Peoples of Note
Patrons
Within the Crayfish Nebula one may find multiple species at different levels of development. Each is placed under the patronage of one of the five Guardian Races of the Nexum, all of whom ultimately answer to the first and oldest member, the Predecessors. Below is a list of their kindreds and their worlds of note.
(Keep in mind that most if not all of these names are translations done for easier reading, especially since most of the sounds aren't actually pronounceable by humans.)
The Predecessors are the oldest, and do not even exist within the same plane of reality as we do anymore, but in any case their original design was noticeably…uncanny. A long, equine face with two short nubs atop the head rested on a slim body with four legs and six arms—the arms with two fingers apiece. Set in shades of green like most of the animals on their twin planets, the Predecessors became part of wider civilization in the Nebula over seventy-four million years ago…and seventy million years ago, all of them vanished. Ascended, they say, to become creatures outside the bounds of time and space, although given their continued interaction with us this seems slightly stretched. Their homeworlds were Taqqiq and Aihimavik, currently occupied by a race so charmingly called the Successors.
The Ark-Builders developed on a tidally-locked world, Wedjat, in orbit around a red dwarf. Over forty million years ago, they had started to expand outward, when they faced an alien invasion. From whom it is uncertain, but during the conflict Wedjat was completely abandoned, the Ark-Builders slowly adapting their already peculiar forms (looking as they did rather like cyclops heads with walking tentacles) to life in outer space. Their Patrons are the Predecessors.
The Morphai were the third to enter the Nexum, but they are by far the oldest remaining species in the galaxy. Technically immortal, the Morphai are living ecosystems, collections of cells borne aloft in the winds of their homeworld of Procella. The oldest "individuals" can claim to be twenty million years old, but their civilization as a whole (if one can call it that) extends back even further, to three hundred and fifty-four million years before the present day. They do occupy worlds, unlike the first two Patrons. The Morphai lay claim to ixty-eight planets (mostly gas giants) and one hundred and fifty-six moons over fifty-seven systems; twenty-six of those systems are shared with other species.
The Miser Crabs entered the Nexum after the Morphai; they also are under the patronage of the Ark-Builders. Looking rather like a cross between a crustacean and a turtle, the Miser Crabs' ten-lobed brains are remarkably good at calculation but have little in the way of group bonding instincts. Their preference as a species is to ensure their own survival first before that of others—or else to help, but to expect proper payment. With a civilization over two million years old, however, they've had time to learn to adapt. The Miser Crabs control forty-one worlds and sixty-seven moons over twenty systems. Currently they are split into seven large factions: the Home System, the Treble Federation, the Interference League, the Syndicate of Truth, the Imperium of the Gods, the Defence Confederacy, and the Preservation Union.
The Nadders are the latest Patrons, having successfully made a case to the other four that they could be entrusted with the care of magic. Large and serpentine, the Nadders' two "hands"—one around the mouth and the other at the tail—are surprisingly dextrous, and were useful in the construction of the wetland dams where their civilizations first arose. They can see in both the visual spectrum and infrared, with a "double eye" on each side of their head, and sense electrical currents through their skin. Most importantly, however, is their chemical brain, which is devoted wholeheartedly to the balancing of pleasures, both personal and communal. A little less than seven hundred and fifty thousand years old as a species, they've nevertheless made their mark on the galactic stage. Nadders control thirty-two worlds and fifteen moons over fourteen systems, split between five factions: the Empire of Resistance, the Celestial Bond, the Kingdoms of the Faith, the Grand Pact, and the Citadel Empire.
Clients
There are other species as well, Client species, who have developed interstellar travel and colonization efforts but have not yet been granted responsibility over other species' development.
The Ghosts hail from the small dry desert world of Asphodel, and like the Morphai are technically colonial organisms. Their ability to shapeshift—and to space themselves between atoms, to telekinetically manipulate materials down to the molecular level, and to communicate telepathically with one another—are hallmarks of their civilization. They see in colours of the mind; the three most common types of Ghost are the Green Ghosts (who are chemosynthetic "farmers" by nature, living in enormous organic cities between the atoms under the surface of the world), the Red Ghosts (who are complete autotrophs and act as priests and rulers), and White Ghosts (who are…anomalies, their minds blending the photosynthetic "red", chemosynthetic "green", and heterotrophic "blue" strands of thought together into one and thus becoming the most volatile and changeable race of Ghosts). After 5.6 million years of existence, they've managed to finally settle a few old grudges on that score. They lay claim to no world beyond Asphodel, and have even allowed the settlement of the other habitable world in their system, the beach planet of Elysium. Nevertheless, Ghosts are found all across the Crayfish Nebula, mainly as interpreters between non-compatible species. Their Patrons are the Nadders. Their previous empire, the Prosopony, has been by this point almost fully integrated into the Nexum.
The Pelagus is, perhaps thankfully, confined to one world. An enormous, seething mass of gel-like "macrocells" and complex "macro-organisms" performing specific functions that makes up the entire mass of its world's ocean, the Pelagus has been conscious for about four million years, and beyond an unfortunate First Contact where some of the Morphai were eaten alive things have been fairly chummy between the Pelagus and the wider galaxy. Fortunately for that galaxy, the Pelagus chooses to remain on the planet that bears its name, although occasionally specially-created macro-organisms will hitchhike across the Nebula on the underside of starships.
The Zealots are also from a dry world—a world where most of the water in the oceans has either escaped or been stored in the icecaps, lowering sea levels by full tens of kilometres. Built for running across the plains of the near-alpine highland regions (the old continental shelf), the Zealots have a unique tripartite brain, the sections of which are very slightly delayed in transmitting information to their counterparts. This has made the Zealots, as a species, somewhat schizophrenic. They also possess two sexes but five "genders", three male and two female, based on reproductive strategy. The Zealots have expanded across the Nebula faster than any species in recorded history, colonizing a full eighteen worlds and seventy-four moons across nineteen systems over the 154,000 years of their recorded history. Surprisingly for the often-divided species they only have three factions: the Conclave of Shadows, the Preservation League, and the Beta-Gamma Union. Their Patrons are the Predecessors.
The Selkies are the newest Client race, at only 132,000 years of age as a species. Like many species on their watery homeworld of Ys, the Selkies undergo enormous physiological changes at different stages of their lives. They distinguish these almost as unique lives in and of themselves: the barely-sapient beaver-like infant, the six-legged simian adolescent, and the enormous seal-like adult. They are also unique in having no sexual differentiation. The Selkies have settled on nine worlds and fourteen moons over three systems, and are quite happy to share. Their Patrons are the Ark-Builders.
Wards
Then there are Wards, who have not yet engaged in building interstellar civilizations but have at the very least some general idea about the greater galactic community.
The Phoenixes are the oldest remaining Wards, and strictly speaking the exception that proves the rule. With a civilization some ten million years old, the Phoenixes evolved on the small planet Ajjamah near the centre of the Nebula. Developing certain powers using the local magic system, the rainbow-coloured birds worked out a way to fly through the Dream to other planets, where they have acted as observers of various affairs. The Phoenixes have "colonies" on five worlds, including Ajjamah, but generally speaking are not active trading partners, preferring mathematics to economics. Their Patrons are the Miser Crabs.
The Leviathans are next, and were tutored in some part by the Phoenixes, whose homeworld they share. Large and whale-like, the Leviathans migrate in huge pods across the seas and skies of their world, singing songs and weaving spells of protection against outside influence. Their Patrons, too, are the Miser Crabs.
The Behemoths, remarkably enough, hail from the same planet as the Phoenixes and Leviathans. Their large, elephantine bodies have made short work of the more problematic species in their environments; they survive because they act as keystone species across the jungles, savannas, and deserts of their homeworld. In the meantime, they listen to echoes within the earth repeating the stories of their three million-year civilization practically verbatim. They, like the Phoenixes and Leviathans, have been lumbered with the Miser Crabs as their Patrons.
The Dragons are from a large rocky world with an incredibly thick atmosphere, and have evolved to be incredibly tough. Due to an incident about 129,000 years ago, where several of their number were kidnapped by a rogue faction of Ark-Builders and plopped onto an evolving planet to make a mess of things for the locals, the multiple types of Dragon were informally inducted into the Nexum as a protection measure. With four different varieties—the Rockrooster, the Lavawyrm, the Galeglider, and the Nightstallion—all maintaining a delicate balance on both of their worlds, it's a surprise that the Dragons have managed so well over the past 225,000 years of history. Their Patrons are the Predecessors.
The Arnavajas do not technically hail from a world at all. Limitation is a cloud of gas around the brown dwarf called Matrix, in turn in orbit around the G-class star Praeses, in turn locked in a binary orbit with two other stars, Domina (K-class) and Famula (M-class). The Arnavajas themselves are compact and nearly spherical, with long retractable limbs and mixed calcite crystals and otoliths across their whole body, providing protection, auditory reception, balance, and eyesight across their whole bodies. Their Patrons—and frequent visitors—are the Predecessors.
The Kobolds are rock-dwellers, matriarchal subterranean gnome-like creatures in the deep caves in the Northern Hemisphere. Batches of a dozen tadpole-like newborns are expelled from the womb and weaned in a communal nest dominated by Queens. The Kobolds have, among other things, learned to shape crystals that control magic in their burroughs. Much more territorial than the other two sapient species native to Kadaiku, it took them until 1,200 years ago to actually integrate into a global society—an extremely short part of their 15,000-year history. Their Patrons are the Ark-Builders.
The Pastors are large, iguanodon-like herbivores roaming the blue grasses of their homeworld of Manavi, engaged in complex social interactions between herds and constructing caches of food that eventually (with the help of another race) turned into cities. The Pastors are still technically at a pre-industrial level, but contact with the Morphai (whom they revere as gods) accidentally let on a lot more about the Crayfish Nebula than they might have been ready to receive. Nevertheless, their 12,000 years of recorded history are doing them well. Their Patrons are indeed the Morphai.
The Sirens are the second race of intelligent beings to evolve on Kadaiku, second to the Kobolds. Unlike the Kobolds, however, the Sirens are creatures of flight first and foremost. Built rather like pterosaurs (although with multiple ganglia across the body to maintain both intelligence and flight maneuverability), the Sirens were the first to explore all of the globe, come into contact with the descendants of the Watchers, and begin forging a path to the stars, all in 11,000 years. (They're almost there, too; the first interplanetary colony is supposed to be set up this year.) Their natural limitlessness when it came to territory has led to the evolution of a very complex model for the world. Their Patrons, like the Kobolds', are the Ark-Builders.
The Arctanders are tall, ursine, and surprisingly bad-tempered. Their homeworld of Nemus is going through a hothouse phase; it was only recently that the equatorial deserts became at all habitable. The Arctanders are unique in their peculiar use of reincarnation through multiple tiers of near-sapient species to gain magic. They are also unique in their separation of the sexes into different societies—the larger women are traditionally loners, except for the raising of their children, while the smaller men band together into "brotherhoods" for work, with overlapping territories between the two. They have yet to colonize another world, but they have been in space—as well as accompanying their Patrons, the Miser Crabs, on several expeditions to the stars. Not bad, for a mere 8,500 years of history.
The Successors are just that—the next set of sapients to evolve on Aihimavik, homeworld of the Predecessors (who are quite naturally their Patrons) and to travel to Taqqiq, the moon effectively large enough to be a binary planet. At 8,100 years of recorded history, they have developed a full and complex society based around the three subspecies (changelings, elves, and dwarves) and the "amazon" female hybrids between them (orcs as the amazons of elves and humans, halflings of humans and dwarves, and gnomes of elves and dwarves). They have begun colonizing their second world with gusto and giant mechanical spiders. They also have four arms and two legs, a much more recognizable number than that associated with the pre-Ascension Predecessors.
The Faithful are the other intelligent species that evolved on Manavi, alongside the Pastors. It could be said that the Pastors domesticated them; this would only be partially true, as the Faithful appear to have played an equal part in domesticating the Pastors, but the normally isolated Faithful are bound to their individual Pastors quite deeply, connecting themselves (by way of the Pastors' herds) to other Faithful. At a pre-industrial level, they are nevertheless interplanetary colonists (a few "feral" Faithful having been dumped on the inner planet as an experiment by the Morphai, their technical Patrons, before sapience was truly reached).
The Nereids are the youngest sapient species to emerge on Kadaiku, in no small part thanks to the meddling of the Myrmidons. Amphibious and penguin-shaped, they live mostly on the littoral, developing a rich tradition of manufacture and farming even before they reached the Industrial Revolution. Where the Kobolds are bound to the earth and the Sirens to the sky, the Nereids would not be complete without the sea (or at least some body of water—the saltier the better, though, within limits). They, like the others, have reached the space age—and at 1 mere 7,000 years of recorded history that's not too shabby at all. Their Patrons are likewise the Ark-Builders.
The Children of Babylon hail from the aforementioned planet, and at only 200 years in space have a long way to go before they are ready to enter Nexum society. But given their tenacity—the three surviving sapient species on a world which once boasted twenty-five—and their surprising unity, they may be slotted for the opportunity to expand across the Nebula sooner rather than later. The loyal dog-headed ammuts, industrious four-armed serpentine lamias, and winged but highly philosophical peris have a multi-species world that is the envy of many a planet—if only there were a way to be certain as to how they might react to a wholly alien species...well, that's up to their Patrons, the Morphai.
Protected Species
Finally, there are the Protected species—creatures that have achieved sapience, or are on the brink of doing so, but have little to no knowledge of the interstellar community.
The Vanaar are slight, six-legged, monkey-like beings with three eyes and hollow horns used for echolocation. They are also the oldest Protected species in the Nebula, and have been for over three and a half million years. This is due to their rather unfortunate tendency to blow themselves up every few thousand years, necessitating a planetary reset while their ghosts try to scrounge enough meat to give themselves corporeal bodies again. Their Patrons are the Nadders, who are really getting stuck with all the test cases in the Nexum these days.
The Normans are first in line for the title, being very close to the Industrial Era without ever being made aware of the greater nebular society. A three-legged herbivore which looks something like a cross between a starfish and an elk, with three large antlers and three eyes atop the head and opposable digits on each limb, they live in great communal barns, raising their children together. (Normans are sexless but reproduce sexually, eggs being carried in throat-pouches once "fused" properly until they hatch.) A mere 12,200 years into their civilization, it is uncertain how long it will take for them to leave the tundra and taiga behind for warmer worlds. Only time will tell. Their Patrons are the Nadders.
Annoyingly, humans come second in this number. They've had agriculture and a functioning civilization in one form or another for a little over 8,700 years at this point, but the Phoenixes, Leviathans, and Behemoths have all got them beat to the party. Still, for a scrawny ape, they're doing not too badly for themselves, especially when it comes to expansion across the world—humans get everywhere on Ajjamah. And if they can survive the upcoming war, the other species—who have been watching their progress carefully—might let them know a little more about the world in which they live. Their Patrons are the Miser Crabs.
The Honorites are enormous, sea lion-like beasts with eight stumpy, finned legs and a great many tentacles surrounding the mouth, which they can use to manipulate their surroundings on their swamp-filled world of Lux Aeterna. At 5,300 years of age, their combined civilization is just about to enter what on Earth would be the Medieval period, but they're taking their time. And that's fair—the interactions of bulls, cows, and oxen (technically hermaphrodites who can mate with both bulls and cows but usually given a derogatory moniker in the Honorite languages) are quite complex. Their patrons are the Ark-Builders.
The Kodama aren't technically animals at all—they are living, floating, colour-changing "fruit" from trees which they have learned to cultivate on their homeworld of Alsos. Divided into "north" and "south" individuals rather than "male" and "female", their seven tentacular arms are used for reproduction and manipuation both, and they have peculiar languages of colour and symbolism transmitted through the pigments on their skins. Their earliest culture emerged only 3,200 years ago; they're just about getting to grips with copper and bronzeworking now. Their Patrons are the Nadders.
The Palmacorns are also just beginning to work with copper, although they have some skill at agriculture. Quadrupedal goat-like beings with prehensile antlers, the Palmacorns' homeworld, a moon called Labyrinth in orbit around a gas giant called the Storm God (itself in orbit around a red dwarf called the Fire God), deals with tidal forces from its planet with much-maligned tectonic plates cracking and crashing. The end result is a planet of deep canyons and caverns, mega-trees growing high into the heavens and many, many things lighting up the skies. It may take them a while to get off the ground, but the hopes of their Patrons, the Nadders, are high.
The Magirists are still technically in the Neolithic, but it shouldn't take them long to catch up. Their world, Rī Te Gáh, has a mere 7-hour day, and a much more eccentric orbit around its sun, leading to whole-planet summers and winters. The walking meteorological disaster that is Ritegan weather in combination with increased volcanic activity has led to the insectoid, centauroid Magniformics (their "front" and "back" limbs are manipulators while their "middle" limbs are used for running and jumping) developing increasingly secure structures beneath the earth where a multitude of philosophical schools have developed. Their Patrons are the Predecessors.
The Polar Moose are the best hope for renewed intelligence on the planet Wedjat, difficult as it is to believe. With no direct civilization as of yet, they live along the ribbon of habitable land at the terminator—Eos, it's called on Wedjat—in small groups no more than twenty strong, and yet have developed a complex vocal language that carries across the shell forests and black algal blooms of their homes. Whether the chrysalis-born, blubbery, five-eyed creatures will develop some way of manipulating their environment remains to be seen. Their Patrons are, oddly, the Morphai; the Ark-Builders apparently gave permission that this should be so, forfeiting their right of origin.
The Megabats are certainly dominant on their homeworld, but whether or not their intelligence can breach the gap to sapience is another matter. Navigation through the skies of Marubhumi is no small feat, and the Megabats have to maintain memories of tens of thousands of kilometres of dry, barren desert to best find food to bring back to their roosts. They have not, as of yet, developed language beyond the most basic utterances—and yet they have demonstrated empathy for others (including their kills at times), and the fish-scaled, leathery-winged creatures have also developed mild tool usage, in the forms of carefully-sharpened sticks and special stones for cracking open hard shells. Their Patrons are the Morphai.
The Goblins are literally stuck underground. They have a great many things to help them on their way—the farming of fungus, the use of fire, basic metallurgy even, and a chemical language. But they're stuck beneath a mountain range under the ever-cloudy skies of their homeworld. Until the ten-legged, spider-crab-like people can find a way to expand beyond the caves of their birth, it is uncertain (at least in the eyes of the Miser Crabs, under whose protection they are) whether they will ever amount to anything…
The Watchers
It is worth mentioning that one species stands outside this range, as a truly Neutral race. The Watchers are beings of living plasma, gorged on cosmic dust (or, more typically for the earth-bound sort, volcanic dust). While adapted for life in space, they have made planetfall a number of times, including on the world of Kadaiku, where their successor species—the dragonstorms, the myrmidons, and the trolls—abound. The Watchers were slated to become full members—even the Fourth Patrons—but the species they were given as a trial run, the Maze-Makers of the small unsteady planet Gateway, completely vanished from existence one Tuesday afternoon, and they've never forgiven themselves despite the Predecessors' willingness to forgive the matter. The Watchers, therefore, remain on the sidelines, never interfering in local affairs except where their earthbound brethren require assistance.