Hal Armin
Created by:
Garry Stahl with a nod to Allan Dean Foster*.
Appearance: In the person of Neebish, the
science officer in "Matters of Perspective"
Number of Members: 5 billion
Nature of Members: Hal Armin are six legged
anthropoids. Hal Armin stand a meter high on all sixes. They are
roughly two meters long and stand a meter and a half on "fours". They
mostly resemble a preying mantis with much finer hands. They are light
purple green in color that darkens to a deep purple as they age. They
have oval shaped heads with large iridescent compound eyes topped with
feathery antenna. Limbs are from top to bottom, true hand, foot hand,
true foot. Hal Armin are obligate quadrupeds. They must move on four
legs. When standing still they can rest the end of their abdomen on the
ground and use the foot hands for manipulation. Hal Armin have wings
that are nearly atrophied. An adult can fly to safe landing from a
height. They cannot fly from the ground. (In an 100 foot or taller fall
they can expect to land without injury. Ironically shorter falls do not
give them enough time to deploy their wings and build enough lift to
counter the fall.) The wings are lost after mating in both genders. Hal
Armin are omnivores.
They
are egg layers that produce a larval stage. During the larval state the
Hal Armin have limited senses and are nearly immobile. They must be
cared for by full time nurse/teachers. Larvahood is the time in which
education is handled. At five years of age the larva will metamorphose
into a full adult. While this seems like a brief time for education a
larva has little do but learn.
The physiology of the Hal
Armin can
confuse the average humanoid. They lack the social need for physical
contact so common in the mammal species. Hal Armin are very much
social creatures, and most do poorly away from their own kind they do
not have much sense of touch. It is entirely absent on the majority
of their carapace. It is possible to cut into the chitin without any
pain sensation. Only the losest three layers of the chitin have pain
sensation (Their medicine lists eight layers of chitin). Hal Armin
commonly cut the upper layer to add permanent decorations to their
bodies. The result is they are not touchy feely. They do touch with
the antenna and it is a highly sensual experience for them to flutter
their antenna close to another person's antenna. You do not see it
in public. It is Hal Armin foreplay, reserved for your mate.
The entire race is
agoraphobic and
clastrophilic. They are perfectly comfortable in a dark tunnel
barely wide enough to crawl through, but can freak at a wide field
and an open sky. "Outside" is the name for the condition
and 30% have it to a debilitating degree. 99% of the species have it
to some degree. Those that do not are social misfits. But misfits
that are needed for duties that others could not do. The Star
Service, diplomats, even farmers are all people that have either a
very mild case of "Outside" or lack it entirely.
Organization:
Hierarchy. Hal Armin are organized from the Hive
Mother (eldest female) on down. Everyone has a place and everyone wants
it that way. There is even a place for the placeless, the Star Service.
Hal
Armin willingly choose to live under a totalitarian state. Because they
choose it said states are never as abusive as they are in say Human
cultures. Dissent is expected and welcome. Everything is debated in the
pubic forum, but once the dictator calls the shot they fall in line and
do.
Game Role: Something different to muddy the
politics and challenge assumptions
World Role: Reluctant star travelers.
Relative Influence: Minor, and they prefer
it that way. Hal Armin do not use or want the kind of influence their
technology and numbers would normally give a race in their position.
Public or Secret?: Public.
Publicly Stated Goal: Not be anyone's slave.
To live their lives without interference.
Relative Wealth: Second grade galatic power
that directly controls 25 systems.
Group advantages: Racial
cohesiveness. Hal Armin have a very tight "us" button.
Every Hal Armin is the friend and ally of any other.
Quick response: Their form of government
allows them a quick response to any threat.
Special Abilities: Fazz. Hal Armin have
antenna that have the "fazz" sense. They can sense air currents and
minute changes is said currents. They also have a keen stereo sense of
smell. A Hal Armin can easily move with confidence in complete darkness.
Group disadvantages: Rigidity. When the
established order is not working, usually in a crisis situation, Hal
Armin are often at a lost for action. They also have a hard time ending
a routine that is no longer useful.
Special disadvantages: Hal Armin are
exotherms. Cold conditions will kill them. They also cannot swim as the
openings for respiration are located on the abdomen, and cannot be held
above water.
Agoraphobia.
a good 30% of the population suffers from agoraphobia, and cannot work
or live outside the hive.
Low
advancement drive: Hal Armin do not adopt technology for the
sake of change. Something has to fail before it gets reconsidered. As a
result they are still driving the one light year a day ships the Aazzan
"gifted" them with.
Those who favor them: Former members of the
Anti-Aazz Alliance, Any non-hostile neighbor that has gotten to know
them. The Federation is considering it.
Those opposed to them: Aazz with long
memories, the Cardassians, LUW. The Cardassians did basic Cardassian
things at he Hal Armin and nearly found themselves in a genocidal war.
They leave the bugs alone, but don't like them. As a second string
interstellar power the LUW consider the Hal Armin guilty until caught
at something.
Area of Operation: Polar north and anti
spinward of the Federation core.
Headquarters Location: Armin the home world
Public Face: Reluctant neighbors.
Notable Members: Lugneeserfan
-- Founder of the Anti-Aazz Alliance.
Liracalee -- Founder of
the Hormin Fusion. She floated the idea that the two species
complimented each other to a degree that both would benefit from the
admixture.
Neebishterfan -- commonly known as Neebish by
his friends and Starfleet. His fellows would rather he was less well
known. Neebishterfan is an embarrassment for all Hal Armin.
History of the Organization: 200 years ago
Armin was a world in a late industrial stage. The Hal Armin were a busy
race minding their own business. That business was getting past their
waring period and starting to enjoy the peace dividend. All this ended
with the coming of the Aazz.
The
Aazz were a warrior race of slave taking reptiles that preyed on all
the planets around them including the Hal Armin. The Hal Armin dug
further in and learned what they could from the invaders. At last they
shot a ship up enough to capture it and study it. Their own warp drives
soon followed.
Under
the pressure of war they expanded quickly. In the process they met
other races also victimized by the Aazz. At first the Hal Armin were
reluctant to deal with other races. What if they were as bad as the
Aazz.
Finally
Lugneeserfan privately meet and worked with other member of the other
races. They together brought the plan for the Anti-Aazz Alliance
arguing that working together they could do what none of them working
apart could accomplish.
It
took 100 years but the Aazz war was finally won, by driving the Aazz
off every world and bombing the Aazz homeworld back to the stone age.
In the interval the Hal Armin had founded several colonies on worlds
taken from the Aazz, want it or not they had a space presence, and have
to deal with the other peoples that travel through space.
50
years ago the Cardassian union ran into the Hal Armin, and tried their
usual tricks. They found the logical insects massing on the border to
conduct a war of genocide. A war the insects expected to win, by a
margin low enough to make their own survival questionable. Some fast
talking and the execution of some promising commanders got them off the
hook, once, and only once. If they attack the Hal Armin again, there
will be NO talk.
Presently
the Hal Armin maintain cool relations with everyone. They wish to be
let alone, and are willing to leave alone. They will negotiate trade
agreements, and they find this agreeable and stimulating. they are not
interested in any political or military alliances. A mutual threat
would change that.
Other members of the Anti-Aazz Alliance:
Gell -- Flightless avianoid. Most of their
advances have fallen to internal conflict.
Horma -- Rubber forehead humanoids. The Hal Armin have
linked their governments together the Horma living on the temperate
areas of Hal Armin worlds and the Hal Armin taking the steaming tropics
of Horma worlds. As Liracalee stated it. We offer you
stability and you offer us drive.
Ottarions -- A race of amphibious mammals.
They are currently Federation members.
Zten -- A related reptiloid species to the
Aazz. Being relatives did not help.
*Allan Dean Foster
created the Thranx, of which the Hal Armin are generally lifted, but
not completely.
This is a work of fiction. All characters,
places, and situations are fictional. Any resemblance to persons,
places, or situations living or dead is coincidental.
© Garry Stahl: 1997-2006 unless other
Copyrights apply. All rights reserved, re-print only with permission.
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