Peoples: Aquarii

– originating from eight planets in the Aquari Home Federet; citizens of the Pan-Galactic Imperium
– conjugated as Aquari:Human, Aquarii:Humans, Aquariid:Human(adjective)
– names: adjective + nature
– since we can’t fully reproduce their language, their place and person names are descriptive translations, like Russet Song Valley and Far Pitch

– bipedal mantid-cephalopod bodies
– suedelike skin covered in tiny vibrational hairs called setae-villi
– two main arm tentacles (no suckers, but electrostatic gecko grip suede that’s usually smooth and dry except when picking things up or gripping) – a circular mane of vibrational tendrils, plus a mustache of them on many of the men
– a beak mouth for eating
– audio-visual range frequency abilities in their natural communication
– high empathic perception
– somewhat taller than humans
– tribally-aligned uniquely colored carapaces
– their upright, two-legged bodies are covered in armor like carapaces
– strong, mantislike hind legs
– intelligent and compassionate black eyes
– carapaces vary in color, pattern and shape by tribe

– the young start in round shells protected in dreaming seashore beds with a lovegiver where they can already sing & color
– go through successive moltings & imaginalize into the modern bipedal-tentacled form when they can walk away from their molting
– start with short tendrils
– align by markings from group infancy and are raised tribally
– referred to as our-children
– can individualize in recombination to migrate tribes
– they mature in the company of their conscious Symbias tree groves, which maintain their ancestral linkage
– pair mating

– they use very little fire technology, prefer humidity – shape wood with song for their homes
– artistically-oriented culture
– all professions are a form of art
– technology, evolution and culture are centered around vibrational color/sound modulation
– we perceive it as what we call art, and to them it’s direct communication creating lasting structures of and monuments of multi-layered thought
– they love to share their art

– their language is audiovisual
– includes tones that humans can’t hear
– they have some emotions humans don’t have
– we can see their color-visual cues more clearly when applied to certain media
– they are very good at replicating human language sounds
– with some effort, they can color-emote for the human spectrum, but they are always able to read wavelengths off each other
– uncannily perceptive, coming from a culture that habitually sees thoughts and emotions publicly
– tentacles and tendrils are part of their emoting apparati, both visually and in producing vibrational control
– some can ventriloquize friction, the distance breeze

– Humans and Aquarii don’t often fight, the temperament is no longer there (since a long while back)
– they make everyone’s lives more fun, cooler, healthier, and more beautiful; simply put, they’re some of our favorite people and there’s a mutual natural reluctance toward conflict
– they also uphold powerful strategic keys of the Imperium, like the transgates
– with their hidden Groves and secret council planet too they may seem closed in some ways
– but they’re also extremely accommodating, helpful and fair

– no Aquariid defense (or attack) is like any other Aquariid defense or attack
– they’re situation-responsive and capable of extreme unpredictability using light and sound waves, which are intrinsic building blocks of our perceivable reality

– they don’t use much clothing or weaponry
– they do decorate themselves
– not very many technological objects
– commonly used are staves, wands, pendants, beaded scarves – they prefer swampy or rainforest environments

– Sendsingers enable modern intergalactic transit
– sendsinging is a deep craft with high responsibility
– linking those massive distances and bearing up to the task makes the nature of their voice rather different
– sendsinging requires a change of voice
– sendsingers pledge allegiance to no one planet

– common professions in the Imperium: artists, performers, special effects people, Sendsingers, natural builder terraformers
– herdspeople and foragers above and below water, sonic songs allow communication with other species
– they pride themselves on very earnestly developing interspecies communication praxes, like a new musical instrument or different scale
– charming communicators, powerful runners/jumpers/climbers

– the Aquarii have a pet type – a sluggie, like a friendly bean bag
– sort of a leathern styrofoam-pellet slime mold with a personality
– not actually slimy, snorfles, aids with projection in Symbias groves
– they’re a responsibility with their own moods, but they’re very joyful and able to bring harmony in tune

Online Appendix Incoming

Hello, dear reader. I’ll be adding the appendix material to the online posting free version of Bones of Starlight on this website. This’ll be happening over the next couple of months.

In the popdown menu at the top, there’s the new Appendix page. There, the contents will be hotlinked as they’re added; though, they’ll be visible in the usual post scroll.

For those who want the hardcover appendix volume, it is available for $22 from new booksellers as:

Bones of Starlight, The Appendix: Learning Country
by Eva L. Elasigue
9781944416188

Like here, for instance: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bones-of-starlight-the-appendix-eva-l-elasigue/1145947067?ean=9781944416188 or by request wherever you buy new books.

Peoples: Aureny

– live on one planet, named Ombd, beneath the harsh surface in communities called Subterranea.
– eat large succulent flowers grown in directed-light cavern fields
– enjoy sporting, forging, farming, singing
– names: nature+verb

– massive, the height of multiple stories
– stony hides with patches of ropy fur, some with a bison hunch
– collonade trunklike front limbs ending in padfooted dexterous opposable ironclaws, with back legs like backhoes
– a capital plate ridge, possibly a resonance chamber beneath
– four sensory pits below the bony capital ridge
– mouths with masticating dental platform ridges, and a pointed chin

– agendered, with self-polarizing gametes
– the young incubate each inside their own stone where different gametes have been placed on a favorite rock, and are raised tribally
– the stone grows, and they crack out of geodes like eggs, the name of which is similar to their name for their planet (omba/Ombd). Some of the most beautiful and powerful gems are shards of omba.
– they group-raise

– decorate with jeweled ornamentation when below ground; a teeny dreadlock-ring is the size of a human shoulder-torc
– ornamentation is studded with set crystals and gems, made of unguessable metals with luminous crystals that may not even be recorded on the phronium spectrum

– communication happens below human frequency range
– advanced awareness of emotion as a connective force of nature, able to balance to the exactitude of equation; with reverence, they both feel and understand the way it is, will be, can be, should be, could be; they feel the forces without forcing the feeling
– aureny is the name of their practice of collective emotional resonance, same as the name for their people

Magikana Festival

I recorded a workshop talk at Magikana Festival in Wales – From Within, From Without is a discourse on interdisciplinary creativity through the lens of writing and movement. It’ll come out in due time, but request it if you need it. There I also performed as a fire and flow dancer, with palm torches, staff, dragon staff, mini fans, and a copper disc bearing a triple knot. Here’s a moonrise from the farm, pre-festival: