|
The Xengar are a race of intelligent rodents,
each being about the size of a huge rat. They have a
single pair of dexterous, long-fingered hands,
disproportionately large black eyes, and powerful
rabbit-like hind legs. They were permitted into the
Union shortly before the conclusion of the Neo Ignus
War. They gained the respect of their newfound Union
allies by assisting the jeopardized republic contain the
Ignus for the second time in Galactic history. And
though very few understand the events surrounding this
phenomenon, it is rumored that there is more behind the
success of the Xengar than simple fate...
Xengar are neither male nor
female, as their reproductive spores linger within every
hair follicle upon their furry bodies. They procreate
via “superficial contact.” By an action as simple and
unintentional as brushing up against one another, any
two Xengar can exchange the appropriate genetic
information required of “cross-fertilization,” causing
both to become impregnated.
Needless to say, the Xengar procreate at an alarmingly
exponential rate. Their gestation period lasts for only
a few short weeks, and they reach full sexual maturity
within a month after birth. In less than a year, a mere
handful Xengar will multiply into thousands. Within a
decade, billions more will be born. And, if left to
accrue at their own natural pace, their numbers will
continue to swell until every last available resource in
their environment has been consumed.
Xengar neglect their progeny upon birthing,
abandoning their litters like most other races do their
own bodily excrements. Not that a Xengar would ever
understand such an analogy, as their digestive tracts
are engineered by nature to recycle all metabolic
wastes, processing every last nutritional resource upon
ingestion into energy and bio-matter. They simply eat,
grow, and then multiply; although, most of their kind
never live to see their second day.
There once was a time when the Xengar were
confined of their native planet, Xengar VII. There they
remained relatively contained, as the much larger
predatory creatures of their homeworld restricted their
population size by consuming the vast majority of the
Xengars' offspring. They were a staple to the food chain
of the planet’s ecosystem, and only about one in every
10,000 Xengar infants live longer than a single standard
year.
To compensate for their relatively short life
expectancy, the Xengar evolved so that their young learn
at a greatly accelerated rate: their small albeit
compact and powerful brains are almost fully formed upon
birth. The Xengar learn and soak up new information like
a dry sponge placed in warm water—and it is for this
very reason that they caught the attention of the
Union’s Enlar administrators.
The Enlar, seeing their potential, generously
introduced the Xengar to the miracle of spaceflight,
allowing the volatile race of rodent-like organisms to
expand beyond the bounds of their homeworld for the very
first time. The intelligent Xengar quickly mastered the
art of interstellar travel and, almost overnight, spread
like wildfire to every hospitable planet within their
reach. Introduced to new resources and now beyond the
ravenous clutches of their natural predators, the Xengar
species thrived and multiplied until they soon became
the most populous species in the known universe.
Today, quadrillions of Xengar live across scores
of hellishly overpopulated worlds. Within mere months
after colonizing a new planet, its natural resources
already become so scarce that its capacity to sustain
life is stressed to the breaking point. Food is the most
valued commodity to Xengar civilization, as most of
their species die from simple starvation.
Xengar also constitute the bulk of the Union’s
living resources, making up the vast majority of the
Union's interstellar flight crews. Their vessels are
enormous to accommodate for its ever-expanding onboard
population, and are always commanded by a committee of
Elder Xengar. Nevertheless, their massive volumes are
usually crammed tightly packed with its myriad
crewmates, and so their countless offspring are often
“recycled” into the life-sustaining foodstuffs provided
to the ship’s older crewmates.
Though the average life expectancy for a member
of their species is less than a single standard day, an
adult Xengar can live for centuries. The longer a Xengar
lives, the more distinguished he becomes in society—and,
because of their prodigious capacity to learn, Elder
Xengar are also amongst the Union’s most distinguished
scientists and administrators. Some of them, namely the
Legendary Xengar Precotix, are said to even surpass the
intellect possessed by the most brilliant Enlar minds. |
