The world of IKAREE · Member of the Planetary Union since 2203
Oruun
Cephalopods with a three-metre mantle, eight arms and large golden eyes. Their skin is full of chromatophores: they speak in colours and patterns. Out of water they use a walking suit, a water-filled exoskeleton whose translator turns colour into voice.
History
You cannot light a fire under water, so the Oruun never knew metal or the forge. They built their whole civilisation on biology: grown tools, grown buildings and finally grown ships. They reached space only in 2148, met humans twelve years later and were the first to offer them a cure for Martian fever.
How they live
They live in family shoals, and property belongs to the shoal, not the individual. They decide by tide: a long debate in colour until everyone shines the same. They live about 300 years and think in long spans of time. Their dead return to the depths.
Technology
The best medicine and biotechnology in the Union, self-healing hulls, ocean terraforming. Weak weapons and little resistance to energy attacks.
Ships
Living ships: translucent blue-green shells with spiral ribs like a nautilus, water and bioluminescence inside. Human crew get air pockets.
Friction inside the Union
The backbone of the Medical Corps and patient diplomats. They are in a dispute with Earth over ocean moons such as Europa and Enceladus: the Oruun want to settle them, humans mine them.