xylanterian on three feet

Race Name (human coloquial): Tripid
Race Name (proper): Xylanterian
A.K.A.: Faux Walkers
Homeworld: Xylanta
Tech Level: High warp speeds
Galactic Distribution: Widely distributed and common
Appearance: 6′-7′ tall as bipeds, 8′-9′ as tripeds.
Traits: Xylanterians hail from a planet where tri-symmetrical lifeforms are dominate. That is to say, most life on their planet has three identical sides (as opposed to two, like humans). So they have three legs, arms, eyes, nostils, and three ‘fingers’ or ‘toes’ on each limb. One y-shaped mouth at the top of their torso (or front of their ‘face’ when walking) and one y-shaped anus where the torso splits into ‘legs’. However, Xylanterians (like many life-forms on their planet) operate in a fashion very similar to bi-symmetrical life. They walk on two legs, use two arms and ‘face’ the direction they are walking in (or focused on). their third leg/arm are clasped together behind their ‘backs’. To balance, Xylantarians will hunch forward when walking. However, they do not turn as bipeds do, to change direction they’ll simply drop the other leg and raise the one that’s now ‘behind’ them.
When standing or sleeping, Xylanterians will stand on all three legs with their ‘heads’ (which is really just an extension of their torso) held upright. This gives them full 360 degree vision of their surrounding.
Xylanterians are also notable for their segmented skeletal structure. Instead of rigid bones, their skeletons are columns of many interlocked segments that bend in any direction.

Xylanterians have a strong sense of helping others and being good neighbors and will go out of their way (reasonably) to help those in need (although they don’t always do it gracefully). They have a strong sense of morals and that everyone should seek to do ‘right’ by others.
Ironically perhaps, they have no sense of ‘commitment’ when it comes to relationships. They love love and freely love those they love, no matter who or how many those are. This isn’t to say they won’t stay with a partner but that there’s zero expectation that just because you’ve chosen to be with someone doesn’t meet you won’t love someone else too. Xylanterians are also not thrill seekers, they won’t risk their lives for pleasure or without due cause – not cowardly, just not ‘stupid’.

xylanterian on two feet

History: One of the first recorded space-faring races, xylanterians spread out unabated for centuries until their first recorded encounter with another intelligent race – wadrings. Unable to communicate (wadring are mute and xylanterians do not possess sufficient sense of smell) and intolerant of each other’s ways of being, initial attempts at cooperation broke down and hostilities began. Due to distance, extreme differences and limited technology, they rarely, but increasingly, came in direct contact and eventually war broke out. A war that was fought, on and off, throughout centuries as they both gradually increased in technology and crossed paths more frequently and with increasingly devastating results. Through the war they discovered and allied with other enemies of their enemy – the tiwangese who were fighting the plantis and the porcupinians who were fighting cystalonians – allies of the wadring. The Millennium War had begun. As all races were at that time, low-tech, it was an extremely slow war, with decades or even hundreds of years passing without a battle, but battles did happen on all fronts and were often catastrophic when they did. After a millennium the war ended with the virtual eradication of the tiwangese. The two sides, representing 6 races, along with another 5 that had become known but not directly involved in the war (crabi, quarrin, dzilleraton, eufonian and mcmacazorkians) became the originating Galactic Federation.
While relations with crystalonians and plantis have greatly improved, wadring and xylanterians relationship remains tense with multiple flare-up of small scale border disputes. Xylanterians have a strong objection to wadrings out-of-control population growth and disbursement throughout the galaxy and well as their hedonistic tendencies. They are not, what xylanterians would consider ‘good neighbors’.
Xylanterians are the authoritarians of the Galactic Council, wanting more rules to ensure all races follow a generally mutually agreeable code of galactic conduct. They do not seek to better their own position, only to ensure ‘fairness’, ‘rightness’ and ‘justice’ are there for all races. Problem is there is no concrete agreement on what those terms define between the races, leaving xylanterians forever frustrated by the way things work.

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