Shi Hi Is Asi

47.8 light years away from otherworld is a decahedral shaped gas giant planet which is home to life, albeit rather strange life.

The local sentient species are not aware that the wider universe exists, so they do not have a name for their planet. We will call the planet Shi Hi Is Asi, or Shihi-isasi, which means "all that there is" in the dominant language of the local sentients. The local sentients divide themselves into two groups, Asina Isi Hazna, or "They Of The Ships", and Asina Isi Rasuna, or "They Of The Ruin(s)". Although the members of these two groups are the same species, they do not have a name for their species as a whole. We can call them "Asina Isi" to refer to the whole species.

Among the clouds of Shihi-isasi are a group of organisms which are difficult to classify. We can call the larger ones "Cloud Complexes". The Asina Isi call them Hi Io Callasa, "That which is home(s)." Smaller ones may be called "Balloon Boxes", "Fisi Hoon" in the local language. To refer to both, we can use the term "Cloud Boxes". Cloud Complexes and Balloon Boxes are very closely related, akin to trees and shrubs, but the Asina Isi do not know this.

Cloud Complexes and Balloon Boxes are living beings. Balloon Boxes range in size from microscopic to the size of a refrigerator or small garden shed. Cloud Complexes range in size from a small cottage to a large hotel. Like plants, Cloud Boxes absorb energy from the sun and use it to convert gases into sugars and proteins. However, they use a different process, not photosynthesis, and their absorbing panels are black, rather than green like the chlorophyll in leaves. Most Cloud Boxes larger than a foot in diameter also have large vents and vacuums for expelling and sucking up gases which are visible to the naked eye.

Cloud Boxes employ various means of keeping themselves aloft in the bottomless skies of Shihi-isasi. Typically, the larger they are, the more complex their propulsion needs to be. They may use heated gas chambers to float like a hot air balloon, helicopter style rotors, jets and wings for gliding like a plane, or any combination of these.

All Cloud Boxes larger than a few centimetres contain many smaller lifeforms inside their many organs and internal chambers. Some of these lifeforms are parasites, but others live in symbiosis with their host Cloud Box, fulfilling vital functions. These functions include defence against parasites or predators, chemical processes, locomotion, or pollination. Pollination is perhaps the most important.

Pollinators are animal species which leave the host Cloud Box and take away a small coloured token. They fly through the clouds searching for another Cloud Box of the same species. By giving the token to the new Cloud Box, they will be allowed to come inside. The token contains genetic information from the original Cloud Box, and the new Cloud Box will place the token in a special compartment where it will be combined with its own genetic material. A baby Cloud Box will then grow in the host's womb. As it grows, it will eventually start to push its way out of its parent. Worker creatures (and sometimes parasites) from the parent will go into the baby as it starts to grow and start performing work for their new host. Once the baby has a full roster of workers, it will detach from the parent and go off on its own.

Some Cloud Boxes will reject pollinators if they deem the token they bring to be inferior. On the other hand, extremely desperate Cloud Boxes will allow in pollinators even if they have no token at all!

Cloud Boxes treat pollinators with great hospitality in return for their token delivery services. They give them a safe place to sleep and produce nectar for them to drink. However, Cloud Boxes won't let pollinators overstay their welcome. Most of them have various means of ejecting pollinators after a certain amount of time or services are given to them.

Cloud Complexes and Asina Isi Hazna have a very special relationship. Cloud Complexes go way beyond the regular old Balloon Boxes. They provide a wide range of intoxicating nectars, nightly entertainment, comfy beds, and even swimming pools and movie theaters! At least, the biggest and best Cloud Complexes have those things. The smallest ones are more akin to a cheap motel in their services. The ritzy, high class Cloud Complexes are, of course, extremely selective in who they'll allow inside, only accepting breeding tokens taken from similarly high class establishments.

Asina Isi Hazna can only fly very short distances on their own. To get from Cloud Complex to Cloud Complex, they fly in Hazna, which are organic ships. The ships are created from living or previously living parts. Some are living creatures which have evolved specifically to perform certain functions in a Hazna Ship. Others are produced by Cloud Complexes in specialized organ factories.

All Asina Isi Hazna must have the mechanical skills to construct Hazna Ships from these parts. Those who cannot will surely die. The technical knowledge required for this is typically passed down from parent to child.

Very skilled Asina Isi Hazna can collect multiple tokens at once, and therefore be able to enter many high class species of Cloud Complexes. Foolish Asina Isi Hazna will give up searching and use up their tokens to get into less accommodating, shabbier Cloud Complexes. The more tactful will try to bargain their way into increasingly flashy ones instead, token by token, Cloud Complex by Cloud Complex.

There are also pirates and bandits among the Asina Isi Hazna, who will attack other Hazna Ships in order to take away their tokens and ship parts.

When Cloud Complexes eventually die, they sometimes leave behind a corpse which is able to remain afloat, at least for a while, rather than sinking down into the depths of the sky and being torn apart by the brutal winds. Sometimes multiple Complex Corpses will clump together to form a very large ruin. These ruins are home to the poor Asina Isi Rasuna, They of the Ruins. These are Asina Isi who, for one reason or another, got stranded. Their Hazna Ship may have lost a vital part, or been destroyed altogether. Sometimes Asina Isi Rasuna can manage to get a Hazna Ship together again and escape the ruin, but most of the Asina Isi Rasuna are doomed to die when the ruin eventually breaks apart. This process, however, can take decades, centuries, or in very extreme cases, millennia. In those cases, whole societies of Asina Isi Rasuna can rise and fall in the ruins before the end.

Asina Isi Hazna are generally not very interested in the natural world or science, so they have not discovered any of the hidden truths of the universe. For the most part, they are interested in selfish indulgence, sweet nectar, entertainment provided by Cloud Complexes, socialising, and their Hazna Ships. They are mostly loners too, flying from Complex to Complex by themselves, or with very small family groups. Pirate bands are an exception to this.

Asina Isi Rasuna societies, however, cut off from those distractions, tend to develop unique behaviours. Some turn into religious cults, some start their own philosophical movements, or art movements, or they start to make scientific discoveries. Unfortunately, the knowledge that their society's existence is limited and doomed to destruction always hangs over their heads.

Interestingly, Cloud Complexes could actually be considered a second form of sentient life on Shihi-isasi. They have a central nervous system something like a computer. This intelligence is rudimentary in many Cloud Complex species, but others seem to have self-awareness. They mostly use their intelligence to monitor their Asina Isi Hazna patrons, and think up advertising strategies for themselves, but they also communicate with other Complexes via radio signals, and even take up creative endeavours. They produce movies primarily for Asina Isi Hazna to watch, while Cloud Complexes themselves prefer novels.

Cloud Complexes come in a wide variety of specialist species. There are Swimming Pool Complexes, Movie Theatre Complexes, Stadium Complexes, Hotels, Restaurants, Nightclubs, Bars, Casinos, and more. Large hotels often are more general, having multiple sub compartments as well. In casinos, Asina Isi Hazna gamble with their most precious items, Tokens, and also Hazna parts as well.

Cloud Complexes maintain a staff of other specially evolved creatures. Some have biological functions, but others exist only to wait on and serve Asina Isi Hazna. Others still exist as entertainers, including dancers, musicians and athletes. Some Complexes also hire Asina Isi Hazna who don't have the appropriate token for entry as a patron. In exchange, they'll eventually get a token and be allowed to leave, but they must work for quite a long time before they are afforded this.

Cloud Boxes have ports to allow exit and entry of pollinators. Balloon Boxes either have only one port, or separate entry and exit ports. Cloud Complexes, however, have one large port where Hazna Ships are parked, and the large port has within it an exit and entry portal, or, in some cases, multiple exit and entry portals.

The clouds of the planet Shihi-isasi are tinted a pale lavender colour, but during sunset they become brilliant glowing orange or pink, depending on atmospheric conditions at the time. During the night, the many bio luminescent markings on Cloud Comlpexes come to life, and the searchlights of Hazna Ships can be seen as they fly around, too.