Monday 11 January 2021

Suleimanites

"Esau."

I am pleased to find that Suleimanites have some major differences from Terrestrial organisms in general and human beings in particular.

Similarities To Humanity
A Suleimanite has a head, two arms and two legs and each arm has a hand.
 
Minor Differences From Humanity
Different number of fingers and thumbs.
Prehensile tail.
Round head.
Beak. (Like Tamethans.)
Tympani (?) for hearing.
Fur.
 
Major Differences
One large eye between two smaller ones for binocular and peripheral vision. (A common ancestor of Terrestrial animals had two eyes above a nose above a mouth but we cannot expect that arbitrary facial configuration to be reproduced throughout the galaxy.)
 
Glands and fur used for signaling in a language with a large nonvocal component - more so than Ythrians, I think. Therefore, no clothes apart from a sporran. Dalmady must prance his thanks.

They identify each other by scent-signals, address each other only by their titles and cannot understand the Terrestrial concept of names.

As we know from Star Trek, Vulcans value longevity and prosperity. The not entirely dissimilar Suleimanite greeting is:

"'Fortune, power, and wisdom to you...'" (p. 111)

My friend, Andrea, whose Pagan deity is Fortuna would appreciate that she is effectively mentioned first. (She must be respected but not prayed to but she favors the brave.) The Suleimanites, however, have much ceremonial but no discernible supernaturalism.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Another thing I remember from "Esau" was that it was believed that Suleimanite kings, or Thalassocrats, could live only by eating certain kinds of foods eaten by no one else. The Terran scientists were not sure how true that was.

Ad astra! Sean