Tethyans

sing. Tethyan, adj. Tethyne

For trillions of years the sim ran its hellish world, and in it the Ikoska transformed into something that should not exist, could not exist, in all the time the stars will burn. Something from beyond time.

• Origin: Simulated Evolution
• Environment(s): Hard Vacuum, Human, Benthic, Hyperthermic, Cryogenic
• Body Plan: Hard articulated shell with six vent ports for reconfigurable limbs.

Tethyans are a telene species evolved in an environment engineered by by Kichalteron researchers. In realspace, their preferred environment is benthic regions of large, high-gravity aquatic worlds. They have incredibly strong bodies and can withstand almost any environmental conditions including hard vacuum and the atmospheres of Gas Giant planets.

Origin

Tethyans emerged from Simulated Evolution via a Kichaltric attempt to understand the Vimana. Unlike the Vimana, whose creation heralded long eras of disaster and domination, Tethyans were kept from evolving a superluminal engine. Also unlike Vimana, Tethyans have a failsafe: they have no sense of ordered time with a dormant Hyladrome.

Description

Tethyans are massive six-limbed beings with long necks and tails that grow to 500-1000 meters in length from head to tail. Their bodies are built from incredibly strong and self-healing materials similar to the hulls of Vimana, but are much more flexible. Their limbs emerge from large vent-ports as masses of nanocomponents that Tethyan concsiously assembles into tissues and joints. Four of these ports are on the underside of the body, andwith a third pair of ports opposite the neck at the top of their forward body sectionsection. allowsThese themports toeach reachsport anywherea 360long, degreeshinged, aroundtriangular themselves.cover called an elytron that often forms part of the limb structure. Between their six possible limbs and strong, thick tail, Tethyans are dynamically stable in any orientation: they cannot be rendered helpless by rolling them onto their backs. This makes them excellent defending themselves in close combat and in low- or no-gravity environments in general.

The two main body sections are joined by a sphere that is often said to be perfect. Its shine is attributed to the fact that Tethyans' body chemistry incorporates non-baryonic matter, an arrangement only known to arise from the contrived scenarios of Simulated Evolution.

Tethyans store extremely high-energy mass within their bodies. With this they power natural Plasma Shields. Four antennae at the centermost edges of their body sections allow them to channel these shields to become powerful slower-than-light interplanetary engines. Left to their own devices, Tethyans use these to migrate in clans of millions that can easily boil a terrestrial planet's oceans.

Depictions

As a TTRPG class: Superheavies and Living Starships