Velorian

Velorian Protector

Overview:

The People of Velor and one of the most famous species in the Galaxy. They are a branch of humanity formally known as Homo Sapiens Supremis.

Velorians are known for two things; their universal beauty, and their supernal strength and invulnerability. This has served them well in the roles on other worlds over the centuries as Companions and Protectors. But most Velorians never leave Velor, and they too have lives, and not the kind of lives of those who go offworld. Their lives are shorter, about 150 Earth years compared to about 500 offworld, and in relation to the gravity of Velor -- six times that of Earth -- they are effectively no stronger than ordinary humans. On Velor, they know only the Beta metabolic state, similar to that of Arion Betas, based on conventional food and drink intake. Only beyond the gold field can they enter the Alpha state and metabolize solar and other forms of high energy into orgone, and thereby enjoy the full measure of the awesome powers built into them by the Galen.

History

Although engineered by the Galen beginning in 1011 to serve as Procreators. the Velorians were abandoned in 1071, without explanation (Only later was it learned that the Galen had created another race, the Geheimites, to serve that purpose.). Velorians were left, not only without any apparent purpose for existence, but with little knowledge -- such fundamentals as the nature of the gold field and the potential of the Alpha state were kept secret by those styling themselves the Priests of Skietra -- and few resources. The first generation had been deeptaught in the operation and maintenance of the Maternity Engine and other technologies, and in basic skills from agriculture to construction. But, apart from the Maternity Engine, which seemed to be self-repairing, the technology abandoned by the Galen was hard to maintain and impossible to replace -- that was true even of the Dimensional Transporter by which the Naturalists left for Aria after the civil war.

War damage aggravated the decline of the technological base, and the Priests of Skietra who were in charge of the Maternity Engine reprogrammed it to create the Velorian Caste System -- with access to remaining high-tech resources limited to the Prima class. By the time a Scalantran mission was able to open trade in 1158, Velor was akin to a Third World country on contemporary Earth. Even the Primas and their scribes relied mostly on a locally-produced paper for record keeping, as few computers had survived. Brute labor had become the norm in farming, construction. manufacturing and transportation. It was only the trade in Companions through the Scalantrans that enabled the Velorians to rebuild and improve their technological base, which included insystem spacecraft capable of travel to Daxxan and the several moons.

Although its Protectors are known and admired throughout the Galaxy, Velorians at home live in a patriarchal society. The Priesthood of Skietra had set the pattern; traditionally, only men have served in the Senate, which was established early on to govern the planet; and the High Council, first created to select and train Companions, and later to do the same for Protectors. Because all children are produced by the Maternity Engine, there isn't any connection between sex and reproduction. Young Velorians thus tend to be promiscuous, but still form marriages to rear families. Parents generally contribute their own genes to their lab-born childrem, but also have other genes they admire incorporated into them. Children are generally, but not always, of the same caste as their parents.

Scrumbles, a game vaguely like football, is one of the Velorians' cultural obsessions.

Enemies:

Their bitter enemies are their dark cousins, the Arions who split off from them following a civil war 1,000 years ago. The faction that called themselves the Purists, who lobbied for continued use of the Maternity Engine among other things, stayed on Velor and the faction that had called itself the Naturalists, due to the fact they favored natural childbirth, went to Aria and became known as Arions.

Allies:

The Vendorians of the Vauld are staunch allies of Velor and the Enlightenment, which latter includes some hundreds of Seeded worlds