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Description

Aerostatum decapoda)

No Home World Available

So far the only species of extraterrestrial that has no place to call home, the Alhat escaped their old home planet of Tho when it was rendered nigh uninhabitable after years of suffering the aftereffects of the Novanth War. They now orbit highly populated worlds in huge cruisers powered by nuclear fusion.

The average adult Alhat stands up to about 9 ½ feet at the fore shoulder. They are lifted off the ground by a brightly-colored dorsal balloon sac filled with lighter-than-air gases. They have ten, tentacle-like limbs, eight of which are used to propel the Alhat, like legs. The remaining two are used as arms. Their bird-like head has a thick bony plate on the dorsal side. They have eight small eyes that see in the infrared spectrum; otherwise, they navigate largely by means of sonar. Along their bodies and in the posterior side of the head are tendril-like organs called cilia, that help the Alhat keep balanced, kind of like the whiskers on a Gaian cat. They are liquivores, consuming foods that have been converted into a soup-like liquid through their long proboscis, which is normally kept hidden below. They are hermaphroditic, but individuals are capable of choosing their sexual identity as male or female. They are oviparous, laying brightly colored eggs which hatch into 6 inch long larvae that are able to fly by means of their dorsal balloon sack. The parents tend to their young for the span of up to twenty-five years, until their offspring have reached adult size and are no longer completely airborne. The lifespan of an Alhat, thanks to anti-aging technology, is up to three-hundred Terran years; it was formerly far shorter, only about 30 years.

Alhat have been at the front lines of unifying the Hathir System’s civilizations; their massive cruisers are considered ‘countries,’ but at the same time are largely neutral since the Alhat claim no planet as their own. Many diplomatic meetings are held aboard Alhatese cruisers, as well as interplanetary science conventions.

Description

Aerostatum decapoda)

No Home World Available

So far the only species of extraterrestrial that has no place to call home, the Alhat escaped their old home planet of Tho when it was rendered nigh uninhabitable after years of suffering the aftereffects of the Novanth War. They now orbit highly populated worlds in huge cruisers powered by nuclear fusion.

The average adult Alhat stands up to about 9 ½ feet at the fore shoulder. They are lifted off the ground by a brightly-colored dorsal balloon sac filled with lighter-than-air gases. They have ten, tentacle-like limbs, eight of which are used to propel the Alhat, like legs. The remaining two are used as arms. Their bird-like head has a thick bony plate on the dorsal side. They have eight small eyes that see in the infrared spectrum; otherwise, they navigate largely by means of sonar. Along their bodies and in the posterior side of the head are tendril-like organs called cilia, that help the Alhat keep balanced, kind of like the whiskers on a Gaian cat. They are liquivores, consuming foods that have been converted into a soup-like liquid through their long proboscis, which is normally kept hidden below. They are hermaphroditic, but individuals are capable of choosing their sexual identity as male or female. They are oviparous, laying brightly colored eggs which hatch into 6 inch long larvae that are able to fly by means of their dorsal balloon sack. The parents tend to their young for the span of up to twenty-five years, until their offspring have reached adult size and are no longer completely airborne. The lifespan of an Alhat, thanks to anti-aging technology, is up to three-hundred Terran years; it was formerly far shorter, only about 30 years.

Alhat have been at the front lines of unifying the Hathir System’s civilizations; their massive cruisers are considered ‘countries,’ but at the same time are largely neutral since the Alhat claim no planet as their own. Many diplomatic meetings are held aboard Alhatese cruisers, as well as interplanetary science conventions.