Anobans

> *'A race of hunters turned gardeners, a peculiar race that kept their ancient customs alive through their ascension to the galactic stage. They have razed entire systems only to build them anew, filled planets with life only to study them from orbit. Peculiar indeed, they jealously guard their worlds, all while their core system remains invisible."*
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> - Unknown
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## Overview

A race of insectoids from the planet Anoba, they evolved side by side with the Weavers on their jungle world, though this particular arms race was won by the Anobans, as the Weavers were limited by several factors that prevented their rise to an organized civilization. The Anobans would later go on to uplift the Weavers, and put them on a terraformed world far from Anoban space. Though they left the more primitive versions of the Weavers on Anoba, their significance is lacking and the Anobans reign supreme as the apex predators of Anoba.

They are currently tentatively classified as an "elder species", having been active on the galactic stage for longer than most species, their impact is evident by the unusual abundance of habitable worlds in and around their region of space. This has also left some systems devastated or empty, as the Anobans will moved entire worlds if it suits their needs, most often in pieces. Though the most obvious signs of their presence are their starlifting operations, several stars are currently being slowly harvested to fuel the efforts of this civilization. Though they are "civilized" relics of their past persist, they can be very aggressive and combative, especially when provoked, and have a long standing system of rituals and tests for settling intense disputes between members. Despite this, they are a fairly united civilization, possibly attributed to an abundance of social pressure valves.

The star of the Anoban home system, translated loosely to Wandering Nest has long remained obscured due to the efforts of the Anobans to both harvest and conceal it. In addition to this, it's positioned in the galactic rim. It is thought that no alien race has ever entered the Anoban home system on their own vessels. The only outward signs that the Anobans even exist is their fleets. Spotted far outside Anobans space on occasion, they flee when encountering other space farers and keep their distance from known colonized planets. However, some fleets seem to be both smaller and far more invasive in the affairs are their Xenobiology expeditions. Such expeditions have cataloged countless forms of alien life, some of which extinct. They are known to keep live samples in addition to their data, though whether this elusive race wants to share either is generally unknown.

## Description

The Anobans are a dioecious species with the juvenile and adult stages being radically different. Though there are common features, juveniles and adults occupy separate niches within their environments. A very visual species, nearly all communication is conducted through bioluminescence and posturing. As such they are a crepuscular species with their eyesight very well adapted to low light conditions.

### Juveniles

The young of this species are interesting bunch, radically different from their parents. They possess some form of reduced exoskeleton, relic of their ancestry and as such possess four wings that enable them to fly. Natural camouflage along with their four tails allow their preferred hunting style. The will hang upside down in the forest canopy, waiting for a flying prey item to draw near, then drop out of the trees and grab it with their six limbs before killing it with their stinger. Notable as being prey items for the Proto-Weavers, a fact that later lead to the rapid decline of the weavers. Juveniles will often stick together for safety when not with their parents, often gathering in the canopies of specific trees. What trees a juvenile Is allowed to reside in seems to be related to their social circle, different groups claiming different trees. It is also during these stages where initial courtship rituals begin as young attempt to seek out and identify a mate during the latter stages of this point in their life cycle.

### Adults

It is at this stage in life where they will adopt their speciality, which will define their position in society and standing with other Anobans. The adults of this species are rather imposing as far as predators go, and rather strange in structure. The exoskeleton seems to be almost completely absent, with the adults relying on some strange form of endoskeleton for structure. It is thought that as some point in their past, the exoskeleton slowly began moving inwards. Another difference from what is normally thought of as "insects", they have a closed circulatory and respiratory system, as this would be necessary to support their large brains.

In structure, little separates males from females aside from coloration. Males tend to take on greenish hues, while females take on a more bluish color. Though both are lacking the natural camouflage they had as juveniles. Flightless due to their size, they are terrestrial endurance predators, though they often fall back on the ambush predator ways of their youth. As such the wings are nearly absent, having been repurposed into flaps with eye spots on them. They retain the six limbs, however, and move almost exclusively with their four legs, with two arms being reserved for manipulating the environment, or dispatching prey. All limbs retain digits, with the legs having three, and the arms having six. Two opposable thumbs are present on their "hands" and while the "feet" appear to have an opposable thumb as well, it is just a backwards facing toe as it does not have the necessary range of movement. Their body has three main segments, abdomen, thorax, and head, the legs are connected to the body where the thorax meets the abdomen. The abdomen retains the four tails that were present in the juveniles, though they typically remain coiled against the body, they can be unfurled and manipulated to communicate with others. These tails have a bioluminescent node on the end, and have similar spots along their length, this bioluminescence is controlled consciously by the adult. Without the tails in consideration, the abdomen and thorax are roughly equally sized, though the abdomen is much more rigid. This seems to indicate that it serves as a counterbalance against the weight of the rest of the body. The thorax is a long trapezoid shape with the wider side hosting the neck and head, forming a sort of "shoulders" where the arms attach. It is also host to reduced and disjointed exoskeletal plates, which seem to have some use as a form of light armor. It also hosts the remains of the wings, which have migrated up to just below the neck. When unfurled, it gives the appearance of a massive head to whatever is in front of the adult. The head is by far the most complex. Being rounded, with two short projections on either side of the "crown". It supports the four eyes of this species, though these eyes are divided into sets of two, they are positioned quite differently. The primary set are forward facing and much larger, sitting above a small mouth. The secondary set are smaller, and positioned on the projections on each side of the head, above and behind the external ears. This grants them an unrivaled field of view and allows them to spot threats coming from any direction, it also consumes a good part of their large brains. Above the primary eyes reside the antennae, using muscle alone to support their operation, they are typically tightly furled. The antennae have two rows of fine hairs that form a sort of paddle shape when in use. Despite the large surface area, they are not the best olfactory organs, being more specialized for pheromone detection.