Balokarids
The Balokarids are the second alien species encountered by humanity in the year 2501, though they were informally encountered a few years earlier by the United Earth Confederacy. They are a tall, avian species native to the Balokar system, only recently achieving space travel, with a single colony settled on the planet they call Dur’shala.
Biology
The Balokarids are mostly bird-like in appearance, standing on average between eight to nine feet tall. They are covered in a thick coat of feathers, which help insulate their bodies against the extreme temperatures experienced on their arid homeworld. Their features are distinctly avian, with long, hard beaks made up of very fine scales, with the females sporting straight beaks, and the males having more exaggerated, hooked-shaped beaks. Each hand has four fingers with sharp nails, with their feet sporting four long toes, with three on the front, and one on the back. Their legs are digitigrade, with their feathers ending at the backwards joint, where darker scales continue down to the feet.
Like the common birds found on Earth, the Balokarids possess a distinctly syrinx-like organ near the lower parts of their throats, allowing them much finer control over the sounds they make. This allows them to mimic all the sounds a human can make and more, as documented by Doctor Cairns during first contact between the species.
Each Balokarid sports a headdress that they use to communicate to each other alongside regular speech. The feathers sweep up along the back of the skull, with the Balokarid able to manipulate every individual stalk to convey their emotions. There seems to be no limit to the colour range of the Balokarids feathery coats, each Balokarid sporting a different iridescent shade on the tips of their feathers. The shade is influenced by the parents’ colour palettes, with the male’s colours usually taking priority.
Like humans, viviparity is the reproductive process of the Balokarids. The gestation period is unusually long, a female may take up to two years before giving birth to live young. It is the males who are responsible for taking care for the young, a tradition the Balokarids trace back to their earliest days, though it is not uncommon to see females helping their suitors raise their family. A standard clutch is between 2 to 4 young.
Balokarids may take many mates during their life, with the females vying for the attention of the males, as the males are outnumbered three-to-one by the females. Since Balokarid young develop rather quickly, the male can choose to move on once he is no longer required if he chooses, a trend that has become more common during the modern era.
Wings
Females and males differ in many ways, the most obvious phyisical attribute being the wings which are exclusive to the female gender. These wings when not in use are housed in a series of sheathes located on the back of the forearms. When the sheathes fold out, the total wingspan can reach up to five meters across, sometimes more depending on the size of the Balokarid. At the time of documentation no Balokarid has been witnessed flying, though the females claim that they can.
Society
On Balokar, each city belongs to, and is known as, a clan. Each clan controls a portion of Balokar’s surface which they are allowed to rule and build upon independently, and wars are waged to vie for territory and resources, though it is a difficult feat, as the long stretches of desert of the homeworld make travel difficult.
Each clan is led by a group of leaders known as the Kith, who act as a guide and advise on the decisions of the clan’s people, though they are not rulers and cannot force others to do their bidding. The term Kith has a vague definition, and is not exclusive to just the clan’s penultimate leaders. Kith can be found in most areas of Balokarid society, given to any individual with a leadership role. Squad leaders, fleet commanders, or the ringleader of a gang, are all called Kith by their followers.
There are no alliances between clans, although one clan can absorb another if the stronger clan can find some sort of benefit to sparing the weaker clan, the only alternative being eradication. This harsh way of life still exists to the current day, as the Kaaleshi clan, who encountered a Hub patrol fleet during the Battle of the Folium Nebula, see themselves as part of the Hub after the humans assisted them against their UEC pursuers.
There are many traditions revolving around the use of substances in Balokarid society. Due to the richness of herbal plant life on Balokar, the consumption of plants and refinement of psychoactive compounds has become a staple in many parts of life. These traditions involve inhaling, smoking, or otherwise consuming substances that can enhance or dilute different senses of the body, and Balokarids almost always partake in these rituals before battle, though are also used recreationally, particularly when celebrating a victory.
Balokarids have a unique ability to manufacture and maintain huge projects in remarkable times. One documented case on the Hub involved timing how long it took a group of twelve Balokarid engineers to disassemble a Raptor-class fighter down to its basic parts and put it back together again. With basic tools provided by Hub personnel, the group was able to complete the task in under two hours, with ten minutes at the beginning to study the parts of the craft. It was only due to their innate ability to build vehicles with such extreme haste, that they were able to bring together a standing force when the UEC preemptively attacked them.
Substances
On their homeworld, Balokarids harvest twenty one different types of stimulants, with twelve categories with varying ranges of stress relief and medical properties. They are harvested from trees and plants, which are cultivated to enhance the physical performance of a clan. Not all of these stimulants have been documented, but the most common substance is called fentula, which is a powdery chemical that when inhaled, increases the eyesight and situational awareness of the consumer. The effect can last for up to three hours.
When questioned about addiction, Balokarids do not appear to understand the concept. It is unclear if this is because they use substances so often the concept simply does not translate, or if every Balokarid is addicted already. It is unknown what these chemicals would do to a human if one was to consume them, though the physical differences between the species conclude that Balokarid chemicals are too strong for humans to ingest safely even in small doses.
Planets and Systems
The homewold, Balokar, is an arid world covered almost entirely in sand, with one single ocean located just below the equator. Many clans are built around this precious source of water, though many others have found ways to settle out in the deserts and still thrive to the present day. These nomadic clans are rumoured to be slightly different in appearance to the Balokarids humanity is aware of.
In the Balokar system, there is one other planet orbiting the local sun in the Goldilocks Zone, which is the optimal range of distance between the planet and the sun to support water and therefore, life. The Balokarids speak of the planet as a ball of liquid, a polar opposite to Balokar. The Balokarids do not talk about this world often, particularly when asked about forms of life found there. Due to the Balokarids lack of surprise when first encountering humanity as their first true alien visitors, it is not out of the question to assume they have encountered life before on this temperate world.
The Balokarids have recently colonised their first world outside of their native planet, in the system they call Dur’shala, located roughly four years standard travel from their homeworld, in the system that neighbours the Folium Nebula, where the Hub is located. Dur’shala is similar to Balokar, covered in dust and canyons that channel water across the surface like veins. The Kaalesh clan, who managed to achieve space travel first out of all the clans, sent their brand new, experimental fleet of ships to settle there.
Upon colonising, however, they soon encountered humanity for the very first time. The United Earth Confederation had likewise sent a colony ship to the surface of the planet, settling only kilometers from the Balokarid colony. The Kaaleshi sent scouts to assess their capabilities, finding that the UEC outnumbered them and was setting up defences. The Balokarids followed suit, sending a message back to the homeworld for reinforcements, claiming that the humans may stage an attack. This powerful signal forced the humans to react, and before long a destroyer-class ship took up a position above the colony, and opened fire.
The clan had several carrier-class ships holding space-capable craft known as Sala’ci, both in orbit and on the ground, but the fighters were in the experimental stage at this time, and their tactics were ineffective against the overwhelming firepower of the UEC, and the colony was forced to evacuate. The survivors assembled a convoy led by the Kith called Shaliyya, who turned to flee into the Folium Nebula, hoping its clouds of energy could hide them from any pursuers. Shaliyya is now the representative for all Balokarid citizens on the Hub. It is unclear how many were left behind during the evacuation, or what has become of them or the planet at this time.
Technology
Laser weaponry is highly developed in the Balokarid military. It was first formulated from a Collosus wreckage found in their home system, dialed down to size to fit comfortably in a rifle, or enlarged to be mounted on a fighter craft or land vehicle. Balokarids are seen wielding heavy weaponry in which lenses magnify a point of energy from a battery, angled down a series of mirrors to form a superheated beam travelling at near instantaneous speeds. The sheer temperature of a laser can shred through most armour and even Collosal alloys as long as accuracy is maintained, though raw temperature falloff due to excessive range is a major downside, which is why Balokarids prefer short-range engagements and charging tactics to close distances.
This preference for close-quarters combat is complemented by the shielding technology the Balokarids are most commonly known for. Depending on the power available to the generator, a barrier can completely encase anything from a ship, all the way to a personal shield gauntlet. These shields are made up of an assortment of diamond-shaped panels that create a sphere around the user or a vehicle, and any kinetic force aimed at these barriers is deflected away, but it has been witnessed that sustained gunfire can collapse these panels since the uninterrupted kinetic force begins to ‘overload’ the panel. A shield panel takes several minutes to recharge and reactivate. A shield cannot be fired through from the inside, and the Balokarids must deactivate parts of their shields in order to open fire on a target.
Military
Although new to space flight and combat in zero-g, the Balokarids have a cemented military doctrine that has been tried and tested in the desert environments of the homeworld. Almost every vehicle is installed with a shield generator.
Landships
Balokarid landships are large tracked vehicles with twin-barreled laser canons mounted on a turret, encased in mirrors rather than traditional armour to help deflect incoming energy beams that manage to break past the shield. They can be anywhere from 13 to 15 meters long, with a height and width of around 5 meters. Due to the large body plan of a Balokarid, it is not unusual to see larger land vehicles.
Aircraft
Balokarid airpower is typically a female pursuit, due to the female’s possession of wings. Spacecraft are heavily inspired by the desert fliers used on Balokar. They hold the physical attributes of the native animals that swim through the sands, with fins and long tails that allow aircraft to manoeuvre both in and out of vacuum. The most latest design of air superiority is the Sala’ci fighter, a space-capable heavy attacker with two 10 meter long laser cannons that can track two targets independently.
Spaceships
There is currently only one dedicated space ship the Balokarids have designed. The carrier-class ship is simply its namesake, a large ship that rivals most human colony ships in size, capable of housing over 20,000 Balokarids, with several hangars capable of launching 150 Sala’ci craft. Carriers are completely unarmed, however, and are too large to house shield generators properly, and thus rely on their launched craft for support and protection.