Arod/Arod (Archived)

## General

Arod is a planet - for lack of a better term - orbiting a star near Cavious. Existing for what has shown to be billions of years, the core of Arod’s asteroid belt is nothing more than a lifeless rock, covered in craters and devoid of even the most simple plant life. From a distance, however, it glows dimly, bringing color to the asteroid belt surrounding it, adding color and a strange beauty to both the belt surrounding it and the vastness of space. The asteroid belt itself, however, is perhaps the most interesting part. Hardy varieties of moss grow on the asteroids surrounding the ancient planet, alongside micro-bacteria. The asteroids come in all shapes, sizes and compositions, with the majority of them being composed of a bluish stone that is laden with several minerals of low value, but surprisingly high nutritional value - at least, to the denizens of this area.

Finding a place to land a ship shouldn’t prove much of an issue, if you have tethering or suction landing gear; there are plenty of large asteroids flattened out by the Arodians for the occasion. Flying through the belt, however, can prove troublesome due to the density of asteroids in a few locations, so don’t attempt it unless you have a small, maneuverable ship. It is not recommended you leave your ship, either, unless using specialized gear; Arod has far too low of gravity to reliably keep you in a location, and it can obviously prove very hard to stop yourself if you gain any sort of momentum. Arod also lacks a real “atmosphere”, though, so do not leave your ship without oxygen supplies. Arod also lacks “days”; general timekeeping methods should work, because of this, and Arodians do not track time as many other races do.

## Natives

   Arod’s most interesting aspect is its populace, approximately 1,200 strong. They are a race of what could be best described as “serpentine space creatures”, with long green bodies and teardrop shaped heads. These heads contain a singular black eye with an orange pupil capable of seeing objects over vast distances (at least a few hundred miles), at the cost of not seeing as wide of a variety of colors as many of the local races (most shades of green are just seen as a generic green, for example). Their bodies - directly attached to their heads of course - are quite long, averaging about two meters in length, not counting their heads, and are smooth to the touch. They end with a glistening orange tail typically making up about the last five or so inches of their bodies, with the purpose of it being unknown at this time. A note, however, should be made about their mouths. Their mouth is positioned a bit on the underside of their head, and while it is perfectly capable of speech (Arodians generally are soft-spoken, believe it or not), it does not resemble any kind of mouth on any other species. It is highly suggested you do not look into it, for you’ll be greeted by several rings of conical teeth and a mess of other barb-like ones. They also have little control over when they “bite”, for lack of a better term, often doing so the second any sort of solid object enters a short distance within their mouth, which can cause great injury.

Arodians mostly have a diet of rocks and small plants, favoring small rocks rife with minerals, and are capable of slight photosynthesis, not unlike the Boggobians, albeit on a much lower level. They are also resistant to cold and heat, being able to survive on Freaze without protective gear and on Firim when sitting on cool (comparatively) ground, a byproduct of their life in the extreme environment of space. Arodians can coil with surprising strength, and can actually weigh a good deal despite their environment. They are also rather smart, with their average intelligence rating, at least from the 100 tested, ranking relatively highly against many other races tested. However, they spend the majority of their time sleeping, and can exhaust themselves rather quickly, making them unreliable in many of the more common work settings. They lack a true system of farming unlike other races, in favor of simply taking what is available to them. Since their diet is composed of an incredibly common resource, however, this doesn’t impede their ability to create culture and a sort of society; they even have what could be called “settlements” built into larger asteroids, which can be home to several Arodians and designed so they they can sleep without the worry of being lost in space; before this, Arodians would usually wrap themselves around comfortable - again, for lack of a better term - asteroids.

Arodians possess elevated senses of hearing for unknown reason (perhaps a product of the times before they lived in space, but this is up for debate) that has yet to be bred out of their population, with this actually contributing to them being some of the sector’s best musical composers, (more on this later). Finally, as is already well known, Arodians are known to be excessively lazy without much reason, which has caused them some difficulty with relationships with others races in the sector due to their complacency, though they can become rather focused and driven when they have a goal to accomplish or when trying to get something they want, though this isn’t necessarily true for their entire race.

## Relationships

Arod is connected to several planets in the local sector, with one of their first alliances being with Cavious; a sort of relationship where Cavious would harvest minerals from Arod in exchange for small ships and communication technologies. More recently, Cavious has become a frequent visiting spot for Arodians, and a location where some can be easily found. Arodians, though infrequently, use the given ships to travel the sector and visit various locations. They generally make their stake in the sector’s economy by allowing other races to mine some of their larger asteroids unfit for Arodian consumption in exchange for massive amounts of wealth. They also export some rare minerals, though this isn’t common, as most of the minerals Arod exports serve little use outside of decoration. Arodians are notable for being large contributors to the orchestral scene, with their performances utilizing a wide variety of instruments, ranging from Gelyern horns to the more recent instruments of the Ranbarumbians and Geolytes, and being able to combine their trademark sounds quite well. A few of them also enjoy positions of high status in several communities across the sector for various reasons, such as their contributions to music and trade proficiency. However, they are not currently on good terms with the Gravitases due to a few illegal mining jobs in Arod’s asteroid belt, and refuse to trade with them.

Arod has never participated in a war or large scale conflict outside of the Meteo Attack and Meteo Wars, mostly due to their nature, with the closest they’ve ever been being a trade disagreement with the Yoojics that has since been solved. However, they are frequently targeted by the Dejehrians, though not directly - ships that have recently been trading with the Arodians have a statistically higher chance of being attacked by them, presumably in hope of attaining rare and valuable minerals. Though this has been damaging their trading prowess as of late, little action has been taken by the Arodians directly, in favor of paying other races such as the already allied Caviousians and the more distant Mekkians to defend trading ships for them, another instance of the trademark laziness of Arodians.