Atlins

Sapient Species

An Atlin in a neutral state. Other colors include blue, green, purple, white, and sometimes transparent depending on the local environment.

## Biological Information

### Average Lifespan

700 years (unable to be extended even with advanced technology)

## Behavioral Information

### Diet

* Combustible carbon compounds and metal oxides
* Oxygen or Fluorine Gas
* Methane
* Nitrogen Oxides
* Ozone
* Sulfur Compounds

### Social Structure

Tribal

The **Atlins** are an amorphous intelligent species native to the planet Lowa within Martial Space. The species, as well as most on its planet, is based primarily on plasma and ionized gas rather than traditional liquid-based cellular biology. Atlins rarely make an appearance within wider Cosmoria, preferring to keep to themselves given their unique biology. Even though they are rare outside of their isolated communities, their impact has no doubt been massive, with numerous civilizations involving them exerting their influence on the entire galaxy.

Atlins possess no defined shape, taking up anywhere from 0.5 to 3 cubic meters of space. Within this space is a series of intricate chemical reactions involving large numbers of charged volatile enzyme complexes, magnetically charged particles, and soot-like carbon molecules floating within a medium of hot gas and plasma analogous to fire. In other words, the Atlins are a mass of plasma containing large numbers of complex particles who, due to the high-energy environment of an Atlin, bump into and interact constantly.

## Biology

The Atlins exist within a medium of hot gas and plasma which takes the role of the "solvent." The gas is mostly carbon monoxide, a gas which is mostly inert within the Atlin and is produced by its metabolic processes. Other gases include sulfuric acid, nitrogen, and trace amounts of Xenon.

### Enzyme Complexes

Most of the dry mass of the Atlins exists in what are known as "Enzyme Complexes." Essentially, enzyme complexes are vast volatile molecules composed of thousands to tens of thousands of atoms. This enzymes are the vector by which life is maintained. Carrying out everything that enzymes do in protein-based forms of life, these complexes are responsible for regulating metabolism, homeostasis, the "nervous system," immune responses, and the production of more enzyme complexes. While not quite cells, these complexes are the basic building block of the Atlin as the cell is to more conventional life.

It is more accurate to think of an Atlin as a single-celled organism with the various complexes existing like the proteins of a typical microbe. Visualizing them in this way instead of using a multicellular framework allows for a more accurate explanation of their internal processes.

### Structure

Atlins, were they made up of pure fire, would have no form. A crowd of them would instantly become one contiguous entity. The way they maintain their structure, and more broadly their identity, is through the use of controlled magnetic fields. Without a certain space around an Atlin will exist an "exclusion field," or a magnetic field which serves to keep charged substances at bay. This field can expand or contract based on a dynamo of much hotter plasma within the core of the Atlin. As charges flow through, this central magnet maintains this field which uses charged metal ions to create a sort of ever-changing "skin" around themselves.

### Magnetite Manipulators

Smaller dynamos exist throughout the Atlin, allowing for movement, changing its shape, tearing apart food, and manipulating objects. When it came to moving inorganic objects, however, just the dynamos would be useless. This is what the Magnetite within them is for. A cloud of Magnetite particles can envelop small objects and move them with little effort.

### Interacting with Non-charged Substances

Since dynamos can only interact with charged objects and most of the life on Lowa is made up of charged plasma, this presented no problems in the natural world. When it came to advancing technology, however, it became more increasingly challenging to advance. While the cloud of small magnets was adequate in many cases, advanced technology was out of their reach without more precise manipulation. This is why the Atlins would eventually develop more conventional fire, which is seen more like a simple organism to them, to create larger magnets. These magnets are able to be easily manipulated by the Atlins and allows for them to interact with non-charged substances. With time, the art of moving these magnets would allow for hand-like appendages to be almost required for the Atlins to continue existing. As they became more sophisticated, they would eventually change their own genetic code to produce these appendages upon the consumption of iron oxides.

### Communication

Atlins are capable of producing both sound and flashes of light as a means of communication. Sound is produced by charge differentials built up within the Atlin arching across small distances, creating monotone sounds. Capable of producing over a dozen distinct sounds, a sort of language analogous to Morse code formed. Words are spelled out using the 12 different tones they can naturally produce. Just the words, however, only convey about half of the meaning contained within Atlin language. The other half is supplied by colors created by concentrating certain chemicals within their centers. They can produce six different colors, red, yellow, green, blue, heliotrope, and indigo to add to the words they are speaking as six additional "syllables" that could be produced.

Written language, consequently, requires both color and symbols to convey, although many scripts only have one or the other and depend on symbols to convey color or color to convey tones.

## Nervous System

The Nervous System is by far the most complex part of the Atlin. Their "brain" exists distributed throughout their entire body with every enzyme complex also serving as a part of the brain. Signals are transferred not through electrical signals but through weak shock waves emanating across the organism. These shock waves are consequently modified, re-emited, and "interpreted" by the various enzymes. Usually, they signal for changing enzyme shape but can also signal for the enzymes to act on the dynamos or other charged particles within the Atlin.

### Sensory Organs

Sensing sound is simply a matter of absorbing vibration from outside. Sight, on the other hand, is much more complicated. Certain compounds are embedded within the containment field which react to different energies of light. Capable of detecting well over one hundred distinct colors, the range of "sight" overlaps significantly with detecting heat, cold, ultraviolet light, and other forms of radiation. Modern Atlins have modified themselves to see radio waves, allowing for easy communication with ship systems, machines, and other devices.

Smell, equal to sight in importance, works essentially the same way. Enzymes capture volatile particles in the air and use them to signal the rest of the nervous system. Really, all Atlin senses exist as one "super sense" manifesting as sight. Everything is perceived as one of thousands of colors, with most objects having more than one color, creating millions of shades each described as combinations of their component colors.

### Cognition

Cognition is carried about mostly within the central dynamo by a very dense array of enzyme complexes whose sole purpose is acting as a brain rather than other tasks. These enzymes are some of the largest within the Atlin, with many forming rings, chains, and even macroscopic spheres who internal vibrations are capable of minute data processing.