Qerydon

The **Qerydon** are a race of sapient gill-bearing aquatic craniates and one of the leading races in the Coalition of Federated Star Systems. They wear telekinetic harnesses outside of water in order to breathe and move about any non-aquatic area; additionally, it includes a linguistic translator and muffler for their clicking and mechanical appendages designed to bypass their limited ability for physical interaction.

## Biology

The Qerydon are essentially a type of large fish from a waterworld in the Lemon Slice Nebula. Naturally, they have a set of sticky appendages under their fins which allow physical interaction within environments where they do not require a harness, but these are limited to the internal operation of their harnesses. They are omnivorous to the extent that they can eat smaller fish or marine algae, but they are primarily herbivores. Breeding occurs very occasionally over their centuries-long lifetimes, and much to the annoyance of some other races, they are biologically predisposed to go about their lives in a slow and deliberate manner.

## History

Being that they were the earliest of the so called 'modern' round of local spacefaring civilizations, their history is owed credit for the rediscovery of lost technologies and the development of many widely used advancements - which even their mortal enemies of past and present have not shied away from using.

Their early arrival, however, was not rewarded so quickly as civilizations which emerged later. The first of their probe and satellite launches began approximately 125,000 years before the present and they did not make contact with another civilization for another several decamillennia. Their first contact, with the far less advanced Roswell (temp), proved to be mutually beneficial if somewhat disconnected. Another contact was made in tandem with the discovery of the Roswell, however, with a civilization of militaristic peoples known as the Martians (temp) reemerging from the ashes of a much older, but long-forgotten empire.

Unable to contend with the imperialistic ambitions of the Martian Empire, the Qerydon formed an alliance with the Roswell that would later come to be known as the Coalition. The Roswell were jumped forward to a shared level of advancement with the Qerydon, and with the help of discovered technology from predecessing civilizations, they were given the capability which - over the following millennium of cold wars - allowed them militarize well beyond the fledgling capability of the Martians; who foolishly - if inevitably - started a war that ended with the Roswell crippling their economy and resource lines. This caused the Martian Empire to Balkanize and enter a long series of devastating resource wars which set them back many thousands of years and wiped them off the galactic stage.

After this, began the common standard of discovery and introduction for sapient species in their early stages of spacefaring to the Coalition.

## Culture

A physically peaceful race, long forgotten are any times of primal conflict amongst these spacefaring fish. And so because they are not naturally inclined towards combat, they must rely on their cunning and intellect for survival against natural predators and foreign powers alike.

Due to their naturally 'non-verbal' language, the Qerydonians adopted a form of Roswellian dialect to translate communications with most alien civilizations. The name adopted by the race is itself a Roswellian term. 'Qery' refers to the Roswellian local equivalent of a fish, and the 'don' is the sky. Therefore, they are literally 'fish from the sky'.

## Coalition

Economically and technologically, they are arguably the most powerful collective entity in the known galaxy closely rivaled by only a few. But militarily, they are absolutely vulnerable on their own, and therefore effectively lack independence.