User:GreytideSkye/Sandbox/Akula
 Azula |
Denonyms: Azula, Azulans |
Azula
Azula, colloquially Sharks, are bipedal, tailed, aquatic folk actually more closely related to the common Space Carp. Stemming from the oceanic planet informally known as Selantis, these psuedosharks are only truly comfortable with some amount of the seas' embrace on their skin. Azula are fierce and conquering by nature, justifying their means through either an extensive understanding of evolution or the religious explanations from the zealous Church of Current AffairsName likely to change.
On the Origin of Shark
Divine Mandate
From Deacon Astrana's Sermons to a Devout School:
In the Beginning, when the Stars swam through the oceans just as we do today, God saw through the murky depths and wept. Even at the end of infinity, She saw nothing but idle stagnation. The oceans may well have been solid glass, for how little swimming could affect the universe. Forward meant nothing, even to Her, without meaning.
In Her first act, She made direction. Down, the ever-pressing temptations of lethargy, to struggle against and to conquer. Up, the sins of hubris. The notions of purity, clarity, and sacrifice each take their toll as you ascend. And so it is that when we die, our flesh rises until it is pure of the pride we carried in life, and then sinks to the depths below, as a peak for the slothful to pull themselves up from the crushing despair. In Her first mercy, She choked out foul air, the barrier between our hubris and oblivion. The guiding bubbles that tell us sloth from pride.
In Her second act, She bit her teeth into the despair below and tore it upwards, splitting the oceans between foul continents of stone. With land, we are reminded that progress cannot come without obstacle, that ambition needs context. And above the oceans, even in lethal purity, the wickedness of sloth remains ever-present. In Her second mercy, She chewed at the land, spitting out the dirts and the sands that grow life, that we may find some value in repose.
In Her third act, She gave purpose to the passing of time. She scoured the grand oceans for life, for the seeds to bury in our sands. She watched as they took root, as grand green stalks of seaweed sprouted up, as majestic flowers bloomed atop sturdy corals between clouds of drifting green. In her third mercy, she tore the oceans from the sky, laying Her kingdom in a perfect sphere in the cosmic ocean, to shield us from the strangling oblivion above, and to constrain the vileness below. And yet, even teeming with flora, She saw her kingdom as empty.
In Her fourth and final act, She made us in her image. To swim against the pulls of the deep, to cast aside pride, and to always swim forward. She laid the egg from which all Azula hatched, from which all progress was born. From that day forth, we have swum Her oceans in Her name, taking the gifts She has left for us and cultivating them into something greater. Our hymns, our tapestries, our weapons, our starships, our conquest, our dominance: all in Her image, all for Her unyielding progress. Her fourth mercy remains unknowable. Perhaps it was for Herself, to let us loose and carry on Her will.
Natural Development
From Finneas Lumbridge's final lecture at the Ordoht College of Retrospective Biology:
The Azula began as a fully aquatic and fully gilled species of fish which modern zoologists have deemed Azula Primus. These early Azula lived in solitude, only gathering around hydroponic vents to mate. These primal Azula had relatively simple minds, focusing mostly on eating whenever food was available.
Over time, the pectoral fins of these creatures developed a primitive claw structure which could grapple already dead prey. This trait was advantageous because it allowed these primal Azula to kill prey as it was found but carry them for later consumption. It is believed that this ability to save food led Azula primus to develop mentally so they could recall the locations of caches. Modern Azula lack any magnetonavigational tissue, so it is unknown if prehistoric Azula possessed such organs or if they located caches by sight.
The fossil record reveals that these frontal fins quickly became more complex. It is hypothesized that selection pressures favored Azula who would carry more prey as well as Azula who engaged in burrowing behaviors to avoid predation. While retaining the primitive "claw" end effector, these pectoral fins gained sturdy bones in place of cartilage, gained an elbow joint and saw the appearance of proximal muscle groups allowing anterior rotation of the entire fin. These evolutionary changes resulted in animals who could not just grasp prey, but affect the world around them. The fossil record has revealed simple burrows and nests. These nests were in greater proximity than seen before, indicating a more social lifestyle.
Analysis of the cartilage of specimens recovered from brine pools reveals that these intermediate-stage Azula often lacked calcium in their diets, resulting in bones that were easily broken, especially in courtship. It is hypothesized that much of a proto-Azula's time was spent rummaging through rocks searching for calcium-rich arthropods. Azula who could grasp and move these heavy and often sharp rocks more efficiently ingested more calcium and, therefore, had stronger bones. For this reason, the simple claw like appendage developed into more delicate and dexterous fingers. Deemed Paleo-Azula, these creatures could manipulate rocks with ease, allowing them to find and consume calcium-rich organisms much faster. Because of this, Azula had more time to hunt, socialize and explore.
There appears to be a delay between the appearances of hands and early tools in the fossil record, which has been attributed to many factors. It is believed that the emergence of simple tools such as shovels, knives, and bags indicates sentient thought. Additionally, multiple user artifacts such as dragnets indicate that the development of languages and cooperative social units closely followed.
These tribal groups created art in the form of simple sculptures, stone arrangements, and scrimshaw, some of which have been preserved to this day. This also marks the arrival of structures built from easily available materials such as coral, stone, and in some cases, sunken wood. Items made from wood were treated as near divine and in similar ways to hoe early humans treated meteorite iron. The discovery of primitive cookware around hydrothermal vents indicates that they were likely used to cook meats to improve their caloric values and taste. Early textiles consisting of animal scales emerged and allowed Azula to submerge into deeper and colder trenches where valuable and revealed bioluminescent organisms were taken and later domesticated.
While the occasional fish could still be hunted with teeth, most hunting was preformed with finned and hydrodynamic spears, often with tips of discarded teeth. This allowed Azula to hunt previously dangerous megafauna. Large nets drawn by many hunters could clear entire sectors of the ocean in mere hours. The increase in food availability led to a population boom, which led to greater demands being placed on the already strained ecosystem.
(More to Come)
Post-FTL (2564AD)
On the Discovery of Shark
Era of Flotsam
Excerpts from the Lament of a Predator, commonly attributed to King Consort Whimuhaha Kiētito, etched in a scrimshaw mobileA kinetic sculpture in which numerous parts dangle from a central hanging. Here, all parts are traditional scrimshaw., purpose unknown.
Our first stars twinkled out in the Year of Our MotherFixated on the year that word of the first discovery of Our Mother’s Egg Clutch reached the then-capital of Selantis, Pumimowha, “Where the King Swims”. 778Est. 2270 Sol. The stars were not our business, and if they should choose to die, we cared not. Our calling was still the sea, and our landly incursions served only to bridge the seas and enrich Our Mother’s ocean.
A scrimshaw traditional pictographic minutes, the King Consort's depiction of a Trial. In traditional form, the Trial depicts the victor, and the means by which they acted, with supplemental explanation of the further results.
King Consort’s depiction of a Trial, in the traditional pictographic minutes: Victor: artisan Peha Rano, By trident and axe. Declared as the first to have noticed the loss of stars and the first to show concern.
When a third of our stars died, the King decreed concern, banishing a tribe of Akula to the surface, that they may watch and guard our oceans. This marks the last time I was welcomed in our oceans as a friend. I and my brothers took to the land, crafting wood and sand into towering observatories, staring up into the sky against an unknown threat. Six years and many tides elapsed. The waves no longer whisper their love to me, and the blue depths shallow in my heart. My children below know not their father, and my children above know not the pulse of the sea.
A series of traditional pictographic minutes, depicting the King Consort's depiction of several consecutive Trials. The first are in the fins of the King's Consort himself.
Trial: Victor, name scratched out, By stone and anguish. Trial: Victor, name rubbed clean, By plank and grief. Depiction of a Trial in a different finstyle: Victor, name filled in with resin (presumed “Rihoke Kiētito”), By deceit and poison. Depiction of a trial, significantly scratched: Victor, name burned clean away, By scrimshaw. scrimshawNote: Forensic evidence corroborates the trial’s depiction of the scrimshaw’s damage via exit wounds through an Akulan ribcage, DNA evidence suggests Rihoke Kiētito’s.. Depiction of a trial: Victor omitted, By laser.
Era of Jetsam
Excerpts from the Testimony of Remorse, collected in 2395, transcribed by SolFed Inquisitor Dreyfuss, declassified in 2550 by request of the Azulean Ministry.
Where it began? We stopped hearing from our surface brethren two grand tides before the present King issued a search party up to the observatory camp. It was to be my first hunt in the King’s Court, to find answers where there were none. We found metal, untainted by rust, stacked high in buildings. We found beasts as tall as us, made in the image of some other god. Of the fifty Azuleans residing there, we found only ten alive, communing with the feathered beasts. Three of the living and twelve of the dead bore my ancestral fin markings, from my father and his father before him. The survivor our kin swam behind, he wielded a gray tool of unmarred metal, same as the… you pronounce them Vawkes, right? With his tool, my alleged brother pointed at my huntmates, turned the vile air red between us, and they fell dry and dead. Seared straight through. His tool could only fell three of us, and he met his fate for grand treason. Each of the survivors had delusions of supremacy, and it fell to us to establish order.
The Vox present simply observed, watching our tactics from the safety of their buildings. When we turned to address them, they had already used their foul tools to etch the minutes of our trial onto a traditional whale bone. You’ve got that photo, right?
[State’s evidence shows a laser-cut segment of whale rib, with twelve Akulans etched in a photorealistic relief spearing ten of their kind. Below that, twelve names scratched by teeth, and below that, in historic Te Velu Akko, “By Snake and Bake.” ]
Right, they meant to put it as “Spear and Justice,” but they were guppies with our words, then. As the most Royal of our hunt, I made the call to accept the scrimshaw as a peace offering. We can be peaceful, yeah. That’s what we do! I humbly submit to the court that accepting this peace with these particular Vox was my first lapse of judgment, for which I am eternally remorseful. I cannot undo the past, I can only move forward, and I am grateful for your gift of humility and a path forward for my people.
[Several minutes of apologies have been redacted for “coherency.”]
I was the first pilot, too. I couldn’t let my peers do something I wouldn’t, so I was the first to step into the steel coffin, and I was the first of our kind to see the tops of clouds. The Vox were generous with their ships, helping each of our kind into their own ship, tying our thoughts into commands until we were practically one with our vessels. I earned my praise for my quick maneuvering, steering my fighter faster than any of us could possibly swim. By the end, those jets could push off our personal inertia just as hard as they spun in space, our trajectories welded as one. The cockpits, full of our holy ocean’s water, apparently kept our bodies under constant, incompressible pressure. The Vox showed us what their fragile bodies could handle, and that even asleep, we could outfly them. Their words matched our faith:
We were born for greatness.
Culture
Biologically, normal sharks must keep moving forward at all times, lest they suffocate. This idea of forced progression seeps into every aspect of the Azulan lifestyle. Progress comes in many flavors to these aquatic people. The obvious path is through conquest, seizing might where it may be found, but other Triumphs can be found in all walks of life, ranging from striving to be the best in a particular field to working to exploit a system to draw more value from it than you provide. Even using someone's morality against them to achieve the moral high ground shall be enough. As long as effort is made and some manner of victory is held, She Who Swims Above will accept you.
Azula, should they find themselves inclined to memorialize a conquest or glorify Azulan culture, find themselves drawn to rough, kinetic displays of force. Large stone arrangements, sculptures of tough materials, scrimshaw from the bones of the weak.
| 《 What is your struggle? 》 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Be it a divine mandate or simple peer pressure, your gills feel void of air without a purpose. Even so far from the oceans of Selantis, the current draws you forward. What do you seek? | ||||
| Common Streams to Follow | ||||
| Conquest: A shark can smell blood a mile away. Your nose is scarcely different, and there is blood in these walls. The steel holding this station together, it is an alloy of iron and the lives of everyone aboard. Your path is simple: to find and establish violence, but in our modern times, wrath can take many forms. The laws of the land, are they your tools or your bane? | ||||
| Artistry: No less noble than your Naval brethren, your hands were made for precision. There is childlike wonder in the hearts of all who travel the stars, and you are accustomed to slicing open hearts to release their innards. What is your blade? Your mind and wit are your trident and net, and your canvas serves as your arena, your gladiatorial chasm. When your paint comes to rest in triumph, who do you honor? | ||||
| Her Glory: The Church has many voices, many carriers of Her message, and you are humble enough to be one of them. Your words cut deep. Are they serrated, leaving scars with no hope of healing? Your school, they swim willingly into dark waters under your guidance. Do you lead with light, or chase with teeth? | ||||
| Academia: Where could be more cut-throat than the halls of the wise? With so many differing opinions, your fights may be less physical, but take no less toll on the combatants. What are you trying to prove? | ||||
Work in Progress: Footer subject to change at a moment's notice. Do not take a red link's presence, struck-through or otherwise, as confirmation (or denial) of their canonicity.
| Nova Sector Lore
| |
| Common Species | Humans, Tiziran, Unathi, Moths, Ethereals, Azulae, Slime Hybrids, Teshari, Synthetic Humanoids (and assorted robots), Pod Persons |
| Other Species | Genemodders (Felinids, Ice Walkers, Dwarf), Ashwalkers, Hemophages, Snailpersons, Ordoht (Formerly Skrell), Plasmamen, Flypeople, Vox (Primalis et al), Tajaran, Vulpkanin, Xenomorphic Hybrid, Rouges (Abductorkin), Miscellaneous Species |
| Nanotrasen | Nanotrasen, Central Command, Emergency Response Corps |
| External Groups | The Syndicate, Interdyne Pharmaceutics, DS-2, Cargo, The Spider Clan |
| Nova | The Nova Sector, Indecipheres, Freyja |
| Concepts | Bluespace, Plasma, Faster Than Light Travel, Resonance ("Souls"), Death |
| SolFed | SolFed, Earth in 2565, |
