Solians: A Guide

[nyodrite]

 Planet Hr-31v4, commonly named Solia, is the only planet of the Hir'rajk system to have developed life; by the ranking of Kijak-nir, Solia is remarkably tiny for a planet which sustains millions of independent lifeforms, many of vastly different species. The current domminant species, a carbon-based warm-blooded flesh-creature, is named Solians after the planet's common name- the Solians, we've discovered, refer to themselves as 'humans'.

From a young age Solians are taught the necessary skills of survival by their pack [1] and those whom are allied with the Solian cub's pack. Solian cubs are left in the care of their packs' allies for most of the day whilst the adult members of the pack depart to certain areas and proceed to perform complex rituals in order to acquire colored-sheets and rounded metal bits that have monetary value to Solian society [2]. Solian packs also bring their cubs to small areas of wilderness to socialize with other Solians; we believe this is so Solian cubs can start creating pack-allies for the time when they leave their birth pack in search of their own.

Kiva'tarr has added nem's personal notes of nem's observations of Solian cub interactions.

 

It started out innocently with a group of cubs gathering together at the call of one young fem-cub. At first, I simply thought that the fem-cub was establishing her dominance to any new-comers whilst re-affirming her standing with the other cubs who'd been to that particular wilderness patch. This belief was supported when the fem-cub started chirping at the other cubs gathered around her, barking at the few cubs whom seemed to protest her taking charge. The group dispersed swiftly and only the cub whom had protested remained; I believed it to be a form of punishment to shun the cub, and it seemed to work for the shunned cub faced the tall vegetation and covered it's sight-receptors before calling out what I believed to be a series of pleads for the punishment's end.

Eventually, the shunned cub gave up on it's pleads and let out a boisterous bark and proceeded to hunt down the other cubs.

It was- it was horrifying to watch; this was not a display of social dominance but a ritual that Solian cubs partake in which teach them how to hunt. I watched in horror as the shunned cub systematically found all the others; some complied willingly with simply being found or a light tap, but others needed to be chased down- one even required the shunned cub to tackle it and pin it down! And the adult Solians present just watched and laughed.

Truly Solians are a terrifying species.

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[1] Note that Solian packs do no require blood-relation to be accepted, nor do they have a universal structure; some packs may have only the cub and a single parent (the carrier parent appears more frequent in these pack structures but it is not uncommon that the propagator be the one taking care of the cub) while others have both parents present, some packs have only a single cub while others can have multiple cubs(Solian cubs are generally born one at a time but there have been known instances of multiple of Solian cubs being born) or litters, some packs consist of only the parents and cubs while others contain the parents' litter-mates along with their offspring, some packs may consists of duel carriers or propagators raising cubs while others consists of adolescent Solians banding together....truly there are no other pack structures quite so diverse as the Solian's.

[2] Evidence has shown, by observing Solians trade color-sheets and round-metal at gathering areas of Solians for consumables and other goods, that color-sheets and rounded-metal act much like Credits. As of yet, we haven't been able to decide if there is an equivalent exchange rate between Credits and what Solians use, this is in part due to the vast variety of Solian color-sheets and rounded-metal..