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AedenSolus — Field Guide: Chaedan'kai
Published: 2011-01-08 20:56:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 608; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
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#5 of the Federation: the chaedan'kai.Let's get it out of the way: holy crap the colors it burns! The chaedan'kai come in an insane array of colors. This isn't even as bad as it gets. They can see into the ultraviolet spectrum, so all of these individuals likely have crazy contrasted patterns that humans aren't capable of seeing. All these individuals are perfectly normal colors. The green-gold-blue at the top is one of the most common, but the others are all perfectly normal. This one is an unusual color, however. Chaedan'kai almost never have true black or white, nor are their color shifts so stark and abrupt.
I chose to make the background dark on this one for a reason. The background colors I've been using are to reflect the environment the species lives in. The sunifee world is very red, the erda live in snowy mountains, and the sri and ta'an live on a water-world. The chaedan'kai have no home world. Their sun died ages ago, forcing the entire species to flee to space. That was several generations ago, so memory of the homeworld has faded. Finding a new world is seen as a mythical thing that will likely never happen (it does). For that reason, and earth-mother goddess is prevalent in all their varied religions.
#1 - Sunifee
#2 - Erda
#3 and 4 - Sri and Ta'an
#6 - Svyati
#7 - Umishi
Chaedan'kai, art and all related info is (c) myself
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Comments: 8
I was flipping back through your gallery and I did not realize that the Chaedan'kai sheet was not yet in my favorites??? WELL NOW IT IS.
I know this thing is almost five years old, but I think it still stands out as one of the best-looking of the old field guides! I love the high contrast between the dark background and lighter, highly-saturated boxes. It's aged well!
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Oh god that thing is so old. Five years?! That old? Agh! Well, I do think that updated species sheets are in the pipeline. Some of the art is passable, buuuuut...We'll see :b
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Five years and still pretty, man! Whenever I pull up the Federation folder it's always the one that jumps out at me. ;D
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Chaedan'kaaaiiii! Aaah as far as the Federation gods, this race ranks as my second favorite, after the Erda OF COURSE. I started liking the Chaedan'kai after the Virtues stories, especially the one involving the reckless youths with their air-vent-flying. Ha! As short as it was, that series of stories left me with such a love for this race.
(speaking of written stuff, I've gotta go note you my thoughts on your story. Hng. I'll try to do that soon)
This is such an awesome species though. I've seen the "left the planet and became a space faring civilization" gig a billion times, but rarely is it this well thought-out. If you think about it, living in a synthetic world would require hellish stability! Everything, from the population to the air to the water, would have to be monitored constantly. You can't just throw people in a space station and say "okay go about it your business". Man I hate it when series like Star Wars never address this rule. 
This said, nice job on the development of this race. They're very well-planned, and I like how the few traces of their past cultures seem so important to them (such as the Ar'uth'ai). It's kind of sad if you think about it, but it's better than being as extinct as your world!! I'm digging their designs too, the bright, gaudy colors must make them seem obnoxious alongside the more naturally-colored Federation races. Haha.
Would you mind explaining a bit more about their world-ships? I got to see the insides of them in the "Virtues" stories, but I'd really like to know how the things function on the outside: what they look like, how they work, how they're connected, etc.
Another question I've got issss... about how the sul'ali bonds are made. These are breeding pairs, and since reproducing is such official business I'm wondering how sul'ali pairs are made... like... are Chaedan'kai assigned a breeding partner, or do they make this choice themselves?
Oh my god this is getting long. Overall, nice work on this one, and I can't wait for more.
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You're super-comments make my day
"Virtues" was really mt first introduction to them at all. I have other characters, but those are all after-contact. Their culture is hard to get into, but it's very interesting. It wouldn't work for humans at all. Humans aren't mentally designed for communism.
Their ships are insane. They're one of the most technologically advanced species (though they never made the leap to light speed) Their ships are an incredible feat of engineering, though I can't come close to actually describing how they work. Each ship is the size of a small moon (think the death Star), and contains a living ecosystem. They brought their forests with them when they fled. They did their best to preserve their world. Each ship essentially has a working core like a planet. They engineered geothermal power sources (the vents you saw), and use those to maintain the climate and power everything. Their ships are remarkably eco-friendly. In the civilian areas, a lot of the technology is disguised. These guys are the elves of this setting. Lights will be designed to look like flowers or false windows and computers are never immediately obvious even though they're used on a daily basis. The working areas of the ships (engines, bridge, etc) are a lot less decorative than the living areas. The people that maintain and pilot the ships are seen as kinda weird and almost untouchable. They're the people that are comfortable around machinery and can deal with seeing space on a daily basis. They're their own caste set and generally keep to themselves. I'm not actually sure what the ships look like on the outside. I haven't seen them yet. Inside is mostly forest and city (you can't tell where one ends and the other begins), with a vaguely middle-east/eastern European touch. Each ship has a fleet of smaller shuttles that keep them all connected. Those are mainly used by the Nobility, but also for staged migrations of people to keep genes moving.
Yeah, the breeding pairs are frequently arranged things. Most people have the option of choosing a partner, but for their system it's best if the parents aren't particularly close (not friends or coworkers or anything). It's about as empty as a business transaction. It's just their civic duty. Not to say that parents don't love their children, but the parents frequently won't see each other again.
Sketches for the next one are getting done as we speak
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Just doin' my job ma'am.
Aah but I see, that's neat! So their ships are essentially just synthetic worlds. Aaah. Those things probably took hellish time to construct, and I'd hate to have been around when they were being built. Yikes!
I can see society pairing up individuals to help mix the best genes, like breeding showdogs or something. That's pretty neat. So by contrast, are the su'aila relationships platonic? The su'aila's "one you love" concept sounds a lot like soul mates, so I'd imagine it could go either way. :]
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Preeeeeetty 
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This whole thing is so insanely tie-dye. I can't get over how bright they are 
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