First encounters
It took us some time after encountering the Quental to figure out what they were like. Our first scouts to encounter Quental saw similar looking creatures, camouflaged, with a similar body shape, but larger, and no head protrusions, but they disagreed greatly on the emotions sensed from the creatures they encountered. Some described the Quental as wary observers, they they either avoided or stayed away from, much like some prey on our own world. Most described the creatures as looking for fights, and having to defend themselves or run from attacks. A few, increasing over time, described Quental as looking for contact without desiring a fight. While we later learned that these responses were from different roles of Quental in society seeking to impress others, our first responses to the species were confused and uncertain, with different groups in our society responding differently.
Continued contact with Quental societies, and our own
exploration, exposed us to much less aggressive Quental, and communication
became more commonplace as we learned how the species worked, and to recognize
which members ot talk to. A full ability
to interact with the Quental took longer, however, as the Quental appeared to
view us as lower level members of society until we learned to make and use a
substance apparently used to organize Quental into hierarchies.
Body
Quental do not have a fixed form, as most creatures do. They change their bodies to adapt to a particular role or situation. In some Quental societies, these adaptations are mostly permanent after a short period of childhood or education, while in others, Quental choose forms that can fill a variety of roles, or be easily changed at any point. Only their minds are not adjusted in this way, the Quental say that these changes are almost impossible to do successfully, and are often dangerous. Quental also can share these changes amongst each other.
Most Quental are more injury resistant, and better able to
heal, than we are. They are larger and
stronger as well, and can adapt to ingest or breathe materials that we would
find poisonous. Soldiers, physical
workers, or others who work in dangerous situations, or situations requiring
toughness, can enhance themselves even further in these ways.
Mind
Quental cannot sense emotions, or thoughts, directly as we can, leading to a great deal of confusion at first over how intelligent the Quental would be. Instead, they use body motions, tone of voice, smells, and other such methods to communicate these things to others, and to see what emotions others are experiencing. Quental with enhanced senses appear better at this, and Quental who must read these things in others, such as hunters, scouts, or diplomats to aliens, will enhance their senses to better detect these effects. The most important communication tool for Quental, though, is a particular substance that the Quental use to organize all relations. This substance appears more common in Quental who are more active or successful in their roles, and Quental with less of it feel a greater willingness to take orders, accept less resources, and a desire to copy, those who release more substance. All Quental experience these urges strongly when interacting with other members of their society, and when interacting with us or the humans. Quental interacting with humans or us have great difficulty accepting orders or following requests, as they sense the lack of substance and instinctively feel that they should be in charge, and often have more difficulty in general respecting the work of aliens, as the lack of substance suggests a less successful person to their mind. Anyone who must commonly interact with Quental will bring a supply of artificial substance, and is taught to release it in a way to appropriately signal the Quental around them.
Society
Quental societies organize themselves based on their substance release, and little else. In some societies, large amounts of substance is release, and Quental form strict hierarchies, at other times substance release is weaker, and smaller groups of Quental compete for power. Competition or ambition among the Quental is common, in order to encourage substance release, and gain the resulting respect and power, and this competition sometimes leads Quental to create or seek out situations to prove themselves, sometimes to the disadvantage of their group as a whole.
Quental roles from within society are mostly determined early in life, where each individual changes their body to fill a particular role. Quental societies change in how specialized they expect their members to be, some societies have most members choose more flexible forms, some have most specialize. Within these roles, Quental attempt to gain status and success, and in societies with less substance release, different groups within society compete as well. Most Quental societies divide into soldiers and scouts, physical workers, some who use their bodies to produce materials, and thinkers and planners, along with a few much smaller groups. Soldiers and Physical workers gain the most respect and deference, while Thinkers usually get the least.
Religion
Quental religion seems a far less important part of their society than it is for ours. In the past, Quental religion was often based around the idea of "great shapers" or "great rulers" who were the ultimate dominating forces in the world, responsible for weather, volcanoes, and other natural events that the Quental could not control. It was assumed that these great shapers would resemble extremely successful Quental, if one would be met, no Quental would be able to resist the power of their dominating substance. Over time, religion has changed into something less extreme, resembling our understanding more. Most modern Quental religions assume that some great shapers were responsible for creating this universe, and occasionally interfere, but mostly are active elsewhere or resting. These creations are a challenge for the Quental, who must learn to overcome the the difficulties of the universe to become the most respected of creatures, and possible more respected than the great shapers themselves.
As practiced by the Quental, these religions play a small role in their society, and mostly serve as additional motivation for Quental to achieve respect and success. It has also at times helped shut down attempts be Quental attempts to destabilize society, as a few individual Quental have at times tried to increase their substance releases, or make themselves resistant, removing the major method of organizing Quental society and encouraging success. Religion itself is usually least common among soldiers, who struggle against other Quental, usually, and is more common among physical workers, thinkers, and other roles that struggle against the natural world itself.
Quental religion in this system has changed with contact with us and the humans. Our methods or organizing societies are different enough to change how Quental understand their great shapers, seeing them as less dominating and more encouraging of a challenge. Human science and religion have encouraged the Quental to think of weather, geologic, or other such events as having a purpose, either set up by a great shaper as a challenge of the world to, or as a response to some moral failing.
Warfare
Warfare among the Quental is done only by those who specialize as soldiers. Fighting among them is almost constant, with quental soldiers constantly trying to prove themselves, and gain resources and respect, by finding dangerous enemies to fight against. The Quental are quite callous about these wars, as relatives or friends of the dead soldiers are all too willing to stop fighting after a few victories, and accept rule by the winners in the war. Non-soldiers are highly reluctant to change themselves to become soldiers, to respond to these attacks, and soldiers are reluctant to kill or attack those who would support the enemy who is attempting to kill them. Most Quental seem to view these attacks and killings as mere competition between different societies or groups of soldiers.
When encountering us or the humans, Quental soldier killing becomes random and constant, as they attack border patrols, settlements, or anything in an area. Many soldiers seem to view aliens as merely another dangerous creature to prove themselves against, and as anyone could be a soldiers, the quental soldiers attack anything possible. Quental leaders who wish to maintain peace have had to find other ways for their soldiers to compete, and impose strict discipline, although even in these cases many soldiers find ways to fight and kill neighboring aliens.
In combat, Quental rely mostly on their toughness, and ability to shape their bodies. Basic soldiers are strong, fast, and very hard to kill, and other types of soldiers can specialize their bodies to fight in different ways. They adapt quickly to different environments, and can give themselves unique senses as well.
