Homo-Salticidae by Slatepaws

Homo-Salticidae

After some thinking I decided that I needed to put this up.

It is a stylized race information sheet for the aliens in the Colonyship series.

And yes I tried to be accurate in the MYSQL commands even though the only experience i have with it is setting it up for mythtv.

> UFOP-726F-A5D7-9CB52

Password: *****************

> mysql -u UFOP726FA5D79CB52 Xenospecies -p

Password: ******************

< Warning : You do not have privileges to modify data.>

< Caution : High network load detected, commands may be slow to execute.>

Mysql> SHOW TABLE LIKE Provisional;

<Mysql: Two matches found.>

<Provisional-Non-Sentient>

<Provisional-Sentient>

Mysql> SHOW TABLE Provisional-Sentient;

<Mysql: One Entry found.>

<Mysql: Loading entry, Please wait.>

Xeno-010

Homo-Salticidae

< Warning : You do not have clearance for this data.>

Red : Avoid physical contact with bodily fluids due to unknown pathogen.

General :

The species listed as Xeno-010, hereby referred to as 'Homo-salticidae' is a rarity being only one of two known sentient Arthropod like species. Refer to the Neal Foster database for information on the other. Unlike most earth Arthropods Homo-Salticidae does not have the trademark exoskeleton and has a less segmented body structure. Vestigial segments do remain on their bodies as a thick chitinous plates near some joints and connective tissue between the body and the abdomen. Their visual appearance is where their name comes from as they look somewhat like an anthropomorphic version of the family Salticidae.

The species also shares the same extreme level of sexual dimorphism that earthen Arthropod's do. Another similarity is that they have copper based hemoglobin rather than iron based. This does not seem to hamper their biology in their natural environment as oxygen levels are at least twenty-five percent higher than earth normal. Normal earth oxygen levels will induce hypoxia within hours of exposure though so you must alter the decks they will be staying on appropriately.

Both males and females have the same head structure, four eyes with a sloping forehead. Recessed ear holes are on either side but no external ear lobe structure seems to be present. Vestigial mandibles stick out on either side of their mouths but appear to have lost any usefulness in eating. Instead they have rows of teeth with switchblade like fangs occupying the location k-nines would in a human or morph. These are connected to venom sacs and allow them to inject venom that they constantly produce into anyone they bite. Teeth indicate carnivorous diet with some plant matter interspersed.

Skin color ranges from a dull slate gray to various shades of brown and some black. No fur in the traditional mammal sense, only thin coating of small hairs covering the abdomen, head and back.

General female :

The females of the species are purely bipedal in a plantigrade like stance, they average between five feet eleven inches and six feet nine inches. Attached to the pelvis, just above where the glutinous maximus muscle is on humans and morphs is an abdomen and the only remaining segmented joint. It contains a small silk gland, their sexual reproductive organs, and the end of their digestive tract. The upper body consists of two identical sets of arms each ending in a hand with three fingers and a thumb each tipped with a dense chitinous nail. Chitinous plates sit on top of the skin over the location between the first and second shoulder joints on the front and back of the upper body, these are the last major remaining elements of their exoskeleton ancestors. Sitting just above the top shoulder joint on the back from each side sticks out on average a foot long vestigial arm each tipped with two finger length talons that are non-opposable. Scans and tests indicate that these arms can hold up the subject's weight with proper training indicating they may have once been arboreal hunters.

The females have smaller venom and silk glands compared to the males but tests indicate that the venom is no less potent. The silk produced by the silk gland from the females is of poorer quality as compared to the samples taken from the male of the species

General male :

The males stand a shorter two feet even to three feet nine inches tall and resemble more of a giant spider upon casual examination. Though looking at further detail on a male specimen indicates they might be similar to an early ancestor of their species. All the fully bipedal features on the females have a lesser evolved version present on their bodies. More of their body is covered in the vestigial exoskeleton which still possibly acts as natural armor. Their hands on their middle two sets of legs have a proto-opposable thumb on them while the equivalent of the vestigial arms on the female seem more developed. Structure of the hind set of legs indicate that the males are semi multi-limbed in their stance as they look to be able to withstand some locomotion on their hind legs freeing up the middle two sets.

Venom sacks attached to the fangs on the male are on average twenty five percent larger indicating they can take down larger prey. The most interesting aspect is the silk glands on the males, they are not only larger but the quality of the silk is very high. Tests indicate that it can be made into very durable fabrics but when also meshed in certain weaves it can become a lightweight and multi-use anti-kinetic projectile fabric many times stronger than the Kevlar and carbon nanotube standard issue.

This knowledge is known to the species so if hostile action must be taken energy weapons are advisable compared to the kinetic counterparts.

Intelligence :

While not fully tested due to the small test pool and lack of data from Homo-Salticidae themselves they seem comparable to humans and morphs. IQ tests administered to the available subjects indicates an average level equivalent to just above human average. More tests will need to be done to determine the extent of the high and low ends but it is the opinion of the author of this report that they could excel at the sciences once taught how.

Social Structure :

While little is known about the social structure at this time what we do know is that due to the biological differences between the males and females has made their society into a Female dominated one. Males seem to have fewer and less productive yet just as important roles as the females.

Physiology :

Due to having copper based hemoglobin their endurance level for cardiovascular based activity once acclimatized to earth standard levels is just under half that of human average. When the same tests are performed under their native levels of oxygen, endurance is about seventy-seven percent.

Luckily the sample size included several trained and untrained individuals so the species strength range can be considered an accurate measurement. An untrained female Homo-Salticidae can lift between twenty and twenty-five pounds on each arm resulting in a combined lifting weight of between eighty and one hundred pounds depending on if they can get a good grip on the object in question. Trained individuals can double that, with one test subject being able to lift the equivalent of an adult chakat.

Speed is not their strength, they can obtain a running speed of seven to eight miles per hour. Better trained individuals will be able to maintain it more than the untrained yet they fall far short than the human standard. Jumping though is where their Physiological advantage lies. From a crouching start untrained individuals can jump nearly double their average body height vertically and double their body height horizontally for females. Trained females were recorded reaching double their body height vertically and nearly three times horizontally when not wearing armor or clothing.

No data yet on the male of the species as no living example is in our possession.

Language :

While we have not yet fully translated it, the basics were easy to pick up. Their language appears to consist of a series of clicks and hisses at first glance but each hiss and click have subtle tone and pitch modulations that change the meaning. Only constant monitoring and time will allow us to fully translate it as attempts to teach them common have shown poor results.

Talent evaluation :

Tests on the available subjects show a complete inability to have any of the known talents. Empathy, telepathy, telekinetic, and astro projection all turn up solid negatives.

We were about to wrap up the talent evaluation tests that evening until a fight broke out between two of the subjects during a set up recreational event in their dormitory. The instigator was completely unable to even touch the other one while she was even able to avoid running into others in the area still playing as well as the equipment being thrown about. One of my colleagues said it reminded him of the earth classic 'spider-man'.

When the one sided fight was broken up we took the victim in for testing and found that she has a talent we are tentatively calling Total Environmental Awareness. It seems to be synergistic combination of all her normal senses, sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. In addition to this she also seems to be able to sense micro air currents with the hair on her back and abdomen. All of these data inputs seems to allow her to be able to have an accurate and near instant mental map of an area roughly three feet around her. She is the only one of the group with this ability so we surmise it's rare in the normal population considering our decent sample size.

Home planet :

< Warning : You do not have clearance for this data.>

Special Biological notes regarding their venom :

When we ran a chemical analysis of the venom we were puzzled as chemical wise it did not include a payload. What we found was many compounds that act either as anti-coagulants or anti-inflammatory agents and some pain killers. Some of which may be useful for synthesizing new drugs. Yet there was nothing we could see with the plain chemical analysis that indicated it was dangerous, we even joked that we should 'let' them bite us to take all our aches and pains away. All the joking stopped after we injected a sample into a lab rat test subject.

Within one hour the rat was a dead pile of semi putrid tissue. We ran the remains through every test we could and we found the payload of the venom. A virus, and a nasty one that we are nicknaming the turncoat virus. It's surface is specifically keyed to attracted an immune cell response and once attached to a white blood cell or T cell the dna strand it injects hijacks the sense of self system in the immune cells. It makes the body's own immune system turn on its self attacking every cell in the body like it would a foreign pathogen. The chemical compounds in the venom with it allow a speedy distribution throughout the victim's body ensuring a quick death. The virus itself has no dna in it that would cause the infected cells to produce more of the virus so we assume it is part of Homo-Salticidae's dna.

Because of this we are flagging Homo-Salticidae as a red level species, exposure to the venom they produce is considered fatal. Especially for Chakats and others with strong immune systems. Initial research into a vaccine shows that full immunity might take up to a week as all the body's white and T cells need to be replaced with the immune ones.

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