Alien Life Form detected..

[rabid]

(here is a new design motif for everyone to play around with. Enjoy!)

Stardate 8454.1
Starfleet priority transmission: warp capable alien starships detected
Origin: Extra-galactic, suspected point of Origin the Fornax Galaxy
Type: Unknown
Characteristics: Warp drive supplemented by tachyon sail technology.
Benevolence: unknown. Initial scans indicate the vessels are heavily armed.
Culture: unknown.
Galactic influence: Unknown, current trajectory indicates the unknown life forms may contact patrols from any major interstellar civilization, primarily the Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly or romulan empire.

Further scans are needed. A *Bader* class scout, U.S.S. Clifton, is expected to make contact within 2 Terran Lunar Cycles.


initial long distance scans depict a ship configuration suggestive of a knight figure from a Terran Chess Board. 

Admiral Cleese has code named them the "Kahniggets" pending further contact. 

[trynda1701]

Interesting.

Are these of your own devising, or based on something?

[steve]

This is very interesting. I can't help but attempt a very slight retcon to what you've already established.

They are called the "Equarians." The sail is dual-purpose; It allows the ship to make incredibly (almost impossibly) tight and quick turns. It is also a last-ditch solar panel. There are always 4 "warp engines" (although they could be another but similar technology) on all but their smallest ships (which have two). Each sail is unique in color pattern and design as a further means to identify the individual ship.

Pleasure craft have no "warp engines" but consist solely of these solar sails, which extend and collapse as needed, allowing for the ship to seemingly "dance" through space.

Of ship weaponry, they have the equivalent of photon torpedoes and this is what they use as a 'main weapon' when they want to destroy an enemy ship. They also have a solid beam weapon as a weak "back-up" to their photon torpedoes, used against significantly smaller ships either as an offensive weapon or as a warning (a lesser alternative to the "pulse shield" described later). They also have an unique weapon that could be considered as a "pulse shield," which could be described as an "offensive shield." The ship creates this "shield" and then juts towards the opponent, casting the "shield" off and in the direction of the opponent. The opposing starship suffers some structural damage but the main focus of the attack is to disrupt enemy shields and cause the opposing ship temporary power loss. It is a noble weapon and used as a warning to other ships that they have strayed too far in disrupting the affairs of the Equarian ship when a verbal or other fair warning is not heeded.

A feature concerning their warp drive technology is that they are durable but disposable; They must constantly be replaced as opposed to maintained and repaired like warp drives from other civilizations (Feds, Romulans, Klingons).

Anyway, just a knee-jerk reaction to the design and description. Please elaborate more on your thoughts. Thank you.

[rabid]

Jun 26, 2020 17:16:10 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Interesting.

Are these of your own devising, or based on something?

Truth is I have been drawing these on sketch pads during phone calls and on coffee table napkins for decades. I think since high school.

The original design was suggested by a marvel comic book called "Power Pack", about kids who get amazing abilities from a dying horse-like Alien and then have to battle the reptilian Sn*rx. The Snark (from Lewis Carroll get it?) starship kind of had the same "head" but it had all these weird leg appendages. I took off the "legs" and added the sail, made the design more gracile and refined the secondary hull.

I think I made enough changes from the original to make something new.

Steve l like what you typed up and I could stand to hear a few more theories from people. I never bothered to name the alien race. Also changing out their warp drive--very horsey, like shoes.

I haven't settled on if they are horse people but that's something Trek doesn't have as far as I can tell.

[steve]

This is all just stream-of-thought stuff; Pick and choose of this what you want. It does, in retrospect, veer kinda sorta close to "wacky TOS civilization of the week" territory.

The Equarians (The Equinastic Kingdom) is a civilization comprised of a humanoid race of two genders: Male & Female. They are virtually identical to humans and only their leathery, tan skin sets them apart. Hair color is predominantly light blond, white, gray or black. Eye color tends to be green, although there is also brown, red & blue. There is no left-handedness in this race; All Equarians are right-handed. As will be described later, there are Equarians who have only 4 fingers and toes as opposed to the normal 5.

The Equarians live in a strict caste Monarchy system. Royalty is the highest caste and these individuals are always leaders. Next on the same level are the Warriors and Intellectuals. These are split into varying sub-castes but they all maintain the same level. Merchants are on the next level, split into those that provide goods and those who provide services. Finally, the Workers are the bottom level.

Equarians are mostly artificially created (non-sexual reproduction) except for the Royalty caste which may have "Guided Births" (sexual reproduction but genetically manipulated to exclude known inferior genetics). Workers are engineered to have only 4 fingers on each hand and 4 toes on each foot. They also have only one eye, not centered but either left or right. Where the other eye would be is usually a marking (a tattoo of some type) indicating to whom the worker reports to. Workers are seldom women; They are virtually all men. In fact, the gender split is about 95/5 men/women, with some of the women being in Royalty & most other being in the Entertainment part of the Merchants caste.

The time period for the civilization is split into "Eras" with the year re-starting to zero at the start of each Era. Eras are determined by the Intellectual caste based upon a series of founding documents to determine benchmarks of the civilization's dominance. For instance, the First Era began when what is now considered the Equarians declared their kingdom. The Second Era began when that Kingdom took over the entire continent that they were on. The Third Era began when they took over the entire planet, etc. so forth. With every doubling of solar systems that come under their rule, a new era is created. They are presently in their 27th Era.

Rulers can not use more than one name during an Era. For instance, "George II" & "George III" can not exist in the same Era but "George III" may be used in the next era after "George II" in the prior. Ruler names do not have to be the Royalty's actual name...

Have to break this off. More later. Comments always welcome.

[trynda1701]

Jun 26, 2020 21:01:08 GMT -7 rabid said:

Jun 26, 2020 17:16:10 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Interesting.

Are these of your own devising, or based on something?

Truth is I have been drawing these on sketch pads during phone calls and on coffee table napkins for decades. I think since high school.

The original design was suggested by a marvel comic book called "Power Pack", about kids who get amazing abilities from a dying horse-like Alien and then have to battle the reptilian Sn*rx. The Snark (from Lewis Carroll get it?) starship kind of had the same "head" but it had all these weird leg appendages. I took off the "legs" and added the sail, made the design more gracile and refined the secondary hull.

I think I made enough changes from the original to make something new.

Steve l like what you typed up and I could stand to hear a few more theories from people. I never bothered to name the alien race. Also changing out their warp drive--very horsey, like shoes.

I haven't settled on if they are horse people but that's something Trek doesn't have as far as I can tell.

Very interesting rabid.

One of the FASA supplements, the Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update had a Centaur-like race called the Ariolo.

memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ariolo

Don't know why that entry doesn't have an image of them like the other racial entries do. But there's an image of them on the back cover of the Sourcebook in this Sourcebook summary though (near the top of the page).

memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_IV_Sourcebook_Update


And here's the Memory Alpha entry for the species. All the Star Trek IV Council meeting aliens species names come from the FASA Sourcebook!

memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ariolo

You only see their upper bodies in the Council scenes, it was FASA that extrapolated them as being quadrapeds.

[trynda1701]

Jun 26, 2020 17:34:27 GMT -7 steve said:

This is very interesting. I can't help but attempt a very slight retcon to what you've already established.

They are called the "Equarians." The sail is dual-purpose; It allows the ship to make incredibly (almost impossibly) tight and quick turns. It is also a last-ditch solar panel. There are always 4 "warp engines" (although they could be another but similar technology) on all but their smallest ships (which have two). Each sail is unique in color pattern and design as a further means to identify the individual ship.

Pleasure craft have no "warp engines" but consist solely of these solar sails, which extend and collapse as needed, allowing for the ship to seemingly "dance" through space.

Of ship weaponry, they have the equivalent of photon torpedoes and this is what they use as a 'main weapon' when they want to destroy an enemy ship. They also have a solid beam weapon as a weak "back-up" to their photon torpedoes, used against significantly smaller ships either as an offensive weapon or as a warning (a lesser alternative to the "pulse shield" described later). They also have an unique weapon that could be considered as a "pulse shield," which could be described as an "offensive shield." The ship creates this "shield" and then juts towards the opponent, casting the "shield" off and in the direction of the opponent. The opposing starship suffers some structural damage but the main focus of the attack is to disrupt enemy shields and cause the opposing ship temporary power loss. It is a noble weapon and used as a warning to other ships that they have strayed too far in disrupting the affairs of the Equarian ship when a verbal or other fair warning is not heeded.

A feature concerning their warp drive technology is that they are durable but disposable; They must constantly be replaced as opposed to maintained and repaired like warp drives from other civilizations (Feds, Romulans, Klingons).

Anyway, just a knee-jerk reaction to the design and description. Please elaborate more on your thoughts. Thank you.

Oddly enough, steve, one of our gaming group created a similar idea to that 'pulse shield' concept. For his Lyran designs, he had the ships having their torpedo weapons either capable of firing as a torpedo, OR to boost the shield power of the ship. That was his way of making Lyrans different in FASA games, as a nod to the Expanding Shield Generator from Star Fleet Battles.

[steve]

OK. I'm back for the time being. More stream-of-thought about what I'll dub "the Equarians" (rabid, of course, has final say on all of this).

Despite the name, not all spaceships designed by the Equarians resemble horses. However, the horse-like shape is the most common because, in Equarian society, the horse is regarded as the perfect animal and is revered for it's versatility. Historically, it could be ridden for personal transport, it could haul wagons, used for combat in a variety of ways, used for plowing of fields if need be... Just a general, all-around, versatile animal. However, battleships resemble the bull, goats are used for scouts, etc. so forth.

And why the animal motif for starship design (and, as someone would note quickly, hoofed animals)? Because of their religion. Their religion is based upon worship of the animals. In their religion, they had a god and that god divided itself into the diverse array of animals that inhabit their native planet. Each animal, in respect, is a tiny bit of the god that created the Equarians. When you respect the animals, you respect the god. By the way, is it any wonder that the race are all vegetarians? Because it is disrespectful to "eat" the god that created you. However, with their advanced technology (they are spacefaring, after all) being a vegetarian is without any sort of sacrifice.

It is an unofficial rule that, unless you are royalty, women do not have long hair. If you are an actress and you need to portray someone with long hair, you wear a wig and, to be on the safe side, you not only wear a wig but you dye that wig bright red. Red is not a natural hair color for Equarian women and red hair is sort of like the "555" 'fake' telephone number index in the United States whenever a movie needs a fake telephone number. Even if you are royalty, you will rarely see a woman with hair past her shoulders. The same goes for beards; Unless you are royalty or at the very top of the warrior/intellectual class, you do not have a beard. If you have been in the wilderness and you have beard growth, that is understandable but you would have social sense to shave it off at the first possible opportunity. It is the equivalent of people striding out in public bottomless; You just don't do it. If you are an actor and need to portray someone with a beard, that beard is fake and it is bright red. This custom is so ingrained into society that there's even an expression for it, "redbeard," meaning someone who thinks of themselves as important but really isn't.

The worker class may be servants but they are not purposely treated poorly. It is in very poor taste to physically punish or abuse workers. You most certainly do not do so in public because you will be challenged regardless of your social status. And once the Equarians met the Klingons, any thought of physically punishing or abusing workers evaporated because Equarians and Klingons will never be on friendly terms. The Equarians simply regard the Klingons as brutes that need to be exterminated and as quickly as possible.

In that regard, Equarians regard all of the major civilizations as somewhat daft.

The Romulans, for instance, remind the Equarians of a popular proverb of theirs: "Those who hide from their own shadow soon becomes one." They regard the Romulans as a farce and, although they envy the power of the cloaking device, they also do not take kindly for when the Romulans use it within Equarian space. The Equarians will usually reply with violating Romulans space and destroying something (ships, a planetary base, etc.) in response.

The Federation is a democracy and, in the eyes of the Equarians, a laughable one at that. They marvel at how they've even been able to progress as a spacefaring race with all of that internal strife. The Vulcans are an intellectual class running themselves & the Orions are a merchant class running themselves. And the Gorn...? The Equarians merely shake their heads and dismiss any serious thoughts about the Gorn.

The Equarians are rather full of themselves, as all races tend to be before serious encounters with other races, and regard themselves as the pinnacle of all civilization. They are seriously invested in manifest destiny even after seeing the other major civilizations because, let's face it, they're all crazy. It's only a matter of time before they pick a fight with the Equarians and, in the minds of the Equarians, they'll wipe the floor with any of them. They've already had a few skirmishes with the Klingons and while none of those skirmishes were decisive, that's because the Equarians weren't really trying. The Equarians think that, if they really wanted to harm the Klingons, they most definitely could but it's beneath them to dignify these barbarians with an actual fight thus far. Instead, they'll wait for the Klingons to throw the legitimate first punch and then they'll proceed to absolutely pulverize them in front of the other major races.

At any rate, more first thoughts about the race. Enjoy.

[trynda1701]

Jun 26, 2020 9:25:37 GMT -7 rabid said:

(here is a new design motif for everyone to play around with. Enjoy!)

Stardate 8454.1
Starfleet priority transmission: warp capable alien starships detected
Origin: Extra-galactic, suspected point of Origin the Fornax Galaxy


Admiral Cleese has code named them the "Kahniggets" pending further contact. 

Jun 26, 2020 17:34:27 GMT -7 steve said:

This is very interesting. I can't help but attempt a very slight retcon to what you've already established.

They are called the "Equarians."

Jun 27, 2020 7:53:40 GMT -7 steve said:

The Equarians (The Equinastic Kingdom) is a civilization comprised of a humanoid race of two genders: Male & Female.

No, no, no. I'm sorry guys, you can't have that. Federation/Starfleet naming conventions demand they be called Fornaxians!!!

I'm kidding of course. It's just odd looking at the original Trek races from TOS, even FASA Trek, and the race and planet name are the same (Vulcans from Vulcan, Alpha Centaurans from... dun, dun, duuuh... Alpha Centauri, Andorians from Andor/Andoria, Tellarites from Tellar Prime)! The only main one that breaks that convention is Humans from Earth (although Klingons use 'Earther' as an insult!)

[steve]

As an Equarian citizen, you know your role in life. There isn't a lot of upward mobility. Your job is to further the Kingdom. The best that you could ever hope for is to become an advisor to some member of royalty. It's uncommon for someone to jump from one class to another upwards. You can, though, be quite easily demoted downward, especially to the worker class. The Kingdom has no qualms with surgically modifying you to become a worker if you so deserve it.

With their biotechnology, Equarians are capable of living for hundreds of years but, unless you are royalty, the intellectual class or the very top of the other classes (with the exception of the worker class), you won't. You'll be kept alive for as long as you can prove that you're meaningful to the Kingdom; After that, there's not much that you can do. Once a King is no longer King (same with Queen), their realistic immortality ends.

Despite being a monarchy, no one wants a civil war. There is the concept of a "vote of no confidence" in Equinastic society and Kings must surpass it at regular intervals in order to remain in charge. There are no "term limits," although, realistically, no king/queen has ruled for more than fifty or so years.

There tends not to be a radical shift in direction with the installation of a new king/queen. There may be emphasis on one facet of society over others but there's never a stark contrast. This is purposeful and allows society to keep going with confidence. In fact, there's a famous play where two people of worker class keep getting immortalizing treatments by accident. When society finally realizes that they're far older than they should be and are quizzed about it, the two can't remember which king performed what significant action, a sort of "Who's on First?" comedy routine mixed with history. This isn't considered an insult to royalty and, in fact, the play is frequently updated to include new kings and new events. Consistency is a good thing and royalty rather enjoys that the play emphasizes that.

Workers being upgraded to a higher class is uncommon but it does happen. It certainly gives the workers something to work towards even if such an occurrence is highly unlikely. With the modern space era, a worker who performs admirably in undesirable conditions may well be rewarded with an upgrade to soldier or intellectual class or perhaps a very cushy "worker-style" role in the merchant class. After all, most of the actors who portray workers were workers themselves at one point.

The society is not homogeneous and there isn't only one royal family but several. However, no one wants a civil war and there's a methodology for leadership to change hands from one family to another. However, it's highly unlikely that the switch from one ruler to another would be from one family to another. Usually, such an occurrence would be a scandal of some type or a really botched social agenda of one type or another, such as a gross mishandling of a medical catastrophe or blatant example of bribery or something to that effect. Even then, there would be negotiations in order to not have the unaffected family members tarred with the ones who performed the deed. Certain family members might skip over others in the line of succession, for instance. However, as the Kingdom has grown, the stakes have increased and families being removed from leadership are becoming more common as a result.

[trynda1701]

Jun 26, 2020 9:25:37 GMT -7 rabid said:

(here is a new design motif for everyone to play around with. Enjoy!)

Stardate 8454.1
Starfleet priority transmission: warp capable alien starships detected
Origin: Extra-galactic, suspected point of Origin the Fornax Galaxy
Type: Unknown
Characteristics: Warp drive supplemented by tachyon sail technology.
Benevolence: unknown. Initial scans indicate the vessels are heavily armed.
Culture: unknown.
Galactic influence: Unknown, current trajectory indicates the unknown life forms may contact patrols from any major interstellar civilization, primarily the Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly or romulan empire.

Further scans are needed. A *Bader* class scout, U.S.S. Clifton, is expected to make contact within 2 Terran Lunar Cycles.


initial long distance scans depict a ship configuration suggestive of a knight figure from a Terran Chess Board. 

Admiral Cleese has code named them the "Kahniggets" pending further contact. 

rabid

Based on your original post, and with the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy being well below the galactic plane of the Milky Way, that would seem to put their contact with the classic races somewhere South of the galactic plane, so sort of 'below' where the Gorn and Tholian territories are on the FASA map below?



I'm going to post some astronomical information shortly about the Fornax galaxy for reference and possible storytelling purposes. Stay tuned.

[trynda1701]

STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE INITIAL BRIEFING - SF-IB-2/2506.28-20200628/1830-IFC/EGS

INITIAL FIRST CONTACT SCANS OF UNKNOWN EXTRA-GALACTIC SPECIES - STARDATE 8454.1

Following initial long-range deep-space scans, and pending further investigations from Bader class scout "USS Clifton", Gorn and Tholian (and peripherally Romulan) Sector Intelligence desks are placed on alert and tasked with utilizing assets to assess and determine purposes of newly detected vessels.

If initial analysis is correct, vessel trajectory may have originated from the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy, approximately 470,000 light years from Federation Space, and well below the galactic plane.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornax_Dwarf



Astrometric data shows said galaxy mainly consists of Population II stellar bodies, which are among the oldest know stars in the Local Group. The Fornax galaxy is also know to be on a current trajectory that is receeding from the Milky Way.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_population#Population_II_stars

Based on these facts, could this detection indicate an advanced species expanding away from their home space, due to limited/exhausted natural resources?

All Intelligence assets are to gather as much information as possible with respect to technology and military capabilities. Assess and determine intent and purpose of unknown vessels.

All units to proceed with caution, due to unknown technological capabilities, especially propulsion and offensive/defensive capabilities. All the while adhering to First Contact protocols.

Of note, due to the location of the Fornax Dwarf below the Galactic plane, the trajectory has encountered Federation territory on the far side, relative to the Fornax origin point. Therefore, there could be further encounters to be observed elsewhere, near, or within, Federation Space. All other Intelligence Sector desks are alerted to this fact.

It is important that information is gained to ascertain how it may affect the local Galactic socio-political balance of that region, especially with recent Orion expansion into the area.

Starfleet Command is considering informing all commanding officers of Starfleet starships, installations and outposts in relevant region and upgrading their security clearance due to this development.

END REPORT


Was there any particular reason why you chose the Fornax galaxy for their home, rabid? Just curious!

In any case, the two links and image above tie into the Starfleet Intelligence briefing I created above. It will be interesting to see if you are interested in making this and steve' speculation 'official' for you!

[trynda1701]

By the way, rabid, I notice that on your initial post, it says 'warp drive is supplemented by tachyon sail technology', but in the sketch it suggests the sail is solar powered.

Tachyon suggests an advanced, extra-galactic propulsion method, but solar powered suggests an emergency backup. Can you explain what the sail is for please?

[trynda1701]

Right, I've been tweaking the above Intelligence report all evening with a few additions, and think I'm done.

[rabid]

trynda1701

All I can say is that this is incredible. I'm slowly peeling through Steve's postings to see what really grabs me.

As for the Fornax galaxy, as a physician/biologist I am always fascinated by genetic "founder" events, wherein a species leaves their original habitat for various reasons and eventually becomes something new.

I looked at the galactic map and saw that 3 stellar civilizations share borders so depending on where they end up they could run into those 3.

As a kid I always thought of the sail as a "solar" sail, but I realized putting them in another galaxy meant they needed a cheap and efficient way to travel such a long distance. For that reason I switched it to a tachyon sail courtesy of the Bajorans. This could also be a means for them to collect tachyons for weapons (star blazers anyone?).

The sail collapses for combat and when extended it can pivot 180* port and starboard on a central jack.

It's interesting the "fornaxian" and Star Trek naming conventions. I wonder if anyone ever gets upset "No I am from Knome Alaska you bigot!"
"Oh so you're a knomaxian?"

I'll post a summary of the "equarians". Thanks for making that guys, very professional and cool!

[steve]

The Fornaxians are a bipedal, humanoid race, known for two distinct physical features: Tri-sected legs that end in hooves (similar to that of a satyr) & cinnabar-colored skin. They have two genders that are functionally identical to male and female. The predominant color of their head hair is white, with black, gray & dull green. Eye color is biologically limited to bright blue, bright green, and bright yellow. Men are not capable of growing beards and neither gender has arm, leg, arm pit or other hair except on their head and face. The race has four fingers on each hand. Despite having a hoof, Fornaxian anatomy indicates that the hoof is an evolution from a four-toed foot.

The Fornaxian governmental name is formally called "The Fornaxian Unity." It's flag is a royal purple color, with a solid, gold-colored seven-pointed star at the center. The canton is reserved for specialty symbols to denote state governments, branches of government, and the like. Variants of the seven-pointed star also exist for non-flag symbols, with the center of the star reserved for such specialty symbols.

The primary sign of aging for Fornaxians is a change of skin color, generally from lighter to darker. There is moderate wrinkling of facial features but not nearly as prominent as in humans. Technology is such that Fornaxians can live the modern-day equivalent of 225 years, with the effective working age of a Fornaxian being from the age of 15 to 160 years of age. Biological reproduction is still utilized but most couples prefer artificial reproduction with genetic modification to screen out any obvious defects.

One primary "defect" that causes some social consternation is cyclopia, or being born with only one eye. The eye is not centered and can either be in the left or right eye socket. The eye is enlarged slightly and usually bright yellow. In some segments of Fornaxian society, the birth of such a child is considered the sign of especially good fortune. However, in recent centuries, such births are discouraged. Fornaxians born with cyclopia are not allowed to be in the military or in law enforcement due to the inherit limitations. However, Fornaxians with this condition are able to natively regrow their eye if it is injured, something that two-eyed Fornaxians lack. Also, the eye of a cyclopia Fornaxian is considerable better focused and sharper than that of the two-eyed Fornaxian.

The name of the spacefaring branch of the Fornaxians is Fornaxian Nova Command.

The Fornaxian philosophy of spacefaring is one of expansion; Space vessels are designed with an eye towards independent and long-range operation. A four-engine vessels are common for scouts & colonization ships. A vessel must be designed with twice the engines that it needs to operate fully; A four-engine vessel, for instance, only needs two in order to be fully functional.

The vessel design resembles the shape of a Quibb, an approximation of a horse in Fornaxian society. Indeed, the Quibb (and all of it's subspecies) is considered an unofficial symbol of the Fornaxians and was even in use as an official symbol during the Fornaxians early history. A stylized version of a Quibb is the canton symbol on the flag for the branch of the military, for instance. In Fornaxian lore, Fornaxians believe that they were even descended from the species but this has turned out not to be true from both a scientific perspective.

Fornaxians are still a religious civilization: The primary religion of the Fornaxians is called "Tapolism" and is the tale of a series of gods symbolized by animals as they guide the Fornaxians throughout history. The fortunes of the gods rise and fall through moral lessons while providing scientifically-inaccurate tales of how their planet and major geographical aspects of their planet were formed, along with how other animals and plants got their names and major characteristics. Tapolism was once taken literally but is now understood to be symbolic. Tapolism is taught through a series of five main books. There are additional books depending upon the sect of Tapolism that one chooses to follow.

Anyway, there's another take on the Fornaxians. Maybe more later.

[steve]

In civilian society, Fornaxians largely believe in a two-meal day: A mid-morning "breakfast" (if using a 24-hour day, around 8-10 AM) and then an evening "dinner" (around 5-7 PM) It is up to individual families to decide the extent of the meal; Some families believe in a large breakfast and a small dinner while others are the reverse while still others prefer them to be of equal importance. There's nothing wrong with a tiny bit of snacking, barely a cookie or two (nothing as extensive as an actual sandwich) where a traditional "lunch" would be.

The military, on the hand, believes in a three-meal day akin to what humans are normally used to: An early breakfast, a noontime lunch and then a early-evening to evening dinner. the lunch is the lightest meal of the day, followed by the breakfast and then dinner. In fact, the strictness of the two-meal day in civilian life has frayed just a bit in recent generations, especially in industries where physical labor is extensive and frequent. No one in civilian life will outright shun you if you have more than just a snack for "lunch" but they will wonder if you're ex-military or just a glutton.

What is fairly strict, even in the modern era, is what the Fornaxians eat at each meal. Traditionally, meat (or it's modern equivalent) is only served once per day during the "main meal" (either breakfast or dinner). Families who treat both meals equally (and, therefore, might serve meat at either time) are usually given a sideways glance and a quiet sigh but there's no stigmatization over it; It's the equivalent of your next-door neighbor painting their house a bright, obnoxious shade of pink or purple. Unusual, yes, but mostly harmless.

Alcohol is only served at formal celebrations, such as weddings, the christening of a starship, the birth of a child or the like. Alcohol is also extremely mild in content; There's no "grain alcohol" or hard liquor. There is no stigma for not drinking alcohol in Fornaxian society and many of them will raise their glass, smile, and then put the glass back down again. That is perfectly acceptable in society. If another Fornaxian then drinks their glass as well as yours, the crowd will laugh and chuckle, thinking the other Fornaxian is just especially jubilant. However, no one drinks a third glass. That would not be socially acceptable.

There are alcoholics in Fornaxian society and, unlike Terran society which eventually dealt with the problem through otherwise sophisticated means, there is the equivalent of a 1960s-1970s stigma towards alcoholism in modern-day Fornaxian society. Don't ask, don't tell.

Dentistry in Fornaxian society is a bit like maintaining hooves on a horse: It is a solid semi-circle of bone and, like a fingernail, is constantly growing and needs to be shaved down periodically. "Brushing your teeth" doesn't involve a brush but a canister of foam that one squirts into their mouth, sort of like the cans of whip cream. In this manner, it is more like rinsing. The foam is not meant to be swallowed. Flossing is a foreign concept.

Some things don't change regardless of species. Younger females enjoy decorating their hooves cosmetically while males (especially younger ones) enjoy makes their hoof steps as loud as possible. Both induce a bit of eye-rolling from their elders but it regarded as a harmless step in growing more mature and, within limits, is socially allowed.

[trynda1701]

Interesting reading, steve. Looking forward to see what might come up for their reasoning to head for the Milky Way from the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy!

You know, I really was kidding about the Fornax name. "Equarians" was fine, a slight play on 'equestrian', but not as literal as Star Trek could be!

[trynda1701]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornax_Dwarf

Looking at data on the Fornax Galaxy, it was discovered after a globular cluster that orbits it, NGC 1049! The globular was discovered in 1835 by John Herschel, the galaxy itself in 1938 by Harlow Shapley!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1049

It has five others, Fornax 1-5, and Fornax 4 is significantly younger (~3 billion years) than the other four, unusual for globular clusters.

Some current real life theories think that the clusters should have merged with the main body of the Fornax galaxy due to normal orbital decay, but this is being affected by the mass of a central black hole, or dark matter theoretically present.

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006MNRAS.368.1073G/abstract

Science is still not sure exactly what dark matter is, but it may be due to an as yet undetected sub-atomic particle. They also postulate something called 'dark energy'! Together, they MAY make up up to 85% of the known universe, by mass. So what we can currently detect in real life is just the tip of the iceberg!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy

Other theories might be that General Relativity might have to be modified to account for certain observations without having to resort to dark matter, as not all observations can be accounted for by various dark matter theories!

[rabid]

Sounds like a lot of potential reasons for and equine exodus! Maybe by the time of Star Trek the black hole threatens to absorb the galaxy.

Also I have an "adversary race" to add as well. This one is all me.

[trynda1701]

Jul 9, 2020 7:51:25 GMT -7 rabid said:

Sounds like a lot of potential reasons for and equine exodus! Maybe by the time of Star Trek the black hole threatens to absorb the galaxy.

Also I have an "adversary race" to add as well. This one is all me.

After your initial post, and then the basics thoughts about Fornax in the Intelligence report I created, I decided I should look for a few specifics about The Fornax galaxy, and they are in line with my initial thought as a possible reason for an exodus. The sources above seem to cover the basics nicely. I like all things astronomy!

Looking forward to hearing about the "adversary race"!

[trynda1701]

"Starbase 18 calling USS Clifton, come in Clifton, respond please."

[brickwall]

The Fornaxian governmental name is formally called "The Fornaxian Unity."

I'm thinking the Kephans would think: "Hey! Another Unity exists! Hurray! Time to make contact!"

[trynda1701]

Aug 24, 2020 13:25:04 GMT -7 brickwall said:

The Fornaxian governmental name is formally called "The Fornaxian Unity."

I'm thinking the Kephans would think: "Hey! Another Unity exists! Hurray! Time to make contact!"

That would be funny, wouldn't it?

But remember, steve also proposed another name for the race and their formal governmental name (The Equarians (The Equinastic Kingdom)), so we'll have to wait and see what rabid decides on!

[Meteo Ascension]

Biological Data

STR- 45+3d10
END- 60+3d10
INT- 40+5d10
DEX- 45+3d10
CHR- 45+3d10
LUC- 1d100-10
PSI- 1d100-25