The Machlyes, Masters of Life

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Machlyes are a humanoid species of remarkable height, towering over standard human dimensions. Their bodies are naturally muscular, reflecting a blend of strength and grace. The musculature of the Machlyes is finely tuned, providing them with both agility and power, essential traits for navigating their environment and engaging in various physical activities. The skeletal structure of the Machlyes is robust and adapted to support their considerable height and muscular build. Their bones are denser than those of standard humans, providing enhanced durability and strength. The spine is elongated to accommodate their stature, with additional support structures to maintain balance and stability.

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Machlyes possess soft and feminine facial features, characterized by gentle contours and expressive eyes. The lower region of their faces often retains a subtle grace, contributing to an overall appearance that exudes both strength and beauty. The presence of four eyes adds a distinctive aspect to their countenance, with the smaller pair positioned just below the standard eyes. The Machlyes' four eyes provide them with exceptional visual capabilities. The standard pair of eyes, situated in the upper region of their face, offer acute depth perception and color recognition. The additional set of smaller eyes, placed just below the primary pair, enhance their peripheral vision and the ability to detect subtle movements. This unique ocular arrangement contributes to heightened situational awareness, a valuable trait in their often expansive and varied environments.

Genetics and Reproduction

The Machlyes possess a unique genetic makeup that allows for a wide range of diversity among their offspring. Each Machlye individual carries a set of genetic information, with traits inherited randomly from both parental contributors. The genetic exchange during reproduction results in a combination of physical, physiological, and psychological attributes in the offspring, making each Machlye distinct. The genetic material is exchanged through a specialized reproductive organ that combines features of both male and female reproductive systems.

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Machlyes engage in sexual reproduction, with each individual having the ability to both impregnate and become pregnant. Following successful reproductive bonding, the Machlye undergoes a gestation period of approximately 12 months. During this time, the developing embryos receive nourishment and protection within a specialized internal structure unique to the Machlye anatomy. Machlye pregnancies typically result in the birth of twins, although variations in the number of offspring are not uncommon. The gestation period allows for the proper development of the embryos, ensuring the birth of healthy and viable offspring.

Growth Rate & Stages

1. Early Development (1-10 years): During the first decade of life, Machlye individuals experience rapid physical and cognitive development. Growth occurs at a pace much quicker than that of many other species. Machlye children display an early curiosity and eagerness to learn, immersing themselves in the communal education system that emphasizes both intellectual and emotional development.
2. Adolescence (10-50 years): Adolescence is an extended period for the Machlyes, spanning several decades. During this time, individuals undergo significant physical changes, solidifying their adult form. The Machlye society encourages exploration and self-discovery, fostering a sense of identity and purpose. Social and cultural education continues to play a crucial role in shaping the values and beliefs of the young Machlyes.
3. Maturity and Reproductive Years (50-400 years): Upon reaching maturity, Machlyes actively engage in the reproduction process, forming bonds with compatible partners and contributing to the continuity of their species. This stage is characterized by a strong focus on family and community, with individuals assuming various roles within the society. The Machlyes prioritize personal growth and the acquisition of knowledge during their reproductive years, contributing to the collective wisdom of their community. While still physically active, Machlyes increasingly invests time in intellectual pursuits, arts, and cultural enrichment.
4. Wisdom and Leadership (400-500 years): As Machlyes approach the later centuries of their lives, they enter a stage marked by a deepening understanding of their world and culture. Many individuals naturally transition into roles of leadership, guiding their communities with the accumulated wisdom of centuries.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

• Enhanced Senses: The power to possess extremely accurate senses. The user has extremely accurate senses, allowing them to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel better than the best member of their species. On this level, the user may be capable of developing other senses (ex; an Esp, sensing blood, etc).
• Empathy: The power to fully interpret and replicate the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others. The user can fully interpret the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is hiding another. They can attack someone in a personal and emotional way since they know exactly what emotion is flowing through them and can use this knowledge to play against them. Some users may learn to read emotional imprints left in the environment or objects. Usually over time, an Empath's power grows to the point that they can manipulate emotions in others, and possibly use them to empower themselves. The user may learn to extend their power over/on vast numbers of sentient beings or reach extreme distances, even other levels of existence but this may be possible only if the user has an emotional link to those the search is already in effect on.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

The New Machlyian Empire

Founded by the Joacinid Dynasty, the NME was the original governing body of the Machlyes peoples of Thendohiri. They were deposed after Queen Nimyria the Huntress re-took the Libyē System and forced harsh terms onto the Machlyes peoples. The Machlyes dominion was split with a civil war and the losers of this war would re-settle in one of the old colony systems, taking it for themselves and making Planet Thendohiri-Prime their new Seat of Power. They named their planet Thendohiri-Prime as an insult to the first Thendohiri, who they deemed not to be true Machlyes. This NME did not abolish Gorgon Slave Trading and would often war with their kin.

The League of Sticks

The Sticks was the name of a Major River within The Outer Worlds, and the Machlyes had established control of it throughout the ring via a network of Sultans who commanded the Galaxies that it ran on. These Sultans commanded their own Noble House and formed the League of Sticks. The League was technically established after the fall of the 1st Gorgon Empire with the age of exploration and colonization by the Machlyes. Still, it would formally come to be named after the rise of the 2nd Gorgon Queendom.

The House of Twins

The House of Twins is the Noble House that commands the League of Sticks, ruled by a Khaṣṣ al-Sultān. The House of Twins is the leader of the Sticks League and the figurehead of the Machlyes people. It is called the House of Twins because their noble lineage comprises two Machlyes, always twins, who are wed to each other to preserve their genetic purity. It was the House of Twins who bent the knee to Nimyria when she re-took Libyē, they waged war with the New Machlyian Empire and formally organized the Sticks League.

The Machlyes Church of Hermaphroditus

The MCH is a branch of the Hermaphroditus Cult founded by the Machlyes peoples in worship and submission to their creator. The Church is a key player in the wider Cult and wields significant political and military power, directly sponsored by the New Machlyian Empire and the League of Sticks. They take no stance on the two great powers and are no allies of the Gorgon Queendom who actively condemn the church for its indifference to Gorgon slavery.

Gender Ideals

The Machlyes, being hermaphroditic and androgynous, transcend traditional gender ideals, fostering a culture that embraces the unity of both masculine and feminine attributes within each member. The Machlyes do not recognize distinctions between male and female or any other gender structures. Machlye society does not assign specific roles or responsibilities based on gender.

Average Technological Level

• Biological Restructuring and Mutation Process: The Machlyes have led the way in biological procedures and one field they call "Biological Restructuring". While it initially appears to be a way to change one's sex, it can be used to do far more. When used for a sex-change operation, the entire body is redesigned with the physiology of the desired sex, to the point that it can be inferred they were born as that sex. While this is useful for a sex change operation, it also can be used to cure Mana Cell Exhaustion, acting as a hard reset for the body. The Machlyes have also advanced science in the pursuit of creating different-sex clones of a person, a feat that would normally require more effort and considerable resources compared to regular cloning. In some cases, Machlyes Clones with a sex different from the source can exhibit higher quality clones.

History

The Machlyes were created by Lord Hermaphroditus, a Minor Olympian Deity of Love who was a hermaphrodite and the origin of the word. Hermaphroditus created the Machlyes in their image and gifted them the planet Thendohiri as their home in the Libyan star system. The Machlyes developed far slower than the other species of their star system and this would become their undoing when The Gorgṓn, the Snake-Haired Children of Phorcys, race from the Capital Planet Libyē began their space age, led by Queen Aix the Coming Storm, Fierce and Terrible.

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Aix conquered the primitive Machlyes without a fight, their technology and magic outclassed anything the Machlyes could ever bring to bear. It was under the rule of Aix that the Machlyes were subjugated and enslaved, exported across the growing Queendom and beyond for pain and pleasure. This period was dubbed the Book Of Fierce Storms by the Gorgons but to the Machlyes, they referred to it as the Dark Ages and called Aix the Great Ruin. Aix had thoroughly plundered the Machlyes and their world so much so that it also earned the title "Rape of Thendohiri". A large part of the justification for this crime was that the Machlyes were not recognized as a sentient race by the Gorgon Queendom and therefore were closer to animals and livestock than people. This age would last until the fall of Aix and her dynasty when the Gorgon Queendom fell into a civil war, and the Machlyes took their freedom.

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The 1st Emir of Thendohiri was Joacim the Breaker of Chains who established the Joacinid Dynasty during the Gorgon Civil War. An age later, the Gorgons had 3 new Queens, Sthenṓ, Euryálē, and Médousa, who returned to the Machlyes to formally apologize for the violation of their people. They paid a heavy reparation tax to the Machlyes and the Gorgon Queendom formally recognized them as a sentient race of the system with full rights. This seemed to mend the wounds, at least for the Gorgons, but the Machlyes would never forget nor would they forgive what was done to them at the hands of the Gorgon.

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Sir Perseús the Destroyer, a demigod son of ZEUS and legendary heroic figure praised by The Muses themselves, would soon stage a full-scale invasion of the Queendom. Perseús and his knights amassed a staggering force and went to war against the Gorgons, and by his side was the Machlyes dominion. They initially denied loyalty to the Gorgons as a ploy to break their blockades and allow the invaders a foothold in the core systems. The Machlyes were a key piece in the fall of the Gorgon Queendom, and after they were shattered, broken, and scattered across the cosmos, on the run from Perseús, the Machlyes would turn around and make slaves of the remaining Gorgons they captured.

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The Machlyes were big players in the Gorgon slave trade in the years following the demise of the Gorgon Queendom and became very rich from both it and the treasures of Libyē gifted to them by the Perseid Dynasty. They expanded their empires and kingdoms, exercising the gift of violence the Gorgons had first shown them, and made themselves lords and emperors. However, this would end again with Queen Nimyria the Huntress, a Gorgon Queen of the new Gorgon Queendom from Sarpedon, who allied herself with the Wilde Hunt to shatter the Perseid Dynasty and re-take their historical Seat of Power, planet Libyē. During the war, the Machlyes once again sided against the Gorgons, but victory did not come to them again.

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Queen Nimyria took her old Seat back and wed a prince of the Wilde Hunt. The Machlyes sought another rebellion, but the raw power of the Hunt would crush them without mercy. So, they yielded to the Gorgons once again. The Machlyes would abolish Gorgon slavery and be charged with dismantling the Gorgon slave trade they established in the cosmos and would pay reparations to Nimyria's royal line. In exchange, the Wilde Hunt would not glass their planet and reduce their population by 90%. The terms were cast in dried ink and the treaty was signed under threat of total annihilation. The Machlyes would submit and further rebellion would be met with the Queen's Wrath.

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Scientific Name

Phylum: Chordata, Subphylum: Hermaphroditica, Class: Machlyea, Order: Androgynaformes, Family: Machlyidae, Genus and Species: Machlyes Hermaphroditicus

Lifespan

500 Standard Imperial Year (SIY)