-Giant"
Category:Selde
Category:Species