Nyuuvians

The Nyuuvians (neww-vians), known to the Kaeolians as the Emaciir, are a race of extremely thin, tall humanoids genetically-engineered by the Kaeolian Empire during the First Cluster War. Created in the Paragon Project by combining Kaeolian DNA with reptilian genomes and advanced mutagenic compounds, the Nyuuvians were intended to serve as spies, commandos and elite soldiers within the Kaeolian military, roles they were well-suited for thanks to their high intelligence and natural cleverness.

Origins
The Nyuuvians were the second major species to be created in the Kaeolian Empire's Paragon Project, right after the Duur. Although they were strong, fearless and extremely loyal to their comrades in battle, the Duur were not known to be very bright or subtle, and could not fulfill every combat role within the Kaeolian military. Their usefulness in direct combat was also decreasing, now that the Zetylian Hegemony was diversifying its strategies and relying more on orbital bombardment as opposed to planetary invasions. In an effort to solve both problems at once, Kaeolian genetic scientists looked into creating a new species with more unique abilities that would make them suitable for a larger variety of situations. Eventually, they found great potential within a species of passive spaceborne pseudo-reptiles, the Maiatak, that roamed about the otherwise unremarkable Suluzo system in the Milky Way Galaxy. Several Maiatak specimens were captured and experimented on, and once their genomes had been sequenced, the Kaeolian scientists made a tremendous discovery. The unique biological systems the Maiatak had developed in order to survive in deep space were compatible with Kaeolian physiology, and could be integrated into the Kaeolian genome to bestow these same abilities on them, as well. Using this new information, geneticists spliced together the best aspects of Maiatak biology with enhanced Kaeolian DNA, which had been tailored for high intelligence and intuition. This resulted in the creation of the first Nyuuvians, who were called the "Emaciir" by the Kaeolians, a word that meant "fighting mind" in Kaeolish.

The first few battles in which the Nyuuvians were deployed quickly demonstrated the effectiveness of their natural abilities. Capable of outsmarting skilled Zetylian commanders and subverting their expectations, the Nyuuvians displayed excellent combat prowess, the likes of which couldn't be replicated by either the Duur or Kaeolians. In addition to this, their capacity to survive in a vacuum without any special equipment offered them many new strategies when battling the Zetylians in space, as they could safely navigate outside of their spacecraft in situations where the Zetylians wouldn't have been able to. While the Nyuuvians were able to uphold this battlefield effectiveness for a majority of the war, they never totally replaced Kaeolian soldiers, and were not deployed nearly as frequently compared to other species that were created in the Paragon Project. This was both due to their rather dubious personalities (which concerned Kaeolian commanders, who feared the Nyuuvians were not completely loyal), and the fact that intensifying the usage of Nyuuvian soldiers against the Zetylians would encourage the Zetylians to rely more on their cyborganic creatures in combat, which were extremely fierce enemies that rivaled some of the greatest weapons in the Kaeolian arsenal.

Biology
Created to be supremely effective soldiers and adaptive soldiers, Nyuuvian biology has been specially tailored to be as resilient and low-maintenance as possible. Their physiology is vaguely reptilian in design and function, much like the Heumvak and Jyrians, which were both species that were formed from derivative genomes. Nyuuvians have extremely dark, rough skin, with a variety of different skin tints throughout their species depending on the individual in question (shades of blue and purple are the most common, though rare red-skinned Nyuuvians have also appeared). Their eyes glow a bright blue, and are very large compared to the rest of a Nyuuvian's face. Nyuuvians do not grow hair, but they do have a small blanket of scale-like growths on the tops of their heads that help protect their brains, which point backwards down their head. While these scales are too tough and straight to be stylized, there are some Nyuuvians that enjoy dyeing or shaping their scales for aesthetic purposes. Physically speaking, Nyuuvians are extremely tall, averaging at about 9 ft (2.7 m) in height. Their bodies have a terribly thin, emaciated appearance, and while this is off-putting for most other humanoids, it is actually an important biological adaptation that allows the Nyuuvians to survive in vacuums and zero-gravity environments. The skin and external flesh of a Nyuuvian is very tight, and applies tremendous pressure on their internal organs and skeletal structure so as to prevent them from decompressing when exposed to a vacuum. While they may appear to be only skin and bones, Nyuuvians are actually extremely strong, sometimes stronger than the Duur. This is thanks to their hyper-condensed muscle fibers, which can produce tremendous forces despite being relatively compact.

The skin of a Nyuuvian, however, is only their first line of defense when it comes to surviving in extreme environments. Their internal biology is organized in such a way so as to minimize the amount of air and other gasses contained in their bodies, reducing the effects of depressurization. Nyuuvians require very little oxygen and can go without breathing for extensive periods of time thanks to their efficient metabolisms, negating the need for life support apparatuses. Nyuuvians are also much better at regulating their body temperatures, and can remain comfortably warm in even the most frigid environments. The dense, tightly-compacted bodily fluids of Nyuuvians are resistant to depressurization and freezing, and Nyuuvian blood circulation can continue unfettered even in zero-gravity environments thanks to special muscles surrounding their blood vessels, which automatically squeeze and push blood through their bodies whenever circulation is hampered by outside forces. Most of the cells in a Nyuuvian's body are extremely resistant to radiation and cosmic rays, a trait that has made them excellent nuclear engineers and orbital construction workers. Nyuuvians require very little sleep, food or water, and can metabolize almost anything with even the slightest traces of nutritional substances. Like most Kaeolish Humanoids, Nyuuvians reproduce sexually, with the females laying eggs that incubate in open air. There is very little sexual dimorphism in Nyuuvians, with females having only slightly wider hips compared to males. The genitals of male Nyuuvians can be retracted inside of their bodies almost completely, which, combined with the lack of sexual dimorphism in their species, has often led to confusion for the individuals of other species involved in romantic affairs with Nyuuvians, who sometimes mistake their partners for a different sex.

Homeworld
The planet Nyuuv was not a location the Kaeolians explicitly selected to place the Nyuuvians. It is a completely barren and inhospitable world, possessing a paper-thin atmosphere and constantly bombarded with radiation from its large blue star. The actual planet intended to be the homeworld of the Nyuuvians was Ageltym, another world in the same system as Nyuuv that had been terraformed by the Kaeolians into an incredibly lush garden world, similar to Jyria before it was polluted beyond recognition. At the end of the First Cluster War, a massive Kaeolian transport ship, the KIN Relcordu, was transporting the last of the Nyuuvians to Ageltym. It had stopped for refueling in low orbit around Nyuuv, siphoning from the planet's large liquid hydrogen lakes, when it was attacked by a Zetylian cruiser. The transport's limited defenses made it an easy target, and it was quickly sent crashing down to the surface of the planet below. Although its Kaeolian crew died in the crash, most of the millions of Nyuuvians contained in the transport survived, kept safe within their Q-Caps. The destruction of the ship triggered a release of these slumbering Nyuuvians, who banded together to survive in the harsh environments of Nyuuv. Since their memories had been wiped prior to boarding the transport, these Nyuuvians had no recollection of the Kaeolian Empire or their origins, and the Relcordu's computer systems had been too heavily damaged for any of its data to be recoverable. Using the tools and resources recovered from the crash, the Nyuuvians took to establishing themselves on the surface of Nyuuv and, over many generations, created a sprawling civilization that ended up being far greater in scale than any other civilization formed by the products of Kaeolian experimentation, with the exception of the Coalition of Intelligent Organisms.

Although it is terribly hostile to complex life, Nyuuv is actually quite an excellent homeworld for the industrious, innovative Nyuuvians. Beneath its crater-ridden surface lies an abundance of mineral resources, including a few trace amounts of low-tier crystalline metasubstances. These resources are easily accessible thanks to Nyuuv's extensive cave systems and the relatively weak rock composites that make up most of its crust and upper mantle. Almost all of the water on Nyuuv is contained in the form of ice deposits, but the planet does contain a number of large lakes filled with freezing-cold liquid hydrogen, kept cool a unique species of anaerobic microorganism native to Nyuuv, known as Uzub. Capable of surviving only in extremely cold temperatures, Uzub cells have evolved incredible exothermic properties, which help them thrive on the surface of Nyuuv's liquid hydrogen lakes while simultaneously preventing these lakes from boiling. As their civilization grew, the Nyuuvians took to building plenty of infrastructure inside of these caves, saving the surface for structures of special political, cultural or economic importance. Many of Nyuuv's naturally-occurring hydrogen lakes were drained as the Nyuuvians siphoned them and used the hydrogen as fuel. Attempts at slowing the drainage of Nyuuv's hydrogen lakes were made by scientists in the Coalition of Intelligent Organisms, as they wanted to study the natural environments of the Uzub before the exploitation of Nyuuv's natural resources rendered them extinct.

Psychology
While they may have been created as a warrior race to surpass the Duur, the Nyuuvians do not possess the same intrinsic sense of unity shared by the Duur. In fact, most Nyuuvians are dedicated individualists, and will go out of their way to avoid working with others whenever possible. Thanks to their excellent strength, intelligence and resilience, most Nyuuvians are capable of performing well in a wide variety of fields, and they are very fast learners. This, combined with their ambivelence towards cooperation, leads most Nyuuvians to become skilled generalists that thrive in a large number of situations, as they prefer to be prepared for multiple different kinds of work as opposed to having someone else assist them. These characteristics aided them greatly during the First Cluster War, as, with sufficient training, Nyuuvian commandos could handle almost every possible threat they might face in combat against the Zetylians completely on their own. After the Kaeolian Empire collapsed, the Nyuuvians established a new civilization among themselves very quickly in order to survive the harsh conditions of their homeworld. The Nyuuv Commune, despite being formed by a race of individualists, was much more efficient and stable than many of its neighbors in the Spur Trinity, no doubt due to the high intelligence of the Nyuuvians and their utilitarian ethics, which emphasized the practical benefits of working together as opposed to the social or emotional benefits. By collaborating only when necessary and designing a fluid economy around their inherent strengths, the Nyuuvians became one of the strongest species within the political dynamic of the Spur Trinity prior to the emergence of the Coalition of Intelligent Organisms.

Even though their skills were widely appreciated within the developing Coalition, the Nyuuvians quickly gained a reputation for their disagreeable personalities and cold hearts. Since the culture and societal structure of the Coalition was a far cry from that of the Nyuuv Commune, the Nyuuvians felt very out of place, which led to quite a bit of tension between them and the rest of the Coalition. While their curt, impersonal demeanors make them seem somewhat emotionless, the Nyuuvians actually possess a tremendous amount of social and emotional awareness, more so than many other intelligent species. Nyuuvian art is known to be incredibly passionate and provocative, and some of the best spies in history have been Nyuuvians, as their ability to navigate social situations and manipulate people through speech alone is practically unchallenged. However, owing to their utilitarian philosophies, most Nyuuvians see emotion and artistic expression as a means to a greater end, and won't go out of their way to be expressive if to do so won't produce any meaningful reward in the near future. These principles heavily influence Nyuuvian sexual habits, which, to most other species, particularly those that are predominantly monogamous, seem completely egregious. The Nyuuvians are notorious adulterers, and rarely stick with one partner for any prolonged period of time. This kind of behavior was acceptable in the Nyuuv Commune, where sexual activity was seen as nothing more than a means of propagating their species. If two Nyuuvians of opposite sexes crossed paths, they would usually engage in brief sexual intercourse before going their seperate ways, as Nyuuvians rarely sought out partners for the sole purpose of reproduction. However, the associations drawn between sex and emotional attachment in Coalition culture made this kind of behavior very taboo, and as a result, most Nyuuvians in the Coalition abstain from forming romantic connections to anyone, including members of their own species, for fear of the social stipulation that comes with such attachments.