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Description

When Chronis Cornelius – an infamous scientist from the 20th century, thought to be dead from more than a hundred years – had inexplicably reappeared in the year 2107, many were understandably curious of where he has been at that time. And those lucky few who managed to get in touch with him (and come back) had indeed received their answers, later sharing them with the rest of mankind.

According to Cornelius’s own words, he has been over the Frigid Wastes.

Via the means he refused to disclose, he managed to cross the cold and lightless desert that surrounds the Human Realm, previously thought to untraversable. And on the other side, he said to have found an entirely new world – with its own continents, oceans and ecosystems, illuminated by its very own sun.

It was there that he had to settle for the last century.

And in that mysterious place, separated from the human domain by miles upon miles of barren ice, he had said to discover a sapient species known as the “quarali”.

Being a talented biologist, Cornelius didn’t miss a chase to study these creatures, writing a number of notes about them in the coming years. And according to these notes, quarali appeared to be strange, chimeric beings: with a head of man, a tail of a snake, and a total of 10 clawed limbs growing from their torsos, 4 of which were used for manipulation, 4 were strictly for locomotion, and 2 could be used both ways. They could move around by either crawling or slithering upright on their long tails, with former method being preferred while on uneven terrain or for gaining extra speed. They had 2 main eyes on their heads, but there were also total of 11 ocelli across their body – despite looking similar to the true eyes, these structures possessed only rudimentary form of vision, and their role in navigation was accessory.

Socially, quarali appeared to live in eusocial communities similar to those of bees or termites: with about 700 to 800 members per colony, roughly 95% of female workers, 5% of male drones, and 1 reproducing “queen”. Unlike bees and termites, however, workers could transform into queens under certain circumstances, allowing for one colony to persist through multiple generations, or for pieces of one colony to break off and became new colonies in their own right.

Said colonies usually made their settlements by carving them out in rocks and cliffs, often on high elevation, with extra materials – such as wood and leather – being added afterward. Some colonies may live solitarily, while others can join together to form complex cities, often large enough to cover an entire slope of a small mountain. In solitary communities, social hierarchy is typically based on age – with younger workers doing jobs within the settlement, older ones going outside for trade, resource gathering etc., and elders being the governors. In multi-colony cities, society tends to be more divided, with different families having different roles passed down through generations. “Queens”, while venerated and surrounded by luxuries, don’t have any real power – at most, they have ceremonial role or abilities to veto decisions of the elders in some places. Male drones are generally secluded in their own caste, and are almost always sent from their own colonies into other ones upon reaching maturity. In solitary colonies, they would usually just be kicked out to find a new place by themselves, whereas in larger cities, they are more often traded between families for political reasons. To keep producing eggs, a queen has to mate with a drone every few month, but social nuances of this act may vary from place to place: in some areas, a queen would choose one partner and stay with him, while in others she would switch between new members of her harem each time. Drones that are not involved in reproduction at the moment would usually look after the queen’s chamber and perform various chores.

An average lifespan of quaral is about 160 years (possibly up to 200 with advanced medical care), while reproductive rate of a healthy queen is about 1 egg in 2-3 months.

Technological advancement of quarali seems to be roughly on the late preindustrial level, with some areas potentially approaching an industrial revolution – though this can be debatable, as Cornelius managed to explore only a relatively small territory of the “Quralian Realm”, thus leaving the possibility that some remote areas may be more developed.

And this is basically the gist of what Cornelius managed to learn, before returning back to Human Realm by means that he – once again – refused to elaborate on.

In addition to notes, a number of sketches were also provided, allowing human scientists to reconstruct an approximate external and internal anatomy of a quaral – but keep in mind that this depiction, due a range of misinterpretations and stylistic liberties, may slightly deviate from how they actually look like. The picture you can see above is a more accurate depiction.

Unsurprisingly, this entire story had caught a lot of attention in the civilized world – not only Cornelius’s return itself was essentially a supernatural phenomenon, but his words were basically confirming a longstanding yet controversial hypothesis of other sapient life existing beyond the reaches of the Ice Wall. But it did gather a fair share of criticisms as well, of course – the main and the most obvious of which being the fact that, without any physical evidence, all these stories were nothing more than a mere vapid tale.

But luckily for science, there is also a rumor going around the man could bring a couple of specimens along with him…

Description

When Chronis Cornelius – an infamous scientist from the 20th century, thought to be dead from more than a hundred years – had inexplicably reappeared in the year 2107, many were understandably curious of where he has been at that time. And those lucky few who managed to get in touch with him (and come back) had indeed received their answers, later sharing them with the rest of mankind.

According to Cornelius’s own words, he has been over the Frigid Wastes.

Via the means he refused to disclose, he managed to cross the cold and lightless desert that surrounds the Human Realm, previously thought to untraversable. And on the other side, he said to have found an entirely new world – with its own continents, oceans and ecosystems, illuminated by its very own sun.

It was there that he had to settle for the last century.

And in that mysterious place, separated from the human domain by miles upon miles of barren ice, he had said to discover a sapient species known as the “quarali”.

Being a talented biologist, Cornelius didn’t miss a chase to study these creatures, writing a number of notes about them in the coming years. And according to these notes, quarali appeared to be strange, chimeric beings: with a head of man, a tail of a snake, and a total of 10 clawed limbs growing from their torsos, 4 of which were used for manipulation, 4 were strictly for locomotion, and 2 could be used both ways. They could move around by either crawling or slithering upright on their long tails, with former method being preferred while on uneven terrain or for gaining extra speed. They had 2 main eyes on their heads, but there were also total of 11 ocelli across their body – despite looking similar to the true eyes, these structures possessed only rudimentary form of vision, and their role in navigation was accessory.

Socially, quarali appeared to live in eusocial communities similar to those of bees or termites: with about 700 to 800 members per colony, roughly 95% of female workers, 5% of male drones, and 1 reproducing “queen”. Unlike bees and termites, however, workers could transform into queens under certain circumstances, allowing for one colony to persist through multiple generations, or for pieces of one colony to break off and became new colonies in their own right.

Said colonies usually made their settlements by carving them out in rocks and cliffs, often on high elevation, with extra materials – such as wood and leather – being added afterward. Some colonies may live solitarily, while others can join together to form complex cities, often large enough to cover an entire slope of a small mountain. In solitary communities, social hierarchy is typically based on age – with younger workers doing jobs within the settlement, older ones going outside for trade, resource gathering etc., and elders being the governors. In multi-colony cities, society tends to be more divided, with different families having different roles passed down through generations. “Queens”, while venerated and surrounded by luxuries, don’t have any real power – at most, they have ceremonial role or abilities to veto decisions of the elders in some places. Male drones are generally secluded in their own caste, and are almost always sent from their own colonies into other ones upon reaching maturity. In solitary colonies, they would usually just be kicked out to find a new place by themselves, whereas in larger cities, they are more often traded between families for political reasons. To keep producing eggs, a queen has to mate with a drone every few month, but social nuances of this act may vary from place to place: in some areas, a queen would choose one partner and stay with him, while in others she would switch between new members of her harem each time. Drones that are not involved in reproduction at the moment would usually look after the queen’s chamber and perform various chores.

An average lifespan of quaral is about 160 years (possibly up to 200 with advanced medical care), while reproductive rate of a healthy queen is about 1 egg in 2-3 months.

Technological advancement of quarali seems to be roughly on the late preindustrial level, with some areas potentially approaching an industrial revolution – though this can be debatable, as Cornelius managed to explore only a relatively small territory of the “Quralian Realm”, thus leaving the possibility that some remote areas may be more developed.

And this is basically the gist of what Cornelius managed to learn, before returning back to Human Realm by means that he – once again – refused to elaborate on.

In addition to notes, a number of sketches were also provided, allowing human scientists to reconstruct an approximate external and internal anatomy of a quaral – but keep in mind that this depiction, due a range of misinterpretations and stylistic liberties, may slightly deviate from how they actually look like. The picture you can see above is a more accurate depiction.

Unsurprisingly, this entire story had caught a lot of attention in the civilized world – not only Cornelius’s return itself was essentially a supernatural phenomenon, but his words were basically confirming a longstanding yet controversial hypothesis of other sapient life existing beyond the reaches of the Ice Wall. But it did gather a fair share of criticisms as well, of course – the main and the most obvious of which being the fact that, without any physical evidence, all these stories were nothing more than a mere vapid tale.

But luckily for science, there is also a rumor going around the man could bring a couple of specimens along with him…