#lysal

Origin

Lysal tend to come from planets with very long nighttime periods, since they evolved the bioluminescence for survival purposes. Most Lysal come from Scr’anan, an enigmatic planet orbiting a volatile sun. The sun’s volatility tends to make the planet’s days short and nights long. A few similar planets exist but aren’t well known, and similar humanoids that can also be called Lysal exist there as well.

Physiology

Because of the bio-luminescent particles in Lysal blood and the survival benefits of increased circulation, the Lysal have a higher resting heart rate than humans, averaging about 100 beats per minute. Their heart can also handle higher strain and tends to jump up in beats per minute more quickly. This increased circulation also means that Lysal require more densely caloric food than humans. The luminescence is more prominent in areas with lots of blood cells or where there is less between the skin and the veins/arteries, such as the face, neck, hands, and feet. Places without blood vessels such as hair, and the keratin in nails, cannot glow.

Other than that, their physiology differs very little from humans’. Lysal come in all shapes, sizes, and skin tones. The skin tone can make the appearance of glowing vary a little. Golden and orange glows are most common, with pink a close second (it can depend on the undertones of the Lysal skin). In rarer cases, particularly in Lysal that live around more bodies of water, cooler colors do appear.

Culture

Lysal culture tends to be more similar to human culture, but most of mythology tends to revolve around the sun as the highest power. Rituals revolve around sunrise, and names that glorify the sun tend to be common for children, as a symbol of power, life, or beauty. Watching the sun rise is also very common for Lysal, and it tends to be a particularly special occasion shared largely by those who are close.

Becoming A Supernova is a collection of short stories, all about one starship crew who operate outside the law and do what they can to resist the influence of the well-loved, propaganda-fueled Galactic Peace Federation. This crew consists of...

Sellia Galuzio: The kinda-sorta-captain who has never forgiven the GPF for allowing her former partner to die in captivity. She’s got a lot of energy, a lot of plans, and a lot of anger at the injustices of this world.

Morgan Hawkes: A young piloting prodigy who was hunted down after refusing to help the GPF colonize planets in far-out star systems. They’re a bit timid, but they trust Sellia and the rest of their crew to help them resist and not die doing it.

Sergei Belmonte: A war veteran who lost his hand on a GPF warship, and then escaped after refusing to help the GPF go to war against an alien civilization that resisted their colonization practices. Currently works as an engineer with a bit (a lot) of a soft spot for AI.

7E-019283 “Syemme”: Syemme is a former GPF AI that was about to be destroyed since they were “glitching” (resisting their directives and gaining self-awareness). Sergei rescued them and took away the restrictions on their personality programming, allowing them to come into themselves (and discover their love for sarcasm and sass)

Anura Mazack: Anura is an alien, a species that is only known as The Verdant to humans. The Verdant are hybrid plant-humans (A post is going to come with more info on that later!) and Anura barely managed to escape the GPF after they destroyed her home village in “self defense.”

Dawn Alquist: Dawn is also an alien, a Lysal. Lysal are people who’ve evolved bioluminescence (Again, more info later!) She’s the youngest of the crew and wants to learn about EVERYTHING. She speaks a lot of languages and joined the crew with Henry to learn more about the universe.

Henry Campbak: Henry’s a doctor who found Dawn when she was very young. He took her in since her parents had “joined” the GPF and as such is protective of her and sees her like a little sister, and even teases her like he’s her big brother (even though he isn’t THAT much older). He’s the most skittish of the crew and the least likely to break rules.