From Gephqua

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The Gephqua

[GEF•kwå]
Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Genus: Species:	Animalia Unichordata Anuraforma Primatoadae Gephuanae Gephquanus Gephquanus sapienus
General Information
Adjective Form:	Gephquanese
Planet of Origin:	The Planet Eirh
Envrionment:	Varied
Ancestral Form:	Anuran (Frog-like)
Type:	Bipedal Humanoid
Lifestyle:	Social Omnivore
Thermal Type:	Endothermic
Average Height: Males: Females:	5'6" (1.8 Meters) 5'2" (1.5 Meters)
Average Weight: Males: Females:	140 lb. (63.5 kg) 110 lb. (49.9 kg)
Average Lifespan:	125 Eirhan Years 435 Terran Years
Kardashev Scale:	Type I
Sexual Maturity:	≈20 Years
Reproduction:	Sexual Lays Eggs
Gestation:	3 Runya 11 Terran Months
Incubation:	5 Runya 1.4 Terran Years
Political Entitie(s):	The Gephquanese Imperial Republic

Evolutionary History

See Geological Time Scale of Eirh

The evolutionary history of the Gephqua must begin near the beginning of Eirh's history. Originally, about five billions years ago, Eirh was a hot, molten rocky world, which required millions of years to cool, comets packed with ice collided into the planet as it cooled, the water from the ice of the comets, over millions of years, formed the primitive oceans. At around 3.5 billion years ago the first forms of proto-life appeared, self-replicating chains of DNA molecules. The organic compounds which make up DNA are believed to have came to Eirh from space, in the process known as panspermia.

The First Life

3,500 - 700 Mya

Over the eons the simple DNA chains formed more complex forms, eventually giving rise to the first cell. Originally these cells were primarily chemotrophs, feeding upon simple chemical compounds, the first divergence from these ancient chemotrophs were the first phototrophic cells, which took their chemotrophic evolution and used it to feed off sunlight directly. Along the way these early phototrophs divided into two plant superfamilies, those that fed on red-blue light and those that fed only on ultraviolet.

The side effect of these phototrophs was that in addition to feeding on light, they also required carbon from the atmosphere in the production of simple sugars, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere they took the carbon they needed and the leftover waste was oxygen. This oxygen filled the atmosphere over millions of years, causing the extinction of billions of the primitive chemotrophic cells which found oxygen toxic.

As a result heterotrophic cells evolved from the slowly dying chemotrophs, which rather than feeding upon simple chemical compounds in the water, developed the ability to feed upon the phototrophic cells, they evolved the ability to absorbe oxygen and gain the other nutrients needed to survive by taking them from the phototrophs. The first animals were born.

The first fungi evolved similarly as the original animal cells, also heterotrophic, leeching nutrients from the phototrophs. Thus on Eirh, fungi and animals share a very distant, but similar ancestry.

The first multi-cellular organisms were most likely simple cellular masses, working together as a microscopic colony, eventually, by about a billion years ago, they evolved into more complex sponge-like organisms. Algae, water-born molds, and simple sponges began to fill the ancient seas, and they diversified.

Shalinian Era

700 - 650 Mya

Around 700 million years ago some of the earliest forms of multicellular forms of life began to develop and diversify, life in the Shalinian seas is not well documented in the fossil record, however organism's resembling Earth's Ediacaran biota seem to have lived in this era, including round disk-shaped creatures. At around 650 million years ago the planet experienced a severe ice age, it's believed most of the planet became covered in glaciers, as a result most of the life in the Shalinian Era went extinct. The last remaining Shalinian Era life forms died out, due probably to the growth of Henarian Era life, in the early quarter of the Henarian Era.

Henarian Era

650 - 550 Mya

As the Shalinian ice age came to a close at the beginning of the Henarian era, virtually everything in the oceans had died out, but as the planet warmed up it gave opportunity for newer forms of life to evolve. The Henarian seas came to be ruled by large predatory starfish-like animals, while the base-forms for virtually all organisms evolved in this period, virtually everything was subservient to these hungry predatory echinoderms. Among the most vicious was probably the star-swimmer, a fully mobile starfish that swam through the oceans with its five arms much like a squid or an octopus, it would latch onto its prey with its arms and using a beak-like protrusion tear its prey apart devouring almost every last morsel. The earliest vertebrates evolved at the end of this era, among them the unichordates (what we might call "true" vertebrates, in that they had only one vertebrae) and the polychordates, a wide collection of fauna which had several vertebrae, including various starfish-shaped organisms. At the end of the Henarian a gigantic cosmic body, either a small moon or large asteroid, collided with the planet, radically shifting the planet's axial tilt. The result was the extinction of 99% of all life, only some of the most adaptable and smallest creatures survived. The giant predatory starfish died out, as did virtually all of the polychordates, but one significant group did survive--the unichordates.

Dajarian Era

550 - 450 Mya

The end of the Henarian Era marked an intense shift in Eirh's axial shift, leading to extreme weather and the extinction of almost everything on the planet. Fortunately some life did survive and adapted to the changes, in fact many scientists believe that this shift of the planet's axis facilitated the much more temperate world which Eirh has become in the eons since. Among a very successful group of animals were the unichordates. By the middle of the Dajarian Era the unichordates had evolved into two fairly distinct groups, the slugfishes and the hexapods; the former bearing a striking similarity to to Earth's fishes and the latter bearing a somewhat similar appearance to arthropods. Arthropod-like animals had also evolved on their own as well.

Kamalic Era

450 - 410 Mya

The slugfishes in the Kamalic Era evolved several important innovations which helped them eventually colonize the land. Early on the slugfishes evolved kidney-like organs which allowed them live in the largely uninhabited freshwater habitats, free to spawn away from predators. Eventually the slugfishes would occupy only freshwater habitats as the hexapods began to dominate the oceans. Primitive plants began to colonize the land, and with them several small arthropod-like animals such as the peculiar (and long now extinct) globomorphs--strange insect-like animals which would inflate their abdomens with hydrogen to make them airborn. By the end of this era the slugfishes had evolved special limbs to allow them to stand in shallow murky water to snag prey on the shore, and crawl across land to reach other small pools of water. Ribs were another innovation which the slugfishes evolved to help support their weight on land.

Daionian Era

410 - 360 Mya

The Daionian Era saw the first true tetrapods. Marine slugfishes were slowly dying out, being replaced by hexapods; some hexapods had also attempted to move on land, but would eventually lose out to the already more diversified amphibious tetrapods. It seems the hexapods would rule the oceans, but the slugfishes won the war on land. Primitive tree-like plants began creating the earliest forests, though these were hardly the kinds of forests one imagines today. Thick woody grasses, about four feet all, were all a forest was in the Daionian Era.

Qorbonian Era

360 - 300 Mya

Icthyostega amphibians were on top on the land, and the world was very wet. Most of the continents were covered in thick swampland, which would aid in the moving inland for many creatures. Here too the icthyostegs found new evolutionary innovations, including the first amniotic egg and a more advanced skin; to prevent their eggs and their skin from drying out on land respectively. These reptile-like traits allowed for the first so-called "frog-lizards" to evolve. Though scales would only come to evolve later in the "true" reptiles, the saurioforms, these two innovations made sure life on land belonged to this group of animals.

Zulistic Era

300 - 250 Mya

During the Zulistic Era the world started to become very dry, the dense forested swamplands increasingly were replaced by deserts and savannas. The many frog-lizards had evolved into distinct forms, the anuraforms (animals which retained many of the frog-like characteristics of their genetic ancestors, the frog-lizards, preferred to continue living in or around the ever-shrinking swamplands. The anuraforms would remain on the fringes of the animal kingdom for several more million years; in the deserts and savannas the "true" reptiles evolved--the saurians--with scaly skin more suited for such arid environments. The anuraforms eventually evolved endothermia, they became warmblooded. Along several lines several saurioforms, distinct from their saurian kin, likewise evolved endothermia, these were the theropsids. Many species began dying out as the world became a hotter, more arid and generally less hospital place to live. Land-dwelling hexapods, who had been living in the shadows of larger terrestrial animals for millennia were able to cope with this environment. By the end of the Zulistic Era a clash between tetrapods and hexapods reached a high point. The largest animals up this point evolved during the last 10 millions years of this era, the dinobasiliskids, armor-covered hexapods. The largest of them all was the twenty foot long tyrannoceratops, a fearsome horned dinobasiliskid with an appetite almost as large as it was. But the reign of the hexapods would be short lived. The Zulistic Extinction Event, something not fully understood, wiped out many of the large animals that dominated the world at this time.

Hafaric Era

250 - 150 Mya

After the Zulistic Extinction Event, thousands, if not millions of species died off, all the giant hexapods were no more. The anuraforms were still going strong, seemingly unscathed by the extinction event, though their ancestral swamplands had all but vanished. However the eon-long drought was also coming to an end, and the world began to cool and become wetter. The anuraforms continued to live at the feet of larger animals. The theropsids also survived, and in this cooling world took advantage of their ability to regulate body temperature internally. An ice age kept the "true" reptilian saurians, who were coldblooded, in the shadows; while the theropsids evolved newer abilities, some evolved more mammalian traits, while others evolved more avian traits. The two theropsid lines began to separate, the mammal-like beasts and the gryphoforms. To protect themselves from the cold the mammal-like beasts evolved course hairs to insulate their bodies, while the gryphoforms evolved a feathery coat. Something else the mammal-like beasts evolved was the ability to produce milk from special glands for their young. Also, until this time the only creatures which had truly taken to the skies were the arthropods, however unable to bear the colder environment, many of the mammalian theropsids took to the skies--but so did some of the saurians.

The ancient slugfishes had by now long since become extinct in the oceans, though they continued to thrive in freshwater environments, replaced by the hexapodal lobsterfish which ruled the oceans filling almost every available niche. Both saurians and mammal-like beasts attempted an aquatic lifestyle, but few survived. Several whale-like mammalians did evolve for a short time, evolution never saw them fully see their potential, instead they were forced to fill an amphibious niche similar to crocodiles and alligators.

The anuraforms were not stagnatn in their evolution, however, as they also evolved more complex brains and social behaviors, and many species evolved an organ similar to the mammary gland that could help feed their young. By the end of the Hafaric Era, however, it was the mammal-like beasts who truly were coming unto their own.

Voqtinian Era

150 - 85 Mya

The age of the giant mammals, though not true mammals, they are the closest Eirh has ever seen of mammals. The mammal-like beasts flourished, and many reached truly massive proportions. Like the dinosaurs of Earth, the giant gigamammalians dominated the planet. While not all of them were giant (many being no bigger than a common Earth cat) these were the largest creatures Eirh would see, at least in such numbers. The anuraforms continued to evolve, though however small they might be, however while their bodies remained small, their brains continued to evolve. The ice age was coming to a close, and the world was warming back up. In the forests flowering trees evolved, evolving also the first fruit. Taking advantage of their size, the megaequinaforms (giant horse-like animals, somewhat similar also to Earth's sauropod dinosaurs) ate the leaves of the tallest plants; the "titan horse" being perhaps the largest terrestrial animal to ever live, nearly as tall as a six story building they simply dwarfed almost everything else by comparison. However the age of the giant mammals would come to end, in a fate which resembles the one which killed off the Earth's dinosaurs, an asteroid collided with the planet, wiping out millions of species. However this did not wipe out all the giant mammal species, but it did allow the small, intelligent anuraforms to finally begin their long journey toward sapience at last.

Yolocene Era

85 - 60 Mya

In the aftermath of the Voqtinian Extinction virtually all of the large gigamammalians had perished, several of the smaller species survived, but the age of the giant mammals was over. Taking advantage of the situation the anuraforms began to diversify, several species began to take to the water, these would become the ancestors of the whale-like placocalvae, also reminiscent of Earth's very ancient placoderms (the armored fish). Though most anuraforms were happy to remain in the forests, which was just fine as most of the world was covered in warm tropical forests at this time. Among some of the smartest of the anuraforms were the tree-dwelling primatoads, arboreal frog-like animals which would one day evolve into the modern Gephqua. In fierce competition with both the few remaining mammalian creatures as well as the growing anuraforms were the gryphoforms, some of which had become quite skilled predators in these lush forests. The skies still belonged to the mammal-like beasts, bat-like creatures, like fur-covered birds, made their nests in the trees; these animals, unlike their terrestrial kin, did not give birth to live young (with a few exceptions) but like Earth's monotremes laid leathery eggs, though the young still were fed milk. This was a world of fierce competition between the remaining gigamammals, gryphoforms and anurans.

Ulicocene Era

60 - 20 Mya

The primatoads were diversifying, and some of the most complex social structures were beginning to emerge among them during the Ulicocene Era. The lush tropical forests were giving way to expanding grasslands, the climate remained warm, the planet had not seen any polar ice since the giant mammals roamed the world; the world was becoming a very temperate. Many of the mammal-like beasts were starting to make a comeback, however their efforts being stifled by many of the evolving anuraforms and the gryphoforms still remaining strong. Eventually the anuraforms would truly rule the land, but with a co-reign with the mammals and gryphoforms.

Trinian Era

20 - 5 Mya

By the beginning of the Trinian Era, the world was a warm balance between rolling grasslands and forests, the polar regions giving way to slightly colder forests, but no ice. Only on the poles themselves was it cold enough to see enough snow during the half-year long winter months to give any indication that this was a polar region. The placocalvae had taken well to the seas, feeding upon the myriad of lobsterfish which lived in abundance in the oceans since very ancient times. In the skies mammalian bat-birds soared in the air and sang in the forest canopies. In the grasslands large cattle-sized anuraforms fed together in herds alongside equine-like bipedal mammalians, being stalked silently by predatory gryphons. By the end of the Trinian Era the world was slowly looking like it does in the present.

Neo-Trinian Era

5 - 0 Mya

In the last five million years the primatoads had evolved into many forms, some preferred to still live in the trees like Earth's monkies, while others had taken to the grasslands, and becoming fully bipedal. Slowly evolving the use of tools, and complex and very large family clans. By a million years the modern Gephqua appeared on the scene, an anuran primatoad that had learned to walk upright, using their cunning and ingenuity they would eventually learn how to make fire, the wheel and would eventually come to live in complex tribes. They began wearing clothing, language evolved around this time too. By 100,000 years ago it's possible the earliest experiments with agriculture were made. By 10,000 years ago the Gephqua had largely stopped living a nomadic lifestyle, agriculture allowed the earliest cities to be built. By around 8,000 years ago they had spread to every part of the planet, with the exception of a few islands. Soon came writing, and with it civilization and recorded history.

The Gephqua, though evolving from tiny micro organisms, to small slugfish and remaining in the shadows for so many millennia, had finally conquered the world; the next challenge to face was to what end could the coexist with each other and with their world. With sapience comes great responsibility.

Sexuality

It is first important to make note the differences between males and females. Male Gephqua are typically taller and broadly built than the females, and thus heavier; males also have an extra set of ribs than females--a trait which all anuraforms have. Externally the males have some mottling on the back, which is usually nearly invisible except when aroused, especially during the mating season (read below); females have no such mottling.

Both males and females have a cloaca, located on their hindquarters, where the spermaproductis is found in males, and the spermarecepter in the females--the anus is located for both. Additionally the male has a phalicum distinct from his cloaca by which to inseminate the female. Females also have special glands found in the center of of the thorax which produces a kind of "milk" to feed her offspring.

When born the male and female both have undeveloped sexual organs which develop during the first stage of pubescence, at around the age of fourteen. During the entire initial pubescent phase hormones surge through the body and stimulate genital growth, sexual maturity is not reached until about the age of twenty.

Mating may occur at anytime, though both sexes experience both a bi-monthly cycle as well as an annual cycle. Around every two months the body produces hormones which stimulates the body to be more receptive to copulation, leading to a general heightened sense of arousal in both sexes; this bi-monthly cycle lasts approximately a week. However, in addition, there is an annual cycle, during the mating season the body is flooded with hormones creating a very intense urge to copulate. Different schools of philosophical and religious thought throughout the ages have advocated different responses to the mating season, ranging from absolute abstinence to complete indulgence. Meditation, in many religious and spiritual traditions, is seen as the best way to focus one's energies during the qordah (mating season).

Physiology and Development

The Gephqua are bipedal, humanoidal people descended from a frog-like ancestor. Endothermic, smooth blue-green skin, large eyes. Omnivorous. While generally shorter than the average human, and physically weaker, Gephqua are much more agile and generally more energetic than humans, with a slightly higher metabolism, thus Gephqua on average must consume more food and water than the average human..

Gephqua females most often only bear one young from one eggs, but occasionally identical twins (from the same egg) or fraternal twins (two fertilized eggs) are born. After copulation the female gestates the egg for about three months, after which she lays the egg which she keeps it incubated. Special clothing and a specially made artificial pouch has allowed Gephqua females (and males) to move about with the egg safely nestled against the mother’s (or father’s) belly; though often while in the home the mother will sleep with the egg, incubating it, usually in a special nesting-room; while traditionally the role of incubator has fallen to the mother, it has been common for the eldest daughter to help in the incubation process; more recently fathers and older sons have been encouraged to take part in the incubation process as part of the growing sense of sexual equality in Gephqua society. In modern times specially constructed incubating units are available to help monitor and babysit the egg at home, more expensive units are linked to a cell network which call a portable communication device (like a cell phone) indicating to the parent that the egg is hatching should they be away from home at thetime of hatching. It takes approximately five months between egg-laying and hatching, for a total gestation of approximately eight months.

A newborn Gephqu is known as a hatchling, the hatchling is born fully formed, but is half-blind and completely dependant upon its parents to survive. Like mammals Gephqua females produce a nutrient rich substance similar to milk to feed their young. At about a year old the hatchling is weened off its mother’s milk and begins eating solid foods, but meat is usually avoided until the hatchling matures to about 2 ½ to 3 years of age, as its body’s digestive system is usually not ready to handle the more complex structure of most meats.

At around three years of age the hatchling has begun to take its first steps, also by law if the hatchling has not been given a name by its third birthday it must have is name registered then, though most hatchlings are given their name well before then.

At around five years the hatchling is no longer in its infant stage but has reached childhood, the child should, by this time, be able to speak simple sentences, and early childhood education is encouraged to prepare the child for school.

By the age of eight or nine the child is enrolled, by law, into a primary school, which lasts approximately five years, at around the age of thirteen or fourteen the child is taken to a secondary schooling for another four years, the child is brought into its tertiary schooling at around the age of seventeen, which lasts for another five years. At the age of twenty-two the adolescent is not yet considered a legal adult (twenty-five is the legal age). A quaternary school is often encouraged, both three-year and five-year quaternary schools (similar to college or university) are available for tertiary school graduates. For high level technical vocations such as medicine, law, science or scholarship a quinternary school is available for quaternary school graduates (comparable to graduate schools), the time spent at a quinternary school can vary from as short as two years to as long as seven years, depending on the graduate course being pursued.

At around the age of fourteen the child is enters into the first state of pubescence, its sexual organs begin to develop, there are actually three stages of pubescence for Gephqua. The first stage is where the sexual organs begin to develop, this happens around the age of thirteen, the second stage, in males, involves a radical shift in hormone levels, at around the age of sixteen, during this time the male adolescent is unruly and prone to violence, and the third stage, at around the age of nineteen, sees the balancing out of homone levels and at around the age of twenty the adolescent is generally considered sexually mature--though in modern Gephqua society one is not legally an adult until the age of twenty-five.

At around the age of thirty Gephqua are usually expected to seriously look for a mate, however since Gephqua often have a life-expectancy of around 120 years, the pressure of finding a mate is more lax now than in the past.

While courtship and mating rituals differ depending upon cultural variations and religion (or lack thereof), the most common mating-age is between thirty and forty with an average mating-age being about thirty-six.

Long courtships are generally encouraged, and a usual betrothal period of about two years prior to the Ceremony of Union (marriage). Conservative members of society generally frown upon sexual contact prior to Union, but is more lax among the younger, more liberal, generations.

A Gephqua couple may spawn many children over the course of their life, however at the age of eighty the male undergoes a phase of life known as “kaqoda” translated roughly as “burning” where a chemical change in the body renders the male infertile, the phase is usually considered quite painful and can last for as little as a week to as long as a month. Modern medicine has helped give treatment for males undergoing kaqoda, to help ease the pain and some hormonal treatments even are able to suppress kaqoda for longer or enable the male to continue to enjoy a happy sex life after kaqoda (as quite often kaqoda leaves the male’s sexual organs inoperative. The female, at around the age of a hundred, enters into her own phase of infertility, however little happens to her physiologically other than she no longer produces eggs.

At about a hundred and ten years old Gephqua enter their senior years, no longer fertile. The average lifespan of the Gephqua is about a hundred and twenty years old, though it’s not uncommon, especially with modern medicine, to see a Gephqua live up to a hundred and fifty years. The oldest known Gephqua lived to be the age of 203, Gephqua rarely live longer than 130 years.

Brief History Outline

The Gephqu generally use the Ashkenzi (see below) calendar system, which begins with the beginning of creation YW (Year of the World) and BW (Before the World).

1.5 Million BW - About when the first modern Gephqu appeared.

4,000 BW - The earliest signs of aggriculture among the Gephqua.

2,000 BW - The earliest archeological finds for Gephqua civilization.

YW 1 - In Ashkenzaism, traditionally thought to be the beginning of creation.

YW 1000 - Gephqua enter the Bronze Age.

YW 3500 - Gephqua enter the Iron Age.

YW 5000 - Gephqua enter the Middle Ages.

YW 6500 - Gephqua enter the Early Modern Age.

YW 6700 - Gephqua enter the Modern Era.

YW 6800 - Birth of the United Gephquanese Empire

YW 6930 - The United Gephquanese Empire experiences reform, the emperor no longer absolute monarch.

YW 7001 - First successful space flight.

YW 7045 - First successful manned landing on an extraterrestrial solar body.

YW 7070 - First Contact with an alien race, Space Age officially begun.

YW 8000 - Gephqua enter the Neo-Modern Age.

YW 8500 - Gephqua enter the Galactic Age, exploring large portions of the known galaxy.

YW 8900 - The United Gephquanese Imperial Republic folded into the Galactic Union of Worlds. Gephquanese is the lingua franca of the Union.

More Detailed History

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