Datanet Entry on Seleene
TANTALUS DATANET // ISL // NODE 363:996 // ACCESS GENERAL LEVEL
The Seleene are an evolved aquatic race, one of the three primary intelligences that form the core of the
The Ithacan Star League . Individually the Seleene are extremely long lived, although relatively fragile beings that value knowledge and wisdom. They have three genders, two which produce a genetic cocktail similar to Human male and Female genetic reproduction, and a third gender which is non-sentient. This third gender is the egg-carrying host which contributes nothing to the genetic makeup of the child.
Generally the Seleene are known for a respect of knowledge and understanding, and they tend to consider those with more knowledge and wisdom more highly than those without, regardless of other traits. Due in part to a focus on education, learning and knowledge, and in part to the long lives of the Seleene it’s common to see them in high ranking positions, in teaching roles and roles that benefit from applied knowledge such as the sciences and medicines.
There are always many Seleene on the
Assembly Council, and many in governmental roles and the Navy - although most Seleene in the Navy are climbing the ladder to ‘better things’.
Seleene are a common site in major settlements in Ithacan space, younger members of the species tend to travel and take less academic work than older Seleene, having a broad experience base and working knowledge of different roles is considered an advantage. Seleene have a natural desire to promote intelligence and learning, they will often seek to bring knowledge to areas that lack it, such as becoming a teacher in a new colony to help educate the young, or taking up engineering positions to help build high-tech infrastructure as rapidly as possible.
The Seleene are notable for considering science and medical care to be amongst the most important aspects of civilisation. For this reason both of these fields are dominated by Seleene.
Rumours:
TANTALUS DATANET // ISL // NODE 09:37542 // ACCESS PUBLIC ADDITIONS
--- USER WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ARE USER ADDED DEFINITIONS AND HAVE NOT BEEN CHECKED FOR ACCURACY -- WARNING: ACCURACY UNCERTAIN -- WARNING: SPECULATION -- WARNING: UNCREDITED DATA SOURCES CITES.
It’s widely known that Seleene form extended families that consist of multiple pairs, these families support each other and work towards common goals. This can be seen as quite exclusionary since the Seleene see no problem in nepotism.
People who are unfamiliar with Seleene can often find them somewhat arrogant and supercilious, these are most often traits noted in older Seleene. Younger ones tend to be more approachable, even seeming to act very similar to Humans, it’s been suggested that the “teenage” years of Seleene last for up to 30-40 standard years, after this point they begin to notice that other races tend to have a shorter and more frivolous viewpoint on life, and at this stage Seleene tend to become more insular and stick to friends of their own species - meaning that everyone else is a stranger.
Since water is a luxury in the space-based Ithacan culture, it’s uncommon to see a Seleene able to fully exercise it’s aquatic heritage. When they have an opportunity to swim they become far more light-hearted and even playful. The wealthier member of the Seleene community will often show off status by having large swimming pools and diving tanks for entertaining and relaxing.
The long life and insular society of the Seleene means they tend to take positions of power, not only from skill and merit, but also by pure seniority and nepotism. This can lead many non-Seleene to view them with jealousy or suspicion. There have been persistent (unfounded) rumours that the Seleene have attempted to form blocs in order to sway the policies of the government and make things better for themselves at the expense of others. There is no evidence to support this, although there are a large number of Sleene in leadership positions, there’s little evidence of any sort of favouritism.
Seleene are private about their mating habits, but sources (who wish to remain anonymous) have revealed that the non-sentient egg-carrying part of the mating triplet is little more than an incubator, and that the live-birthed offspring of the Seleene isn’t ‘born’ so much as eats its way out of the egg-carrying parent after a 36 month gestation already capable of walking and learning. Further it’s apparently reported that the Seleene’s egg-carrier is actually a different species entirely, one that evolved in symbiosis with the Seleene on their original homeworld, and when the Seleene mate with it, the new genetic material replaces the material in the egg-carrier’s own eggs - resulting in the host carrying a Seleene baby instead of their own species. It’s unknown if the Seleene are capable of using any species to do this, or whether they need this specific ‘host’ species.
There has been extensive scientific studies of Seleene biology and it’s commonly accepted that they were genetically modified at some point in the species' distant past. The extremely long lifespan, enlarged brain-case and ability to live in either an aquatic or air-breathing environment all seem to have been modified into the base genome of whatever the Seleene originally were. This level of genetic engineering is far beyond anything available today, so many speculate that an unknown race uplifted the Seleene, although the Seleene homeworld is lost forever now that the gate has been destroyed so further investigation is impossible.
Seleene have been known to live as long as 300 standard years, twice as long as Humans and over thirty times longer than Themis. However, they have a slow breeding cycle and there are complexities of breeding which mean the birth rate is very low. Because of these factors the Seleene tend to take a long view towards life, they often don’t mind that it might take a decade to get good at a skill, as they have plenty of time to make the most of what they learn.
