Leviathan Troznux
Massive sentient organisms that inhabit a single star cluster of Arkan and orbit each star quite closely. Contrarry to their name and popular belief, they are unrelated to the Troznux but similar in many ways.
Leviathans are large enough to have their own gravitational field. Being over 1 million meters long and having a mass in the order of magnitude of 1019 kg, they are comparable in size to a planet, but will appear small relative to a planet. For reference, the radius of the Earth is 6.371×106 m (~6 Mm). This makes them the largest organisms in the Fortrais Galaxy Cluster, with the Hyperion Federation's Cataclysm - Class Star Annihilator being 2 orders of magnitude smaller at about 82 000 m long.
The star clusters with leviathans were discovered by the Hyperion Federation well after their first contact with the Harkas and Troznux. The HF and leviathans were highly curious about each other, although it was initially hard for the leviathans to see any hyperionite starships due to the scale difference. They eventually used holograms to make themselves visible to the leviathans.
Such a creature is large enough to perform all roles of an ecosystem within itself and as such does not emit waste as it can reprocess it. They also have some organs that can exploit Astromoeba symbiosis to produce more types of nutrients from stellar plasma.
The leviathan microbiome is massive and extensive. Some microbes have grown massively in size and can become similar in scale to a human and achieve sentience. Many groups of these have established nations and constructed technologies, often to the detriment of the host. Its immune system can remove these, so the sentient microbes called Gwell build countermeasures (usually convincing the immune system they aren't dangerous or hiding them). They obtain resources from the exterior areas of the host, which receives matter through Astromoeba in the sun. This can include iron and many other heavier elements. They might also melt and refine the host's blood for a greater source of materials, but this causes damage to the host. There have been times in history where their own hubris has led to the death of some leviathans and thus the gwell who inhabited them.
The leviathans are extremely hyperintelligent due to having a massive brain. They aren't as powerful as a Matrioshka Brain but can be larger than some HF data centers, a trait shared by no other organism in the Fortrais Galaxy Cluster - with the exception of Harkas engineered organisms.
They achieve locomotion through a large and very advanced series of organs that emit very intense light towards the rear. As photons have momentum, this pushes the leviathan forwards. They also have similar organs for RCS control and large, biological gyroscopes. The photon thrusters require a lot of energy and are the most energy intensive component of a leviathan's body.
The impact the HF had on both the leviathans and gwell is immense. They have found ways to allow more 'green' energy sources, massively reducing the pollution released into the leviathan. They have developed more ways to obtain usable materials, typically through bioengineering the leviathan to grow a huge number of astromoeba fusion glands that serve a similar role as HF Transmutation Reactors. They have found ways to extend the lifespan of the leviathans to almost 100 000 years, although this has somewhat slowed down the reproduction rate of the leviathans. The gwell have managed to obtain space travel despite their dependency on the leviathans. They make use of both bioships and mechanical ships, often with the help of the Harkas. The leviathans and less willingly, the gwell, have joined the UAC which allows them to make use of 'true' Hyperion technology, and returning the favour to HF using information and contributing military forces.
The leviathans cannot leave their star cluster, nor can they fit in intergalactic gates and are therefore stuck in their star cluster. However, they generate a measure of matter plasma usable by the HF, making use of the extreme energies available to the leviathan body. They have established a all-encompassing internet allowing Gwell to communicate even between hosts in different systems, making use of an organism the harkas engineered. They can predict when a leviathan is likely to die soon and will now often evacuate. The HF have likewise launched a huge amount of investigations into both the leviathans and gwell. Their understanding of xenobiology has improved. They previously considered such large organisms impossible. The origin of these huge creatures remains unknown, as the next largest known organism is more than 3 orders of magnitude smaller. This has forced the leviathans to develop filter feeding as a primary way to feed. They originally came from an ancient True Harkas bioengineering project, but were disturbed by the starsong incident. They wanted to be able to safely survive within the microbiome of such a creature themselves, who ended up evolving a sentient species for this role.
Due to limited transfer of knowledge between hosts, sometimes a gwell biome would know that its host will die eventually, but most will not. As the gwell will die along with its host, most of gwell history is lost to time and very few have advanced past the medieval equivalent stage. In all of history before the HF - leviathan first contact, there have been 6 gwell societies that have invented mechanical computers, the knowledge for this technology usually being transferred via single individuals between leviathans. Advancing past the medieval era into the industrial era means releasing pollutants and damaging the leviathan's body immensely, which will often either cause the hosts immune system to attack them or host death, both of which will destroy gwell society.
No 2 Leviathans are ever the same. They vary massively in genetics as they have so many recessive genes that are seemingly randomly activated on birth. This leads to them appearing like entirely different species altogether, especially their organ layouts which can have a huge impact on their respective Gwell society.
Content Warning: Gore below:
Leviathan BiologyThey have a number of large stomachs for breaking food down into paste for further digestion. As leviathans have a very slow metabolism, they use little energy over a very long time and require little food, which comes in the form of filter feeding on anything they can catch, perhaps making use of their own gravity. Their stomach might have to break down otherwise very large whole organisms which they are likely to swallow, which could require a large number of stages to fully break down. Each of the stomachs might even hold their own small ecosystems with creatures that are evolved to withstand the acidic conditions. Leviathan stomach acid would need to break down bone and other strong organic materials, possibly done in some specific stomach chamber designed to break these bones down rather than passing it on to the next chamber.
The intestine will retain food items for a long time and will harvest almost all resources from food. This organ also has its own ecosystem, with conditions much safer than those of the stomach, though the earlier sections might still contain traces of its stomach acid. Leviathans utilise the extensive microbiomes of their intestines to ensure that all matter that enters is consumed and can be harvested by the leviathan. The leviathan intestine has no end, it continues in a large cycle that loops back near the start, to allow this process of eternally harvesting creatures inside it.
Leviathans have an open vascular system and therefore no blood, but instead have a material called haemolymph, making it reminiscent of an invertebrate's vascular system.
It took the HF a long time to realize there were sentient beings in the microbiome of leviathans. They detected large metal structures and were puzzled in how they formed, so they sent exploration parties usually in the form of drones to find them. They found a lot of gwell living in these structures. The next experiment was then to somehow identify sentience through the STP. They deployed a team of scientists, including several Phelke, to make first contact with the gwell. They had to design special power armour for them (which automatically feeds them and collects bodily waste) before entering the leviathan through the digestive tract. They were eventually 'absorbed' into the 'bloodstream' but this caused them to split up. HF power armour is very strong. After an extensive, several-day effort of finding each other once again, making use of tracking technologies, while in the open vascular system of this immense creature. They used the bloodstream as a method of transportation and quickly found several gwell societies. They managed to make first contact and use the STP on the gwell, proving sentience! After first contact, the science teams were teleported back to the various HF starships, but this was an experience they would not forget easily.
Leviathans can come in several sexes, and have a very high sexual dimorphism. Their organ configuration can vary significantly, so they can be placed in vastly different areas of the body. The colour of their skin and the exact size of their radiators varies massively as well. They reproduce in a manner fairly similar to that of the Trevans, having a large number of sexes for a minimal chance of forming same sex couples. The leviathan reproductive organ is designed to fit into itself, and all leviathans have a womb. Their mating rituals normally involve 2 leviathans, but sometimes more can be present to cause all leviathans to have children. Their genetic code is slightly scrambled during this process, mainly by a type of symbiotic microbe which causes the leviathans to have such a varying genome. Due to the immense scale of the creatures involved and their very slow metabolism, this process might last a very long time, possibly even years, easily enough time for a significant microbiome population transfer. After a mating ritual, it is not uncommon for a leviathan to go into hibernation and enter a state of improving its immune system subconsciously.
After the HF's huge impact on gwell society, it has also become possible albeit extremely difficult to communicate with the host. This is often an awesome and overwhelming or terrifying aspect to a gwell individual. However, it is surprisingly rare for the gwell to contact their hosts.
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