Quental (human Perspective)

(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod.  To make things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human" perspective will be the most basic.)

First Contacts

Due to the great number of forms Quentals can take, scouting parties did not realize they were all a single organism when these aliens were first spotted.  Quentals were either assumed to be symbiotic creatures, domesticated creatures, or, on Phobis Terra, simply one of the many genetic clusters of alien life found on the planet.  The most common forms spotted were the "Fighter" Quental, resembling more muscular, camouflaged humans, and "scout" Quental, resembling shorter camouflaged humans, but with longer limbs and larger eyes and ears.  Early Quentall scouts used simple tools, so it took some time before any human colonies worked out that the Quental were intelligent.  The Quental did have a reputation for toughness, as scouting parties who got into fights with them learned that the Quental fighters were extremely hard to kill.

Behavior observations of Quental dwellings, captured Quental, and autopsies and chemical studies of dead Quentals eventually showed that these aliens were all offshoots of a highly adaptable organism.  Details of Quental social structures and languages were eventually worked out, and the regular communication was established soon after.

Anatomy/Biology

The most interesting, and unusual, property of the Quental is their great genetic adaptability.  It seems that the Quental are always generating mutations within their genetic system, and can mentally direct and sort between these mutations, to adjust their bodies as needed to handle some new requirement.  The Quental can also share genetic material between different individuals, allowing rapid spread of a beneficial mutation.  Through these mutations, skilled Quental can adapt very quickly to new environments or new roles, and develop their bodies exactly as required for particular tasks.

Because of this property, Quental have no consistent anatomy, but they do appear to have a "base" form that either was the original form of these aliens, or was a popular adaptable form that replaced it.  This form resembles a human, but more muscular, and more smooth.  "Base" colors appear to be different shades of green or brown, although these colors are less certain due to the easy adaptability of skin color.  The Quental "standard form" has internal organs with similar roles as a human, but with more duplicates in different body locations.  Most of the first Quental encountered in this system had variations on this form, but as they have become more established, these aliens have developed more diversity in form.

From the other creatures Quental have brought with them, and what they say about their own world, it appears that this adaptability is somewhat common in other species, but by no means universal.  The Quental appear to be the most adaptive of large creatures with this ability, as their ability to think allows them to pursue more intelligent adaptations, and to change in more radical ways than other creatures could manage.

Quental biochemistry appears to use some material in common, and some different, to Earth life forms, but the species can adapt within a few months to process any nutrients they can sample.  For this reason, they are also highly resistant to poisons.  Quental on good terms with humans can adapt to eat human foods, and can assist in soil fertilization and biotechnology.  Quental can also adapt rapidly to new diseases, although they seem to take few steps to avoid catching diseases outside this adaptability.

Adaptations for most roles Quental can play are relatively obvious.  Explorers tend to become smaller, and less energy intensive, while gaining improved senses.  Fighters add additional, redundant organs, become tougher, and gain muscles and heightened senses.  Physical workers enhance precision and strength as needed.  Mental workers reduce their need for sleep, and tend to be smaller and lighter than physical workers.  Unique among the Quental are individuals who process chemicals, almost as intelligent bioreactors, who adapt themselves to generate material products.

The major constant among Quental biochemistry is a pheramone system to determine dominance.  This simple system determines dominance among the Quental, and is a major part of how they organize their society.  Some of this pheromone system is based on genetics, but it is also influenced by relative successes at various tasks, and societies often include ritualized competitions of various types to compare individual skills and dominance, so the system does reflect to some degree the success of various members.  Unlike the mostly subconsious signals (like body language in humans) used by other organisms, the relative amounts and type of dominance pheromones are immediately and obviously noticed by Quentals.

Society/Government

Quental organize themselves using two simple systems, a pheromone cominance system, and a caste system designed around genetic adaptation to particular roles.  The relative importance of these systems, and the way they are used, determines the structure of a particular Quetzal society.

Quental societies that mostly focus on their pheromone system are strongly hierarchical, and tightly organized.  The resemblance to social insects has lead people to describe these systems as Hives.  Though not as tightly controlled as insect societies on Earth, the strong pheromone signals in a hive strongly pressure Quental in one to obey orders, and hives are well suited to times when strong organization and focus in a group.

A less intense reliance on pheromones results in a society results in a patronage type society, where different groups within the society compete for control through the most dominant members, while within groups, loyalty largely is held intact.  The interaction within smaller groups in society provides enough contact for the pheromone based hierarchy to be established, but among groups with little contact, competition of various forms is used to establish relative hierarchies.  These competitions can allow more flexibility, as more successful or needed groups within society can establish themselves as needed, but the infighting within the system can also lead to inefficiency.

Societies that use the least pheromones tend to organize themselves into systems resembling family or tribal packs, although Wolf Packs and Ape troops seem a better analogy to those familiar .  Within these groups, Quental pheromones are still strong enough for dominance to be easily established, but groups must compete amongst themselves within a larger society.  This type of society cannot and does not rely on strong centralized control, instead relying on groups to organize within themselves, and in emergencies, for these hierarchies to be respected.  Any central control that is needed is usually handled on a rotating basis, or with different functions given to different dominant smaller groups.  This system is the most flexible, and handles a number of smaller scale problems more quickly than a hive might, but for tasks which require centralized control, is a hard system ot maintain.

Because direct contact between different members of a society, even those needing ot compete, is uncommon, Quental have over time developed a highly detailed set of sign languages, spoken language, and other communication to describe the strength of different pheromones.  In addition, samples are often preserved and mailed from one region to another, if possible, to ensure that the proper hierarchies are established.

Economy/Science/Technology

Quental themselves are poor systematic thinkers.  Although able to use tools and improve them, even the best Quental craftsman are quite poor at understanding why certain technigues work, or systematically figuring out a way to improve them.  As a result, Quental tools are often crude and simple, with quality control often suffering.  Quental science is also rudimentory, as they often find it impossible to understand how to isolate factors or make the leaps necessary for new discoveries.  For these sorts of tasks, Quental rely on the same trial and error style of thought that they use to mutate themselves.

While outside tools are poor, Quental can mutate their bodies to produce a wide variety of products.  "Thinking bioreactors", as colonists sometimes call them, produce a wide variety of chemicals for other Quental to use, often excreting multiple materials at once, and are able to shift as needed.  The most skilled of these can produce solid materials in particular shapes, which are far easier to work by craftsmen.

In most other areas of a Quental economy, their ability to mutate themselves proves an enormous advantage, making up for their lack of technical skill.  Physical workers build up exactly the types of strength and endurance needed for work.  Precision workers develop extra appendages, muscles, and nerves for fine control.  Wuental doing mental jobs develope an ability to do multiple tasks at once, very quickly.  ironically, mental workers among the Quental are probably the least respected or potent, as Quental find adjusting their minds to be extremely risky and hard to do quickly, so these workers must adapt by reducing their need for sleep, and lowering the rest of their body's requirements for energy.

The most impressive achievements of Quental mutation are those who turn their entire bodies into completely different looking organisms, unrecognizable except to an experienced eye as Quental.  Stories exist from Quental colonists of individuals who changed into airship-like beings, large, tough tank like warriors, or underwater fish catchers resembling dolphins or sharks.  While Quental colonists do not have the genetic diversity yet to experiment in this way, they are making progress towards these achievements again.

Quental have also learned to transfer genetic material to creatures they call "Quechari", slime mold like organisms that can take many conceivable forms.  These flexible creatures are mutated by the Quental to serve as clothing, building materials for houses, or other toolmaking.  Quechari are mainly used to experiment with mutations, for protection in environments where Quental have not yet fully adjusted, or do not wish to adjust, or to handle more roles where Quental do not feel it is worth mutating themselves to fill a role.  Quechari also serve as a base for many types of Quental food.

To organize the mutations necessary for this economic activity, Quental societies must decide where, and much, certain groups will specialize as opposed to choosing more flexible mutations.  Specialized caste systems provide extreme efficiency at particular tasks, but a society is left less flexible than would otherwise be the case.  Quental societies that encourage more flexible mutations for their members can adapt more easily, but members never become as skilled at particular roles, and  constant adjustment is tiring as well.

Without the systematic thinking abilities that humans have, Quental have difficulty creating the legal and bureaucratic systems that humans use to organize societies.  Instead, Quental organizations is done largely through the pheromone interactions.  Roles in greater demand give more opportunities for successes, or at least activity, among groups in more demand.  As these groups establish dominance, they are in a better position to attract new members, as well as resources, and can increase their numbers and skills more quickly than groups in lesser demand.  However, this adjustment process can take a long time, longer even than many red tape filled human bureaucracies, and when extremely fast adjustment is needed, dominant members of a society can force a top down adjustment if needed.

Warfare

Combat among the Quental is common, but usually not destructive on a large scale.  Most commonly, fighting is over resources or establishing dominance between rival societies.  Dominance fights are typically resolved quickly when one military is defeated, as once side directly feels its loss and accepts an inferior position, but resource fights can become highly destructive of the resource in question is scarce.Political civil wars are uncommon, as a dominance contest between a military and other member of society is seen as unfairly favoring the military, though even when they do happen, they are typically not as destructive as equivalent human wars, as dominance establishment takes place very quickly.

Unfortunately for the two Non Quental species in the system, wars between a Quental and Non-Quental last for far longer, and the Quental are far more destructive.  Because humans and Zithir do not give off Quental pheromones, Quental cannot sense the submission or dominance signals that they would in their own society, and as a result are reluctant to accept or offer surrenders, continuing ot fight and kill far longer than normal.  In addition, the lack of mutation based separation between soldiers and other professions typically results in Quental having trouble telling the difference between soldiers and non-combatants, often killing far more than necessary.  Of course, the human and especially Zithir tendencies towards all out war do not help these interactions, as Quental societies in this system have become far more ferocious in response to experience with such wars.

The dominance tendencies amongst Qnental lead to other problems with alien neighbors, as Quental fighters or groups of fighters will pick fights with nearby alien soldiers as a way to build dominance.  While incidents have died down over time as Quental learn human and Zithir protocols, they still happen regularly enough to trigger incidents or wars.  In early scouting days, a similar process lead to Quental being the most likely to start fights with alien scouting groups (With Zithir the least likely.)

When in battle, Quental use relatively simple equipment, often inferior to what a human army could bring, but make up for this lack by using their mutation abilities.  Quental soldiers, among the three aliens in this system, are by far the toughest, designing their bodies with hard skin, fast healing, redundant organs, and strong senses.  In addition, Quental rapidly adapt to whatever environments they choose to fight in, making them particularly dangerous in tough terrain such as mountains, lava fields, or jungle.  Specialized body mutations fill combat roles that in human armies would go to specially trained units.  Quental diggers, in particular, are feared, with a number of corrosive substances, and strength and endurance, are able to rapidly cut through about anything to reach positions from below.