Syreni

Syreni
General information
Status	Existent
Population	32,000,000,000
Native to	Lacus Thadal, Thadal System, Drabreim Sector
Extent	17 billion on homeworld, remaining 15 billion scattered across Syreni United Territories territory
Biology
Size	2.3 m (male) / 3 m (female)
Mass	123 kg (male) / 79 kg (female)
Diet	Omnivorous
Limbs	Varies via Sexual Male - 4; 2 arms, 2 legs Female - 2 arms
Eyes	2
Intelligence	Sapient
Symmetry	Bilateral
Lifespan	175 years
Miscellaneous
Description	Males resemble humanoid angler fish; Females have humanoid upper bodies and fish-like lower bodies
Known for	Extreme Sexual Dimorphism

The Syreni are a near-pacifistic piscean-mammalian race from the ocean world of Lacus Thadal. Known for the extreme sexual dimorphism between males and females, this has also resulted in the Syreni themselves contradictorily caring much about aesthetics when it comes to architecture, but little to none at all when it comes to organism appearances.

The closest ally to the Syreni's primary government, the Syreni United Territories, is the Lael'eth Directorate, the central government of the Lael'eth race.

Biology

Sexual dimorphism of the Syreni is extreme: males are scaly, with wide mouths with long fangs, giant eyes, and a strange appendage extending from their forehead, at the end of which is a dangling nodule that glows on-command. Male Syreni hands and feet are webbed and clawed, making them agile swimmers and dangerous undersea predators.

Meanwhile, Syreni females upper-bodies vaguely resemble those of Lael'eth females, hinting at some kind of common ancestry. One of the main differences between a Syreni female and a Lael'eth female are that Syreni female skin coming in various shades of a brownish-pink, with paler skin being more of a pink-white, and darker skin turning a more tanned pink color; and their hair and eyes being more wildly-varied in the colors they can take. Syreni females also possess a set of gills on the sides of their torso, alongside their air-breathing lungs. Furthermore, Syreni females have no legs, instead possessing a fish-like tail whose coloration is just as wildly-varied as their hair and eyes. There's also patches of scales on a Syreni female's cheeks, the backs of their palms, the backs of their necks, and the backs of their shoulders, which are the same color as their fish tail. Finally, Syreni females possess pairs of additional, smaller fins on each side of their waist and on the backs of their jawline. The latter set of fins can raise, lower, and flatten along the head as part of the Syreni emoting.

Another potential sign of their shared evolutionary origin with the Lael'eth is the Syreni blood consists of the protein Hemocyanin, although some of the Lael'eth's adaptations are not present in the Syreni, meaning that their circulatory system is more adapted to a near-permanent aquatic lifestyle.

Syreni male scales come in shades of green, blue, or brown.

Syreni female skin comes in a variety of shades of brown-pink, ranging from a very pale pink, to a tanned pink. Their hair can come in a wide range of color, from brown, to pink, to white, to blue, to green, to many other colors.

Syreni eyes, for both biological sexes, can come with the same variety of colors as their hair. For male Syreni, it's their full eye, while for female Syreni, it's just their irises.

Nearly 2/3 of a Syreni female's measured "height" is the length of their tail. This means that the average Syreni female has a 2 meter long tail, and their upper body is only 1 meter tall.

All Syreni have both gills and lungs, and so can exist both in and out of water. However, because of their body type, female Syreni are at a critical disadvantage when outside of water.

Culture

Despite the ferocious appearance of male Syreni, Syreni culture is actually quite peaceful. While they maintain a small military force for self-protection, the Syreni are near-pacifistic in their lifestyle.

This has, unfortunately, made them preferred 'prey' for the Kallekite, especially due to how Syreni-born Kallekite do not possess the weakness that Kallekite biotech has for water. Due to this, the Lael'eth and, to a lesser extent, the Sunovians have repeatedly come to save the Syreni from Kallekite invasion.

Technology

Syreni technology is derived from castoffs from the Lael'eth Directorate and Sunovite Concordium. That said, this actually gives the Syreni a decent tech level to where, had they gone militaristic, they could easily hold off the full might of the Kallekite on their own.

However, one major difference between Syreni technology and Lael'eth/Sunovian Technology is that Syreni Technology utilizes a form of energy conveyance called "photovectorance". Similar to how fiber optic cables transmit data as light, photovectorance utilizes light to transmit power, and this is how the Syreni adapted technology to work underwater, without threat of electrical harm to Syreni Engineers, should cable casings be breached.

Syreni starships are not just designed to hold air, but also water; Syreni starships are 75% flooded, 5% set for oxygen circulation into the water, and 20% set for non-aquatic guests.

Syreni Power Generation is vastly different from other races' power generation, due to them using Photovectorance, not electrical conveyance, for power transmission. Said Power Generation relies on a combination of chemical reactions and fungal organisms from their homeworld that releases immense levels of light energy, with the fungal organisms not only necessary for the reactions, but their ability to regrow from these reactions and their biological immortality make them extremely viable sources of light. The speed of their regeneration is such that so long as the reactions do not outpace the regeneration, these reactors can continue working for millennia with a proper application of "fuel" (the chemical that causes the reaction). While useless to other races due to the negligible electrical output it gives and the light it gives off being too intense for artificial lighting, the power output it offers for Photovectorance Technology is equivalent to that of Nuclear Fusion, with reactors being able to put out as much power as an equally-sized Nuclear Fusion Reactor, thus being used for an equivalent power generation system for the Syreni.

Syreni engines are Ion Drives, they utilize railguns and missiles for defensive weaponry, and their shields are fairly decent at defense.

Notable Individuals

• Meris Nadol - Author and first Syreni to establish contact with those from outside the Drabreim Sector