Raydee (by Ian)
COLLECTIVE SUMMARY
Evidences of Raydee presence across the Dominion's borderlands are few and far in between, largely due their nomadic nature and preferred oceanic habitats - oldest known occurences dated to around 4230 EC (2656 BdF), when first encountered by the Goll Unity in the Fibir system.
Raydee activity in the present era remains poorly understood. Their sparse and often brief contacts with various Chelok interstellar nations appear to have ceased around 9444 EC (2557 AdF).
Although rarely encountered, the Raydee remain one of the few known interstellar civilizations capable of operating independently hundreds of light-years beyond the Dominion's established frontier, making every confirmed sighting a matter of considerable interest.
Known locations of Domain (within the Dominion) include Fibir (136, 8, 89), around 163ly from Argost. And a weak claim to Qekohoshoku (139, 19, 98).
Chelok records frequently emphasize the Raydee's profound cultural attachment to water and the sea. These same records, however, are often colored by animosity, cultural misunderstanding, and poor scientific rigor, making many of their conclusions questionable.
Unlike the Hoku or Saffi, Raydee rarely establish permanent settlements beyond their oceanic anchor worlds. A very clear cultural trait that is seemingly universal amongst the Raydee, is that they seek oceanic terran worlds to station their fleets, living in said oceans for months or years at a time, leaving just as quietly and fast. Being the only known marine and nomadic sophons to the Dominion.
The Raydee are oviparous hexapods, which walk using the frontmost and reamost pair of members, with the middle "arms" being specialized in manipulation with four long fingers. They're top heavy with a strong posterior pair of arms/legs, often used for walking, but have been observed to be able to bend enough to be used to carry heavy objects. The anterior pair of legs are less developed for a support role and are the smallest of the member pairs.
The head possess one pair of eyes which are positioned in the front of their relatively flat faces. The head is well defined with crown-like plates that protect it along with the gills following the rest of their cephalo-thorax, which occupies the bulk of their form.
The Raydee are very much between a marine and amphibious animal, their pressurized suits made to walk on extra-marine environments often carries a great deal of synthetic seawater, filters and bubblers for them to be able to walk most environments. Their ships are as dry as they can be without reasonably hurting their biology, which means that despite flooded areas being rare most of the internal high pressure carbon-oxygen atmosphere is super saturated with humidity to the dew point.
Biologically, the Raydee are divided three main castes - "drones", "royals", and "queens". A fact that heavily influences their society, culture, and military chain of command. Highly structured around the standing queen and her immediate family.
Workers or drones are the vast majority of them, usually 4'6" to 5'5", their body-type and stance is largely dependant on its role within a Raydee colony, with warriors being the most strong and motile of the workers. Modern Raydee society is also known to freely clone in-vitro workers for their purposes, though the custom is largely limited by fleet size and relegated to specific settled worlds rather than fleet-based. Despite being the smallest among adult Raydee, drones still posess and insane strength-to-weight ratio when compared to other sophons like Chelok or Hoku, being able to snap bone and tear muscle and synthetic fabric without much effort.
Royals are often noted larger, more intelligent, and individualistic than the drones. Ranging from 5'8" to 6'6", these are often the commanding officers, nobles and scientists among them. While workers are born naturally from self-fertilized eggs laid by the queen, royals do have a father, by custom, an appointed older male royal. Male royals continue to grow their scales as they age due hormonal response to regular mating with the queen, making their "kings" rather easy to spot among the royals.
Queens are the highest caste in Raydee society, and the only females allowed to reproduce within a colony. After mating, a royal female that has ascended to queen continues to grow and develop, typically to about 30-40 feet long and 10 feet wide - a size that makes them largely unable to move on dry-land. For that reason, queens spend most of their lives in water, be it on colonized ocean worlds or inside a network of water tanks and tubes that run the length of a typical Raydee starship.
The queens operate whole armadas of ships in what is referred to as Clan or Fleet. A Raydee fleet can be any size between 1 and 20-ish ships, but most commonly 7 or less, after which female royals usually choose a partner and depart to create their own fleet. A custom theorized to largely reduce internal conflict and friction between high-ranking royals.
Their speech is made for pressurized environments and fluids, sounding to most dry-species like dolphin-like whistles and clicks. Possess exceptional dark vision and a lack of sensitivity to the color red, making all their luminous technological assets a bright green or blue color.
