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Pre-lesson Notes

The chak are a race of creatures I created for a sci-fi board about a year ago, and had approved by one of the moderators to bring into these threads. Over the coming days, I'll be adding posts to take all the extensive knowledge that was used in their design, and post them here in case someone wants to be knowledgable in the area, or wants to play a chak themselves.

One thing I wish to note before I go into detail on the subject is that chak are a rare siting in the system. They are very vaguely mentioned in any databank. They come from deeper in space than is normally visited. So running into a chak colony or people who are familiar with chak is seldom likely.

To keep their rarity and "stranger in a strange land" aspect, I would like to politely ask people who want to play one or a character that knows everything about them to pm me for permission. For right now, I am approving only a total of six chak characters and three "expert" characters which will be listed on this thread. Once approved, you may submit a detailed Character Sheet at the end of the chapters.

Chak Characters

Full Name (gender) [registered name]
The full name is the name of the chak's birth, while the registered name is how it would appear in any databanks listing the individual.

1.) Krrin'esa ka' lenova (female) [Krrin Lenova]
2.) Open
3.) Open
4.) Open
5.) Open
6.) Open


Chak experts
People allowed to use information past chapter one. The numbers in brackets are the chapters they are allowed to use as automatic knowledge. Experts are allowed to "hypothesize" information from other chapters based on their areas of knowledge.

1.) Open
2.) Open
3.) Open



Chak students

People learning from chak or experts beyond the area of general knowledge. Their knowledge is limited to what they are told IC by the chak or an expert. I'll permit chak and experts to moderate that aspect.

1.) Open
2.) Open


Chapters

1.) General Knowledge
2.) Physical Structure
3.) Environment
4.) History
5.) Culture
6.) Behavior
7.) Medical Notes
8.) Misc.

Chapter 2: Chak Physiology

While their limbs are thin, they are long and both hands and feet are well build for grasping. When a person touches a chak hand, it will feel rough and slightly bristled, much like a lizards hands. When in zero or light gravity, this helps them move along any textured surface or firmly grasp tiny crevises of rough stone or metal.

The multiple joints in the legs aid the chak in propulsion. The lower joints of the legs are capable of bending sideways from the body to a roughtly 90 degree angle in any direction, as well as the standard front to back motion common in most two-legged beings. This allows them better navigation and balance in zero gravity as they snap one leg or the other to keep counter balanced. In addition, the flexibility of the legs allows them to grasp with their legs and feet in compromised areas.

Their eyes are interesting, filtering through a wide range of light. They are able to physically see solar currents without need of equiptment, and use the knowledge to their advantage. A chak can "float" in photon streams emited from stars and worm holes with the solar sails they insist to have equipted on their ships, useing a fraction of the energy to reach a destination that a fully fueled ship would. However, they are colorblind. They see in a haze of reds, blacks, and purples, while other living beings seem a blue-green to them. Therefore it is not uncommon for anyone siting a chak to see them in unmatched clothing if they are not wearing garments issued them by the guild they work for.

Their ears have trouble picking up normal voice range patterns and they will often make mistakes in talking, but they are very sharp when dealing with machines and recordings. This is because their hearing range is at a higher frequincy than standard to pick up the "white noise" patterns in zero space. Because normal speech is next to impossible, chak language normally consists of a series of hand movements, scents, and energy emitions similar to radio waves, though a very different frequency that sounds closer to static when outsiders try to observe it. So two chak standing side by side could have a long dicussion while seeming completely silent to an outside observor.

They are reliant on solar energy to survive, much like plants. They will use the wing-like fans on their back to absorb the needed energy, where it is stored at the base of each spine for the bloodstream to make use of. These wings are so sensitive to light that merely being within 500 light years of a single star is just enough to sustain a chak enough to keep their bodily functions going in zero space. This efficiency is decreased once planetside however, for atmosphere blocks and deflects much of the solar light crusial to a chak's survival. A chak can spend a maximun of one week away from a photon source before they suffer severe damage, and will die within 12 days of their last feeding.

Their nose and mouth seem to be strictly sence organs, used to taste and test the air around them. A chak uses hydrogen and carbon atoms to help break down the photon energy they store, using the mouth to take in a material or air, and expelling the waste gases back through the same orafice. This is a function similar to eating, and is not a constant nessessity. To an outsider, it might sound as if the chak had made a deep sigh. Because they are not as nessissary to chak as to air-breathing creatures, the lungs are smaller, though each has about five lobes.

Chapter 4: History

((OOC note: this has been slightly modified to fit the farscape scereno, I will add to this section later))

The chak are a close knit race that shares a very calm history. The perils of space held more than enough problems without needing to resort to war and other acts of violence. They did not need to compete for food or other materials, and their population has never grown to a point where territorial battles were a nessessity. Instead, their extra energy was diverted to philosophies and arts, and a chak will gladly recite a day-long oral epic from memory should they be able to communicate effectively with the listener.

One recordable feature of the history of the chak was their enslavement by another yet unseen race known as the Darogar, whose name will send a chak into a fit of distress. They used a hulking heavy-gravity creature known as Samir as overlords over the chak. The chak tend to cloud over this history at any chance, and interveiws about that time are met with symptoms of PTSD even among the young that were born in the days of liberation. There were signs of severe abuse that lasted 350 earth-standard years. They were rescued by the Peacekeeper Military in a brief war with the overseers, whom could not compete with the aggressive military weapondry and fled.

Shortly after, the business guilds quickly made their way into the Chakran system and closed off the area in a campaign to "keep the interests of the chaks." There was a long ethical battle in the side galaxies, but prestige and under the table debates eventually clouded over any objections. The chak are now seen on occasion in marketing zones and trading posts, doing business for the company that claimed to protect their clan's lands. Half out of fear that the guild's departure would bring the return of their feared masters.

Chapter 6: Chak Language

Under Construction, and will be added to as time goes by.

Chapter 8: Chakran Medical Notes

The chak secrete a toxin from the spines of their rills and the small spined horns on their arms and legs when they are in distress which acts to dibilitate their attacker.

Their teeth are sharp and almost needlelike, and have small barbs on them ment to tear at their opponent as a defence, and the nails on their hands and feet serve a similar function. It is never wise to frighten a Chak into fighting, for their body becomes a deadly machine ment to defend itself.

Their skin is tough and vastly flexible, almost rubbery in form. This helps prevent against punctures of the flesh, which can be deadly in vaccume. The upper flesh layer acts like a natural body suite, which keeps the gases and fluids balanced. Certain muscles are built contrary to each other, making the body push itself inward as much as outward, fighting the expansion and compression zero space will attempt on the unequipted body. Needles, scalpals, or other flesh cutting tools coud cause a Chak anxiety, for they are threats to its natural protection.

Chaks have very advanced immune systems that filter and destroy anything not biologically matched to their dna structure. Because of this, you will not see a chak with a cold, or scratching from the chicken pox.

The Chak cannot be given a blood transfusion unless it is from another chak. Their blood types do not match the typical standards. Also, the infection used to create a natural translator in the brain in the farscape regions can have a deadly effect on a chak, for they also cause muscular degeneration and organ failure as the body literally attacks itself to destroy the invader. Should a chak survive the attack, they will suffer from a disability brought on by the attempt, and will not be any better off in translations. Because of this, one should never try the procedure.

Database Entry:

00756-C23
Krrin Lenova
Chak Female

(I'll add her vital stats later)