Lienati

General Overview
Every great power has at one point or another built a slave race. For the Founders it was the Vorta, for the Iconians had the Elachi, and eons ago the now long forgotten Teriyan had the Lienati. The Teriyan Government ordered the creation of a slave species to serve the needs of its people and the Lienati were created for all roles that the Teriyan people felt was beneath them.

That is to say that they Lienati acted as servants, laborers, and even warriors for the Teriyan until the fall of the Teriyan Imperium and the majority of the race was put into a hibernation state for long term storage. The plan had been for them to be awoken to again fill this role once the Teriyan Emporium was rebuilt and ready for them. This time never came.

Only a short thousand years ago the damaged hibernation pods opened due to power failures and what remained of the Lienati race began to rebuild. The damage to the reawakening systems left the race with little memory of their past and they were forced to piece together their history from the relics left behind on the station they would call home. From it, they learned of those that came before, as they would come to call the Teriyan, though due to a poor understanding of their own creation the Teriyan were viewed as gods and a religion was built around them.

The Lienati would be preserved by the ancient station’s AI system, instructed to maintain the Lienati for the Teriyan Empire. This AI system would go to great lengths to preserve them, though interactions between the AI and a shadowy figure known as Octavius would, in the end, cause the Lienati to be exposed to the outside world for the first time since the fall of the Teriyan Empire.

Physiology
As a slave race, the Lienati was built to not only be aesthetically pleasing but to be highly functional at the same time. All of their knowledge about the reasoning of certain biological traits they have is passed down by the same religious leaders that teach that the Teriyan, the beings that created them, were gods. It is taught by the religious leaders that the Lienati were brought up by the Teriyan from a deer like species.

There is some evidence of this in that, their inability to digest meat, necessitating a strictly vegetarian diet. Though this heritage is most clear in the boney antler-like structures that grew on the sides of their heads, close to the top. Despite their bone-like appearance, these antlers are not offensive, as due to the high number of nerves in them they are highly sensitive.

One of the first things noted by many who have come into contact with them is that they only have one gender, a roughly female one at that. This is believed to be a result of their genetically engineered biology, as designing a handful of genetic templates for a single-gendered race would be much easier than spending the time to design two genders, this would allow almost complete control over their number.

It is believed that sometime after their creation they were modified once more to give them the ability to sexually reproduce, while still maintaining a single gender. This was done by making it so every member of the race had what could be viewed as male and female sex organs, testes, overlies, and a uterus. Sexual activity would, in the end, be a variation on a theme, that being tribadism. This gave both members a great deal of pleasure as Lienati have two of what could be identified as glans clitoris.

Metabolically speaking Lienati have a vastly increased lung capacity and a much slower metabolism. Most Lienati are taught from a young age that this was built into them to allow them to work harder and longer with less food than other races.

Lienati tends to be small, ranging from four and a half feet to five feet when fully grown, though in some rare cases specimens as tall as five and a half feet are recorded, this is not at all common and most will never reach even five feet in height. It is not known why they were built to be this short, in fact, it was not until they began to encounter other races that it became clear to them how much shorter they were.

They are covered from head to toe in a thick layer of pale felt like fur, though they grow hair on the tops of their heads it seldom grows beyond a few inches, with fine eyebrows. The only other hair on their body worth noting is the thin wispy pubic hair. This fur would range in color from a deep burgundy to a vivid blue. Those genetically descended from controller units, referred to as Hanjo (or Hanja for females) were unique in having more purplish colored fur and much longer hair.

Their svelte bodies are denser than one would expect. Though they do not appear to have much muscle mass, this is the result of their muscle tissue being far denser than most species. This, along with the increased lung capacity, makes them excellent runners, but terrible swimmers as they do not float in water. This also means that they are a bit heavier than most humanoids of their size class.

Finally, it has been said that Lienati have an earthy smell to them, not unlike the smell of wet dirt after a heavy rainstorm. This scent is caused by the unique blend of pheromones, it is believed the species they were built from had. Sometime after their emergence, this trait reemerged, and though the effect of these pheromones is not strong, it is believed to trigger a more trusting response rather than a sexual one. It does allow Lienati to develop friendships with people outside their race much easier.

Individual Lienati can identify one another by nothing more than smell as a result of these pheromones. With some training, they can learn to identify members of other races by the same mechanism. This ability also allows them to identify threats even when they cannot see them.

Psychology
Psychologically speaking Lienati are not too dissimilar from humans. They tend to come across as a little overconfident, being raised to believe that the gods held them in a special regard does that to a person. In addition, they can become quite defiant in the face of anyone who questions their belief in the Teriyan or implies that they were anything less than omnipotent gods.

Though like most races they are capable of a wide range of emotions, they are not easily angered. In fact, the only guaranteed way to get on one of their bad sides is to insult their gods. At which time their inbuilt desire and need to defend the Teriyan will cause them to very quickly get very violent, though they can control it if they absolutely must.

Finally, concepts like gender have come hard to the Lienati, they often confuse male and female concepts, even mistaking one for the other when meeting new people. Because of their more female appearance, they tend to be identified with female pronouns, something they seldom object to.

Language
The Lienati have two unique languages. They use the ancient language of the Teriyan for all governmental and religious matters. The language was pieced together from old recordings and books left behind from the Teriyan after they disappeared from the galaxy. This language is not unlike Latin in that it is a dead language that is still used.

The second language is far less formal and has been changing and evolving since the emergence. It is viewed as a more common language, though it is the most often spoke by the Lienati. It is in a state of change like most living languages.

The newest concept to appear in Lienati language is the idea of gendered words, pronouns and proper names. The concept is completely alien and has taken a lot of work to figure out how to use it.

Home World
The original home planet of the Lienati, an M Class world called Teriyana, was once one of the major centers of commerce in the galaxy, before the First Great Collapse, the events that saw the end of the Tkon, the Iconians, and the Teriyans.

This planet, along with much of the knowledge of the Lienati from before the First Great Collapse, is now long gone. All that remains of the Lienati are a single isolated group on an ancient Teriyan space station in orbit of the star known as Arcturus by the Federation. Due to the long-abandoned nature of the station and the remaining Lienati not being trained in its upkeep, the station has fallen into disrepair and the once fertile biomes inside the station have grown out and damaged much of the station.

The Lienati are thus an agrarian society living on a space station. Only recently have they begun to farm to support their population.

Culture and Customs
Lienati have a deeply spiritual society, and the Teriyan religion is a major unifying force on the planet; the spiritual leader, or Hanja (Hanjo for males), wields a great deal of moral and political authority. The Hanja (or Hanjo) is chosen from a council of Gogue, the title given to Lienati religious leaders. The Hanja (or Hanjo) is chosen from the select pool of genetic candidates who exhibit the correct traits and show an aptitude for the position. Hanja candidates are tested thoroughly for both genetic purity, using the ancient machines of the station, and for knowledge of the religious practices necessary to do what is expected of them. Other religious titles are Preceptor and Fahkir. The Lienati religion is based upon the revelations of the Teriyan, an ancient race who it is believe created the Lienati and once inhabited the station which the Lienati now live, before they left this universe. The Teriyan are believed to currently exist in a dimension without time or space, and can thus watch over the lives of the Lienati.

This belief flows through every part of their culture. They pray to these ancient gods daily and have ancient scriptures that priests study and relay to the general populous. They build buildings in the same way the buildings built by the Teriyan were built, or as close to their designs as they can manage with less technologically advanced building materials.

Due to the Teriyan’s position outside of time, it is often the case that Lienati pray for guidance or some insight. Such prayers are unusually accompanied by the ingestion of a psychoactive plant called, Hilioion. The visions and hallucinations brought on by the plant are in turns interpreted by a priest or compared to various religious texts to find meaning.

Only the Hanja may make direct contact with the Will of the Station, what the Lienati refer to the AI of the station as. Thus allowing the Lienati to perform some select repairs and inform the AI of the goings on of the Lienati, allowing the AI to monitor them and adjust them as needed to prevent unacceptable loses.

It is interesting to note that because of there being only one gender social relationships and romantic situations are quite different from races with two or more. It is not uncommon for a Lienati to simply state that they are interested in another Lienati, circumventing any awkward social situations. If the feelings are not reciprocated then it simply need be said. There is no shame in rejection as it is viewed as an aid in narrowing down the field of possible mates.

It should also be noted that because of the belief that the Teriyan are always watching over them certain moral rules are almost never broken, such as committing a murder or a rape. Those who break such taboos are almost always swiftly put to death as an offense to the Teriyan and their teachings.

History
Recorded Lienati history begins when the race was brought out of hibernation and emerged to the ruined halls and corridors of a long-abandoned station. Years of searching left them with scattered bits of information that make up their view of their racial history.

The Lienati were created by the Teriyan as a slave race, designed to do the jobs that were not worthy of the Teriyan. The Lienati were created from a deer like species not native to the planet Teriyana, there is little information on this deer-like race. For a time the Lienati acted as servants, laborers, and even warriors for the Teriyan.

Then long ago something changed. The Teriyan disappeared and the Lienati entered hibernation. The last outpost would fall silent and drift through space until the Lienati, at last, awoke they found themselves alone. With little else to do the Lienati set about building settlements and exploring the ancient station looking for answers. They found some information, but most of that was quickly scooped by the newly formed religious order. This religious order used their knowledge of history to quickly take control of many of the newly formed governing bodies, marrying church and state, something that would not change for a very long time.

That was roughly five hundred years ago and since their emergence, the Lienati have developed into a small society. In recent years the government has become more secular, though most of the leaders are still deeply religious.

The Lienati were able to develop much faster than some races as they had the technology left behind by the Teriyan to base their own technology off of. Though they have only recently moved into an agrarian society.

Isolated from the galaxy, protected by a rogue AI, they have been sheltered, though this era, like all things, is ending. Recently a small research team from a society called the Federation has taken up residence in their station, and it will not be long before the Lienati are discovered.