Annik-Orkal

> "Our ancestors are unknown to us.  However, our history books refer to the 'Twice Hundred', which are known to have turned the blue sky red millenia ago, to protect us from a great evil."
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## Biology and Population

### Sentient Population

Around 3 Billion

Annik-Orkal is a planet located in the Ambrosia Galaxy, located on the outer fringes, and hidden from other species by a thick region of gas and dust known as the Silent Reaches.  On discovery in 89,001 CE by the CHS Hawking during a break in their mission to completely chart the Crown Jewel Cluster, they decided to visit this galaxy that everyone seemed to be raving about.  What they had heard was accurate, and on the way in they detected the telltale signal of life around a M0.7 class star behind a thick dark area called the Silent Reaches.

## Initial Observations

The planet of Annik-Orkal itself is covered in exotic life forms that perfectly evolved to suit its frigid temperatures.  The science team aboard the Hawking pondered why such a planet was here, behind such a thick cloud of dust.  They concluded that perhaps the species that lived here migrated from elsewhere, and chose this location to hide from something.  In this galaxy, it is known that the most powerful force in this galaxy was The C.Y.R.E.X, and perhaps they wanted to avoid it at all costs.

Some of the planets life forms seemed to have been transplanted by these initial settlers, and evolved to suit the new environment, however it seemed that they had inadvetently retained some characteristics of the world they came from.  This included strange-looking leafy-looking vegetation that seemed to be halfway between evolving from a world with a blue star.  Surface operations would be needed to ascertain exactly what was going on here.

## Surface Operations

The first order of business was to send 36 ANDREI drones to the surface to find any advanced species.  First, the information gathered was used to figure out if this species had warp drive or not.  After it was confirmed that they did, they moved on to what the species looked like.  The computer revealed that these were evolved creatures from creatures already encountered - in the 9900sCE.  A reverse search on the species they evolved from revealed that the initial pioneers were of Plu'ani origin, from the planet Mykhatsi.  How those initial pioneers got here was the next order of business, and it was determined that any other species going forward that are evolved from their ancestors were NOT to be divulged to the evolved species for fear of contaminating their mythology.  This would cause a new protocol to be adapted into the Contact Directive, and would come to be known as "The Hawking Protocol".

## The Llaan

The evolved species came to refer to themselves as the Llaan, an Early Type-1 civilization, that apparently decided to live a simpler life than their Type VI ancestors.  The reason why became clear upon starting communication with one of their leaders.  Translated from myth, apparently their ancestors were upset about the way the Elders were handling things back on Mykhatsi, so a couple hundred explorers struck

out on their own.  The Ambrosia Galaxy was so beautiful that they decided to move to an ideal planet there, but away from the core as there was a "great danger" there.  So, the ship they came in was hidden with a powerful force field, and measures were put in place to make sure the future Llaan civilization would never progress past a civilization level that would expose them to the danger that lurks at the core of the galaxy.

The Llaan are much shorter than their ancestors due to the higher gravity, and have a much duller skin coloration.  Their basic body plan remains the same, although they have larger eyes to see in the dim conditions of the planet.  They also have evolved mouths, and they have lost the ability to use telepathic communication.  Also, they appear to have lost the unique way that Plu'ani learn, and Llaan learn somewhat normally.  Their religion seems to center around the color blue, and the hopes that someday they shall return to their birthplace.  Mating is relatively unchanged from their ancestors.

It seems that they are content with just exploiting their home system, as they have a rather profitable gas mining operation, mining water from the 9th planet's moon, Bikuu. The moon is an extremely hot desert, likely due to the gravitational pull of its parent planet.  This along with the extremely thick atmosphere likely makes it tough to mine, due to the Llaan being an exotic cold species.  However, water imports from the moon were measured in the billions of liters, suggesting a water-rich atmosphere that replenishes itself somehow.  The Llaan have gotten proficient at this mining over the millenia, even taking the planetside Hawking crew on a field trip to see how it is done.

There is another scorched desert moon around the 7th planet they also mine water from, however this operation is nowhere near as big as the one around the 9th planet.

## Technology of the Llaan

Fortunately for them, the Llaan have never found the hidden Type V spacecraft on their world, as the cloaking system it utilizes renders it completely invisible to their sensors, and it is designed to look down to the molecular level as a normal rock outcropping.  This required them to completely re-invent warp drive, and it is of a completely different design from their ancestors.  It takes 2 minutes at top speed to get from Annik-Orkal to the Llaan's gas mining operation around Planet 9. They have explored to a maximum of 10 light years from their home system, themselves discovering 2 alien species, both subglacial. They are limited by the high fuel usage of their warp drive, however, so they think that they are the only intelligent beings in their region of space.  They also have small colonies on most of their 19 moons, and various others scattered around the system.  They also seemed to have mastered cryogenics technology, successfully freezing and reviving one of their own 120 years later.  "Colder than cold" cryogenics was very impressive to the planetside crew, and while the technology to achieve it was ancient to Humans, they way that they got around the various loopholes was nothing short of awe-inspiring.  The planetside interpreter said that they have as many as 150 Llaan in this "deep freeze" at all times, should the "great evil" come this far out into the Reaches.

## Capital

The planetary capital of Annik-Orkal is known as Vic'Trine, which is strategically located just adjacent the major trading port in all of Annik-Orkal, Vic'Torw, which is located on an island just to the capitals east. The capital is strategically situated at the end of a fork in the Great Trading Corridor, which is a collection of vast lakes far to the west on Annik-Orkal's map. Seaborne vessels can easily reach the docks of the capital thanks to the shallow "water" in the fork, facilitating easy loading and unloading of cargo. The passage leading to Vic'Trine is the most congested on the planet, with frequent near-collisions of cargo ships. Despite this, sophisticated collision avoidance systems on those ships ensure they never actually collide, since any spark in the methane sea would spell disaster.

## Llaan Myth and Legend

When asked what the "Great Evil" was, an interpreter said that it exists deep in the core of the galaxy, and what was called the "Cloud" protected them from discovery.  and it "exists, will exist, and has existed for all time."  He also said that the Llaan do not live in fear of the Evil, even though it is said that it would destroy the entire world if given the chance.  They simply view it as their "Devil", and adherance to their faith will keep it at bay.

### Llaani view of C.Y.R.E.X.

As stated, the Llaan view C.Y.R.E.X. as the "Great Evil; He who has Always Existed, and Shall Exist for all time." They do not know the name it gave itself, but they do know about what they call "The Sundering." When asked, the Llaani interpreter said that "The Sundering is a time of great sorrow, when many planets were bathed in the fire of a thousand wrathful gods, with the Great Evil leading them. These gods have fallen silent for millenia, but it is only a matter of time..."

Two terms which most often come up in legends are the "Many Handed" and "Twice Hundred", both of which are thought to refer to the initial Plu'ani settlers.  The notion of "turning the blue into red" most likely means the fact that Mykhatsi is lit by a white dwarf, and makes the planet shine blue, while Annik-Orkal's sun is a red dwarf.  "The Many and One" is thought to refer to the Plu'ani captain who piloted that ship thousands of years ago.  That captain has a role in Llaan legends as the immortal being who gave all Llaani their voices, and they view him as their one true god.

Llaani are taught to never, under any circumstances, develop extremely advanced technology as that would attract the attention of the Great Evil, whom will simply devour the planet whole.

## Moons of Annik-Orkal

Annik-Orkal has 19 moons, 4 of them major moons - Plei, Mikka, Heski and Brakku.  They range in size from 4,341km to 5280km in diameter.  The three outer ones have no atmosphere, but Plei, the innermost of these, has a tenuous Krypton atmosphere.  No gas mining was detected on this moon, as it was deemed unprofitable due to the extremely thin nature of it.  The other three have small Llaani outposts on their surface, as does most of the asteroid moons.  The three inner-most asteroid moons are hollowed out and serve as the main "station" of the Llaan, since they come extremely close to each other at various points in their orbit.  When two are close together, convoys of ships can be seen trading supplies between them.  These mostly consist of water, and various foodstuffs.

Their main sun is called Annik, which means "Son" in their language.  Translated from Llaani, for example, their home planet of Annik-Orkal would be translated as "Orkal, Son of Annik".  They believe that their son birthed all planets in their system, and Annik shelters them with life-giving light, while remaining dim enough to hide them from the darkness.