The Mal'Gnar Problem in the Beyond
Flying humans.
I'm bound to piss somebody off by completely
removing the Mal'Gnar. Can't please everyone, but I think I can make a legend. I was going to make the world at hex 0924 a
half-human minor race half-chirper world. Instead, place the world in Subsector
D, hex 2803 (replace or displace Mornavin - maybe just swap locations), call
the humans Mal'Gnar, make the planet size 4 with a dense atmosphere. Half
gravity, double air pressure would make flight easier. Make it cold; even more
lift. Call the world Mal'Gnar El and interdict it. So, here's the deal: The
chirpers can fly. They're integrated into a TL2 caste-based society. Nobody but
the IISS has visited the world in centuries. Stories of a human minor race
civilization with flying beings get out and get distorted. Couple of centuries
back, somebody back at Mora does a space opera holovid series with a fictional
race of flying humans called the Mal'Gnar. There you go. That works for me.
New world write-up:
Mal'Gnar El (2803 X485676-2)
The chilly world of Mal'Gnar El is home to two sentient
species, neither native to the planet. The Mal'Gnar minor human race was
transported from Terra 300,000 years ago and modified by the Ancients from
already cold-adapted Homo sapiens neanderthalensis stock into more
gracile individuals better suited to the low gravity world. The origin of the
Chirper population is obscure but thought to coincide with the transplantation
event. The Chirpers subspecies of Mal'Gnar El has a larger wingspan than many
Chirper subspecies and a relatively high intellectual capacity, thought to be
similar to the extinct Chirpers of Zhandt. The two species have long coexisted
in a caste-based society in which the Chirpers have distinct roles as scouts
for hunting parties and gatherers of fruits that grow on isolated ledges of the
world's many steep mountain ranges. Some Mal'Gnar castes emulate the Chirper
role by donning fabric-winged "flying suits", but those these outfits
are only suitable for gliding and have a strictly ceremonial role in society.
Mal'Gnar society has a very rigid culture. Any behaviorally
deviation from caste roles is punished by at best banishment, at worst death by
exposure, chained to a mountainside through the long cold night. Despite the
homogeneity of the culture, settlements are scattered widely across the world's
supercontinent. Village-sized communities dominate and no town exceeds one
thousand residents. Settlements are supported more by hunting and gathering than
agriculture, which is mainly limited to the tending of orchards and herding of
domesticated local fauna. Sophisticated metallurgical knowledge is evident and
the Mal'Gnar have a good understanding of scientific principles, but society
has been locked in a rigid pattern for at least 10,000 years.
The IISS maintains an active interdiction quarantine around
Mal'Gnar El, both to protect the local culture and to protect visitors from the
rigid xenophobia of the inhabitants. Surplus naval assets, including thee light
cruisers on rotating duty, direct any inbound traffic to one of the system's
three gas giants for refueling.
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